Reading Challenge 2021!

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

It's time again to set myself a new reading challenge for 2021, last year I set myself the goal of 8 books and while I failed at completing all 8, I still did better than I expected by completing 5 of the books, 1 of which wasn't part of my original challenge. This year, I've set myself the lower goal of 5 books, in the hopes that if I succeed and do more then that's a bonus, one of the books is a rollover from last years challenge, as I have started one of the books but not completed yet.

This year's books included in my challenge are: Chris Colfer's The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns, Robert Galbraith's Troubled Blood, P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins, Giovanna & Tom Fletcher's The Eve Illusion and Jessica Jung's Shine.

As you can see above, I completed 5 books last year, before the year and my challenge ended I had started reading P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins, which is why it's included in this years challenge too. But before I get stuck into this years challenge, let's see how I did in last years challenge.

My first book was the completion of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind, while this book took me over a year to read, I really enjoyed reading it, even though it was a little slow to build up. I think it's definitely one of those books that can be interpreted how the reader views it, for example, the story talks about how from birth everyone said Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was evil because he had no smell, which in turn meant he had a cold upbringing, meaning he became what they said he was. Whereas I personally think it's a child's upbringing that determines how they treat other etc as they become adults, can you really show others love, if that isn't something you received yourself.

"In eighteen-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages..."

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in a Parisian slum and abandoned on the streets, discovers he has an extraordinary - near superhuman - sense of smell. As he sniffs his way across France, this gift is exploited by Grenouille to make the world's most marvellous perfumes. Yet in seeking perfection in his experiments, he realises that a vital ingredient is missing for the perfect scent; innocence.

And in order to get the ingredient he needs, he must capture it - whatever the price.

My second book was THE FIVE: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed By Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold. For me this book was a real eye opener to a side of this time in history that I've never actually thought about before. It made me realise also that over the years, the way women are treated hasn't really changed that much in the way what a woman is judged and labelled where a man it isn't. Ever since reading this book, I have definitely thought more about the women that were so brutally murdered, than the mystery of the man that committed these crimes.

Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, live on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers.

What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888.

Their murderer was never identified, but the name created for him by the press has become more famous than any of these women.

In this devastating narrative of five lives, historian Hallie Rubenhold finally gives these women back their stories.

My third book was The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories by Tim Burton. This book is short, and as I would normally say sweet, but the short stories in this book are far from sweet. It didn't take me long to finish this book and I really enjoyed it as I'm a fan of Tim Burton, while I found some of the dark humour funny, some was a bit touch a go.

"The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories exquisitely conveys the pain of an adolescent outsider. Like Tim Burton's movies the work manages to be both childlike and sophisticated, blending the innocent with macabre." - New York Times

"In the manner of pictorial tales of Shel Silverstein, Roald Dahl and Edward Gorey - but from a slightly more twisted realm of the imagination - Burton's creepy stories conjure up the fantastical, even the slightly demented." - Entertainment Weekly

Tim Burton - the creative genius behind Batman, Edward Scissorhands. Sleepy Hollow and The Nightmare Before Christmas - now gives birth to a cast of gruesomely sympathetic children: misunderstood outcasts who struggle to find love and belonging in their cruel, cruel worlds. His lovingly lurid illustrations evoke both the sweetness and tragedy of these hopeful yet hapless beings.

My Fourth book was The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer. I absolutely loved this book, it's the first in his The Land of Stories series, and I have the 2nd book as part of my challenge for this year. They may be aimed a children aged between 9-11, but that doesn't mean children and even adults cannot enjoy this book, it gives a moment to forget everything that's going on, and fall into the land of stories ourselves.

Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change.

When the twins' grandmother gives them a treasured fairy-tale book, they have no idea they're about to enter a land beyond all imagining: The Land of Stories, where fairy-tales are real.

The twins know they must get back home somehow. But with the legendary Evil Queen hot on their trail, will they ever find the way?

Google Images

My fifth and final book from last year was When the Curtain Falls by Carrie Hope Fletcher. I read this book within a couple of days and I absolutely loved it, I was hooked from the very first page.

That was my 2020 book challenge results and now it's time to start 2021's reading challenge.

CHALLENGE START!!

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye