A collection of past challenges.
My TBR Challenge for 2022:
— 217 books at the start of the year —
— current tally at 164 books —
I did not finish this challenge, I was too fully booked and back-logged with BRs. But this was a great way to pick books, I might repeat something like.
StoryGraph Reading Randomizer 2022
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading…
– January #1 The Sweet Rowan— read
– January #2 The Marrow Thieves — read
– February #1 The Legacy — read
– February #2 The Solitaire Mystery — DNF– March #1 Even The Wingless — read
– March #2 The Walking Dead, Vol. 17: Something to Fear — read
– April #1 Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction, paper, read
– April #2 Enchanted Living, Summer 2019: #47 The Art Nouveau Issue, eMag — read
– May #1 Hinter den drei Kiefern: Ein Fall für Gamache, paper — read
– May #2 Yoko Tsuno: TWO-IN-ONE: Unterirdische Begegnung / Die Orgel des Teufels, paper, comic — read
– June #1 A Taste of Honey, ebook — don’t seem to have this anymore, did not read
– June #2 March to War, eComic, Walking Dead #19 — read
– July #1 Copra: Round One, eComic, humble bundle — DNF
– July #2 Gideon the Ninth, eBook, 448 pages
– August #1 The Iron Duke, paper — read
– August #2 Agent of Change, eBook
– September #1 We Stand On Guard, eComic, humble — read
– September #2 They’re Not Like Us, Vol. 1: Black Holes for the Young, eComic — DNF
– October #1 All Out War Part 2 The Walking Dead 21, eComic — read
– October #2 Komisch, alles chemisch!, paper, non-fiction
– November #1 The Drowned World, paper — read
– November #2 Before the Dawn, paper — dropped from TBR
– December #1 How to Date Your Dragon, ebook — DNF
– December #2 Sin City, Vol. 1: Stadt ohne Gnade, eComic — DNF
Reading Writers of Color 2021
January: Bloodchild — Becoming — https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2020/1…
My first Octavia Butler and it was good. Butler voices her surprise in the afterword, that readers see this as a story of slavery. But are we looking at symbiosis or at a parasitic relationship? Is it really consent in a situation, where your personal rights have been curtailed and there are no equal rights? I think not. Interesting. And worth reading.
February: The Story of Human Language — https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2021/0…
It was interesting, even with some bits in between that dragged a bit. The accompanying pdf was open most of the time, while I listened to the lectures. Good enough to consider further offerings by The Great Courses.
March: David Mogo, Godhunter — https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2021/0…
One of the 5-star reads of 2021. Let‘s call it Godpunk. Gods have rained down on Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. We enter the story some time later, into the dystopian society that has developed here in the aftermath. David Mogo, our 1st person narrator, is a demi-god working as an illegal godhunter. This is really 3 novellas stuck together. I learned a lot about Nigeria and Lagos, looking up something or other frequently.
April: Dawn — Elatsoe — https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2021/0…
My second visit with Octavia E. Butler. I liked Bloodchild, but Dawn didn‘t work for me. Struggling with consent issues again. The book hasn‘t aged well. The plot felt too simplistic, there was no real suspense, no great twists or massive surprises.
Elatsoe came recommended by a friend. Yes, it‘s Young Adult, not my favourite genre. But it looked interesting. Author and female main character are Lipan Apache. And while I didn‘t bite my nails, the story was not bad and the writing was good. Essentially it‘s UF/magical realism, set in our place and time, with ghosts, vampires and fae added to the mix. My favourite gadget: instant teleportation via fae ring.
June: A Dead Djinn in Cairo — The Haunting of Tram Car 015 — A Master of Djinn — The Murders of Molly Southbourne — Farmhand, Vol. 1: Reap What Was Sown — Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices #1 — https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2021/0…
The month of by P. Djèlí Clark. Great stuff. Egypt, Cairo, Djinns, ghuls, sorcerers, magic, airships, gas light, aerial trams… steampunk plus electricity. A fun universe.
Molly Southbourne was weird, disturbing, creepy. Slightly disgusting in parts. It was like a train wreck—pretty horrible, but I couldn‘t look away. The writing is very good though. I was totally immersed in the story, the characters and Molly‘s world.
Both comics were good, if not Earth shattering..
July: Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora — https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2021/0…
Reading this anthology took a while. It is a very strong anthology. Even the stories that didn‘t fully grab me gave me plenty to think about. Recommended!
August: Rosewater — https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2021/0…
My second Tade Thompson of the year. An alien lands on Earth, burrows into the ground and presents as a illuminated dome. A shanty town develops around it. Eventually there is a opening through which something escapes and heals people. A city called Rosewater springs up around the alien dome, benefitting from these regular healings. We follow Kaaro, a „sensitive“, in the employ of some shady secret agency.
October: Was weiße Menschen nicht über Rassismus hören wollen – non-fiction — https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2021/0…
Alice Hasters is a German journalist, writing about institutionalized racism in Germany, drawing from her own experiences growing up in Cologne.
Cathy's Reading Bonanza 