Luggage and Literature

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - St. Augustine

2018 Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

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In 2016 I participated in the PopSugar Reading Challenge. In 2017 I participated in the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading for Growth and Reading for Fun Challenges. And in 2018 I completed another PopSugar Reading Challenge. I loved that the challenges expanded and directed my reading, rather than it being completely haphazard. Below are the books that I read to complete the challenge categories.

A book made into a movie you’ve already seen: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

True Crime: Columbine by Dave Cullen

The next book in a series you started: Wayward by Blake Crouch

A book involving a heist: The Rooster Bar by John Grisham

Nordic noir: The Snowman by Jo Nesbo

A novel based on a real person: The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper

A book set in a country that fascinates you: Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

A book with a time of day in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt

A book about a villain or antihero: The Anatomy of Motive by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker

A book about death or grief: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

A book about a female author who uses a male pseudonym: The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

A book with a LGBTA+ protagonist: Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

A book that is also a stage play or musical: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you: Feeding the Dragon by Sharon Washington

A book about feminism: Goodnight from London by Jennifer Robson

A book about mental health: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift: The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

A book by two authors: Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind the Thirty-Year Hunt for the Notorious Wichita Serial Killer by John Douglass and Johnny Dodd

A book about or involving a sport: Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace

A book by a local author: Alexander’s Bridge by Willa Cather

A book with your favorite color in the title: Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

A book with alliteration in the title: The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss

A book about time travel: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

A book with a weather element in the title: The Coming Storm by Michael Lewis

A book set at sea: The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard

A book with an animal in the title: The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection (The Wolves in the Walls) by Neil Gaiman

A book set on a different planet: Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith

A book with song lyrics in the title: Count Your Blessings: Inspiration from the Beloved Hymn by Barbour Publishing Inc.

A book about or set on Halloween: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

A book with characters who are twins: Mischling by Affinity Kovar

A book mentioned in another book: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

A book from a celebrity book club: (Reese’s Book Club) The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

A childhood classic you’ve never read: Kabumpo in Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson

A book that’s published in 2018: An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew by Annejet van der Zijl

A past Goodreads Choice Award winner: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

A book set in the decade you were born: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn’t get to: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

A book with an ugly cover: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

A book that involves a bookstore or library: 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 PopSugar Reading Challenges: (2017 a book that’s more than 800 pages) The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

A bestseller from the year you graduated high school: Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

A cyberpunk book: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place: Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

A book tied to your ancestry: Deadwood by Pete Dexter

A book with a fruit or vegetable in the title: The Art of Peeling an Orange by Victoria Avilan

An allegory: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

A book by an author with the same first or last name as you: The Likeness by Tana French

A microhistory: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

A book about a problem facing society today: The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand

A book recommended by someone else taking the PopSugar Reading Challenge: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Key Largo Florida Travel Reading List

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When I travel, I always find time to get a bit of reading time in. Car trips, flights, and relaxing by a pool or on a beach afford ample time to read fantastic books. Here is my High Springs and Key Largo Florida Travel Reading List. And because I’m participating in the 2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge, this reading list includes which books fulfill particular categories of the reading challenge.

Books Finished:

Beautiful Exiles by Meg Waite Clayton

After seeing that at least part of this book was set in Key West, I had to save it to read on a trip to the Keys. The novel is a fictional telling of the story of Ernest Hemingway’s third wife Martha Gellhorn. I previously read The Paris Wife about Hemingway’s first wife Hadley, so I felt like this picked up the story of his life to some extent. And after reading both, I can’t fathom what women saw in Hemingway. He seemed to me to be a drunk pig, who happens to be a fantastic writer. But I can’t understand why anyone would have wanted to live with him and suffer him. In any event, the book is told from the perspective of Martha, who was a journalist and author in her own right. It made me want to read some of her works to get a better perspective on her as a person, and not simply as one of Hemingway’s wives. The book is well-written, and does a good job of portraying the spiral of the couple’s tumultuous relationship.

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym

Is there anyone who doesn’t know that Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling at this point? If so, now you do. I loved the Harry Potter series, and wanted to see what Rowling/Galbraith did with books gear toward adults. This novel fits squarely within the detective mystery genre. It was a solid entry with clues placed throughout, but which you don’t pick up on until the detective outlines them all together at the end. It reminded me of a grittier version of Agatha Christie.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Set in the South before the Civil War, this book follows the lives of a white girl and a black girl who grow up together but lead very different lives. The white girl grows up to be abolitionist Sarah Grimke, and the novel is based on her true life. I really liked this book, and do recommend it. And if you want more by the same author, I also recommend The Secret Life of Bees.

 

Books Abandoned:

None.

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