2016 Reading Challenge: Week 20

I finished up Gutenberg's Apprentice by Alix Christie for week #7 - a book about books. I guess I thought I knew about the basics of the first printing press, but I was wrong!  Tons and tons of the mechanics I hadn't thought about were interwoven into this story about Gutenberg and his apprentice, Peter Schoeffer, who later became one of Germany's foremost book printers/sellers.  I will say that it is helpful to have at least a passing knowledge of European history in the 1400s.  There are a lot of references to the Crusades and church politics that influence the events in the story and if you aren't at least basically up-to-speed on the overlying history, some of it might be a bit confusing (or at least send you off to look up some footnotes).  I really enjoyed this one - enough meat in the story to really sink my teeth into and I won't ever take the written/printed book for granted again having followed all the challenges I hadn't even thought of in getting everything to work correctly.

Next up, I started a book for week #19 - a nonfiction book: Lives in Ruins by Marilyn Johnson.  The subtitle for this one is Archeaologist and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble.  I picked this one up because I thought it'd be about specific archeaological finds - burial mounds, bog people, underwater wrecks - but it's really more about the people who are archeaologists and not about the finds, per se.  Not exactly what I thought, but I'll plow along through it and see if it redeems itself a bit further on. I'm about a third of the way through this one so far.


22/52


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: Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr - DONE.
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 - Gutenberg's Apprentice - Alix Christie - DONE.
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:  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling - DONE.
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):  Cervantes Street by Jamie Manrique - DONE.
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 - Lives in Ruins by Marilyn Johnson.
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.):  The Three Monarchs by Anthony Horowitz - DONE.
25. A book whose main character is in a profession that interests you
26. A book everyone is talking about - Knitlandia by Clara Parkes - DONE.
27. A book with a beautiful title (in your own opinion): Belle Cora - Richard Margulies - DONE.
28. A biography, autobiography, or memoir: Jack London: An American Life by Earle Labor - DONE.
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: River of Doubt by Candice Millard - DONE.
36. An identity book - a book about a different culture, religion or sexual orientation:  Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - DONE.
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): The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure - DONE.
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