2025...Reading Challenges, First Book of the Year, and my Word for the Year

I honestly cannot believe how fast 2024 went by! While it wasn't a terrible year, some things happened that made it less than ideal for me. Not going into details, but I'm sure many can relate. But let's put 2024 in the past where it belongs and get down to a new year of optimism and reading plans. I mentioned in my 2024 reading year post that I reached my goal of reading 50 books in 2024. I'm setting my 2025 goal at 60. We shall see if I can surpass last year. I'm certainly going to try.

First book of the year - Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Christina Henry

Of course I'm starting off the year with a horror novel. I have always loved the legend of Sleepy Hollow ever since watching The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad as a kid. So far, this one is really good!

I'm also reading Winter King: Henry VII and The Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn for my book group on Goodreads, True Book Talk. 

My word for the year

Last year, my word was Release and I think I did a pretty good job of doing just that. In 2023, I was struggling with empty nest syndrome so Brave was my word and then I chose Release last year to help me accept and release what I could not change. This year I chose Courage to help me cope with what is going on in our country and the world, and also to have the courage to keep going with my weight loss (I've lost 80 lbs since April 2024), and writing, and finishing, my novel. 

The new year for me always comes with a fresh start at reading challenges. This year I'll once again be doing Book Challenge by Erin (which is twice a year), in addition to the four challenges I host.

Challenges listed below:
Book Challenge by Erin 22.0
2025 I Read Horror Year-Round
1000 Books Project 2025: Sigrid Undset's Krisin Lavransdatter
2025 Book to Movie (and TV) Challenge
2025 Read Your Shelf Challenge

First up...the twice a year challenge - Book Challenge by Erin 22.0 (Facebook group)

First round of the year runs Jan - April.

Freebie: Horseman, Christina Henry

Added to 2024 TBA - The Hacienda, Isabel Canas

Artist (writer) as main character - The Writing Retreat, Julia Bartz

Sunset on cover - Holly, Stephen King

Jenna Bush Book Club rec - Camp Zero, Michelle Min Sterling

Title starts with I - Incidents Around the House, Josh Malerman

City/Town in title - The Last Witch of Langenburg, Thomas Robisheaux

Female villain - Rosemary's Baby, Ira Levin

Author w/ first name of Erin - Lake of Sorrows, Erin Hart

Climate change fiction - Portent, James Herbert

This is a private Facebook group. You can check it out and join here. You can join in at any time during the four months. Second challenge of the year starts July 1st. Categories announced in June.

Now on to the challenges I'm hosting...

I host this challenge at my sister blog, the horror blog, Castle Macabre. 

I have some ideas on what I'll be reading, but not sure on all of them yet. I'm going for the Chilling level again this year. I completed the level in 2024 so I'll stick with it for now.

Here are the prompts and levels...

• Vampires
• Witches
• Folk Horror 
• Written by a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) author
• A Ghost Story
• Written by a female author
• Cosmic Horror
• Frightening Cover
• Adapted as movie/series
• Katsu, Ketchum, King, or Koontz
• Black, gray, orange, or red cover
• Book featuring a Cryptid (mark off one BINGO square!)

Levels:

Spooky: Read 6 books from 6 categories
Chilling: Read 12 Books from all 12 categories
Frightful: Read 2 books from each category for a total of 24 books
Horrifying: Read 3 books from each category for a total of 36 books

I'm sure you noticed that last prompt up there. That's right...I've added an optional BINGO challenge with a Cryptid theme. Fun, right?! Check out the BINGO card!

Full details and sign up here.

The next three challenges are hosted by me at Gather Together and Read, my reading community site.

Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter - January through August

Honoring women: A woman's life saga.

We have already started reading. The reading schedule is posted here.

Full details and sign-up here.

My main level...

The Enthusiast: read 1-3 books
Also, additional levels...
Not Ready to Let Go: read at least one (1) book made into a movie or series in 2023
Living in the Past: read at least one (1) book made into a movie in previous years
The Movie Was Better (What?!): watch the movie(s) for the book(s) you read.

Potential books:

Wicked, Gregory Maguire (2024)
The Witching Hour, Anne Rice (reread) Second season of streaming series (1/5/25)
The Pale Blue Eye, Louis Bayard (2022)
The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay (2023)
Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann (2023)

Fire & Blood: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin - House of the Dragon streaming series (2022, 2024)

The Keep, F. Paul Wilson (1983)

My Lady Jane, Cynthia Hand - streaming series (2024)

Dune, Frank Herbert (2021 and 2024) streaming series Prophecy (2024)

Klara And The Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro (2025)

The Running Man, Stephen King (2025)

Full details and sign up here.

Pretend your house is a library: A strategy for actually reading the books you own.

My "holds shelf"...

My full list of books on my holds shelf are listed on my 2025 Reading Challenges page located in the blog menu above.

Full details on how this challenge works (you can adapt it to fit your needs too!) and sign up here.

Last, but not least, my independent project called Backlist Challenge. I'm keeping track on a separate page which you can see up in the blog menu. As always, there are also links in the menu to my long term challenges like the Classics Club, etc.

That's it! What is (was) your first book of the year? Do you have a word for 2025? What are your reading plans? Doing any challenges, or perhaps thinking of joining one (or more) of mine?
Whatever your plans are, I wish you a Happy New Year of peace and prosperity, and great reading of course!

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2024...Reading Challenges, First Book of the Year, and my One Little Word

Another new year! My, but how time flies. Time for a new year of plans and reading. I fell only five books shy of my goal of 50 books last year so I have set this year's goal for 50 again. Hopefully, I will reach it, or perhaps even surpass it. You can read about my 2023 reading year here.

First Book of the Year - They Lurk by Ronald Malfi

If you know me, then you will know that Malfi is one of my favorite horror authors. I'm already over halfway finished with it (I started on January 2) and it is a 'cannot put down' for sure.

My word for the year and my vision board

Last year, my word was Brave and let me tell you, I had to be just that. I experienced empty nest syndrome in a major way. I know many parents can relate. I had a very hard time and it still hits home even now. I wrote an essay as a kind of catharsis (read it here), but still struggled. I'm a dweller and an overthinker. I tend to grab hold of things I can't change, and mull them over again and again. Therapy helps, but I want to learn to work things through myself too. I decided my word for 2024 is Release. Learning to let go of things I can't change and move on. It will be hard, but I know I can do it.

My main goal for 2024, and for my life in general, is to make writing my top priority. With my boys no longer at home, and no significant other to deal with (😂), I have a lot of time to devote to doing just that (besides working, that is). 

The new year for me always comes with a fresh start at reading challenges. This year I'll once again be doing Book Challenge by Erin (which is twice a year), in addition to the four challenges I host. 

Challenges listed below:
Book Challenge by Erin 20.0
2024 I Read Horror Year-Round
1000 Books Project 2024: Collins/Dickens
2024 Book to Movie (and TV) Challenge
2024 Read Your Shelf Challenge

First up...the twice a year challenge - Book Challenge by Erin 20.0 (Facebook group)
First round of the year runs Jan - April.

Freebie - The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

Book that was made into a movie - I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Book by a favorite author (not a reread) - They Lurk by Ronald Malfi

Book originally published over 100 years ago - The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Book with winter in the title - A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons

Book of short stories - Out There Screaming - Jordan Peele, Editor

Animal on the cover - Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Picture of a Building (House) - The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

Name of a character in its title - The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Set in your state (Michigan) - Inspection by Josh Malerman

This is a private Facebook group. You can check it out and join here. You can join in at any time during the four months. Second challenge of the year starts July 1st. Categories announced in June.

Now on to the challenges I'm hosting...

I host this challenge at my sister (horror) blog, Castle Macabre. This is year four!

I have some ideas on what I'll be reading, but not sure on all of them yet. I'm going for the Chilling level again this year. I didn't quite complete the level last year...only three books shy...so I'm going to try again.

Here are the prompts and levels...

• Witch, dark, blood, bone, or body in title
• Nature gone wild (when plants or animals attack)
• Creepy character/object (House, doll, child, etc.)
• Holiday horror (Christmas, yule, etc.)
• Short story anthology or collection
  Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele, editor
• Takes place during Halloween season
• Winter theme, or winter on cover
  A Winter Haunting, Dan Simmons
• A book that is also a movie
• By BIPOC author
  Lone Women, Victor LaValle
• Classic horror novel
• Dark Academia novel (here's a list on Goodreads)
  Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo
• Gothic novel

Levels:

Spooky: Read 6 books from 6 categories
Chilling: Read 12 Books from all 12 categories
Frightful: Read 2 books from each category for a total of 24 books
Horrifying: Read 3 books from each category for a total of 36 books

Full details and sign up here.

The next three challenges are hosted by me at Gather Together and Read, my reading community site.

Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone - January through April 

In honor of his birthday on January 8.

We have already started reading. The reading schedule is posted here.

Charles Dickens' The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby - June through September

In honor of his friendship with Collins.

Full details and sign-up here.

My main level...

The Enthusiast: read 1-3 books

Also, additional levels...
Not Ready to Let Go: read at least one (1) book made into a movie or series in 2023
Living in the Past: read at least one (1) book made into a movie in previous years
The Movie Was Better (What?!): watch the movie(s) for the book(s) you read.

Potential books:

The Watchers, A.M. Shine

Wicked, Gregory Maguire

Uglies, Scott Westerfeld

The Witching Hour, Anne Rice (reread)

The Pale Blue Eye, Louis Bayard

The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay

Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann

Fire & Blood: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin

Full details and sign up here.

Pretend your house is a library: A strategy for actually reading the books you own. 

My "holds shelf" (which has grown exponentially since last year)...

My full list of books on my holds shelf will be listed on my 2024 Reading Challenges page located in the blog menu above.

Full details on how this challenge works (you can adapt it to fit your needs too!) and sign up here.

Finally, last year I started sort of an independent project called Backlist Challenge. I'm keeping track on a separate page which you can see up in the blog menu. As always, there are also links in the menu to my long term challenges like the Classics Club, etc.

That's it! What is (was) your first book of the year? Do you have One Little Word this year? What are your reading plans? Doing any challenges, or perhaps thinking of joining one (or more) of mine?
Whatever your plans are, I wish you a Happy New Year of peace and prosperity, and great reading of course!

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2023...Reading Challenges, First Book of the Year, and my One Little Word

Boy, I thought I was running late this year, only to discover I didn't do this post last year until January 18! This is going to be the same as last year. No best of lists or anything like that. However, this year I am including my One Little Word, along with my vision board, which pretty much illustrates what I want to focus on the most this year. 

First Book of the Year - My Heart is A Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (Modeled here with Merida)

I read The Only Good Indians last year, and it was one of my favorites in 2022. Jones writes really good, subtle horror with Native American characters. He has definitely jumped into my top ten horror authors list. Chainsaw started off with a bang for sure!

My word for the year and my vision board

My sister bought me a necklace set for Christmas. It has a large pendant that says "Still I Rise" and a small, charm pendant that says "Brave." That's when it hit me. Brave. I want to be Brave to overcome the social anxiety I've developed since the pandemic, and I want to be Brave to overcome the Imposter Syndrome that is stalling my novel writing. My life word is Onward so I think Brave fits perfectly with that. 

It wouldn't be a new year without a fresh start at reading challenges. This year I'll be doing Book Challenge by Erin (which is twice a year) and The TBR Pile Challenge (10th year!), in addition to the four challenges I host. 

Challenges listed below:
Book Challenge by Erin 18.0
2023 TBR Pile Challenge
2023 I Read Horror Year-Round
1000 Books Project: Banned Books 2023
2023 Book to Movie (and TV) Challenge
2023 Read Your Shelf Challenge

First up...the twice a year challenge - Book Challenge by Erin 18.0 (Facebook group)

First round of the year runs Jan - April.

Freebie - The Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir

Book by an Australian author -

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

Book whose author goes by three names -

The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley

Book with "black" or "white" in the title -

Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

GoodReads award winner from any year -

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (2015, Best Goodreads Debut Author)

Book set in a small town or rural area -

The Green Man by Kingsley Amis

Book with "heart" or "love" in the title -

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Book that starts with the first letter of your first name -

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Book with an unusual narrator -

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

Book with a prime number under 1000 in the title -

Five Mile House by Karen Novak

This is a private Facebook group. You can check it out and join here. You can join in at any time during the four months. Second challenge of the year starts July 1st. Categories announced in June.

Read 12 books (2 alternates allowed) which have been on your shelves for at least one year.

1. The Loney, Andrew Michael Hurley (2015)
   
   
2. The Maidens, Alex Michaelides (2021)
   
   
3. The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson (2004)
   
   
4. Murder in the Cathedral, T.S. Eliot (1964)
   
   
5. Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard (2015)
   
   
6. The Orphan Witch, Paige Crutcher (2021)
   
   
7. Dracul, Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker (2018)
   
   
8. The Penguin Book of Witches, Katherine Howe, Editor (2014)
   
   
9. Subhuman, Michael McBride (2005)
   
   
10. The Green Man, Kingsley Amis (1969)
    
    
11. The Princes in the Tower, Alison Weir (1994)
    
    
12. The Last Duel, Eric Jager (2004)

Alternates:

1. The North Water, Ian McGuire (2016)
   
   
2. I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Iain Reid (2016)
   
   

Full details and sign-up here (Deadline: January 15)

Now on to the challenges I'm hosting...

I host this challenge at my sister (horror) blog, Castle Macabre. Year Three!
Here are the prompts and levels.
I have a couple of ideas on what I'll be reading, but not sure on all of them yet. I'm going for the Chilling level again this year. I didn't quite complete the level last year (3 or 4 books shy), but I'm going to try again.

• Fairy Tale Retelling
• Zombies, Witches, Vampires, or Werewolves
  Dracul, Dacre Stoker
• Book by BIPOC author
  My Heart is a Chainsaw, Stephen Graham Jones
• Title with Dead, Blood, or Bone
• Something by Poe
• Set in the past
• Horrific cover
• Folk horror (Ideas: https://tinyurl.com/yy8jj56a or https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/folk-horror?page=1
  The Loney, Andrew Michael Hurley
• Winter theme or cover
  Snow, Ronald Malfi
• Black, red, or white cover
• Written by a woman
  The Twisted Ones, T. Kingfisher
• Debut horror
  The Collector, John Fowles

Levels:

Spooky: Read 6 books from 6 categories
Chilling: Read 12 Books from all 12 categories
Frightful: Read 2 books from each category for a total of 24 books
Horrifying: Read 3 books from each category for a total of 36 books

Full details and sign-up here.

The next three challenges are hosted by me on Gather Together and Read, my reading community site.

January, February, March - in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27

The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, The Accident (The Night Trilogy #1-3)
by Elie Wiesel, Marion Wiesel (Translator)

April, May, June - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

July, August, September - in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month in September

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

October, November, December
Beloved by Toni Morrison

Full details and sign-up here

Reading schedule for The Night Trilogy here

My main level...
First One to the Theater - Read 4+ books (2023 releases only)
Also, additional levels...
Not Ready to Let Go: read at least one (1) book made into a movie or series in 2022

Living in the Past: read at least one (1) book made into a movie in previous years
The Movie Was Better (What?!): watch the movie(s) for the book(s) you read.

Potential books:

(Reread) The Witching Hour, Anne Rice (series, Mayfair Witches, currently streaming on AMC/AMC+)
The Pale Blue Eye, Louis Bayard (movie currently streaming on Netflix)

The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay (Knock at the Cabin, Feb 3)

(Maybe I'll actually finish it this time) Dune, Frank Herbert (Dune: Part 2, Nov 3)

The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe (tbd, 2023)

Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann (estimated May 2023)

Uglies, Scott Westerfeld (Netflix 2023 - expected)

2022

Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie 
Kindred, Octavia E. Butler

2021
The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton
The Last Duel, Eric Jager 

The Woman in the Window, A. J. Finn 
The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan 

Full details and sign-up here.

Pretend your house is a library: A strategy for actually reading the books you own. 

I know you're intrigued! Click here to read all about the new version of the Read Your Shelf Reading Challenge. 

My "holds shelf"...

Full details and sign-up here.

That's it! What is (was) your first book of the year? Do you have One Little Word this year? What are your reading plans? Doing any challenges, or perhaps thinking of joining one (or more) of mine? 

Whatever your plans are, I wish you a Happy New Year!

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2022...A new year of reading and reading challenges

No fancy frills this year, or best-of lists. I'm ready for bare bones, no nonsense. 

Two things I want to focus on this year...read more, write more.

My first book of the year (an annual event hosted by Sheila at Book Journey). It's a good one so far. Vampires in a Mexico City of the not so distant future, several different vampire species. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is becoming a favorite for me. I read Mexican Gothic last year and man, it was a good one. She is so talented!

It's reading challenge time again! I'm signing up for a few, and I'm participating in all the challenges I host (including a revamped Read Your (Book) Shelf Challenge). 

Challenges listed below:

Book Challenge by Erin 16.0

2022 TBR Pile Challenge

Read with Fey: Reading Challenge for Writers

I Read Horror Year-Round

1000 Books Project: Fantasy 2022

2022 Book to Movie (and TV) Challenge

2022 Read Your (Book) Shelf Challenge

First up...the twice a year challenge - Book Challenge by Erin 16.0

• Freebie – Read a book that is at least 200 pages

In the House in the Dark of the Woods, Laird Hunt

• Read a book that’s first word of the title starts with the letter C (the articles A, An, or The are allowed)  Certain Dark Things, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

• Read a book published in 2020 or 2021; these two years have been tough on many of us, but let’s celebrate books that were introduced to us these years

The Year of the Witching, Alexis Henderson

• Read a book with the word one of the following words in the title: you, your, you’re, you’ll, you’ve, yourself  Thank You for the Flowers, Scott Nicholson

• Read a book set on an island  Ten, Gretchen McNeil

• Read a book from an indigenous or First Nations author

The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones

• Read a memoir, biography, or autobiography  Poe: A Life Cut Short, Peter Ackroyd

• Read a book with one of these words in the title: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, or Joker; plural or possessive is okay (i.e. Aces or Ace’s) but variant of the word is not (i.e. can’t be kingdom or hijack); also, the word must be in the title of the book, not the author’s name (i.e. can’t be Jack Kerouac or Stephen King)  Queen Victoria and the Men who Loved Her, Robert Stephen Parry

• Read a book of poetry or a book written in verse.

The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth, Robert Graves

• Read a book by Jane Austen, inspired by Jane Austen or a Jane Austen re-telling

Longbourn, Jo Baker

This is a private Facebook group. You can check it out and join here. Next challenge starts July 1st.

Read 10 books (2 alternates allowed) which have been on your shelves for at least one year. 

1. The Vampire Armand, Anne Rice
2. Merrick, Anne Rice
3. Blood and Gold, Anne Rice
4. A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf
5. Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt, Barbara Mertz
6. The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
7. Red Queen, Victoria Avelard
8. Fevre Dream, George R.R. Martin
9. Other Fires, Lenore H. Gay
10. Once, James Herbert
11. The Death Pit, Tony Strong
12. Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks

Alternates:

1. Silas Marner, George Eliot
2. Murder in the Cathedral, T.S. Eliot

Full details and sign-up here (Deadline: January 31)

Read 10 books for writers by the end of the year (or you can set a lower or higher goal). I'm going to attempt 10, but not sure which ones yet. Probably The Vein of Gold by Julia Cameron will be one of them. I'll have my list on the 2022 Challenge page. Full details and sign-up here. Also, the challenge host has a Books for Writers list here. 

Now, on to the challenges I'm hosting...

I host this challenge at my sister (horror) blog, Castle Macabre. 

Here are the prompts and levels. 

I have a couple of ideas on what I'll be reading, but not sure on all of them yet. I'm going for the Chilling level again this year. I did pretty good last year. I think I was only two books shy of reading 12.

• Book by a BIPOC (female)
  Certain Dark Things, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Book by a BIPOC (male)
  The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones
• Folk Horror (Ideas: https://tinyurl.com/yy8jj56a or https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/83087.Folk_Horror_Mystery
• A Gothic horror classic (published 50 or more years ago, published no later than 1972)
  The House on the Borderland, William Hope Hodgson
• A modern Gothic tale (published within 50 years ago, published 1973 or later)
  Dracul, Dacre Stoker/J.D. Barker
• Purple, orange, or green on the cover
  Running with the Demon, Terry Brooks
• Serial killer from the past - fiction or non-fiction (before 20th century) Examples: Jack the Ripper, H.H. Holmes, Burke and Hare (List of serial killers before 1900)
  The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
• Short story collection/Anthology
• Slasher
• Vampires
• Werewolves
• Witches
  

Levels:

Spooky: Read 6 books from 6 categories
Chilling: Read 12 Books from all 12 categories
Frightful: Read 2 books from each category for a total of 24 books
Horrifying: Read 3 books from each category for a total of 36 books

Full details and sign-up here. 

The next three challenges are hosted by me on Gather Together and Read, my reading community site.

January - June 

The Once and Future King, T.H. White

July - December 

The Gormenghast Trilogy: Titus Groan/Gormenghast/Titus Alone, Mervyn Peake

Full details and sign-up here

Reading schedule for The Once and Future King here

I'm going to keep it conservative and go with level...

The Enthusiast - Read 1 - 3 books (2022 releases only)

Also, additional levels...

Not Ready to Let Go: read at least one (1) book made into a movie or series in 2021

Living in the Past: read at least one (1) book made into a movie in previous years
The Movie Was Better (What?!): watch the movie(s) for the book(s) you read.

Potential books:

The Black Phone, Joe Hill-from 20th Century Ghosts (June 24)
Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie (Feb 22)
The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah (Dec 23)
Blonde, Joyce Carol Oates (2022)
House of the Dragon/Fire and Blood, George R. R. Martin (2022)
Kindred, Octavia E. Butler (2022 or 2023 estimated)

Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard (2022 potentially)

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton (2021)

The Last Duel, Eric Jager (2021)

The Woman in the Window, A. J. Finn (2021)
The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan (2021)

All Things Cease to Appear, Elizabeth Brundage (2021)

Ten, Gretchen McNeil (2017)

Pretty sure I will watch the movies/shows that go along with these. 

Full details and sign-up here.

12 books in a year, choosing randomly from your own bookshelves...whether you have one, or 21 (like me!). 

Full details and sign-up here.

That's it! What challenges are you doing this year? Whatever they are, I wish you luck!

 

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Classics Club Spin 26 #ccspin

I finished my last spin book which was On Becoming A Novelist by John Gardner. So, here I go again. Here's my list:

1. Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu
2. Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande
3. If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland
4. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
5. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
6. Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret Atwood

7. Emma by Jane Austen
8. Escaping into the Open by Elizabeth Berg
9. Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot
10. The Vein of Gold by Julia Cameron
11. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
12. The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
13. The Legends of Parsifal by Mary Hanford Ford
14. The Collector by John Fowles
15. Writing Past Dark by Bonnie Friedman
16. Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin
17. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
18. Take Joy by Jane Yolen
19. The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
20. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

What will I get?! Are you doing the spin this time?

In case you're curious about all the writing books on my list (some which may not seem to be classics to some), check out this post where I outlined restarting/revamping my list in 2019. 

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2021 Reading Challenges

Once again, I'm signing up for reading challenges that I may never finish. My thinking is...what's fun about not trying...again? I'll be tracking my challenge progress in the 2021 Reading Challenges page in the blog menu up top. 

First up, I'm joining the challenges I'm hosting myself. I'm pretty excited about this first one, new for this year. 

I'm hosting this one at Castle Macabre since it is horror. Here are the prompts and levels: 

• Winter theme, or winter appearance on the cover (snow, ice, etc.)
  The Ascent, Ronald Malfi
• Ghosts or spirits
• Psychological
• Monster or monsters
• A body of water (featured in story, on cover, or in title)
  Cradle Lake, Ronald Malfi
• Really scary book cover
• Woman on cover
  Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Written by a woman
• Written by a best-selling horror author
• Written by an indie author
• Historical horror (must be an historical novel written by a contemporary author. Example: The Historian, Mexican Gothic, Interview with the Vampire) 
  The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
• Folk horror (Ideas: https://tinyurl.com/yy8jj56a)

Spooky: Read 6 books from 6 categories
Chilling: Read 12 Books from all 12 categories
Frightful: Read 2 books from each category for a total of 24 books
Horrifying: Read 3 books from each category for a total of 36 books

I'm doing the Chilling level. I've added a few of the books I'll be reading for this one (currently reading The Ascent). Full details and sign-up here.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: January - June 2021 (Reading schedule here)

Les Misèrables by Victor Hugo: July through December 2021 

Full details and sign-up here.

Pretty self explanatory. I've compiled a list of movies/shows coming out this year (although that can change due to the current situation). 

My participation will be...

The Enthusiast: Read 1-3 books with movies/shows releasing in 2021

My tentative list - The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn, Wicked, Gregory Maguire, The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan (first book in the series), Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, or Dune, Frank Herbert

Not Ready to Let Go: read at least one (1) book made into a movie or series in 2020

To be determined

Living in the Past: read at least one (1) book made into a movie in previous years

To be determined

The Movie Was Better (What!?): watch the movie(s) for the book(s) you read.

To be determined

Full details and sign up here.

The basic concept of this challenge is...

• Go to your bookshelves, or stack on the floor, or on your nightstand, etc. Pick out a book that you've been wanting to read on a particular shelf.
• Now continue down that line of books on the shelf (in order) until you have 12 books. (See my shelf for the 2021 challenge below as an example.) There are a total of 19 books in my chosen shelf. I have already read three of the books by Ronald Malfi so that brings my total to 16 books. That gives me four alternates.

Here's the picture of my chosen shelf

Full details and sign-up here.

Now, on to challenges hosted by others...

My list:

5 points... Freebie, read any book of your choice with 200+ pages

The Ascent by Ronald Malfi

10 points... Read a book you have been meaning to re-read

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

10 points... Read the first book of a series you have never read before

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

15 points... Read a book with a mostly green and/or pink colour cover art

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

20 points... Read a book with a male relationship word in the title, i.e. Father, Grandfather, Husband, Uncle, Brother, Son or Nephew.

Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu

20 points... Read a book set in a place that's on your bucket list of places to visit - Suggested by Carly

The Witch’s Trinity by Erika Mailman

25 points... Read a book that reminds you of 2020, for eg (but not limited to - home, lock, down, president, mask, etc.) You can be creative with it, but please let us know how it relates to 2020 if it isn't obvious) - Suggested by Deborah

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

30 points... Read a book written by an LGBTQIA+ author. This can be an autobiography, memoir, or even a fiction...edit: or have an LGBTQIA+ theme.

The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice

30 points... Read a book with the name of a bird in the title, or the word bird/birds in the title.

The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland

35 points... Read a book where the protagonist has a questionable profession, for example, mafia don, assassin, govt agent gone rogue, etc...or edit: questionable way of life (an addict, a computer hacker, a vigilante, for example) - Suggested by Debdatta

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

This is a private Facebook group. You can check it out and join here. Next challenge starts July 1st.

My list (I may change some of these):

1. A 19th century classic: any book first published from 1800 to 1899
Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu

2. A 20th century classic: any book first published from 1900 to 1971. All books must have been published at least 50 years ago; the only exceptions are books which were written by 1971 and posthumously published.
Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande

3. A classic by a woman author.
If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland

4. A classic in translation, meaning any book first published in a language that is not your primary language. You may read it in translation or in its original language, if you prefer.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

5. A classic by BIPOC author; that is, a non-white author.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

6. A classic by a new-to-you author, i.e., an author whose work you have never read.
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

7. New-to-you classic by a favorite author -- a new book by an author whose works you have already read.
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

8. A classic about an animal, or with an animal in the title. The animal can be real or metaphorical. (i.e., To Kill a Mockingbird).
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

9. A children's classic.
The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson (Published March 12th 1963 by Random House Books for Young Readers)

10. A humorous or satirical classic. 

Emma by Jane Austen

11. A travel or adventure classic (fiction or non-fiction). It can be a travelogue or a classic in which the main character travels or has an adventure.
The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

12. A classic play. Plays will only count in this category.
Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot

Full details and sign-up here.

Books to be determined. 

Details @HFChitChat on Twitter.

I'm doing Fortnightly | 26 books One category from each topic--you can choose one wildcard

Full details and sign-up here.

That's it! What challenges are you doing this year? Whatever they are, I wish you luck! Send some my way as well. I'm going to need it!

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