Reading Challenges

[Violentvixen]

One of my local bookstores is doing a summer reading challenge! I wanted to share because I think it's fun and I honestly miss having a summer reading list between school years.

You can follow that link above to get the PDF version and try for a bingo, but here's the list if people want to give this a shot. It covers books read from Memorial Day to Labor Day, May 31 to Sep 6:

• A book about summer
• A book that became a movie
• A book that makes you laugh
• A book by a woman author
• A book recommended by a friend
• A book that's a true story
• A book about an LGBTQ+ character
• An Oregon Battle Of the Books book (I think substituting this one with any local reading list is fair game)
• A book by a debut author
• Read a book outside
• A fantasy book
• A book with a green cover
• The first book in a new series
• A book by an Asian American author
• A book that was published before you were born
• A biography
• A book about a different country
• A book you know nothing about
• A poetry book
• A book about an animal
• A book about history
• Reread a favorite book
• A book about a character who doesn't look like you
• An adventure book

Oh, and one book can count for multiple categories on here.

 

[Violentvixen]

Mine, and I'm counting multiple across categories for this list but on Bingo just one square per book:

• A book about summer
  • The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
  • Summerland by Michael Chabon
• A book that became a movie
  • The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda
  • The Martian by Andy Weird
• A book that makes you laugh
  • Broken by Jenny Lawson
• A book by a woman author
  • The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda
  • Fangs by Sarah Andersen
  • Broken by Jenny Lawson
  • Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
• A book recommended by a friend
  • Ace by Angela Chen
  • Pieometry
  • Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom
  • Driven to Distraction
• A book that's a true story
  • Yearbook by Seth Rogen
  • Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
  • Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland
• A book about an LGBTQ+ character
  • What Did You Eat Yesterday Vol 15
  • Ace by Angela Chen
• An Oregon Battle Of the Books book
  • Hey Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
• A book by a debut author
  • Ace by Angela Chen
  • Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
• Read a book outside
  • Pretty much all of these, not going to list them out
• A fantasy book
  • The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., our June book club book
• A book with a green cover
  • Metazoa by Peter Godfrey-Smith (Thanks to @Zef for giving this to me for Festivus!)
  • The Radium Girls
• The first book in a new series
  • The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., our June book club book
  • Paper Girls Vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
• A book by an Asian American author
  • Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
  • Ace by Angela Chen
• A book that was published before you were born
  • The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda
  • Dubliners by James Joyce
  • The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
• A biography
  • Yearbook by Seth Rogen
• A book about a different country
  • The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda
  • Dubliners by James Joyce (currently reading)
  • What Did You Eat Yesterday Vol 15
• A book you know nothing about
  • Paper Girls Vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
  • Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain, our July book club book
  • A Borrowed Man by Gene Wolfe, our August book club book
• A poetry book
  • The Exeter Book of Riddles
  • Twin Cities by Carol Muske-Dukes
• A book about an animal
  • Metazoa by Peter Godfrey-Smith
• A book about history
  • The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda
  • Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
• Reread a favorite book
  • Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
• A book about a character who doesn't look like you
  • A lot, going to skip listing this out
• An adventure book
  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
  • Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland

 

[FelixSH]

Sounds fun. I'm not making it through the challenge, I'm sure (I'm not reading nearly enough, these days), but I'll try. Let's see:

• A book about summer
• A book that became a movie
• A book that makes you laugh
• A book by a woman author
• A book recommended by a friend
• A book that's a true story
• A book about an LGBTQ+ character
• An Oregon Battle Of the Books book (I think substituting this one with any local reading list is fair game)
• A book by a debut author
• Read a book outside
• A fantasy book
• A book with a green cover
• The first book in a new series
• A book by an Asian American author
• A book that was published before you were born
  • The Gods Themselves, by Isaac Asimov​
• A biography
• A book about a different country
• A book you know nothing about
• A poetry book
• A book about an animal
• A book about history
• Reread a favorite book
• A book about a character who doesn't look like you
• An adventure book

One done. Well, it's a start.

 

[Violentvixen]

Finished this today and got my coupon, whoo!

Oddly the category I had the most trouble with was a book that became a movie. Apparently I haven't read many books that have been turned into movies recently, which is kind of odd!

 

[Falselogic]

Congrats on finishing!

 

[Violentvixen]

This bookstore is doing this again and I'm doing pretty well, but there are two categories this year I don't have ideas for and would love recommendations for:
- listen to an audiobook:

I hate audiobooks, I listen to people talk all day, why would I want to do more of that? I tend to forget I'm listening to a book and just tune it out. I've had the best luck listening to memoirs narrated by comedians, any good recommendations there? I've listened to Hello Molly by Molly Shannon and the Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer for previous challenges. I just finished reading Samantha Irby's new book and am facepalming for not listening to that instead.​

- a debut novel:

I don't pay any attention to if a book is debut or not. This doesn't have to be a recent debut novel but what debut novels would y'all recommend? One idea I have is to read Ursula K Le Guin's first novel since we just finished Left Hand of Darkness for book club, but the library doesn't have it and I'm curious what else is out there. I've read The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo and Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao for previous challenges.​

The full list of categories for this year is here if anyone is curious.

 

[estragon]

- a debut novel:

I don't pay any attention to if a book is debut or not. This doesn't have to be a recent debut novel but what debut novels would y'all recommend? One idea I have is to read Ursula K Le Guin's first novel since we just finished Left Hand of Darkness for book club, but the library doesn't have it and I'm curious what else is out there. I've read The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo and Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao for previous challenges.​

I would say that Le Guin's first three novels are primarily of interest only if you want to see her development as an author, because she doesn't really find her voice until her fourth and fifth (A Wizard of Earthsea and Left Hand of Darkness). You can see some of the buds of future ideas and interests, but the first three are basically just competently written 60s sci-fi/fantasy pulp, and then she suddenly puts out two all time classics. Her debut (Rocannon's World) is quite short though (technically a novella I think and originally sold as a two-in-one book with a work by another author), so if you are interested in seeing how big of a leap there is between her early work and Left Hand of Darkness, it's not a huge commitment.

Some approachable and relatively short classics that were also debut novels that you might consider, on the off chance you haven't read one of them yet:

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Three contemporary suggestions that come to mind (all three coincidentally deal with LGBTQ themes) :
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (gay Vietnamese immigrant experience, epistolary novel with somewhat aphoristic/poetic prose that is very love or hate)
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters (probably the most significant contemporary "literary novel" depicting trans issue)
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin (trans-post apocalyptic story with extreme body horror, proceed with caution--content warnings for basically anything you can imagine)

 

[Violentvixen]

on the off chance you haven't read one of them yet:

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I have read all these, but thank you! I especially like Things Fall Apart, we read that as part of my Classics book club. I didn't realize The Bluest Eye was Toni Morrison's first, huh. And good feedback about Le Guin.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (gay Vietnamese immigrant experience, epistolary novel with somewhat aphoristic/poetic prose that is very love or hate)
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters (probably the most significant contemporary "literary novel" depicting trans issue)
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin (trans-post apocalyptic story with extreme body horror, proceed with caution--content warnings for basically anything you can imagine)

Oh hey, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is on my to-read list, I didn't realize it was a debut novel. Looks like the author's previous releases were poetry. This sounds great and my library has it, thanks.

I'm going to read Detransition, Baby for a book club later this year, have heard good things but didn't realize it was a debut novel, now I'm looking forward to it even more now.

Thank you for the content warnings on Manhunt, I'll probably skip that one.

 

[lincolnic]

I was also gonna mention Detransition, Baby for a debut novel! High five, estragon.

 

[lincolnic]

Double posting because I just remembered John Darnielle's debut novel Wolf in White Van, which I loved when it came out and think I'm gonna reread soon. It's a story told in reverse about a man who's been isolated by a horribly disfiguring injury, but runs a play-by-mail RPG. A couple of teenagers take their game into the real world to disastrous consequences, which forces the narrator back into society.

It's hard to do the book justice in a description, but it's definitely worth a shot if you're at all interested.

 

[Violentvixen]

Double posting because I just remembered John Darnielle's debut novel Wolf in White Van, which I loved when it came out and think I'm gonna reread soon. It's a story told in reverse about a man who's been isolated by a horribly disfiguring injury, but runs a play-by-mail RPG. A couple of teenagers take their game into the real world to disastrous consequences, which forces the narrator back into society.

It's hard to do the book justice in a description, but it's definitely worth a shot if you're at all interested.

That does sound interesting! Looks like the book version is on hold at my library but the audiobook is available. So maybe I'll use this one for that challenge...

 

[Violentvixen]

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (gay Vietnamese immigrant experience, epistolary novel with somewhat aphoristic/poetic prose that is very love or hate)

Oh hey, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is on my to-read list, I didn't realize it was a debut novel. Looks like the author's previous releases were poetry. This sounds great and my library has it, thanks.

Finished this, thank you for bringing it up. I can't decide where I come down on the writing style. I didn't hate the poetic style but I thought it made a few parts of the book incredibly confusing to follow. And then there were times when it added so much depth and beauty to passages that would otherwise just be mundane. But then again I wasn't 100% sure what actually happened during some of those passages or what era was being talked about, etc. Still, I'm very glad I read it and it's made me curious about his poetry.

 

[Violentvixen]

You know what? I'm going to use this thread for various reading challenges I'm doing in case anyone else needs some inspiration. Right now my local library is doing a Winter Reading Challenge so I wanted to share here in case it inspires anyone. I left out a few that were very specific to local things.

- Read a Biography or Memoir
- Read a book set somewhere that you've always wanted to travel
- Read a book that takes place outside (or mostly outside)
- Read an award-winnning book - Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
- Read a novel written in verse - Ceremony counts for this too
- Read any book with Winter in the Title
- Read any book written by two or more authors
- Read something "cozy"
- Take a picture of your current read and a warm drink of your choice
- Attend a book club meeting Done
- Read a newspaper or magazine article about outdoor winter adventures - Done, lots of 'em
- Read a winter-themed poem or book of poetry Rendezvous With A Harp By Carol Muske-Dukes
- Read any book by a Pacific NorthWest author (sub with your local area)
- Read any book with Snow in the title
- Read any book by a debut author
- Read any genre of graphic novel, manga, or comic. What Did You Eat Yesterday Vol 20
- Read any mystery novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, our TT Book Club book
- Share a book you loved with a friend
- Share a picture of your To Be Read list
- Write a poem or song about a book

And here's a list of books the library shared to get people started.