HelenNZ takes up the challenge on 2024

Hi, I am back for 2024.
Last year I set myself too many monthly challenges which I failed to meet, so I will allow myself some more freedom to choose as the TBR stack has not reduced with too many additions.
I will be off to a slow start again as I have 3 library books to complete before I tackle my own books.
I will once again aim for 48 books, being 4 of my own a month.

Welcome back!

>2 cyderry: Thanks Cheli.

Welcome back, Helen! Have a great reading year!

Hi Helen. I'm looking forward to following your reading again this year. Happy ROOTing and Happy New Year.

Good to see you back, Helen!

All the best, Helen! Are the tickers working for you now? I am very pleased that they are working for me.

>7 KWharton: My tickers are still behaving badly sometimes, but I just leave the page and try again.

Happy to see you here again! Happy ROOTing!

>7 KWharton: I continued to use the method you suggested i.e. opening another window for tickerfactory first and then adjusting my own ticker in a separate window which stopped the problem. I have yet to try adjusting this years thread as I am currently reading some library books so it will be a while before I try on this years ticker.

Thank you to my well wishers. I really shouldn't be starting my year with library books as this is what put me behind last year.

I have completed my first book for the year, albeit a library book but one for my online book
January.
1. Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko

I have decided that one of my challenges this year will be to read the Booker prize winners that I have in my TBR so here is a list:
1. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie 1981
2. Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally 1982
3. Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey 1988
4. Possession by A.S. Byatt 1990
5. The Famished Road by Ben Okri 1991
6. Last Orders by Graham Swift 1996
7. The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst 2004
8. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga 2008 - Read March
9. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders 2017
10. Milkman by Anna Burns 2018 - Read February

I am surprised at how many I have waiting but I know I tend to avoid the heavy tomes as some of these are. If I achieve these I can always add the many I have on the shortlists to make one a month.

>12 HelenBaker: Of those, I loved The Line of Beauty and Milkman. Especially Milkman, though it is a tough read. I have The White Tiger on my own relatively short TBR list, and my wife just took Oscar and Lucinda out of the library. Happy reading!

>13 rocketjk: Thanks for the recommendations. Off to a slow start as I have been reading some library tomes. Back to my own books now.

January.
1. Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko
2. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
3. The Winners by Fredrik Backman
4. Boy Overboard by Peter Wells*
5. Slow Down You're Here by Brannavan Gnanalingam*

February.
6. Milkman by Anna Burns*
7. The Bone Tree by Airana Ngarewa*
8. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood*
9. Spring by Ali Smith
10.Trespasses by Louise Kennedy*

March.
11. We Come With This Place by Debra Dank
12. Independence Day by Richard Ford*
13. Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan*
14. The Dressmaker & the Hidden Soldier by Doug Gold*
15. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga*
16. Border Crossing by Pat Barker*
17. The Vanishing Sky by L. Annette Binder

April.
18. Warlight by Michael Ondaatje*
19. Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe
20. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens*
21. The Melody by Jim Crace

Hi Helen. How are you doing? I hope everything is alright. And the reading is still going, be it Library books or books you own yourself. Happy Reading.

>22 connie53: Thanks for stopping by Connie. Life just seems extra busy at present and my husband spends most of his day on the computer. Tuesday mornings are the only time I can spend time catching up on emails when he goes to visit his friend. Also now I am taking my nearly 5 year old grandson Alex on school visits and of course iit falls on a Tuesday morning. My reading has also slowed down as I joined a patchwork quilting group last year and also a knitting group, so I have many distractions. Reading is still a priority though. Hope you are well.