2016 Reading Challenge: Week 10

This week, I finished up Margaret Atwood's Bluebeard's Egg, which fulfills week #17's topic for a book with a beautiful cover.  I loved the artwork on the edition I read.  The book is a collection of her short stories, and they are pretty eclectic, but all deal with human relationships - some good, some kinda in need of lots of therapy.  I enjoyed the handful of ones that were about her growing-up and childhood and her parents.  Some of the others I was more "meh" about, but in general I love short stories, so I read them all contentedly.  A very mixed bag of things in this one.

I've then started Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides for week 36.  This book isn't exactly what I expected - it's so far really more a historical fiction tale about his grandparents (and I've just started generation #2's history about how his parents fell in love), and less about the main character's transgender issues, which most of the reviews (and we all know you can't necessarily trust those!!) I had read focused on.  I'll save more details and thoughts on this until I've read the entire thing as I suspect this is one of those books that unfolds more completely in the final chapters.  That said, what I have read so far I've been engrossed in - it's a great story spanning immigration and the industrial changes in Detroit at the turn of the 19th-20th century.  My plan is to finish that this week.


The 2016 List
1. A book you meant to read in 2015, but didn't
2. A book set in a different continent
3. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2015 (winner or nominated)
4. A book by an author you discovered in 2015
5. A book with a title beginning with the 1st letter of your name:  Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose - DONE.
6. The highest rated on your TBR
7. A book about books
8. A classic book with less than 200 pages:  Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence - DONE
9. A book that was mentioned in another book
10. A book by an author you feel you should have read by now
11. A book from the Rory Gilmore challenge
12. A childhood classic
13. Reader’s Choice:  Vienna Nocturne by Vivien Shotwell - DONE.
14. A book with one of the five W’s -or H in the title (Who/What/Where/When/Why/How) What She Left - T.R. Richmond - DONE.
15. A book set in the past (more than 100 years ago)
16. A book from the top 100 mystery novels
17. A book with a beautiful cover: Bluebeard's Egg by Margaret Atwood
18. A book on a summer/beach reading list
19. A non-fiction book
20. A book with a first name in the title
21. A book from the Goodreads Recommendations page
22. The first book in a new to you series
23. The next book in a series you are reading
24. A "between the numbers" book of a series (0.5, 1,5, 2.5, etc.)
25. A book whose main character is in a profession that interests you
26. A book everyone is talking about
27. A book with a beautiful title (in your own opinion)
28. A biography, autobiography, or memoir
29. A book by an author who writes under more than one name:  The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) - DONE.
30. A fairytale from a culture other than your own
31. A work of young adult fiction:  The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge. DONE.
32. A historical fiction book
33. The 16th book on your TBR
34. A book about mental illness: Adeline by Norah Vincent - DONE
35. An award winning book
36. An identity book - a book about a different culture, religion or sexual orientation:  Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
37. A book that you've seen the movie of but haven't read
38. A book about an anti hero:  Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace - DONE.
39. A previous suggestion that did not make it into the list
40. A novella from your favorite genre
41. A book about a major world event (fiction or non-fiction)
42. A top 100 fantasy novel
43. A book about a thing that goes bump in the night
44. A book you're embarrassed to read in public
45. A book related to a hobby or passion you have
46. A crime story:  The Cutting Season by Attica Locke - DONE.
47. A book with a type of food/drink in the title
48. A dystopia
49. A book with a great opening line
50. A book originally written in a language other than English:  Tove Jansson's The Summer Book - DONE.
51. A short story from a well-known author
52. A book published in 2016