Musical Monday - There's No One Quite Like Grandma by St. Winifred's School Choir

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Never.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: December 27, 1980 through January 3, 1981.

What the hell Great Britain?

There are some things that are inexplicable. This song reaching number one on the U.K. charts is one of those things. Sandwiched in between the John Lennon masterpieces (Just Like) Starting Over and Imagine sits this piece of cloying saccharine like a piece of cold leftover treacle. Once again, I can only say to the entire United Kingdom: What the hell?

Let me be clear on one point: I don't blame these kids for this. For a collection of school age children to song a sickly sweet song about how great their grandmothers are is to be expected. For a school to promote this sort of child choir is also to be expected. The people to blame here are pretty much everyone else in the United Kingdom who decided to make this song a number one hit.

I could possibly understand this song's success if the British music scene was particularly anemic at the time it reached number one, but Lennon's Double Fantasy album was out at this time, and helped produce the three number one hits in the U.K. by Lennon that surround this song (the third was Imagine, which was re-released following Lennon's death and quickly rocketed up the charts). The song wasn't associated with a movie or a television show, and it barely qualifies as a Christmas song. In short, its rise to the top of the musical heap in December 1980 is almost inexplicable. At the very least it kept Stop the Cavalry from reaching number one, so there's that.

But still: What the hell Great Britain?

Previous Musical Monday: (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon

Subsequent Musical Monday: Imagine by John Lennon

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon

Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Imagine by John Lennon

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

John Lennon     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

Book Blogger Hop January 25th - January 31st: Team 291 Is a FIRST Robotics Competition Team from Erie, Pennsylvania

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: How many books did you read last year? Will your goal be to match that number or surpass it?

2018 was a terrible reading year for me. I only read (and reviewed) twelve books in the year, which is well below my usual standard. My goal is definitely to surpass that number, although thus far the year has not been going well on that front. I am still unpacking from my move at the end of last November - sorting through, organizing, and shelving my book collection is a massive task that has occupied a significant amount of my time this year. I am hoping that I will be able to find a comfortable pausing point for that task in the near future and knock out a couple of books and book reviews to get myself on track for reading for the rest of the year.

Previous Book Blogger Hop: 290 Is the Sum of Four Consecutive Prime Numbers

Subsequent Book Blogger Hop: "292" Is a Medication Consisting of a Combination of ASA, Caffeine, and Codeine

Book Blogger Hop     Home

Musical Monday - (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: December 27, 1980 through January 24, 1981.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: December 27, 1980 through January 24, 1981.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: The week of December 20, 1980.

I have noted before that it is somewhat rare for songs to reach the number one position on all three of the charts I'm using for the 1980s Project, but the fact that this song achieved that triple peak position seems almost like a foregone conclusion. By the time this song was released, John Lennon was an almost legendary figure - his membership in the Beatles made him an icon in the musical world, but his high-profile activism and cultural presence in the pos-Beatles era elevated him to a nigh-mythic stature.

This song was released on the album Double Fantasy, which represented Lennon's return to pop music after a layoff of five years as Lennon had retired from public life in 1975 to raise his son, an absence that had only served to elevate his mythic stature. So when he released this album in 1980, it was an almost foregone conclusion that several of its songs would achieve top status.

The album did have the expected success, but there was tragedy here as well. By the time (Just Like) Starting Over was a number one hit, John Lennon was dead, having been assassinated on the front steps of his apartment building on December 8^th, 1980. This song is about optimism, and new beginnings, sung by someone full of hope for the future, but by the time this song reached number one, Lennon's future was gone. Listening to this song, you can hear the life and renewed ambition embodied within it, and those of us left behind can only wonder at what Lennon might have created had his life not been cut short.

Previous Musical Monday: Master Blaster (Jammin') by Stevie Wonder

Subsequent Musical Monday: There's No One Quite Like Grandma by St. Winifred's School Choir

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Lady by Kenny Rogers

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: The Tide Is High by Blondie

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Master Blaster (Jammin') by Stevie Wonder

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: The Tide Is High by Blondie

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: Super Trouper by ABBA

Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: There's No One Quite Like Grandma by St. Winifred's School Choir

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

John Lennon     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

Book Blogger Hop January 18th - January 24th: 290 Is the Sum of Four Consecutive Prime Numbers

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: Is there anything that drives you bonkers when you're reading a book and it makes you want to tell the author a thing or two?

The one thing that is sure to drive me bonkers is when an author is writing a science fiction or alternative history story and they don't really work through the consequences of the changes they made to the world.

For example, Naomi Novik has a generally excellent historical fantasy series called Temeraire that is essentially the Napoleonic Wars with the addition of dragons to the world. The series could probably best be described as "Horatio Hornblower with dragons". For the most part, the series is really good, but Novik just didn't work through the consequences of adding dragons to her world completely, often stopping at the most obvious initial change, and not considering what that change implies. Adding dragons to the world results in some obvious changes, most notably the power differential between the European powers and the rest of the world is reduced, or even eliminated. China, for example, is depicted as having integrated dragons into their society more thoroughly than Britain, making China arguably a more potent military power than the British. African tribes have dragons allied with them that make them more than a match for the expeditionary forces the Europeans send to their continent, and so on. This all makes sense, but what doesn't make sense is that the British characters act like this is all a surprise to them. The British characters all act like they stepped out of our world circa 1800 A.D. into the contemporaneous Temeraire universe, expecting that Europeans generally, and the Brutish specifically, could still treat the rest of the world like inferiors without consequence. It isn't even like dragons are supposed to be a recent phenomenon in the Temeraire universe - several references are made to the medieval era and how people of that era dealt with domesticated dragons, and yet the British officers are consistently surprised when dragons allied to people whose lands they want to colonize pop up and spoil their plans.

Basically, the most sure-fire way to raise my reader hackles is to introduce a change to your fictional world and then ignore the relatively obvious implications of that change.

Previous Book Blogger Hop: Emperor Maximian Attempted to Invade Britain and Wrest Control of the Island from the Usurper Carausius in 289 A.D.

Subsequent Book Blogger Hop: Team 291 Is a FIRST Robotics Competition Team from Erie, Pennsylvania

Book Blogger Hop     Home

Musical Monday - Master Blaster (Jammin') by Stevie Wonder

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: December 6, 1980 through December 13, 1980.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: Never.

Stevie Wonder was, and is, one of the funkiest men who ever lived and this song (along with Superstition) is one of the primary exhibits I would advance in support of that assertion. The only thing that I wonder is how Wonder got from the upper realms of funkdom to the soft rock swamps of songs like I Just Called to Say I Love You, but that's a head scratcher for another day.

This song is, at its core, Stevie Wonder paying homage to another one of the great musicians of his day, specifically Bob Marley, and to the Afrocentrism that he represented. Master Blaster is not quite a memorial to Bob Marley - since Bob Marley wouldn't die until 1981, well after this song was released, but it is clearly inspired by Marley's association with the Zimbabwean independence movement that bore fruit in 1980 and was celebrated with Marley's two concerts in Harare on April 18^th and 19^th of 1980. You can feel the optimism and elation in this song. Sure, in subsequent years, Zimbabwe has had some hard times - some of them at least partially self-inflicted - but in 1980, you can see how it felt like a new age for Africa was dawning. To a certain extent that was true, it just took longer to get here than anyone expected. Despite the uncertainty that faced nations like Zimbabwe, in 1980 it was still possible to believe in a bright future, and Stevie eagerly joined Marley in celebrating from the beginning. His joy is infectious.

Previous Musical Monday: Super Trouper by ABBA

Subsequent Musical Monday: (Just like) Starting Over by John Lennon

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Lady by Kenny Rogers

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: (Just like) Starting Over by John Lennon

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

Stevie Wonder     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

Challenges - SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Every year I try to find a science fiction oriented reading challenge to participate in. Thus far, I have been disappointed every year, as these genre challenges always seem to founder and fall apart due to poor administration or disinterest on the part of the hosts. I keep searching, hoping that every year I will finally find the challenge that will stay around. In furtherance of that quest, in 2019 I am going to take on the SpaceTime Reading Challenge hosted by Jemima Pett. The parameters are simple: Read science fiction and time travel books. Since I was going to do that anyway, this seems like a good challenge for me to jump into.

The SpaceTime Reading Challenge:

The Clingerman Files by Mildred Clingerman

2019 Challenge Tracking Pages
12^th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge 2019
2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge
2019 Linz Reading Challenge
2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
2019 TBR Pile Challenge
Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge
Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019

2019 Challenges     Home

Book Blogger Hop January 11th - January 17th: Emperor Maximian Attempted to Invade Britain and Wrest Control of the Island from the Usurper Carausius in 289 A.D.

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: What is your first book of the year?

My first book of the year is The Clingerman Files by Mildred Clingerman, a compilation of the author's short fiction. I am currently in the middle of the book, and I should have a review of it posted by early next week.

Previous Book Blogger Hop: 288 Is "Two Gross", Which Is Often Used as a Pun Among Math Nerds

Subsequent Book Blogger Hop: 290 Is the Sum of Four Consecutive Prime Numbers

Book Blogger Hop     Home

Challenges - Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge

This year, I am participating in a print only reading challenge, specifically the Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge hosted by As Told by Tina. The parameters of the challenge are in the title - reading physical printed copies of books. Any kind of printed book will do: hardback, trade paperback, mass market paperback, even board books, so long as they are not e-books. Given that I don't actually own any e-books, and all of the thousands of books on by to-be-read pile are physical copies, this challenge is a natural fit for me.

The Print Only 2019 Challenge:

The Clingerman Files by Mildred Clingerman

2019 Challenge Tracking Pages
12^th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge 2019
2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge
2019 Linz Reading Challenge
2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
2019 TBR Pile Challenge
Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge
SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019

2019 Challenges     Home

Challenges - Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge

Every year I try to find a science fiction or fantasy related challenge. In the past, these types of genre challenges have always seemed to kind of fall apart as a result of bad administration by the hosts. This year, I am participating in the Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge hosted by A Dance With Books, and I am quite obviously hoping that this challenge is better run than its predecessors. The challenge consists of three sets of prompts, and completing each section earns the participant a "title". The prompts are as follows:

Fantasy:
1. Classic fantasy
2. Magic school
3. Necromancers
4. PTSD
5. Dragons
6. Fairytale (retelling)
7. Grimdark
8. Ghosts
9. Uncommon fantasy creatures
10. Shapeshifters
11. Gods
12. Animal companion
13. Maternal heritage
14. Set in our world
15. Witches
16. Magical law enforcement
17. Thief
18. Pirates
19. Portal fantasy
20. Warrior

Those who complete this section earn the title Fire Breathing Dragon.

Sci-Fi:
1. On a different planet
2. Utopia
3. Space ship
4. Steampunk
5. Time travel
6. Artificial intelligence POV
7. Proto science-fiction
8. Hive
9. Alien
10. Virtual reality
11. Super powers
12. Science
13. Replicate
14. Space colonization
15. Mecha
16. Space creatures/beasts
17. Teleportation
18. Space Western
19. The Moon
20. Invasion

Those who complete this section earn the title Complete Alien.

Generic:
1. Satire

2. Under 500 pages

The Clingerman Files by Mildred Clingerman

3. Under 800 pages
4. Novella
5. Finish a series
6. Mental health
7. Disability
8. Published before 1990
9. Set in Africa
10. Library
11. By a woman of color
12. One word title

Those who complete this section earn the title Generic Robot.

Those who complete all three sections earn the title Dragon Alien Robot.

2018 Challenge Tracking Pages
12^th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge 2019
2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge
2019 Linz Reading Challenge
2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
2019 TBR Pile Challenge
Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge
SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019

2019 Challenges     Home

Challenges - 2019 TBR Pile Challenge

I have participated in TBR challenges in previous years, but I was unsatisfied with their administration. This year, I am participating in a new TBR challenge, specifically the 2019 TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader. The premise of this challenge is to read books that have been sitting in your TBR pile for at least one full year. I have literally thousands of books that fit that description, so this is an almost perfect challenge for me to participate in.

The 2019 TBR Pile Challenge:

The Clingerman Files by Mildred Clingerman

2019 Challenge Tracking Pages
12^th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge 2019
2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge
2019 Linz Reading Challenge
2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge
Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge
SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019

2019 Challenges     Home

Challenges - 2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

In 2019 I am going to take on the 2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge hosted by Everyday Gyaan. The object of this challenge is to read more than you did in 2018. For me, this shouldn't be too hard, since 2018 was an absolutely terrible reading year for me in which I only read twelve books. I figure I'll at least double that figure, and I'm aiming to quintuple it or more.

The 2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge:

The Clingerman Files by Mildred Clingerman

2019 Challenge Tracking Pages
12^th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge 2019
2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge
2019 Linz Reading Challenge
2019 TBR Pile Challenge
Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge
Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge
SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019

2019 Challenges     Home

Musical Monday - Super Trouper by ABBA

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Never.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: November 20, 1980 through December 13, 1980.

Super Trouper is a song about a type of spotlight, proving that ABBA could make a hit song about almost anything. This was ABBA's ninth and final number one hit in the U.K., and I generally regard it as one of the dying gasps of the 1970s era of music.

I've said elsewhere that the oddity of ABBA is that they were huge Beatles-level superstars in almost every part of the world other than the United States, where they had only moderate success. When this song reached number one in the U.K., ABBA had the fourth most top hits in that country behind the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Cliff Richard. They held that position for nearly two decades until Madonna scored her tenth number one hit in the U.K. with Music in 2000.

I first encountered ABBA when I was living in Tanzania, and the community that my family socialized with included people from around the world, but most notably people from Norway, the Netherlands, and the U.K., which meant that ABBA was played frequently. My parents entertained a lot (in some part because it was a requirement of my father's job), and ABBA (along with Boney M and Santa Esmerelda) were always on the party playlist. I still remember being a kid and watching clouds of tipsy adults dancing on my parents' enormous back patio, rocking out to ABBA song after ABBA song. This was my first exposure to "grown-up" parties, and it was full of ridiculous European disco that somehow never became popular in the United States.

Previous Musical Monday: Lady by Kenny Rogers

Subsequent Musical Monday: Master Blaster (Jammin') by Stevie Wonder

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: The Tide Is High by Blondie

Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: (Just like) Starting Over by John Lennon

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

ABBA     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

Challenge - 2019 Linz Reading Challenge

In 2019 I am going to take on the 2019 Reading Challenge hosted by Linz the Bookworm. This challenge consists of several reading prompts divided into five categories. My goal for this year is to complete all five categories. The prompts are as follows:

Level 1: Book of the Month Club
1. Read a book with a red cover.
2. Read a young adult fiction book.
3. Read a book under 300 pages.
4. Read a book you got for free.
5. Reread the first book of a series you love.
6. Read a book that takes place during the summer.
7. Read a book whose title starts with the letter M.
8. Read a romance novel.
9. Read a book that has been turned into a TV Show or Movie.
10. Read a book with a title done in alliteration (example: Pride and Prejudice).
11. Read a New York Time's Best Seller (past or present).
12. Free Space - Pick any book to read!

Level 2: Casual Reader Club
13. Read a book by John Grisham.
14. Read a fantasy novel.
15. Read a book with a color in the title.
16. Reread a book you have recommended to someone else.
17. Read a detective novel.
18. Read a book with a number in the title.
19. Read a book about dragons.
20. Read a book published by Penguin Random House.
21. Read a book found on Project Gutenberg.
22. Read a book about an artist (fictional or real).
23. Read a book that was published in 1999.
24. Free Space - Pick any book to read!

Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club
25. Read book 1 in a trilogy.
26. Read book 2 in the same trilogy.
27. Read book 3 in the same trilogy.
28. Read a book recommended by a friend on social media.
29. Read a book about a librarian.
30. Read a book about breaking a code or a treasure hunt.
31. Read a book by Brandon Sanderson.
32. Read a book that takes place in a large city.
33. Read a book suggested by What Should I Read Next.
34. Read a book for under $3.00.

35. Read a book with exactly three words in the title.

The Clingerman Files by Mildred Clingerman

36. Free Space - Pick any book to read!

Level 4: Speed-Reader Club
37.) Read a book over 500 pages.
38.) Read a book about time travel.
39.) Read a book with a form of weather in the title.
40.) Read a book published in 1969.
41.) Read a book authored by a Catherine/Katherine or variant.
42.) Read a book by Anne Rice.
43.) Read a book from Time's All-Time Top 100 Book List (find it here).
44.) Read a coming of age novel.
45.) Read a book involving mythology.
46.) Read a self-published book.
47.) Read a book with the word "dream" in the title.
48.) Free Space - Pick any book to read!

Level 5: Overachiever Club
49.) Read a book on a banned book list.
50.) Read the most recent book in a series you haven't finished.
51.) Read a book that you judged by its cover (either positively or negatively).
52.) Read a book that takes place in your home state.
53.) Read a book that takes place before 1965.
54.) Read a biography.
55.) Read a book you've previously abandoned.
56.) Read a book about a real or fictional politician.
57.) Read a book set in Asia.
58.) Read a book with a tree or forest on the cover.
59.) Read a book with the letter Z in the title.
60.) Free Space - Pick any book to read!

2019 Challenge Tracking Pages
12^th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge 2019
2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge
2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
2019 TBR Pile Challenge
Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge
Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge
SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019

2019 Challenges     Home

Book Blogger Hop January 4th - January 10th: 288 Is "Two Gross", Which Is Often Used as a Pun Among Math Nerds

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: Any books you are looking forward to for 2019?

The book I am most looking forward to in 2019 is The Dragon Republic, R.F. Kuang's upcoming sequel to her book The Poppy War. I am also looking forward to Tiamat's Wrath, the eighth book in James S.A. Corey's Expanse series. I am sure there are a few other books that I should be looking forward to, but the last few months have been so dominated by preparations for buying our new place, and then moving from our old place to our new one that I simply don't have my ear to the ground concerning upcoming releases the way I normally do.

Previous Book Blogger Hop: The First Indiction Began in 287 A.D.

Subsequent Book Blogger Hop: Emperor Maximian Attempted to Invade Britain and Wrest Control of the Island from the Usurper Carausius in 289 A.D.

Book Blogger Hop     Home

Challenges - 2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge

In 2019 I am going to take on the 2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge hosted by Hope, Faith, and Books. I am aiming at reading a fair amount of science fiction and fantasy, and both genres have a fair amount of dystopian fiction contained within them, so this challenge will dovetail pretty well with my projected reading.

The 2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge:
None Yet

2019 Challenge Tracking Pages
12^th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge 2019
2019 Linz Reading Challenge
2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
2019 TBR Pile Challenge
Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge
Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge
SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019

2019 Challenges     Home

Challenges - 12th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge 2019

In 2019 I am going to once again take on the graphic novels challenge hosted by the 12^th Annual Graphic Novels and Manga Challenge 2019 Facebook group. I don't have a firm plan, although I will definitely be following up on all of the graphic novels I read in 2018 and trying to read more Captain Marvel, Lumberjanes, Monstress, Ms. Marvel, Saga, and Sex Criminals. I still have several volumes of Girl Genius, and the entire run of Order of the Stick to get to as well. If I get ambitious, I'll get a start on reviewing my Asterix collection and some of the Batman compilations I have. I seem to say this every year, but this may finally be the year that I finally get to reviewing my collection of For Better or for Worse.

The 12^th Annual Graphic Novels and Manga Challenge 2018:
None Yet

2019 Challenge Tracking Pages
2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge
2019 Linz Reading Challenge
2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
2019 TBR Pile Challenge
Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge
Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge
SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019

2019 Challenges     Home

Challenge - The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019

Once again, I am participating in multiple reading challenges this year. They all appear to be good challenges, but while I can use them to provide an annual catalog of the books I read and reviewed in the year, they are not quite comprehensive enough for my needs. In addition to reviewing books I also review magazine issues, movies, television episodes, and albums, and in order to capture all of these reviews as well as my book reviews I've created this tracking page, which I will use to provide links to my reviews as I post them. This isn't really a "challenge", but I'm listing it with my challenge pages anyway, just because I did this way in each of the last two years, and it is now a hoary old established tradition.

The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019:

The Clingerman Files by Mildred Clingerman

2019 Challenge Tracking Pages
12^th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge
2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge
2019 Linz Reading Challenge
2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
2019 TBR Pile Challenge
Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge
Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge
SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

2019 Challenges     Home

2019 Challenges

I'm tracking the reading blog-based challenges I'm participating in for the year on this page. For 2019, I'm participating in the 12^th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge 2019, the 2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge, the 2019 Linz Reading Challenge, the 2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge, the 2019 TBR Pile Challenge, the Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge, the Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge, and the SpaceTime Reading Challenge. I am also participating in two multi-year challenges: The 101 Fantasy Reading Challenge, and the Read All the Books Challenge. The links below will take you to the tracking pages for each challenge.

2019 Challenge Tracking Pages
12^th Annual Graphic Novel & Manga Challenge 2019
2019 Dystopia Reading Challenge
2019 Linz Reading Challenge
2019 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
2019 TBR Pile Challenge
Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi – A (2019) Reading Challenge
Print Only 2019 Reading Challenge
SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2019

Home