Saturday, January 8, 2022

I Take on Five Book Challenges and I See Three New-to-Me Birds

 





When you see that I have already read nearly twenty books and before you start thinking that I am a reading genius...know that I have my ways. I like to start the year big, so I stop reading just before the last page in a dozen books in December and I finish them and review them on January 1. 





Diary of a Provincial Lady (classic)
Kindness Tales (folk tales)
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett (essays)
Ocean State by Stewart O'Nan (fiction)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (children's fiction)
The Wind on the Moon (1001 Children's Books)
The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken (short stories)


100 Things We've Lost to the Internet by Pamela Paul (nonfiction)
The Kindness Workbook (self-help)
Night of the Galactic Railway (1001 Children's Books)
Little Pieces of Hope: Happy-Making Things in a Difficult World (nonfiction)
Midnight Chicken (& Other Recipes Worth Living For) (cookbook)
The Book of Hard Words (nonfiction)


The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis (biography)
Inside Narnia: A Guide to Exploring the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (reference)
The Cat that Lived a Million Times (1001 Children's Books)
The Holiday Swap (fiction)


Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants 
by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Naturalist Book Club)
The People Awards (children's nonfiction)
Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis (Narniathon)
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton (Classics Club)
The Diary of Samuel Pepys (Book Club)
Oranges by John McPhee (Classic Nonfiction)
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (Fiction)





Last week I posted here at Readerbuzz:







I've taken on five challenges for 2022. Two of them I created for myself (Back to the Classics; Chapter-a-Day). I will be keeping track of these on a page listed under my header. The highlights indicate books I have read and reviewed so far this year.


Nonfiction Nosher: Read & review 12 books, one for each category:

1. Social History...How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith

2. Popular Science...I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong

3. Language...In Other Words by Christopher J. Moore

4. Medical Memoir...Patient Zero by Lydia Kang

5. Climate/Weather...The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

6. Celebrity...The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs

7. Reference...The Everything Guide to C. S. Lewis and Narnia by Jon Kennedy

8. Geography...Travels in Asia and Africa by Ibn Battuta

An Atlas of Extinct Countries by Defoe Gideon

9. Linked to a Podcast...Don't Overthink It by Anne Bogel

10. Wild Animals...The Snow Leopard by Peter Mathiesson

11. Economics...A Libertarian Walks into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

12. Published in 2022...Read Dangerously by Azar Nafisi



My hope is that I can read a book a month during the challenge. The books I may read are:

        * Night of the Milky Way Railway by Kenji Miyazawa (1001 Children's Books You Must Read)
        * Territory of Light by Yūko Tsushima (adult novel)
        * Silence by Shūsaku Endō (adult novel)
        * Every Color of Light by Hiroshi Osada (children's picture book)
        * There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (adult novel)
        * Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka (1001 Children's Books You Must Read)




  • December. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
  • January. Prince Caspian.
  • February. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
  • March. The Silver Chair.
  • April. The Horse and His Boy.
  • May. The Magician’s Nephew.
  • June. The Last Battle.
  • July. Optional read: From Spare Oom to War Drobe by Katherine Langrish


2022 Chapter-a-Day Read-along: A Year of Classic Women Authors

  • Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield: January 1 to January 12 (12 chapters = 12 days)
  • Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton: January 13 to February 27 (46 chapters = 46 days)
  • Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: February 28 to March 6 (7 chapters = 7 days)
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy: March 7 to April 6 (31 chapters = 31 days)
  • Madame de Treymes by Edith Wharton: April 7 to April 16 (10 chapters = 10 days)
  • Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell: April 17 to May 24 (38 chapters = 38 days) 
  • The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot: May 25 to July 20 (57 chapters = 57 days)
  • Middlemarch by George Eliot: July 21 to October 14 (86 chapters = 86 days)
  • Agnes Grey by Emily Bronte: October 15 to November 8 (25 chapters = 25 days)
  • The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte: November 9 to December 31 (53 chapters = 53 days)


The Back to the Classics Challenge has been hosted by Karen from Books and Chocolate for nine years.

"IThe Back to the Classics Challenge is a year-long challenge in which participants are encouraged to finally read the classics they've always meant to read -- or just recently discovered."

I will try to read from twelve categories in 2022. 

Here are the books I hope to read:

1. A 19th century classic. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

2. A 20th century classic. Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham.

3. A classic by a woman author. The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton.

4. A classic in translation. Nana by Ă‰mile Zola. 

5. A classic by BIPOC author. Native Son by Richard Wright.

6. Mystery/detective/crime classic. Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux.

7. A classic short story collection. Dubliners by James Joyce.

8. Pre-1800 classic. The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.

9. A nonfiction classic. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

10. A classic that's been on your TBR list the longest. Lost Horizon by James Hilton.

11. A classic set in a place you'd like to visit. First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir.

12. Wild card classic. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot.










Good Thing #1
My first Western Tanager


Good Thing #2
My first Eastern Phoebe



Good Thing #3
My first Ruby-crowned Kinglet




I'm happy you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. It's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 


Some of the things we often talk about at the Sunday Salon:

  • What was your week like?
  • Read any good books? Tell us about them.
  • What other bookish things did you do? 
  • What else is going on in your life?

Other places where you may like to link up over the weekend are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. 

1 comment:

  1. Yay! You've finally started Braiding Sweetgrass! I know you've been champing at the bit to read it.

    I'm excited to see Country of the Pointed Firs on your women authors challenge. It was one of the few books I had to read for school that I loved. I've even re-read it a time or two. I think you'll feel the same.

    Do I remember correctly that this is your first visit to Narnia?

    It's always so exciting to see new animals, isn't it? Congratulations on your new birds!

    Enjoy your week!

    ReplyDelete

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