Woo Hoo! Almost there!
I can’t believe how close I am to the end of this challenge. I’m surprised to have made such progress in only four months. I’ve so enjoyed branching out and finding books I might never have picked up otherwise. I have, however, missed reading some favourite authors and genres, which is why I’ve run out of “Wild Card” slots so quickly. I officially used my last one on April 3, with Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King. And then a Dean Koontz book I’d been on the waitlist for since last year finally came up for me at the library. It didn’t fit a single remaining slot. Whoops.
I read it anyway. Seriously, I’d been waiting more than five months for the thing, what would you do? So, there went my strict sticking-to-the-challenge-ness. I still intend to finish the challenge, though, especially since I have so little left to go! I’m hoping to be finished by the June monthly update, if not sooner! I’m just no longer exclusively reading from the challenge list, so you’ll see reviews now and then that aren’t tagged “2016 Reading Challenge” – those are the ones that don’t have a slot on this list.
Oh, hey, and guess what? I got this email this week and….
That’s right ladies and gentlemen – I’m part of the 1%. I used to have this status a couple of years ago, but stopped writing reviews for a while. Want to help keep me in the 1%? It would mean a lot to me, if you’re on GoodReads, if you’d like and comment on my reviews. I’m barely clawing into my spot in that 1% right now and I’d like to keep it! Every interaction helps!
Eventually, I’d like to get back into the “Top 100” for Canada. I used to hover around #60 most of the time, going up and down month-to-month, and a couple of times I broke the Top 50. Because there are millions of GoodReads users, top 1% is probably about 10k people!
In small nations, it’s easy to get into the “Top 100” for your country. In Canada? Not so much. You need around 20 likes/comments on your posts a month, in addition to producing plenty of reviews, to break into that group. I don’t “friend collect” on there – randomly adding people I don’t know and have no intention of interacting with – so I don’t have the thousands of friends many of the Top 100 have. I should, though, have enough, but I think my friends are guilty of what I’m guilty of, too – liking and commenting on the Facebook reposts of GoodReads stuff and not on GoodReads itself! So I’m resolving to interact more with you on GoodReads, and I hope you’ll do the same!
41/52
Read a book that takes place on each continent, or is written by an author from that continent (fiction or non-fiction)
1. North America: Low Pressure by Sandra Brown
2. South America: At Night We Walk in Circles by Daniel Alarcón
3. Africa
4. Antarctica: Subterranean by James Rollins
5. Europe: Paris by Edward Rutherfurd
6. Asia: The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness
by Yongey Mingyur, Daniel Goleman
7. Australia: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
8. A banned or challenged book: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
9. An award winning book (National Book Award): What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
10. Memoir/Autobiography/Biography: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
11. A dead author’s last book
12. A book with LGBT matter or character(s): OMG Queer: Short Stories by Queer Youth by Radclyffe
13. A book your favorite author loves
14. A retold fairytale
15. A Young Adult book: Raven by Lauren Oliver
16. A history book (fiction or non-fiction): In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
17. A book where you have seen the movie, but not read the book: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
18. A book from the NYT Bestseller list: (debuted at #1) Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
19. A book with the point of view of an immigrant: Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
20. A controversial book: The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
21. The first book you see when you walk into a library or bookstore: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
22. A classic: Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
23. A debut novel: Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer
24. Published this year (2016)
25. Based entirely on the cover
26. Own but never read
27. A book by an author you never read before: Lock In by John Scalzi
28. A book recommended to you by a friendly librarian
29. A book by a Nobel Prize winner
30. Mythology (not just Greek)
31. A book written by someone born the same year as you: The Eye of Minds by James Dashner
32. Dystopia: Requiem by Lauren Oliver
33. Reread of a favorite book: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
34. A book about books: The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life by Julia Cameron
35. Book published the year you graduated high school: Family Pictures by Sue Miller
36. A book a child/teen/someone younger than you loves: The Selection
by Kiera Cass
37. A book about/set by the sea: Please Don’t Tell by Elizabeth Adler
38. A book with two authors: Best Friends, Occasional Enemies: The Lighter Side of Life as a Mother and Daughter by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella
39. Author from your own state, province, or country
40. A book about a trip (road, cruise, around the world): The Vacationers by Emma Straub
41. A book with the name of a person in the title: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
42. Science Fiction: The 100 by Kass Morgan
43. Fantasy: The Elite by Kiera Cass
44. Wild card: Every Fifteen Minutes by Lisa Scottoline
45. Wild card: Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome by John Scalzi
46. Wild card: The Queen by Kiera Cass
47. Wild card: The Prince by Kiera Cass
48. Wild card: After You by Jojo Moyes
49. Wild card: The Favorite by Kiera Cass
50. Wild card: The One by Kiera Cass
51. Wild card: Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham
52. Wild card: The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King