I love the idea of a reading challenge, but sometimes I lose steam halfway through the year, or forget all about it. The past couple of years though I’ve enjoyed doing Modern Mrs. Darcy‘s annual reading challenge, and I like that it’s open-ended enough that I can easily complete it by reading books I would have likely read anyway.
I like to read a mix of genres, as well as new and backlist picks, which works perfectly with a challenge like this one. Here are my picks from this year’s challenge.
A book published the decade you were born: Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy (published in 1986). This book, and Pat Conroy, are very well known but I’d never before read anything by him. It was definitely an engrossing story, and I do usually love a dysfunctional family saga. Tom, the main character who narrates the book, drove me crazy though, so this wasn’t a favorite for me.
A debut novel: Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong. I loved this book about a woman who returns home to help her father who is struggling with Alzheimer’s. While the books’ subject matter is serious, I loved Ruth’s wit and quirkiness. I’m not sure all authors could handle this subject matter in a way that manages to be tender, funny, and heartfelt, but Khong does.
A book recommended by a source you trust: The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns. My good friend Becky–my two-person book club partner–recommended this one to me. This novel alternates between a present day story and one set in Japan in the 1950s. While fiction, the novel was based on facts, so learning about Japanese culture during that time period was fascinating. That part of the story was engrossing and heart-breaking at times. I couldn’t get quite as invested in the parallel modern day story, mostly because there were too many loose ends left untied in my opinion.
A book by a local author: I Am Ruth by Kira Cheree Hopkins. Written by an author local to Kansas City, I read this for a my local bookstore’s book club. In fact, the author joined our online book club discussion, which was an awesome experience. I Am Ruth is a retelling of the story of Ruth in the Bible, and I loved her modern take on it. I felt like the story moved a bit too quickly for my taste however, and I would have liked to get to know the characters a little more.
A book outside your (genre) comfort zone: Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn. I chose a romance because until this year, I didn’t read a ton in this genre. It’s really growing on me though! Love Lettering is about a successful woman who is known for her custom planners and beautifully hand-lettered wedding invitations, and what happens when she hides a secret message about the fate of a marriage in one such invite. I thought it was sweet and a lot of fun to read.
A book in translation: The Great Passage by Shion Miura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter. Set in Japan, it is about a team of people who create dictionaries. As someone who loves words, this concept intrigued me, and I loved the reverent way words were treated by the dictionary writers. I couldn’t always connect to the characters, which made it a somewhat slow read for me (despite it being pretty short), but overall I enjoyed it.
A book nominated for an award in 2020: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. I wanted to read this book anyway, and when I saw that it was longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize it was the perfect addition for this category. This book was enthralling and I did not want to put it down, and usually those aren’t the types that stick with me. Yet with this one, there was the plot that had me cringing, laughing, and sometimes even wanting to throw the book across the room, but beneath that there was so much that made me look inward and think about why characters’ actions irritated me so much, and how I may be like them without knowing it. So good.
A re-read: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I read this several years ago and loved it (and even decided to do my own happiness project), and this year I reread it as part of an online discussion group at work. I like how Rubin found small ways to feel happier over the course of a year, and focused on a different theme each month.
A classic you didn’t read in school: The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton. I had never read any Edith Wharton but have always wanted to, so it was the perfect choice for this category. I admit that because I’m used to reading more contemporary literature these days, it took some time to get used to Wharton’s pace and writing style. But soon enough I was in it, and turning the pages to see what kinds of schemes Undine (who I loved to hate) would get herself into next.
Three books by the same author: Bury Your Dead, A Trick of the Light, and The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. Reading three books in a series seems a bit like cheating in this category, but since I very rarely read series, and almost never back to back, I think it works. (And also, I don’t think the book police will come after me here.) I only recently started reading this beloved Inspector Gamache series, but I’ve quickly grown to love it.
Do you participate in any reading challenges?
