2013 Reading Challenges

Yay! I've been keeping an eye out for something like this. I didn't manage to complete a similar 2012 challenge (it's here - the year hasn't ended yet, but considering I'm only up to 30/50 at the minute, it's more than unlikely it will happen!), but I found it really helped me focus on the earlier books on my shelf. I keep my TBR in chronological order of date of purchase (like the other cool kids) so it was easy for me to just keep my eyes on the most lefthand shelf.

This year it's hosted by My Reader's Block but I'm aiming for roughly the same amount of books - 48. However, my TBR has tripled in size this year so I'll have an awful lot more books to choose from!

1) Death Comes To Pemberley by P.D. James
2) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
3) This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers 
4) The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker
5) Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
6) Delirium by Lauren Oliver 
7) Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung 
8) Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
9) Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 
10) The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke 
11) Requiem (Delirium series #3) by Lauren Oliver 
12) Minority Report by Philip K. Dick 
13) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick 
14) On The Map: Why the World Looks the Way It Does by Simon Garfield 
15) Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life by Sandra Beasley 
16) Attachments by Rainbow Rowell 
17) Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi 
18) Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
19) Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet by Stephanie Cowell
20) Oscar's Books: A Journey Around the Library of Oscar Wilde by Thomas Wright
21) The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde
22) The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
23) Peril at End House by Agatha Christie
24) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
25) In Your Face by Scarlett Thomas
26) A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
27) Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
28) The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
29) Wonder by R.J. Palacio
30) The Tower Menagerie: The Amazing True Story of the Royal Collection of Wild Beasts by Daniel Hahn
31) The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
32) Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
33) Enemies of the Heart by Rebecca Dean
34) The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
35) Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott
 

So far I've read 35 out of 48 books.

I took part in the What's in a Name challenge over at Beth Fish Reads this year and had a great time - in fact, it's looking to be the only challenge I'll actually complete! Click here for my 2012 post. I love fun challenges like this one :)

1. A book with up or down (or equivalent) in the title: Deep down True, The Girl Below, The Diva Digs up the Dirt
   Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch
2. A book with something you'd find in your kitchen in the title: Loose Lips Sink Ships, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Breadcrumbs
   Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
3. A book with a party or celebration in the title: A Feast for Crows, A Wedding in Haiti, Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness
   The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker
4. A book with fire (or equivalent) in the title: Burning for Revenge, Fireworks over Toccoa, Catching Fire
   Inferno by Dan Brown
5. A book with an emotion in the title: Baltimore Blues, Say You're Sorry, Dreams of Joy
   Joyland by Stephen King
6. A book with lost or found (or equivalent) in the title: The Book of Lost Fragrances, The World We Found, A Discovery of Witches
   Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
   

So far I've read 6 books for this challenge.

 Finally a challenge that I didn't do in 2012! This one is hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much and asks us to read classics in the following categories:

The Required Categories:

1. A 19th Century Classic - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
2. A 20th Century Classic - The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
3. A Pre-18th or 18th Century Classic
4. A Classic that relates to the African-American Experience - This can be an African-American author, or a book relating to slavery, civil rights, or African-American culture. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
5. A Classic Adventure
6. A Classic that prominently features an Animal - This can feature animal characters or animals in the title (real or imagined)

Optional Categories:

   A.  Re-read a Classic Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

   B.  A Russian Classic

   C.  A Classic Non-Fiction title

   D.  A Classic Children's/Young Adult title
    Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott

   E.  Classic Short Stories - collection must include at least 3 short stories by the same author, or at least 3 stories collected together by genre, time period, etc. Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung

Hopefully I'll be able to knock quite a few books off my Project Fill in the Gaps list too.

So far I've read 6 out of 11 books for this challenge.

I've been looking for a challenge like this one for a month or so now, but thankfully Escape With Dollycas Into a Good Book has stepped up to the plate! the challenge, fairly obviously, involves reading one book for each letter of the alphabet. Easier said than done, I'm sure.

A - Assassin's Curse, The by Cassandra Rose Clarke
B - Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods #1) by Melissa de la Cruz
C - Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) - Sarah J. Maas
D - Death Comes To Pemberley by P.D. James
E - Encounters of Sherlock Holmes by George Mann et al
F - Fifth Elephant, The by Terry Pratchett
G - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
H - Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
I - Inferno by Dan Brown
J - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
K - Kick-Ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
L - Last Runaway, The by Tracy Chevalier
M - Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
N - New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance, The by Elna Baker
O - Old Man and the Sea, The by Ernest Hemingway
P - Perfume Collector, The by Kathleen Tessaro
Q
R - Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung
S - Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
T - This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers
U - Universe Versus Alex Woods, The by Gavin Extence
V - Van Alen Legacy, The (Blue Blood series #4) by Melissa de la Cruz
W - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
X
Y
Z 

So far I've read 22 out of 26 books.