Click HERE for Guidelines and Sign-ups.
HOST: Bev @ MY READER'S BLOCK
DATES: January 1 - December 31, 2021
My favorite genre. And one of my favorite challenges. I'm signing up again for 2021, and hoping to do a better job with reviews next year. I'll be tracking my progress and keeping all my lists and links over on my challenge blog (HERE).
Click HERE for Guidelines and Sign-ups.
HOST: Carol @ Carol's Notebook
DATES: January 1 - December 31, 2021
For the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge you can read any book from the mystery/suspense/thriller/crime genres. And since those are the genres I read more than any others, it's the perfect challenge for me. Somehow I missed out on last year's challenge, but I'm in for 2021. I'll be signing up at the "Amateur Sleuth" level (5-15 books). Not sure exactly what I'll be reading, but during the year I'll be tracking my progress and keeping all my lists on my challenge blog (HERE).
The Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge -- hosted by Bev Hankins at her MY READER'S BLOCK blog -- is one of the funnest challenges around, if you're a mystery fanatic like I am. Of course, I always hope I'll be able to read much more than I actually do; and in that, 2020 was no exception. But I did manage to read at least one qualifying book per month, even though I didn't get any reviews posted.
Here's the category check-off sheet, and a list of what I read for each month:
JANUARY:
• In the Last Analysis (Kate Fansler #1). Amanda Cross (Category #2: Author's birth month)
FEBRUARY:
• A Fragment of Fear. John Bingham (Category #7: Book title has word starting with "F")
MARCH:
• The Silent Speaker (Nero Wolfe #11). Rex Stout (Category #3: Primary action takes place during this month)
APRIL:
• And Be a Villain (Nero Wolfe #13). Rex Stout (Category #7: Book title has word starting with "A")
MAY:
• Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (Agatha Raisin #5). M.C. Beaton (Category #7: Book title has word starting with "M")
JUNE:
• The Haunted Lady (Hilda Adams/"Miss Pinkerton" Mystery). Mary Roberts Rinehart (Category #3: Primary action takes place during this month)
JULY:
• Where There's a Will (Nero Wolfe #8). Rex Stout (Category #3: Primary action takes place during this month)
AUGUST:
• A Death Long Overdue (Lighthouse Library Mystery #7). Eva Gates (Category #9: Summer holiday setting - Nags Head NC)
SEPTEMBER:
• The Suicide House. Charlie Donlea (Category #7: Book title has word beginning with "S")
OCTOBER:
• Still Life (Inspector Gamache #1). Louise Penny (Category #3: Primary action takes place in this month)
NOVEMBER:
• Knot of This World (Quilting Mystery #8). Mary Marks (Category #9: Family relationships play major role)
DECEMBER:
• Snow (St. John Strafford #1). John Banville (Category #3: Primary action takes place in this month)
Bev has announced the 2021 edition of the challenge, and you can see the rules and find the sign-up form HERE.
Click HERE for guidelines and sign-ups.
HOST: Gilion Dumas @ Rose City Reader
DATES: January 1, 2021 - January 31, 2022
Gilion's annual European Reading Challenge is always one of my favorite challenges, even though I don't always do as well as I'd like. But last year I signed up to read three books, and managed to get them all read. So for the 2021 challenge, I think I'll stick with that number, and sign up as a "Business Traveler" (the Three-Star Level).
The idea of the challenge is to read books by European authors or set in European countries. You can see the list of countries on the announcement page. I don't have any specific books in mind for next year, but I'm hoping to explore a couple of places I've never visited before.
During the year, I'll be tracking my progress and keeping my lists over on my challenge blog (HERE).
If on a sunny day you climb the steep path leading up from the little wooden bridge still referred to around here as 'the Bridge of Hesitation', you will not have to walk far before the roof of my house becomes visible between the tops of two gingko trees. Even if it did not occupy such a commanding position on the hill, the house would still stand out from all the others nearby, so that as you come up the path, you may find yourself wondering what sort of wealthy man owns it.
In the face of the misery in his homeland, the artist Masuji Ono was unwilling to devote his art solely to the celebration of physical beauty. Instead, he put his work in the service of the imperialist movement that led Japan into World War II.
Now, as the mature Ono struggles through the aftermath of that war, his memories of his youth and of the “floating world”—the nocturnal world of pleasure, entertainment, and drink—offer him both escape and redemption, even as they punish him for betraying his early promise. Indicted by society for its defeat and reviled for his past aesthetics, he relives the passage through his personal history that makes him both a hero and a coward but, above all, a human being. (Publisher's description)
Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc. It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.
Click HERE for Guidelines and Sign-Ups
The 2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is being hosted by Marg @ The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. I'm signing up at the "20th Century Reader" level (2 books), and hoping to do a little better than that. During the year, I'll be tracking my progress and keeping my lists on my challenge blog (HERE).
Click HERE for Guidelines and Sign-Ups
I'm such a reading challenge junkie, if I'm not careful I'd be signing up for every single one that comes along. And, of course, that would be madness.
But I'm signing up for this one. It's being hosted by Celebrity Readers, and you can click on the link above, for the announcement/sign-up page.
I have dozens of series started, and I'd really like to finish at least a few of them next year. Hoping this challenge will give me the nudge I need.
I'll probably aim for the "C-List" level (complete 1-4 series). Haven't decided exactly which ones to work on, but these are some of the possibilities:
During the year, I'll be tracking my progress and keeping all my lists on my challenge blog (HERE).
