2020 Reading Challenge

[osprey_archer]

I have nabbed my 2020 Reading Challenge, and now I’m mulling over the categories. So many reading decisions to make! So exciting!

A book published the decade you were born

Maybe Eva Ibbotson’s The Reluctant Heiress (originally published as Magic Flutes in 1982)? This has been on my list a loooong time (I’ve been reluctant to read it because it’s the last of Ibbotson’s adult novels that I haven’t read), so perhaps it’s time to bite the bullet and read it.

A debut novel

I must confess, I am not super up to date on new novels coming out (let alone new novels by debut authors), so this one is going to be up for grabs.

A book recommended by a source you trust

We’ll have to see what my trusted sources are recommending this year, I guess!

A book by a local author

Conveniently, John Green lives in Indianapolis, and I still haven’t read Turtles All the Way Down. So probably that one.

A book outside your (genre) comfort zone

Oh, gosh, this was one of the hardest categories last year - although I ended up reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls, so probably one of the most rewarding, too. I’m planning to read Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House, which is outside my usual genre comfort zone, buuuuuut I really loved Patchett’s Truth and Beauty (her memoir about her friendship with Lucy Grealy) and so it seems wrong to call Patchett’s work outside my comfort zone.

A book in translation

evelyn_b, you still up for Don Quixote?

A book nominated for an award in 2020

I already read the Newbery Award winner and the honor books each year, so perhaps I ought to branch out and snag a book nominated for a non-Newbery Award for this category. But on the other hand… I am already reading all the Newbery books… Well, we’ll see if I’m feeling lazy or not, I suppose.

A re-read

I’ll just leave this open and see what I end up rereading, I suppose.

A classic you didn’t read in school

I feel that Don Quixote ought to count for this one too, being 800 pages long and so forth… but no, I should take the opportunity to read something else as well. Maybe this is my year to finally read The Brothers Karamazov? Or perhaps I should read some Turgenev. William Dean Howells spoke of him highly. (But I could count that for the category “a book recommended by a source you trust.”)

Three books by the same author

I’m tempted to do Mary Stewart for this one - I’m getting close to having read all the Mary Stewart books! But I know I’m going to read the rest of the Mary Stewarts eventually, so it almost feels like a waste of a category to use it for that.

Maybe Margaret Atwood? I’m always meaning to read more Margaret Atwood without having actually read a Margaret Atwood since I read The Handmaid’s Tale in high school. I could read The Testaments, Alias Grace (I saw the miniseries & loved it), and The Penelopiad.

Comments

[kore]

I LOVED Testaments, but it might not work for you without a closer rereading of Handmaid's Tale. Alias Grace is great too. Or if you wanted there's also the Maddaddam trilogy, which I personally think is her masterpiece.

[osprey_archer]

Maybe The Handmaid's Tale should be my book for the rereading challenge, then.

Then again, I remember it being grueling (wonderful! but grueling!), so I'm not sure I want to reread it. And my impression is that a lot of Atwood's work is like that (certainly the Alias Grace miniseries was!), so maybe I should rethink this Atwood idea.

[troisoiseaux]

Or perhaps I should read some Turgenev.

I read and, to the best of my memory, enjoyed Fathers and Sons.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on The Penelopiad!

[osprey_archer]

Your entries about The Penelopiad are one of the things that made me think of Atwood for this challenge.

[troisoiseaux]

:D :D :D

[marycatelli]

Technically, reading the first novel by a 19th century -- or 18th century -- author would qualify as a "debut novel."

[thisbluespirit]

That sounds like an interesting challenge - not too restrictive, either. Good luck!

[osprey_archer]

Yes, I've been getting my yearly reading challenge from this same website for a few years now, specifically because it's not too restrictive. Otherwise it just sucks the fun out of reading, and then what's the point?

[asakiyume]

"A classic you didn't read in school" is a category I've personally enjoyed reading in--and being surprised in. When the healing angel was going through high school I ended up reading Frankenstein, A Tale of Two Cities, and Grapes of Wrath, and enjoying them all. There's still plenty of others I could do... I could do a reading challenge in that category alone.

[osprey_archer]

I keep reading away at classic literature, but there always seem to be more classics waiting just behind. So many! Which I suppose in one way is a good thing: at least I'll never run out of reading material.

[evelyn_b]

Sure! Let's get quixotic in January - or whatever month you want to start in that isn't May through July.

This is a pretty good challenge!

[osprey_archer]

I need to get a copy of Don Quixote first; the one in the store with the Wall O' Penguins looked distinctly battered, so I couldn't bring myself to spend new book prices on it. But I'll be back in my hometown over Christmas; I should hit up Von's and see if they've got one.

[brigdh]

I LOVED The Brothers Karamazov when I read it a few years ago, so I recommend that one! :D

And oooh, Don Quixote. I really should get around to reading that myself... someday!

[osprey_archer]

I've heard good things about The Brothers Karamazov! It's been on my list for ages, but somehow I've just never buckled down to read it.