mathgirl40's 2020 BC challenge

My goals for the year:

1. Finish my 4 ABC books from 2019.
2. End 2020 with fewer than 10 ABC books.
3. Read, register and release 30 books from my own shelves.

Books acquired in 2020:

The Absolutely True Story of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie (BC link)
The Postman by David Brin (BC link)
The Familiars by Stacey Halls (BC link)
Almost Love by Louise O'Neill (BC link) - finished
The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers (BC link) - finished
Where Would I Be Without You? by Guillaume Musso (BC link) - finished
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (BC link) - finished
Normal People by Sally Rooney (BC link) - finished
The Last by Hanna Jameson (BC link) - finished
The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old by Hendrik Groen (BC link) - finished
Beartown by Fredrik Backman (BC link) - finished
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne (BC link) - fiinshed
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill (BC link) - finished

Books acquired in 2019:

Wolf Moon by Charles de Lint (BC link) - finished
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (BC link) - finished
Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin (BC link) - finished
Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (BC link) - finished

Books from my shelves to read, register and release:

1. Oval by Elvia Wilk (BC link)
2. The Holy Thief by Ellis Peter (BC link)
3. Broken Strings by Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer (BC link)
4. Saudade by Suneeta Peres da Costa (BC link)
5. The Listening Eye by Patricia Wentworth (BC link)
6. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs (BC link)
7. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (BC link)
8. Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (BC link)
9. Murder at Government House by Elspeth Huxley (BC link)
10. Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu (BC link)

I've finally gotten back to setting up my 2020 challenge. Incredibly, I somehow managed to whittle down my stack of ABC books to only 4 books! So this year, I'll try to maintain this happy state and not let the ABC books get out of control again.

I'm participating in the Favourite Book of 2019 roundabout again, and I'll try to get them moving quickly.

I have many, many more unread and unregistered books on my shelves, and I'll continue to work on getting them off my shelves and in the hands of other readers.

>4 mathgirl40: Sounds like a good plan!

I finished a couple off my own shelves. The first has been released to a fellow Tournament of Books fan and the other is ready for release.

Oval by Elvia Wilk - This is a somewhat satirical novel set in a near-future Berlin, in which the protagonist Anja lives in a supposed sustainable experimental house on an artificial mountain. It's on the Tournament of Books shortlist this year.

The Holy Thief by Ellis Peters - One of the last of the Brother Cadfael series, this one has the sleuthing Benedictine monk investigating a theft and the subsequent murder of a potential witness. Very enjoyable!

I finished these books in February:

Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir -- One of my ABC books, this is the first of the Thóra Guðmundsdóttir mystery series set in Iceland. Thóra helps a family investigate the murder of their son, who had been greatly interested in violent rituals.

A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne -- This book was part of the Favourite Book of 2019 Roundabout. I thought it was very well-written and clever, describing a manipulative sociopathic writer from the points-of-view of those who fell victim to his charms.

Broken Strings by Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer -- This is a lovely and heartwarming story about a girl who learns about her grandfather's experiences during the Holocaust while preparing for a school production of Fiddler on the Roof.

Saudade by Suneeta Peres da Costa -- This book from the Tournament of Books shortlist describes episodes from the life of a Goan girl living in Angola during the 1960's.

How is your ABC-count? Still low as you wished at the beginning of this year? Wish you luck in keeping it that way, especially when you take part in giveaways vor sweepstakes....

>8 BoekenTrol71: My ABC count has stayed very low so far! The current difficulties in passing around books and purchasing new ones has really helped my acquisition problem. However, several BC roundabout books are in transit toward me, so the count will be going up again!

Since my last update, I finished and registered one more book from my shelves: The Listening Eye by Patricia Wentworth. This book feels a bit dated, but I do enjoy the Miss Silver mysteries. I also finished a roundabout book, Beartown by Fredrik Backman, which I liked very much.

>9 mathgirl40: My book club read Beartown last year and I think we were all surprised by how much we liked it. The same club just finished A Man Called Ove which four of us discussed via Zoom. All four of us really liked it and I can heartily recommend the movie made from the book as well.

>10 gypsysmom: Glad you see your positive comments about A Man Called Ove. I would definitely like to read more by Fredrik Backman.

I didn't start off liking A Man Called Ove but absolutely loved it by the time I was done. I own 2 other of his titles though I haven't read them yet but I did borrow a short novella by him from the library and it had me in tears, And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer.

>12 jessibud2: Just looked at the tags for that book and I'm sold. My library has it as an audiobook download so I just placed a hold on it. Thanks.

>12 jessibud2: Thanks for the recommendation! I looked it up in my audiobook app and they gave it (along with some other titles). Look forward to reading it. I already have A Man Called Ove on my physical MTBR.

Great progress! And thanks for the post on the bookcrossing forum directing me here! :)

>12 jessibud2: Thanks for the recommendation! I hadn't heard of this novella.

>15 Bcteagirl: I'm glad you found us! :)

Here are the books I finished since the last update:

The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old by Henrik Groen
- One of my roundabout books, this featured the narrative of a curmudgeonly man living in a nursing home and gave good insight into the difficulties faced by the elderly.

The Last by Hanna Jameson
- Another of my roundabout books, this is a thriller about 20 survivors of an apocalyptic event living in a hotel together, possibly in the midst of a murderer.

Normal People by Sally Rooney
- I'd received this as a roundabout book but I'd already read it several months ago, when it was chosen for the Tournament of Books. This is a coming-of-age book about two people in a rather dysfunctional relationship.

Wolf Moon by Charles de Lint
- I really enjoyed this novel, featuring magic, wizards and werewolves, from one of my very favourite fantasy writers.

A few more finished:

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
- I wouldn't have discovered this book if it hadn't been for the Favourites of 2019 roundabout. I loved this brilliant retelling of the Trojan War from the point-of-view of Briseis,

Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin
- This book (an RABCK from gypsysmom) was another excellent installment in the Rebus series, set during the Edinburgh Festival.

The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
- This mystery set in Laos is the first a series about an elderly coroner. The characters were terrific and it was nice to read about a part of the world that I'm not at all familiar with.

>18 mathgirl40: I love Colin Cotterill's writing. He lives in Thailand although he is British by birth. He has another series set in Thailand which you can explore once you finish with the Dr. Siri books.

>19 gypsysmom: A series in Thailand sounds very appealing. I'll have to order take-out from my favourite local Thai restaurant to go along with the novels!

I finished my most recent roundabout book, Where Would I Be Without You? by Guillaume Musso. It wasn't really my kind of book (too much romance and melodrama) but it was set in the art world, with an art thief and investigator trying to track him down, so that aspect was interesting.

I finished two roundabout books that arrived recently:

The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers is the real-life story of a Yemeni-American who, through much perseverance and courage, revives the specialty coffee trade in Yemen. I highly recommend this book if you're a coffee lover (which I am).

Almost Love by Louise O'Neill describes the toxic relationship in which a woman finds herself, and the obsessive feelings she has for a person who is completely unworthy of them.

I read and registered a couple of other books from my shelves:

Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs is the first in the Temperance Brennan series. In this one, forensic anthropologist Tempe and her colleagues hunt a serial killer in Montreal.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a novel about a father's journey with his son through a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It's one of the darkest books I've read in a long time but also deeply moving.

Since my last update, I finished these 3 books that I'd received from the "Favourite Book of 2019 Roundabout":

The Familiars by Stacey Halls -- A good historical novel, set during the Pendle Hill witch trials in 1612 England, about a woman who befriends another that is accused of being a witch.

The Postman by David Brin -- An excellent post-apocalyptic novel that's a road-trip and survival story as well, that explores the balance of truth vs. lies.

The Absolutely True Story of a Part-time Indian -- A very funny, charming, and inspiring YA story about a Native American teenager who deals with many challenges while trying to find opportunities away from the reservation on which he lives.

I finished, registered and released the following book as my entry for the "Favourite Book of 2020 Roundabout". (I don't think any member of this forum is participating in that event, so this shouldn't be a spoiler.)

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu -- A satire about an American actor living in Chinatown who always gets cast for roles such as Generic Asian Man or Dead Asian Man but who dreams of eventually becoming Kung Fu Guy. This is a funny book in an usual format that explores stereotypes that afflict Asian Americans.

I registered and released these two books from my own shelves:

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie -- A classic Poirot mystery, in which a vain and beautiful woman is murdered at a seaside resort.

Murder at Government House by Elspeth Huxley -- A mystery, set in a fictional African colony, in which the colony's governor is murdered.

And finally, I finished my very last ABC book!

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver -- A very scary and disturbing epistolary novel in which a mother examines the events from her son's birth to the school shooting that he initiates.

I met my main goal of the year, which was to reduce my ABC books. In fact, I managed to eliminate altogether and am starting 2021 with no ABC books! :)

I did not do so well with getting older books off my shelves so that will be my priority for 2021!

>23 mathgirl40: Wow congrats on having no ABC books. I have 6 all acquired during 2020 so they will be a priority for me.

>25 gypsysmom: Thanks! This group really helped motivate me over the years to reduce the number.