Category: Blog Post

It’s been 7 months since I started the 2015 Reading Challenge, and so far I have crossed off only 18 of 50 book challenges. I’m way behind! I must admit, my love of movies and TV shows do not help. I don’t want to give up any of my other hobbies though, so I just have to minimize them, or read faster.

Here are the challenges I’ve done and the books I read, in order of when I finished them.

1. A book based on or turned into a TV Show – Alias: Free Fall by Christa Roberts
2. A book with more than 500 pages – The Venetian Betrayal by Steve Berry
3. A funny book – Stupid is Forever by Miriam Defensor-Santiago
4. A mystery or thriller – I, Michael Bennett by James Patterson
5. A book with a one word title – Gone by James Patterson
6. A book from an author that you love but you haven’t read yet – Cross My Heart by James Patterson
7. A book a friend recommended – The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
8. A book with non-human characters – Maus by Art Spiegelman
9. A graphic novel – The Walking Dead Book Nine
10. A book you can finish in a day – Once Upon a Time: The Shadow of the Queen
11. A book with a number in the title – 12th of Never by James Patterson
12. A book you own but have never read – The Associate by John Grisham
13. A Pulitzer Prize winning book – The Road by Cormac McCarthy
14. A play – Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
15. A book published this year (2015) – Solitude Creek by Jeffery Deaver
16. A popular authors first book – A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
17. A book that came out the year you were born – A Stab in the Dark by Lawrence Block
18. A book at the bottom of your to read list – Brimstone by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Here are the tasks that I’m currently working on.

1. A non-fiction book – No Opportunity Wasted by Phil Keoghan
2. A book you started but never finished – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Audiobook)

Here are my remaining challenges for this year, with possible books (which might change). Asterisks mean I have a lot of books that satisfy this challenge.

1. A classic romance – Persuasion by Jane Austen
2. A book that became a movie – The Giver
3. A book written by someone under 30 – Veronica Roth?
4. A book by a female author – Karin Slaughter
5. A book of short stories – Sherlock Holmes or Lawrence Block
6. A book set in a different country *
7. A book based on a true story – The Monster of Florence
8. A book your mum loves – Find a book about The Carpenters?
9. A book that scares you – Thriller 2 or Stephen King
10. A book more than 100 years old – Louisa May Alcott
11. A book based entirely on its cover – Burning Girls (Kindle)
12. A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t – Noli Me Tangere
13. A memoir – I am Malala / The Road Ahead
14. A book with antonyms in the title – Catch and Release?
15. A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit – A book set in London
16. A book with bad reviews – Bad Twin
17. A trilogy – Any of the new YA Trilogy
18. A book from your childhood – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
19. A book with a love triangle – A Tale of Two Cities
20. A book set in the future – The City and the Stars (Arthur C Clarke)
21. A book set in high school – Heist School Freshmen (Kindle)
22. A book with a colour in the title – Snow White and Rose Red: The Curse of the Huntsman (Kindle)
23. A book that made you cry – Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas
24. A book with magic – The Worst Witch?
25. A book by an Author you’ve never read before – William Diehl or Brad Meltzer
26. A book that takes place in your hometown – Any book based in Manila
27. A book that was originally written in a different language – The Lightship (originally in German)
28. A book set during Christmas *
29. A book written by an author with you same initials – James Patterson? Jean-Paul Sartre? John Sanford?
30. A banned book (or previously banned) – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I doubt I can finish these but who knows, I still have 5 months. That’s about 6 books per month. Easy. LOL

This was shared by an online friend. I had a lot of to-read books already, so what I did was try to match up my to-read books with the list. Some are just notes on what books I need to find or read, but a lot I already have. * means I have several books I can choose from.

A book with more than 500 pages – The Venetian Betrayal

A classic romance – Persuasion by Jane Austen

A book that became a movie – The Giver

A book published this year (2015) – Solitude Creek by Jeffery Deaver

A book with a number in the title – 12th of Never

A book written by someone under 30 – Veronica Roth?

A book with non-human characters – Maus

A funny book – Psych a guide to Crime solving

A book by a female author – Karin Slaughter

A mystery or thriller *

A book with a one word title – Gone by James Patterson

A book of short stories – Sherlock Holmes or Lawrence Block

A book set in a different country *

A non-fiction book – No Opportunity Wasted

A popular authors first book – A Study in Scarlet?

A book from an author that you love but you haven’t read yet – Any of my James Patterson books

A book a friend recommended – The One and Only Ivan

A Pulitzer Prize winning book – The Road

A book based on a true story – The Monster of Florence

A book at the bottom of your to read list – Brimstone

A book your mum loves – Find a book about The Carpenters?

A book that scares you – Thriller 2 or Stephen King

A book more than 100 years old – Louisa May Alcott

A book based entirely on its cover – Burning Girls (Kindle)

A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t – Noli Me Tangere

A memoir – I am Malala / The Road Ahead

A book you can finish in a day – Another graphic novel?

A book with antonyms in the title – Catch and Release?

A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit – A book set in London

A book that came out the year you were born – Jumanji

A book with bad reviews – Bad Twin

A trilogy – Any of the new YA Trilogy

A book from your childhood – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

A book with a love triangle – A Tale of Two Cities

A book set in the future – The City and the Stars (Arthur C Clarke)

A book set in high school – Heist School Freshmen (Kindle)

A book with a colour in the title – Snow White and Rose Red: The Curse of the Huntsman (Kindle)

A book that made you cry – Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas

A book with magic – The Worst Witch?

A graphic novel – Walking Dead

A book by an Author you’ve never read before – William Diehl or Brad Meltzer

A book you own but have never read *

A book that takes place in your hometown – Any book based in Manila

A book that was originally written in a different language – The Lightship (originally in German)

A book set during Christmas *

A book written by an author with you same initials – James Patterson? Jean-Paul Sartre? John Sanford?

A play – Death of a Salesman

A banned book (or previously banned) – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

A book based on or turned into a TV Show – Alias: Free Fall

A book you started but never finished – Jane Eyre

How come I read faster when I am almost finished with a book? Maybe it’s the thought of “I’m almost done” that pushes me. I’m about to finish J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy. I started it last year, in September, the day it was released. The genre is very different from those that I read; I only bought/read the book because it’s from Rowling. Anyway, there’s about 140 pages left, and the story’s gotten more interesting. I hope I can finish it this weekend. I’m 4 books behind the Goodreads challenge so I need to pick up the pace!

I’m a big fan of Dan Brown, having been introduced to him via the book The DaVinci Code (like everybody else). I’ve read all his other works and I liked all of them in general. So now I am excited that he’s about to release a new book called Inferno! From what I read so far, it’s based off of Dante’s Inferno. I have no idea what that’s about (maybe I should try reading it) but still, it’s the adventure that I usually like in his books.

You can read on what other book lovers are saying by clicking on the image on the left. It will direct you to one of my favorite site to use, Goodreads.com.

You can pre-order your copies of Inferno by Dan Brown from the following websites:
Amazon.com (books and Kindle eBooks)
The Book Depository (US edition) (free shipping worldwide)
The Book Depository (UK edition) (free shipping worldwide)

So I just realized that it might be better to start blogging about my book reviews, in addition to posting my reviews in Goodreads.com. My reviews aren’t those flowery type, but my personal thoughts on each book I read. I think having a blog of book reviews is another good way of sharing my book interests.

I will be adding my Goodreads reviews here, and backdate my posts depending on when I finished the book (based on Goodreads). Unfortunately, I only started using Goodreads to post reviews I think 1.5 years ago, when the previous app I was using, Virtual Bookshelf, shut down. I have exported my ratings and reviews from Virtual Bookshelf, but they don’t have dates, so I can’t say when I finished reading a certain old book. I haven’t decided how to backdate those books. We’ll see.