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On 2019-01-02

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

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

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 – Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
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

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

2019 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge

Reading List

Here is my reading list for the 2019 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. I’ll be linking reviews for each book as I read them. I look forward to seeing how many I read this year.

The Book Riot Read Harder List

An epistolary novel or collection of letters – The Martian by Andy Weir OR The Habit of Being: The Letters of Flannery O’Connor OR The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows OR Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
An alternate history novel – Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove OR Clash of Eagles by Alan Smale OR The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
A book by a woman and/or AOC (Author of Color) that won a literary award in 2018 – The Art of Death by Edwidge Danicat or Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
A humor book – The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish OR Forever, Erma by Erma Bombeck
A book by a journalist or about journalism – Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News by Kevin Young
A book by an AOC 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 OR Binti by Nnedi Okorafor OR Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee OR The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu
An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America – Blood of the Dawn by Claudia Salazar Jiménez, trans. by Elizabeth Bryer OR Leaving Tabasco by Carmen Boullosa
An #ownvoices book set in Oceania – The Bone People by Keri Hulme OR The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
A book published prior to January 1, 2019, with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads – The Diamond: A Novel by Julie Baumgold
A translated book written by and/or translated by a woman – The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson
A book of manga – A Bride’s Story by Kaoru Mori OR The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Kore Yamazaki
A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character – The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith OR The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
A book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse – The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
A cozy mystery – What Child is This?: An Ellie Kent Mystery by Alice K. Boatwright OR Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
A book of mythology or folklore – Circe by Madeline Miller OR The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
A historical romance by an AOC – In The Midst of Winter by Isabella Allende OR The Beautiful Ones by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
A business book: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
A novel by a trans or nonbinary author – The Black Tides of Heaven by J.Y. Yang
A book of nonviolent true crime – Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury OR Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History by Ben Mezrich OR The Library Book by Susan Orlen
A book written in prison – De Profundis, The Ballad of Reading Gaol & Other Writings by Oscar Wilde OR Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
A comic by an LGBTQIA creator – Strong Female Protagonist by Molly Ostertag OR Black Panther: World of Wakanda by Roxanne Gay OR Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
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
A self-published book – The Martian by Andy Weir
A collection of poetry published since 2014 – Wade in the Water: Poems by Tracy K. Smith

2019 Reading Challenges