POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2017

Tags

2017, challenge, master post, popsugar RC 2017, reading challenge

Heyho! So finally I decided to do another challenge this year, after skipped all kinds of challenges in 2016. Well, go with the flow was really fun and liberating, but I think I would like to add a bit of spice for this year reading. Because after a long and winding 2016, people need to welcome 2017 with some more spirit 🙂

After looking at some candidates for my challenge this year (I decided to only join one challenge), I kept coming back to POPSUGAR Reading Challenge. It doesn’t require reviews, unlike challenges hosted by bloggers, and I think most of the books there could come from my forever tall TBR pile.

Here’s the list:

2017 Popsugar Ultimate Reading Challenge

1. A book recommended by a librarian – Three Times Lucky (Sheila Turnage)
2. A book that’s been on your TBR list for way too long – The House of The Spirits (Isabelle Alende)
3. A book of letters – 84, Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff)
4. An audiobook – TBD
5. A book by a person of color – The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead)
6. A book with one of the four seasons in the title – If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler (Italo Calvino)
7. A book that is a story within a story – The Princess Bride (William Goldman)
8. A book with multiple authors – Let It Snow (John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle)
9. An espionage thriller – An Officer and A Spy (Robert Harris)
10. A book with a cat on the cover – Cat and the Stinkwater War (Kate Saunders)
11. A book by an author who uses a pseudonym – 1984 (George Orwell)
12. A bestseller from a genre you don’t normally read – When I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Haruki Murakami)
13. A book by or about a person who has a disability – Wonderstruck (Brian Selznick)
14. A book involving travel –  Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M. Pirsig)
15. A book with a subtitle – Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented (Thomas Hardy)
16. A book that’s published in 2017: TBD
17. A book involving a mythical creature: A Feast for Crows (George R.R. Martin)
18. A book you’ve read before that never fails to make you smile: TBD
19. A book about food – Sweetbitter (Stephanie Danler)
20. A book with career advice – Girlboss (Sophie Amoruso)
21. A book from a nonhuman perspective – The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
22. A steampunk novel -Un Lun Dun (China Mieville)
23. A book with a red spine – TBD
24. A book set in the wilderness – The Call of The Wild (Jack London)
25. A book you loved as a child – TBD
26. A book by an author from a country you’ve never visited – Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
27. A book with a title that’s a character’s name – The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair (Joel Dicker)
28. A novel set during wartime – Sophie’s Choice (William Styron)
29. A book with an unreliable narrator -The Dinner (Herman Koch)
30. A book with pictures – TBD
31. A book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you – Broken Monsters (Lauren Beukes)
32. A book about an interesting woman – The Signature of All Things (Elizabeth Gilbert)
33. A book set in two different time periods – The Distant Hours (Kate Morton)
34. A book with a month or day of the week in the title – One of Our Thursdays is Missing (Jasper Fforde)
35. A book set in a hotel – Evil Under The Sun (Agatha Christie)
36. A book written by someone you admire – Seriously, I’m Kidding (Ellen Degeneres)
37. A book that’s becoming a movie in 2017 – TBD
38. A book set around a holiday other than Christmas – TBD
39. The first book in a series you haven’t read before – Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of Lioness, #1) (Tamora Pierce)
40. A book you bought on a trip -TBD

Phewww, those are a lot of books! Hopefully I could actually finish this challenge LOL. Let’s see what happens at the end of the year…

Actually POPSUGAR also has an Advanced Challenge, with additional themes but I don’t think I would do it, since I would still join BBI Reading & Review event each month.

Sooo… wish me luck!!

PS: Since POPSUGAR doesn’t make official button for this challenge, I took the image from their original post about this challenge and add the wording myself, and voila, I made a special button just for my posts 😀

 

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Reading Challenges – 2015

Tags

2015, challenge, gentle spectrum, master post, NARC2015, reading list, WIN2015

It never hurts to join a few challenges every year to boost your reading mood. Even though I didn’t always strive in every challenge I joined, at least I tried to do my best 🙂

This year, I decided to join the following challenges (and I may add some more throughout the year, we’ll see!!)

What’s In a Name- 2015

This is always becoming one of my favorite challenges every year and I have joined the challenge for several years now. This year it’s hosted (again) by Charlie @ The Worm Hole, and consisted of six categories. Here we go:

• A word including ‘ing’ in it (The Time Of Singing, Dancing To The Flute, Lex Trent Fighting With Fire) My examples are verbs but you can of course use other words.– Looking for Alibrandi (Melina Marchetta)
• A colour (The Red Queen, White Truffles In Winter, On Gold Mountain) — Emerald City (Jennifer Egan)
• A familial relation (Daughter Of Smoke And Bone, Dombey And Son, My Cousin Rachel) By all means include in-laws, step, and halves. — Pilate’s Wife (Antoinette Way)
• A body of water (The River Of No Return, Black Lake, Beside The Sea) — The Lake of Dreams (Kim Edwards)
• A city (Barcelona Shadows, Shanghai Girls, Under The Tripoli Sky) — The Alexandria Link (Steve Barry)
• An animal (Black Swan Rising, The Leopard Unleashed, The Horse And His Boy) —The Cat’s Table (Michael Ondaatje)

I never failed this one so wish me luck again for this year!

 

New Author Reading Challenge (NARC) 2015

I’ve never joined this one before, but I realized I love to try reading books from new (aka unknown) authors who I’ve never heard before, so I decided to join this challenge this year, hosted by Ren @ Ren’s Little Corner.

I want to try for Middle Level (15-30 books), and take the following extra challenges:

1. Whats In a Name (reading books that have “name” in their titles)- minimum of six books: The Einstein Girl (Philip Sington), Pilate’s Wife (Antoinette May), A Tale Dark and Grimm (Adam Gidwitz), Fatima’s Good Fortune (Joanne Dryansky), The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Jacquelinne Kelly), The Club Dumas (Arturo Perez-Reverte)

2. Genre 101: Reading books from the following genres:

Fantasy: The False Prince (Jennifer Nielsen), Thriller: Complicity (Iain Banks), Asian Lit: The Unknown Errors of Our Lives (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni), Children Lit: Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH (Robert C. O’Brien), Mystery/Crime: The Twelfth Card (Jeffery Deaver), Young Adult: The House of The Scorpion (Nancy Farmer), Dystopia: Unwind (Neal Shusterman), Holiday: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (L. Frank Baum), Classic: Far From The Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy), Biography: Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography (Neil Patrick Harris), Adventure: The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle (Hugh Lofting), The Women Fiction: The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)

Looks like a lot of books to read, huh? I think I need more luck for this!

Gentle Spectrums 2015

This cool challenge is hosted by Carolyn from Riedel Fascination. I was thinking to join this one since last year but hadn’t got a chance. I decided to give it a try this year, it looks like fun 🙂 There are two main challenges with different categories:

(A) Limitless Pallet – Read books with any color in the titles. I choose Colourful Level (10 colours), and plan to read these: Ruby Red (Kerstien Gier), Emerald Green (Kerstien Gier), Sapphire Blue (Kerstien Gier), Emerald City (Jennifer Egan), Charlie Boone and The Blue Boa (Jenny Nimmo), The Emerald Atlas (John Stephens), The Golden Ball (Agatha Christie), The Portrait in Sephia (Isabelle Alende), Ginger Pye (Eleanor Estes), Sapphire Battersea (Jacqueline Wilson), Emerald Star (Jacqueline Wilson)

(B) Gentle Subjects

1) Stones: Variations of the word, gems, jewellery, ruins, geological formations: The Moonstone (Wilkie Collins)

2) Cheerful: Uplifting, positive messages;  conveys pleasant thoughts, images: Just As Long As We’re Together (Judy Blume)

3) Nations: Cultures, locations:  lakes, towns, even well-known places;  fictional included: The Taliban Cricket Club (Timeri N. Murari)

4) Plants: Trees, flowers, lawns, fields, grasses, grains, and gardening paraphernalia: Flora and Ulysses (Kate DiCamillo)

5) Water: Water bodies, proper names, closely-connected components:  taps, sinks, pools: The Lake of Dreams (Kim Edwards)

6) Space: The sky, its contents, spatial matter, concepts, tools.  Star Trek / Star Wars-related: Number The Stars (Lois Lowry)

7) Daunting: Any title that has you thinking:  “Oooo!  That does not sound good”!: Struck By Lightning (Chris Colfer)

8) Structures: A building, its rooms, proper names, any of a structure’s parts: 44 Scotland Street (Alexander McCall Smith)

9) Time: Any signifiers of time, like seasons.  Any unit-measurers, like watches and calendars: The Distant Hours (Kate Morton)

10) Humorous: Odd, or anything that gives you a grin.  I’ll accept a ‘pun laid on too thick’ grimace too!: Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography (Neil Patrick Harris)

Phew, if I take a look at it, these all seem very ambitious for me!!! But who knows, maybe I finally can conquer a bit of my TBR???? (and of course add some new ones along the way haha)

Have a great 2015 peeps! Hope you all have fun with your reading challenges. Remember, reading is about joy, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself, kay? 🙂 Good luck!

Lucky No. 15 Reading Challenge

Tags

challenge, lucky15, master post

Period of challenge: January 15, 2015 – January 15, 2016

Yep, it’s a little bit late, but I hope you are still interested in doing another round of challenge – Lucky No.15. After having fun in Lucky No.14 last year, I finally decided to host another year of this challenge.

The rules are still the same like last year, with some slight changes. I still used some favorite categories from last year and add some new ones.

This challenge will require you to read 15 books (or more) from 15 categories below. You can combine the books you read with other challenges, but can not use the same book for different categories in this challenge.

Try to match the categories from your TBR piles 🙂 But if you don’t have any suitable books in your TBR – and want to find an excuse to buy a book for this challenge, that’s totally fine too!

Here are the 15 categories:

1. Chunky Brick: Grab that book with more than 500 pages that you’d always been afraid to tackle. You know you can do it!
2. Something New: Just purchased a book lately? Don’t let it buried in your stacks, read it now!
3. Something Borrowed: Read a book that you borrowed from someone else. Don’t make the owner waiting forever for you to finish it. (Books borrowed from friends, libraries, or even rental places, are allowed)
4. It’s Been There Forever: Dig your TBR pile and read a book that has been there more than a year. It’s time for you to appreciate it 🙂
5. Freebies Time: What’s the LAST free book you’ve got? Whether it’s from giveaway, a birthday gift or a surprise from someone special, don’t hold back any longer. Open the book and start reading it now 😀
6. Bargain All The Way: Ever buying a book because it’s so cheap you don’t really care about the content? Now it’s time to open the book and find out whether it’s really worth your cents.
7. Favorite Color: Pick a book from your shelf which has your favorite color for its cover! Is it pink, red or black? You decide.
8. First Initial: Read a book that has been written by an author whose first initial is the same with you (Example: My name is Astrid, and I can read anything written by Agatha Christie, Aesop, Arthur Conan Doyle, etc)
9. Super Series: Read one (or more!) books that belong in a series, it can be trilogy, or tetralogy, or anything.
10. Opposites Attract: Read a book that’s been written by a writer whose gender is different from your own.
11. Randomly Picked: Ask someone else (a friend, your spouse, even your kids!) to randomly pick a book from your TBR pile. Don’t complain whatever they choose for you, just read it 🙂
12. Cover Lust: Grab a book from your shelf that you bought because you fell in love with the cover. Is the content as good as the cover?
13. Who Are You Again?: You’ve never read a book from this author, maybe you haven’t even heard his/her name before. But who knows? Maybe he/she will become your new favorite author!
14. One Word Only!: Read a book that only has one word for its title (number is allowed as long as it’s only consisted of one word, e.g: 1, 2, 11).
15. Dream Destination: Read a book that has setting in a place you’ve never visited before – but would like to if you have a chance. Could be real places or even fictional!

RULES:

1. To complete the challenge, you have to read at least one book for each category, or total of 15 books during the challenge period. Format of books are free, it can be e-book, printed book, audiobook, etc. You can set your own pace and do not need to follow the categories in particular order. You can also read more than one book for each category. You have to write your reviews/comments (doesn’t have to be long) in your blog/FB note/Goodreads page/tumblr/etc.

2. Please write a master post about this challenge in your blog/Goodreads/FB notes/etc, and submit your link below for signing up. You can use this master post to sort down the book(s) that you’ll read for each category, and edit them later if necessary. The sign-up linky will be opened from January 15, 2015 throughout the year until December 15, 2015.

3. There are also linkies for each category of the challenge. Please submit your link of review posts for each category in their respective linkies. These linkies will be opened in January 15, 2015 until January 15, 2016.

4. At the end of the challenge, write down a wrap-up post and submit the link in the linky too. The linky for wrap-up posts will be opened until January 31, 2016 to give you more time for wrapping things up. It’s okay if you don’t finish the challenge but you are not eligible to be selected as the winner.

5. After the wrap up post linky is closed, I will pick two lucky winners who had completed the challenge for winning great bookish prizes (including book vouchers, novels, and other exclusive bookish gimmicks/goodies 🙂 ) The prizes will be revealed soon, so please stay tuned. You must have delivery address in Indonesia to be eligible for the two grand prizes.

6. If you are an international participant who doesn’t have Indonesian mailing address, don’t worry, I’ll also choose two winners, each winner can pick any book from The Book Depository for maximum of $ 12.

7. I’ll try to write a round-up post every month and pick some of the most interesting reviews. And who knows? Probably there will be some surprise gifts and giveaways throughout the year 🙂

Now, let’s start this wonderful 2015 and get ready to tackle some great books!

ps: If you have any questions, please shout it out in the comment below. Reviews/questions/comments can be in English or Bahasa Indonesia 🙂

Master Post, To Read List & Sign Up Linky:

Gateway to Linky for Each Category:

Chunky Brick:

Something New:

Something Borrowed:

It’s Been There Forever:

Freebies Time:

Bargain All The Way:

Favorite Color:

First Initial:

Super Series:

Opposites Attract:

Randomly Picked:

Cover Lust:

Who Are You Again?:

One Word Only!:

Dream Destination:

Wrap Up Post:

Lucky No.14 Reading Challenge

Tags

challenge, linky, lucky 14, master post

Period of the Challenge: January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2014

Yep, we almost welcome 2014, the year of anticipation. There will be the World Cup in Brazil, Presidential Election in Indonesia – and tons of great books to be published (and read) for sure!

This challenge will require you to read 14 books (or more) from 14 categories below. You can combine the books you read with other challenges, but can not use the same book for different categories in this challenge.

Try to match the categories from your TBR piles 🙂 But if you don’t have any suitable books in your TBR – and want to find an excuse to buy a book for this challenge, that’s totally fine too!

Here are the 14 categories:

1. Visit The Country: Read a book that has setting in a country that you really want to visit in real life. Make sure the setting has a big role in the book and it can make you know a little bit more about your dream destination.

2. Cover Lust: Pick a book from your shelf that you bought because you fell in love with the cover. Is the content as good as the cover?

3. Blame it on Bloggers: Read a book because you’ve read the sparkling reviews from other bloggers. Don’t forget to mention the blogger’s names too!

4. Bargain All The Way: Ever buying a book because it’s so cheap you don’t really care about the content? Now it’s time to open the book and find out whether it’s really worth your cents.

5. (Not So) Fresh From the Oven: Do you remember you bought/got a new released book last year but never had a chance to read it? Dig it from your pile and bring back the 2013.

6. First Letter’s Rule: Read a book which title begins with the same letter as your name (for me, Astrid means A, and I can read anything that started with the letter A). Remember: Articles like “a”, “an” or “the” doesn’t count 🙂

7. Once Upon a Time: Choose a book that’s been published for the first time before you were born (not necessarily has to be a classic book, just something a little bit older than you is okay. You can read the most recent edition if you want to)

8. Chunky Brick: Take a deep breath, and read a book that has more than 500 pages. Yep, the one that you’ve always been afraid of!

9.  Favorite Author: You like their books, but there are too many titles. This is your chance, choose a book that’s been written by your fave author but you haven’t got time to read it before.

10. It’s Been There Forever: Pick up a book that has been there on your shelf for more than a year, clean up the dust and start to read it now 🙂

11. Movies vs Books: You’ve seen the movie adaptation (or planned to see it soon) but never had time to read the book. It’s time to read it now, so you can compare the book vs the movie.

12. Freebies Time: What’s the LAST free book you’ve got? Whether it’s from giveaway, a birthday gift or a surprise from someone special, don’t hold back any longer. Open the book and start reading it now 😀

13. Not My Cup of Tea: Reach out to a genre that you’ve never tried (or probably just disliked) before. Whether it’s a romance, horror or non fiction, maybe you will find a hidden gem!

14. Walking Down The Memory Lane: Ever had a book that you loved so much as a kid? Or a book that you wish you could read when you were just a child? Grab it now and prepare for a wonderful journey to the past 🙂 Comic books or graphic novels are allowed!

RULES:

1. To complete the challenge, you have to read at least one book for each category, or total of 14 books during the challenge period. You can set your own pace and do not need to follow the categories in particular order. You can also read more than one book for each category. You have to write your reviews in your blog/FB note/Goodreads page/tumblr/etc.

2. Please write a master post about this challenge in your blog/Goodreads/FB notes/etc, and submit your link below for signing up. You can use this master post to sort down the book(s) that you’ll read for each category, and edit them later if necessary. The sign-up linky will be opened from November 12, 2013 throughout the year until December 1, 2014.

3. There are also linkies for each category of the challenge. Please submit your link of review posts for each category in their respective linkies. These linkies will be opened in January 1, 2014 until December 31, 2014.

4. At the end of the challenge, write down a wrap-up post and submit the link in the linky too. The linky for wrap-up posts will be opened until January 10, 2015 to give you more time for wrapping things up. It’s okay if you don’t finish the challenge but you are not eligible to be selected as the winner.

5. After the wrap up post linky is closed, I will pick two lucky winners who had completed the challenge for winning great bookish prizes (including book vouchers, novels, and other exclusive bookish gimmicks/goodies 🙂 ) The prizes will be revealed soon, so please stay tuned. You must have delivery address in Indonesia to be eligible for the two grand prizes.

6. If you are an international participant who doesn’t have Indonesian mailing address, don’t worry, I’ll also choose two winners, each winner can pick any book from The Book Depository for maximum of $ 10.

7. I’ll try to write a round-up post every month and pick some of the most interesting reviews. And who knows? Probably there will be some surprise gifts and giveaways throughout the year 🙂

Now, let’s start this wonderful 2014 and get ready to tackle some great books!

ps: If you have any questions, please shout it out in the comment below. Reviews/questions/comments can be in English or Bahasa Indonesia 🙂

Master Post, To Read List & Sign up Linky:

Gateway to linky for each category:

1. Visit The Country

2. Cover Lust

3. Blame it on Bloggers

4. Bargain All The Way

5. (Not So) Fresh From The Oven

6. First Letter’s Rule

7. Once Upon a Time

8. Chunky Brick

9. Favorite Author

10. It’s Been There Forever

11. Movies vs Books

12. Freebies Time

13. Not My Cup of Tea

14. Walking Down The Memory Lane

15 Wrap-up Post