2018 European Reading Challenge Winner Announced!

THIS IS THE WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT POST FOR 2018

TO FIND THE 2018 REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO FIND THE 2018 WRAP UP POSTS, GO TO THIS PAGE

THE 2019 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE SIGN UP PAGE IS AT THIS PAGE 

2018 was the seventh year for this challenge, which involves reading books set in different European countries or written by authors from different European countries.

Big thanks to all the participants who joined me for the Grand Tour!

JET SETTER GRAND PRIZE WINNER

The 2018 Jet Setter prize goes to Reese at Typings who visited 16 different European countries reviewed the books she read. Her wrap up post has links to all her reviews. 

Honorary Mention (but no prizes) go to five other participants who read and reviewed books from 10 or more unique countries:

• Maphead (15)
• Whatever I Think Of (15)
• Bitter Tea and Mystery (14)
• Canadian Bookworm (14)
• Howling Frog (10)

My own wrap-up post is here. I read 13 books from different European countries, although only three were translations, which is backsliding from the year before. But again, I didn't review any of the books I read because last year was crazy busy for me at my law practice.

Congratulations to all the readers who completed the challenge! There is still plenty of time to join us in 2019.

JOIN THE 2019 CHALLENGE! SIGN UP HERE

The gist: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour.

Sign up HERE for the 2019 Challenge. 

2018 CHALLENGE: European Reading Challenge Wrap Up

COMPLETED

This is my personal wrap up post for the 2018 European Reading Challenge.

If you have completed the 2018 challenge, please got to the official wrap up page and add a link to your wrap up post. To post a review for a 2018 book, please go to the review page.

The 2019 challenge will be posted ASAP.

BOOKS I READ

The Virgin in the Garden by A. S. Byatt (UK)

The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra (Russia)

Long Ago in France: The Years in Dijon by M. F. K. Fisher (France)

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Sweden)

Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald (Germany; National Book Critics Circle Award winner)

The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride (Ireland; James Tate Black Memorial Prize winner)

Nemesis by Jo Nesbo (Norway)

Exodus by Leon Uris (Belgium)

Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd (Austria)

The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (Turkey; Edgar Award winner)

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante (Italy)

Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike (Denmark)

Outline by Rachel Cusk (Greece)

I visited a total of 13 different countries for this challenge, which is pretty good for me. What is better, for me, is that four of the books were translated to English from the authors' native languages. I read a lot of books set in other countries, but not usually by authors from other countries.

2018 Challenge Update: European Reading Challenge

This is just a little refresher on the 2018 European Reading Challenge, in preparation for posting the 2019 challenge page.

As a reminder, the idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries. You complete the challenge by reading your chosen number of books (1 - 5), and each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour. Reviews are not necessary, but the person who reads and reviews books from the most countries wins a prize. Go to the main challenge page for more details. 

If you met the qualifications of the challenge in 2018, it is not too late to sign up now, at the main page. 

If you have completed the 2018 challenge, please got to the official wrap up page for the 2018 Challenge and add a link to your wrap up post. Wrap up posts are especially important if you are in the running for the prize, because I can't guarantee I will accurately catch all your reviews or keep track of the different countries for you.

To post a review for a 2018 book, please go to the review page.

Thank you to all the 102 participants! The 2019 challenge will be posted ASAP and  I look forward to seeing you on the tour again!

2018 CHALLENGE: 2X18 & Mt. TBR - INCOMPLETE and COMPLETE!

2X18 CHALLENGE:

READ 36 TBR BOOKS IN 2018

INCOMPLETE

UPDATE: It is now the end of 2018 and, for the first time since I started doing this little 2X challenge in 2013, I did not finish all my books. I fell short by three, getting bogged down in The Year of the French in early December and just not having the energy to plow through that one only to face The Masters by C.P. Snow, even if it did mean forgoing the treat of Plum Sauce: A P. G. Wodehouse Companion. I ended up reading 33 of the 36 books I had planned to read.

I am going to do a 2X19 challenge and have picked 38 books off my TBR shelves. I admit that I picked shorter books!

* * * * *

As I've done since 2014, I'm combining the Mt. TBR Challenge with a TBR challenge I came up with to read two books for each year of the century. It gets a little more challenging each year. If anyone wants to join me, grab the button and play along! Leave a comment and I'll start a list here.

I am going to read 36 books for the 2X18 part of the challenge, one from each of 36 separate shelves on my TBR bookcases.

I have 28 fiction books and eight non-fiction books picked out. There is no rhyme or reason to the books I picked. I just went with what caught my eye.

MY 2X18 BOOKS

These are the books in alphabetical order by author, but I am going to read them as the mood strikes.

Jake’s Thing by Kingsley Amis FINISHED

Open House by Elizabeth Berg FINISHED

Eating People is Wrong by Malcolm Bradbury FINISHED

Florence of Arabia by Christopher Buckley FINISHED

A Torch Kept Lit: Great Lives of the Twentieth Century by William F. Buckley, Jr. FINISHED

About the Author by John Colapinto FINISHED

Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield FINISHED

Absalom, Absalom! By William Faulkner FINISHED

Long Ago in France: The Years in Dijon by M. F. K. Fischer FINISHED

The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan

Wildlife by Richard Ford FINISHED

A Welcoming Life: The M. F. K. Fischer Scrapbook, compiled by Dominique Gioia FINISHED

Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene FINISHED

Apple of My Eye by Helene Hanff FINISHED

Scandalous Risks by Susan Howatch FINISHED

Lord Mullion’s Secret by Michael Innes FINISHED

Shylock Is My Name by Howard Jacobson FINISHED

Persian Nights by Diane Johnson FINISHED

City of the Mind by Penelope Lively FINISHED

The Towers of Trebizond by Rose MacAuley FINISHED

Holiday by Stanley Middleton FINISHED

The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch FINISHED

California Girl by Jefferson Parker FINISHED

From a View to a Death by Anthony Powell FINISHED

The Professor of Desire by Philip Roth FINISHED

Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald FINISHED

Her First American by Lore Segal FINISHED

The Masters by C. P. Snow

Manners by Kate Spade FINISHED

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach FINISHED

Second Honeymoon by Joanna Trollope FINISHED

All Set for Black, Thanks: A New Look at Mourning by Miriam Weinstein FINISHED

Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike FINISHED

Plum Sauce: A P. G. Wodehouse Companion by Richard Usborne

Down among the Women by Fay Weldon FINISHED

Blandings Castle by P. G. Wodehouse FINISHED

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE:

READ A TOTAL OF 60 TBR BOOKS IN 2018

COMPLETE

UPDATE: I read 29 books in addition to the books I read for my 2X18 Challenge. So despite failing to read all 36 of my 2X18 books, I still read a total of 62 books off my TBR shelves. I reached the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is the highest peak I've ever reached in the Mt. TBR Challenge.

I am definitely signing up again for 2019.

* * * * * 

Every year, I join Bev at My Reader's Block in her Mt TBR Challenge. This year, I am going to climb higher than ever (or try), to reach the Mr. Kilimanjaro level of 60 books, which will mean 24 in addition to the 36 from my 2X18 Challenge.

Here are the books I've read so far, in the order I read them:

The Virgin in the Garden by A. S. Byatt

The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Larry's Party by Carol Shields

Canada by Richard Ford

Exodus by Leon Uris

Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis

A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd

A Morning for Flamingos by Lames Lee Burke

The Perfect Murder by H. R. F. Keating

The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchey

Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd

Barbara Bush: A Memoir by Barbara Bush

An Amis Anthology: A Personal Choice of English Verse, edited by Kingsley Amis

Indignation by Philip Roth

Delicious by Ruth Reichl

Home by Marilynne Robinson

The Message to the Planet by Iris Murdoch

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

The Bachelors by Muriel Spark

You Need More Sleep: Advice from Cats by Francesco Marciuliano

No Smoking by Luc Sante

Something Fresh by P. G. Wodehouse

The Senator's Wife by Sue Kidd

Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford

NOTES

Updated December 31, 2018.

2018 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE: WRAP UP PAGE

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2018 to January 31, 2019

THIS IS THE PAGE FOR WRAP UP POSTS.

TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE.

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

If you have finished the challenge at whatever level you signed up for, please do a wrap up post and enter a link to your post here. Please link to your wrap up post, NOT the main page of your blog.

If you do not have a blog, please leave a wrap up post in a comment on this page. Tell us the books you read and, if you reviewed them in comments on the review page, tell us that so we can go find your reviews.

LINK YOUR WRAP UP POST HERE:

2018 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE: REVIEW PAGE

The European Reading Challenge

January 1, 2018 to January 31, 2019

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS.

IF YOU HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO ON THIS PAGE.

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

When you review a book for the 2019 European Reading Challenge, please add it to this list using the Linky widget below. Please link to your review post, NOT the main page of your blog.

If you don't have a blog or other place where you post reviews, so don't have a way to link your review below, just post your review in a comment on this page.

NOTE: There is overlap in January 2018 between the last month of the 2017 challenge and the first month of the 2018 challenge. If you participated both years, only count books read in January in one of the years, not both.

Please put your name or the name of your blog, the name of the book you reviewed, and the country of the book or author. For example: Rose City Reader, Doctor Zhivago, Russia.

LIST YOUR REVIEW HERE:

The 2018 European Reading Challenge is Available for Sign Ups Now!

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2018 to January 31, 2019

The 2018 European Reading Challenge is ready now! Find the challenge page with information and the sign up list in the pages bar above. Or click the picture in this post, or here.

Tour Europe through books. And have a chance to win a prize. Please join us for the Grand Tour!

THE GIST: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour.