Summer is almost over, which means that there is only one month left for the Semi-Charmed Summer Book Challenge. How crazy is that? I made a little bit of progress this month and I planned out what I’d like to read for the rest of the categories. I’m excited for the books coming up!
10 points: Read a book that was written before you were born.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (449 pages), first published in 1868. I listened to this on audiobook and loved it! I wrote about it here.
10 points: Finish reading a book you couldn’t finish the first
time around. (You must have at least 150 pages left in the book to use
it for this category.)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (328 pages). Susie Salmon watches her family after she is murdered. I started this awhile ago and was only about 100 pages in when I had to put it down because I was busy at school. I never picked it up again, but it was one that I really wanted to finish. When I saw that Alice Sebold narrates the audiobook I knew that was the way that I wanted to finish it. While listening to an author read their own work you can sometimes (but not always) lose the different expressions and voices in the text, I think there’s something really special about listening to an author read their work. This is a really difficult novel to read and I don’t think it’s one that you really enjoy. I thought it was a gripping read, to follow Susie’s family in the years following her death and to see how they tried to move on in their own way.
20 points: Read a book with “son(s),” “daughter(s)” or
“child(ren)” in the title. No other words will count—including kids,
offspring, etc.—so please don’t ask. 🙂
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (418 pages). Karou is a teenager who lives in Prague and runs errands for a chimaera and wishmonger named Brimstone. While on an errand in Marrakesh she meets Akiva, who may be able to answer questions that Karou about who she is and where she came from. This book was different than I expected it to be based on things that I’ve read, so I’m still unsure exactly what I felt about it. I was really drawn into the world that Taylor created and loved some of the details. I’ve been highlighting quote after quote throughout the book. I’ll definitely read the other two in the series.
I am currently reading Taking the Lead: Lessons from a Life in Motion, by Derek Hough, which will fit into the autobiography section. I included a list of the categories that I still need to compete below.
Previous Total: 45
Total for July: 40
Current Total: 85
15 points: Read a historical fiction book that does not take place in Europe.
15 points: Read a book another blogger has already read for the
challenge. (Yes, you will have to wait until the first check-in to
choose this book! So no one will be able to finish this challenge in
only one month; sorry!)
20 points: Read a book that was/will be adapted to film in 2014. (Here are 16 ideas to get you started, but I know there are plenty more options.)
25 points: Read a book written by a blogger. (Submitted by Jessica of The Tangerine.)
25 points: Read a biography, autobiography or memoir.
30 points: Read a pair of books with antonyms in the titles.
