Showing posts with label 2026 Challenges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2026 Challenges. Show all posts

Sunday, 3 May 2026

May 2026 - 1/3 of the Reading Way through the Year.

Me, figuring out my reading stats
So here we are, 35% of the year is gone by the wayside. How about a look at my challenges and how I'm doing this year so far. I'm sure you're all very excited to hear about that, eh?

Yearly Stats

Books completed: 56 (of these 56 there were 3 that I gave up on)

Pages read: 14,400 (roughly) Now, just to be accurate... well, as accurate as I can be, obviously I didn't read all of the 3 that I gave up on. But according to Goodreads, I've actually read 14,463 pages) So let's say, 14,000+ pages

Ratings: 5* - 1 book

4* (means 4.0 & 4.5 stars) - 29 books

3* (3.0 & 3.5) - 23 books

No Rating - 3 books

Favorite book so far - The Serial Garden, The Complete Armitage Family Stories by Joan Aiken (5 - stars)

Reading Challenges

1. 12 + 4 Challenge - Short Stories - Completed six books so far and currently reading The Golden Ball and Other Stories by Agatha Christie.






2. 12 + 4 Challenge - Graphic Novels. Challenge completed 12 April. Favorite book Botticelli's Apprentice by Ursula Murray Husted (4.5 stars).






3. 12 + 4 Challenge - Shiny New Books. Completed 5 books. Currently reading The Sundial by Shirley Jackson.

4. 12 + 4 Challenge - Dusty Books. Completed 5 books. Currently reading Skeleton Key by Jane Haddam.






5. Individual Challenges (Dusty Books, #17 - 416 from my Goodreads TBR list). Completed 4, one DNF and currently reading All the Tea in China by Kyril Bonfiglioli.






6. Individual Challenges (Middle Books, #417 - 832). Completed two and had two DNF's, probably my least successful challenge so far. Currently reading A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab.

7. Individual Challenges (Newest Purchases #833 - 1263). Completed 15, reading 3, Assassin's Code by Jonathan Maberry, Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker & The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken.





8. 12 + 4 Challenge (My latest, books around 200 pages) Currently reading Police at the Funeral by Margery Allingham.

There is my reading an updated challenge list. Four new books have arrived since my last update so I'll include those in this post as well.

Newest Books

1. All in her Head; The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught us About Women's Bodies and Why it Matters Today by Elizabeth Comen (Non Fiction / 2024).

"The fascinating history of women’s health as it’s never been told before.

For as long as medicine has been a practice, women's bodies have been treated like objects to be practiced on: examined and ignored, idealized and sexualized, shamed, subjugated, mutilated, and dismissed. The history of women’s healthcare is a story in which women themselves have too often been voiceless—a narrative instead written from the perspective of men who styled themselves as authorities on the female of the species, yet uninformed by women’s own voices, thoughts, fears, pain and experiences. The result is a cultural and societal legacy that continues to shape the (mis)treatment and care of women.

While the modern age has seen significant advancements in the medical field, the notion that female bodies are flawed inversions of the male ideal lingers on—as do the pervasive societal stigmas and lingering ignorance that shape women’s health and relationships with their own bodies.

Memorial Sloan Kettering oncologist and medical historian Dr. Elizabeth Comen peels back the curtain on the collective medical history of women to reintroduce us to our whole bodies—how they work, the actual doctors and patients whose perspectives and experiences laid the foundation for today’s medical thought, and the many oversights that still remain unaddressed. With a physician’s knowledge and empathy, Dr. Comen follows the road map of the eleven organ systems to share unique and untold stories, drawing upon medical texts and journals, interviews with expert physicians, as well as her own experience treating thousands of women.

Empowering women to better understand ourselves and advocate for care that prioritizes healthy and joyful lives—for us and generations to come—All in Her Head is written with humor, wisdom, and deep scientific and cultural insight. Eye-opening, sometimes enraging, yet always captivating, this shared memoir of women’s medical history is an essential contribution to a holistic understanding and much-needed reclaiming of women’s history and bodies."

2. A Cat Story, a Graphic Novel by Ursula Murray Husted (YA / 2020).

"A graphic novel about two irresistible cat friends on a journey to find their forever home—a journey inspired by the magic of art and storytelling.

Cilla and Betto are two friends who need a place to call home. The docks in Valletta are too wet, and the scraps of food too scarce. The city’s streets are too busy, and the humans too unreliable.

But what about the quiet garden from old kitten tales—a place where all cats are welcome, and the humans are always kind? Could the stories really be true?

As Cilla and Betto embark on a grand adventure to find out, they begin to spin a tale of their own—one that will take them through the art and stories of many journeyers who came before, and that will bring them to a surprising destination."

3. Three Bengal Kittens by Philipp Schott (Dr. Bannerman #4 / 2026).

"With his sniffer dog, Pippin, Dr. Peter Bannerman uncovers suspects, treats animals, tracks a kitten kidnapper, and must solve a locked-room mystery.<?b>

In the fourth book in the series, Dr. Peter Bannerman’s brother Sam takes in three Bengal kittens after the previous owner, his neighbor in a Winnipeg north end apartment building, is found dead. The death was originally thought to be due to accidental autoerotic asphyxiation, but after investigation, Sam is arrested and charged with his neighbor’s murder.

Sam suffers from several mental health conditions, but Peter refuses to believe that he is capable of killing someone, so he sets out to prove his innocence. Sam, however, is more concerned about one of the kittens who has gone missing. With the help of his talented sniffer dog, Pippin, Peter tries to find the kitten, as well as evidence that someone else murdered the neighbor.

Peter talks to the other people in Sam’s building, and several appear to be plausible alternative killers. However, by that time Sam, still in custody, begins to rave about ghosts being the real murderers and insists Peter investigate that. Despite not believing in ghosts (not in the slightest), he has a terrifying experience while spending the night in Sam’s apartment.

The situation rapidly spirals, putting Peter and Pippin in peril and ultimately revealing a story of revenge served cold from decades ago and continents away."

4. When the Forest Breathes; Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World by Suzanne Simard (Non Fiction / 2026).

"The trailblazing scientist who pioneered the concept of sophisticated communication between trees returns with a book that places nature’s own cycles of renewal at the center of a powerful vision for the future of our forests

With her bestselling book Finding the Mother Tree, forest ecologist Suzanne Simard introduced the world to the profound intelligence and interconnectedness of trees. Now, with When the Forest Breathes, she uncovers the ways that nature’s deep-rooted cycles of renewal can ensure the longevity of threatened ecosystems.

Raised in a family of loggers committed to sensible forest stewardship, Simard has watched as timber companies leave forests at higher risk for wildfires, water crises, and plant and animal extinction. But her research has the potential to chart a new course. The forest, she reveals, is a symphony of finely honed cycles of regeneration—from mushrooms breaking down logs to dying elder trees passing their genetic knowledge to younger ones—that hold the key to protecting our forests. Working closely with local Indigenous communities, whose models of responsible forestry have been largely dismissed, Simard examines how human interventions—particularly destruction of the overstory's mother trees—endanger new growth and longevity. If we can honor the tools that trees have honed for sharing intergenerational wisdom, she argues, we can protect these sacred places for many years to come.

As she considers how older living things facilitate the conditions for new growth to flourish, Simard faces parallel rhythms of loss and regeneration in her own life, watching her two daughters grow into adults and savoring her final days with her ailing mother. Animated by wonder for our forests and the intricate practices of caretaking that have long sustained them, When the Forest Breathes is a vital reminder of all the natural world has to teach us about adaptability, resilience, and community."

So there you go folks. Enjoy your May selections and the rest of 2026.

Thursday, 1 January 2026

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2026

 

My goodness 2025 was quite a year. Here's hoping for a great 2026 for everyone. Just providing a quick update on my last book of 2025 and my first selections to start off the New Year... plus, maybe some other stuff.

Last Book of 2025

1. Greek Myths; A New Retelling by Charlotte Higgins (2021).

"I've enjoyed reading about the Greek myths, watching movies about them. They have always interested me. One of my university courses was about mythology. So when I saw Greek Myths: A New Retelling by Charlotte Higgins, I decided to check it out. Now, I have to say that it has sat on my book shelf for a couple of years but I figured it might be a good book to finish off 2025.

It was most enjoyable. Higgins takes on her portrayal of the myths in an interesting manner. She chooses 8 goddesses or woman of that era; Athena, Alcethe, Philomela, Arachne, Andromache, Helen, Circe & Penelope to tell the stories. and they do so by weaving the stories on their looms. Excellent idea. 

The myths include pretty well everyone you've ever heard of; the Trojan War, the wars between the Olympians and the Titans, stories of Prometheus, Pandora, etc.; Demeter / Persephone / Hades; Dionysus, Odysseus etc. etc. She's modernized them somewhat, but just in language, but you get an easy to read, excellent summary of them all. And she provides in her Notes the sources for her stories.

It was a fun, easy to read retelling and a pleasure to read. If you ever have an interest in the Greek myths, this book is an excellent starting point. (3.5 stars)"

Year End Stats

So let's provide a few stats for the year.

Books completed - 143

Pages read - 35,000 (243 pages per book) This is a rough estimate for both because my totals depend on the page totals of the edition I chose in Goodreads, which might differ from the actual one I read)

Ratings -

5 star - 6

4.5 star - 20

4.0 star - 52

3.5 star - 33

3.0 star - 20

less than 3 star - 9

Did not finish / No rating - 3

Gender

(I'm going by name & apologize if I'm missing LGBTQ+ people. Other might also include books written by more than one person)

Male - 74

Female - 65

Other - 4

Genre

(This will be a mish mash based on the 1st genre listed with the book)

Fiction - 2

Poetry - 2

Fantasy - 11

Dystopia - 8

Horror - 12

Graphic (note this covers pretty well every genre) - 40

Non - Fiction - 14

Mystery (I decided not to break this down by region) - 40

Adventure - 2

Sci - Fi - 9

Alternate History - 2

Spy / Thriller - 2

Before I get into my first 2026 selections, one book arrived December 31st from a small book dealer (I assume it's small) in Ladysmith, called Arbour Books.

1. Way Station by Clifford D. Simak (1963). I've been exploring Simak's work more and more. He can be hit and miss but always different and interesting.

"Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he has done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.

More than a hundred years before, an alien named Ulysses had recruited Enoch as the keeper of Earth's only galactic transfer station. Now, as Enoch studies the progress of Earth and tends the tanks where the aliens appear, the charts he made indicate his world is doomed to destruction. His alien friends can only offer help that seems worse than the dreaded disaster. Then he discovers the horror that lies across the galaxy..."

2026 Challenges and 1st Books
7 reading challenges this year but it still gives a lot of scope for variety, including genres and how long I've had the books, etc.

1. 12 + 4 Challenge - Short Stories. These are specific short stories basically those 16 I've probably had the longest on my book shelf. I'm starting with Meet Mr. Mulliner by P.G. Wodehouse (1927)

"A Mulliner collection in the Angler's Rest, drinking hot scotch and lemon, sits one of Wodehouse's greatest raconteurs. Mr. Mulliner, his vivid imagination lubricated by Miss Postlethwaite the barmaid, has fabulous stories to tell of the extraordinary behaviour of his far-flung in particular there's Wilfred, inventor of Raven Gypsy face-cream and Snow of the Mountain Lotion, who lights on the formula for Buck-U-Uppo, a tonic given to elephants to enable them to face tigers with the necessary nonchalance. Its explosive effects on a shy young curate and then the higher clergy is gravely revealed. Then there's his cousin James, the detective-story writer, who has inherited a cottage more haunted than anything in his own imagination. And Isadore Zinzinheimer, head of the Bigger, Better & Brighter Motion Picture Company. Tall tales all - but among Wodehouse's best."

2. 12 + 4 Challenge - Graphic Novels. I will be reading others if they come up in my other challenges. Starting with It Rhymes With Takei by George Takei
(2025).

"Following the award-winning bestseller They Called Us Enemy, George Takei’s new full-color graphic memoir reveals his most personal story of all—told in full for the first time anywhere!

George Takei has shown the world many faces: actor, author, outspoken activist, helmsman of the starship Enterprise, living witness to the internment of Japanese Americans, and king of social media. But until October 27, 2005, there was always one piece missing—one face he did not show the world. There was one very intimate fact about George that he never shared… and it rhymes with Takei.

Now, for the first time ever, George shares the full story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything. Following the phenomenal success of his first graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, George Takei reunites with the team of Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger for a jaw-dropping new testament. From his earliest childhood crushes and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame as an actor and the paralyzing fear of exposure, to the watershed moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile gay men on the planet, It Rhymes With Takei presents a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history.

Combining historical context with intimate subjectivity, It Rhymes With Takei shows how the personal and the political have always been intertwined. Its richly emotional words and images depict the terror of entrapment even in gay community spaces, the anguish of speaking up for so many issues while remaining silent on his most personal issue, the grief of losing friends to AIDS, the joy of finding true love with Brad Altman, and the determination to declare that love openly—and legally—before the whole world.

Looking back on his own astonishing life on both sides of the closet, George Takei presents a charismatic and candid witness to how far America has come… and how precious that progress is."

3. 12 + 4 Challenge - Dustiest Books. (I do also have an individual challenge dealing with the books I've had the longest but these 16 are numbers 1 - 16 of sitting the longest on our shelves. Starting with Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs (Temperance Brennan #10 / 2007). Ps. It also satisfies a January challenge in another group I'm in on Goodreads. 😏😊😀

"In Kathy Reichs's tenth bestselling novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, the discovery of a young girl's skeleton in Acadia, Canada might be connected to the disappearance of Tempe's childhood friend.

For Tempe Brennan, the discovery of a young girl's skeleton in Acadia, Canada, is more than just another case. Evangeline, Tempe's childhood best friend, was also from Acadia. Named for the character in the Longfellow poem, Evangeline was the most exotic person in Tempe's eight-year-old world. When Evangeline disappeared, Tempe was warned not to search for her, that the girl was "dangerous."

Thirty years later, flooded with memories, Tempe cannot help wondering if this skeleton could be the friend she had lost so many years ago. And what is the meaning of the strange skeletal lesions found on the bones of the young girl?

Meanwhile, Tempe's beau, Ryan, investigates a series of cold cases. Two girls dead. Three missing. Could the New Brunswick skeleton be part of the pattern? As Tempe draws on the latest advances in forensic anthropology to penetrate the past, Ryan hunts down a serial predator."

4. 12 + 4 Challenge - Shiniest Newest Books. These are the 16 books that arrived or I purchased locally from 31 Dec back. Starting with The Serial Garden, The Complete Armitage Family Stories by Joan Aiken (2008). I bought a copy of the cover as a print from the artist for Jo's Xmas present. She really loved it. 

"This is the first complete collection of Joan Aiken's beloved Armitage stories. After Mrs. Armitage makes a wish, the Armitage family has "interesting and unusual" experiences every Monday: the Board of Incantation tries to take over their house to use as a school for young wizards; the Furies come to stay; and a cutout from a cereal box leads into a beautiful and tragic palace garden. Charming and magical, the uncommon lives of the Armitage family will thrill and delight readers young and old. Includes four unpublished stories, Joan Aiken's "Prelude" from Armitage, Armitage, Fly Away Home, as well as introductions from Joan Aiken's daughter, Lizza Aiken, and best-selling author Garth Nix."

5. Individual Challenges - Dusty Books (#17 - 416). The 416 books that have been on my shelves the longest. I'll pick by random number generator of just arbitrarily. My first book is Seaweed on the Rocks by Stanley Evans, the 4th book in the mystery series featuring Sgt Silas Seaweed of the Victoria Police by Stanley Evans. (Book #176 on my Goodreads list)

"In this fourth mystery of the Seaweed series, Victoria neighbourhood cop Silas Seaweed is as always sensitive to his Coast Salish culture, but when he's confronted by a ten-foot-tall bear on a marsh on the city's outskirts, he suspects that this is no creature from the unknown world but someone out to con him. And Silas is right, but his attempts to unmask the bear lead him into a labyrinth of blackmail and murder. Along the way he investigates a homeless people's sit-in at Beacon Hill Park, a burglary in the office of hypnotherapist Dr. Lawrence Trew, and the barely legal world of small-time hood Titus Silverman. And whenever Silas is not busy finding corpses, he's on the lookout for a missing artist and two eight-year-old runaways."

6. Individual Challenges - Middle Books (#417 - 832). Self - explanatory, my first book is The Devil's Breath by Tessa Harris (Dr. Silkstone #3 / 2013), book #787 on my shelf.

"Eighteenth-century anatomist Dr. Thomas Silkstone travels to the English countryside to unravel a tangled web of mystery, medicine, and murder--in this captivating new novel from Tessa Harris. . .

A man staggers out of his cottage into the streets of Oxfordshire, shattering an otherwise peaceful evening with the terrible sight of his body shaking and heaving, eyes wild with horror. Many of the villagers believe the Devil himself has entered Joseph Makepeace, the latest victim of a "great fog" that darkens the skies over England like a Biblical plague. When Joseph's son and daughter are found murdered--heads bashed in by a shovel--the town's worst suspicions are confirmed: Evil is abroad, and needs to be banished.

A brilliant man of science, Dr. Thomas Silkstone is not one to heed superstition. But when he arrives at the estate of the lovely widow Lady Lydia Farrell, he finds that it's not just her grain and livestock at risk. A shroud of mystery surrounds Lydia's lost child, who may still be alive in a workhouse. A natural disaster fills the skies with smoke and ash, clogging the lungs of all who breathe it in. And the grisly details of a father's crime compels Dr. Silkstone to look for answers beyond his medical books--between the Devil and the deep blue sea. . ."

7. Individual Challenges - Newest Books (#833 - Present). This includes every book except the 16 in my 12 + 4 challenge. It will also include any new books purchased over the course of 2026. My first book is Money Shot by Christa Faust (Angel Dare #1 / 2008), #939 on my Goodreads shelf.

"THEY THOUGHT SHE'D BE EASY. THEY THOUGHT WRONG.

It all began with the phone call asking former porn star Angel Dare to do one more movie. Before she knew it, she'd been shot and left for dead in the trunk of a car. But Angel is a survivor. And that means she'll get to the bottom of what's been done to her even if she has to leave a trail of bodies along the way..."

I've started 4 so far and they all seem interesting. So there you go some reading ideas for the new year. Happy New Year!
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