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Shelleyrae at Book’d Out is hosting the Eclectic Reader Challenge again this year. I truly enjoyed this challenge in 2012, so I’m signing up again.
Here’s what Shelleyrae has to say:
- The aim of The Eclectic Reader 2013 Challenge is to push you outside your comfort zone by reading up to 12 books during the year from 12 different categories.
- The challenge will run from January 1st to December 31st 2013. Participants may join at any time up until December 1st 2013
- All participants that complete the challenge by December 31st 2012 will be eligible to win a book of their choice to the value of $15AUD from bookdepository.com or a $10US Amazon gift card or paypal funds of US$10 to be drawn via random.org Jan 2014.
Categories
- Translated fiction–Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
- Historical mystery–The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters
- Romantic suspense–Naked in Death by J. D. Robb
- Made into a movie–The Host by Stephenie Meyer
- New Adult–The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag
- Urban Fantasy–The Blood Fae by India Drummond
- Dystopian–The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
- Memoir–A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
- LGBT–The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family by Dan Savage
- Action Adventure–Under the Jolly Roger by L. A. Meyer, read by Katherine Kellgren
- Humour–Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
- Published in 2013–NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
I read a lot of these anyway, but I may have trouble with the dystopian and LGBT categories. I have not had much luck with dystopian novels in the past, with the exception of The Hunger Games trilogy. I haven’t read a lot of LGBT and just don’t really know where to start. Any recommendations for either of those categories?
Updated December 29, 2013: That’s a wrap! A big push here in December helped me complete everything. Thanks again to ShelleyRae for hosting!
I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s, my local independent bookstore located in beautiful downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.
1 Comment
Dystopian: The Giver. And the books that follow it, which are better, but you need to read the series in order. This is a quick read for middle grades.
Or The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, sort of a feminist 1984.
Or Stephen King: any of the books in the Dark Tower series, or The Stand.
LGBT: The first books that spring to mind are memoirs: Alison Bechdel's graphic novel Fun Home, Florence King's Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady, and Dan Savage's The Kid (I can loan you a copy.)
Of LGBT fiction, Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes, and Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment — because if you haven't read any Discworld books, you really need to fix that. Oh and Keeping You a Secret, by Julie Anne Peters, is a YA coming out novel.