2015 is here and the first week of January is already over. Why is time in such a hurry?
This year, one of my new year resolutions is to expand my horizons and get out of my comfort zone. In every way possible that I can. I remain resolute to saying YES to life’s various experiences and not limit myself in anyway possible. After all, this is my year. I can already feel it.
One of the challenges that I have undertaken upon myself is to read a variety of books that I wouldn’t ordinarily read. I am not proud to admit that I have been reading all the wrong kinds of books all these years. They have been safe, comforting, repetitive and not very imaginative. I haven’t even read the unabridged versions of so many classics that I love. But there you have it, I have even set a boundary for myself in terms of my imagination and where it can take me. Not what the doctor ordered at all.
So trashy books, step aside. Here is the 2015 Popsugar Reading Challenge that will hopefully empower me with more meaning in my life.
I haven’t decided on all the books that I will read from this challenge and will definitely want recommendations from anyone who can help me decide. However, so far I have come up with the following:
1. A book with more than 500 pages. The Secret of Happy Ever After by Lucy Dillon
2. A classic romance – Lavender and Old Lace by Myrtle Reed
3. A book that became a movie – I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith. I have already seen the movie adaptation before and you can find my review of the film here.
4. A book published this year. Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin
5. A book with a number in its title – Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
6. A book written by someone under 30. Girl Online by Zoe Sugg (This book is in my list despite the fact that it is ghostwritten by someone else.)
7. A book with nonhuman characters. Watership Down by Richard Adams
8. A funny book – The Man With Two Left Feet and other stories by P.G.Wodehouse
9. A book by a female author – Carrie Pilby by Caren Lissner
10. A mystery or thriller – The Voice of the Violin by Andrea Camilleri
11. A book with a one-word title – Dracula by Bram Stoker
12. A book of short stories – In a Little Town by Rupert Hughes Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl
13. A book set in a different country.
14. A nonfiction book – No Death, No Fear by Thich Nhat Hanh
15. A popular author’s first book – The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
16. A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet – The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K.Rowling)
17. A book a friend recommended – Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L.James (NOT looking forward to this one but Nicole this one’s for you! 🙂 )
18. A Pulitzer Prize-Winning book – The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford by Jean Stafford
19. A book based on a true story. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
20. A book at the bottom of your to-read list. There’s a Hippie on the Highway by James Hadley Chase
21. A book your mom loves. Since my mom doesn’t read books in English, I’m going to take up a book that my dad loves which is The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy.
22. A book that scares you.
23. A book more than 100 years old – Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
24. A book based entirely on its cover. My Nine Lives by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Poor Little Rich Slum by Rashmi Bansal and Deepak Gandhi
25. A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
26. A memoir – My Point…..And I Do Have One by Ellen Degeneres
27. A book you can finish in a day. Just William by Richmal Crompton
28. A book with antonyms in the title – Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
29. A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit – The Aspern Papers by Henry James
30. A book that came out the year you were born – The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler (1985)
31. A book with bad reviews.
32. A trilogy. The Perfect Trilogy (Almost Perfect, Just Perfect and Too Perfect) by Julie Ortolon
34. A book with a love triangle. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
35. A book set in the future. All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin
36. A book set in high school. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
37. A book with a colour in the title. The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers
38. A book that made you cry.
39. A book with magic. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis
40. A graphic novel. Blankets by Craig Thompson
42. A book you own but have never read. One Night at the Call Center by Chetan Bhagat
43. A book that takes place in your hometown. I have been looking high and low for a book that is set in my hometown or broadly even in my state but alas, without success! So for this category, I decided to select a book set in my country (haha!). Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh
45. A book set during Christmas.
46. A book written by an author with your same initials. Surrogate by Tim Adler
47. A play – The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
48. A banned book. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
49. A book based on or turned into a TV show – Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
50. A book you started but never finished. Goals! by Brian Tracy
The books I’ve mentioned in the list above are all I have never ever read before. I have been reading books in no particular order from this list. So far I have finished two of them and now onto my third. I’ll be posting reviews to keep up with the exciting challenge. 52 books (the two additional ones are part of the trilogy!) in 365 days. Let’s do this!
Update: Any titles that have been stricken through are books I no longer wish to include in my challenge. Replacement titles will be added.
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Thistles and Whistles 
So proud of you for doing this AND blogging about it! I’ll try to follow in your footsteps 😀
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Thank you so much Nabs! Please give me some book suggestions also for the blank ones! And yes, would love it if you joined me in this challenge too! 😀
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What a fabulous idea! I have tended to stick with the same authors, as well. Though, of late, I’ve gone farther and have begun looking at some other authors. I’d love to know (if it would not interfere with your own journey this year), what some of your ‘safe’ books have been.
Good luck!
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Hi Fimnora! Thank you for stopping by! Always fun to chat with a fellow blogger. Yes, I don’t mind sharing the kind of books I had been reading earlier. Since the past 3-4 years, I had been reading a lot of mindless chicklit and romance novels. I know these are favored by many and for some time, I got sucked into the same vortex and this complacency was somehow a synonym of my own life as well. Recently, I realised that I was quite left behind since everyone was always talking about some or the other fabulous book they had read. I took up this challenge purely to shake things up for myself and get out of the rut. I have mixed things up in this challenge so if I feel like my reading is becoming too heavy, I will choose an easy, light read next to keep the momentum going. 🙂
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I agree, it’s great being able to share thoughts! I’ve never personally gotten into reading chicklit, though on the other hand, I love romantic comedy movies. And then combine romance with something like vampires (as in the Twilight movies – never read the books), and I’m revisiting them at least once a year!
Way back when I was first getting into ‘serious’ reading, I would find an author, and if I liked it, I’d get everything else by them. That way of reading lasted decades. Then I began getting into genres instead of authors. Now, having a kindle, I read almost anything that comes into the Top Free 100 books lol.
But I do like that idea of shaking it up. But what if you don’t like something you start reading? Would you stick with it, or move on to the next?
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I love romantic comedies too! 🙂 I think I realised I was stuck in a rut when the only genre I was reading and watching was light chick lits and chick flicks. Not much of an adventure there.
I used to read books by my favourite authors only too but unfortunately I wouldn’t experiment with others either – especially back in my teenage years when I would only stick to Nancy Drew and then I progressed to Agatha Christie etc. I still adore Agatha Christie books! She’s definitely the Queen! 🙂
I do have the same tendency to abandon books if I am not hooked onto them within the first few chapters and move on quickly to another. But for the sake of this challenge and reviewing, I’ve decided to give difficult books a chance and finish them because you never know, the book could turn out differently at the end. The urge to give up a book happened to me a couple of weeks ago when I started reading “The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L.Sayers” because it was dragging on and on but I finished it. Although I didn’t like it, I had to review it so I urged myself to carry on.
What kind of books are you currently reading?
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I only challenge myself with the count of books I would like to read and to finish the series I have started as much as possible
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I’m totally determined to do this challenge with you. I am reading the Arabian Nights right now. That is my book with nonhuman characters. Next I will read Uncle Tom’s Cabin. That will be my book written by a female author. So glad you shared this challenge!
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Thank you Sounja! I’m so happy that you’re on board with me ! 🙂 Let’s do this together! Would love to see the rest of your list soon, please do share it on your blog. 😀
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