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| Caspar looking for books at a good bookstore in Melbourne last year |
At the beginning of the year I signed up for some reading challenges - four to be precise (oh and the Good Reads Challenge of 50 books for the year - again):
- Australian Women Writer's Challenge
- Great War Theme Read
- Eclectic Reader Challenge
- Non-Fiction Reading Challenge
I am on track with my 50 books for the year (I'm 3 books ahead of schedule on that one - phew!)
But how am I faring with the other challenges? Huh? Huh?
Well for the first challenge - Australian Women Writers - the goal was to read 10 books by Australian women and review six of them. One could say that I've just about blitzed this one. Looking at my books, I have read ten books by Australian women this year already. They are as follows:
- My Brother but One by T.M. Clark
- Moving Among Strangers by Gabrielle Carey
- Madeleine: a life of Madeleine St John by Helen Trinca
- The Essence of the Thing by Madeleine St John
- The Women in Black by Madeleine St John
- Surrender by Sonya Hartnett
- Innocence Lost: The Last Man Hanged in Queensland by Jacqueline Craigie
- Fatal Impact by Kathryn Fox
- You're Still Hot to Me by Jean Kittson
- Wild Things by Brigid Delaney
Have I reviewed six of them though? Well possibly not to the standards set down here.
My reviews tend to be perhaps too short and not analytical enough so I need to do some work here.
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| My great-grandfather and his brother in France during WW1 |
The second challenge - Great War Theme Read - has fallen by the wayside. I wanted to read 5 books and have only read the first one. Testament of Youth is still sitting beside the bed. I watched the TV series though. Does that count? No - I don't think so. I need to lift my game here and get on with it.
The third challenge - Eclectic Reader Challenge - isn't doing so badly. There were 12 goals to fill here and I've highlighted the six I've completed, so I'm on track.
- Award Winning - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt won the Pulitzer Prize
- True Crime (Non Fiction) - Innocence Lost by Jacqueline Craigie
- Romantic Comedy
- Alternate History Fiction - I'm going to claim Life after Life by Kate Atkinson for this one
- Graphic Novel
- Cosy Mystery Fiction
- Gothic Fiction
- War/Military Fiction - William an Englishman by Cecily Hamilton
- Anthology
- Medical Thriller Fiction - Fatal Impact by Kathryn Fox
- Travel (Non Fiction)
- Published in 2014 - Wild Things by Brigid Delaney
The fourth challenge - Non-Fiction Reading - I was aiming to be a Dilettante reading 1 - 5 books and I think I am pretty much blitzing this one too.
- Moving among Strangers by Gabrielle Carey
- Madeleine: a Life of Madeleine St John by Helen Trinca
- Innocence Lost: The Last Man Hanged in Queensland by Jacqueline Craigie
- You're Still Hot to Me by Jean Kittson
And, because I am completely hopeless, I said I would also participate in the Mary Hocking Reading Month because I'd never heard of her and she died this year and my friends in the Virago Group thought a lot of her. I'm struggling a bit with this one. I've borrowed three of her books from the library. I couldn't get into A Particular Place, so I'm going to give The Meeting Place a good go as it's got the most stars on Librarything, although I'm finding it a bit tough too.
So, to re- frame goals for the balance of the year ....
- Write those reviews!!
- Read four Great War books
- Read one from each of the following genres/groups: Romantic Comedy, Graphic Novel, Cosy Mystery, Gothic Fiction, an Anthology and a Travel book.
- Try and finish a Mary Hocking book
How are you going with your goals?
