I will join just a few challenges this year. There are so many interesting ones I would like to participate in, but I feel it takes away time from my new goal of more disciplined reading. Disciplined reading sounds really rather boring. I do hope though, that reading in 'themes' will give me an overall more interesting take on reading. I therefor add a challenge of my own. As usual the main aim is to lower the number of books on my TBR shelves. I do know, that I would also like to catch up with new books (since the books on my shelves have become rather old), recommendations from fellow bloggers and the possibility to borrow books at the library (not to increase the number of TBRs). On top of the ones listed below I always join Paris in July, hosted by Tamara@Thyme-for-tea, and Nonfiction November hosted by Rennie@What'snonfiction and associates.
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My own challenge will be guided by a theme for each month, and I hope to read a couple of books within that theme. Furthermore, for each month I would like to read at least:
- a nonfiction from my TBR shelves chosen by a random generator
- a fiction from my TBR shelves chosen by a random generator
- a translated novel outside of the English- and Swedish speaking countries
- a classic tale
- a book from my Wish list
Themes
January - Nordic writers (inspired by
AnnaBookBel's challenge FINDS
February - Antiquity (Greek gods and other tales)
March - Women (anything about female achievements)
April - Explorers and discoveries
May - Literature history (learn more about authors, their work and lives)
June - The Last Kingdom (reading the books on which the series is based, books 9-13)
July - Paris in July (anything French and Parisian)
August - Beach reading (crime and feel good)
September - Reading about Greece (history and Greek authors)
October - Classics
November - Nonfiction, Novellas and German literature (joining these challenges)
December - Russia (Russian authors and/or tales from Russia)
WRAP UPS
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Novellas in November
Novellas in November is hosted by Cathy of 746 Books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck. Will try to combine my reading with German Literature Month.
1 – 7 November: Short Classics - The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann (German author)
8 – 14 November: Novellas in Translation - Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (I presume the original is in German). Aha, another one for German Lit month.
15 – 21 November: Short Non-Fiction - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (96 pages)
22 – 28 November: Contemporary Novellas - The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories by Carson McCullers (wanted to read something by her for some time, and it seems to be a good one to start with. I hope she can count as contemporary.
29/30 November: My Month in Novellas/ New to my TBR - so far all of the above are new to me and ending up on my shelves.
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German Literary Month
German Literature Month is hosted by Lizzy’s Literary Life. It is the first time I participate and I will just have to see how many books I can read. Hopefully, at least one a week, according to the schedule:
Week 1 – First time for everything - The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann
Week 2 – Second Helpings - I rarely re-read books but I have read The Trial by Kafka so will choose another book by him - Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Week 3 – Firm Favourites (Author or Publisher, if stated) - Rainer Maria Rilke, some of his poems.
Week 4 – Something Different - Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
Week 5: Read as you please / group read (Book 21) - The Life and Opinions of Tomcat Murr – E T A Hoffmann (trans. Anthea Bell). If I can find it and have time.
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The Project is hosted by AnnaBookBel (head over to her website for more information). FINDS stands for Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden) and is a challenge to read books from the Nordic countries. Each of the countries have a lot of good authors, many thrillers which I am sure you are aware of, but there are also other really good genres. The project runs from beginning of January to beginning of February, one book from each country for each week. My scheme is:
January 3-9 – DENMARK – The Last Good Man by A.J. Kazinski - Read
January 10-16 – NORWAY – Blå (The End of the Ocean) by Maja Lunde - Read
January 17-23 – SWEDEN – Kapet av Skåne, Stormaktssveriges viktigaste triumf by Ingvar Bengtsson Read
January 24-30 – FINLAND – Ten Shrews by Arto Paasilinna Read in April
January 31- February 6 – ICELAND - The Shadow District and Petsamo by Arnaldur Indridason Read
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Whitney @ The Unread Shelf is hosting this challenge, together with the Unread Shelf Community. They came up with the following helpful tools in order to lower the number of books on your TBR shelves. Here are my books to read.
My Top TBR for 2022
Read: 0/10
- Baker, Carlos - Ernest Hemingway (NF)
- Berggren, Laurence - Columbus, The Four Voyages (NF)
- Bojs, Karin - Min europeiska familj, De senaste 54000 åren (NF)
- Desmond/Moore, Adrian/James - Darwin's Sacred Cause, Race, Slavery and the quest for Human Origins (NF)
- Gabaldon, Diana - The Scottish Prisoner
- Hough, Robert - The Final Confession of Mabel Stark
- Lawrence, D.H. - Women in Love
- Madame X - My Notorious Life
- Sebag Montefiore, Simon - Sashenka
- Saramago, Jose - Historien om Lissabons Belägring Reading
Monthly Reading Challenge
Read: 1/12
January - The book you've been putting off reading - Presidentskan (La Regenta) by Leopoldo Alas Clarín Reading
February - A title you couldn't resist - The Magdalene Legacy (NF) by Laurence Gardner
March - A memoir or biography - Priset på vatten i Finistère by Bodil Malmsten (read in April)
April - A book by an indie publisher or small press
May - The shortest unread book on your shelf - Kära Agnes by Håkan Nesser and The Overcoat and Other Short Stories by Nikolaj Gogol
June - A book about a journey (Warriors of the Sword by Bernard Cornwell) Reading
July - A book set in a country or culture different than your own - Värmevåg by Sten Rosendahl (SF)
August - A book chosen by your friends or family - The Childhood of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee
September - A book that represents the reader you want to be - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Although I am not sure what this title means
October - A book that makes you nervous - The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turston
November - A title that starts with the first letter of your name -
December - A classic book -
Bonus Challenges
A book in translation - Binas historia (The History of Bees by Maja Lunde (Norwegian)
A book bought for the cover -
A science/technology nonfiction -
The most recently acquired book on your shelf - Fyrmästarens dotter ("The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter) by Ann Rosman
A book about/of poetry -
A book about nature -
A book made into a movie or TV series - The Collini Case by Ferdinand Von Schirach
A book about a season or phase of life - Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
A book about food or cooking -
A book set in your hometown or state -
A book about art or artist - Kvinna sedd bakifrån (Woman Seen from the Back) by Jesper Wung-Sung
A modern retelling of a classic book -
Yearlong Challenges
Book flights - Read two or more books connected by themes, subjects, settings, etc.
Maja Lunde - Climate series (#1, 2 and 3)
The History of Bees - The End Of The Ocean - Przewalski's Horse
Finish a series - Read all the books from a series on your unread shelf - Honoré de Balzac x 3 (ebooks) from La Comédie Humaine - Ferragus, The Duchesse de Langeais and The Girl With the Golden Eyes
The longest book - Commit to finishing the longest book on your unread shelf this year - The Tower by Uwe Tellkamp (961 pages) Reading / The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber (874 pages) Reading
Read your collections - Read the books you've been collecting - authors, subjects, publishers, or more.
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My reading list for 50 Classic books to read: I have read 28 of the 50 books on the list. Halfway through.
My 1-50 classics (including a label with the 51-100 classics)
My Spin List (as of 1 January 2022)
1. The Master and Margarita by Michail Bulgakov
2. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Carter (Reading)
3. Daisy Miller by Henry James
4. The Seahawk by Rafael Sabatini.
5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoj
6. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
7. Child Harold by Lord Byron
8. House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
9. The Red and the Black by Stendhal
10. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
11. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
12. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James (last spin)
13. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
14. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
15. To Have and Have not by Ernest Hemingway
16. Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
17. The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
18. The Brothers Karamazov by Fjodor Dostoevsky
19. The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
20. A Writer's Notebook by Somerset Maugham
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- Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982)
- The Accidental Tourist (1985)
- Breathing Lessons (1988)
- Saint Maybe (1991)
- Ladder of Years (1995)
- A Patchwork Planet (1998)
- Back When We Were Grownups (2001)
- The Amateur Marriage (2004)
- Digging to America (2006)
- Noah’s Compass (2010)
- The Beginner’s Goodbye (2012)
- A Spool of Blue Thread (2015)
- Vinegar Girl (2016)
- Clock Dance (2018)
- Redhead by the Side of the Road (2020)
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I have 'upgraded' my TBR shelves, meaning, I will also include e-books.
- The History of Bees by Maja Lunde
- Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
- The End Of The Ocean by Maja Lunde
- Last Train Home by Deborah Swift
- Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
- Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
- Ferragus by Honoré de Balzac
- Feel Better in 5 by Dr Rangan Chatterjee
- Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (e-book) by Thomas De Quincey
- Den Sorgsne busschauffören från Alster by Håkan Nesser
- Städa hållbart (Sustainable Cleaning my transl.) by Ellinor Sirén
- Antikens religioner by Ingvild S Gilhus and Einar Thomassen
- Allt eller inget by Simona Ahrnstedt
- Med hjärtat som insats by Simona Ahrnstedt
- Alltid hos dig by Maria Ernestam
- En enda risk by Simona Ahrnstedt
- The Magdalene Legacy by Laurence Gardner
- The Secret Place by Tana French
- The Iliad by Homer
- Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason
- Le Duchesse de Langeais by Honoré de Balzac
- The Girl With the Golden Eyes by Honoré de Balzac
- Kapet av Skåne by Ingvar Bengtsson
- Eftertankar by Finn Bergstrand
- Kalmarunionen by Dick Harrison
- Konungens sändebud by Tua Burlin
- Dackefejden by Tomas Blom
- Ten Shrews by Arto Paasilinna
- Kära Agnes by Håkan Nesser
- Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
- Life Short, Rytkönen Long by Arto Paasilinna
- The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach
- The Overcoat and Other Short Stories by Nikolaj Gogol
- Linnés arvinge by Samuel Åhman
- Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid
- Carambole by Håkan Nesser
- Flugan och evigheten by Håkan Nesser
- Algblomning by Sten Rosendahl
- Ödesmark by Stina Jackson
- Halvmördaren by Håkan Nesser
- Snablar by Arto Paasilinnaa
- Kepler by John Banville
- Sturemorden, ett blodigt maktspel by Tomas Blom
- The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Corben
- La jeune fille et la nuit (The Reunion) by Guillaume Musso
- Sara Lisa von Linné by Tomas Tullberg
- The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
- Hur mycket pengar behöver man egentligen by Eric Skopal
- Värmevåg by Sten Rosendahl
- Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
- The Witch Elm by Tana French
- Fyrmästarens dotter (The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter) by Ann Rosman
- Stormvakt by Kristina Ohlsson
- A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine
- Przewalski's Horse by Maja Lunde
- Redigera framgångsRIKT by Monica Ivesköld
- The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Austen
- Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
- A Very English Scandal by John Preston
- The Tales of Ensign Ståhl by Johan Ludvig Runeberg
- Mordet på Gustav III by Dick Harrison
- The Childhood of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee
- Tycho Brahe och hans tid by Håkan Håkansson (Ed.)
- En bok om Emanuel Swedenborg by Olof Lagercrantz
- Kingdom of Shadows by Barbara Erskine
- The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
- Vathek by William Beckford
- Dissolution by C.J. Sansom
- Nordiska Gudasagor by Katarina Harrison Lindbergh
- Violeta by Isabel Allende
- The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turston
- Death Comes to the Archbishop by Willa Cather
- Livläkarens besök (The Visit of the Royal Physician) by Per-Olov Enquist
- Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History by Bill Laws
- The Bridge of Little Jeremy by Indrajit Garai
The Sandman by E.T.A Hoffmann
The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook
Metamorphoses by Franz Kafka
How do we look? The Eye of Faith by Mary Beard
Metamorphoses by Franz Kafka
Malma station by Alex Schulman
Master Georgi by Beryl Bainbridge
The Lodger, Shakespeare on Silver Street
- Girig-Sverige by Andreas Cervenka
- Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Nikolai Leskov
- Skånska stenar berättar by K. Arne Blom/Jan Moen
- Vikings by Martin J. Dougherty
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