So way way way long time ago (last January), I found a reading challenge (here’s the link). So how well did I do for 2015 and this challenge, assuming that I want a unique book has to fit in each category?
Legend:
| Success! | The novel superbly satisfies the criteria. |
| Quasi-sucess | Parts, but not all of the novel satisfy the criteria. |
| Failure | Didn’t manage to read even one book like this. Sad panda 🙁 |
Read a book that is/Read a/Read an/Read/ …
| 001 | set in British Columbia | Ellen In Pieces by Caroline Adderson |
| 002 | set in Alberta | Saltwater Cowboys by Dayle Furlong |
| 003 | set in Saskatchewan | The Girl in Saskatoon by Sharon Butala |
| 004 | set in Manitoba | Crackpot by Adele Wiseman |
| 005 | set in Ontario | And the Birds Rained Down by Jocelyne Saucier |
| 006 | set in Quebec | Sanaaq by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk |
| 007 | set in Nova Scotia | Turn Us Again by Charlotte R. Mendel |
| 008 | set in New Brunswick | Yep, the province I live in. Failure! |
| 009 | set in Prince Edward Island | This Is Happy by Camilla Gibb (for about four pages of the whole book) |
| 010 | set in Newfoundland/Labrador | The Night Stages by Jane Urquhart |
| 011 | set in Nunavut, Yukon, or Northwest Territories | Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton |
| 012 | set in an urban centre | A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith |
| 013 | with a rural setting | Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile |
| 014 | set outside of North America | Under the Skin by Michel Faber |
| 015 | which has been nominated for the Giller Prize | Outline by Rachel Cusk |
| 016 | which has been nominated Governor General’s Fiction Award | The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier |
| 017 | which has been nominated Governor General’s Nonfiction Award | I have a book out from the library right now. I haven’t read it, but it’s at least in my house. |
| 018 | which has been nominated for the Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize | All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews |
| 019 | which has been nominated for the Writer’s Trust Nonfiction Prize (Weston Prize) | |
| 020 | which has been nominated for RBC Taylor Prize (formerly The Charles Taylor Prize) for Literary Nonfiction | The Juggler’s Children by Carolyn Abraham |
| 021 | which has been nominated for the Stephen Leacock Medal For Humour | I guess I don’t like funny. |
| 022 | which has been nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) | The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri |
| 023 | which has been nominated for the Commonwealth Prize | Bang Crunch by Neil Smith |
| 024 | which has been nominated for the Booker Prize | The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell |
| 025 | that has featured in the The Morning News’ annual ‘Tournament of Books’ | Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel |
| 026 | that has been featured on Canada Reads | When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid |
| 027 | which has been nominated for a National Book Award | Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson |
| 028 | by an author who has won a Nobel Prize | I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai |
| 029 | which features a Canadian immigration experience | The View From Castle Rock by Alice Munro |
| 030 | authored by a First Nations writer | Birdie by Tracey Lindberg |
| 031 | that features First Nations experiences | Nobody Cries at Bingo by Dawn Dumont |
| 032 | that is considered a Canadian Classic | Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang by Mordecai Richler |
| 033 | by a Canadian author | The Secret World of Og by Pierre Berton |
| 034 | featuring an animal | Double Trouble by Jenny Dale |
| 035 | published by an independent (indie) publishing house | Cosmo by Spencer Gordon |
| 036 | originally published in a language you do not speak | Uzumaki Volume One by Junji Ito |
| 037 | ‘big book’ – a book over 600 pages | A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James |
| 038 | you discovered in a Canadian Newspaper | The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank |
| 039 | you discovered in a Canadian Magazine | Erm…maybe I need to actually read a Canadian magazine. |
| 040 | you discovered on 49th Shelf http://49thshelf.com | Elle by Douglas Glover |
| 041 | recommended to you by a Canadian | Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton |
| 042 | that features hockey | If I Fall, I Die by Michael Christie (Well, he wears a hockey helmet on his first foray from the house, so close enough.) |
| 043 | that features music or musicians | Us Conductors by Sean Michaels |
| 044 | written by an author under the age of 30 | The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (when it was published he was 29, not obviously that he is still under 30 now). |
| 045 | written by an author over the age of 65 | The Brueghel Moon by Tamaz Chiladze |
| 046 | that features an LGBTQ character | Fingersmith by Sarah Waters |
| 047 | written by an author who identifies as LGBTQ | Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin |
| 048 | about family | Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers |
| 049 | that has been banned | A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle |
| 050 | by an author who is also (or has been) a journalist | Count on Yourself by Alison Griffiths |
| 051 | that has been a Canadian bestseller | Adult Onset by Ann-Marie Macdonald |
| 052 | about survival | The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket |
| 053 | that has been on your bookshelf for a very long time | Great American Short Stories edited by Wallace and Mary Stegner |
| 054 | published in 2015 | The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins |
| 055 | published in the 1800s | 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne |
| 056 | published in the 1900s | Folk of the Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton |
| 057 | published in the 2000s | Submission by Michel Houellebecq |
| 058 | set in the future | Feed by Mira Grant |
| 059 | set in the past | Siberiak by Jenny Jaeckel |
| 060 | that has been adapted for TV, or the big screen | Good-bye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood |
| 061 | the first book in a series | Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary |
| 062 | in a series you have already begun | A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson |
| 063 | that you think has a beautiful cover design | Katamari Volume 1 by Alex Culang and Renato Castro |
| 064 | written by a man, featuring a female main character | The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee by Barry Johnsberg |
| 065 | written by a woman, featuring a male main character | The Man Without A Face by Masha Gessen |
| 066 | recommended to you by a friend, or family member | The Thickety by J.A. White |
| 067 | published in the year of your birth | The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams |
| 068 | by one of you favourite authors | Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson |
| 069 | by an author you have never read before | 2666 by Roberto Bolaño |
| 070 | novel that is a coming of age story | Tita by Marie Houzelle |
| 071 | that was noted on any 2014 ‘best books of the year’ list | Through the Woods by Emily Caroll |
| 072 | that features illness or disability | The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq |
| 073 | that is a mystery, or features crime | The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks |
| 074 | science fiction novel | Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky |
| 075 | fantasy novel | The Turnip Princess by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth |
| 076 | novel which is considered ‘YA’ (published for young adults) | The Thrilling Life of Pauline De Lammermoor by Edeet Ravel |
| 077 | poetry collection | Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell |
| 078 | play | The Last Days of Mankind by Karl Krauss (also the only play I read this year) |
| 079 | that crosses genres | Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski |
| 080 | graphic novel, or graphic memoir | Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët |
| 081 | about food or drink | The Sweetness in the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley |
| 082 | biography or memoir | Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling |
| 083 | love story | The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro |
| 084 | featuring travel | 1988: I Want to Talk With the World by Han Han |
| 085 | collection of short stories | What Boys Like by Amy Jones |
| 086 | of essays | Yes Please by Amy Poehler |
| 087 | of narrative nonfiction | A Spy Among Friends by Ben MacIntyre |
| 088 | epistolary novel, or a nonfiction collection of letters | Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary |
| 089 | that deals with overcoming the monster | Boo by Neil Smith |
| 090 | that features a rags to riches story | The BFG by Roald Dahl |
| 091 | about a quest | Bird Box by Josh Malerman |
| 092 | featuring a voyage and return | The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster |
| 093 | comedy | A Royal Pain by Ellen Conford |
| 094 | tragedy | The Children Act by Ian McEwan |
| 095 | story about rebirth | Where Did You Sleep Last Night by Lynn Crosbie |
| 096 | novel with a first-person narrative | When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket |
| 097 | novel with a second-person narrative | Viviane by Julia Deck |
| 098 | novel with a third-person narrative | All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr |
| 099 | that has an unreliable narrator | Acceptance by Jeff Vandermeer |
| 100 | that features alternating narration | The Swallow by Charis Cotter |