HelenNZ back for 2018

I am satisfied with my progress in this challenge for 2017. I finished the year with 5 less books on the shelf. So renewed determination to make further inroads in the coming year. This year I start with 343.
Last year I used an Author Alphabet Challenge along with following the Anzac and British and American challenges. I will continue with these but this time doing a Title Alphabet Challenge. Any letters not covered I will use as wild cards.
I considered increasing the number of books for this challenge but wish to support the local library by reading one book a month from them off my wish list. This will in effect stop me from buying more books.

Welcome back, Helen and Happy ROOTing.

Happy rooting in 2018!

Welcome back, I hope you have a great reading year!

Welcome back and have a great reading year!

glad you're with us again!

>2 connie53:,>3 Tess_W:,>4 Jackie_K:,>5 rabbitprincess:,>6 cyderry:,Thanks for stopping by. I have just been visiting the 2018 category challenge and Bingodog. They look fun but I think I would struggle to set them up and spend too much time tracking them all. However, I can see how I could employ these ideas especially the colour category challenge to diversify my choices. One colour based choice a month, two alphabet titles and two for the ANZAC bingo challenge should be manageable with time for my book group read and a library book.

Okay after some thought I am basing colour choice on the seasons and events for the year. So here is my plan subject to change of course:

January - YELLOW - for summer sunshine - The Bees by Laline Paull
February - BLUE - for blue skies - The North Water by Ian McGuire
March - ORANGE - for autumn leaves - An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
April - WHITE - for my daughters wedding - Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
May - BROWN - for Autumn trees - Rowan and Eris by Campbell Jefferys
June - BLACK - for winter nights - A Life in Seven Mistakes by Susan Johnson
July - GREY - for grey skies - The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
August - METALLIC - for rainy days - Light Shining in the Forest by Paul Torday
September - GREEN - for spring growth - Larry's Party by Carol Shields
October - PINK - for flowers - Longbourn by Jo Baker
November - PURPLE - for flowers - Homeland and Other Stories by Barbara Kingsolver
December - RED - for Christmas - The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

Hopefully with 343 books on the shelves I will cover the spectrum...

Great idea to personalize the colours! And congratulations on your daughter's upcoming wedding :)

>9 rabbitprincess: RP, how good of you to see the bit about the wedding! Congrats, Helen.

Hi Helen, happy ROOTing and congrats on your daughter's forthcoming wedding!

Good luck with your 2018 challenges and with your ROOTing. It sounds like you did very well in 2017.

Off to an early start with a novella for the Anzac challenge.
January.
1. The Girl with the Dogs by Anna Funder. Anzac Challenge
2. Amy & Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout Title Alphabet Challenge
3. The Bees by Laline Paull Colour Challenge
4. A Crooked Rib by Judy Corbalis Anzac Challenge
5. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton Author Birthday Challenge

Happy 2018, Helen!

>14 connie53: Lovely, Connie. Thank you. my favourite colours too!

Happy reading in 2018, Helen, 1 down, 47 to go!

>1 HelenBaker: I finished the year with 5 less books on the shelf
ROOTers know how hard-fought that must have been!! Have a great reading year.

Welcome back and good luck with your goal!

I have decided I could incorporate the challenge of reading an author from the current star sign as a further way of attacking the shelves. A list is provided at this website: http://librarybooklists.org/literarybirths/index.htm.
So the Capricorn or January authors on my shelves are Nevil Shute, Julian Barnes, Edith Wharton, William Somerset Maughan and Shirley Hazzard.

>19 HelenBaker: some great ones from which to choose! My favs: Nevil Shute's A Town Like Alice and Wharton's Ethan Fromme.

>19 HelenBaker: That's a great idea. I've got quite a few of their books on the TBR myself. And I really liked A town like Alice when I read it as a teenager.

>19 HelenBaker: nice idea and good recommendations from >60 HelenBaker: if you have them - I liked both but Ethan Frome was a little gem for me.

Glad you're with us again!

>23 cyderry:. Thanks Cheli. More determined than ever to make progress on these shelves.

Looking at my last comment I have some what undermined my progress by purchasing 9 books last week, 8 of which had been on my wishlist for some time. I blame being set free to browse a bookshop when grandchildren went back to school. They were all bargains being second hand and too hard to resist.

Time to plan this months reading.
Author Birthday choice is out of Charles Dickens, Richard Ford, Toni Morrison or Amy Tan. All bar Toni Morrison are fairly lengthy tomes but I must not let this influence my decision.

>25 HelenBaker: I can't help thinking that if they're bargains then maybe they should count for less - so maybe count them as 4.5 acquisitions rather than 9. When I'm Supreme Ruler of the Universe that will be one of my first decrees, I think.

>27 Jackie_K: Amen to that.

February.
6. The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout 10/10 Alphabet Challenge
7. Coromandel Sea Change by Rumer Godden 8/10 Alphabet Challenge
8. Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell 8.5/10 Alphabet Challenge
9. The Night Book by Charlotte Grimshaw8/10 Anzac Challenge
10.Starlight Peninsula by Charlotte Grimshaw 7/10
11.The North Water by Ian McGuire Colour Challenge

Not such a big choice of authors for my birthday challenge this month - John Irving (although I have 5 of his books to choose from and Gabriel Garcia Marquez of whom I have two unread titles. Always a tough decision...

I love selecting the new month's reading. So I have chosen John Irving (birthday month) - The World According to Garp. My orange book for my Colour Challenge is An Equal music by Vikram Seth and my alphabet Challenge titles will be East of Eden by John Steinbeck and Fasting and Feasting by Anita Desai. I have yet to decide on my ANZAC titles. Oh I notice I have two American authors and two Indian...

>31 HelenBaker: I really liked An Equal Music, even though I didn't particularly like many of the characters, which is normally a real turn-off for me (and was the opposite of my experience of A Suitable Boy, where I loved nearly everyone and felt bereaved when it finished!). Seth is one of my favourite authors, and I think for a non-musician he has captured the essence of music and musicians and what music means to people remarkably.

March.
12. Love by Toni Morrison (February Birthday Challenge)
13. Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai (Alphabet Title Challenge
14. The Blue by Mary McCallum (ANZAC Challenge)
15. An Equal Music by Vikram Seth (Colour Challenge)
16. The World According to Garp by John Irving (March Birthday Challenge)

Great challenge ideas, Helen. It looks as though you really enjoy choosing new books to match the themes each month!

Yes Indeed, Lisa, as when you have over 300 books awaiting attention it helps to narrow the field. Although, occasionally it is frustrating sticking to it when their is something new and shiny calling to me. So on that note April's birthday authors on my shelf are Maya Angelou, Barbara Kingsolver, Henry James, Charlotte Bronte and Anthony Trollope. I might be choosing by shorter tomes as March's books are going to run into April as some of them were long.

April's Alphabet Titles - G. The German Girl by Armando Lucas Corra and H. Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls

April.
17. East of Eden by John Steinbeck - Alphabet Challenge
18. The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa- Alphabet Challenge
19. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls- Alphabet Challenge
20. Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels - Colour challenge
21. Barbara Kingsolver Omnibus by Barbara Kingsolver - Birthday Challenge

May.
22. Honour by Elif Shafak- Reading Group
23. Rowan and Eris by Campbell Jefferys - Colour Challenge/ Anzac Challenge
24. The Illusionists by Rosie Thomas - Alphabet Challenge
25. The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende - Alphabet Challenge
26. Happy Valley by Patrick White - Birthday Challenge/ Anzac Challenge
27. Days Without End by Sebastian Barry just cause I felt like it. A treat indeed.

Yeah! Half way point reached before half the year is gone! Good job, Helen!

>Thanks, Connie.

Checking out the birthday selection for June. Pearl Buck, Barbara Pym, Margaret Drabble, Joyce Carol Oates and Vikram Seth.
I think I will pass on Seth's A Suitable Boy as it would slow me down too much. So it looks like it will be one of the ladies... I am most tempted by The Good Earth which I read about 40 years ago and would love to reread.
My colour challenge is Life in Seven Mistakes by Susan Johnson, with my Alphabet Challenges being K- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and L- Lullaby for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill.
I am looking forward to this month's selection.

June.
28. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck - Birthday Challenge
29. New Zealand Short Stories edited by C.K. Stead - ANZAC Challenge
30. Life in Seven Mistakes by Susan Johnson Colour Challenge
31. I Know Why the Caged Bird sings by Maya Angelou - Alphabet challenge
32. Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill - Alphabet Challenge
33. We Are All completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

I am organizing next months reading schedule early as my books will have to be packed up next week as we are re-carpeting. So Alphabet choices by title are The Moment by Douglas Kennedy and Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller. The birthday selection is The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee

July.
34. Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller - Alphabet Challenge
35. The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster - Colour Challenge
36. The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee - Birthday Challenge

August.
37. The Moment by Douglas Kennedy - Alphabet Challenge
38. Nora Webster by Colm Toibin - Birthday Challenge
39. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan - American Author
40. Light Shining in the Forest by Paul Torday -Colour Challenge
41. On a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie

The first month I have failed to make my challenges. a combination of home renovations and reading a couple of 500 page books in a row has slowed me up but the last two books have been very good. I will try and regain my momentum this month. I might have to choose by pagination...

So now I need to plan this month's reading challenges as well as completing last month's.

And the winners are Nora Webster by Colm Toibin, birthday challenge, Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie and Pied Piper by Nevil Shute for alphabet challenge. The latter will also fulfill one of my Anzac Challenges. I need to inspect the shelves for my colour challenge - metallic.

I never can say what I'm going to read in the coming month. So lots of respect for people who can do that. I just pick a book that feels good at that moment.

Oh dear, I am just back from a trip to Wellington and couldn't resist picking up several titles off my wishlist from a favourite second hand bookstore. That combined with my birthday means that my unread books tally is higher than what I started the year with and there is another bookfair this weekend. I will have to pick up the pace...

Yay, book hauls! :)

>50 HelenBaker: The situation feels all too familiar. Enjoy your haul!

Despite continuing to be behind in my reading schedule, I will plan ahead for next month's reading.
Larry's Party by Carol Shields will be my colour choice being green for spring growth. A Quilt of Dreams byPatricia Schonstein and The Reader by Bernard Schlink are the next in the Alphabet challenge. The Birthday Challenge is proving to be the toughest choice as the main contenders are D.H. Lawrence - I have six titles or Jane Smiley - I have four titles and one would be the start of her 100 Years trilogy, which I am sorely tempted by. I think I will make the call when I get to reading them...

September.
42. Some Luck by Jane Smiley - Birthday Challenge
43. Pied Piper by Nevil Shute - Alphabet Challenge
44. Larry's Party by Carol Shields - Colour Challenge.
45. A Quilt of Dreams by Patricia Schonstein - Alphabet Challenge
46. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
47. A Long Way From Home by Peter Carey

What a great choice Larry's Party by Carol Shields turned out to be for the colour challenge. I didn't look closely at the cover, just the colour and it was a great fit to my theme of green for spring growth as it is Larry's hedges for the maze's he builds. I think this character will stay with me for some time.

Almost reached my goal but the challenges will continue. The alphabet challenge - The Sentimentalists byJohanna Skibsrud and The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis. My colour challenge - Longbourn by Jo Baker, the best I could do for pink and the birthday challenge, always a tough decision Anne Tyler or Evelyn Waugh or Colson Whitehead. I am leaning towards the last as he was one of the American author challenges. I have been struggling to meet my ANZAC challenges but have tried to fit my monthly book group read into these categories. Might have to focus on them towards the end of the year.

October.
48. The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud - Alphabet Challenge

My goal is met but I will continue to try and reduce my unread books...and complete my challenges.
49. Longbourn by Jo Baker -Colour Challenge
50. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis - Alphabet Challenge
51. The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison - Alphabet Challenge
52. A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh - Birthday Challenge

Congrats on meeting your goal!

Well done!

>58 rabbitprincess:. & >59 MissWatson:. Thank you.

Finally planning this month's reading. I am currently readingTaboo by Kim Scott for my online book group. The rest of the month's schedule will be
When We Were Romans by Matthew Kneale and Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne, these being my title alphabet challenge. The birthday choice is The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller, I had a choice of seven author's this month and the colour choice will be Homeland by Barbara Kingsolver which will complete my reading of her omnibus. A big fat one off the shelf.

November.
53. This is Not a Novel by Jennifer Johnston
54. When We Were Romans by Matthew Kneale -Alphabet Challenge
55. Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne - Alphabet Challenge
56. The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller - Birthday challenge
57. Homeland and Other Stories by Barbara Kingsolver - Colour Challenge

Congrats on meeting your goal, Helen!

December.
58. The Hundred year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson - Alphabet Challenge
59. Lizzie's War by Tim Farrington - Alphabet challenge
60. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett - Birthday challenge
61. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri - Colour Challenge

>64 HelenBaker: I really enjoyed The Hundred Year Old Man... - and have just bought the sequel (The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred Year Old Man), I hope it lives up to the original! The blurb sounded equally silly anyway :)

Hmm, touchstone being weird - I wonder if I got the title a bit wrong?

Well that concludes my challenge for this year. It has been fun exploring the shelves. Time to plan 2019...

Looks like you had a great reading year! Hope 2019 is great as well :)