Books

I concentrated this challenge on non-mystery historical fiction as I had several mystery challenges going and many of the mystery series I read are historical fiction. So my goal for the year was Renaissance Reader: 10 books.

20th Century Reader – 2 books
Victorian Reader – 5 books
Renaissance Reader – 10 books
Medieval – 15 books
Ancient History – 25 books
Prehistoric – 50+ books

But I just hit Ancient History: 25 books, which is great & means lots of books cleaned off the shelves, so I’m calling the challenge for the year & feeling good. Here are the books I read for the challenge:

The Lost Queen (The Lost Queen Trilogy #1), Signe Pike
Lady Clementine, Marie Benedict
The Queen’s Gambit, Walter Tevis
Kim, Rudyard Kipling
The Other Windsor Girl: A Novel of Love, Royalty, Whiskey, & Cigarettes, Georgie Blalock
The Gown, Jennifer Robson
We Are Not Free, Traci Chee
The Final Storm (World War II: 1939-1945, #4), Jeff Shaara
The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah
Carnegie’s Maid, Marie Benedict
The Frozen Hours, Jeff Shaara
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
To Wake the Giant: A Novel of Pearl Harbor, Jeff Shaara
Under the Wide and Starry Sky, Nancy Horan
The Eagle’s Claw: A Novel of the Battle of Midway, Jeff Shaara
Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson
Finding Dorothy, Elizabeth Letts
Child of the River, Irma Joubert
All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriott (#1)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid
American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Karen Harper
American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt, Stephanie Marie Thornton
The Vanished Days, Susanna Kearsley
Shadow of a Bull, Maia Wojciechowska

Since it’s the end of June, I managed this reading challenge in 26 weeks! Here are the categories & books I read for this very fun challenge. I only had to find a few titles, as most of them were read in the normal course of my reading.

1. Set in a school: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
2. Featuring the legal profession: The Mitford Trial (A Mitford Murders Mystery #4), Jessica Fellowes
3. A dual timeline: The Gown, Jennifer Robson
4. An author that is deceased: With the Old Breed, E.B. Sledge
5. Published by Penguin: What Angels Fear (Sebastian St. Cyr #1), C.S. Harris
6. A character with the same name as a male family member: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
7. An author with only 1 published book: Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
8. A book in the 900’s of the Dewey Decimal System: The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War, H.W. Brands
9. Set in a Mediterranean country: Above the Bay of Angels, Rhys Bowen
10. Related to the word “fire”: Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham
11. Book with discussion questions inside: The Other Windsor Girl: A Novel of Love, Royalty, Whiskey, & Cigarettes, Georgie Blalock
12. Title starting with the letter “D”: Death Masks (The Dresden Files, #5), Jim Butcher
13. Includes an exotic animal: The Song of the Lion (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito #21), Anne Hillerman
14. Written by an author over 65 (when published): The Tamarack Murders (Sheriff Bo Tully #5), Patrick F. McManus
15. A book mentioned in another book: Kim, Rudyard Kipling
16. Set before the 17th Century: The Lost Queen, Signe Pike
17. A character “on the run”: The Huckleberry Murders (Sheriff Bo Tully #4), Patrick F. McManus
18. Author with a 9-letter last name: Louisiana’s Way Home, Kate DiCamillo
19. Book with a deckled edge: Uncommon Type, Tom Hanks
20. Made into a TV series: The Queen’s Gambit, Walter Tevis
21. Book by Kristin Hannah: The Four Winds
22. A family saga: When You Trap a Tiger, Tae Keller
23. An ending that surprises you: A False Mirror (Inspector Ian Rutledge #9), Charles Todd
24. A book you think they should read in schools: One Year in Coal Harbor, by Polly Horvath
25. A book with multiple character POV: The Stranger Diaries (Harbinder Kaur #1), Elly Griffiths
26. An author of color: New Kid, Jerry Craft
27. First chapter ends on an odd page number: The D.A. Calls it Murder, Erle Stanley Gardner
28. Includes a historical event you know little about: Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country, C.J. Box
29. Featuring the environment: The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon, Kevin Fedarko
30. Watch out for dragons!: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
31. Shares a similar title to another book: Lord of the Wings (Meg Langslow #19), Donna Andrews
32. A selfish character: Half Moon Street (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt #20), Anne Perry
33. Featuring adoption: Pine Island Home, Polly Horvath
34. A book you’d rate 5 stars: Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
35. Set in a country that starts with the letter “S”: The Strange Case of the Moderate Extremists (Detective Varg, #0.8), Alexander McCall Smith
36. A nameless narrator: The Tale Teller (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito #23), Anne Hillerman
37. An educational read: The Final Storm (World War II: 1939-1945, #4), Jeff Shaara
38. Recommended on BookBub: King of Scars (King of Scars #1), Leigh Bardugo
39. An alternate history novel: Pirate King (Mary Russell, #11), Laurie R. King
40. Found via #bookstagram: Storm Front (Dresden Files #1), Jim Butcher
41. An endorsement by a famous author on the cover: The Postscript Murders (Harbinder Kaur #2), Elly Griffiths
42. An epistolary: TBH, This Is So Awkward (TBH, #1), Lisa Greenwald
43. A character with a pet cat: The Woman in Blue (Ruth Galloway #8), Elly Griffiths
44. Includes a garden: The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
45. A coming of age novel: We Are Not Free, Traci Chee
46. Winner of the National Book Award-any year: The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, Timothy Egan
47. A character with a disability: Fish in a Tree, Lynda Mullaly Hunt
48. A cover with woman who is facing away: Lady Clementine, Marie Benedict
49. A flavour in the title: The Peppermint Tea Chronicles (44 Scotland Street #13), Alexander McCall Smith
50. A shoe on the cover: The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday (Isabel Dalhousie #5), Alexander McCall Smith
51. Published in 2021: The Consequences of Fear (Maisie Dobbs #16), Jacqueline Winspear
52. Re-do one of the previous 51 categories from this 2021 challenge (A book you’d rate 5 stars): The Language of Bees (Mary Russell #9), Laurie R. King

• One/1 One Bad Apple (Orchard, #1), Sheila Connolly
• Doubled word To Have and Have Not, Ernest Hemingway
• Reference to outer space Fool Moon (Dresden Files #2), Jim Butcher
• Possessive noun Louisiana’s Way Home, Kate DiCamillo
• Botanical word The Huckleberry Murders (Sheriff Bo Tully #4), Patrick F. McManus
• Article of clothing The Gown, Jennifer Robson

Books read: 218
Pages read: 76,993
Of the books read:
Non-fiction: 31
New-to-me authors: 51
Continuing series books: 115
Re-reads: 27
Audio-books: 104
Various book club reads: 10
Challenges completed: 10 of 10
Ongoing tally of Newbery winners: 82 of 99

[Read more…] about 2020 Reading Statistics

The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey
Murphy’s Law (Molly Murphy #1), Rhys Bowen
Justice Hall (Mary Russell #6), Laurie R. King
The Ghost Fields (Ruth Galloway #7), Elly Griffiths
Open Season (Joe Pickett #1), C.J. Box
An Early Wake (County Cork #3), Sheila Connolly
Much Ado About Magic (Enchanted, Inc. #5), Shanna Swendson
The Hen of the Baskervilles (Meg Langslow #15), Donna Andrews
Countdown (Sixties Trilogy #1), Deborah Wiles
The Other Einstein, Marie Benedict
The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton (Laurence Bartram #2), Elizabeth Speller
Bridge of Scarlet Leaves, Kristina McMorris
12 for Pike’s Peak
Her Royal Spyness (Royal Spyness #1), Rhys Bowen
Pope Joan, Donna Woolfolk Cross
Milkweed, Jerry Spinelli
Lost Lake, Sarah Addison Allen
The House on Tradd Street (Tradd Street #1), Karen White
Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet, Charlie N. Holmberg
The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate (Calpurnia #2), Jacqueline Kelly
The Tale Teller (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito #23), Anne Hillerman
The Witch’s Grave (Ophelia & Abby #6), Shirley Damsgaard
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her, Melanie Rehak
The Seventh Witch (Ophelia & Abby #7), Shirley Damsgaard
The Girl on Legare Street (Tradd Street #2), Karen White
24 for Mount Blanc
Moriarty (Holmes #2), Anthony Horowitz
The Kennedy Debutante, Kerri Maher
Night Work (Kate Martinelli #4), Laurie R. King
Enchantress of Numbers, Jennifer Chiaverini
Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family, Yoshiko Uchida
Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture, Joshua Levine
I Was There, Hans Peter Richter
Daughters in My Kingdom, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
The Royal Nanny, Karen Harper
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, Erik Larson
Winter Garden, Kristin Hannah
Saints: The Standard of Truth (Saints #1), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
36 for Mt. Vancouver
The Librarian of Auschwitz, Antonio Iturbe
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Kim Michele Richardson
Daughters of the Night Sky, Aimie K. Runyan
The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris
The Longest Day, Cornelius Ryan
Letters from Skye, Jessica Brockmole
The Guns of Navarone, Alistair MacLean
Alan Turing: the Enigma, Andrew Hodges
109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos, Jennet Conant
The Lost Girls of Paris, Pam Jenoff
The Paris Wife, Paula McLain
A Royal Pain (Royal Spyness #2), Rhys Bowen
48 for Mt. Ararat
Royal Flush (Royal Spyness #3), Rhys Bowen
Royal Blood (Royal Spyness #4), Rhys Bowen
The Twelve Clues of Christmas (Royal Spyness #6), Rhys Bowen
Bleeding Hearts (China Bayles #14), Susan Wittig Albert
Spanish Dagger (China Bayles #15), Susan Wittig Albert
Duck the Halls (Meg Langslow #16), Donna Andrews
The Strangers on Montagu Street (Tradd Street, #3), Karen White
This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind, Ivan Doig
Fates and Traitors, Jennifer Chiaverini
The Girls of Atomic City, Denise Kiernan
The Eleventh Man, Ivan Doig
The Devil’s Puzzle (Someday Quilts #4), Clare O’Donohue
60 for Mt. Kilimanjaro
The Double Wedding Ring (Someday Quilts #5), Clare O’Donohue
Women of Faith in the Latter Days: Volume Three, 1846-1870, ed. Richard E. Turley Jr. & Brittany A. Chapman
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Grann
Crowned and Dangerous (Royal Spyness #10), Rhys Bowen
China Dolls, Lisa See
Nightshade (China Bayles #16), Susan Wittig Albert
The Good, the Bad, and the Emus (Meg Langslow #17), Donna Andrews
The Guests on South Battery (Tradd Street, #5), Karen White
Adam of the Road, Elizabeth Janet Gray
The Quintland Sisters, Shelley Wood
Wormwood (China Bayles #17), Susan Wittig Albert
The Darling Dahlias and the Poinsettia Puzzle (Dahlias #8), Susan Wittig Albert
The Game (Mary Russell #7), Laurie R. King
Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
Locked Rooms (Mary Russell #8), Laurie R. King
75 for El Toro
76-The Nightingale before Christmas (Meg Langslow #18), Donna Andrews
77-The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry
78-Holly Blues (China Bayles #18), Susan Wittig Albert
79-The Christmas Boutique (Elm Creek Quilts #20), Jennifer Chiaverini

Additional challenge mountains not reached:
Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile/s