Thank you Kim for letting me borrow your “Almost done” button!
You’ve probably heard about this challenge about the bookweb. I was really excited when it was first announced for the sheer variety of the categories.
I thought it would be a tough one to achieve, but I’m surprised by how easy it’s been. I forget about the Challenge for a couple of months and when I come back to it several categories are done. So far I think I’ve only had to force myself to pick up a romance novel, although it was already in the TBR.
I’ve 4 books to go, and although I’m not worried about the book published before 1850 (reading Austen’s Emma in December to celebrate it’s 200th anniversary), or the collection of poetry (carrying Fernando Pessoa’s Mensagem around in my bag for ages) or even the under-25 (have The Tiger Wife in the TBR), choosing a self-improvement book is a hard one: nothing on the TBR, wish-list or even the to-investigate list.
If I’m going to read a self-improvement book for the first time, let’s make it a good one, so I’d love to hear your recommendations!
To be done:
- A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25
- A collection of poetry
- A book published before 1850
- A self-improvement book
Done:
- A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65: Providence Rag
- A collection of short stories: Everything That Rises Must Converge
- A book published by an indie press: The Summer Book
- A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ: The Hours
- A book by a person whose gender is different from your own: Chew Vol. 1
- A book that takes place in Asia: Malice
- A book by an author from Africa: Aya
- A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture: The Master Butchers Singing Club
- A microhistory: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
- A YA novel: Fangirl
- A sci-fi novel: The Martian
- A romance novel: The Errant Earl
- A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade: A Visit from the Good Squad
- A book that is a retelling of a classic story: The Owl Service
- An audiobook: The Dead will Tell
- A book that someone else has recommended to you: Cutting for Stone
- A book that was originally published in another language: The Snowman (Norwegian)
- A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind: Saga Vol. 1
- A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure: First Frost
- A book published this year: Girl on the Train
The Sleepless Reader 
3 comments
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September 25, 2015 at 7:43 pm
Ti
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up is all the rage right now. Can be considered Self Help.
September 26, 2015 at 5:58 am
heidenkind
Edgar Allan Poe’s C August Dupin stories were published before 1950, you could read those.
September 27, 2015 at 11:33 pm
Jenny @ Reading the End
I think I probably recommended both of these two books to Kim when she was talking about this challenge earlier in the year, BUT: White Is for Witching, by Helen Oyeyemi. It’s a bit of a cheat, in that she turned 25 in the year the book was published, but I think it counts — it means she was younger than 25 when she actually wrote it. Right? And for poetry, I’d recommend Claudia Rankine’s Citizen (so good), or Anne Carson’s Nox (heartbreaking and wonderful).