2016 Reading Challenges & Specials

or: A Double Alphabet of Writers Including Nobel Prize Laureates

Right on New Year’s Day I plunged into the book blogging year with the review of the humorous classic The Man Who Searched for Love by Italian writer Pitigrilli that has never been reprinted in English translation since 1932 and thus made it into my small Out-of-Print selection. It was the first of altogether fifty-three books on my review schedule of 2016… and it’s hors concours so-to-speak because it was too early or  unsuitable to dedicate it to one of the three annual reading challenges to which I decided to sign on this year or to the one that is still running.

First of all, I’m challenging myself. This year I want to make my way up and down the entire English alphabet, but I don’t care about titles. My starting point are the initial letters of the family names of writers from around the world – women and men, forgotten and famous, classic and contemporary. It goes without saying that some of them will be winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature, too, and that a duplicate of my reviews of their books will sooner or later appear on Read the Nobels, the site of the perpetual challenge open since 2007, or readathon if you prefer, where everybody who signed up like me can re-post any suitable review (with a reference to where it was originally published).

»»» see my post for Read the Nobels with the complete list of winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature and the links to my own book reviews here on Edith's Miscellany and on Lagraziana's Kalliopeion. 

In addition, I joined the annual event Read the Nobels 2016 hosted by Aloi aka the Guiltless Reader on both her blogs Guiltless Reading and Read the Nobels. It runs from 1 January through 31 December 2016 and it’s a usual challenge inviting participants to post links to their reviews of books written by winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature. It covers the widest range thinkable of genres because not only novelists and short-fiction writers received the prestigious award, but also journalists like the 2015 laureate from Belarus, Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich, and poets, playwrights, philosophers, historians, even politicians,… Once more, I expect to dig out some true gems in the treasure trove of Nobel reads, more precisely six or seven of them so in the end I'll be a Nobel keener at least.

»»» see my Read the Nobels 2016 list of completed and planned reviews.

Posting weekly reviews here, it’s an obvious choice to sign up for Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks at last. The challenge beginning on 1 January and ending on 31 December 2016 has its own blog and is hosted by Robin of My Two Blessings – like every year, as it seems. There are also some tempting mini-challenges on the site, but for the time being, I content myself with committing myself to Reading Through the Alphabet since it perfectly matches my reading plans for this year that I have already explained above.

»»» see my 2016 Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks list of completed and forthcoming reviews.

The same goes for the Women Challenge # 4 of Valentina from peek-a-booK!, a bilingual book blog in Italian and English. As regular readers will know, I always alternate female and male authors on this blog. The challenge is on from 1 January to 31 December 2016. Last year I joined only in March and couldn’t contribute the full list, but this year I’m in from the start. Thus by the end of the year there will be 26 more reviews of books written by women on this blog, i.e. I’ll again reach Level 4: WONDER WOMAN – read 20+ books written by a woman author and that without making an extra effort.

»»» see my 2016 Women Challenge # 4 list of completed and forthcoming reviews.

There’s still a month to go with the Japanese Literature Challenge 9 hosted by Dolce Bellezza - for literary and translated fiction and one last book is on my review schedule for it. Seven others already went online in 2015.

»»» see my post of the Japanese Literature Challenge 9 with the complete review list.


As for my personal blog specials, I continue The Great War in Literature although I must admit that I’ve been neglecting it quite a lot during the past couple of months and there aren’t many suitable books on my TBR list of 2016, either.

»»» see my The Great War in Literature post with the book list.

I’d say that my Challenges & Specials projects will keep me quite busy. I hope that you’ll accompany me on my literary adventures. To a year of many gripping reviews!