2014 Reading Challenges

2014 Reading Challenges:

• A – Z Challenge
• The Europa Challenge
• Pulitzer 4s Challenge
• TBR Challenge
• What’s in a Name? 2014

A – Z Challenge

Challenge Status: Complete!

This isn’t an official challenge; it’s just something I’ve done most years since I started book blogging (though I’d love to join/link if anyone starts one for 2014).

The rules: Read a book from every letter of the alphabet, going by either title or author. I’ve chosen author. Titles in grey are tentative.

• A – Asunder by Chloe Aridjis
• B – Script and Scribble by Kitty Burns Florey
  
• C – The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
  
• D – Wave by Sonali Daraniyagala
• E – The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein
  
• F – Marbles by Ellen Forney
  
• G – Calling Dr. Laura by Nicole J. Georges
  
• H – Only the Good Die Young by K. K. Hendin
  
• I – An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  
• J – We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
  
• K – Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
  
• L – On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee
  
• M – The Property by Rutu Modan
  
• N – Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
  
• O – Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olssen
  
• P – Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Katha Pollitt
• Q – The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
• R – Divergent by Veronica Roth
  
• S – From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjon
  
• T – The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  
• U – Gunnar’s Daughter by Sigrid Undset
• V – The Free by Willy Vlautin
  
• W – All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
  
• X – The Good Women of China by Xinran
  
• Y – Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang
• Z – Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola

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The Europa Challenge

Challenge Status: 2/4

The rules: From January 1 – December 31, 2013, read a certain number of books published by Europa Editions. I’m aiming for the Espresso Level (4 Europa titles), but I have 6 in mind and hope to do all of them. Titles in grey are tentative:

1. You Are Not Like Other Mothers by Angelika Schrobsdorff
   
2. Margherita Dolce Vita by Stefano Benni
3. A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse
4. The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leïla Marouane
5. Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery
6. The Jewish Husband by Lia Levy
7. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

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Pulitzer 4s Challenge

Challenge status: 2/7

This is a personal challenge that helps me break down my much larger Pulitzer Project.

The goal: read all of the Pulitzer fiction winners for the years ending in 4. No winners were chosen in 1954, 1964, or 1964.

1924 – The Able McLauglins by Margaret Wilson
1934 – Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller
1944 – Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin
1954 – N/A
1964 – N/A
1974 – N/A
1984 – Ironweed by William Kennedy
1994 – The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
2004 – The Known World by Edward P. Jones
2014 – The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

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TBR Challenge

Challenge status: 6/12

The goal: To finally read 12 books from your “to be read” pile (within 12 months).

The rules: Each of these 12 books must have been on your bookshelf or “To Be Read” list for AT LEAST one full year. This means the book cannot have a publication date of 1/1/2013 or later. Two (2) alternates are allowed, just in case one or two of the books end up in the “can’t get through” pile.

My books:

1. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
2. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
6. Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury
7. Miss Timmins’ School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy
8. Blindness by Jose Saramago
9. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
10. The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
11. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
12. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

My alternates:

1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
2. Dracula by Bram Stoker

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What’s in a Name 2014

Challenge Status: Complete!

The rules: Between January 1 and December 31, 2014, read one book in each of the following categories. These are my tentative titles:

1. A reference to time in the title: The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
2. A position of royalty in the title: The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman
3. A number written in letters in the title: The Ten Faces of Innovation by Thomas Kelley
4. A forename or names in the title: Margherita Dolce Vita by Stefano Benni
5. A type or element of weather in the title: Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

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