We’re a little past the midway point of the year (how did that happen?) so it’s a good time to check in on reading challenges. I’m being laid-back this year, which is a good thing since I started a new job about four months ago and it’s been distracting me!
One of my reading goals was to do more rereads of sort of…second tier favorites. Books I like a lot, but don’t frequently think of rereading. That’s been going along well, especially on audiobooks, where I’ve been working through the Harry Potter series and The Little House series, alternating books (one Harry Potter takes me about three weeks; Little House tends to be one week or less…) I’m enjoying them both, however different they are, and I highly recommend The Long Winter as a good COLD read during hot weather!
I also realized that I’ve neglected two of my first tier favorite books for almost five years, and promptly reread L. M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle and Star Trek: First Frontier by Diane Carey and James I. Kirkland. Both of them wonderful character studies with excellent setting descriptions! Two other beloved rereads were Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and The Little White Bird by J. M. Barrie, both read on a recent vacation to London. I also reread The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig and Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede, for their London settings–and realized that both have heroes who live in Grosvenor Square during Regency days. So Miles and Mairelon were neighbors!
Apart from rereads, I’m doing the…unnamed, hit-random-criteria challenge below. I managed to hit lots more criteria, but I think I’m really running out of the easy ones now, and will have to pay attention to meet some others! See my previous post for what I met in the first quarter of the year, and below for more recent ones.
- A book with more than 500 pages: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan (review coming soon!)
- A book set in a different country: Witch’s Business by Diana Wynne Jones (England)
- A popular author’s first book: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
- A book more than 100 years old: The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner
- A book with antonyms in the title: Common Miracles by Julie Anne Akins
- A book with a love triangle: Loose Changeling by A. G. Stewart
- A book set in high school: The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling (the beginning and end, at least)
- A book with a color in the title: The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
- A book you own but have never read: Magic Island: The Fictions of L. M. Montgomery by Elizabeth Waterston
- A book based on or turned into a TV show: Doctor Who: Feast of the Drowned by Stephen Cole (audio, read by David Tennant)
- A play: The Brothers Menaechmus by Plautus
- A book you started but never finished: Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt (because it was depressing me)
As may be clear I’m still reading a lot…I’m just not reviewing a lot lately! Life seems to be settling down a little though, so I hope to get more reviews out soon. And in the meantime, if you’re curious about any particular book, feel free to ask!
What about the most talked about new (sort of) book of the year, “Go Set a Watchman,” by Harper Lee? Will you read that? How does it fit into your reading challenges? If you read it, will you review it?
It’s on the list…I’m #76 in line at the library…which puts me ahead of 100 other people!
Ooooh, you divide your favourites into tiers? Neat! How does your system work? (I, uh, have none.)
I hope you’re still enjoying the new job! ^_^
Well, it’s not exactly a *system.* I just know I have a handful of pretty static books that are my top 5 favorites, and maybe a dozen more that I frequently think of as especially beloved, and then a whole host of ones I love but are not *quite* as good and I don’t think of so automatically…if that makes any sense!
And the new job is still good, thanks for the well-wishes!