I am definitely obsessed with books and reading. Even though I have more unread books on my shelf and my Kindle than I can read in 5 years, I cannot stop buying more books or adding books to my endless To-Be-Read-Lists. This year I at least decided to face my problem and unlike the last 3 years, I did not vow to stop buying more books. That is a very good thing, as I ended up buying 14 books last week at the Exclusive Books Eastgate, closing down sale. Even though I do not even have the space on my bookshelves to add the new books, but I did get a decent collection.
On top of the 101 Books to Read Before You Die list I have been working through the last couple of years, I have also decided to do the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge this year and these are the books I chose for the categories:
A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25
Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65
Inside, Outside, Herman Wouk
A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people)
The Collected Stories, Eudora Welty
A book published by an indie press
The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World, Brian Allen Carr
A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ
Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx
A book by a person whose gender is different from your own
The Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
A book that takes place in Asia
A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
A book by an author from Africa
Agaat, Marlene van Niekerk
A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)
Princess, Jean Sasson
A microhistory
Stiff, Mary Roach
A YA novel
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
A sci-fi novel
The Martian, Andy Weir
A romance novel
Possession, AS Byatt
A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade
The Goldfinch, Donna Tart
A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.)
Before Midnight, Cameron Dokey
An audiobook
A Tale of 2 Cities, Charles Dickens
A collection of poetry
Prelude to Bruise, Saeed Jone
A book that someone else has recommended to you
The Unbearable likeness of Being, Milan Kundera
A book that was originally published in another language
The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind (Hi, have you met Panels?)
Still need to decided as I do not usually read graphic novels
A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure (Read, and then realize that good entertainment is nothing to feel guilty over)
The Brightest Star in the Sky, Marian Keys
A book published before 1850
Vanity Fairm, William Makepeace Thackeray
A book published this year
Still to decide but there is 11 months of the year to wait for a new book
A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”)
This is How, Augusten Burroughs
*I have already ticked off 3 books on the Read Harder Challenge, so things are off to a great start
On top of that I have also decided to do the Popsugar 2015 Reading Challenge, but have not specified all the books in the categories as I thought I can leave that open to complete as I pick up books during the course of the year. Unlike the Read Harder Challenge, I have decided that for the Popsugar Challenge books can overlap categories, otherwise I will just have way too many books that I can possibly read in 1 year.
So between all these challenges, I am sure to reach my reading goal of at least 75 books for 2015
kaleidoscopicchameleon 