March TBR

 So... this year I'm going to reread more books.

“It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.”

- C.S.Lewis

Now, I don't know if that is a good rule or not, but... it's kind of interesting to reread old favorites. And kind of horrible. I just read the Starlight Barking and I hated it. :-D

So, March.

March of the Mammoths is on, and I planned to read War and Peace, which I have never read, and which is a serious mammoth (some 1400 pages).

(I also planned on reading David Copperfield (974 pages) and Demon Copperhead... heh.)

"Everyone has read this but me" club's March reads are: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence, and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.

I planned on rereading the challenge books I've already read, but... I hate Wuthering Heights.

Then, as I plan on finishing three 52 prompt challenges, I'd need to read 3 books every week :-D (No, it's not as scary as it seems, as many of the prompts are the same, and many books fit many different prompts. I usually read one book for each prompt, but this year I'm doubling and tripling :-D

PopSugar 2023 reading challenge
Around the Year in 52 Books
52 Books Club

Then there's the Read Harder challenge.

I'm also doing the "100 Book Genre Challenge" - it would be nice to read genres I don't usually read.

I chose Hopepunk, which is a new acquaintance to me. I read some suggested book lists, and I have loved every one I have read, so it looks like a safe choice :-D
I chose Magical Realism, but that is what I read all the time. Well... not quite so, but I usually read a couple of those every year.
Then I chose Matron Lit, which is chick lit for gals over 40 :-D I am middle-aged, and people 30 and younger feel like children to me. I don't quite identify myself with a teenaged marysue heroine, and find it hard to like those books. I suppose Matron Lit might suit me better. I don't usually read much chick lit, though I have nothing against it.
Then I have Women's Fiction, because I stumbled over Britta Böhler's 1001 Books Before I Die challenge. I do consider myself a feminist, even though I am kind of stuck in the 80s and 90s with my feminism. I think it's good to further educate myself about feminism and read some feminist literature written by women younger than me. :-D
And last I have biographies. 

I was considering plays/drama and fairy tales, too. Maybe next year ;-)

I need to read 2 books every week for the genre challenge, and it's week 10, so I should need to have read a whole "genre" - 20 books. I'm not going to do that. So I have to take the rest of the year - 42 weeks - and divide the 100 books with that, and that gives me about 2 months for each 20 books. 10 books a month. More achievable :-)

Next, I need to finish my own fantasy challenge :-D

I also plan on reading "The 51 Best Fantasy Series Ever Written", Time's God Awful list of The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, and other such lists.

I have to say that Oprah's These 25 Fantasy Books Will Transport Your Imagination to Other Worlds is better :-D Readers' Digest's list is pretty bad. 

I have compiled a couple of lists on List Challenges; The Ultimate Fantasy Reading Challenge and The Ultimate Fantasy Reading Challenge Part II

And then I want to read all the award winners, especially Hugo and Nebula. And some others :-D (Locus, BFA, WFA, Mythopoeic, Tähtifantasia...)

(I have over 1300 books on my TBR list right now, and that's just those I have added to it... 
there are at least a couple hundred more that are not on it :-D)

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

So, I need to read 9 hopepunk books in March

The Obelisk Gate by N.K.Jemisin

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison

Home by Nnedi Okorafor

The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan

and 2 more... well... if I have time :-D

There's 24 prompts in Read Harder, that's 2 books a month. It's the third month, so I would need to read 6 books for that.

I have read The Tea Dragon Society, but I need to read

Peter Darling by Austin Chant

Muumipapan urotyöt by Tove Jansson

Lobizona by Romina Garber

The Poppy War by R.F.Kuang

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

The Cult of Venus by David S. Brody

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Lammas Night by Katherine Kurtz

Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff

Stöld by Ann-Helén Laestadius

That's 28 books. I am pretty sure I am not going to read that :-D

But, but... I'll read what I can :-) Anyway, this is my TBR list for March.

Book recommendations online

 What Should I Read Next

The book I put in was Starless Sea, and the five top recommendations I've not read are:

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

The Binding by Bridget Collins

GoodReads have "books similar to the ---" "Goodreads members who liked this book also liked:"

and they give:

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Babel by R.F.Kuang

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Meet New Books

recommends

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Little, Big by John Crowley

BookRiot's quiz: what book should I read next?

recommends 

The Tea Dragon Society by K. O'Neill

Then I took the Bookfinity's test, but they are kind of wishy-washy and I don't see anything interesting in their book recommendations. So I decided to add some of my favorite books, and now it doesn't give me any recommendations. :-( So... I don't recommend that.

Ok. I tried again, and now we are getting somewhere:

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

In the Lives of Puppets by Tj Klune 

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

BOOKS CONTROL WHAT I EAT FOR 24 HOURS!

 

Ok, when you plan on doing this kind of challenges, you need to add two caveats.

1) If you usually drink caffeine in the morning, drink caffeine and keep it outside your challenge. 

2) keep your diet.
If you are allergic to some foods, you don't eat that food, even when a book tells you to eat it. You find an alternative.
If you are vegan or vegetarian, you won't eat meat, even when a book tells you to eat it.
If you are on LCHF diet, you'll find the LCHF version of what ever they are eating in the book.
This should be self-evident.
I, for example, don't eat onions. Not onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, spring onions, chives, or anything else like that. (Except in very strictly limited circumstances. A booktube challenge is not one of them.)

I also have some other thoughts about this.

1) don't do it when you are really tired or on deadline or something else. It's just a booktube challenge. It's not important. It can wait a day or two, or even a week. You can make another video first. Use these as fillers for days when you don't have any other content, make them ahead of time, when you are relaxed, and can throw yourself wholeheartedly in the challenge.

2) don't try to manipulate the outcome. Don't try to find a book where they are most likely to eat something you want to eat.

I am going to use the books I'm reading right now. 

Breakfast: "Neiti Kymene söi aamiaiseksi yön yli leivinuunissa haudutettua kaurapuuroa, yhden leivän ja kaksi mukillista vahvaa kaakaota."
- Neiti Kymenen ihmeellinen talo by Magdalena Hai
("Miss Kymene ate for breakfast oatmeal porridge that had been baked overnight in the masonry oven, one bread (sandwich?) and two mugs of strong hot chocolate.")

Lunch: "But the tables in the Great Hall were a trove of broken pastries and dishes of meat. There were bowls of apples as well, slabs of cheese; in short, all a boy could wish for plundering."
- Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

Dinner: "Master Gill took them to a corner table in the common room and had one of the serving maids bring them food. Rand shook his head when he saw the plates, with a few thin slices of gravy-covered beef, a spoonful of mustard greens, and two potatoes on each. It was a rueful, resigned headshake, though, not angry. Not enough of anything, the innkeeper had said."
- The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Dessert: "No doors were ever closed to them, and even the birdcages were open for the birds to come and go as they pleased, and wondrous fruits grew everywhere, ripe for the plucking, and cakes were left out on window ledges, free for the taking."
- Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Top 5 series I will start in 2023

 Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme that explores different topics.

Originally created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, it is now hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads.

For a list of January-March topics you can click here.

To participate, link your post back to Meeghan's blog or leave a comment on her weekly post.

----------

The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Series by Fritz Leiber

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan

Oxford Time Travel by Connie Willis

Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers

Or not. I'm not sure yet. :-D

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Reading challenges! YAY!

I wish to do the POPsugar challenge this year as well. I'm currently collecting books to be read for that. I'll pick most of them from my TBR list, not all, because I haven't added any books to be published 2023 yet :-D

Book Riot's Read Harder

The 2023 European Reading Challenge. 

Booklist Queen’s 2023 Reading Challenge

The Literary Life Podcast Reading Challenge 2023

The 52 Book Club’s 2023 Reading Challenge

Read 52 books in 52 weeks reading adventure

We Didn't Start The Fire reading challenge... sounds interesting

The Decades challenge
"We’ll be reading some of the best books set in each decade from the 1880s through the 2010s."

Climbing the mount TBR :-D Very interesting :-) I'd need that. Last time I checked, I have some 1300+ books on my TBR. Now, I'd need some Mount Olympos level intervention :-D
To be fair, my POPsugar challenge will wipe some 50 books from the list.

So, absolutely this challenge: SIGN-UPS: THE TBR PILE CHALLENGE TURNS TEN! #TBRYEAR10

Vintage Cover Scavenger Hunt sounds fun as well. I love vintage mysteries, detective novels etc.

This Read Around The World: Travel Reading Challenge

Around the World Reading Challenge 2023

World Reading Challenge: Books Around The Globe

This art book reading challenge from this year looks interesting.

Also, this one, for kids

Why do Romance novelists hate Romance genre?

The romance genre is defined by two aspects that can be found in every romance book or novel:

a central love story between characters

an emotionally satisfying, happy ending

Because of this, dozens of Romance novelists claim they don't write Romance novels. 

Come on, I say. 

It's not some dusty definition that decides what you write, it's what the readers get out of it. If romance is the central, essential part of the story; if the readers focus on the relationship; if the book can be summarized as a "love story", then it is Romance, whatever the "official definition" is. 

Wuthering Heights is a love story. Twilight is a love story. 

Gone With the Wind is not. Why? The love story is not essential for the story. It's all about Scarlett. Her loves and marriages are just sidenotes, even Ashley and Rhett. 

Outlander is a Romance novel. Nicholas Sparks writes Romance novels. Sorry, guys, but why do you hate being called Romance novelists, when the Romance genre has made you rich and happy? 

Every other genre of literature has evolved, expanded, diversified, transmutated, grown, but not Romance. If you believe the Romance writers. Who don't write Romance. For some weird reason.

Seriously, how do you even define a "happy ending" nowadays? HEA? Catherine and Heathcliff got each other and it's a very emotionally satisfying ending to the novel. Sure, not the traditional "they married and lived happily ever after", because they never married and they died. But does that make it any less emotionally satisfying? If it wasn't an emotionally satisfying love story, then why are Cathy and Heath mentioned in many lists of the most romantic couples? Yes, it was dysfunctional as F, so what? Life usually is. (Not THAT dysfunctional, but still :-D)

https://www.shereadsromancebooks.com/romance-genre-and-romance-tropes-guide/

BTW "own voices" is not a subgenre of anything. It's 100% about the authors. They can write any subgenre of Romance, and they do. 

Mythical Mystical Magical Reading Challenge 2022

1) Read a fantasy novel from 10 different countries

2) Read a fantasy novel with

- black and white cover (can have different shades of grey on it, but no color)
- red cover (mostly red)
- orange cover
- yellow cover
- green cover
- blue cover
- purple/lilac/violet cover
- brown cover

3) Read a book from each of these lists:

Pre-Tolkien Fantasy (and alike)
Fantasy Classics
The Best Epic Fantasy
Hidden Gems: YA-Fantasy Novels
Best Fantasy on Goodreads with less than 100 ratings
Popular Fantasy on Goodreads with between 100 and 999 ratings
Popular Fantasy on Goodreads with between 1000 and 9999 ratings
Popular Fantasy on Goodreads with between 10000 and 24999 ratings

4) Read a Fantasy novel written in

1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
and two written before 1930s

Popular Pre-1900 Fantasy Novels
Popular 1900s, 10s and 20s Fantasy Novels
Popular 1930s and 40s Fantasy Novels
Popular 1950s Fantasy Novels
Popular 1960s Fantasy Novels
Popular 1970s Fantasy Novels
Popular 1980s Fantasy Novels
Popular 1990s Fantasy Novels
Popular 2000s Fantasy Novels

5) Pick an author who writes Fantasy. Read their favorite Fantasy book, a Fantasy book that has inspired them, a Fantasy book they recommend.

6) Read a Fantasy novel written by a female author
 Read a Fantasy novel written by a male author

You can replace the gender you identify as with an author that identifies as neither.

7) Read a Fantasy novel with a female MC
 Read a Fantasy novel with a male MC

You can replace the gender you identify as with a MC that identifies as neither.

8) Read a Fantasy novel with a female mentor/tutor/guardian/parental figure
Read a Fantasy novel with a male mentor/tutor/guardian/parental figure

You can replace the gender you DON*T identify as with a figure that identifies as neither.

9) Read a Fantasy novel written by a person who has a different --- from you

- gender
- generation
- race/ethnicity
- nationality
- mothertongue
- sexual orientation
- religion (either personal, or if not religious or known, the majority religion of the society/background they come from)

Choose one, choose many, choose all, read one book by each category, combine them all, what ever rocks your boat

10) Read a Fantasy novel where the MC has a different --- from you
(mothertongue in this case means the language the character was written in, not their language.)

11) Read a Fantasy novel where the MC has at least one parent and grandparent alive, and they have a good relationship with them

12) Read a Fantasy novel with less than 250 pages
Read a Fantasy novel with 250-350 pages
Read a Fantasy novel with 300-500 pages
Read a Fantasy novel with 500+ pages

13) Read a Fantasy novel from 10 different subgenres.
Try to choose ones you don't usually read.
One of them has to be a fairy tale. Not a retelling. Read a fairy tale you haven't ever read or heard in any version before.

14) Read the three first books you haven't read from any list of "best Fantasy books"

For example:
Times The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
The 25 Best Fantasy Novels
31 of the best fantasy books everyone should read
Top 100 Fantasy Books
The 60 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
Top 25 Best Fantasy Books
/r/fantasy best books

15) Read a Fantasy book that has received an award

16) Read a non-Fantasy book that's related to Fantasy, for example, a book about Fantasy literature or fairy tales, a biography of a Fantasy author, or about writing Fantasy

17) Read a Fantasy book with an amazing cover
Read a Fantasy book with a horrible cover

18) Read a Fantasy book with a one word title

19) Read a Fantasy book that was made into a movie or tv-series

20) Read the Fantasy book you are most ashamed/sorry/irritated of not having read :-D 

21) Read the Fantasy book that has been on your TBR the longest time
Read the Fantasy book that has been on your TBR the shortest time

22) Finish a Fantasy series
Start a Fantasy series

23) Read a self-published Fantasy novel

24) Reread a favorite

25) A literary Map Chain Challenge

Pick a number (how many books you are going to read, at least 5), and pick one of your favorite Fantasy authors and write his/her name on the Literature Map
(If you don't know where to start, start with Tolkien :-D)
You get a "map" with authors who are more or less similar to that author. The names closest are most similar to the author.
Pick one of the names, check that they have written Fantasy, and read a Fantasy book by that author.
Then insert his/her name in the map and choose the next author.
Continue until you have read the number of books you chose in the beginning of the challenge.
Don't read the same author twice!