December 28, 2023

2024 Reading Challenge

Last week I posted my reading goals for 2024. One of those goals is to complete the Booklist Queen's Reading Challenge. Let's discuss.

The Booklist Queen's Reading Challenge (BQRC) consists of 52 prompts. I was going to discuss each prompt, but that's a lot of discussion. In the interest of time, I'll just give abbreviated thoughts.

  1. You meant to read last year - This could be anything really.
  2. Goodreads winner in 2023 - I have a few unread books that won an award in the Goodreads choice award. I'll choose later.
  3. About Mental Health - Luckily, one of my 10 oldest books is about mental health: Brain on Fire.
  4. Five Star Read - I won't know until I read it.
  5. An Audiobook - I read one audiobook this year. This might be a challenge.
  6. Set in the 1950s - I am sure I have some books set in the '50s. Surely.
  7. Unreliable narrator - Might have to research for this one.
  8. Book becoming a movie in 2024 - I'm thinking The Three-Body Problem for this one. It's sci-fi/mystery.
  9. With an epilogue - I might just have to hope I get lucky and find one.
  10. About starting over - Not my favorite theme.
  11. Author you love - I have lots of these. Easy peasy.
  12. Flowers on the cover - I am tempted to choose Buy Yourself the Fucking Lilies for this one.
  13. Title starts with B - I have so many options for this, it's not even funny.
  14. Published in 2014 - Since I have several books on my 10 oldest books list that were published in 2014, I'll use one of those.
  15. Purple cover - Purple has been having a renaissance as a cover color recently. I have a couple of books with purple covers.
  16. Historical mystery - Gee, if only I had a friend that wrote historical mysteries. Oh! Will Thomas.
  17. With multiple points of view - This is another thing I probably won't know until I start reading, although Novelist has the capability to search for that.
  18. A book you couldn't put down - Won't know until I read it.
  19. One word title - I'm leaning toward Hench, but there is also Babel.
  20. Debut author - Hopefully one of my NetGalley books will work for this.
  21. 2023 bestseller - I have lots of these. I wonder what that means "bestseller". Like, according to whose list?
  22. Intriguing premise - Hopefully I will read lots of these in 2024.
  23. A friend's favorite book - I will have to do some canvassing to find a friend with a favorite book I want to read. Or at least won't hate.
  24. Author from the Southern Hemisphere - I plan to read Everyone on this Train is a Suspect which is by an Australian author.
  25. About secrets - I feel like any of my medieval mysteries might fit the bill.
  26. Bottom of your to-read list - I may have to define "bottom" of the list. Most recently added? One I'm least interested in? What do you think?
  27. Your favorite genre - This changes regularly, so it will depend on what is my favorite when I get to it. Probably fantasy, though.
  28. Character who is an actor - This may take some thinking. Oh wait! If We Were Villains. It's about Shakespearean actors
  29. Recommended on a Podcast - Half the books on my TBR were recommended on a podcast.
  30. Set in Paris - I have at least five books with Paris in the title. Surely one of those is set in Paris.
  31. Ugly cover - I believe I can find one of these easily enough. Some of the older books have hideous covers.
  32. Set in a small town - Shouldn't be too difficult.
  33. Three Books by the same author (1) - Donna Leon?
  34. Three Books by the same author (2) - Sarah J. Maas?
  35. Three Books by the same author (3) - Andrea Camerelli?
  36. A Quick Read - A manga would fit here.
  37. Set during Autumn - Something witchy? I don't know how you tell this sort of thing.
  38. Classic by a female author - I have some Edith Wharton I haven't read. Also some Flannery O'Connor. What's a classic? Does modern classic count?
  39. Memoir by a person you admire - This is pretty hard, actually. I don't particularly admire the celebrities who tend to write memoirs.
  40. About a historical event - I have the book about the Attica prison uprising. That's historical. I am sure I have more.
  41. Written under a pseudonym - There is probably an obvious choice for this that I'm not thinking of.
  42. Legal thriller - Ew.
  43. Fantasy book - Yay! I have 2 shelves of fantasy books on my TBR.
  44. Popular book you've never read - I have lots of these. Maybe Divine Rivals?
  45. Inspiring nonfiction - Sounds like a self-help to me. I have a couple of Gretchen Rubin books I haven't read.
  46. 2024 new release - Definitely one of my NetGalley books.
  47. Genre you don't usually read - I don't know. A western? Sci-fi? We'll see.
  48. You own but haven't read - Hahahaha. Only 390 books on my shelves to choose from.
  49. Book about books - I have an entire shelf of these just waiting.
  50. Book everyone is talking about - I will wait and see what people are talking about.
  51. With a place in the title - What do you know! One of my 10 oldest books has Oregon in the title. There are also a zillion more on my shelves.
  52. Reread a favorite - The possibilities are endless!

Those are all the prompts. Mostly, they are doable. The hard part will be trying not to read them all at once. The challenge is meant to take all year.

Do you have any thoughts? Please share with the class.