2018: Reading Challenges!

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2018, challenges, popsugar RC 2018, reading challenge, reading list, TBR, whats in a name 2018

I enjoyed doing my reading challenges last year so I decided to do a couple of them this year. Not too many that made me anxious and not enjoying my reading, but still I need something to challenge and motivate me to reach my goals.

Because I love doing the Popsugar Reading Challenge so much last year, I decided to do it again this year. The prompts look interesting and challenging, without making it too hard to accomplish. And I think there are some books that I can read from my ever growing TBR pile 😀

Here’s the list for Popsugar Reading Challenge 2018: 

1. A book made into a movie you’ve already seen: Holes (Louis Sachar)
2. True crime: In Cold Blood (Truman Capote)
3. The next book in a series you started: A Dance with Dragons (George RR Martin)
4. A book involving a heist: Pangeran Pencuri (Cornelia Funke)
5. Nordic noir: The Bat/Harry Holes #1 (Jo Nesbo)
6. A novel based on a real person: The Other Boleyn Girl (Philippa Gregory)
7. A book set in a country that fascinates you: TBD
8. A book with a time of day in the title: Midnight Feast (Meg Cabot)
9. A book about a villain or antihero: Heartless (Marissa Meyer)
10. A book about death or grief: My Sister Lives on a Mantelpiece (Annabel Pitcher)
11. A book with your favorite color in the title: The Mystery of The Blue Train (Agatha Christie)
12. A book with alliteration in the title: Magpie Murders (Anthony Horowitz)
13. A book about time travel: The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
14. A book with a weather element in the title: The Snow Child (Eowyn Ivey)
15. A book set at sea: The Woman in Cabin 10 (Ruth Ware)
16. A book with an animal in the title: Lily and the Octopus (Steven Rowley)
17. A book set on a different planet: The Gunslinger (Stephen King)
18. A book with song lyrics in the title: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Truman Capote)
19. A book about or set on Halloween: The Halloween Tree (Ray Bradbury)
20. A book with characters who are twins: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter (Kim Edwards)
21. A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym: Middlemarch (George Elliot)
22. A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Benjamin Alire Saenz)
23. A book that is also a stage play or musical: The Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux)
24. A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you: Beloved (Toni Morrison)
25. A book about feminism: The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
26. A book about mental health: The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
27. A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift: TBD
28. A book by two authors: The Screaming Statue/The Curiosity House #2 (Lauren Oliver, H.C. Chester)
29. A book about or involving a sport: Quidditch Through the Ages (Kennilworthy Whisp)
30. A book by a local author: Gelombang (Dee)
31. A book mentioned in another book: Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
32. A book from a celebrity book club: Little Fires Everywhere (Celeste Ng)
33. A childhood classic you’ve never read: Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
34. A book that’s published in 2018: TBD
35. A past Goodreads Choice Awards winner: Trigger Warning (Neil Gaiman)
36. A book set in the decade you were born: Dear Mr. Henshaw (Beverly Cleary)
37. A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn’t get to: TBD
38. A book with an ugly cover: TBD
39. A book that involves a bookstore or library: Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore (Matthew J. Sullivan)
40. Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 Popsugar Reading Challenges: A book you bought on a trip: TBD

 

And, to spice things up a bit. I will also join one of my favorite challenges, What’s in a Name, hosted by The Worm Hole. Here are the categories:

• The word ‘the’ used twice (The Secret By The Lake; The End Of The Day, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time)
• A fruit or vegetable (The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society; The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake)
• A shape (The Ninth Circle, The Square Root Of Summer, Circle Of Friends)
• A title that begins with Z – can be after ‘The’ or ‘A’ (Zen In The Art Of Writing; The Zookeeper’s Wife, Zelda)
• A nationality (Anna And The French Kiss; How To Be A Kosovan Bride; Norwegian Wood)
• A season (White Truffles In Winter; The Spring Of Kasper Meier; The Summer Queen; Before I Fall; The Autumn Throne)

I’ll update the reading list later, and probably will move the challenges into separate pages.

So what do you think? Are these challenges still feasible for me? Do you have any reading challenge you’d like to join this year?

Good luck everyone and may 2018 bring the best books for you!

2017: A Year in Books

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2017, bbi review reading 2017, list, popsugar RC 2017, reading challenge, reading list, wrap up, wrap up post

Happy new year!!! Hopefully everyone has a good start of 2018 and ready to kick off the reading list 🙂

Before we move on to the new year, new goals and new challenges, I would like to reminisce a little bit about my reading life in 2017. Enjoy the list!

Most “great book, but why you do dis ending??”: Church of Marvels, Conclave

Most charming setting: A Gentleman in Moscow, The Bookshop on the Corner

Most surprisingly enjoyable: Uncommon Type, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Most “full of characters that I’d love to punch”: Fates and Furies, Burnt Paper Sky

Most “books with lame romance”: Song of The Lioness series, The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair

Most live up to expectations: The Underground Railroad, The Nest

Most juicy series that very entertaining: Game of Thrones (still!!!), Crazy Rich Asians

All in all, I enjoyed my reading experience in 2017. I found some new authors (that I’d love to read again in the future), I discover new genres and went outside of my comfort zone a little bit (I read 4 non fictions and 1 audiobook!!!), and even successfully read 40 books from my TBR.

According to Goodreads statistics, I have read 81 books in 2017 (a bit more than last year’s total, and just one more book than my 2017 reading challenge target), 27,283 pages, with average of 3.5 stars rating. Not bad at all 🙂

I have finished two reading challenges, and only missing one review (perhaps I will write the review this year if I had a chance):

Category: A book involving travel

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 (Isabel Allende)
3. A book of letters – 84, Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff)
4. An audiobook – The Red House Mystery (A.A. Milne)
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 – The Meanest Doll in The World (Ann M Martin and Laura Godwin)
9. An espionage thriller – An Officer and A Spy (Robert Harris)
10. A book with a cat on the cover – Whittington (Alan Armstrong)
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 – The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers)
14. A book involving travel –  Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M. Pirsig)
15. A book with a subtitle – Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York (Sari Botton, et al)
16. A book that’s published in 2017: Uncommon Type: Some Stories (Tom Hanks)
17. A book involving a mythical creature: The Monstrumologist (Rick Yancey)
18. A book you’ve read before that never fails to make you smile: The Adventure of The Christmas Pudding (Agatha Christie)
19. A book about food – Sweetbitter (Stephanie Danler)
20. A book with career advice – Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (Sheryl Sandberg)
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 – Mycroft Holmes (Kareem Abdul Jabar & Anna Waterhouse)
24. A book set in the wilderness – The Call of The Wild (Jack London)
25. A book you loved as a child – Kumpulan Dongeng Binatang 1 (Anne-Marie Dalmais)
26. A book by an author from a country you’ve never visited – Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
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 – Sang Putri dan Sang Pemintal (Neil Gaiman)
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 Wonder (Emma Donoghue)
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 – March (Geraldine Brooks)
35. A book set in a hotel –A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)
36. A book written by someone you admire – Seriously, I’m Kidding (Ellen DeGeneres)
37. A book that’s becoming a movie in 2017 – Murder on The Orient Express (Agatha Christie) 
38. A book set around a holiday other than Christmas – Hallowe’en Party (Agatha Christie)
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 – Sorry to Disrupt the Peace (Patty Yumi Cottrell)

Kategori Single Point

1. Classic Literature, adalah buku-buku sastra klasik seperti buku-buku Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, etc.: The Call of The Wild (Jack London), The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers), If On a Winter Night a Traveler (Italo Calvino), Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M. Pirzig),
2. Children Literature, adalah buku-buku bertema dan cocok untuk anak-anak kecil hingga usia middle grade (SMP), atau usia hingga 15 tahun. Contoh, Rick Riordan: Three Times Lucky (Sheila Turnage), Kumpulan Dongeng Binatang 1 (Anne-Marie Dalmais), The Meanest Doll in The World (Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin), Whittington (Alan Armstrong), Oh, The Places You’ll Go! (Dr. Seuss), How to Look for a Lost Dog (Ann M. Martin), The Boy Called Christmas (Matt Haig), The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing (Sheila Turnage), The Hundred Dresses (Eleanor Estes),
3. Young Adult Literature, adalah buku-buku bertema remaja (Young Adult) dan New Adult (NA), berusia SMA hingga kuliahan, atau berusia 16-22 tahun. Contoh, Sarah Dessen, John Green, Jennifer L. Armentrout, dll: The Mystery of The Clockwork Sparrow (Katherine Woodfine),
4. Asian Literature, buku-buku yang berlatar belakang Asia, bertema kehidupan Asia, atau penulisnya berasal dari Asia. Contoh, Kevin Kwan, Akiyoshi Rikako: China Rich Girlfriend (Kevin Kwan),
5. Indonesian Literature Before 80’s, buku-buku asli dari Indonesia yang terbit sebelum tahun 1980
6. Self-Improvement & Self-Help, merupakan buku-buku pengembangan diri. Contoh, buku-buku John C. Maxwell, chicken soup, dll: Seriously…I’m Kidding (Ellen DeGeneres); Lean In: Women, Work, and The Will to Lead (Sheryl Sandberg);
7. Poetry, buku-buku puisi, baik dari Indonesia maupun luar Indonesia. Contoh, Tidak Ada New York Hari Ini, atau sonnet Shakespeare
8. Biografi Pahlawan Indonesia, adalah buku-buku yang menceritakan kisah hidup pahlawan Indonesia, seperti tentang Ir. Soekarno, Jenderal Soedirman, dsb
9. Award Winning Books, adalah buku-buku yang memenangkan sebuah penghargaan atau lebih, misalnya pemenang RITA Awards, Goodreads Choice Awards, dsb: March (Geraldine Brooks), The Nest (Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney), brown girl dreaming (Jacqueline Woodson), Fates and Furies (Lauren Groff),
10. Science-Fiction, buku-buku dengan genre utama science-fiction. Contoh, Star Trek, Ender’s Game, Across The Universe
11. Dystopia, buku-buku dengan genre utama dystopia. Contoh, The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner: 1984 (George Orwell),
12. Adventure, buku-buku mengenai petualangan dan memiliki tema utama petualangan, contoh: buku-buku Enid Blyton, Robinson Crusoe, dll
13. Historical Fiction, adalah buku-buku dengan genre utama fiksi historis. Bisa romance, non romance. Contoh: Ruta Sepetys, Julia Quinn, Lisa Kleypas (romance): A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles), The Distant Hours (Kate Morton), The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead), The Wonder (Emma Donoghue), The Book Thief (Markus Zusak), Church of Marvels (Leslie Parry),
14. Fantasy Fiction, adalah buku-buku dengan genre utama fantasy. Contohnya, buku-buku Neil Gaiman: Un Lun Dun (China Mieville), A Feast for Crows (George R.R. Martin); The Princess Bride (William Goldman); The Monstrumologist (Rick Yancey);
15. Paranormal Romance, adalah buku-buku dengan genre dan elemen utama paranormal romance, tentang vampire/shifter/makhluk non-manusia. Contohnya: Ilona Andrews, Nalini Singh, Thea Harrison, dll
16. Contemporary Romance, adalah buku-buku yang memiliki genre utama romance dan berlatar belakang kontemporer, dengan tokoh yang sudah berusia dewasa. Contoh, Cecilia Ahern, Sophie Kinsella, Jojo Moyes, Colleen Hoover, Elle Kennedy, Lauren Blakely, dll: Sweetbitter (Stephanie Danler),
17. Erotic Romance, buku-buku dengan genre utama romance dan memiliki unsur eroticism yang besar. Contohnya, E.L. James, Sylvia Day, C.D. Reiss
18. Sport Fiction, buku-buku fiksi dengan tema olahraga, baik romance maupun non-romance. Contoh: Susan Elizabeth Phillip
19. Thriller and Crime Fiction, adalah buku-buku yang memiliki genre utama thriller dan fiksi kejahatan. Contoh, Stephen King, J.D. Robb, David Baldacci, John Grisham, etc: The Red House Mystery (A.A Milne), Broken Monsters (Lauren Beukes), An Officer and a Spy (Robert Harris), The House at Baker Street (Michelle Birkby), Burnt Paper Sky (Gilly Macmillan),
20. Wedding Literature, buku-buku yang memiliki tema pernikahan (wedding)
21. Graphic Novels & Comic Books, adalah buku-buku komik, novel bergambar, dan novel berilustrasi: Sang Putri dan Sang Pemintal (Neil Gaiman),
22. Debut Authors, adalah buku dari pengarang yang melakukan debut pada tahun 2017 (buku pertama), bisa fiksi bisa non fiksi: Sorry to Disrupt the Peace (Patty Yumi Cottrell); Uncommon Type: Some Stories (Tom Hanks);
23. Hobby Nonfiction, adalah buku-buku nonfiksi mengenai hobi, seperti crafting, travel, fotografi, motor dan mobil, dsb: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Haruki Murakami), Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York (Sari Batton et al),
24. Brick Books, adalah buku-buku yang memiliki ketebalan buku minimal 500 halaman dalam bentuk fisik (paperback/hardback) maupun digital (sesuai dengan edisi Kindle/ebook): The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair (Joel Dicker); The House of the Spirits (Isabel Allende); The Nix (Nathan Hill);
25. Name In A Book, adalah buku-buku yang memiliki nama tokoh (nama depan/belakang) pada judulnya, dan bukan pada nama serinya: Mycroft Holmes (Kareem Abdul Jabar),

Kategori Ten Point

1. Full Series, membaca dan mereview satu seri penuh selama tahun 2017, minimal memiliki 3 buku (trilogi) dalam satu seri dan semua review dimasukkan ke dalam linky [EDIT] tidak termasuk komik, dan novella tidak dihitung (buku-buku pendamping): Alanna The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1, Tamora Pierce), In the Hand of the Goddess (Song of the Lioness #2, Tamora Pierce), The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (Song of the Lioness #3), Lioness Rampant (Song of the Lioness 34, Tamora Pierce)
2. Buku Pengarang Lima Benua, mereview buku-buku dari masing-masing satu pengarang dari setiap benua (Asia, Eropa, Amerika, Afrika, dan Australia), sehingga dalam tema ini akan ada 5 link/tautan review. Buku yang dibaca boleh fiksi, bisa nonfiksi: 84 Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff)- Amerika, The Dinner (Herman Koch) – Eropa, Crazy Rich Asian (Kevin Kwan) – Asia, The Last Anniversary (Liane Moriarty) -Australia, Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe) – Afrika
3. Lima Buku dari Penulis yang Sama, membaca dan mereview lima buku dari penulis yang sama, namun bukan bagian dari seri (harus stand-alone), bisa fiksi maupun nonfiksi: Pesta Hallowe’en (Agatha Christie), Skandal Perjamuan Natal (Agatha Christie), Pembunuhan di Orient Express (Agatha Christie), Mrs. McGinty is Dead (Agatha Christie), They Do It with Mirrors (Agatha Christie)
4. Historical Non Fiction, merupakan buku-buku historis nonfiksi, bisa berupa ensiklopedi, buku sejarah, dll: In the Garden of Beasts (Erik Larson)

So.. welcome, 2018! May this year bring better, brighter, and enjoyable books and reading experience to everyone! Cheers!

Reading Challenges – 2015

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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!

2013 Christmas Reads

Tags

challenge, christmas read, reading list

Thanks to Mbak Maria @HobbyBuku, I now have a perfect reason to dig Christmas books in December. Every year I try to read at least one book with Christmas theme in December, but this year it will be more interesting because there will be challenge and giveaway 🙂

So here’s my Christmas reading list:

1. Skipping Christmas (John Grisham)

2. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (Agatha Christie)

Want to join? Let’s celebrate Christmas together, please click here.

Check out my previous Christmas reads:

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (Rachel Cohn & David Levithan), The Gift (Cecelia Ahern)