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Reading Slumps and Getting Behind on the #TBR

By TL Wright

On 2019-08-02

In Bookish Life, Reading Challenges

Reading Slumps, or my Travails Therein

I’ve had a lovely reading slump, as in I have barely opened any books, despite what my Goodreads account says.

Lots of life has happened. My daughter graduated from high school. My insomnia got weird (chronic & under treatment) which meant I didn’t have the energy to read & analyze books, which was my intention with doing reviews. Then I remembered I hated doing book reviews in school and that’s transferred to now. I legit sat down and tried to re-read Widows of Malabar Hill to write a review and I did everything but read the book (which I already read and enjoyed). Executive dysfunction is awesome! Especially if you have a blog you are trying to get going. So, that has also been a Thing.

Getting Behind on the #TBR

Which leads me to the whole getting behind on the list. I have a goal set in Goodreads to read 75 books this year, which I thought was doable since last year I did ~100 books and per Goodreads, I am “behind” by 34 books.

It’s not a race to read books, and I’ll catch up. I read fairly fast (~100 pages an hour) and I have a bunch of great books queued up on my e-reader and my Kindle app.

Other Updates

I recently posted a new book list: 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life Changing List. I wanted a pretty, easy to use list of the books listed, so I transcribed the titles and authors of the books mentioned from my own copy of the book. I’m making a binder and an Evernote notebook of various lists I’ve collected just so I can remember my book list when I hit up bookstores.

I have some posts planned for August and September: making a reading plan (which I really should do); some genre primers on my fave book genres; and discussing books that talk about books and reading, one of my book collecting focus areas.

Why I’ve Removed a Book From my #TBR

By TL Wright

On 2019-07-30

In Bookish Life, Reading Challenges

I had Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens as a Debut Novel to read on my Popsugar Reading Challenge List (which I dearly hope I can get to finishing up but that is another post) but reading this Slate article has made me leery of reading it, and I don’t think it’ll be something I’ll enjoy.

EDIT: I’ve found an old New Yorker article (2010) about Delia Owen & her husband, and it’s just adding to my uncomfortable feeling about the author.

So instead of the book, I’ve picked more that would work, one of which was already on my Popsugar list. I’m basing my picks from Electric Lit, Book Riot, and Read It Forward.

Replacement Options

Sugar Run by Mesha Maren – Queer Southern Noir
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson – Cold War Spy Thriller with a black, female intelligence officer
Bangkok Wakes in the Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad – Stories set in Bangkok. I’m interested in Thailand as my step-mother is an immigrant from there.
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes- A cute looking romance between a recently widowed woman and her late husband’s best friend
Enchante by Gita Trelease – A woman relies on petty magic to survive after she’s orphaned, then must go to Paris after her savings are stolen.
Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto – a girl runs away to find the Phoenix Riders of old in order to save her country
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray – When a family matriarch and her husband are arrested, it’s up to her sisters to figure out what happened.
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He – A princess who’s tried to avoid her responsibilities is now Queen, after her father’s murder. She is willing to do whatever it takes to find out who killed her father.
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal – a girl disguises herself as a man in order to feed her family, until she meets the Prince of Death.
Nottingham by Nathan Makaryk – I am a sucker for retellings of Robin Hood and this looks to be excellent.

January 2019 Wrap-Up

By TL Wright

On 2019-01-31

In Bookish Life

Posts in January

In Review

So in review, I’ve made a lot of lists for 2019 and started posting in general. Next month I’m going to work on being a bit more consistent and not have clumps of posts.

February plans are doing some reviews of books and trying to post at least once a week. I hope to also start a newsletter, once I’ve nailed down a format and content just for the newsletter.

Book Tracking & Nerdery

By TL Wright

On 2019-01-27

In Bookish Life

I’m very proud to admit I am a nerd about books. And tracking, though I am not very consistent. Yet. That’s one of my goals this year is to be more consistent in tracking what I’ve read, so I’m going to share my methods in book tracking as a way to keep me accountable.

My Methods

So along with my Goodreads account, I’m using a notebook and a book tracking spreadsheet. It’s copied from Book Riot’s spreadsheet with the addition of some more granular genres and the challenges I’m doing this year. I’m still fixing up the formulas, as they don’t really fill down correctly in the cells, so I have to do them manually. That’s a lot of formulas and I’ve already gotten cross-eyed once today.

I’m still figuring out exactly what I want to put in my journal, but I’m starting out with some reading lists: my classics list, and a couple of others, so I have the fun of crossing them off when I’ve read them. Or put a nice red mark for DNF.

As more keeping track of the books I have, I use a combo of Calibre, Goodreads, and LibraryThing. Well, my LibraryThing is a mess right now. I did an import, and none of them kept their covers, so I’m having to back and edit. And there’s a lot in there whoops. So right now, Calibre & GoodReads are much easier to use.

I buy my books from Amazon & Google Play Books mostly, with FeedBooks as a secondary source of nicely formatted public domain books.

For my e-reader, I use Moon+Pro after I’ve converted my ebooks to epub. I keep the original version + the epub version and use calibre to manage the device. I just had to tell it where to put the books, and Moon+ does the rest. I do wish Moon+ does LastName, FirstName sort of authors names, as it’s a bit weird to look for Jane Austen in the J’s and not A’s.

The notebook is also new to me this year in my book tracking. I’ve bounced around looking at bujo setups and wishing I could draw like the ones I’ve seen on Pinterest or Instagram, but finally found a really pretty hardbound notebook with ruled pages. My writing starts climbing mountains if I don’t have a line to write on.

The first few pages are for the index, then I started numbering the pages from 1 after the index. It’s been a while since I did much of anything long hand so it’s going to be slow going getting my reading lists in my journal.

Index Page
Classics List (in Progress)

Additional Readings & Links

How to Keep a Reading Log Or Book Journal @ ThoughtCo
Tips & Tricks to Start A Reading Journal @ Page Flutter

#TBR

By TL Wright

On 2019-01-25

In Bookish Life

A little Friday fun, lol. I got a box from Amazon yesterday full of goodies. A birthday gift to myself (and a replacement for a lost tool for my vacuum cleaner but shh, that’s not nearly as fun as books)

Book Haul
TBR Pile
Nightstand TBR stash
My current TBR pile plus my tools.

I’m excited to start! I ordered I Have A Dream/Also A Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr, Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List by James Mustich, and last, but not least, The Widows of Malabar Hill: A Mystery of 1920s India by Sujata Massey and they arrived yesterday. Josie was very interested in helping me open the box, but I didn’t get a picture. Woe. But he does love the new box to sit in.

In the #TBR pile, not counting the new books, I have my e-reader, an Asus Z380M, and I use calibre to manage it, along with MoonReader + Pro, the Amazon Kindle app, and Google Play Books. I put all of my ebooks in calibre and use MoonReader to read, but buy via the apps.

Besides the tablet, I have Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story by Alexander Freed, Star Wars: Guardians of the Whills by Greg Rucka, Rebel Rising by Beth Revis, Lock In by John Scalzi, Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi, and The Lost Colony by John Scalzi, and Dust by Elizabeth Bear. Rounding out the list is The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You’ve Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer.

My nightstand’s not free from the pile of books, either. All but one are for dipping in and out as I try to get in the habit of not reading a screen just before bed. Insomnia’s really hard to fix. Books in the nightstand are: Sailing The Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill, How To Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren, A Lifetime’s Reading: Five Hundred Books to Read in a Lifetime by Phillip Ward, Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rosseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World by David Denby, The New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classic Guide to World Literature, Revised and Expanded by Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major, and The Western Canon: The Books and School of Ages by Harold Bloom. HTRAB is waiting for me to sit down and take notes on, and the rest are all dip in and out of for reading ideas. They are all very heavy on white male writers, but useful anyway. I’ll have a longer post on those books at a later point in the year.

The Scalzi books and the Elizabeth bear book along with my nightstand books are re-reads and everything else linked is new to me. I’ve had the Star Wars books for over a year now, time to read. I’m dipping in and out of 1,000 Books and The Well-Educated Mind, the first for book ideas, the second to learn how to educate myself. I’ll be discussing that project at a later point as well.

What’s in your TBR piles? And how do you like to manage them?

2019 Reading Challenges List of Books @ TL Wright | A Bookish Life

2019 Reading Challenges Reading List

By TL Wright

On 2019-01-14

In Reading Challenges

In an effort to have an organized reading list, I made a spreadsheet of all the prompts in the various reading challenges I’m a part of this year then threw the entire thing in a google doc just to see how nicely it’ll print.

I got the idea from this Google Sheets spreadsheet, but I did a little editing. I did use some of the suggestions for my own list as they sounded really interesting.

There are 152 prompts on the list with 34 extra options. Not all the prompts have a choice in them and will be filled once I find the book to fit. Those will be edited in when I’ve made my choice, and I’ll also edit in the book I chose for the prompts with multiple options.

	Challenge Prompt	Choice 1	Choice 2	Choice 3	Choice 4

BR 1	An epistolary novel or collection of letters	The Habit of Being: The Letters of Flannery O’Connor	The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows	Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
BR 2	An alternate history novel	Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove	Clash of Eagles by Alan Smale	The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
BR 3	A book by a woman and/or POC that won a literary award in 2018	The Art of Death by Edwidge Danicat	Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
BR 4	A humor book	The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish	Forever, Erma by Erma Bombeck
BR 5	A book by a journalist or about journalism	Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News by Kevin Young
BR 6	A book by an POC set in or about space	Hidden Figures: The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation into Space by Margot Lee Shetterly	Binti by Nnedi Okorafor	Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee	The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu
BR 7	An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America	Blood of the Dawn by Claudia Salazar Jiménez, trans. by Elizabeth Bryer	Leaving Tabasco by Carmen Boullosa
BR 8	An #ownvoices book set in Oceania	The Bone People by Keri Hulme	The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
BR 9	A book published prior to January 1, 2019, with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads	The Diamond: A Novel by Julie Baumgold
BR 10	A translated book written by and/or translated by a woman	The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson
BR 11	A book of manga	A Bride’s Story by Kaoru Mori	The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Kore Yamazaki
BR 12	A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character	The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith	The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
BR 13	A book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse	The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
BR 14	A cozy mystery	What Child is This?: An Ellie Kent Mystery by Alice K. Boatwright	Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
BR 15	A book of mythology or folklore (PS 12, RW 13)	Circe by Madeline Miller	The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
BR 16	An historical romance by an AOC	In The Midst of Winter by Isabella Allende	The Beautiful Ones by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
BR 17	A business book	Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
BR 18	A novel by a trans or nonbinary author	The Black Tides of Heaven by J.Y. Yang
BR 19	A book of nonviolent true crime	Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury	Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History by Ben Mezrich	The Library Book by Susan Orlen
BR 20	A book written in prison	De Profundis, The Ballad of Reading Gaol & Other Writings by Oscar Wilde	Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
BR 21	A comic by an LGBTQIA creator	Strong Female Protagonist by Molly Ostertag	Black Panther: World of Wakanda by Roxanne Gay	Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
BR 22	A children’s or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009	Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers, Vol 1 edited by Arigon Starr
BR 23	A self-published book	The Martian by Andy Weir
BR 24	A collection of poetry published since 2014	Wade in the Water: Poems by Tracy K. Smith
PS 1	A book becoming a movie in 2019	Little Women by Louisa May Alcott	The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
PS 2	A book that makes you nostalgic
PS 3	A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction)	Ten Ways Not to Commit Suicide by Darryl McDaniels	Creative Quest by Ahmir Questlove Thompson
PS 4	A book you think should be turned into a movie	Granted by John David Anderson
PS 5	A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads	1984 by George Orwell
PS 6	A book with a plant in the title or on the cover	The book of Memory by Petina Gappah
PS 7	A reread of a favorite book	Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
PS 8	A book about a hobby	Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil de Grasse Tyson
PS 9	A book you meant to read in 2018	Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno
PS 10	A book with POP, SUGAR, or CHALLENGE in the title	No More Heroes: Grassroots Challenges to the Savior Mentality by Jordan Flaherty
PS 11	A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover
PS 12	A book inspired by myth/legend/folklore (BR 15, PS 15, RW 13)	Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni	Circe by Madeline Miller
PS 13	A book published posthumously	When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
PS 14	A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie	Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
PS 15	A retelling of a classic	Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler {retelling of The Taming of the Shrew}	Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal {retelling of Pride and Predjudice}	An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma {twist on the Odyssey}
PS 16	A book with a question in the title	What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
PS 17	A book set on college or university campus	The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
PS 18	A book about someone with a superpower	Not Your Villain by C.B. Lee
PS 19	A book told from multiple POVs	A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
PS 20	A book set in space (BR 6)	Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
PS 21	A book by two female authors	When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
PS 22	A book with SALTY, SWEET, BITTER, or SPICY in the title	Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
PS 23	A book set in Scandinavia	Britt-Marie was Here by Fredrik Backman
PS 24	A book that takes place in a single day	Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Jason Reynolds
PS 25	A debut novel	Update
PS 26	A book that’s published in 2019	Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark	The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Children by Anissa Gray
PS 27	A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature	Animals of a Bygone Era by Maja Säfström
PS 28	A book recommended by a celebrity you admire	Becoming by Michelle Obama
PS 29	A book with LOVE in the title	The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean
PS 30	A book featuring an amateur detective (BR 14)	Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann	What Child is This? An Ellie Kent Mystery by Alice K. Boatwright	Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
PS 31	A book about a family	Please Look After my Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin, Chi-Young Kim (Translator)
PS 32	A book author from Asia, Africa, or South America	Mrs. Funnybones by Twinkle Khanna
PS 33	A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in title	Aries by Rachel Medhurst
PS 34	A book that includes a wedding	Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
PS 35	A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter	The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota
PS 36	A ghost story	Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
PS 37	A book with a two-word title	Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
PS 38	A novel based on a true story	Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig
PS 39	A book revolving around a puzzle or game	The Queen of Katwe by Tim Crothers {chess in Uganda}
PS 40	Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading challenge	Circe by Madeline Miller
PS+ 1	A “cli-fi” (climate fiction) book	Archipelago by Monique Roffey	American War by Omar El Akkad
PS+ 2	A “choose-your-own-adventure” book	Neil Patrick Harris: Choose your own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris
PS+ 3	An “own voices” book (BR 7/8)	Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
PS+ 4	Read a book during the season it is set in	The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
PS+ 5	A LitRPG book	Mass Effect: Initiation by N.K. Jemisin
PS+ 6	A book with no chapters / unusual chapter headings / unconventionally numbered chapters	The Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness: 751 Books to Cure What Ails You by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin
PS+ 7	Two books that share the same title	Great Expectations by Charles Dickens	Salt by Nayyirah Wheed
PS+ 8	Two books that share the same title	Great Expectations by Kathy Acker	Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
PS+ 9	A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom	The Princess Bride by William Goldman
PS+ 10	A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent	The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
RW 1	A mystery or thriller written by a woman of color	Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon
RW 2	A book about a woman with a mental illness	Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher
RW 3	A book by an author from Nigeria or New Zealand	The Bone People by Keri Hulme
RW 4	A book about or set in Appalachia	What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte	White Trash: The 400-Year Untold Story of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg
RW 5	A children’s book (BR 22)
RW 6	A multigenerational family saga	Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
RW 7	A book featuring a woman in science	Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt	In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall
RW 8	A play	A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
RW 9	A novella	Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold
RW 10	A book about a woman athlete	Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective by Pat Summit with Sally Jenkins
RW 11	A book featuring a religion other than your own	The Viking’s Kurdish Love: A True Story of Zoroastrians’ Fight for Survival, Part I: 988-1003 by Widad Akreyi
RW 12	A Lambda Literary Award winner	Hunger by Roxane Gay
RW 13	A myth retelling (BR 15, PS 12, RW 13)	The Just City by Jo Walton
RW 14	A translated book published before 1945	The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon
RW 15	A book written by a South Asian author	A Newlywed’s Adventures in Married Land by Shweta Ganesh Kumar
RW 16	A book by an Indigenous woman	Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
RW 17	A book from the 2018 Reading Women Award shortlist	Educated by Tara Westover
RW 18	A romance or love story (B16)	In The Midst of Winter by Isabella Allende
RW 19	A book about nature	Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
RW 20	A historical fiction book	The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
RW 21	A book you bought or borrowed in 2019
RW 22	A book you picked up because of the cover
RW 23	Any book from a series	Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
RW 24	A young adult book by a woman of color	Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
RW+ 1	BONUS: A book by Jesmyn Ward	Sing, Unburied, Sing OR Salvage the Bones
RW+ 2	BONUS: A book by Jhumpa Lahiri	The Lowland
PingSis 1	A Book With More Than 500 Pages	The Outsider by Stephen King
PingSis 2	Book You Haven’t Read by Author You Love	The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Amanda Quick
PingSis 3	Goodreads winner in 2018	I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, Gillian Flynn, Patton Oswalt
PingSis 4	You Can Read in a Day	The Firm by John Grisham
PingSis 5	Book About a Difficult Topic	The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
PingSis 6	Recommended by a Friend	The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Kore Yamazaki
PingSis 7	Book That Will Make You Cry
PingSis 8	Book Published in 2009	Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
PingSis 9	Book Becoming Movie in 2019	The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
PingSis 10	A Genre You Don’t Usually Read	Elevation by Stephen King
PingSis 11	Children’s Classic	Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
PingSis 12	Cover With Your Favorite Color
PingSis 13	Bought at a Thrift Store	Polgara the Sorceress by David Eddings
PingSis 14	Young Adult Fiction	Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
PingSis 15	First Book in a Trilogy	The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
PingSis 16	Second Book in a Trilogy	The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
PingSis 17	Third Book in a Trilogy	The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
PingSis 18	Dystopian Novel	The Stand by Stephen King
PingSis 19	Award-Winning Book	Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
PingSis 20	A Book from the Rory Gilmore Challenge	Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
PingSis 21	Published the Decade Before You Were Born	The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
PingSis 22	Historical Fiction From A Favorite Time Period	The Alienist (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #1) by Caleb Carr
PingSis 23	Classic You’ve Never Read	The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
PingSis 24	A Book That Will Keep You Up All Night	The Stand by Stephen King
PingSis 25	2018 Bestseller	Becoming by Michelle Obama
PingSis 26	Nonfiction Book about Science	Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil de Grasse Tyson
PingSis 27	Listen to an Audiobook	Hidden Figures: The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation into Space by Margot Lee Shetterly
PingSis 28	Set in Your Home State	The Firm by John Grisham
PingSis 29	You Once Started But Never Finished	Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno
PingSis 30	With a One Word Title	Hunger by Roxane Gay
PingSis 31	A Fairy Tale Retelling	The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
PingSis 32	Celebrity Book Club Pick	The Library Book by Susan Orlean
PingSis 33	A Book You Read in High School	The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
PingSis 34	Business or Personal Finance Book	Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
PingSis 35	Autobiography or Memoir	Becoming by Michelle Obama
PingSis 36	Book Set in Another Country	The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon
PingSis 37	Reread a Favorite Book	Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
PingSis 38	Book by a Local Author	Death in the Family by James Agee
PingSis 39	Banned Book	To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
PingSis 40	Narrative Nonfiction	Educated by Tara Westover
PingSis 41	On Your To-Read List the Longest	Polgara the Sorceress by David Eddings
PingSis 42	A Book About Travel	West With The Night by Beryl Markham	A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert by Gertrude Bell
PingSis 43	Popular Book You’ve Never Read	Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
PingSis 44	True Crime	Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury
PingSis 45	Nonfiction Bestseller	Educated by Tara Westover
PingSis 46	Science Fiction Novel	Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
PingSis 47	A Book You Own But Haven’t Read	Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
PingSis 48	Recommended by a Local Librarian
PingSis 49	New Release
PingSis 50	The First Book in a Series	Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
PingSis 51	Prettiest cover
PingSis 52	An Inspirational Story

Classics Club Challenge

By TL Wright

On 2019-01-02

In Reading Challenges

This is an ambitious challenge but simple: anywhere from fifty to 200 books on a reading list. Five years to do it, though, which does help since many of the books I picked are door-stoppers.

I aim to feature more women writers and a wide range of eras and cultures in my list. I’ll be adding to the list as I find more but so far my list is at 124 books. Each book finished will be linked back here for easy location.

Care to join me? Check out The Classics Club for more info.

2019 Reading Women Challenge

By TL Wright

On 2019-01-01

In Reading Challenges

The Challenge

In an effort to diversify my reading, I found this challenge. Fairly simple, I think. 24 books with a couple of bonus options to round things out to read a book every other week.

I’ll be working on this along with my other challenges and projects and will be editing the list as I find books to fit the prompts.

Graphic showing prompts for the reading women challenge

The Prompts

A mystery or thriller by a woman of color – Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon
A book about a woman with a mental illness – Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher
A book by an author from Nigeria or New Zealand – The Bone People by Keri Hulme
A book about or set in Appalachia What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte OR White Trash: The 400-Year Untold Story of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg
A children’s book
A multigenerational family saga – Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
A book featuring a woman in science – Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt OR In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall
A play – A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
A novella – Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold
A book about a woman athlete – Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective by Pat Summit with Sally Jenkins
A book featuring a religion other than your own – The Viking’s Kurdish Love: A True Story of Zoroastrians’ Fight for Survival, Part I: 988-1003 by Widad Akreyi
A Lambda Literary Award winner – Hunger by Roxane Gay
A myth retelling – The Just City by Jo Walton
A translated book published before 1945 – The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon
A book by a South Asian author A Newlywed’s Adventures in Married Land by Shweta Ganesh Kumar
A book by an Indigenous woman – Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
A book from the 2018 Reading Women Award shortlist – Educated by Tara Westover
A romance or love story – In The Midst of Winter by Isabella Allende
A book about nature – Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
A historical fiction book – The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
A book you bought or borrowed in 2019
A book you picked up because of the cover
Any book from a series – Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
A young adult book by a woman of color – Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

BONUS:

A book by Jesmyn Ward – Sing, Unburied, Sing OR Salvage the Bones
A book by Jhumpa Lahiri – The Lowland

2019 PopSugar Reading Challenge

By TL Wright

On 2019-01-01

In Reading Challenges

I’ll be doing the PopSugar Reading Challenge for 2019. Fifty books is pretty ambitious considering my other challenges but I’m giving it my best shot.

2019 PopSugar Reading Challenge Reading List @ TL Wright | A Bookish Life

The PopSugar Prompts

A book becoming a movie in 2019 – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott OR The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
A book that makes you nostalgic
A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction) –Ten Ways Not to Commit Suicide by Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC) OR Creative Quest by Ahmir Questlove Thompson
A book you think should be turned into a movie
A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads – 1984 by George Orwell
A book with a plant in the title or on the cover – The book of Memory by Petina Gappah
A reread of a favorite book – Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
A book about a hobby – Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil de Grasse Tyson
A book you meant to read in 2018 – Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno
A book with POP, SUGAR, or CHALLENGE in the title – No More Heroes: Grassroots Challenges to the Savior Mentality by Jordan Flaherty
A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover
A book inspired by myth/legend/folklore – Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni OR Circe by Madeline Miller
A book published posthumously – When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie – Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
A retelling of a classic – Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler {retelling of The Taming of the Shrew} OR Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal {retelling of Pride and Predjudice} OR An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma {twist on the Odyssey}
A book with a question in the title – What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
A book set on college or university campus – The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
A book about someone with a superpower – Not Your Villian – C.B. Lee
A book told from multiple POVs – A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
A book set in space – Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
A book by two female authors – When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
A book with SALTY, SWEET, BITTER, or SPICY in the title – Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
A book set in Scandinavia – Britt-Marie was Here by Fredrik Backman
A book that takes place in a single day – Long Way Down – Jason Reynolds
A debut novel – Update
A book that’s published in 2019 – Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark OR The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Children by Anissa Gray
A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature – Animals of a Bygone Era by Maja Säfström
A book recommended by a celebrity you admire – Becoming by Michelle Obama
A book with LOVE in the title – The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean
A book featuring an amateur detective – Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann OR What Child is This? An Ellie Kent Mystery by Alice K. Boatwright OR Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
A book about a family – Please Look After my Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin, Chi-Young Kim (Translator)
A book author from Asia, Africa, or South America – Mrs. Funnybones by Twinkle Khanna
A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title – Aries by Rachel Medhurst
A book that includes a wedding – Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter – The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota
A ghost story – Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
A book with a two-word title – Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
A novel based on a true story – Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig
A book revolving around a puzzle or game – The Queen of Katwe by Tim Crothers {chess in Uganda}
A book based on mythology (2017) – Circe by Madeline Miller

Advanced

A “cli-fi” (climate fiction) book – Archipelago by Monique Roffey OR American War by Omar El Akkad
A “choose-your-own-adventure” book – Neil Patrick Harris: Choose your own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris
An “own voices” book: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Read a book during the season it is set in: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
A LitRPG book – Mass Effect: Initiation by N.K. Jemisin
A book with no chapters / unusual chapter headings / unconventionally numbered chapters – The Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness: 751 Books to Cure What Ails You by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin
Two books that share the same title – Great Expectations by Charles Dickens OR Salt by Nayyirah Wheed
Two books that share the same title – Great Expectations by Kathy Acker OR Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom – The Princess Bride by William Goldman
A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent – The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

2019 Pingel Sisters Reading Challenge

By TL Wright

On 2019-01-01

In Reading Challenges

A Book A Week with the Pingel Sisters

This is a fairly ambitious list, only by virtue of the numbers. I’m planning on putting different books than my other challenges, but I may double up, depending on if anything grabs my attention.

2019 Pingel Sisters Reading Challenge Reading List @ TL Wright | A Bookish Life

1. A Book With More Than 500 Pages – The Outsider by Stephen King
2. Book You Haven’t Read by Author You Love: The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Amanda Quick
3. Goodreads winner in 2018 – I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, Gillian Flynn, Patton Oswalt
4. You Can Read in a Day – The Firm by John Grisham
5. Book About a Difficult Topic – The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
6. Recommended by a Friend – The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Kore Yamazaki
7. Book That Will Make You Cry
8. Book Published in 2009 – Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
9. Book Becoming Movie in 2019 – The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
10. A Genre You Don’t Usually Read – Elevation by Stephen King
11. Children’s Classic – Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
12. Cover With Your Favorite Color
13. Bought at a Thrift Store – Polgara the Sorceress by David Eddings (my copy was purchased at a used bookstore)
14. Young Adult Fiction – Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
15. First Book in a Trilogy – The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
16. Second Book in a Trilogy – The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
17. Third Book in a Trilogy – The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
18. Dystopian Novel – The Stand by Stephen King
19. Award-Winning Book – Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
20. A Book from the Rory Gilmore Challenge – Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
21. Published the Decade Before You Were Born – The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
22. Historical Fiction From A Favorite Time Period – The Alienist (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #1) by Caleb Carr
23. Classic You’ve Never Read – The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
24. A Book That Will Keep You Up All Night – The Stand by Stephen King
25. 2018 bestseller – Becoming by Michelle Obama
26. Nonfiction Book about Science – Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil de Grasse Tyson
27. Listen to an Audiobook – Hidden Figures: The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation into Space by Margot Lee Shetterly
28. Set in Your Home State – The Firm by John Grisham (TN)
29. You Once Started But Never Finished – Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno
30. With a One Word Title – Hunger by Roxane Gay
31. A Fairy Tale Retelling – The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
32. Celebrity Book Club Pick – The Library Book by Susan Orlean (Reese Witherspoon’s book club)
33. A Book You Read in High School – The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
34. Business or Personal Finance Book – Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
35. Autobiography or Memoir – Becoming by Michelle Obama
36. Book Set in Another Country – The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon
37. Reread a Favorite Book – Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
38. Book by a Local Author – Death in the Family by James Agee
39. Banned Book – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
40. Narrative Nonfiction – Educated by Tara Westover
41. On Your To-Read List the Longest – Polgara the Sorceress by David Eddings (reread but per GR it’s been on the to-read list since Oct 2008)
42. A Book About Travel – West With The Night by Beryl Markham OR A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert by Gertrude Bell
43. Popular Book You’ve Never Read – Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
44. True Crime – Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury
45. Nonfiction Bestseller – Educated by Tara Westover
46. Science Fiction Novel – Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
47. A Book You Own But Haven’t Read – Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
48. Recommended by a Local Librarian
49. 2019 New Release
50. The First Book in a Series – Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
51. Prettiest cover
52. An Inspirational Story

West With The Night by Beryl Markham

A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert by Gertrude Bell

43. Popular Book You’ve Never Read
44. True Crime
45. Nonfiction Bestseller
46. Science Fiction Novel
47. A Book You Own But Haven’t Read
48. Recommended by a Local Librarian
49. 2019 New Release
50. The First Book in a Series
51. Prettiest cover
52. An Inspirational Story

Source: Pingel Sisters 2019 Reading Challenge

TL Wright

A Bookish Life

Author: TL Wright Page 1 of 2

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