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The Book Barn Reading Challenge It's a new year - a new decade! Time to take stock of what we have, where we've been, and where we're going. And also to plan on reading hella books! As always, the Reading Challenge is simple: Pick a number of books you want to read, and try to reach your goal! Some people have their own personal challenges they'd prefer to set - to reread a series, or read more nonfiction, that kind of thing. If that's what you want, then that's your Reading Challenge! Post updates here every month or so, tell us about what you've been reading, maybe even recommend stuff for others! Try not to just dump a list of books - it's always interesting to see people's thoughts about what they've read. BOOKLORD 2020 For those who fancy something more elaborate than a simple "read n books", may I present a new Booklord Challenge! I am this year's Booklord, chosen by last year's Booklord, in accordance with prophecy. As such, I have put together a blend of horizon-expanding and quirky challenges that should hopefully encourage folks (myself included) to try some new titles, genres and subjects outside of our regular comfort zones! Of course, this is just for fun. There's no penalty for "failing", and you're welcome to interpret the prompts as you wish. Feel free to pick and choose from the list, or go for the full Booklord and give your reading muscles a workout. The first five are your "umbrella challenges", and the rest are more specific. Remember, this is all for funsies, so don't feel under too much pressure. We'll all here to have fun and read a bunch! THE CHALLENGE: 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are not written by men. 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure a least 20% of them are written by writers of colour. 4. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 5% of them are written by LGBT writers. 5. Read a book from each decade of the 20th Century (1900s, 1910s etc). 6. Participate at least once in the TBB Book of the Month thread - read the book and post in the thread about that book! 7. Ask someone in this thread for a wildcard, then read it. 8. Read something by an indigenous author. 9. Read an author's first book. 10. Read something historical. 11. Read something about art/music. 12. Read something about food that isn't a cookbook. 13. Find the book you have kept on your shelf unread for longest. Read it. 14. Read a book you remember from your childhood. 15. Read some poetry. 16. Read a play. 17. Read a short story collection. 18. Read something that's only available online. 19. Read a prize-winning book. 20a&b. Read two books with the same (or very similar) titles. 21. Read a love story. 22. Read something banned/censored/challenged. 23. Read a book from a country you've never visited. Don't feel you have to pick one specific book per entry. Some books can and will span multiple! If someone posts requesting a wildcard, please try to suggest something that's actually available for the person to acquire! So what next? Your first post in this thread should be to tell us what number of books you're hoping to reach this year, any personal challenges, as well as whether or not you choose to take on the Booklord 2020. Then, get to reading! Keep us updated every month or so with how you're doing, and in twelve months' time we'll all look back and talk about our year in books. Who knows, you may find a new favourite! Good luck, have fun, and happy book to everyone!
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Jan 1, 2020 04:02
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POSTERS TAKING THE CHALLENGE: Name: Gertrude Perkins Personal Challenge: 52 books, 1/3 by writers of colour, 1/3 not by men Booklord 2020? Yes! Name: DrNewton Personal Challenge: 20 books, finish unread shelf before reading anything new Booklord 2020? Maybe? Name: Tiggum Personal Challenge: 36 books, at least 6 non-fiction, at least 18 not by men Booklord 2020? Nope Name: Jack B Nimble Personal Challenge: 64 books, mostly preset reading list Booklord 2020? Yes! Name: team overhead smash Personal Challenge: 183 books Booklord 2020? Yes Name: Bard Maddox Personal Challenge: 35 books, trying to branch out from sci-fi/fantasy Booklord 2020? Yes Name: Kangxi Personal Challenge: 150 books, 1/3 not by men, 1/3 by Writers of Color, 10% by LGBT+ writers Booklord 2020? Hell Yes Name: Nerdietalk Personal Challenge: 20 books Booklord 2020? Umbrella stuff, maybe some others Name: Guy A. Person Personal Challenge: 100 books Booklord 2020? Yes Name: Paperhouse Personal Challenge: 35 books Booklord 2020? No Name: Duck Rodgers Personal Challenge: 50 books, 5 books by Vietnamese authors Booklord 2020? Yes Name: Ben Nevis Personal Challenge: 85 books Booklord 2020? Yes Name: cryptoclastic Personal Challenge: 36 books, at least 20% non-fiction, at least 20% Korean authors Booklord 2020? Yes! Name: clamcake Personal Challenge: 50 books, 33% nonmale, 33% writers of color, 33% nonfiction, 5 wildcards, 5 BotM threads Booklord 2020? Yes Name: Karenina Personal Challenge: 75 books total. >10% in French, >20% non-western authors, >20% women. Read Ulysses, Shahnameh, or Le Rivage Des Syrtes. Booklord 2020? Yes Name: Groke Personal Challenge: 40 books Booklord 2020? Yes Name: bowmore Personal Challenge: 50 books Booklord 2020? Yes Name: Humerus Personal Challenge: 55+ books Booklord 2020? Yes Name: Lampsacus Personal Challenge: 99 books Booklord 2020? Yes Name: sleez Personal Challenge: 30 books Booklord 2020? Nope Name: Nail Rat Personal Challenge: 30 books, at least 5 non-fiction. Booklord 2020? Nope Name:Grizzled Patriarch Personal Challenge: 30 books from at least 20 different countries Booklord 2020? Hell Yeah Name: Chamberk Personal Challenge: 50 books (stretch goal: 100) Booklord 2020? Yup Name: Ivoryman Personal Challenge: 20 books, all previously unread Booklord 2020? No Name: Bluehay Personal Challenge: 40 books, mostly fiction Booklord Challenge: Definitely the umbrella challenges, probably a few of the others as well. Really want to try to read a lot more from people of color. Name: freebooter Personal Challenge: 60 books, plus prizewinners Booklord 2020? Just the umbrella challenges Name: Phalse Personal Challenge: 30 books. Booklord 2020? Will attempt 10 Gertrude Perkins fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Mar 5, 2020 |
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Jan 1, 2020 04:08
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Name: DrNewton Personal Challenge: 20 books. Read every book I own that isn't a workbook on my shelve before committing to any new books. Booklord 2020? I will give it a go but I doubt I will accomplish it as I have another focus.
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Jan 1, 2020 07:15
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Name: Tiggum Personal Challenge: 36 books, at least 6 non-fiction, at least 18 not by men. Booklord 2020? Nope. As well as dropping my total goal from 52, I'm also reducing the non-fiction requirement significantly because it's not serving its intended purpose. Instead of reading the types of books I want to be reading (informative books about particular topics) I end up realising I'm falling behind and just grabbing some comedian's memoir or something, which technically fulfils the requirement because (probably) it (mostly) isn't fiction - but basically might as well be. Hopefully the reduced number will make it harder to fall so far behind and therefore less tempting to cheat.
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Jan 1, 2020 08:25
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Name: Jack B Nimble Personal Challenge: 64 Books Book Lord: 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 64 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are not written by men. 1. The Ball Jar - Sylvia Plath 2. Black Water - Joyce Carol Oates 3. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 4. The Color Purple - Alice Walker 5. Fates and Furies - Lauren Golf 6. The New Jim Crow - Michele Alexander 7.The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Alexander 8. The Sixth Extinction - Elizabeth Kolbert 9. The Witches - Stacy Schiff 10. Secondhand Time - Svetlana Alexievich 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure a least 20% of them are written by writers of colour. 11. Things Fall Apart - Chinau Achebe 12. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass 13. The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros 14. Diablo Guardian - Xavier Velasco 15. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie 16. The interpreter of Maladies - Jumpha Lahri 17. Who Killed Palomino Molero? - Mario Vargas Llosa 18. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 19. Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Luo Guanzhong 20. Death in Midsomer and other Stories - Yukio Mishima 4. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 5% of them are written by LGBT writers. 21. Salome - Oscar Wilde 22. A Room of One’s Own - Virginia Wolfe 23. Go Tell it on the Mountain - James Baldwin 24. Sweet Birds of Youth - Tennessee Williams 25. Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman 5. Read a book from each decade of the 20th Century (1900s, 1910s etc). 26. 1900s Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 27. 1910s The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington 28. 1920s All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque 29. 1930s The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 30. 1940s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith 31. 1950s The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger 32. 1960s Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion 33. 1970s The Shining - Stephen King 34. 1980s White Noise - Don DeLillo 35. 1990s Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace 36. 2000s White Teeth - Zadie Smith 6. Participate at least once in the TBB Book of the Month thread - read the book and post in the thread about that book! 37. TBD 7. Ask someone in this thread for a wildcard, then read it. 38. Human Acts by Han Kang (thanks Kangxi) 8. Read something by an indigenous author. 39. American Sunrise - Joy Harjo 9. Read an author's first book. 40. Dark Carnival - Ray Bradbury 10. Read something historical. 50. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel 11. Read something about art/music. 51. Elements of Jazz - Bill Messinger 12. Read something about food that isn't a cookbook. 52. Food: A Culinary History - Ken Albala 13. Find the book you have kept on your shelf unread for longest. Read it. 53. The Optimist's Daughter - Eudora Welty. 14. Read a book you remember from your childhood. 54. Shadowrun: Never Deal with a Dragon 15. Read some poetry 55. Harvard Classics, English Poetry (pick a volume) 16. Read a play. 56. The Importance of being Earnest - Oscar Wilde 17. Read a short story collection. 57. Collected Short Stories of Louis L’amor 18. Read something that's only available online. 58. The First World War: Day by Day - Mat Kersley 19. Read a prize-winning book. 59. Fire in the Lake - Frances Fitzgerald 20a&b. Read two books with the same (or very similar) titles. 60. The Invisible Man - H. G. Wells 61. Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison 21. Read a love story. 62. Ana Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 22. Read something banned/censored/challenged. 63. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the age of Colorblindness - Michele Alexander 23. Read a book from a country you've never visited. 64. Gravity’s Rainbow - Thomas Pychon Jack B Nimble fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Jan 2, 2020 |
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Jan 1, 2020 10:23
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Name: team overhead smash Personal Challenge: 183 books. Booklord 2020? Yes Someone feel free to wildcard me, preferably something cheap that hits as many challenges as possible.
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Jan 1, 2020 12:19
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I also need a book wildcard recommendation, please take pity on me and make it short.
Jack B Nimble fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Jan 1, 2020 |
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Jan 1, 2020 15:55
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Name: Bard Maddox Personal Challenge: 35 books, trying to branch out from sci-fi/fantasy Booklord 2020? Yes excited to give it a go this year.
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Jan 1, 2020 17:03
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Name: Kangxi Personal Challenge: 150 books. Booklord 2020? Hell Yes. 1/3 not by men, 1/3 by Writers of Color, as broad as that term can possibly be, 10% by LGBT+ writers. Somebody wildcard me too, please.
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Jan 1, 2020 17:14
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Name: Nerdietalk Personal Challenge 20 books Booklord: Umbrella stuff, and I'll do my best to complete a fair amount of the other challenges Gimme that wildcard though
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Jan 2, 2020 00:32
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Gertrude Perkins posted:5. Read a book from each decade of the 20th Century (1900s, 1910s etc). These are cool ideas. Guy A. Person 100 books but probably won't get near that, also going to try to go much higher on the non-white, non-male, non-straight challenges but don't want to pin a specific number Yes on booklord I also need a wildcard, and to pre-pay it forward: team overhead smash posted:Someone feel free to wildcard me, preferably something cheap that hits as many challenges as possible. Since you asked first: Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran by Shahrnush Parsipur It's by an Iranian woman, it was banned in its country of origin, it was written in a decade of the 20th century, it maybe won a prize?, it's the inversion of a Hemingway title (also used by Haruki Murakami for a short story collection) so potentially could be used for challenge #20, not sure if you've visited Iran It's also 2.99 on Kindle today, although if you miss that sale you can't get cheaper than the library!
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Jan 2, 2020 00:47
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Jack B Nimble posted:I also need a book wildcard recommendation, please take pity on me and make it short. Here is a wildcard: Human Acts by Han Kang. About 200 pages, gut-wrenching.
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Jan 2, 2020 03:00
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Name: Paperhouse Personal challenge: 35 books Booklord 2020? No Didn't do very well last year after joining in late, but I DID read more than I would have otherwise so that was something.
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Jan 2, 2020 06:35
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I'm in for 50 books and the booklords challenge. Last year I did 5 books by Iraqi authors as a personal challenge, this year I will do 5 Vietnamese authors.
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Jan 2, 2020 12:44
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I'm in. 85 and booklord challenge.
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Jan 2, 2020 17:38
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I’m in! Last year I realized I read way too America-centric and way too much fiction. So this year I want to change that. I also want to read more Korean stuff. I also want to read more book already on my shelf but I’m not quite sure how to fit that in here. I think I’ll just make a conscious effort to read what I own and mark those books as I go. Name: cryptoclastic Personal Challenge: 36 books, at least 20% non-fiction, at least 20% Korean authors. Booklord 2020? Yes!
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Jan 3, 2020 01:38
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Yeah, okay. Let’s do this. Name: clamcake Personal Challenge: 50 books, 33% nonmale, 33% writers of color, 33% nonfiction, 5 wildcards, 5 BotM threads Booklord 2020? Yes My favorite part of the booklord challenges is that they force me to be more aware of the variety in my reading selections. So far, the wildcards and Book of the Month threads have been best for pushing me into unfamiliar territory. So. Why not do more of them? This year I’ll do 5 wildcards and participate in 5 BotM threads.
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Jan 3, 2020 02:13
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Name: Karenina Personal Challenge: 75 books total. >10% in French, >20% non-western authors, >20% women. If I haven't finished Ulysses, Shahnameh, or Le Rivage des Syrtes by Julien Gracq by the end of the year, please punch me in the face. Booklord 2020: Hell yeah man
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Jan 3, 2020 04:41
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I'm in. 40 books and the booklord challenge. Also, wildcard me, please!
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Jan 3, 2020 14:20
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Name: bowmore Number: 50 Booklord? Yes Give me a wildcard please, nothing huge.
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Jan 6, 2020 10:40
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Groke posted:I'm in. 40 books and the booklord challenge. In order (skipping if you've already read them, unless you want to reread) - The Old Man and the Sea - Pride and Prejudice - The Sense of an Ending - The Curse of Chalion
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Jan 7, 2020 01:54
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team overhead smash posted:In order (skipping if you've already read them, unless you want to reread) Thanks, I'll go with the Hemingway, someone else can have the rest. (The Curse of Chalion is sweet AF, I'm a bit into one of the related novellas ATM).
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Jan 7, 2020 11:40
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Hey just a suggestion, anyone asking for a wildcard could help out by giving someone else a wildcard! So far there's only been 3 given out for the 7 requested (people can of course take the other books team overhead smash suggested, but we're still short)
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Jan 9, 2020 23:39
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Nerdietalk posted:Name: Nerdietalk Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
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Jan 10, 2020 00:04
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Name: Humerus Personal Challenge: At least 55 Booklord: I'm gonna give it a good try! So actually I'd like to read more than 5% by LGBT+ authors, shooting for 20% like with POC and non-men but we'll see. I also have some personal goals mainly relating to reading series; I read the first Throne of Glass last year and my wife's been getting on me about reading the rest and I've never read Lord of the Rings so I'm gonna tackle Hobbit and those as well. If someone wants to wildcard me, I rarely read outside of SFF, mystery, and thrillers, so maybe a literary fiction would get me out of my comfort zone? In return, I'll wildcard Kangxi with Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon. It was my favorite book of 2019 (not that I read many published in 2019 mind you). If that's too long I'll recommend And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
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Jan 10, 2020 17:13
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bowmore posted:Name: bowmore Lincoln in the Bardo, if you haven't read it. It's short and great.
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Jan 10, 2020 17:33
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Name: Lampsacus Personal Challenge: 99 books. Booklord 2020? Yes I would love a wildcard book please.
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Jan 11, 2020 01:46
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Lampsacus posted:Name: Lampsacus
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Jan 11, 2020 01:49
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Humerus posted:
Try JG Ballard - Empire Of The Sun
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Jan 11, 2020 06:51
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Name: sleez Personal Challenge: 30 books Booklord 2020: Nope I think I'm actually going to allow myself a lot more impulse buys this year, as that's been working out pretty well so far. Also pretty interested in whatever's on the bestselling list in different countries.
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Jan 11, 2020 20:11
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Humerus posted:If someone wants to wildcard me, I rarely read outside of SFF, mystery, and thrillers, so maybe a literary fiction would get me out of my comfort zone? The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma. Modern Nigerian fiction, it's really good.
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Jan 13, 2020 11:52
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Jack B Nimble posted:Lincoln in the Bardo, if you haven't read it. It's short and great. I didn't expect to like it because I have no interest in Civil War era USA or Lincoln. I especially liked the way he used all the different voices to paint a picture of grief and pretty much everything about the ghosts.
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Jan 16, 2020 08:29
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You're welcome! And yeah, I worry too many people hear about the book as a work of Lincoln historical fiction and go "nah". It's fine to not like that, but it isn't really a fair, or at least not a complete, description of the book.
Jack B Nimble fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Jan 16, 2020 |
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Jan 16, 2020 16:17
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Jack B Nimble posted:You're welcome! And yeah, I worry too many people hear about the book as a work of Lincoln historical fiction and go "nah". It's fine to not like that, but it isn't really a fair, or at least not a complete, description of the book.
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Jan 16, 2020 23:22
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Name: Nail Rat Personal Challenge: 30 books, at least 5 non-fiction. Booklord 2020? Nope but please give me a wildcard that hits as many of the challenges as possible.
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Jan 17, 2020 17:11
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Groke posted:The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma. Modern Nigerian fiction, it's really good. I got a wildcard already but I also added this to my tbr because it's set in a country I've never been to and likely won't ever go to. I've never left the USA so I wanted to push that particular challenge more.
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Jan 17, 2020 17:15
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Name:Grizzled Patriarch Personal Challenge: 30 books from at least 20 different countries Booklord 2020: Hell Yeah Grizzled Patriarch fucked around with this message at 10:40 on Jan 20, 2020 |
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Jan 20, 2020 04:51
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Name: Chamberk Personal Challenge: 50 books (though I'll probably hit 100) Booklord Challenge: Yup. I still need to post my November and December reads in the old thread... It looks like another busy year, but I'm gonna try to narrow down my TBR pile... it's getting to be a ridiculous size. I'm, uh, already at 10, but who knows if I'll keep up that pace.
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Jan 24, 2020 05:32
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Nail Rat posted:Booklord 2020? Nope but please give me a wildcard that hits as many of the challenges as possible. How about Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, which I reread and re-enjoyed this month? It's an award-winning young adult writer's memoir, written in verse, by a LGBT woman of color. So that potentially speaks to 6 challenge goals, plus your own nonfiction goal, if my counting skills are accurate. And if anyone could toss me my first wildcard, I'd appreciate it. clamcake fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Jan 31, 2020 |
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Jan 31, 2020 07:43
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First month summary post go! 1 & 2 - My Brother's Husband, books 1 & 2, by Gengoroh Tagame. A really sweet manga story about family, prejudice, love and loss. A single father is visited by his estranged brother's husband, after the brother's death. After a shaky start, the three of them come together as an untraditional but strong, loving family. It's a simple story and a little Gay People 101 but genuinely touching and with some lovely artwork. A really uplifting way to start the year. 3 - Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer. Post-apocalyptic genequake biotech hellscape, featuring bug-drugged scavenger children and a giant hell-bear. Vivid and gripping and horrific, and a worthy followup to the excellence of the Southern Reach trilogy. Normally "after the end of the world" settings/narratives don't do much for me, but VanderMeer paints such a strange and vibrant world that I was really curious as to where things would go - and which questions (if any) would be answered. I really want to read the followup now. 4 - The Age Of Innocence, by Edith Wharton. This was a real slog. While the genteel delights of upper-class social satire and outdated cultural norms held me for the first fifty pages or so, I was soon bogged down in the glacier-slow pacing and florid prose. It's a shame, because there were some scenes I particularly liked, and the ending gave me some proper feelings. Also the edition I read had some questionable artwork... 5 - The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. Read for the BOTM thread - I had the Casey Affleck audiobook and was surprised by how much I got into this. For a book that's over a hundred years old, the struggles it depicts are real and vibrant, the language is impassioned and vivid, and I didn't mind too much that the last big chunk of it was given over to socialist soapboxing, since it was at least well-written proselytising. I can see why this has been such an enduring novel, though I feel bad for the highschoolers who have it forced on them to study. The narrative is relentlessly miserable, and I found parts of it quite exhausting when I wasn't in the right mood. I still loved this overall, though, and I'm glad to have experienced a "great American novel". In my first month of 2020 I read five books! I've upped my quotas as usual for this year, and I'm off to a decent start pagecount-wise. Looking forward to the next couple of months, where I'll try and get into a decent groove! The best book I read this month was 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. - 5/52 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 1/3 of them are not written by men. - 1 - 4 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure a least 1/3 of them are written by writers of colour. - 2 - 1, 2 4. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 1/4 of them are written by LGBT writers. - 2 - 1, 2 5. Read a book from each decade of the 20th Century (1900s, 1910s etc). 1900 - 5 (1907) 1910 - 1920 - 4 (1920) 1930 - 1940 - 1950 - 1960 - 1970 - 1980 - 1990 - 7. Ask someone in this thread for a wildcard, then read it. 8. Read something by an indigenous author. 9. Read an author's first book. 11. Read something about art/music. 12. Read something about food that isn't a cookbook. 13. Find the book you have kept on your shelf unread for longest. Read it. 14. Read a book you remember from your childhood. 15. Read some poetry. 16. Read a play. 17. Read a short story collection. 18. Read something that's only available online. 19. Read a prize-winning book. 20a&b. Read two books with the same (or very similar) titles. 23. Read a book from a country you've never visited.
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Jan 31, 2020 20:25
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