Thank you for joining The Scented Library and The Redolent Mermaid for our third reading challenge! Julie and I enjoy reading and even better, reading with friends. Below are the prompts we created as a guide to reading outside the box. Feel free to join us in challenging ourselves to read them all or simply join us for one or two!
2020 Reading Challenge list:
1. Quickie- 200 pages or less.
The Turn of the Screw | Henry James ★★★☆☆
2. On the briny- a saltwater reading experience.
The Daughter of the Pirate King | Tricia Levenseller ★★☆☆☆
3. Ready set read- Finish a series, or start a new one.
The Return of the King | J.R.R Tolkien ★★★★★
4. Memory lane- a book you missed out on from childhood.
Anne of Green Gables : a graphic novel | Mariah Marsden & Brenna Thummler ★★★★☆
5. Name dropper- get proper with a titular character [named after the book’s subject].
My Dark Vanessa | Kate Elizabeth Russell ★★☆☆☆
6. Magical realism.
7. Make it the year of the lycan-read a wolfish book.
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance | Ruth Emmie Lang ★★★★☆
8. Eye candy cover.
Giver of Stars | Jojo Moyes ★★★☆☆
9. A tear jerker- I’m not crying, you’re crying!
When We Were Yours | Lisa Wingate ★★★★1/2☆
10. Get lost in time- book set in the future or past, or both.
The Splendid and the Vile | Erik Larsen ★★★☆☆
11. A book you’d turn to when feeling blue.
What Would Dolly Do? | Lauren Marino ★★★★☆
12. Cover Text Intertwined With Images: big 2019 novel trend.
13. Stay Golden with gilded pages or shimmering cover accents.
14. Do you have a nightlight? Read something spooky if you do.
15. Borrowed book- library, lil’ free library, or friend. Don’t forget to return it!
16. Seek the throne-heraldry or castle on the cover.
*The Return of the King | J.R.R Tolkien ★★★★★
17. New-to-you author
Disappearing Earth | Julia Phillips ★★☆☆☆
18. A centenarian book, one that is 100 years or older.
Sense and Sensibility | Jane Austen ★★★☆☆
19. Our pets are the best of us. Read a story with a dear dog or cherished cat companion.
20. Colorless- a stark cover with only black/white.
The Whisper Man | Alex North ★★★1/2☆☆
21. Forest Bathing- trees on the cover, in the title or as subject matter.
22. Generation Z- A teen or young adult author.
*Red Hood | Elana K. Arnold ★★★☆☆
23. Book based on a real event- true story based fiction, or non-fiction.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky | Mark T. Sullivan ★★★★★
24. Reading rebel- a controversial book, or featuring a literary rebel.
*Red Hood | Elana K. Arnold ★★★☆☆
25. Illuminated Illustrations: a book with photographs or art within.
March: Book One | John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell ★★★★★
26. 20/20 Vision. A book that helped you to see something clearer.
So You Want to Talk About Race | Ijeoma Oluo ★★★★☆
27. Gold Star. You get one just for reading a book. Your choice.
28. The White Whale- book on your TBR forever, a weighty book, or one you couldn’t bring yourself to read before [or that you think will be the end of you].
Les Misérables | Victor Hugo ★★★★★
29. Home is where the heart is. A house on the cover.
30. Old Fashioned: A book with a table of contents.
*I hope you find this challenge as wide open and adaptable to your reading tastes as we do. This is the first year I don’t have many titles in mind beforehand, so send your reading recommendations this way.
If you join us for even one prompt please share your book and rating, mini-review, or simply a “what I am currently reading photo” on social media by adding the tag #bookishjayandthereadingmermaid. We hope that 2020 brings us all health, happiness, great opportunities and wonderful stories to read.
The Scented Library 