Reading Challenges 2011 - Update

At the beginning of the year I wrote a post about Reading Challenges and this post is an update on my progress so far.  I have formally signed up for one just the one challenge - the East European Reading Challenge.  I didn’t specify the level, but as I have now read six books from Eastern Europe, I have already passed the tourist level, (four books) and need another two to reach the Amabassador status.  Which I will try to do between now and the end of the year.

The books have been a bit of a mixture.  I started with Boris Akunin and his Erast Fandorin series of crime novels.  Both The Turkish Gambit and The Winter Queen are set in the 1870s and are not your typical crime novel.  They tend to go at a rather leisurely pace and are full of strange and unusual characters.  They also give us a good idea of the world view of (probably) most Russians, not just then, but as of to-day.  Well worth trying out.

I followed up with two of the great classics of not just Russian, but world literature - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.  Not much to add about either book.  Both are wonderful creations, though very much on the long side.

Since then I have dipped into post Yugoslav literature.  Death of the Little Match Girl is by Croatian writer Zoran Ferić, while The Tiger’s Wife is by Serbian author Tea Obreht.  Ferić writes in Croatian, while Obreht, who left Serbia as a child, writes in English and now lives in the USA.  Book books are rather strange and unsettling affairs.  Not surprising as both deal, in an offstage kind of way with the wars that followed the break up of Yugoslavia.  Interesting and on the whole successful attempts at story telling.  I now need to find two more books from Eastern Europe.

In addition to the Eastern European Challenge I set myself some non formal challenges of my own for the year.  I had hoped to dip into Japanese literature again but so far I have not managed one.  I have however read three books about China which would qualify me for the Merchant level in The Chinese Literature Challenge.  Two are by Chinese women writers who now live in the West and both deal with the travails of growing up in China.  Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah is the author’s personal story of her and her family’s life in both pre and post revolutionary China and then subsequently in the USA.  She had a pretty unhappy childhood as she was actively disliked by her stepmother.  Miss Chopsticks by Xinran is an altogether more upbeat and light hearted tale of how young peasant women are beginning to empower themselves in the new China.  River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh is the second part of the Bengali writer’s trilogy set in the 1830s.  As most of the action in this novel takes place in and around Canton it qualifies for the Chinese Challenge.  River of Smoke is a great book about the interaction between Chinese and foreigners at the time of the 1st Opium War.  I have also read one other book by an Asian writer.  The Calligrapher’s Daughter by Eugenia Kim is set in Korea and vividly describes life in that country before and during the Japanese occupation.  This means that I have also made it for the East and South East Asia Challenge, as I can count two of the previously mentioned books for this challenge.

Another of my informal challenges was to continue reading lots of Scandinavian crime novels.  In particular I wanted to finish the Jo Nesbø series.  This I have managed to do quite easily and very enjoyably.  Just about everything I read from Scandinavia is very, very good.  I am now up-to-date with Jo Nesbø’s works.  Luckily I have come across a writer new to me - Mari Jungstedt from Sweden who writes about a detective based on the Baltic island of Gotland.  So far I have read one of this series, The Death of Summer and very good it was too.

Reading some books in German was another personal challenge and I have stubbornly stuck to it.  I say stubbornly as it is not at all easy for me to read books written in German.  But with the help of the dictionary I usually manage to get through.  So far I have read three books in German, two by Swiss writers - Die Haushälterin by Jens Petersen, a tender tale about the fraught relationship between a teenager and his widowed father; and Silberkiesel, a crime novel set in Basel, by Hansjörg Schneider.   The third was another krimi by Austrian writer Heinrich Steinfest.

I also planned to read more books in Spanish this year.  The challenge was to read one each month.   This I have not managed to do, partly because I have interspersed Spanish language books with German language books.  Nevertheless I have read four books in Spanish.  All of them crime novels and all very good.  In order of reading they were:  Un Crimen Imperfecto, by Teresa Solanas;  Ojos de Agua by Domingo Villar:  Ritos de Muerte by Alicia Gimenez Bartlett and Dulce Amor a Muerte by Guillermo Arriaga.  The first three are by Spanish writers, while the last is by a Mexican author.  As part of my Spanish language challenge I intend to sign up for another challenge - the Argentina Reading Challenge.  I hope to achieve the Student level, which requires me to read three books by Argentinian authors.  I now have two such books, again both crime novels - Plata Quemada by Ricardo Piglia and El Enigma de París by Pablo De Santis.  This challenge ends in February 2012, so I have until then to find one more book by an Argentinian author.  Wish me luck.

Reading Challenges - 2011

I came across Reading Challenges for the first time only last year.  I signed up for one - The Scandinavian Challenge.  Though if the truth be told this was not really a challenge, as I just love to read crime fiction from Scandinavia.  I also made a stab a Japanese novels, well one, but did not sign up for this challenge.

This year I have already signed up for a challenge, the Eastern European Challenge, which like the Scandinavian challenge is sponsored by Amy at Black Sheep Dances.  Now this really will be a challenge for me as I have read next to nothing by East European authors, other than a few of the Russian classics.  I also know nothing about the East European writing scene.  So I am looking forward to this challenge immensely.  As with many challenges this offers three levels of challenge.  At the tourist level you only need to read four books over the year, while the Ambassador has to read eight books.  To become a Scholar you will need to read 12 books from Eastern Europe this year.  Amy has helpfully provided us with some ideas to start with and at least one of the entrants has also posted in some suggestions.  First task will be to check the library's catalogue to see how many of these suggestions they have in stock.

Other challenges for 2011 which might interest you include the Global Reading Challenge which requires you to read at least one novel from each continent.  For those of you keen to explore the world of mystery fiction from the past then the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge will suit you fine.  I might even give this one a try myself, as I keep on threatening to find out just what the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle would be like to read.

If you feel really ambitious or are just bored with life and have nothing to do then the 100+ challenge is for you.  Yes, you've guessed, the challenge is to read at least 100 books over the year.  Better get started soon!  If 100 books is just too much to aim for (it will be for me) then you might want to try the Book Vixen's Outdo Yourself Challenge.  This just requires you to set yourself a challenge to read more books than you did last year.  May have to jot down all those books you did read last year.  Finally a challenge for all of you who have collected loads of books in the past, but which have just languished unread on your bookshelf or are just lying around the house somewhere.  The Off the Shelf Challenge may be just what you need to tempt you to actually go and read some of these books.

In addition to the Eastern European Challenge I have some non formal challenges of my own for this year.  I hope to dip into Japanese literature again and may try to read two books from Japan.  I will also of course continue reading lots of Scandinavian crime novels.  In particular I want to finish the Jo Nesbø series.  Next up is The Redeemer.  I also plan to read more books in Spanish this year.  My challenge is to read one each month.  If my German improves I will also try and read the odd krimi novel.

Whatever your reading challenges are I hope you have a great year in books.

Reading Challenges

Reading Challenges seem to be spreading far and wide.  I had never heard of them before, but now that I spend a fair amount of time reading, I’ve begun to dip into some of the thousands of blogs about books.  And through some of them I’ve come across all kinds of reading challenges.  The one that first caught my eye was the Scandinavian reading challenge.  The challenge is to read six books by Scandinavian authors by the end of 2010.  This challenge has been put up by Amy, a Californian who blogs at Black Sheep Dances.  

This is the only challenge that I have actually signed up for and I have already managed to complete nine books.  So far I have read: The Redbreast and Nemesis, both by Norwegian author Jo Nesbø;  The Draining Lake and Silence of the Grave, both by Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indridason;  The Ice Princess and The Preacher, both by Swedish author Camilla Läckberg;  The Man from Beijing by Swedish writer Henning Mankell;  Woman with Birthmark by another Swedish writer Håkan Nesser;  and Death in Oslo by Norwegian author Anne Holt.  All very, very good reads and all very different.  If you count Finland as part of Scandinavia, I need to add a book by a Finnish and a Danish writer to complete the set of all Scandinavian countries.  Will need to do a bit of research to discover Finnish and Danish writers, especially crime writers.  Two of the best sites for this kind of information are Eurocrime and Petrona, both a minefield of information and reviews of crime fiction.

Reading Challenges are not of course limited to crime novels or specific countries.  If you fancy setting yourself a worldwide challenge then the Global Reading Challenge is for you.  This comes in four levels from easy to extremist.  For the easy level you need to read one novel from each of the six continents - Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America (includes Central America) and South America.  The harder levels require you to read more novels and add in further challenges - eg two novels set in Antarctica.  For details see Globalreadingchallenge.  I’ve almost managed the easy level.  I only need to read a novel from South America.

Closer to home Book Chick City is sponsoring a couple of reading challenges.  The first is the Typically British Reading Challenge.  She doesn’t though specify what constitutes a typical British book, only that it must be fiction.  Anyway you can make up your own mind.  The challenge has four levels:

• Put the Kettle On - read two novels
• Gordon Bennett - read four novels
• Bob’s Your Uncle - read six novels
• Cream Crackered - read eight novels.

I’m already through the cream crackered stage, though whether they all count as typical British novels is open to question as they include authors as diverse as Evelyn Waugh, Muriel Spark, William Boyd, Robin Jenkins, Ann Cleeves, Ian Banks, Rose Tremain and Alex Gray.

Book Chick City is also promoting the Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge.  Though as this includes science fiction, fantasy fiction and horror fiction, it is definitely one challenge I will not be taking up.  However if this is your scene then you once again have four levels to aim for - from the inquisitive to the obsessed.

Back to the mainstream and lovers of all things Oz, can delve into the Aussie author challenge, promoted by Aussie Sheila, Joanne P.  This has only two challenge levels, but you do have not just read the books, you also have to post up a review.  The Tourist levels requires you to read three books by three different authors, while to reach the Fair Dinkum level you need to have read eight books by a least five different authors.  I am afraid not much up on Australian literature, and am most unlikely to even reach the Tourist level.  So far this year I have only read one book by an Aussie writer, The Truth by Peter Temple.  However this was an excellent crime novel, so I should try a few more from Down Under.  The only other Aussie writer I’ve read recently is Kate Grenville, whose work is also very good, but I read her novels last year.

To end with a, for me, almost impossible challenge - the fourth Japanese Literature Challenge.  This is promoted by Bellezza, an American blogger.  There does not seem to be any minimum number of books for this challenge - I guess reading even one Japanese novel is a bit of a challenge for most of us.  However she does include a very helpful list of titles to choose from.  If I can get one from the library I promise to read at least one Japanese novel.