Published : 2021 || Format : print || Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El
2013 Challenges
Read a really kickass mystery novel. I used to love reading mysteries at one point. Until I started cracking the whodunits before the halfway page. (The killer is either the most villainous character or the least.) I know many of you love mysteries - I would love to get some great recommendations that will help me read more of this genre. I don't mind if it's a little silly or very funny. I would prefer more mystery and less romance.(Updated May 8: Read The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters)Participate in a book club read. There are a couple of online book clubs I belong to and who also read really awesome books each month. Sadly, I rarely get the time to take part in one, and I hope to change that this year.(Updated Jan 17: Read The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton for my online book club)- Read at least one chunkster (900+ pages). I kind of already feel that this one will go on the failed list. Because of my typically short reading sessions, reading a chunkster would take me forever - last thing I want to do unless I plan to dive into a rut. That being said, I like the idea of spending a year on a book - on that kind of book, and I should probably not do a readalong to read it.
Do a readalong. But not a chunkster readalong. Are there non-chunkster readalongs?(The Goldfinch readalong)Be a reader at a readathon. 'Nuff said.(Updated Aug 18: Participated in the Dog Days of Summer Readathon)Read a book from an African/Latin American/Asian country I have never read about (written by an author from that country itself). I had occasionally entertained the idea of spending a year reading a book from a different country each time. I'm still eager to do it but maybe not now.(The Reluctant Fundamentalist in Pakistan)Read The Fault in our Stars. Why did everyone rave about this one last year?(Updated Feb 14: Finally read it. Made me cry way too much but at least it wasn't a sappy pitiful book as some books about illnesses can be.)Do not read Fifty Shades of Grey. I think this one will be easy.- Finish rereading the Harry Potter series. You would assume that this should be a piece of cake. But for some unfathomable reason, I keep getting stalled in the second book. O! heir of Slytherin, please let me get past your Chamber soon.
- Feel free to ditch any or all of the above "non-pressure" things at any time.
2012 Challenges
PIE list (5 titles)
- The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
- The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Hell-Heaven by Jhumpa Lahiri
- A Moment of Wrong Thinking by Lawrence Block
- The Shawl by Louise Erdrich
- Bohemia by V.S. Naipaul
- In the South by Salman Rushdie
- A Village After Dark by Kazuo Ishiguro
- In the Bed Department by Anne Enright
- The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
- Banana Yoshimoto, The Lake
Perpectual Reading Projects
Orange Prize Reading
- 2011, longlist: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin
- 2002, winner: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Graphic Novels Challenge (Expert: 11) (Link to hosting blog)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney
- Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón
- Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri and Randy DuBurke
- Fist Stick Knife Gun by Geoffrey Canada and Jamar Nicholas
- Stitches by David Small
- A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Maus, #1) by Art Spiegelman
- A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus, #2) by Art Spiegelman
- The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds
- Vietnamerica by GB Tran
- Nicolas by Pascal Girard
- An Elegy for Amelia Johnson by Andrew Rostan
- Lucille by Ludovic Debeurme
- Gingerbread Girl by Paul Tobin
- Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol
- American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
- Lost and Found by Shaun Tan
- Green River Killer by Jeff Jensen
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid #6: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney
- The Next Day by Paul Peterson
2010 Challenges
Completed Challenges
- Women Unbound Challenge - Completed (Jul 6)
- POC Reading Challenge - Completed (Jul 23)
- Awesome Author Challenge - Completed (Nov 27)
- Flashback Reading Challenge - Failed (1 book short out of 6)
- 100+ Reading Challenge - Failed (I managed only 79.. 21 more books, sigh!)
- Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge - Failed (I read 37 out of 50)
- 451 Challenge - Failed (Just a pitiful 1 on 7)
- A to Z Challenge - Failed (The count here is just too bizarre)
- Original TBR Challenge - Failed (6 books short out of 12)
- Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge - Failed (Just 4 out of 10)