You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Now, this is a challenge:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Badge 1 plan

✔️ Book 3, Bel Canto, genre, literary fiction The Possible World
✔️ Book 4, read the book Between Shades of Gray
✔️ Book 7, The Darkest Minds, MC is nurse, Waiting for Columbus
✔️ Book 9, author, Read by author whose first book was published 2000 or later, Man Walks Into a Room
✔️ Book 10, actor, book about books The End of Your Life Book Club
✔️ Book 15, genre, HF/war Noonday: A Novel
✔️ Book 16, setting, Mississippi Light in August
✔️ Book 23, Mary Poppins, author, MC is human and over the age of 60 On Canaan's Side
✔️ Book 27, Nutcracker&Mouse King, genre, fantasy, Circe
✔️ Book 29, setting, set in Scotland His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae
✔️ Book 30, setting, set in Ohio or Oklahoma, Whose Names Are Unknown
✔️ Book 31, setting, set in Russia or written by a Russian author. A Gentleman in Moscow

Planning

Book 1, actor, Australian author or setting The Sound of One Hand Clapping

Book 2, genre, science fiction, The Humans

Book 3, setting, S American author Island Beneath the Sea

Book 11, setting, Washington State, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

Book 12, trivia, Pulitzer Prize winner The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (general NF 2012) or Gulag: A History (general NF 2004)

Book 13, setting, Texas, I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive
Book 13, trivia, country in title Cry, the Beloved Country

Book 14, genre, historical mystery Mistress of the Art of Death or Child 44
Book 14, trivia, MC Elizabeth Death Comes to Pemberley

Book 15, trivia, flowers on cover Peony in Love

Book 18, trivia, Goodreads Choice Winner Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (Memoir 2012)

Book 19, trivia, biblical retelling Quarantine (#93 on list)
Book 19, genre, short stories, Love Medicine

Book 21, genre, horror, Spider

Book 22, author, character served in Vietnam The Sentimentalists
Book 22, genre, gothic, The Meaning of Night

Book 23, Setting: London - Read a book set in London, England. The Night Watch

Book 26, trivia, first on series The Potato Factory

Book 29, trivia, author uses pseudonym Possession

Book 32, author, cover only black and white Salt: A World History
Book 32, genre, LGBT Funny Boy

Book 34, author, Giller Prize winner or nominee Burridge Unbound (2000 nominee) or Transit (2017 nominee)

Book 35, actor, art on cover The Painted Kiss
Book 35, trivia, hands on cover The Double

Book 36, setting, explorers, God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal, and the Dream of Discovery
Book 36, Trivia, indigenous peoples of NZ or Aus The Bone People

Badge 2 (24 books)

1. Book 2, Annihilation, setting, Florida, Before Women Had Wings
2. Book 3, Bel Canto, trivia, Orange Prize winner or nominee On Beauty (2006 winner)
3. Book 4, Between Shades of Gray, author, The Birth House
4. Book 4, Between Shades of Gray, actor, set in Ireland, A Star Called Henry
5. Book 4, Between Shades of Gray, Genre, Historic Fiction - Read a book featuring women in history, The Spy: A Novel of Mata Hari
6. Book 5, Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identify, Faith and Family, author, one-word title, Stoner
7. Book 5, Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identify, Faith and Family,genre, memoir Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
8. Book 7, The Darkest Minds, setting, WWII story. The Book of Aron
9. Book 12, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, actor, set in Canada or Canadian author, Brother
10. Book 12, First Man: The Life of Neil A Armstrong, genre, biography, The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers
11. Book 19, The Jungle Book, setting, set in India or Indian author, Water
12. Book 21, The Little Stranger, read the book, The Little Stranger

13. Book 21, The Little Stranger, actor, main character has red (ginger) hair. Muse
14. Book 21, The Little Stranger, setting, set in 1940s, Warlight
15. Book 22, The Long Home, set in Tennessee, Before We Were Yours (audio)
16. Book 23, Mary Poppins, trivia, umbrella on cover, Above All Things
17. Book 25, Monster, author, first people of NA A Geography of Blood: Unearthing Memory from a Prairie Landscape
18. Book 26, Mortal Engines, actor, set in Africa or is written by African author. Homegoing
19. Book 30, Ready Player One, genre, set in 1980s, The Sky Unwashed
20. Book 31, Red Sparrow, actor, 2012 award winner The Street Sweeper
21. Book 33, A Simple Favor, author, debut novel, If The Creek Don't Rise
22. Book 33, A Simple Favor, setting, set in Connecticut, Did You Ever Have a Family
23. Book 34, The Sisters Brothers, setting, set in Oregon or California, Garden of Stones
24. Book 36, A Wrinkle in Time, actor, Oprah book club Behold the Dreamers

Badge 3 (36 books)

1. Book 3, Bel Canto, actor, religious theme, The Sound of Gravel: A Memoir
2. Book 14, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, set in Sweden or Swedish author, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
3. Book 34, The Sisters Brothers, genre, western, News of the World
4. Book 31, Red Sparrow, trivia, bird on cover, Magpie Murders
5. Book 28, Ophelia, author, dog main focus, The Friend
6. Book 3, Bel Canto, author, “Time" in the title, I Curse the River of Time

7. Book 32, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, actor, set in Croatia, The Hired Man
8. Book 8, The Death Cure, actor, wolf on cover, Wolf Winter
9. Book 22, The Long Home, trivia, food is major theme, Baking Cakes in Kigali
10. Book 25, genre, crime, MC is not police officer, The Child Finder
11. Book 25, trivia, set wholly or in part in prison, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
12. Book 17, The House with a Clock in its Walls, author, MC is bachelor, The Travelling Cat Chronicles

13. Book 30, Ready Player One, trivia, narrated by Wil Wheaton, The Android's Dream
14. Book 14, The Girl in the Spider's Web, Book 14, author, David Lagercrantz, The Buried Giant
15. Book 6, Crazy Rich Asians, genre, women’s lit/chick lit, The Chili Queen
16. Book 27, Nutcracker and the Mouse King, trivia, theme is dance, Dancer
17. Book 9, Every Day, actor, Rhiannon character, The Natural Way of Things
18. Book 18, Juliet Naked, author, autism theme, Shtum: A Novel

19. Book 35, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, genre, romance, Everything Love Is
20. Book 13, actor, first published in 2016, I Will Send Rain
21. Book 15, Guernsey Literary ..., setting, set on island, A Marker to Measure Drift
22. Book 30, Ready Player One, author, set btw 1750-1850, Slammerkin
23. Book 8, The Death Cure, genre, dystopia, Moon of the Crusted Snow
24. Book 15, Giernsey Literary ..., author, about a library, The Library Book

25. Book 16, The Hate U Give, National Book Award finalist - Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
26. Book 20, Little Women, genre, HF, The German Girl
27. Book 36, A Wrinkle in Time, author, rural community, The Tie That Binds
28. Book 21, The Little Stranger, author, set in Wales, Ten White Geese
29. Book 27, Nutcracker and Mouse King, author, set btw 1800-1900, Thirteen Moons
30. Book 1, 12 Strong, author, book from trilogy, Julie of the Wolves

31. Book 33, A Simple Favor, actor, set in the 2000s, The Lower River
32. Book 20, Little Women, strong female lead character, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
33. Book 20, Little Women, stormy cover, The Storm: A Novel
34. Book 34, The Sisters Brothers, actor, “thieves” list, Fingersmith
35. Book 24, Meg, author, books taught in schools -list, The Things They Carried
36. Book 28, Ophelia, ‘castle’ in title, The Women in the Castle

Badge 4 (48 books)

1. Book 27, setting, The Taster
2. Book 18, actor, Life After God
3. Book 31, genre, The Martian
4. Book 10, trivia, Angle of Repose
5. Book 25, setting, Wonder
6. Book 1, genre, The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A True Story of Resilience and Recovery
7. Book 27, actor, Orange Is the New Black
8. Book 5, actor, A Separate Peace
9. Book 6, actor, Rose & Poe
10. Book 5, setting, Manhattan Beach
11. Book 16, genre, We Were the Lucky Ones
12. Book 30, actor, Where'd You Go, Bernadette

13. Book 9, trivia, Benediction
14. Book 33, trivia, Q & A
15. Book 2, author, Wolf Willow
16. Book 18, genre, Daisy Jones & The Six
17. Book 16, actor, All the Winters After
18. Book 18, setting, Lilli de Jong
19. Book 32, setting, Miller's Valley
20. Book 11, actor, Call Your Daughter Home
21. Book 22, actor, TransAtlantic
22. Book 29, author, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
23. Book 24, trivia, The Night Tiger
24. Book 26, author, Machines Like Me

25. Book 4, setting, A Nearly Normal Family
26. Book 2, genre, The Humans
27. Book 6, setting, The House of Wives
28. Book 1, actor, Scrublands
29. Book 11, setting, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
30. Book 14, trivia, A Keeper
31. Book 13, trivia, Cry, the Beloved Country
32. Book 25, actor, Albatross
33. Book 32, author, The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane
34. Book 8, setting, Descendants
35. Book 23, actor, Death is a Word
36. Book 6, read it, Crazy Rich Asians

37. Book 17, setting, I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive
38. Book 4 trivia, Talking to High Monks in the Snow: An Asian-American Odyssey
39. Book 20, setting, Coma
40. Book 19, author, Case Histories
41. Book 19, trivia, Quarantine
42. Book 21, genre, The Chalk Man
43. Book 23, setting, Neverwhere
44. Book 19, genre, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives
45. Book 29, trivia, The Daughter of Time
46. Book 14, genre, Out of the Easy
47. Book 1, trivia, All the Pretty Horses
48. Book 10, setting, The Tobacconist

Reserved

Reserved

Reserved

Badge 1, book 1
Book 29
Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart
Setting: Scotland - Read a book that is set in Scotland or written by a Scottish author.
His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae
280 pages
The book is set in Scotland and the writer is Scottish.
No specifications.

Woot! First book done. :)

Did you love the book as much as the rest of us?

Janice wrote: "Woot! First book done. :)

Did you love the book as much as the rest of us?"

I did. I gave it four stars. I’m still wondering about what really happened and why. I like that the writer added subtle clues along the way, and still left so many unanswered questions.

I will reread it again someday to see what clues I can pick up now that I've read it.

Badge 1, book 2
Book 15
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Genre, historical fiction, war
Noonday: A Novel
320 pages
The book is Historical Fiction, setting is World War II
Specifications: Both HF and War genres appear on the book’s main page.

You made me look at the trilogy but I was strong. I didn't add it. The third book does sound interesting though. :0)

Cherie wrote: "You made me look at the trilogy but I was strong. I didn't add it. The third book does sound interesting though. :0)"

Wish we could add (and read) them all!

Badge 1, book 3
Book 3
Bel Canto
Genre, Literary fiction
The Possible World
Listened to audio; hardcover is 368 pages
Specifications: literary fiction is listed as a genre on GR main page

I don't know how I missed it until now, but I just noticed your challenge title. Scene - lol!

Badge 1, book 4

Book 27, Nutcracker and Mouse King and The Tale of the Nutcracker
Genre, fantasy
Circe
393 pages
Fantasy is listed in GR main page

Did you like Circe?

Cherie wrote: "Did you like Circe?"
Yes, it was a beautiful book, wasn’t it? I see you rated it five stars. I’ve never read much mythology, and I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I hadn’t needed to check the back of the book to see who was who.

Badge 1, book 5
Book 10, Fahrenheit 451
Actor
Read a book about books
The End of Your Life Book Club
336 pages
The author and his mother form a two-person book club, reading and discussing books to help pass their time together during treatment for cancer.
No specifications

Badge 1, book 6

Book 9, Every Day
Author
Read a book by another author whose first book was published 2000 or later.
Man Walks Into a Room
Listed to audiobook. Hardcover book is 256 pages.
This is the author’s debut book, first published in 2002.
Specifications: none

Badge 1, book 7

Book 7, The Darkest Minds
Trivia
Read a book where the main character is a nurse.
Waiting for Columbus
Paperback, 408 pages
The two main characters in the book are an institutionalized man who thinks he is Christopher Columbus, and his psychiatric nurse, Consuelo Lopez.
No specs

Janice, author Thomas Trofimuk is from Edmonton, your neck of the woods. Have you read any of his books?

TrudyAn wrote: "Janice, author Thomas Trofimuk is from Edmonton, your neck of the woods. Have you read any of his books? ."

No, I hadn't heard of him. I will check him out. Thanks for the recommendation.

Badge 1, book 8

Book 16, The Hate U Give
Setting: USA - Read a book set in Mississippi.
Light in August
Paperback, 507 pages
The book is set in Jefferson, Mississippi
No specs

Badge 1, book 9

Book 4, Between Shades of Gray
Read the book
Between Shades of Gray
352 pages (paperback edition)
Read 19/01/21
No specifications

TrudyAn wrote: "Cherie wrote: "Did you like Circe?"
Yes, it was a beautiful book, wasn’t it? I see you rated it five stars. I’ve never read much mythology, and I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I hadn’t..."

I have been slowly reading more mythology, so I did not have to look so many characters up.

I have started adding a note in my spread sheet next to entries that I had not gophered a book for. "TrudyAn listed".

Cherie wrote: "I have started adding a note in my spread sheet next to entries that I had not gophered a book for. "TrudyAn listed"."

This challenge has such great flexibility! My plan this year is to read only books I already own (except library audiobooks, when I have time to listen to a book). Of course, that was my plan last year too, with limited success, but so far, so good.

I bought three books specifically for the challenge (not counting the buddy read books). For the most part, the audiobooks I have posted were from the library and the rest I have planned are ones I already own and never got to in other years. Your books were on my TBR list, except for one. I didn't add it, just noted the title as a place holder. I have not looked for them yet, just noted where they fit, if I had not gophered for a book. Claire has prompted me to add books that were not already on my TBR list. I'm going to have to stop reading her posts soon. It is not even the end of January and I feel like my list is going to explode. My leftover Geo books are slipping farther and farther away.

Cherie wrote: "I bought three books specifically for the challenge (not counting the buddy read books). For the most part, the audiobooks I have posted were from the library and the rest I have planned are ones I..."

I find that the books that I've been buying will fit somewhere in the challenge. I'm not buying them specifically for the challenge. Yet, any way.

Ok - you are right. I really have only bought one specifically for the challenge. The others just fit. I bought Once Upon a River specifically for the swan task under book 2.

Cherie wrote: "Ok - you are right. I really have only bought one specifically for the challenge. The others just fit. I bought Once Upon a River specifically for the swan task under book 2."

Is the audiobook edition available to you, Cherie? I'm ticked that it's not available in Canada. I keep hoping it will appear on Audible one day.

Janice wrote: "Is the audiobook edition available to you, Cherie? I'm ticked that it's not available in Canada. I keep hoping it will appear on Audible one day..."

I have not seen it, Janice. I will check in our Audible account. I have not seen it offered as an audiobook from my library yet.

Badge 1, book 10

Book 30, Ready Player One
Setting: Ohio & Oklahoma - Read a book set in Ohio or Oklahoma
Whose Names Are Unknown
Listened to audiobook; hardcover is 228 pages
The first 58% of the book is set in the Oklahoma panhandle during the 1930s dust bowl.
No specs

Badge 1, book 11

Book 31 Red Sparrow
Setting: Russia - Read a book set in Russia or written by a Russian author.
A Gentleman in Moscow
Paperback, 462 pages
The book is set in Moscow.
No spec.

Badge 1, book 12

Book 23, Mary Poppins
author, read a book where MC is human and over 60
On Canaan's Side
Paperback, 272 pages
Main character Lilly is a woman, age 89.
No specs

I have five of Barry's book titles on my TBR list. I think I need to read one sooner.

Congratulations on finishing your books for Badge 1!

You're doing well TrudyAn!

Badge 2, book 1

Book 26, Mortal Engines
Actor - Read a book that is set in Africa or is written by an African author.
Homegoing
320 pages
The author, Yaa Gyasi, was born in Ghana, and about half of the book is set in the Gold Coast/Ghana.
No specs

Badge 2, book 2

Book 4, Between Shades of Gray
Actor, Read a book set in Ireland or by an Irish author.
A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle
342 pages
The book is set in Ireland and the author was born in Dublin.
No specs.

Badge 2, book 3

Book 34, The Sisters Brothers
Setting: Oregon & California - Read a book set in Oregon or California.
Garden of Stones
301 pages
The novel is set in California, alternating between Manzanar internment camp (where thousands of Japanese-Americans were imprisoned in the 1940s) and San Francisco in 1978.
No specs.

Badge 2, book 4

Book 31, Red Sparrow, actor
Read a book that was an award winner or nominee (of any kind) in 2012. Required: List the award and whether it was the winner or nominee of that award.
The Street Sweeper
576 pages
Specs: this book won the Australian Independent Booksellers Indie Book Award for Fiction (2012), and was also a Miles Franklin Literary Award nominee for longlist (2012).

5 stars!

Badge 2, book 5

Book 12, First Man: The Life of Neil A Armstrong
genre, biography
The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers
Audio; hardcover is 416 pages
This is a biography of Fred Rogers; biography is listed on GR page

I have Fred's audiobook too, and am anxious to listen to it, but I have another book planned for the biography task, that I need to get off of my list. I hope it was a good read!

Cherie wrote: "I have Fred's audiobook too, and am anxious to listen to it, but I have another book planned for the biography task, that I need to get off of my list. I hope it was a good read!"

It was good, though it went into more detail than necessary in a few spots. He was a bit of an odd duck, with a gentle soul. I enjoyed learning about his relationship with various broadcasters over the years. My kids grew up watching Mr. Rogers. I miss him.

I think I watched him more than my girls did. I would occasionally catch my granddaughter watching him. I always wondered what she thought when he would look into the camera and ask a question. She never answered him.

Badge 2, book 6

Book 3, Bel Canto
trivia, Orange Prize winner or nominee
On Beauty (2006 winner)
446 pages
This novel was the winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, 2006

Badge 2, book 7

Book 21, The Little Stranger
Actor, Read a book where the main character has red (ginger) hair.
Muse
321 pages

The MC, Solange La Blanc, has red hair. From ch 2 (page 14, my copy):
“Solange,” I said. “Sol, like the sun.” I saw that she approved, which gave me courage. “I was born at Pentecost and thus my hair is red.”