Reading Challenge – Maps and Meanderings

November Reading Wrap Up & December Reading Bingo

Published on December 3, 2020December 2, 2020 by Meaghan Elizabeth1 Comment

Hello Lovely Readers! It has been a couple weeks since my last post. Work has been kicking my butt for the last couple weeks, and then I caught a cold that added it’s two cents into the butt kicking. But I am back and ready to jump back in, and what better way than with a look at how my reading went in November.

Despite my best intentions, November was another mediocre reading month for me. It is not uncommon for my reading to slow down at the end of the year, and then when you add in the extra life stress that I experienced this month, it’s not entirely surprising that I didn’t read as much as I wanted. It also didn’t help that the first two books I picked up in November were disappointing.

I finished a total of 6 books in November. I read 2 audiobooks, 2 e-books, and 2 physical books. My favourite read of the month was A Rogue of One’s Own and my least favourite was Hallowe’en Party. While you will see a non-fiction book on this wrap up, I can’t count it for Non-fiction November since I’ve been reading it in weekly portions since September.

1. Slayer by Kiersten White (3 Stars)

I had a really difficult time getting through Slayer. I enjoyed it while I was listening to it, but as soon as I turned it off, I didn’t feel any pull to pick it back up. Many evenings I didn’t listen to anything before bed because I just didn’t care. This book had a lot of potential, and all of the elements of a book that I should have enjoyed. I can also see the potential for the rest of the series (that ending, though!). But unfortunately, overall it fell flat. I will most likely pick up book 2, but if I feel the same way about it that I did about this one, I don’t think I’ll force my way through it.

2. Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie (3 Stars… maybe 2.5?)

I hate to say it, but this book was so disappointing, and I had such high hopes. A Halloween themed Agatha Christie? How was it possible I had never heard of that before. But it did not live up to expectations. It wasn’t terrible by any means, but it was long and it was tedious. I had the motive figured out pretty early, but it was a long process to get to the final reveal and the culprit.

I also had a hard time with the amount of time spent on the possibility that the murder was likely to have been committed by someone who had recently been let out of a psychiatric institution. I don’t know if this was an issue relevant to Christie at the time, but it was overdone and unnecessary. Even as a misdirect for the murder, it was such an obvious misdirect. While I am glad to have read this one, it will not be one that I recommend to those looking to pick up Agatha Christie.

3. The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrman (3.5 Stars)

I considered giving The Girls Weekend 4 stars, but I settled on 3.5 because I had mixed feelings. I enjoyed it more than I have enjoyed some other thrillers lately, but there was just something about it that didn’t quite hit the spot. I was drawn right into the story at the beginning, but by the time it reached the middle, my interest began to wane, and then the ending was just okay. Based on the build up throughout, I wanted more intrigue and spice from the ending. In the end, it wasn’t my favourite, but I would pick up another book by this author.

4. A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore (4 Stars)

This is the second book in the A League of Extraordinary Women series. I really enjoyed the first book, but I liked this one even more. This series is historical romance with a humorous side, and it completely hit the spot for me. I consistently enjoy all of the characters in this series, and I loved the interactions and the romantic build up between our two main characters. Though I loved the humour in Book one, I liked the relationship better in this one.

5. White Night by Jim Butcher (4 Stars)

I’m not going to say too much about this, other than to say that I am still really enjoying this series. If you are new to this series, it definitely takes a few books before it hits it’s stride, but I have been consistently giving 4 star ratings to the past few books I’ve read in the series. Though the main draw is definitely the fantasy world and the humour, I also love the characters and the way they interact with each other. Looking back, one of my criticisms of the first few books is that I didn’t always believe the relationships, and I am so glad that aspect has improved and settled in.

6. None Like Him: 10 Ways God is Different from Us by Jen Wilkin (4.5 Stars)

This book is different from what you normally see on this blog, and I think this is the first non-fiction that I have completed this year. I read this book over the past couple months as part of a weekly virtual Bible study that I participated in, and I really enjoyed it. The author challenged me, and made me think, and she presented the concepts and attributes of God in ways that I had never considered before while remaining very accessible. If this is something that you are interested in, I would highly recommend this book.

Last month I introduced a new feature where I look at some of the books or goals that I anticipate reading in the upcoming month. Looking back on last month’s preview, I did a mediocre job of predicting my November reading. I predicted I would need to read like it was my full time job in November to meet all my goals, and you already know I didn’t do that.

While I did continue reading some of the spookier, thriller type books, I didn’t read all that many of them. And I certainly didn’t read a big fantasy book. I picked one up and got about 50 pages at the most into it. Suffice it to say, I didn’t do all that well at meeting my November goals.

December Preview

This month’s preview looks a bit different yet again. I am testing out the idea of a monthly Reading Bingo to help guide and direct my reading for the month. I’ve tried to keep the prompts general so that they fit my goals for the month, but aren’t too specific that they won’t work for others, because I would love for you to join in!

In addition to the picture below, I have attached the PDF file. Feel free to download it and join me this month in working towards a BINGO or two! And let me know in the comments if you’re going to participate, or what you think of the prompts, because I’m thinking of continuing these monthly boards in 2021 and would love the feedback. (Spoiler Alert There may also be a seasonal board coming in the next couple weeks.)

Here are the prompts for December, and a bit of explanation where necessary. Depending on how much of a challenge you want, you can either use one book to fulfill multiple prompts, or use only one book per square.

A Christmas Romance
A Fantasy Read
Christmas Cookies – Read a book that includes baking
Family and Friends – Read a book that features family and/or friends. This one is open to your interpretation.
Listen to 2 Audiobooks – If you don’t read audiobooks regularly, feel free to challenge yourself to read one instead of two.
A Book with Red on the Cover
Many Happy Returns – A Book you were meaning to Read this Year. If you’re like me, you have a list of books you intended to read this year, now is the time to pick one and cross it off your list.
Read 5 Books
Snuggle up – Read a Book in front of the Tree or Fire. It is completely acceptable for this to be the fire on your television.
A Book Published in 2020
Free Space! Use this for any book of your choosing.
Hit 100 Books read in 2020. Okay, so this one is specific to me. Whatever your goal is for books read this year, insert that in this prompt.
Presents! This is a bonus free space that you can use for any book of your choosing.
A Christmas or Seasonal Mystery
A Book with Green on the Cover
A Book under 100 Pages or a Short Story

December Reading Bingo

Until Next Time,

Mapping the Books – Reading around the World and Across Genres

Published on May 28, 2020November 16, 2020 by Meaghan Elizabeth

I don’t know about you, but I love it when a book includes maps in the front. I love how they allow you to situate a book in a place – especially when that place is not part of this world. Whether you reference the map as you read the story, or only look at it at the start, the map is one of the tools that the author uses to ground their story in a setting and to create a world. If the places that the characters visit are marked on a map, they are made that much more real.

I love maps. Between maps in books and maps in travel, I am often referencing them.

Today I want to introduce a new series that combines books and maps in a different way. I’m not actually sure if it should be classified as a series, as it’s more of a way to manage and organize books and posts… but don’t think there’s a word that sums that up. And since there will be posts directly related to this organizational method… series it is.

The Background

As I have mentioned before, when I started up this blog I knew that I wanted to write about both reading and travel. I had many brainstorming sessions to think up ways to combine the two on an ongoing basis. One of the ideas that came out of these sessions was to map out the books that I read, books that I would like to read, or use maps to create reading lists for specific places.

The more I thought about it, the more I started to get really excited about the idea of being more intentional in reading books from different areas of the world. I also wanted to see where the books that I read and talk about are located, and how they’re spread out around the world. I have an idea about where the majority of books I read are set, but as someone with both history and math in her background, I love the idea of seeing it actually laid out and plotted.

My vision for this is to have clickable maps that allow you to navigate to a section of the world of books and see all the posts about the books from that area. At this point, however, I’m not completely sure how to make that happen. I don’t know if I can add such a thing to a blog without major programming required. I have a few ideas, but I need to work on it and play with it some more. In the meantime, the world of books will be organized into separate pages to group the books from each area.

A Series in Two Sections

This series is going to consist of two parts, at least to start. The first will be mapping books in the physical world. This section will include books of any genre that are set in “real” locations on earth or in space. These might be books that are set in alternate, or more fantastical, versions of real locations, as well as those that are more realistic. If you can find it on a map then it can be included, even if it’s completely different than how we know the place in the past or present.

The second section will be the world of genres. This section is one that will definitely be more interesting once I can figure out how to make clickable images, but I’m going to start it up now and work towards the vision. For now, this section will organize the books I read and talk about by genre. I would like this world map of genres to include everything from Fantasy to Non-Fiction.

I love the idea of seeing books and genres on a map. In the case of the genres, it’s fun to imagine what they would look like on a map. What are the continents, and the countries? Which genres are “border” each other? There are so many things that I want to explore with this series, and I’m excited to get started with it.

You can find the “Map of Books” page and the “Map of Genres” pages linked below. They will also be linked under the “books” menu going forward, once I get that set up.

Do you enjoy maps? Do you categorize the types of books that you read or look for trends in this way? Do you find that you read books mostly from one area of the world or do you read more widely? Let me know in the comments!

World Map of Books
The Map of Genres

Until next time!

Reading Books from Each Year of My Life 1986-2020

Published on May 21, 2020November 16, 2020 by Meaghan Elizabeth

Hello! Welcome back to another reading challenge post. Last week I talked about how I enjoy setting reading challenges, and reading lists for myself. (You can check that post out here for some background.) Today I wanted to talk about another challenge that I am currently working my way through. I started this challenge in July of 2019 just after my birthday, and the goal was that it would be a year long challenge. Seeing as how we are almost at the 1 year mark, and I am only a third of the way through, that is not going to happen. So I’m extending it another year.

I got the idea when Emma from Drinking by My Shelf completed a challenge where she read a number of books from the day she was born. I really loved the idea, and started looking into doing that for myself. As I was looking for books that were published in 1986, I decided that I wanted to switch the challenge up a bit for myself, and read a book from each year of my life. Because I’m apparently incapable of setting challenges of reasonable length.

Because of the way the years work out, I’ll be reading 1 book more than my actual age. Since I am not going to be completing this challenge by this year’s birthday, I’ve added 2020 on to the list. So the challenge covers 1986-2020, which is 35 books. 35 books isn’t unreasonable for me to read in a year, but I like to read a wide variety of books, as well as reading more current books, which makes it more difficult.

There are some years where I am determined to read a specific book, or one out of a couple books. In these cases, even if I read a different book from that year, I’m not going to consider the slot completed, unless I get to the end of the challenge and find that I still haven’t picked up the preferred book. On the other hand, there are a some years where, if I happen across a book that fits the year but wasn’t on my initial list, then that’s the book I’ll put into the slot.

I’m also trying to not fill too many slots with multiple books in a series, if possible.This means that if an author I love releases a book a year, I’m not going to binge read their books and list them for 5 or 6 consecutive years. Make sense? One exception to this rule for now is The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett – there are a few books from that series on the list of possible titles.

I decided not to list all the options I’ve included on my list because it’s so rough, and fluid, so I will just mention the books I end up using to fill the slot. I’ll try to give a progress update every few months, depending on how many books I get through in the time. For now, here are the books I have read so far. I have completed 13/35.

1986 – The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
This is book 2 in the Discworld series. I enjoyed this one, though it’s not among my favourites. There were some great quotes and I liked it better than book 1, so it might even be one I re-read at some point. Stay tuned at some point in the future for more Discworld content, including recommended reading guides.

1988 – The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
This is a short, somewhat strange, book that is SO GOOD. I absolutely loved it and would 100% recommend it. It’s been less than a year since I read it first, and I’m already thinking about re-reading it.

1998 – Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
This was a re-read. I decided it should have a place on this list since the Temperance Brennan series is a favourite for me and I read and re-read all of them regularly. These books are definitely “comfort reads” for me.

2000 – Storm Front by Jim Butcher
I mentioned this book in my Magical Readathon wrap up post. This is the first book in a Mystery-Fantasy series that I am really enjoying. I have read the first 2 books in the last two months and have the third out from my library already. I may write a more in depth look into the series in an upcoming post.

2011 – The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
This is a fantasy retelling of the story of Achilles. I didn’t love this as much as Circe, by the same author, but it was really enjoyable and I will definitely keep reading Madeline Miller’s books. If you enjoy Greek myth retellings, these are definitely ones to look into.

2012 – Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
This is the first book in a Middle Grade fantasy series that I have started reading over the past year. I am loving it so much. The characters and the stories are so well written! It is without a doubt a new favourite series. There are 8 books out so far.

2013 – NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
This one was definitely out of my comfort zone, as it is horror, but I think I enjoyed it? I’m still not completely sure how I would rate it. It is very long, and it is the type of book that felt long. It is also the type of book that is supposed to make you uncomfortable at times.

2014 – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Unpopular opinion – I didn’t really like this book. There. I said it. For the most part I enjoyed the first part of the book. But then there’s a twist/switch part way through that ruined the book for me. It wasn’t the twist itself, but everything that happened after the twist. I will probably still check out more Gillian Flynn in the future.

2016 – The Dry by Jane Harper
This is the first book in a Mystery/Thriller series set in Australia. It took me awhile to get into the story, but I’m not sure if I was trying to do too much while listening to the audiobook. I plan on picking up at least one more book in this series.

2017 – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The internet loves this book. I will say that this wasn’t my favourite Taylor Jenkins Reid book – I think that place goes to Daisy Jones and the Six, but I really enjoyed this one. I love the writing style, and the way that it makes you feel like the characters mentioned could actually exist.

2018 – Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
This is the first Robert Jackson Bennett book that I have read, as well as the first book in a new fantasy series. I loved the magic system in this book, and I really enjoyed the story and the characters. My favourite character is the talking key… are you intrigued? This was a five-star read for me and I cannot wait to pick up 2.

2019 – The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
This was such a cute contemporary romance. I loved the writing, and I loved the concept, which is two people living in the same flat (apartment) that work completely opposite schedules and communicate primarily through sticky notes. Would highly recommend.

2020 – The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson
This is the third and final book in the “Truly Devious” series. It is a young adult mystery series set in a strange boarding school with a mysterious past. I thought this one wrapped up the trilogy well, and I enjoy where they left the characters. I think book 2 might have been my favourite, but this is definitely a trilogy that I plan on re-reading.

Have you read any of these books? Do you have any suggestions for books I should read for the years that I have not yet completed?

Until next time,

Reading the 1920’s: A Reading Challenge

Published on May 14, 2020November 16, 2020 by Meaghan Elizabeth

Happy New Year! We have now officially entered into the Twenty-Twenties! …

The Great Gatsby book in front of Letterboard

Okay, so it’s clearly not January (though I’m not sure any one has informed the weather), and we are already well into this whirlwind that is 2020. This is a “reading goals for the new year” type post, which means that it is at least 4 months late. Because of that, I considered not even posting it. But then I figured that we still have 8 months left in the year, and it seems likely that this challenge will go into 2021, so I might as well just go for it.

A bit of background

I enjoy setting reading challenges for myself. I like to put together lists to challenge myself to read books within a specific theme. Sometimes the lists are seasonally themed, sometimes they are themed by genre or by some other category that interests me. I put these lists together all the time. I would like to think that I’m pretty good at putting together these lists.

What I’m not good at is completing these lists. I start strong, but then I gradually lose interest or motivation or, more often, come up with another shiny new challenge and the old challenge is left to sit unfinished.

Part of the problem is that I’m something of a mood reader. I like the idea of having a structured TBR, and it works for me for a while, but then I get really drawn to a certain author or a certain type of book, and that’s all I want to read. When I’m in one of those moods, forcing myself to read something else can push me into a slump. And then I don’t want to read anything. Which is no good.

The second part of the problem is that I put too many books on the list. Why put together a list of 10 books, when you can put together 20 books instead? Along with making a long list, I am prone to making the timeline too short. These two things together make the challenge unmanageable, and I inevitably just give up. Good challenges should stretch you without being completely unmanageable.

Despite these problems, I keep setting challenges. But I’m working on setting them better. I try to put a variety of genres on a list, and I leave myself open to swapping books out if I decide I have no interest in reading them. I’m also working on setting more accurate timelines. If a book list is long, it should have a long, even more open ended, timeline. Maybe eventually I will set myself a challenge that I can finish!

Onto the Challenge!

This year I decided that since we were entering into the Twenties, I wanted to devote some of my reading time to books set in or written in the 1920s. There are 20 books on this list, because that felt fitting. It’s a long list, but I’m trying to leave the timeline fairly open. I would love to read these all this year, but next year is still going to be the Twenties, so if it becomes a two year challenge, so be it.

The books cover many genres, so there should be something to fit into almost every reading mood. I’m also open to swapping out books if I change my mind, or find something better. I had a difficult time coming up with 20 books that I was interested in for this challenge, so there are a few on here that I already think I might not read. There are also a couple series, so there’s room for one series to take multiple slots if I get hooked.

Since I’m so late in posting this, I have already completed a couple of the books on this list. I’m not going to indicate that here, but I’m going to try and do a mid-year wrap up at the end of June where I’ll talk about my thoughts on the ones I’ve completed by then.

Onto The Books

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (1920)

This, Agatha Christie’s first novel and first in the Poirot series, was first published in 1920. I can’t remember if I’ve read this one before – so it may end up being a re-read. I wonder if I’ll still be surprised by the twist?

2. The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot (1922)

Though I’m familiar with the poem, and have read excerpts, I would like to be able to say that I’ve read the entire thing. I rarely pick up poetry, so this one will definitely stretch my reading.

3. Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)

I have added and removed this book from the list a number of times already. It is a big book, and I really don’t know if I’m going to enjoy it or not. I can already see this being one that I swap out.

4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

It seems like everyone has heard of the Great Gatsby. I read this book during University, but it has never been one of my favourites. Since it is short, and an iconic book of the decade, I thought a re-read was in order. Perhaps I’ll like it better the second time around.

5. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh (1930)

Though this book was published in 1930, it is set in the late 1920s. I have never read anything by Evelyn Waugh, but Emma from Drinking By My Shelf (YouTube) raves about this book, so I have decided to give it a try.

6. Whose Body by Dorothy L. Sayers (1923)

Sayers is the second mystery novelist on this list, but unlike Christie, I have not read any books by her yet. This is her first mystery featuring Lord Peter Whimsey. If I enjoy this one, then I think she has quite a few other books that I will be able to add to pick up and enjoy.

7. The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (1927)

When I discovered that there were Sherlock Holmes stories that fit into my publication period, I knew that they needed to be on this list. I am a lover of most things Sherlock Holmes, though I have not actually read all of the original stories. This collection includes the final set of 12 Holmes stories published in the Strand from 1921 to 1927.

8. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (1926)

I originally intended to have 20 different authors on this list, but I was having a difficult time landing on 20 books, and I know that I enjoy Agatha Christie. I am also 99% certain that I have not read this one.

9. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne (1926)

As I was looking for books to include on this list, I realized that there were a number of classic children’s books written during this time period that I have not yet read. I have always loved Winnie the Pooh, but have read very few of the stories themselves, so I think I will read the stories between other books.

10. The Story of Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting (1920)

I have watched the movie, but never read any Doctor Doolittle stories. And now with the new movie this year, it seemed like a perfect time to pick up this classic.

11. Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (1923)

L.M. Montgomery is one of my favourite authors, and the Emily of New Moon series are some of my favourite books. I think the last time I read this series had to be when I was in high school, so I am very interested to see what I think of it as an adult.

12. The Secret of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton (1927)

Another mystery! I have wanted to read something Chesterton for ages, but have never managed to pick one up. I am familiar with the Father Brown character, as I have listened to a couple stories that were turned into audio drama’s, so I am hoping that I will enjoy this one.

13. New Hampshire by Robert Frost (1923)

More poetry! Look at me go stretching my reading comfort zone (at least if we ignore all the comfortable mysteries included in this list). This collection includes some of Frost’s most well known poems.

14. The Diviners by Libba Bray

We have now officially reached the section of this list where books are set in the 1920s but written more recently. The Diviners is the first book in the series of the same name set in 1920s New York City. The series is tagged as both fantasy and mystery, and I love that combination!

15. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

I know very little about this book, other than that it is a short, dark fantasy set in New York in the 1920s. This one is recommended by Books with Emily Fox on YouTube. Sometimes with this type of book, it’s better to go in without knowing too much.

16. The Gallery by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

The Gallery has been on my library TBR for a couple years now but I have never felt the itch to pick it up. The description on Goodreads calls it “an historical art mystery set in the Roaring Twenties”… which sounds pretty amazing and right up my alley.

17. Born of Illusion by Teri Brown

I had not heard of this book before researching this list. With a description that includes words such as “magic,” “romance,” and the “New York Jazz age,” I am hopeful that it will be exactly my cup of tea.

18. Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn

I am always looking for a new cozy mystery series to dive into. This is the first book in a cozy mystery series set in 1920s Britain. The description has me completely hooked, and I hope the book can deliver.

19. Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

The front cover of this book practically screams 1920s. It is the first book in a series set in New York during the last summer of the jazz age. I’m not completely convinced that this is one that I will enjoy, because the genre is outside of my comfort zone. But I will give it a try.

20. Wildcard Slot

I didn’t intend to have a “wildcard” slot in this challenge. I had a book slotted into this spot, until I realized it wasn’t set in the 1920s. I’m not sure where I got my misinformation, but I had to remove the book, and I haven’t been able to find a replacement. I am open to suggestions!

Have you read any of the books on this list? If so, what are your favourites? Do you have any other books set in the 1920s or written in the 1920s that you would recommend?

Until next time,