2024 Reading Challenges

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Aubrey/Maturin 4 Year Chapter-a-Week Read-along Odyssey – Year Four – Hosted by yours truly

  1. The Wine-Dark Sea by Patrick O’Brian (January 1-March 10) – Finished March 17, 2024
  2. The  Commodore by Patrick O’Brian (March 17-May 19) – Finished September 22, 2024
  3. The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O’Brian (May 26-July 28) – Finished December 1, 2024
  4. The Hundred Days by Patrick O’Brian (August 4-October 6) – Finished December 7, 2024
  5. Blue at the Mizzen by Patrick O’Brian (October 13-December 15) – Finished December 15, 2024
  6. Twenty-One by Patrick O’Brian (December 22-29) – Finished December 29, 2024

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2024 Fantasy Classics Chapter-a-Day Read-along – Hosted by yours truly

The Chronicles of Narnia (January 1-April 14)

  • The Magician’s Nephew (January 1-14) – January 14, 2024
  • The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (January 15-30) – January 30, 2024
  • The Horse and His Boy (January 31-February 13) – February 13, 2024
  • Prince Caspian (February 14-27) – February 27, 2024
  • The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (February 28-March 13) – March 13, 2024
  • The Silver Chair (March 14-29) – March 29, 2024
  • The Last Battle (March 30-April 14) – April 14, 2024

The Lord of the Rings (April 15-June 15)

  • The Fellowship of the Ring (April 15-May 6) – Finished May 6, 2024
  • The Two Towers (May 7-27) – Finished May 27, 2024
  • The Return of the King (May 28-June 15) – Finished June 15, 2024

The Harry Potter Series (June 16-December 31)

  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (June 16-July 2) – Finished July 2, 2024
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (July 3-July 20) – Finished July 20, 2024
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (July 21-August 11) – Finished August 11, 2024
  • Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire (August 12-September 17) – Finished September 17, 2024
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (September 18-October 25) – Finished October 25, 2024
  • Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince (October 26-November 24) – Finished November 24, 2024
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (November 25-December 31)

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Mount TBR Reading Challenge (Pike’s Peak, 12 books) – Hosted by Bev at My Reader’s Block

  1. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare – January 12, 2024
  2. The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis – January 14, 2024
  3. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens – January 22, 2024
  4. The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare – January 25, 2024
  5. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis – January 30, 2024
  6. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis – February 13, 2024
  7. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis – February 27, 2024
  8. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis – March 29, 2024
  9. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis – April 14, 2024
  10. The Ignatian Adventure by Kevin O’Brien, SJ – May 13, 2024
  11. Out to Canaan by Jan Karon – May 31, 2024
  12. East of Eden by John Steinbeck – June 15, 2024
  13. A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver – July 13, 2024
  14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. RowlingJuly 20, 2024
  15. Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling – September 17, 2024
  16. The Fall of Numenor by J.R.R T0lkien – September 19, 2024
  17. Immortal Diamond by Richard Rohr – October 4, 2024
  18. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling – October 25, 2024
  19. Nature and Selected Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson – November 17, 2024
  20. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K Rowling – November 25, 2024

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The Shakespeare Project (continued from last year) – Hosted by Benjamin McEvoy at the Hardcore Literature Book Club

    1. The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare – April 13, 2023
    2. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare – April 19, 2023
    3. The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare – April 20, 2023
    4. Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare – April 21, 2023
    5. The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare April 21, 2023
    6. Henry VI, Part 1 by William Shakespeare – April 23, 2023
    7. Henry VI, Part 2 by William Shakespeare – April 28, 2023
    8. Henry VI, Part 3 by William Shakespeare – April 30, 2023
    9. Venus and Adonis – May 2, 2023
    10. Richard III by William Shakespeare – May 6, 2023
    11. King John by William Shakespeare – May 7, 2023
    12. Richard II by William Shakespeare – May 13, 2023
    13. Romeo and Juliet – May 29, 2023
    14. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – June 10, 2023
    15. Love’s Labour’s Lost – June 27, 2023
    16. Henry IV, Part 1 – July 28, 2023
    17. The Merchant of Venice – January 12, 2024
    18. The Merry Wives of Windsor – January 25
    19. Henry IV, Part 2
    20. Much Ado about Nothing
    21. Henry V
    22. As You Like It
    23. Julius Caesar
    24. Hamlet
    25. Twelfth Night
    26. The Phoenix and the Turtle
    27. Troilus and Cressida
    28. Measure for Measure
    29. Othello
    30. King Lear
    31. Macbeth
    32. Antony and Cleopatra
    33. All’s Well that Ends Well
    34. Timon of Athens
    35. Pericles
    36. Coriolanus
    37. The Sonnets (and A Lover’s Complaint)
    38. Cymbeline
    39. The Winter’s Tale
    40. The Tempest
    41. Henry VIII
    42. The Two Noble Kinsmen

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Deal Me In Short Story Challenge 2018

Deal Me In Short Stories Essay Challenge – Hosted by Jay at Bibliophilopolis – This year I am going to switch it up and go for essays instead of short stories, using A Passion for Books: A Book Lover’s Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Lore, and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring For, and Appreciating Books, edited by Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan

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Diamonds

A♦ In a Second-Hand Bookshop – Christopher Morley – Read January 28, 2024
2♦
Unpacking My Library – Walter Benjamin – Read March 17, 2024
3♦ The Ritual – Rob Kaplan
4♦ How to Get Started in the Book Business – Stuart Brent/Look Who’s Been Remaindered Now
5♦ Ten Best-Selling Books Rejected by Publishers Twenty or More Times
6♦ Lending Books – Anatole Broyard – Read January 21, 2024
7♦ On the Return of a Book Lent to a Friends – Christopher Morley
8♦ Welcome Home Borrowed Book – Anonymous – Read January 14, 2024
9♦ How to Justify a Private Library – Umberto Eco
10♦ How to Organize a Public Library – Umberto Eco
J♦ Samuel Pepys’s Library – Nicholas Basbanes
Q♦ Pillow Books – Clifton Fadiman
K♦ The New Lifetime Reading Plan – Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major

♥ Hearts

A♥ Comfort Found in Good Old Books – George Hamlin Fitch
2♥ The Collector – Susan Sontag
3♥ Bibliomania – Gustave Flaubert/All the Friedrich Nietzsche You’ll Ever Need
4♥ Bibliomania- Roger Rosenblatt – Read January 7, 2024
5♥ The Book Action – Solly Ganor
6♥ From Areopagitica – John Milton
7♥ Books Unread – Thomas Wentworth Higginson
8♥ The Books That Shaped the American Character – Jonathan Yardley
9♥ The Books That Changed America – Robert B. Downs
10♥ The Commerce of Reading – Michel de Montaigne
J♥ Book Collecting – Robertson Davies/Holy Cow!
Q♥ Bibliomaniacs – John Michell
K♥ They Don’t Call It a Mania for Nothing – Harold Rabinowitz/Bibliolexicon – Read February 18, 2024

♣ Clubs

A♣ What Is the Matter with the Bookshop? – A. Edward Newton/Non-Books
2♣ Ten Memorable Books That Never Existed
3♣ The Last of His Race – A. Edward Newton – Read February 4, 2024
4♣ The Perfect Book – William Keddie
5♣ Books Are the Windows of the Soul – Henry Ward Beecher
6♣ How Reading Changed My Life – Anna Quindlen/Three by Quindlen
7♣ Talking of Old Books – A. S. W. Rosenbach – Read March 10, 2024
8♣ Potch – Leo Rosten/Damn It! Wait Your Turn!
9♣ A Good Time to Start a Book Club – Al Silverman
10♣ Invasion of the Book Envelopes – John Updike/And to Some People We Night Not Sell It at Any Price
J♣ My Friends – Petrarch
Q♣ Norman Mailer’s Ten Favorite American Novels
K♣ W. Somerset Maugham’s Ten Greatest Novels

♠ Spades

A♠ The Bible Through the Ages – Ben D. Zevin
2♠ Aldus Manutius – William Dana Orcutt
3♠ Benjamin Franklin’s Epitaph
4♠ The Collector – William Targ
5♠ The Newark Public Library – Philip Roth
6♠ Why Does Nobody Collect Me? – Robert Benchley – Read February 11, 2024
7♠ How Not to Care for Books – Holbrook Jackson
8♠ On Reading and Collecting – Herbert Faulkner West
9♠ How to Care for Books – Estelle Ellis and Caroline Seebohm
10♠ Fifteen Books We Would Memorize If We Were the “Living Books” in Ray Bradbury’s Novel Fahrenheit 451 – The Editors/I Just Like to Be in Their Presence Occasionally
J♠ The 100 Greatest Novels in the English Language – A. Edward Newton
Q♠ Top 100 English-Language Novels of the Twentieth Century – The Editors of the Modern Library, 1998
K♠ 91 Chambers Street – Edward Robb Ellis