2016 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge

Once again I'll be doing the Witches and Witchcraft Reading Challenge.  I'll try to get at least 10 books. Click the link to sign up and see more details:

Rules

• Low commitment…you can sign up to read just ONE book as an INITIATE!!!
• Participants who choose to link up reviews will be entered for the end of year prize!!

Challenge Rules:

• This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2016 – Dec 31, 2016. I will be posting a place to link up a sign-up post (below), reviews and a wrap-up post. (Note: You do not have to review the books to participate, but only those who link up reviews will be entered for the prize)
• Grab the reading challenge button (code & button below) and post this reading challenge on your blog to track your progress. Please include a link back to this sign-up post so others can join the reading challenge too. You do not have to be a book blogger to participate- you could track your progress and post reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, etc.
• Any full length book that includes a witch as a main character or includes major witchcraft elements counts. They may be fiction or non-fiction. However, they should not be reference books which are not read cover to cover-I will leave this to your discretion.
• Books can be any format (bound, eBook, audio).
• Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
• You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.
• When you sign up in the linky put the direct link to your post about joining the 2016 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge, not just a link to your blog.
• You can move up levels, but no moving down.
• Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2016, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
• Have some Witchy Good Fun !!!

The Levels:

Initiate: Read 1 – 5 Witchy Books
Maiden: Read 6 – 10 Witchy Books
Mother: Read 11 – 15 Witchy Books
Crone: Read 16 – 20 Witchy Books

Here is what I am reading:

1. White Cat--Holly Black
2. Red Glove--Holly Black
3. Black Heart--Holly Black
4. Six of Crows--Leigh Badugo
5. The Prophecy of the Stones--Flavia Bujor
6. The Red House Mystery--A.A. Milne
7. Old Black Witch!--Wende and Harry Devlin
8. The Ghost Bride--Yangsze Choo
9. The Third Witch--Rebecca Reisert
10. It Takes a Witch--Heather Blake

Challenge completed on October 18

My Year in Reading

As you may have seen from my blog, I'm an avid reader, though I don't consider myself a book blogger.  I just completed my last two challenges I signed up for this year, and my last book of this year, All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr.




Even though the last day of the year is tomorrow, I plan to take a break from reading, since on New Year's Eve things can get hectic.  I know I need to get some stuff at the store tomorrow. And I'll be off to the celebration at a local bar.   And I've been signing up for challenges like crazy for next year.  Still waiting to see if some of the ones I did last year will be offered again:  Feminism, (this one is up now at this new blog), Plays (still no word on this one), Poetry,  Witches and Witchcraft (the sign ups for both of these are now up), and to see if there will be a Lucky 16. (the blog hosting this one said they will not be doing it this year). I decided not to do a TBR challenge next year even though I have a stack of books that need to be read.  I'm also foregoing any "finishing series" challenges and library challenges.  I check out so many books that a library challenge has gotten redundant for me and trying to do a TBR challenge tends to make me neglect my book stacks even more!  I just made my goal for this year.  I needed to cut down, so I chose only to do themed and format challenges (audiobooks, graphic novels/manga) as well as a few checklist ones.   I had stopped doing those based on page numbers, book sizes and "authors new to you" this past year.  And as you can see, I took the plunge into hosting a challenge for the first time. I got this idea around May this year  and did some Googling for examples for several months before I made my post official.

Of the challenges I did this soon-to-past-year, some unfortunately fell victim to blog deletion by midyear.  Some got picked up by other blogs, but some disappeared completely. (see here).

My Goodreads profile says I read 232 books, totaling to 62,123 pages.  My shortest book was  Mama Cat Has Three Kittens (20 pages) and my longest one was Outlander (850 pages).



I already have my first reads planned for next year.  Looking forward to it all.

2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

I've gotten into reading historic fiction the last two years, but the two different historic fiction challenges I did during those years no longer exist.  So I am glad to see this one offered at Passages to the Past. I'm going to try to get to 25 books, maybe more if possible.

Here are the Reading Challenge details:

Each month, a new post dedicated to the HF Challenge will be created. To participate, you only have to follow the rules:

• Everyone can participate, even those who don't have a blog (you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish)

• Add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review)

• Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, etc.)

During the following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

20th century Reader - 2 books
Victorian Reader - 5 books
Renaissance Reader - 10 books
Medieval - 15 books
Ancient History - 25 books
Prehistoric - 50+ books

Here are the Reading Challenge details:

Each month, a new post dedicated to the HF Challenge will be created. To participate, you only have to follow the rules:

• Everyone can participate, even those who don't have a blog (you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish)

• Add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review)

• Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, etc.)

During the following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

20th century Reader - 2 books
Victorian Reader - 5 books
Renaissance Reader - 10 books
Medieval - 15 books
Ancient History - 25 books
Prehistoric - 50+ books

Here is what I'm reading:

1. Anne of Green Gables--Lucy Maud Montgomery
2. The Iliad--Homer
3. The Funeral Dress--Susan Gregg Gilmore
4. The Alchemist--Paulo Coelho
5. History--Elsa Morante
6. War and Peace--Leo Tolstoy
7. The Education of Little Tree--Forrest Carter
8. Murder in Little Italy--Victoria Thompson
9. Jane Eyre--Charlotte Bronte
10. Far Away and Close to Home--Michael Katz
11. Somewhere in the Dark--Walter Dean Myers
12. Devil's Prize--Kat Martin
13. Little Bee--Chris Cleave
14. The Pillars of the Earth--Ken Follett
15. Medea and Other Plays--Euripides
16. To Kill a Mockingbird--Harper Lee
17. Werewolves of New Idria--John Chadwell
18. Corsets and Clockwork
19. The Yellow Wall-Paper and Other Writings--Charlotte Perkins Gilman
20. The Odyssey--Homer
21. Queen's Own Fool--Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris
22. The Divine Comedy--Dante Alighieri
23. Everything I Never Told You--Celeste Ng
24. The Notebook--Nicholas Sparks
25. Etiquette & Espionage--Gail Carriger
26. Curtsies & Conspiracies--Gail Carriger
27. Waistcoats & Weaponry--Gail Carriger
28. Manners & Mutiny--Gail Carriger
29. Great Expectations--Charles Dickens
30. The Husband's Secret--Liane Moriarty
31. Will Sparrow's Road--Karen Cushman
32. Northanger Abbey--Jane Austen
33. The Red House Mystery--A.A. Milne
34. The Widow of the South--Robert Hicks
35. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel--Deborah Moggach
36. The Lake House--Kate Morton
37. Say You Love Me--Johanna Lindsey
38. Things Fall Apart--Chinua Achebe
39. Gorky Park--Martin Cruz Smith
40. Villette--Charlotte Bronte
41. Monterey Bay--Lindsay Hatton
42. Firefly Lane--Kristin Hannah
43. Fly Away--Kristin Hannah
44. The Summer of the Swans--Betsy Byars
45. The Higher Power of Lucky--Susan Patron
46. King of the Wind--Marguerite Henry
47. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children--Ransom Riggs
48. The Girl You Left Behind--Jojo Moyes
49. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty--A.N. Roquelaure
50. The Kite Runner--Khaled Hosseni
51. The Bell Jar--Sylvia Plath
52. The Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner
53. Polar Star--Martin Cruz Smith
54. Calico Bush--Rachel Field
55. The Catcher in the Rye--J.D. Salinger
56. The Ghost Bride--Yangsze Choo
57. The Third Witch--Rebecca Reisert
58. Lenobia's Vow--P.C. Cast
59. The Underground Railroad--Colson Whitehead
60. Red Square--Martin Cruz Smith
61. Follow the Sun--Paul J. Shanley
62. Another Brooklyn--Jacqueline Woodson
63. Empress Orchid--Anchee Min
64. A Walk to Remember--Nicholas Sparks
65. From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun--Jacqueline Woodson
66. A Season of Goodwill--Elizabeth Walter
67. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan--Lisa See
68. The Genius--Jesse Kellerman
69. The Queene's Christmas--Karen Harper
70. Carol--Patricia Highsmith

Challenge completed on December 25

2016 Southern Literature Reading Challenge

Doing this one again.  I will try to get to the highest level.  Sign up here.

The rules:

Read a book(s)--non-fiction or fiction of any genre, for any age group--written by an author from the South and set mostly in the South.

Definitions of the South are flexible, so I've decided to define it the way I want. That's the fun of hosting your own challenge, right? :-)

The states:
South Carolina
Georgia
Alabama
North Carolina
Virginia
Tennessee 
Mississippi
Louisiana
Kentucky 
West Virginia
Texas
Arkansas
Florida

Please keep in mind that this is a Southern literature challenge. It's possible to find books set in each of these states that are not Southern in nature or feeling. Use your best judgment when choosing your books. 

Levels:

Level 1--C'mon in the house! Read 1-2 books.

Level 2--Pull up a seat and stay a while! Read 3-4 books

Level 3--Have a glass of sweet iced tea, honey. Read 5-6 books

Level 4--Y'all come back now, y'hear! Read 7-8 books

The challenge will run from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016. You can join in anytime throughout the year.


Here is what I am reading:

1. Brown Girl Dreaming--Jacqueline Woodson
2. The Funeral Dress--Susan Gregg Gilmore
3. The Education of Little Tree--Forrest Carter
4. Hiss of Death--Rita Mae Brown
5. The Prince of Tides--Pat Conroy
6. Glazed Murder--Jessica Beck
7. To Kill a Mockingbird--Harper Lee
8. The Notebook--Nicholas Sparks
9. Savannah Breeze--Mary Kay Andrews
10. A Sheetcake Named Desire--Jacklyn Brady
11. Loud in the House of Myself--Stacy Pershall
12. The Girl Who Chased the Moon--Sarah Addison Allen
13. The Weekenders--Mary Kay Andrews
14. The Widow of the South--Robert Hicks
15. The Summer Girls--Mary Alice Monroe
16. The Summer Wind--Mary Alice Monroe
17. Looking for Alaska--John Green
18. The Prophet of Yonwood--Jeanne DuPrau
19. Go Set a Watchman--Harper Lee

Challenge completed on September 14

THE 2016 DIVERSE BOOKS READING CHALLENGE

This is  a good challenge to participate in.  Go to Chasing Faerytales to sign up and see more detail.

You all know how much I love diversity. And one of my main resolutions for 2016 is to read more diverse books, so I was looking for a reading challenge to keep me in track! And I was astonished to realise that there was no such challenge available, so why not host one myself? As I was thinking aloud on the lines, the lovely Shelly @Read.Sleep.Repeat offered to co host if I did do it, so here are we, hosting the 2016 Diverse Reads Book Challenge!

The main objective of this challenge is to promote diverse books and help bloggers and readers who want to read more diversity in 2016!

THE RULES

                ·         Read books that are diverse.

·         The Main Character must be part of a diverse group*

Defined by We Need Diverse Books:  We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities*, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.                        

*We subscribe to a broad definition of disability, which includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses (this may also include addiction). Furthermore, we subscribe to a social model of disability, which presents disability as created by barriers in the social environment, due to lack of equal access, stereotyping, and other forms of marginalization.
·         The book can be set in a diverse setting, but not necessarily.

( But, note that books set in a different country, but features a white MC won't be considered as diverse here. Eg : Ink by Amanda Sun, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins )

·         #Ownvoices stories (stories about marginalized groups written by a member of that marginalized group) are widely encouraged as well! Promoting diverse books by diverse authors is important.

·         If the book is a fantasy it can be based on/inspired by a diverse mythology or folklore    

   ( E.g. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh)

·         If the book is sci fi or dystopia, it has to be based on a dystopian country that’s not USA.

  ( E.g. Cinder by Marissa Meyer)

·         Intersectionality is encouraged.

 ( Eg :- A book featuring a person of colour with a disability )

·         The novels don’t have to be YA, but as we are YA bloggers, those are probably the novels we are more likely to read

THE LOGISTICS

·         This challenge will run from the 1st of January 2016 to the 31st of December 2016.

·         You can join in anytime you want.

·         This challenge is meant to be a personal goal challenge to help find more diverse novels and to read more diversely.

·         There are no levels/points! You can read as much or as little as you’d like, this is a personal goal and is mainly individualized

·         To join the challenge, add your sign up post to the link up at the bottom of the post. You can include your TBR for the challenge if you want, but it’s not a requirement. Your sign up post can be a separate post or a part of a giant list of all your 2016 reading challenges. Anything is fine.

·         If you don’t have a blog, you may use a twitter handle or instagram profile and share this post with the hashtag #DiverseReads2016 that you’re participating! But add that link to the sign up link below.

·         If you want to share why you joined the challenge or why you want to read more diverse books, you can tweet us using #Iwanttoreaddivesitybecause… and we can discuss there. This is optional, just adding your blog to the bottom of this post is enough for this requirement!

Here is what I am reading:

1. Brown Girl Dreaming--Jacqueline Woodson
2. Prozac Nation--Elizabeth Wurtzel (mental illness)
3. The Alchemist--Paulo Coelho
4. Kitchen Princess Omnibus Volume 1--Natsumi Ando
5. War and Peace--Leo Tolstoy
6. Letter to My Daughter--Maya Angelou
7. The Education of Little Tree--Forrest Carter
8. Murder in Little Italy--Victoria Thompson
9. Far Away and Close to Home--Michael Katz
10. Somewhere in the Darkness--Walter Dean Myers
11. Little Bee--Chris Cleave
12. To Kill a Mockingbird--Harper Lee
13. Persepolis--Marjane Satrapi
14. Persepolis 2--Marjane Satrapi
15. Precious--Sapphire
16. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?--Mindy Kaling
17. A Cold Day for Murder--Dana Stabenow
18. Everything I Never Told You--Celeste Ng
19. I Am Malala--Malala Yousafzai
20. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot--Kim Barker
21. Pink Slip--Rita Ciresi
22. Walk Two Moons--Sharon Creech
23. Deep Blue--Jennifer Donnelly
24. A Sheetcake Named Desire--Jacklyn Brady
25. 1968: The Year That Rocked the World--Mark Kurlansky
26. Cress--Marissa Meyer
27. Fairest--Marissa Meyer
28. Winter--Marissa Meyer
29. Stars Above--Marissa Meyer
30. The Housekeeper and the Professor--Yoko Ogawa
31. The Widow of the South--Robert Hicks
32. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel--Deborah Moggach
33. On the Count of Three--Maureen Johnson
34. Things Fall Apart--Chinua Achebe
35. Gorky Park--Martin Cruz Smith
36. Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia--Jean Sasson
37. Princess Sultana's Daughters--Jean Sasson
38. Princess Sultana's Circle--Jean Sasson
39. Being Jazz--Jazz Jennings
40. Eleanor & Park--Rainbow Rowell
41. Kimi Ni Todoke: From Me to You Vol 1--Karuho Shiina
42. Kimi Ni Todoke: From Me to You Vol. 2--Karuho Shiina
43. Kimi Ni Todoke: From Me to You Vol. 3--Karuho Shiina
44. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty--A.N. Roquelaure
45. Go Set a Watchman--Harper Lee
46. The Kite Runner--Khaled Hosseni
47. Polar Star--Martin Cruz Smith
48. Vampires in the Lemon Grove--Karen Russell
49. The Ghost Bride--Yangsze Choo
50. Anya's Ghost--Vera Brogsol
51. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer--Michelle Hodkin
52. Lenobia's Vow--P.C. Cast
53. Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad--Ann Hagedorn
54. The Underground Railroad--Colson Whitehead
55. I Was Here--Gayle Forman
56. Red Square--Martin Cruz Smith
57. Wolf Dreamer of the Longest Night Moon--Elayne Silva-Reyna
58. Soul Eater: Vol.1--Atsushi Ohkubo
59. Another Brooklyn--Jacqueline Woodson
60. Empress Orchid--Anchee Min
61. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time--Mark Haddon
62. From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun--Jacqueline Woodson
63. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan--Lisa See
64. Carol--Patricia Highsmith

Challenge completed on December 25

Title Fight Reading Challenge 2016!

This one tempted me.  I'm not into boxing or sports in general, but the idea still seemed interesting. Only seven books are needed, so it won't take long.  Sign up here.

THE BASICS:

* The Challenge will run from January 1st to December 31, 2016.

* Challengees must read at least one book from each category (listed below). Challengees must read a DIFFERENT book for each category – even if your book title might fit a number of categories, it will only count towards a single category. Challengees are free to choose which category best suits.

* Books selected can be from any genre and aimed at any age group. Picture books, anthologies, nonfiction, graphic novels and audiobooks are all okay to include.

* The categories listed are a loose guide and creative interpretation of the categories is not only encouraged, but applauded.

* Challengees should link their reviews/progress under the relevant linky lists on this page. If you don’t have a blog, you could link to your Goodreads shelf/reviews, or simply comment on this page as you go.

THE CATEGORIES:

1. A book with something related to fighting in the title (eg: Battle Bunny, The Great Snape Debate, The Tale of the Duelling Neurosurgeons)
War and Peace--Leo Tolstoy

2. A book with someone’s title in the title: (eg: Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Dr Jekkyl and Mr Hyde, To Sir with Love)  
Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow--Peter Hoeg

3. A book with onomatopoeia in the title (eg: Kung Pow Chicken, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Cloud Busting)
Hiss of Death--Rita Mae Brown

4. A book with an object you might find in a boxing gym in the title (eg: The Cat on the Mat is Flat, Bag of Bones, Smoke and Mirrors)  
Red Glove--Holly Black

5. A book with an injury (or a word related to or implying an injury) in the title (eg: Heart-Shaped Bruise, These Broken Stars, Scarface Claw)  
Broken--Megan Hart

6. A book with an emotion in the title (eg: Bear Feels Scared, Road Rage, Pride and Prejudice)
Hope in a Jar--Beth Barbison

7. A book with a word or phrase implying victory in the title (eg: How to Win Friends and Influence People, Danny the Champion of the World, Curious George Gets a Medal)
Devil's Prize--Kat Martin

Challenge completed on March 13