Pocki’s Comments (group member since Dec 25, 2016)

Pocki’s comments from the A challenge of relative ease and merriment 2017 group.

Well done everyone!
With an hour and a half to spare I managed to finish my last book (it's short but I'm gonna count it!). Yeah... down to the wire here.

So I ended up finishing all 20, and this is my final list:

a book released in 2017: Star’s End by Cassandra Rose Clarke
a book written before 1900: Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
a non-fiction book: Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab The Body Farm, Where The Dead Do Tell Tales by Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson
a kids book: Instructions by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Charles Vess
a YA novel: Starfall by Melissa Landers
a book of fantastical fiction: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story by Alexander Freed
a cozy mystery: Potions and Pastries by Bailey Cates
a debut novel: The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
a book of poetry or drama: Your Soul is a River by Nikita Gill
a biography/autobiography/memoir: Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
a book written by someone under the age of 30: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
a media tie-in: Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy by Pablo Hidalgo
an LGBTQIA* book: Not Your Villain by CB Lee (all kinds of sexual and gender identities in this series which is lovely)
a book about food: Salt by Mark Kurlansky
a scary/creepy book: The Boy on the Bridge by MR Carey (I didn’t find this scary but it’s a GR Choice Awards nominee in Horror so I figures it counts)
a book that is part of a series but not the first book: Within The Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan (fifth and last book in The Memoirs of Lady Trent)
a Goodreads Choice Awards winner: Dead Wake by Erik Larson (2015 winner in History & Biography)
a book with an animal on the cover: The Extreme Life of the Sea by Stephen R Palumbi and Anthony R Palumbi
a book mostly set in the desert: It Devours by Joseph Fink
a book that was adapted into a movie: Un dulce olor a muerte by Guillermo Arriaga


It's always hard to pick favourites. But Within the Sanctuary of Wings was lovely, as all other books of the series and it was sad to say goodbye. I also fell utterly in love with Nikita gill's poetry, so Your Soul is a River was amazing.

I guess hardest for me was before 1900, which shouldn't have been hard. I had a plan but never got around to reading that book. Which is why I finished Carmilla a few minutes ago XD

Okay you guys, the year is aaaalmost over, so I thought why not share your finished list of books?

If you didn't finish, don't feel bad! Share what you did finish!
What was your favourite of the ones you read? Is there one you're including that you didn't like? And what was the hardest category for you to finish, but you still did finish?

And remember that your finished list doesn't have to be what you reported during the year! If you read a collection of poetry in january, but then read an even better one in december... feel free to change your list! Make it the best one you can.

Personally I am still working on it. I have two days! I can do it haha!

You guys should know by now that I always write a little bit about the more fuzzy categories to explain. I have actually prepped for when I set up the new group but since we're discussing it, this is what I wrote for How-To:

How-to can be any book telling you how to do, or deal with, something. It can be your classic DIY books, cookbooks, crafting, how to survive in nature, taking care of exotic birds, travelling on a budget etc etc. But it doesn’t actually have to be properly factual. Guides on how to survive your first year as a werewolf, how to conduct yourself when travelling through time etc, or how to best prep for the impending zombie apocalypse (or any apocalypse really, some of those might be more factual than others).

So I DID include cookbooks in that. But who reads a regular cookbook from cover to cover? I'd only do that if it really is a how-to type cookbook. Like how to ferment vegetables or something.

Also, the reason I didn't include female writer this year (unlike last year) was that I thought it was WAY too easy.
And hey, cozy mystery is an actual genre! :P (I'm still waiting to read mine cause I have a series I like and a new book is being released super soon)

I think maybe if we do "meaning to read" making it something like "for at least a year" might be good. Cause I mean to read books all the time it just takes me a while to get around to them.

Ah yes that was how I put it last year! No wait, I did write "acquired" not bought. So gifts would've been fine! But yeah it was an ownership thing as well as a meaning to read thing.

Yeah I've been considering a kind of "meant to read" category, which we had last year. But we'll see... Lots to choose from!

I have never done either actually. Whatever they assigned us in school was always easy enough for me to breeze through and then get back to my normal reading, even if I found the book boring. But I have definitely cut some corners in analysis. Like when we in English class in high school had to compare movie and book version of About A Boy, and one question was something like "the protagonist is portrayed very differently in the movie. Discuss" and I just went "he was exactly as I imagined" and didn't elaborate. She liked my assignment (or me?) so much she missed a whole bunch of typos and lazy grammatical errors (pretty sure we wrote it by hand and I didn't proofread it when I was done)

But yes, great suggestions everyone!
Should be no problem completing the list closer to the new year :D

Hi guys!
We have two and a half months left of the year (where did all that time go? Seriously...) and good job on this year's challenge! I know several of you are finished already, and the rest are still going strong. I myself am struggling with my last few categories but I'll get it done.

Anyway, I plan on continuing this challenge next year, with some changed categories of course. It will be a new group, and I will send out a mass message to all members of this year's challenge so you don't miss it if you want to join again. I hope to see you all there of course!

So far I have decided on 15 categories (of our usual 20), and thought I'd share with you:

a book released in 2018
a non-fiction book
a kids book
a YA novel
an LGBTQIA+ book
a book set in the future
a book set (or about a time) before 1940
a how-to book
a graphic novel
a book with mythological creatures
a book set on or by the sea
a book about a death
a book with a predominantly yellow cover (colour may change!)
a book written by more than one author
the first book in an existing series (of at least two released books)

I have some ideas for the last five but none I'm super happy with yet, so I thought I'd let you all have a say as well. What would you like to see as a category for the 2018 challenge? Is there one you've been missing from 2016 if you were with us then, or one you really liked this year? Or something you really wish would've been on the list for this year?

And yes, since you get a nice lil sneak peek of categories for next year you can already start planning! Personally I just tend to wing it most of the year, but I know there are some of you who really like to plan things out. So this is for you ;)

So hit me with your suggestions, comments, wishes, or what have you!
And good luck with your last few books!

You are all doing so well! Congrats to you who are already finished, and keep up the good work to those of you who are not! I hit a bit of a reading slump during summer, but I have managed to get in three new categories. Making my current total 16/20.

The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig will be my entry for debut novel. It was pretty nice and I read the sequel as well. Easy YA but not the same as so many of the other ones I've read (it isn't post apocalyptic haha). Interesting premise as well.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North who wrote it when under 30 (she might still be? I dunno). Thanks to whoever suggested that one! Took a while to get into but it gained some momentum and turned out to be quite fascinating.

And finally, Venturess by Betsy Cornwell for the LGBTQIA* category. I am home sick from work and thought I could just as well finish this one. Unless I read something even more obviously queer this is what I'll go with. It features a clear poly relationship, and the main character is bi or pan I assume (she is in love with, and in a relationship with, both a man and a woman after all) Really good book. If you haven't read the first book in the duology you should. It's called Mechanica and is a feminist steampunk Cinderella.

Not everything can be easy!
(I still haven't covered this particular category myself)

I finished three more categories, which gets me to 13/20.

Within the Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan is my book that's not first in a series, as it is in fact the fifth and last book in The Memoirs of Lady Trent. I have been waiting for this book for a year, and when I looked at the categories for the challenge I knew I wanted to use this book for this category. Oh man this series is so good! If you like dragons, or natural history, or victorian style fantasy, this is a series for you! My favourite is the third book, but they're all good. And they make really good audiobooks too!

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson was the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards winner in History & Biography. Pretty good, and a story I wasn't super familiar with actually. Erik Larson does write very compelling stories of historical events (you might've heard of The Devil In The White City?) and this is no exception.

The Extreme Life of the Sea by Stephen and Anthony Palumbi, I have later realised has animals on the cover! I will possibly switch this out for something else for the final list at the end of the year but for now it's good. It's a pretty decent book, and was a very interesting lecture when I went to it a few years ago. Non-fiction about sea creatures (and a bit about conservation or what's happening to the ocean).

Welcome Berit!
That is an impressive goal! Very much good luck with it, and with the challenge. I hope it will indeed push you a bit and make you find new things :D

I have another four to add:

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales by Bill Bass and Jon Jefferon for non-fiction. If you're interested in forensics or murders, read it. I thought it was great. I read a lot of non-fiction but I think this one gets to be the challenge one for this year.

Starfall by Melissa Landers for the Young Adult category. A little bit better than the previous book in the series, but nothing spectacular. I'll be reading more YA for sure. It always happens. So might switch this out for the final results.

Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy by Pablo Hidalgo for the media tie-in. I didn't want to count this really cause it's so heavy on the pictures. But it did take me a while to read for some reason and I haven't read another one, yet. So I thought I'd count this meanwhile. I will however switch it out if something better comes along, which I definitely think it will (I want to read some Star Wars novels)

And finally, Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky for the food category. I started a book about cannibalism that I kinda want to count instead, but I didn't get very far before gettign distracted by other things, and this book about salt has been my audiobook for the past week or so. And I tend to finish the audiobooks I start in earnest since I always listen when going to and from work and then there's nothing to distract me. This is one of those classic "social histories of one thing", or (sort of mislabeled, see discussions in last years challenge group) microhistories, which I love. So I thought I should finally read it. And if you like this sort of thing, it's good! If you don't, it will probably be boring. Cause it's pretty long!

So that's halfway for me! 10/20!
The two books I'm about to start (one audio and one regular) won't count for the challenge for me, cause those categories are already filled.

Hi Marie and welcome!
Scary does necessarily need to mean horror, it can be scary for other reasons.
Very much good luck, and I hope you'll enjoy it here!

You're all doing so well!

Rebecka: I'm so glad you enjoyed The Ocean At The End Of The Lane! May I recommend Neil Gaiman's short story Collections? Those are by far my favourite books of his. Especially Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fiction and Illusions

Cee Cee wrote: "can you give examples of some acceptable fake memoirs?"

Sadly no, can't think of any. I don't know if there actually are any. But if anyone finds one go right ahead!

Because I've gotten questions if specific books counts I thought I'd write a list of what will absolutely count, absolutely not, and maybe (if you really can't find one of the others)

Absolutely YES:
- a novel or graphic novel that gives us a new story with people/the world from a movie (eg any Star Wars extended universe novel)
- a novel or graphic novelthat gives us new stories set in the world of a fictional tv series (eg any Star Trek novels, or the Veronica Mars novels to pick completely different genres, but there are many shows with basically new episodes in novel form. And yes also the Buffy the Vampire Slayer "eight season" comic book arc)
- a novel or graphic novel set in the universe of a computer game (eg Assassin's Creed or World of Warcraft)
- a novel or graphic novel based on a fictional podcast story (eg Welcome to Night Vale)
- a novel written by a fictional character from a movie or tv show (eg the Nikki Heat novels by "Richard Castle", Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America by "Leslie Knope", or The Bro Code by "Barney Stinson")
- an in-universe guide (eg The Wildlife of Star Wars or John Winchester's Journal)
- visual guides (eg the Star Wars Essential Guides)
- in-universe cookbooks
- Fake memoirs about/by characters from movie, tv, games etc

Some people might question but I will definitely allow:
- "Making of" a tv show, movie, game, podcast (remember: fictional worlds!)
- Collection of essays on a tv show, movie, game etc
- Academic style writing about aspects of a tv show, movie, specific game (not gaming in general) etc
- Episodic guides of a fictional tv shows
- Cookbooks inspired by tv or movies
- Language guides to a made up tv, movie, or game language

Absolutely NO:
- Completely original novels referencing a tv show or movie
- Novels that were adapted into movies
- Novelisations of movies
- New stories by new authors in a fictional literary world (eg Sherlock Holmes or the Lovecraftian mythos)
- Guides to literary worlds
- Making of a non-fictional thing (eg a newspaper)
- Real memoirs (even when mostly about events "on set")
- Fake memoirs by literary characters
- Scripts

Questionable but I'll allow if you can't make the others work for you:
- Novel written by a fictional character from another novel
- Novels based in a world originally created in graphic novels
- Crafting books related to tv shows, movies, games etc (eg Star Wars Origami)
- Cookbooks tied to literary works (eg Nanny Ogg's Cookbook: A Useful and Improving Almanack of Information Including Astonishing Recipes from Terry Pratchett's Discworld)


The superhero comic book world is just a big circular mess by now with comics based on movies based on comics, with visual guides thrown in for good measure. If you have something you wonder about specifically regarding that, just ask and we'll sort it out.

And the above is not an exhaustive list. I will add specifics when I think of them or if anyone asks about it. And by all means, keep asking!

Cee Cee: that just sounds like a normal book? Unless it's written by like... Clark Kent (first fictional reporter I could think of haha).

It should tie into something fictional that already exists, and isn't a book (ie tv, movie, game, podcast)

Jenny wrote: "Ah here it is. I should have no trouble with this category. :-D"

No you definitely should not! Anyone who loves Star Wars will find this particular category easy peasy.

This weekend I finished three categories.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, for the released in 2017 category. If you like Norse mythology, and you like Gaiman's style, this is a slam dunk. I listened to the audiobook which is read by the author himself and since I love his voice and the way he reads that made it even better. It is simply him retelling some of the classic stories about the Norse gods, from the creation of the world to Ragnarök and what will come after.

Instructions by Neil Gaiman (cause why not right?), and illustrated by Charles Vess, for the kids category. It's a darling book!

Memories by Lang Leav for the poetry or drama category. It's a collection of poems about love. I dunno, as an eternally single (and decently fine with it) person they don't really resonate with me. I've read one of her books before, and this apparently is a collection of some of the poems from that + another + some new, and I didn't remember any of the ones I've apparently already read. But if you like love poems, by all means, read some of Leav's work!



So that's 6/20 done for me. I might swap some out towards the end but at least I have something now!

I'm also currently working on my YA book, Starfall by Melissa Landers. That one can also work for fantastical (it's scifi), released in 2017, and sequel/prequel. But I have already covered the first two, and I know which one I want to use for sequel (it's release din a couple of months and I can't wait!) so I thought YA will do nicely. I tend to read it during breakfast and lunch breaks at work, on my phone, so it'll take all of next week probably.

I think that we settled on a media tie-in being a book tied to another type of media (there's a long discussion in the wrong thread, Progress, instead of here). So like, all those Sherlock Holmes books floating around by different authors wouldn't count (but a book tied to the tv show Elementary would)