Reader with a cause

The story so far

Earlier this year, I took on the 2016 challenge set by Book Riot. There’s a lot to be read, and to make it more enjoyable I broke the categories into manageable (and unmanageable) lumps.

Having my lumps of categories has made it fun, but what’s been even more lovely has been the chats with friends as they help me with my quest to find the next great read.

So, since I’ve already had such enjoyable conversations and discovered so many wonderful books, I thought I’d share some of the darlings read so far.

I’ve not quite finished all of these, but I’m far enough along to be sure of my feelings for each one. Anything I haven’t enjoyed hasn’t made it onto this page. I’m not considering a category ‘done’ unless it’s given me something. And that something can be pause for thought, a good hearty laugh, or a chance for learning and discovery.

Friendly recommendations by stand-up citizens

From days ripe with book-loving conversations

• Rhinoceros and Other Plays, Eugene Ionesco (a play)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J. K. Rowling
  (for middle grade – in Australia this is aged 8-10 years)
• The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God and Other Stories, Etgar Keret (set in the Middle East)
• The Princess Bride, William Goldman (book adapted into a movie)
• The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert (a book over 500 pages long)

Wonderful self-made discoveries

Not as much fun to find and with a lot less conversation

• The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (about a person with a mental illness)
• The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (an Audie Award Winner)
• Not Just Black and White, Lesley and Tammy Williams
  (by a ‘person of colour’ – in Australia I’ve interpreted this as by an Aboriginal person)
• First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, Loung Ung (author from SouthEast Asia)

Suggestions welcome

I’m struggling to find a great choice for a couple of areas. Not that I can’t find anything at all, but I’m yet to find that one book that makes my heart yearn to read it. If you’re reading this and have a little beastie that is longing to be read, please do let me know.

• Read a book out loud to someone else (make it short, please)
• Read a book by or about a person that identifies as transgender (not ‘sort of fits this category’, but bang-on and damn good, if you can)

Onwards and upwards

I’m currently reading about 8 books. I got here because people keep suggesting wonderful things. And I keep starting to read them. I jump from one book to the other in a willful and glee-filled attempt to ‘read all the books‘.

So far, 2016 has been a quite magnificent reading year. If I’m going to judge this challenge’s success, I’d say it’s already won.

Where to from here? I don’t know for sure, but it’s going to be good.