2021 Post-Mortem (better late than never?)

Alas, how easy it is to fall behind even with the best of intentions. I do have them, I swear!

It has been a busy several months, and while I started out August with the intention of keeping a draft blog post up to date with every book I finished so I could post it as soon as the month flipped over to September, I never drafted the introductory text and the closing text, so it dragged further and further into September, and before long I figured I might as well just combine the months, and… well, I’m sure you’ve figured the rest. Don’t mind me over here paving the road to hell, as they say.

And so we put the past behind us and move on. I did enjoy doing my monthly wrap up posts in the beginning of 2021, and wanted to at least do a mid-year challenge wrap up for 2022, but before I could let myself do that, I wanted to at very least do a quick round up of the important events of the end of last year and how the challenge ended.

In the month of August, I returned from my birthday trip to find out that I got a promotion at work, which was effective immediately and came with a nice raise, if somewhat less nice hours. Working from home is the only way I survive working the 6AM to 2:30PM shift, and even more coffee than usual. I was watching Marvel’s What If…? series on Disney Plus, listening to a good amount of Simon & Garfunkel on Spotify, and I found a Twitter account that combines two of my favorite things in an extremely quirky and fun way: Hamilton, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (beware of spoilers if you haven’t finished the show – Linz knows she is not allowed to go there yet *wink*)

Favorites for September included the TV show Dollhouse, music from Jeremy Renner, and Dole Banana Dippers, which are far too delicious.

In October I took a road trip to my best friend’s house in northern Arizona, where we attended a Clued Upp Geogames event, which was insanely fun. Think of a mash-up of a game of Clue and Pokemon Go, where you use a GPS-enabled phone app to locate clues and solve a murder while walking around a several square block section of town. While I was visiting, we watched a couple of movies – Free Guy was super fun and I loved it. I also bought myself a pair of bone conduction headphones which is a game changer for someone like me who can’t get ear buds to stay in or be comfortable.

November started with a visit from my sister-in-law, during which I adopted an adorable babycat named Fred (short for Winifred), yes absolutely named after Amy Acker’s character on Angel. My other favorite thing of the month was the long-anticipated premier of the Wheel of Time series on Amazon Prime, which despite some unfortunate issues with the last couple of episodes, I honestly enjoyed quite a lot. Aside from the Wheel of Time soundtrack, I found myself listening to a lot of Taylor Swift. And doting on this tiny bundle of mayhem:

December found me watching Hawkeye on Disney Plus (fun!), and visiting my mom for my usual week full of comfort food, reading, and Hallmark Christmas movies. For my super eclectic Spotify playlist of all the songs that randomly got stuck in my head over the course of the year, click here.

For the reading part of the year, I exceeded my goal of 48 books, finishing with a total of 49 – I did not manage to complete 4 levels of the challenge, however… only 2 levels were fully complete, with almost all of Level 3 and a good chunk of Level 4. Several of the categories left unfinished in 3 and 4 (as well as a couple of Level 5) I’d picked out books for that have made it into this year’s challenge.

If you played along with us in 2021, how did you do? Is there anything I read for 2021 that you’re particularly interested in? Anything that you’ve read before and want to discuss?

Let’s chat in the comments!

2021 Reading Challenge

Level 1: Book of the Month Club – [12/12 complete]
1. Read a book obtained from Kindle Unlimited, Audible, Amazon First Reads, Paperback Swap, or the Library – A Way Through the Wilderness – Jamie Buckingham
2. Read a book under 400 pages – The Guns of Avalon – Roger Zelazny
3. Reread a book that makes you happy – Crazy For You – Jennifer Crusie
4. Read a stand alone novel (not in a series) – The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett
5. Read a book that starts with the letter D – Doppelganger – Marie Brennan
6. Read a book that was recommended to you – The Red Sea Rules – Robert J. Morgan
7. Read a book with the color white on the cover – A Breath of Snow and Ashes (reread) – Diana Gabaldon
8. Read a book where the main character is a High School or College Student – Ninth House – Leigh Bardugo
9. Read a book by an author named Michael/Mike/Michelle or variant – Age of Myth – Michael J. Sullivan
10. Read a book that’s been turned into a TV series or Movie – Sword of Destiny – Andrzej Sapkowski
11. Read a book with exactly two words in the title – Blood Cross – Faith Hunter
12. Free Space- Pick any book! – Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (reread) – Diana Gabaldon

Level 2: Casual Reader Club – [12/12 complete]
13. A book from https://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/ – The Book of Life – Deborah Harkness
14. Read a Murder Mystery – And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
15. Read the first book in a series you’ve wanted to start – Nine Princes in Amber – Roger Zelazny
16. Read a book that has a person on the cover – Mercy Blade – Faith Hunter
17. Read a book where the main character’s occupation is chef or baker – Devil’s Food Cake Murder – Joanne Fluke
18. Read a book by an author born in the 20th Century (1901-2000) – Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone – Diana Gabaldon
19. Read a book with a form of royalty in the title (Queen, King, Prince, Princess, etc) – The Queen of the Tearling – Erika Johansen
20. Read a book you meant to read on last year’s challenge – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke
21. Read a book by Barbara Cartland – A Hazard of Hearts – Barbara Cartland
22. Read a book that takes place in Spring – Left Fur Dead – J.M. Griffin
23. Read a book with the word Human/Person/People in the title – People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
24. Free Space- Pick any book! – Ruin and Rising – Leigh Bardugo

Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club – [11/12 complete]
25. Read a book by a Self Published Author – Peace and Turmoil – Elliot Brooks
26. Read a book for under $5 – Walking with God on the Road You Never Wanted to Travel – Mark Atteberry
27. Read a book from : https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/ – Jade City – Fonda Lee
28. Read a book published in the 2010’s – Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo
29. Read a book from your favorite genre – The Black Prism (reread) – Brent Weeks
30. Read a book that has had at least three different covers – Lexicon – Max Barry
31. Read a book that takes place in Europe
32. Read a book by an author with the same first name as one of your grandparents – The Atrocity Archives – Charles Stross
33. Read a book where the main character is a magic user – Warrior and Witch – Marie Brennan
34. Read a book with a time of day in the title (Morning, Noon, Evening, Dusk, Dawn, etc) – Dawnshard – Brandon Sanderson
35. Read a book by an author of a different ethnicity than you – The Fifth Season – N.K. Jemisen
36. Free Space- Pick any book! – Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo

Level 4: Speed Reader Club – [9/12 complete]
37. Read the next book in a series you’ve started – Siege and Storm – Leigh Bardugo
38. Read a book with an orange cover
39. Read a book over 600 pages – An Echo in the Bone (reread) – Diana Gabaldon
40. Read a book that uses the “Chosen One” trope – The Dragonbone Chair – Tad Williams
41. Read a book where the main character is elderly – A Severed Wasp – Madeleine L’Engle
42. Read a book with the letter V in the title or author’s name
43. Read a Science Fiction – Axiom’s End – Lindsay Ellis
44. Read a book that starts with the letter P – Promise of Blood – Brian McClellan
45. Read a book with a bird on the cover – Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life – Anne Lamott
46. Read a book (Fiction or Nonfiction) about a lady on this list: https://www.historyextra.com/100-women/100-women-results/
47. Read a book with a main character with a different ethnicity than you – A Blade So Black – L.L. McKinney
48. Free Space- Pick any book! – Crooked Kingdom – Leigh Bardugo

Level 5: Overachiever Club – [5/12 complete]
49. Read a book with an interesting cover font – Hit – Delilah Dawson
50. Read a book about orphans
51. Read a book with the word “wind” in the title – The Aeronaut’s Windlass – Jim Butcher
52. Read a book by John Irving
53. Read a book that was published when you were eleven – The Parsifal Mosaic – Robert Ludlum
54. Read a book that takes place in the 1960s
55. Read a book (fiction or Nonfiction) about a topic that’s always interested you, but you haven’t read about it yet
56. Read a Nonfiction book that teaches you a new skill
57. Read a book without a picture on the cover
58. Read a book (Fiction or Nonfiction) involving Mental Illness – Rhythm of War – Brandon Sanderson
59. Read a book that has had unfavorable reviews, but you’re still curious about – Confessions of a Curious Bookseller – Elizabeth Green
60. Free Space- Pick any book!

July Recap – Reading, Birthdays and Frivolity

Greetings, friends and Internet associates! It seems like just yesterday I did my June recap (shhhh…. let’s not discuss my procrastination, shall we?). And suddenly, it’s the end of August, and well past time to post about what all happened in the month of July. If you’re here for the State of the Challenge report, check it out here – and if you just want to see my non-reading updates, you can jump here.

After a very solid month of June, during July I finished four books. Still respectable, if a little on the down side.

I started out the month about halfway through The Parsifal Mosaic by Robert Ludlum, which was my choice for #53, Read a book that was published when you were eleven. Originally published in 1982, so, if you do the math…. yeah. Surprise, I’m 50. I have no idea how that happened.

The book was a pretty standard spy thriller – after a few Ludlum novels they start to become pretty predictable. I called some of the twists, although one thing I was expecting to be revealed was actually not the case and while it made for a happier ending, the resolution lacked emotional resonance with me. Lots of action, lots of tension, but nothing I’d really want to read again.

The next book I finished in July was The Red Sea Rules by Robert J. Morgan. I chose this for #6, Read a book that was recommended to you, because it was recommended by my mom. This is another one that Mom recommends for her students. It’s a short, practical set of 10 lessons we can pull from the story in the book of Exodus of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and apply to our own lives, in situations where there seems to be no way out. I found myself sharing these lessons with the members of my church when I was leading music, and at least a couple of people were planning to pick it up themselves.

Shockingly, I made it to July before I ended up using on of my free spaces – I had #12 designated for something else already, so when I decided I couldn’t wait any longer to finish the Shadow and Bone trilogy, I put Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo in at #24. I had to know how the story ended… and I did NOT expect that. It was surprisingly emotional, and like the second in the trilogy there were scenes that I could just picture being played out by the actors from the Netflix adaptation. Jessie Mei Li and Archie Renaux are going to rip our hearts out, y’all.

And of course once I’m on a binge, I’m on a binge. I had to go straight into the next story in the Grishaverse, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. This one took free space #36 for the challenge list. One thing I noticed while reading this book is that the characters – completely aside from any mental image of the actors from the Netflix series – just didn’t make sense to me as 16-18 year olds. This is intended to be YA, but if we hadn’t had the character ages emphasized as being so young, just by virtue of the amount of life they have lived I would have pegged them as early to mid 20’s. It honestly didn’t feel like YA to me, if they didn’t keep talking about how young they were.

After I finished the duology, I watched a couple of BookTube videos about the series and discovered that I am definitely not the only one who feels that way. I really enjoyed how much these characters feel true to the “prequel” versions that were presented in the adaptation, and how the flashback scenes with Nina and Matthias were pretty much exactly what were shown on screen.

Aside from reading, July was a pretty busy month for me. (My placeholder paragraph here when I was drafting this post was “and then i did other stuff and drank a lot of coffee”, so there’s that.)

There were birthdays – my bestie’s older daughter turned 9, and we had a combined birthday party with the younger sister who had her 7th birthday in August, so I took a long weekend and spent time with them – it’s a 1-1/2 hour drive to visit so I tend to make it a multi-day event.

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And I had a birthday of my own to contend with – since it was one of those big round number deals, I decided to spend it with my closest friend in the world who’s been my honorary sister for 35 years (and my sister-in-law for 20). I spent a week in Colorado Springs, had some great food, snuggled some pets, watched some TV shows (including both seasons of A Discovery of Witches, as well as rewatching Shadow and Bone), had a coconut almond brownie cake, and got to meet up with another good friend (hey there Ed!) while I was at it. It was a great birthday.

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Other favorites of the month were the Loki series on Disney Plus, Bones Coffee Jingle Bones and Smorey Time flavors, and Coastal English Cheddar cheese, which was seriously one of the best things I’ve had in my mouth. (No I’m not weird. Okay maybe a little.) I am deeply disappointed that I haven’t been able to figure out how to buy it here for a reasonable price and am mildly obsessed with finding something that’s similar.

So that was July – and over a week left in August before I need to start my next wrap up. Congratulate me? HA! Come talk to me in the comments! What’s the best food you’ve tried lately? Have you done any traveling in the last few months, or do you have any trips planned in the near-ish future? And if nothing else, tell me about what you were reading in July!

2021 Reading Challenge

Level 1: Book of the Month Club
1. Read a book obtained from Kindle Unlimited, Audible, Amazon First Reads, Paperback Swap, or the Library – A Way Through the Wilderness – Jamie Buckingham
2. Read a book under 400 pages – The Guns of Avalon – Roger Zelazny
3. Reread a book that makes you happy – Crazy For You – Jennifer Crusie
4. Read a stand alone novel (not in a series) – The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett
5. Read a book that starts with the letter D – Doppelganger – Marie Brennan
6. Read a book that was recommended to you – The Red Sea Rules – Robert J. Morgan
7. Read a book with the color white on the cover – A Breath of Snow and Ashes (reread) – Diana Gabaldon
8. Read a book where the main character is a High School or College Student – Ninth House – Leigh Bardugo
9. Read a book by an author named Michael/Mike/Michelle or variant – Age of Myth – Michael J. Sullivan
10. Read a book that’s been turned into a TV series or Movie – Sword of Destiny – Andrzej Sapkowski
11. Read a book with exactly two words in the title – Blood Cross – Faith Hunter
12. Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 2: Casual Reader Club
13. A book from https://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/
14. Read a Murder Mystery
15. Read the first book in a series you’ve wanted to start – Nine Princes in Amber – Roger Zelazny
16. Read a book that has a person on the cover – Mercy Blade – Faith Hunter
17. Read a book where the main character’s occupation is chef or baker
18. Read a book by an author born in the 20th Century (1901-2000)
19. Read a book with a form of royalty in the title (Queen, King, Prince, Princess, etc) – The Queen of the Tearling – Erika Johansen
20. Read a book you meant to read on last year’s challenge – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke
21. Read a book by Barbara Cartland
22. Read a book that takes place in Spring
23. Read a book with the word Human/Person/People in the title
24. Free Space- Pick any book! – Ruin and Rising – Leigh Bardugo

Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club
25. Read a book by a Self Published Author – Peace and Turmoil – Elliot Brooks
26. Read a book for under $5
27. Read a book from : https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/
28. Read a book published in the 2010’s – Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo
29. Read a book from your favorite genre – The Black Prism (reread) – Brent Weeks
30. Read a book that has had at least three different covers
31. Read a book that takes place in Europe
32. Read a book by an author with the same first name as one of your grandparents – The Atrocity Archives – Charles Stross
33. Read a book where the main character is a magic user – Warrior and Witch – Marie Brennan
34. Read a book with a time of day in the title (Morning, Noon, Evening, Dusk, Dawn, etc) – Dawnshard – Brandon Sanderson
35. Read a book by an author of a different ethnicity than you
36. Free Space- Pick any book! – Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo

Level 4: Speed Reader Club
37. Read the next book in a series you’ve started – Siege and Storm – Leigh Bardugo
38. Read a book with an orange cover
39. Read a book over 600 pages – An Echo in the Bone (reread) – Diana Gabaldon
40. Read a book that uses the “Chosen One” trope
41. Read a book where the main character is elderly – A Severed Wasp – Madeleine L’Engle
42. Read a book with the letter V in the title or author’s name
43. Read a Science Fiction
44. Read a book that starts with the letter P
45. Read a book with a bird on the cover – Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life – Anne Lamott
46. Read a book (Fiction or Nonfiction) about a lady on this list: https://www.historyextra.com/100-women/100-women-results/
47. Read a book with a main character with a different ethnicity than you – A Blade So Black – L.L. McKinney
48. Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 5: Overachiever Club
49. Read a book with an interesting cover font – Hit – Delilah Dawson
50. Read a book about orphans
51. Read a book with the word “wind” in the title – The Aeronaut’s Windlass – Jim Butcher
52. Read a book by John Irving
53. Read a book that was published when you were eleven – The Parsifal Mosaic – Robert Ludlum
54. Read a book that takes place in the 1960s
55. Read a book (fiction or Nonfiction) about a topic that’s always interested you, but you haven’t read about it yet
56. Read a Nonfiction book that teaches you a new skill
57. Read a book without a picture on the cover
58. Read a book (Fiction or Nonfiction) involving Mental Illness – Rhythm of War – Brandon Sanderson
59. Read a book that has had unfavorable reviews, but you’re still curious about – Confessions of a Curious Bookseller – Elizabeth Green
60. Free Space- Pick any book!

April Recap – Reading, Recreation and Ridiculousness

Another month, another update – I’m on a roll here, people! For the month of April, I finished six books – let’s talk about ’em! And other random things, because hello, have we met? I do like to ramble on. If you’re not up for the rambling, you can click here to jump to the Challenge Update – but seriously, if you can’t handle a little rambling, are we even friends?

The first book I finished in April was a pretty cool book of writing advice, entitled Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I picked up some good tips that actually made me want to write more, which is what you would hope from a book like this, so that’s all good. In general, it focuses on the mindset of storytelling and writing as a discipline, but encourages you to give yourself bite-sized assignments to keep from getting overwhelmed. Useful stuff, at least for me. And this one actually has more than one bird on the cover, so it worked well for challenge #45, Read a book with a bird on the cover.

Next up is one of my favorite categories, since there are so many good options for it – for prompt #10, Read a book that’s been turned into a TV series or Movie, I picked Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski. This book is the second volume of short stories that was adapted into the first season of The Witcher on Netflix. I recognized how bits of some of the stories were used, and how they were changed for the adaptation. I really enjoyed some of the ones that weren’t adapted, and wonder if more pieces of it will make it into season two.

Next up, I read Doppelganger (later retitled Warrior when it was reprinted by a different publisher), the first in a duology that intrigued me from the description. I picked them up because the author, Marie Brennan, is scheduled to be the Author Guest of Honor at JordanCon 2021, which is coming up in July. The first book in this duology fit in to the challenge on category #5, Read a book that starts with the letter D. I was very intrigued by the premise of the world, and had to jump straight into the sequel when I finished.

The second book, Warrior and Witch, was renamed just Witch when it was reprinted, and I used this one for #33, Read a book where the main character is a magic user. The lore of this world really drew me in – there are training schools for Hunters (warriors who act as bounty hunters or assassins) in this universe, and an organization of witches that has a very rigid structure that reminded me a bit of the White Tower in the Wheel of Time series. There are political schemes at work in the organization, and centuries old traditions that are about to be challenged, and I devoured both of these novels.

The next book I finished was one I’d started in January and had been reading one or two chapters a week so I could digest the lessons learned. A Way through the Wilderness by Jamie Buckingham was recommended by my mom as a book she has her students read. I’d picked up my copy through Paperback Swap, so I slotted it in on the reading challenge for #1, Read a book obtained from Kindle Unlimited, Audible, Amazon First Reads, Paperback Swap, or the Library. This book gives a lot of context to the biblical account of the Exodus, and offers some very poignant lessons about walking through challenges, leadership, patience, and hope. I gave my copy to my pastors when I finished, and bought another copy on Kindle so I can easily highlight and copy quotes.

Finally, I squeezed in one more thick read at the end of April, finishing a reread of An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon on the 30th. This one is pretty much Linz’s fault too, but Diana Gabaldon announced the publication date for Book 9 in the Outlander series, so I figured I would need to finish my reread before November 23rd. This one is an 849-page chunker, so it worked perfectly for challenge #39, Read a book over 600 pages. I really love the way Gabaldon weaves historical events into the series, and there’s constant tension with the characters and situations. One particular character’s storyline kind of bored me until he started interacting with the Fraser family, but overall I had a great time refreshing my memory on the events of this book.

Aside from the books, like most Marvel fangirls, I watched The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (and really quite enjoyed it, Bucky seriously made me cry more than once)… and Linz and I finally started making use of the Amazon Prime Watch Party feature so I could introduce her to the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer during a few day stint when her husband was out of town. We got through Season 1, Episode 11, and plan to pick it up again soon, which excites me. (If you don’t understand my love for Buffy, click that link – it’s a wonderful video essay about why BtVS is worth watching.)

Music-wise, my friend Tom introduced me to Andrew Peterson, whose Resurrection Letters Vol. 1 has been replayed quite often in the last several weeks… and for a completely fun change of pace, his Friday Afternoon playlist that gets me chair dancing between phone calls at work. While listening to a Spotify Daily Mix, I was also reminded just how great a song the Goo Goo Dolls’ Better Days really is, especially in these pandemic-fun times.

After my March update musing about tea, I went on a coffee kick in April, discovering Starbucks’ Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso (my reward for not being a big baby and getting my first COVID vaccination), and a Facebook ad impulse purchase, Bones Coffee’s Army of Dark Chocolate, which is just amazing. A. Ma. Zing.

So tell me, friends – what did you discover in April? Have you succumbed to any Facebook ads, and did you regret it? Did you read any good books? What songs were stuck in your head? Have you watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Chat with meeeee!

2021 Reading Challenge

Level 1: Book of the Month Club
1. Read a book obtained from Kindle Unlimited, Audible, Amazon First Reads, Paperback Swap, or the Library – A Way Through the Wilderness – Jamie Buckingham
2. Read a book under 400 pages
3. Reread a book that makes you happy – Crazy For You – Jennifer Crusie
4. Read a stand alone novel (not in a series)
5. Read a book that starts with the letter D – Doppelganger – Marie Brennan
6. Read a book that was recommended to you
7. Read a book with the color white on the cover – A Breath of Snow and Ashes (reread) – Diana Gabaldon
8. Read a book where the main character is a High School or College Student
9. Read a book by an author named Michael/Mike/Michelle or variant – Age of Myth – Michael J. Sullivan
10. Read a book that’s been turned into a TV series or Movie – Sword of Destiny – Andrzej Sapkowski
11. Read a book with exactly two words in the title – Blood Cross – Faith Hunter
12. Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 2: Casual Reader Club
13. A book from https://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/
14. Read a Murder Mystery
15. Read the first book in a series you’ve wanted to start
16. Read a book that has a person on the cover – Mercy Blade – Faith Hunter
17. Read a book where the main character’s occupation is chef or baker
18. Read a book by an author born in the 20th Century (1901-2000)
19. Read a book with a form of royalty in the title (Queen, King, Prince, Princess, etc)
20. Read a book you meant to read on last year’s challenge – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke
21. Read a book by Barbara Cartland
22. Read a book that takes place in Spring
23. Read a book with the word Human/Person/People in the title
24. Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club
25. Read a book by a Self Published Author – Peace and Turmoil – Elliot Brooks
26. Read a book for under $5
27. Read a book from : https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/
28. Read a book published in the 2010’s
29. Read a book from your favorite genre
30. Read a book that has had at least three different covers
31. Read a book that takes place in Europe
32. Read a book by an author with the same first name as one of your grandparents
33. Read a book where the main character is a magic user – Warrior and Witch – Marie Brennan
34. Read a book with a time of day in the title (Morning, Noon, Evening, Dusk, Dawn, etc) – Dawnshard – Brandon Sanderson
35. Read a book by an author of a different ethnicity than you
36. Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 4: Speed Reader Club
37. Read the next book in a series you’ve started
38. Read a book with an orange cover
39. Read a book over 600 pages – An Echo in the Bone (reread) – Diana Gabaldon
40. Read a book that uses the “Chosen One” trope
41. Read a book where the main character is elderly – A Severed Wasp – Madeleine L’Engle
42. Read a book with the letter V in the title or author’s name
43. Read a Science Fiction
44. Read a book that starts with the letter P
45. Read a book with a bird on the cover – Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life – Anne Lamott
46. Read a book (Fiction or Nonfiction) about a lady on this list: https://www.historyextra.com/100-women/100-women-results/
47. Read a book with a main character with a different ethnicity than you
48. Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 5: Overachiever Club
49. Read a book with an interesting cover font
50. Read a book about orphans
51. Read a book with the word “wind” in the title – The Aeronaut’s Windlass – Jim Butcher
52. Read a book by John Irving
53. Read a book that was published when you were eleven
54. Read a book that takes place in the 1960s
55. Read a book (fiction or Nonfiction) about a topic that’s always interested you, but you haven’t read about it yet
56. Read a Nonfiction book that teaches you a new skill
57. Read a book without a picture on the cover
58. Read a book (Fiction or Nonfiction) involving Mental Illness – Rhythm of War – Brandon Sanderson
59. Read a book that has had unfavorable reviews, but you’re still curious about
60. Free Space- Pick any book!