Back in January, I mentioned on Twitter that I was going to be doing the 2016 Grown Up Reading Challenge. I found this challenge on Twitter somewhere, but I do know that it originally appeared here. Of course, in the midst of life I fairly promptly forgot about that; immense fail, I know, and so soon into the New Year!

However, that does NOT mean that I stopped reading; I have actually been fairly organized about keeping up with my Goodreads Challenge, which I am doing for the first time this year. So I thought, since I have absolutely no free time and way too many things to do, that I would finally try and correlate what I have been reading with what I said I would!

This is going to be a post that I update; I haven’t read a book for every category yet, and I sure am going to try. I’ll put the title of the book next to the Challenge category, and link it to my review if I have one (note: there are none yet. Because life), or the link to the Goodreads page for that title (far more likely).

Alright, below are the categories for this challenge, and if I can work out how I’ll even add the original picture post somewhere! (Look! Look! I did it!! -> )

2016 Grown Up Reading Challenge

1. A book about history – Worm: The First Digital World War, Mark Bowden
2. A biography or autobiography – American Sniper, Chris Kyle
3. A book about a famous person – Eisenhower: A Life, Paul Johnson
4. A book outside your comfort zone – Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad (Oh my god, GUYS)
5. A book about relationships – The Time of My Life, Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi
6. A book about science – Chaos: A Graphic Guide, Ziauddin Sardar
7. A book about business – Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs, Yukari Iwatani Kane
8. A book about self-improvement – Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, Maria Konnikova (I wish!)
9. A book about religion/theology – A Simple Path: Basic Buddhist Teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dalai Lama XIV
10. A book about finance –Saving Money: The 40 Tip Cheat Sheet for Peace of Mind, Effective Budgeting and Financial Success – Zach Lees
11. A book you were supposed to read in high school but didn’t – Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (I was a nerd that read all the books I was supposed to in high school, so I checked the current curriculum here in Victoria and chose this one to read!)
12. A book about art – Oxford VSI to Modern Art, David Cottington (kind of a cop-out, I know, but hey. Not my area, people)
13. A book originally written in a different language – El estudiante de Salamanca, Jose de Espronceda
    
14. A book more than 100 years old – Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne
15. A book set in a different country – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
16. A book that won the Pulitzer Prize – The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
17. A classic – Peter Pan, James M. Barrie (I will FIGHT YOU if you don’t think this is a classic)
18. A banned book – Call of the Wild, Jack London (Banned in Italy and Yugoslavia)
19. A book about language/communication – Hieroglyphs: A Very Short Introduction, Penelope Wilson
20. A book about music – Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, Sammy Hagar

Clearly, I still have a ways to go! As it turns out, however, I do actually have books for both the Pulitzer category, and the banned books category that I can read soon, so that’s that at least. I’ll keep this updated, though the Goodreads widget will probably keep any interested parties informed long before I remember to add the title to this list!

Update 04.12.16 – I’m going to make it! I’m going to make it! I only have three books left; 1984 (high school but didn’t), Haunted Empire (business), and…..something for the language/communication category. You’d think, as somebody with degrees in French and Spanish, I’d have sorted this by now. I’ll get there!

Update 16.12.16 – I FINISHED!! I honestly had doubts that I was going to manage it, but I finished! I really, really enjoyed doing this and I read books for this I never would have thought to read, and enjoyed them! Look out 2017, I’m doing the Pop Sugar challenge next!

Is anyone else doing the Grown Up Reading Challenge, or the Goodreads Challenge? Good luck if you are, and please feel free to recommend me new titles!

C. Jaiyah

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Categories: Reading Challenges

Tags: book blog, books, Goodreads, reading, Reading Challenge