Another Year...Another Book Challenge
Earlier today I pulled up my blog and saw that it has been a very long time since I've blogged. Six months to be exact. I have thought a couple times over the past few weeks that it's time to do another winery roll up but I've been lacking in the follow through department.
Looking back at my blog I saw that one year ago today I did a book blog on completing the Read Harder 2018 challenge. I liked the date connection so I thought I'd go ahead and do a book blog. I am doing the Read Harder 2019 Challenge but I am still seven books away from finishing this year's challenge.
Since the challenge is 24 categories, I'm going to highlight the first twelve books I read this year and then I'll do the final twelve in another blog.
One of the few blog posts I have done this year was about the first book I read for the 2019 challenge: Lesley Stahl's Reporting Live for read a book by a journalist or about journalism. Here is a link to that post if you want to go back and read it: Has This All Happened Before?
The other challenges for this post include read an epistolary novel or collection of letters; a book by a woman and/or author of color (AOC) that won a literary award in 2018; a humor book; a book by an AOC set in or about space; a book published prior to January 1, 2019 with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads; a translated book written by and/or translated by a woman; a book of manga; a book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character; a cozy mystery; a comic by an LGBTQIA creator; and a children's or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009.
We can start at the beginning with Maria Augusta von Trapp -- yes, that Maria. In January I got on a big kick and read three of Maria von Trapp's books. I shared a bit on Instagram about how that happened. I was watching an interview with Emily Blunt about the new Mary Poppins movie, which included a mention of the original Mary Poppins -- Julie Andrews. That interview led me to a cast reunion show of the movie The Sound of Music, which got me interested in the real-life Maria von Trapp. I was able to get three of her books from the library: The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, A Family on Wheels, and Maria. A Family on Wheels had less than 100 reviews on Goodread so one of the books helped check off one of the challenges.
I really enjoyed reading all three books. She has a very simple, honest, often humorous, writing style and you learn a lot about the family's life in Austria before the war, their move to America, and the decade+ they spent on the road performing concerts and doing ministry work.
Maria and her husband left wealth and affluence behind when they fled Austria during World War II. Crossing the Alps with nothing but what could fit in backpacks the size for a day pack so they didn't draw suspicion that they might be leaving. They were being closely watched at the time.
She writes this about being a refugee in America - a new world, a new culture, and a language she did not yet speak: "A refugee is not just someone lacking in money and everything else. A refugee is vulnerable to the slightest touch: he has lost his country, his friends, his earthly belongings. He is a stranger, sick at heart. He is suspicious; he feels misunderstood. If people smile, he thinks they ridicule him. If they look serious, he thinks they don't like him. He is a full-grown tree in the dangerous process of being transplanted with the chance of possibly not being able to take root in the new soil."
I had to do a fair amount of web searching to find books to meet this set of 12 challenges. I didn't know what manga was before the challenge so through a series of web searches I learned that it is Japanese graphic novels. I found Natsumi Ando's manga book Kitchen Princess 1. I figured if I'm going to read a book of manga why not combine it with my love of cooking and food. Plus the library had it.
Keeping with the theme of graphic novels and comics, I had to find a book by an LGBTQIA creator. I first found Marguerite Bennett but I couldn't get any of her comics through the library system but I could get a book called Bingo Love that she collaborated on so I went ahead and got that.
Through web searching I found Samuel Delany's Babel 17 -- winner of the Nebula Award in 1967. This book was rather difficult for me. I found it hard to read the descriptions in the book and visualize the sci-fi world and what exactly was happening. I read this one for a book by an author of color set in or about space. If you are doing the challenge and haven't done this one yet -- I would instead recommend Leland Melvin's book Chasing Space. It's about his experience working for NASA and becoming an astronaut.
Walking through the library I came across Charles Osgood's Funny Letters from Famous People. My mom is a faithful CBS Sunday Morning viewer so I grew up with Charles Osgood. I figured I'd give the book a shot. I clearly have a different sense of humor because I hardly found any of the letters funny. I finished the book but if you are doing the challenge and need to read an epistolary novel or collection of letters I would recommend instead The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, which I read last year.
In my Wish / To Be Read list I have Watership Down by Richard Adams. It is a book told from the point of view of rabbits. I requested it through the library but it was a bit more substantive than I was expecting. It has good reviews but I was not in the right head space where I thought I could take it on so thankfully my friend Chris -- another avid reader -- suggested I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. I remember seeing the cartoon movie based on this book but had never read the book. So, I gladly swapped out the two books.
Earlier this year I had a lot of different things weighing down on me so I needed to lighten up my reading a bit. I gladly read two children's books for the challenge - Dave the Potter for read a children's book that has won a diversity award since 2009, and Evelina Daciute's The Fox on the Swing for read a translated book written by and/or translated by a woman. Evelina is an artist and illustrator who lives in Lithuania.
There are certainly a lot of options when it comes to reading a book of humor. I'm always happy to read something that involves a dog so I gladly read Lessons from Lucy by humorist and newspaper columnist Dave Barry. The most authentic part of the entire book was the very last chapter where Dave Barry shared the very real and scary story of almost losing his daughter to a rare illness just before she was set to leave for college. It's a very strong, stand alone chapter that I think could be taught in writing classes.
One of my favorite books of the twelve was Elizabeth Acevado's The Poet X, which received the National Book Award in 2018 for Young People's Literature. This was a quick read for me. I read the book in two days. It tells the story of a high school student in Harlem who discovers a passion and channel for expression -- slam poetry. The book is told in poem format. Here is one of the quotes I copied in my journal: "Late into the night I write and the pages of my notebook swell from all the words I've pressed into them. It almost feels like the more I bruise the page the quicker something inside me heals."
Wrapping this up -- I was able to read a cozy mystery from my own library -- A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny. I think I picked this book up last year in a give-away pile at the library. I don't typically read a lot of mystery books but I remember watching a segment on Louise Penny on CBS Sunday Morning and thought it would be interesting to read one of her books. Here is a link to the segment if you want to watch it. This is about the eleventh book in a series she is writing about a Canadian detective named Armand Gamache. Even though this book starts after a whole lot of other stuff has happened -- I didn't have any problems reading this as a stand alone book. I really liked the character Gamache and the community of Three Pines. Felt like a community I wouldn't mind being part of.
So there it is. Half of my 2019 Read Harder Challenge. I'm finishing up the challenge this year a bit slower than last year but I still have four months to read my final seven books. So stay tuned for the final half of the challenge.
So tell me what books you are reading right now and would recommend. One book I read recently, just for enjoyment, was The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. Very, very good book. Highly recommend reading.
Looking back at my blog I saw that one year ago today I did a book blog on completing the Read Harder 2018 challenge. I liked the date connection so I thought I'd go ahead and do a book blog. I am doing the Read Harder 2019 Challenge but I am still seven books away from finishing this year's challenge.
Since the challenge is 24 categories, I'm going to highlight the first twelve books I read this year and then I'll do the final twelve in another blog.
 |
| First Half of the 2019 Read Harder Challenge |
The other challenges for this post include read an epistolary novel or collection of letters; a book by a woman and/or author of color (AOC) that won a literary award in 2018; a humor book; a book by an AOC set in or about space; a book published prior to January 1, 2019 with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads; a translated book written by and/or translated by a woman; a book of manga; a book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character; a cozy mystery; a comic by an LGBTQIA creator; and a children's or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009.
We can start at the beginning with Maria Augusta von Trapp -- yes, that Maria. In January I got on a big kick and read three of Maria von Trapp's books. I shared a bit on Instagram about how that happened. I was watching an interview with Emily Blunt about the new Mary Poppins movie, which included a mention of the original Mary Poppins -- Julie Andrews. That interview led me to a cast reunion show of the movie The Sound of Music, which got me interested in the real-life Maria von Trapp. I was able to get three of her books from the library: The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, A Family on Wheels, and Maria. A Family on Wheels had less than 100 reviews on Goodread so one of the books helped check off one of the challenges.
Maria and her husband left wealth and affluence behind when they fled Austria during World War II. Crossing the Alps with nothing but what could fit in backpacks the size for a day pack so they didn't draw suspicion that they might be leaving. They were being closely watched at the time.
She writes this about being a refugee in America - a new world, a new culture, and a language she did not yet speak: "A refugee is not just someone lacking in money and everything else. A refugee is vulnerable to the slightest touch: he has lost his country, his friends, his earthly belongings. He is a stranger, sick at heart. He is suspicious; he feels misunderstood. If people smile, he thinks they ridicule him. If they look serious, he thinks they don't like him. He is a full-grown tree in the dangerous process of being transplanted with the chance of possibly not being able to take root in the new soil."
I had to do a fair amount of web searching to find books to meet this set of 12 challenges. I didn't know what manga was before the challenge so through a series of web searches I learned that it is Japanese graphic novels. I found Natsumi Ando's manga book Kitchen Princess 1. I figured if I'm going to read a book of manga why not combine it with my love of cooking and food. Plus the library had it.
Keeping with the theme of graphic novels and comics, I had to find a book by an LGBTQIA creator. I first found Marguerite Bennett but I couldn't get any of her comics through the library system but I could get a book called Bingo Love that she collaborated on so I went ahead and got that.
Through web searching I found Samuel Delany's Babel 17 -- winner of the Nebula Award in 1967. This book was rather difficult for me. I found it hard to read the descriptions in the book and visualize the sci-fi world and what exactly was happening. I read this one for a book by an author of color set in or about space. If you are doing the challenge and haven't done this one yet -- I would instead recommend Leland Melvin's book Chasing Space. It's about his experience working for NASA and becoming an astronaut.
Walking through the library I came across Charles Osgood's Funny Letters from Famous People. My mom is a faithful CBS Sunday Morning viewer so I grew up with Charles Osgood. I figured I'd give the book a shot. I clearly have a different sense of humor because I hardly found any of the letters funny. I finished the book but if you are doing the challenge and need to read an epistolary novel or collection of letters I would recommend instead The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, which I read last year.
In my Wish / To Be Read list I have Watership Down by Richard Adams. It is a book told from the point of view of rabbits. I requested it through the library but it was a bit more substantive than I was expecting. It has good reviews but I was not in the right head space where I thought I could take it on so thankfully my friend Chris -- another avid reader -- suggested I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. I remember seeing the cartoon movie based on this book but had never read the book. So, I gladly swapped out the two books.
Earlier this year I had a lot of different things weighing down on me so I needed to lighten up my reading a bit. I gladly read two children's books for the challenge - Dave the Potter for read a children's book that has won a diversity award since 2009, and Evelina Daciute's The Fox on the Swing for read a translated book written by and/or translated by a woman. Evelina is an artist and illustrator who lives in Lithuania.
There are certainly a lot of options when it comes to reading a book of humor. I'm always happy to read something that involves a dog so I gladly read Lessons from Lucy by humorist and newspaper columnist Dave Barry. The most authentic part of the entire book was the very last chapter where Dave Barry shared the very real and scary story of almost losing his daughter to a rare illness just before she was set to leave for college. It's a very strong, stand alone chapter that I think could be taught in writing classes.
One of my favorite books of the twelve was Elizabeth Acevado's The Poet X, which received the National Book Award in 2018 for Young People's Literature. This was a quick read for me. I read the book in two days. It tells the story of a high school student in Harlem who discovers a passion and channel for expression -- slam poetry. The book is told in poem format. Here is one of the quotes I copied in my journal: "Late into the night I write and the pages of my notebook swell from all the words I've pressed into them. It almost feels like the more I bruise the page the quicker something inside me heals."
Wrapping this up -- I was able to read a cozy mystery from my own library -- A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny. I think I picked this book up last year in a give-away pile at the library. I don't typically read a lot of mystery books but I remember watching a segment on Louise Penny on CBS Sunday Morning and thought it would be interesting to read one of her books. Here is a link to the segment if you want to watch it. This is about the eleventh book in a series she is writing about a Canadian detective named Armand Gamache. Even though this book starts after a whole lot of other stuff has happened -- I didn't have any problems reading this as a stand alone book. I really liked the character Gamache and the community of Three Pines. Felt like a community I wouldn't mind being part of.
So there it is. Half of my 2019 Read Harder Challenge. I'm finishing up the challenge this year a bit slower than last year but I still have four months to read my final seven books. So stay tuned for the final half of the challenge.
So tell me what books you are reading right now and would recommend. One book I read recently, just for enjoyment, was The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. Very, very good book. Highly recommend reading.
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