TL Wright

A Bookish Life: Books & Writing

Category: Reading Challenges Page 1 of 2

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Reading Challenge: 30 Books in 30 Days Start

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On 2020-09-01

In Bookish Life, Reading Challenges

September usually means back to school and also time for my Reading Challenge! Which means today is the first day of my 30 Books in 30 Days Reading Challenge! Plus, I’m making some adjustments in tracking and posting from what I planned in my previous post. You’ll also find the booklist in the linked post.

Tracking

Each Friday, I’ll post reviews of the books I’ve read up to then, and I will update my Goodreads with every book I read as I read it. Follow me there for updates.

I adjusted my plans from the earlier post because once a day is a lot because of my health and other obligations, but a weekly post is a lot more achievable. I organized the reading list by the author’s last name and then by series for the two series I’m reading, and set up a Kindle collection as well, in reading list order. Anything to make it easier to remember where I am and what I’m reading and what I need to do next. A couple of books were not purchased from Amazon, but via the World SF Storybundle, and sent to Kindle so I could read in one place. I wish there was an app that is not the Kindle that syncs progress with Goodreads and other reading sites.

Reading Challenge Method

I use the Kindle app on an Android tablet and my Pixel and Pixel 3a phones, and for books not from Amazon, I use MoonReader+ Pro paired with Calibre Companion on the devices and Calibre on my laptop. I archive all my Amazon Kindle purchases in Calibre, as Amazon has a nasty habit of pulling back books without refunds. That’ll be a post at some point, so keep an eye out!

Time to start my reading challenge with Strange Love by Ann Aguirre. It’s been in my queue since Feb of this year.

30 Books in 30 Days A Reading Challenge.

30 Books in 30 Days – A Reading Challenge

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On 2020-08-12

In Bookish Life, Reading Challenges

Inspiration

My inspiration was 30 Books in 30 Days Challenge | Book Riot, with a few tweaks of my own, since I’ve been haphazard with what I read. So I went through my kindle app and picked a variety of books I’ve been meaning to read. There’s a wide assortment, I feel, with some non-fiction, and a diverse range in fiction genres. Could be a little more diverse, but I only had 30 slots, and let’s say over 30 choices, not counting all the Instapaper article collections I have sent to my Kindle app.

Everyone is welcome to follow along! Make your own rules, or follow mine. The only firm rule is that it has to be thirty books in thirty days. The definition of a book is up to your taste. I’m planning on doing similar challenges for poetry, plays, short stories, and essays at a later time.

I’ll be posting a review of each book, so bear with me as I shake the rust off my reviewing skills. I’ll start the challenge on September 1, 2020, and do a wrap-up post beside the book reviews so keep your eyes peeled, or subscribe to the blog.

30 Books in 30 Days A Reading Challenge.

My Personal Rules

These are the rules I set for myself for this challenge. Adjust the rules if you wish for your own personal challenge.

  1. Over 100 pages & able to read the entire book in a day. ~900 is my max length.
  2. Cannot reread over 15 books. (Not Applicable because all the books I chose I haven’t read yet.)
  3. A mix of genres, but cannot be a blogging book, writing craft book or a business book.
  4. Must already have a copy. No buying specifically for this.
  5. No box sets, anthologies, or series bundles. Individual books only. Can read a series, but they have to be individual books.

My Booklist – 30 Books in 30 Days

  1. Strange Love: An Alien Abduction Romance – Ann Aguirre
  2. The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden
  3. The Whole Five Feet: What the Great Books Taught Me – Christopher Beha {Nonfiction}
  4. Grumpy Jake – Melissa Blue
  5. The Emperor’s Edge – Lindsay Buroker
  6. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Becky Chambers
  7. A Closed and Common Orbit – Becky Chambers
  8. Record of a Spaceborn Few – Becky Chambers
  9. The Invisible Library – Genevieve Cogman
  10. In the Vanisher’s Palace – Aliette de Bodard
  11. Servant of the Underworld – Aliette de Bodard
  12. Dragon Unleashed – Grace Draven
  13. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe – Fannie Flagg
  14. The Price of Salt – Patricia Highsmith
  15. A Curse So Dark and Lonely – Brigid Kemmber
  16. The Raven Tower – Ann Leckie
  17. Jade City – Fonda Lee
  18. Brazen and the Beast – Sarah MacLean
  19. Sex on the Moon – Ben Mezrich {Nonfiction}
  20. Gods of Jade and Shadow – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  21. Love & Other Poisons – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  22. Sleeping Giants – Sylvain Nuevel
  23. Waking Gods – Sylvain Nuevel
  24. Only Human – Sylvain Nuevel
  25. A Conspiracy of Truths – Alexandra Rowland
  26. The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon
  27. White Whiskey Bargain – Jodie Slaughter
  28. Make Me No Grave: A Weird West Novel – Hayley Stone
  29. Artemis: A Novel – Andy Weir
  30. American Nations – Colin Woodward {Nonfiction}

What I Read This Week

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On 2020-01-11

In Bookish Life, Ray Bradbury Trio, Reading Challenges

Daily posts were not working out so I’m doing a weekly post. This week’s post is just from Monday Jan 06 to Saturday as I posted a daily reading on Sunday, and next week’s post will be a full week. I had trouble this week, lol, between a tornado warning and my laptop freezing so hard I had to reboot. But I persevered.
 

Monday, January 6

Book: Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare
Bradbury Trio
    Poem: “South in Hundreds” by Ching-in Chen
    Short Story: “Annotated Setlist of the Mikaela Cole Jazz Quintet” by Catherine George
Misc
Simple Abundance: “Standing Knee Deep in a River and Dying of Thirst”
Harvard Classics in 15 minutes a Day: Warned by Hector’s Ghost
In the dead of night Hector’s ghost appeared to warn Æneas of the impending doom to come upon the walled city of Troy. Æneas lifted his aged father on his back and, taking his son by the hand, sought safety in flight. Off to Latium!
(H. Schliemann, discoverer of ancient Troy, born Jan. 6, 1822.)
 

Tuesday, January 7

Book:
Bradbury Trio
    Essay: “A Reader’s Manifesto” by B.R. Myers [The Atlantic]
    Poem: “The Artist Signs Her Masterpiece, Immodestly” by Danielle DeTiberus
    Short Story: “The Rose Sisterhood” by Susan Taitel
Misc
Simple Abundance: “How Happy Are You Right Now?”
Harvard Classics in 15 minutes a Day: If He Yawned, She Lost Her Head!
The Sultan had a habit of beheading each dawn his beautiful bride of the night before, until he encountered Scheherazade. Cleverly she saved her life a thousand and one mornings.
 

Wednesday, January 8

Book: The Elusive Earl (kindle)
Bradbury Trio
    Essay: “Staring At Hell” by Kate Wagner
    Poem: “Unruly” by Jari Bradley
    Short Story: “The Open Window” by Saki
Simple Abundance: “The Underrated Duty”
Harvard Classics in 15 minutes a Day: Trying the Patience of Job
God was pleased with the piety of Job, but Satan accredited the piety to Job’s prosperity and happiness. So a trial was made. See how each succeeding affliction visited on Job shook the depths of his nature, and how he survived.
 

Thursday, January 9

Book: N/A
Bradbury Trio
    Poem: “Did Rise” by Jessica Rae Bergamino
    Short Story: “The Daughters of the Late Colonel” by Katherine Mansfield
Misc
Simple Abundance: “What is It You Truly Need?”
Harvard Classics in 15 minutes a Day: A Treasure Hunt in Nombre de Dios
With only fifty-two men, Sir Francis Drake conceives the idea of attacking his archenemy, Spain, at her most vulnerable point the treasure at Nombre de Dios. (Drake died at Nombre de Dios, Jan. 9, 1596.)
 

Friday, January 10

Book: N/A
Bradbury Trio
    Poem: “Say The Word” by Sandra Beasley
    Short Story: “Sometimes You End Up Where You Are” by Beth Cato
Misc
Simple Abundance: “Until It Is Carved in Stone”
Harvard Classics in 15 minutes a Day: Where Love Lies Waiting
King Pantheus of Thebes contended against Dionysus, the God, for the adoration of the Theban women. The god was winning by bewitching the women when the king interceded. Euripides tells the story in a masterpiece of Greek drama.
 

Saturday, January 11

Book: N/A
Bradbury Trio
    Essay: Jesus Plus Nothing by Jeff Sharlett [Harper’s]
    Poem: “Farewell” by Alice Dunbar-Nelson
    Short Story: “Soul Searching Search Engines” by Rodrigo Assis Mesquita
Simple Abundance: “Is It Recession or Depression?”
Harvard Classics in 15 minutes a Day: Hamilton – Father of Wall Street
Hamilton organized the Treasury Department. He penned most of the Federalist papers, which were greatly influential in bringing New York into the Union – the first step toward its eminent position in national and world finance. (Alexander Hamilton born Jan. 11, 1757.)
A list by day of what I read for my various challenges

What I Read Today – January 05, 2020

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On 2020-01-05

In Bookish Life, Ray Bradbury Trio, Reading Challenges

What I read today for my various challenges and projects

Simple Abundance – “The Woman You Were Meant to Be”

Harvard Classics – “The Soaring Eagle and Contented Stork“, essay by Mazzini. Mazzini labored for the freedom of Italy but was exiled. Byron and Goethe also battled for liberty. Mazzini wrote an essay in which he compared Byron to a soaring eagle and Goethe to a contented stork. (Byron arrived in Greece to fight for Greek freedom, Jan. 5, 1824.)

Short Story – “Last Bus to What’s Left of Albuquerque” by Carrie Cuinn

Essay – “A Tale of Two Continents: The Story of Lemuria and Gondwana” by Thomas Manuel

Poem – “The Affair” by David Baker

What I’ve Read Today – January 04, 2020

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On 2020-01-04

In Bookish Life, Ray Bradbury Trio, Reading Challenges

What I read today for my various challenges and projects

Harvard Classics – “A Flounder Fish Story” by the Grimm Brothers

Simple Abundance – “This isn’t a Dress Rehearsal”

Short Story – “The Other Two” by Edith Wharton

Poem – “The Editor’s Ex” by Caitlin Doyle

Essay – “The Hatpin Peril” Terrorized Men Who Couldn’t Handle the 20th-Century Woman  + “The Womens’ Movement” by Joan Didion

Book – The Beast of Beswick by Amalie Howard (amazon) [I rated it 5 stars for being excellent and engrossing. A minor quibble but it didn’t make a difference to the story]

What I Read Today – January 03, 2020

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On 2020-01-03

In Bookish Life, Ray Bradbury Trio, Reading Challenges

What I read today for my various challenges and projects

Essay: Living in the age of Prewar by Mohsin Hamid

Poem: “Little Wife” by Marianne Boruch

Short Story: “The Bowmen” by Arthur Machen

Harvard Classics: Cicero on Friendship: pp. 16-26

Simple Abundance: “Simple Abundance: The Inner Journey”

What I’ve Read – January 02, 2020

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On 2020-01-02

In Bookish Life, Ray Bradbury Trio, Reading Challenges

What I've Read Today:Bradbury trio + Harvard Classics
What I read today for my various challenges and projects

Essay: “Western Civilization” means Classics…and White Supremacy

Poem: “I Am Offering this Poem” by Jimmy Santiago Baca

Short Story: “A Haunted House” by Virginia Woolf

Harvard Classics in 15 Minutes: School-Day Poems by John Milton. Read: MILTON’S POEMS Vol. 4, pp. 7-18

Simple Abundance: “Loving The Questions”

Today was a bit harder due to real life, but day 2 has been taken care of! Including my Latin.

What I read today for my various challenges and projects

Harvard Classics: Franklin’s Advice for the New Year
“Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve”-was one of the rules for success framed by America’s first “self-made” man. Read from FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY Vol. 1, pp. 79-85
Essay: “The Great Conversation” by Robert Hutchins
Short Story: “From the Diary of Sherlock Holmes” by Maurice Baring
Poem: closet with the letter ‘d’ on either end by Atom Atkinson  + New Year’s Day by Kim Addonizio
Simple Abundance: “A Transformative Year of Delight and Discovery” in Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy

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On 2020-01-01

In Bookish Life, Ray Bradbury Trio, Reading Challenges

2020 Plans & Goals

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On 2019-12-31

In Bookish Life, Reading Challenges

2020 Blog and Reading Plans and Goals | The Bookish Life @ TL Wright

2019 In Review

Looking back, whoof. Lots of ideas, but Real Life has a way of kicking in. I have managed to reach (or nearly, I have two books left to read for my 2019 G.R. Challenge) at least one goal this year: 52 books in a year. But in my defense, my daughter graduated H.S. in May and started college in August. She is a commuter and does not drive yet, so I’m the driver. I’ve been averaging 100 miles six days a week, as she also has a job on the weekends at school as part of her work-study. But the new semester is coming up, so adjustments ahoy!

Blog wise, I’ve had some awesome numbers, and hopefully, next year will be even better, especially with more consistent blogging. I had to swap hosting earlier this month, which was a minor headache as I needed to iron out a few oddities, but my backups (including the databases) saved the day and made it easier for me and Dreamhost.

As for my reading challenges? I bought some books for them, and found a bunch at the library, but I have not finished any book that was on the reading challenge list. Oops. I’m going to give them another go this year, and possibly eyeball the 2020 Popsugar, Book Riot & Reading Women reading challenges this year. And be a lot more strict with my reading.

Reading List

Classics Club Reading List

  1. Alcott, Louisa May: Jo’s Boys
  2. Alcott, Louisa May: Little Men
  3. Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women
  4. Anonymous: One Thousand and One Nights
  5. Apuleius, Lucius: The Golden Ass
  6. Cavendish, Margaret: The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World
  7. Hamilton, Edith: Mythology 
  8. Hamilton, Edith: The Greek Way
  9. Lofting, Hugh: Doctor Doolittle (Series)
  10. Sidney, Margaret: The Complete Five Little Peppers (Series, my copy is an omnibus of all the novels)

Well-Educated Mind Reading List – Novels

  1. Miguel de Cervantes – Don Quixote (1605)
  2. John Bunyan – Pilgrim’s Progress (1679)
  3. Jonathan Swift – Gulliver’s Travels (1726)
  4. Jane Austen – Pride & Prejudice (1815)
  5. Charles Dickens – Oliver Twist (1838)
  6. Charlotte Brontë – Jane Eyre (1847)
  7. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter (1850)
  8. Herman Melville – Moby-Dick (1851)
  9. Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1851)
  10. Gustave Flaubert – Madame Bovary (1857)
  11. Fyodor Dostoevsky- Crime and Punishment (1866)
  12. Leo Tolstoy – Anna Karenina (1877)
  13. Thomas Hardy – The Return of the Native (1878)
  14. Henry James – The Portrait of a Lady (1881)
  15. Mark Twain – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
  16. Stephen Crane – The Red Badge of Courage (1895)
  17. Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness (1902)
  18. Edith Wharton – The House of Mirth (1905)
  19. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (1925)
  20. Virginia Woolf – Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
  21. Franz Kafka – The Trial (1925)
  22. Richard Wright – Native Son (1940)
  23. Albert Camus – The Stranger (1942)
  24. George Orwell – 1984 (1949)
  25. Ralph Ellison – Invisible Man (1952)
  26. Saul Bellow – Seize the Day (1956)
  27. Gabriel García Márquez – One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967)
  28. Italo Calvino – If on a winter’s night a traveler (1972)
  29. Toni Morrison – Song of Solomon (1977)
  30. Don DeLillo – White Noise (1985)
  31. A. S. Byatt – Possession (1990)
  32. Cormac McCarthy – The Road (2006) [link]

2019 Reading Challenges

  1. Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
  2. The Viking’s Kurdish Love: A True Story of Zoroastrians’ Fight for Survival, Part I: 988-1003 by Widad Akreyi
  3. White Trash: The 400-Year Untold Story of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg
  4. Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher
  5. The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang
  6. The Diamond: A Novel by Julie Baumgold
  7. What Child is This?: An Ellie Kent Mystery by Alice K. Boatwright
  8. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
  9. The Inheritance Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin
  10. The Broken Earth by N. K. Jemisin
  11. Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich
  12. The Martian by Andy Weir [link]

Vulture Top 100 of the 21st Century So Far List

  1. The Last Samurai, by Helen DeWitt
  2. The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen
  3. Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro [link]

How To Read a Book List

  1. Homer (9th Century B.C.?) – Iliad & Odyssey
  2. The Old Testament 
  3. Aeschylus (c.525-456 B.C.) – Tragedies
  4. Sophocles (c.495-406 B.C.) – Tragedies
  5. Herodotus (c.484-425 B.C.) – History
  6. Euripides (c.485-406 B.C.) – Tragedies (esp. Medea, Hippolytus, The Bacchae)
  7. Thucydides (c.460-400 B.C.) – History of the Peloponnesian War
  8. Gilgamesh 
  9. Egyptian Book of the Dead [link]

A Lifetime’s Reading—Ward

  1. Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) – Complete Works
  2. Plato (c. 429-347 BC) – Apology, Crito, Phaedo
  3. Vaclav Havel (b. 1936) – The Garden Party, The Memorandum
  4. Tacitus (c. 55-c. 120 AD) – Annals, Histories
  5. Ondra Lysohorsky (b. 1905) – Selected Poems
  6. Ernst Hans Gombrich (b. 1909) – The Story of Art
  7. Poem Into Poem: World Poetry in Modern Verse Translation
  8. Pierre Abélard (1079-1143) and Héloïse (1101-1164) – Letters, Historia Calamitatum of Abélard [link]

Misc & Bonus

  1. The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon
  2. The Price of Salt – Patricia Highsmith
  3. Quantum: A Thriller – Patricia Cornwall
  4. The Tiger’s Daughter –  K. Arsehault Riveria
  5. The Vine Witch –  Luanne G. Smith
  6. Personal Choice (24) [104 books in total]

Other Reading Projects

  1. The Harvard Classics in 15 minutes
  2. Ray Bradbury Trio – 1 Essay, Poem, & Short story daily
  3. Finish Reading My Currently Reading in GoodReads (45 books, some of which include books already listed [13 books already mentioned] )
  4. Read more books out of my comfort zone
  5. Read more books that make me think
  6. Read more happily ever afters

2020 Blog Plans & Goals

  1. More regular posts, aiming to post at least once a week, in the beginning, upping to three times a week by this time next year. I have a handful of post drafts right now, working on more, which also includes discussing what I’ve read in my reading lists.
  2. More photographs, aiming for a daily post. I have a new DSLR now, and it’s part of my project for 2020 to learn how to use it.
Reading Slumps and Getting Behind on The #TBR | TL Wright | A Bookish Life

Reading Slumps and Getting Behind on the #TBR

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On 2019-08-02

In Bookish Life, Reading Challenges

Reading Slumps and Getting Behind on The #TBR | TL Wright | A Bookish Life

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.

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