Category: Reading Challenges

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: Looking back at 2024 and forward to 2025!

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I don’t often take part in year-long reading challenges as I prefer to just join in with shorter reading events these days. However, there’s still one that I like to participate in every year – and that is the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader & Baker. Although it’s not really very challenging for me as I read a lot of historical fiction anyway, I do enjoy linking my reviews to the monthly challenge posts, seeing what other participants are reading and discovering new historical fiction novels and bloggers. Marg has also been posting monthly statistics so we can see which books and authors are proving particularly popular.

Before I post the details of the 2025 challenge, I want to look back at what I achieved in 2024.

I had signed up at the ‘Prehistoric’ level, which meant reading 50+ historical fiction novels during the year. I managed to read 57 (six more than last year’s 51) and here they are, with links to my reviews where available:

1. Silence by Shūsaku Endō
2. The Beholders by Hester Musson
3. The Spendthrift and the Swallow by Ambrose Parry
4. Cuddy by Benjamin Myers
5. The Bone Hunters by Joanne Burn
6. The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
7. Clairmont by Lesley McDowell
8. The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
9. The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price
10. The Tower by Flora Carr
11. The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy
12. The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola
13. The Reckoning by Sharon Penman
14. The Ballad of Lord Edward and Citizen Small by Neil Jordan
15. The Fraud by Zadie Smith
16. The Household by Stacey Halls
17. A Plague of Serpents by KJ Maitland
18. Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein
19. Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis
20. The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron
21. The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
22. The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal
23. The Nightingale’s Castle by Sonia Velton
24. The Meiji Guillotine Murders by Futaro Yamada
25. The Puzzle Wood by Rosie Andrews
26. Babylonia by Costanza Casati
27. A Woman of Opinion by Sean Lusk
28. The King’s Mother by Annie Garthwaite
29. The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden
30. A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith
31. The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
32. House of Shades by Lianne Dillsworth
33. The King’s Witches by Kate Foster
34. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
35. In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas
36. A Court of Betrayal by Anne O’Brien
37. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
38. The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
39. Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead
40. A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike
41. The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley
42. Precipice by Robert Harris
43. Mary I: Queen of Sorrows by Alison Weir
44. Midnight in Vienna by Jane Thynne
45. God is an Englishman by RF Delderfield
46. The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier
47. The Bells of Westminster by Leonora Nattrass
48. The Lost Queen by Carol McGrath
49. Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
50. City of Silk by Glennis Virgo
51. Poor Girls by Clare Whitfield
52. The Royal Rebel by Elizabeth Chadwick
53. Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd
54. The Ghost of Madison Avenue by Nancy Bilyeau
55. What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley
56. The Voyage Home by Pat Barker
57. Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain

Now, here are the rules for the 2025 challenge, taken from Marg’s blog:

Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, History/Non-Fiction, etc.)

During the following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

20th Century Reader – 2 books
Victorian Reader – 5 books
Renaissance Reader – 10 books
Medieval – 15 books
Ancient History – 25 books
Prehistoric – 50+ books

You can sign up for the challenge here. I will be aiming for Prehistoric again in 2025.

Let me know if you’re planning to take part too!

The end of 20 Books of Summer 2024 – and the start of RIP XIX

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I’ve taken part in Cathy’s 20 Books of Summer challenge every year since 2017, but have never managed to read all of the books on my list – until now. I’ve come very close once or twice, reading 18 or 19 of them, but usually I get distracted by other books and end up only reading 10 or 11. What did I do differently this year? I can think of three things: first, I only listed books I needed to read anyway – NetGalley review copies and books for various other reading challenges and events. I also took advantage of Cathy’s flexible rules and listed some alternatives in case any of the books on my main list didn’t appeal when the time came. Finally, I avoided including any very long, heavy books, which is a mistake I’ve made in the past.

Here’s what I read, with links to my reviews:

1. Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie (Read Christie 2024)
2. N or M? by Agatha Christie (Read Christie 2024)
3. Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson (Moomin Week)
4. Thomasina by Paul Gallico (Reading the Meow)
5. In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas (Walter Scott Prize project)
6. The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi
7. The Meiji Guillotine Murders by Futaro Yamada
8. The King’s Witches by Kate Foster
9. The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron
10. The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal
11. The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks
12. A Woman of Opinion by Sean Lusk
13. Babylonia by Costanza Casati
14. The King’s Mother by Annie Garthwaite
15. A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith
16. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
17. The Lost Queen by Carol McGrath (didn’t finish – still reading)
18. The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden
19. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
20. Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead

Alternatives

I listed four of the shorter books remaining on my Classics Club list as alternatives:

1. The Black Lake by Hella S. Haasse
2. The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff (didn’t read)
3. The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
4. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (didn’t read)

As you can see, I actually read 19 of the original 20 books on my list, plus 2 of the alternatives, for a total of 21. I also enjoyed most of these books, which is the most important thing!

Thanks to Cathy of 746Books for hosting.

~

Today is also the first day of another of my favourite reading challenges, RIP (Readers Imbibing Peril), which is back for its nineteenth year! This event, which used to be hosted by book blogs, seems to take place mainly on Instagram now (follow @perilreaders for more information); I’m not very active over there, but I still like to join in with RIP, even if it’s just in a casual, flexible way.

The idea is to read, watch or listen to anything that fits one of the following categories:

Mystery
Suspense
Thriller
Dark Fantasy
Gothic
Horror
Supernatural

After reading from my 20 Books of Summer list all summer, I don’t want to make another long list of RIP reads as I would prefer to be spontaneous and just read whatever I feel like reading. I’ve already started working through a collection of classic horror stories – Tales Accursed, edited by Richard Wells – and I have plenty of other suitable books on the TBR.

~

Did you take part in 20 Books of Summer and did you complete your list? And are you taking part in Readers Imbibing Peril XIX?

20 Books of Summer – 2024

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20 Books of Summer, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books, is a very simple idea: make a list of twenty books (there are also ten and fifteen book options) and read them during the months of June, July and August. However, it’s not as simple as it sounds and despite taking part every year since 2017, I’ve never been able to complete it! I often do read twenty books during that period, but not necessarily the books on my list.

This year’s 20 Books of Summer starts on 1st June and finishes on 1st September. I have listed below the books I would like to read. Most of these are either upcoming NetGalley review copies or books for various other challenges and projects I’m taking part in.

1. Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie (Read Christie 2024)
2. N or M? by Agatha Christie (Read Christie 2024)
3. Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson (Moomin Week)
4. Thomasina by Paul Gallico (Reading the Meow)
5. In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas (Walter Scott Prize project)
6. The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi
7. The Meiji Guillotine Murders by Futaro Yamada
8. The King’s Witches by Kate Foster
9. The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron
10. The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal
11. The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks
12. A Woman of Opinion by Sean Lusk
13. Babylonia by Costanza Casati
14. The King’s Mother by Annie Garthwaite
15. A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith
16. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
17. The Lost Queen by Carol McGrath
18. The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden
19. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
20. Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead

Alternatives

I have listed four of the shorter books remaining on my Classics Club list as alternatives in case I don’t feel like reading some of the books above when the time comes.

1. The Black Lake by Hella S. Haasse
2. The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff
3. The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
4. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

~

Are you taking part in 20 Books of Summer this year? What do you think I should read first?

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: Looking back at 2023 and forward to 2024!

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I don’t take part in many year-long reading challenges as I prefer to just join in with shorter reading events these days. However, there is one that I like to participate in every year – and that is the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader. This is not really much of a ‘challenge’ for me as I read a lot of historical fiction anyway, but I still enjoy linking my reviews to the monthly challenge posts, seeing what other participants are reading and discovering new historical fiction novels and bloggers. This year, Marg has also been posting monthly statistics so we can see which books and authors are proving particularly popular.

Before I post the details of the 2024 challenge, I want to look back at what I achieved in 2023.

I had signed up at the ‘Prehistoric’ level, which meant reading 50+ historical fiction novels during the year. I managed to read 51 (I’m probably not going to finish any more before the end of the month) and here they are, with links to reviews where available:

1. The Giant, O’Brien by Hilary Mantel
2. A Marriage of Fortune by Anne O’Brien
3. My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor
4. For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie
5. The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell
6. Weyward by Emilia Hart
7. Lady MacBethad by Isabelle Schuler
8. The Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor
9. The Lodger by Helen Scarlett
10. These Days by Lucy Caldwell
11. The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden
12. The Spanish Bride by Georgette Heyer
13. Rivers of Treason by KJ Maitland
14. Prize Women by Caroline Lea
15. Homecoming by Kate Morton
16. The Ghost Theatre by Mat Osman
17. Music in the Dark by Sally Magnusson
18. Farewell, the Tranquil Mind by RF Delderfield
19. The Stolen Crown by Carol McGrath
20. The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane
21. Savage Beasts by Rani Selvarajah
22. The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor
23. Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry
24. The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
25. The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker
26. The Housekeepers by Alex Hay
27. The Graces by Siobhan MacGowan
28. The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer
29. Disobedient by Elizabeth Fremantle
30. Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie
31. The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau
32. Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons
33. The House with the Golden Door by Elodie Harper
34. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
35. Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue
36. A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson
37. A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin
38. The Ionian Mission by Patrick O’Brian
39. Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown by Alison Weir
40. Night Train to Marrakech by Dinah Jefferies
41. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
42. The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer
43. Once a Monster by Robert Dinsdale
44. Scarlet Town by Leonora Nattrass
45. The Wayward Sisters by Kate Hodges
46. The Water Child by Mathew West
47. The Black Feathers by Rebecca Netley
48. The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead
49. The Black Crescent by Jane Johnson
50. Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville
51. The Witch’s Daughter by Imogen Edwards-Jones (review to follow)

Here are the rules for the 2024 challenge, taken from Marg’s blog:

Everyone can participate! If you don’t have a blog you can post a link to your review if it’s posted on Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon, or you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish.

Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, History/Non-Fiction, etc.)

During the following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

20th Century Reader – 2 books
Victorian Reader – 5 books
Renaissance Reader – 10 books
Medieval – 15 books
Ancient History – 25 books
Prehistoric – 50+ books

You can sign up for the challenge here. I will be aiming for Prehistoric again in 2024.

Let me know if you’re planning to take part too!

20 Books of Summer – 2023

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20 Books of Summer, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books, is a very simple idea: make a list of twenty books (there are also ten and fifteen book options) and read them during the months of June, July and August. However, it’s not as simple as it sounds and despite taking part for the last six years, I’ve never been able to complete it! I usually do read twenty books during that period, but not necessarily the books on my list – although last year I came very close and managed to read nineteen of them.

This year’s 20 Books of Summer starts on Thursday 1st June and finishes on Friday 1st September. I have listed below the books I would like to read:

NetGalley books
1. The Graces by Siobhan MacGowan
2. The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer
3. Disobedient by Elizabeth Fremantle
4. Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons
5. Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue
6. A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin

Read Christie 2023
7. Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie

Classics Club
8. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
9. Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault
10. The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins

Reading the Meow at Literary Potpourri
11. The Cat Saw Murder by Dolores Hitchens

‘Summer’ books
12. The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
13. A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson

Others
14. The House with the Golden Door by Elodie Harper
15. The Ionian Mission by Patrick O’Brian
16. The Embroidered Sunset by Joan Aiken
17. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
18. Wonder Cruise by Ursula Bloom
19. The Reckoning by Sharon Penman
20. Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker

~

Have you read any of these? Which do you think I should read first? And are you taking part in 20 Books of Summer this year?

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: Wrapping up 2022 and signing up for 2023!

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I don’t take part in many year-long reading challenges as I prefer to just join in with shorter reading events these days. However, there is one that I like to participate in every year – and that is the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader. This is not really much of a ‘challenge’ for me, but I still enjoy linking my reviews to the monthly challenge posts, seeing what other participants are reading and discovering new historical fiction novels and bloggers. This year, Marg has also been posting monthly statistics so we can see which books and authors are getting lots of reviews!

Before I post the details of the 2023 challenge, I want to look back at what I achieved in 2022.

I had signed up at the ‘Prehistoric’ level, which meant reading 50+ historical fiction novels during the year. I managed to read 64 (about half of my total number of books read this year) and here they are:

1. The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown
2. A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browing Wroe
3. The Silver Wolf by JC Harvey
4. I, Mona Lisa by Natasha Solomons
5. The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews
6. The Rebel Daughter by Miranda Malins
7. The Queen’s Lady by Joanna Hickson
8. The House of Footsteps by Mathew West
9. The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola
10. The Reindeer Hunters by Lars Mytting
11. Go Tell the Bees That I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon
12. The Sunken Road by Ciarán McMenamin
13. Booth by Karen Joy Fowler
14. Mrs England by Stacey Halls
15. Traitor in the Ice by KJ Maitland
16. The Stone Rose by Carol McGrath
17. The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer
18. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
19. Theatre of Marvels by Lianne Dillsworth
20. The Vanished Days by Susanna Kearsley
21. The Fugitive Colours by Nancy Bilyeau
22. The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
23. A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin
24. In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson
25. Winchelsea by Alex Preston
26. Fortune by Amanda Smyth
27. The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk
28. The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
29. Privilege by Guinevere Glasfurd
30. The Colour Storm by Damian Dibben
31. Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby
32. The Trial of Lotta Rae by Siobhan MacGowan
33. Joan by Katherine J. Chen
34. Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead
35. Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose by Alison Weir
36. That Bonesetter Woman by Frances Quinn
37. The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
38. The Bewitching by Jill Dawson
39. The Night Ship by Jess Kidd
40. The Magician by Colm Tóibín
41. The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer
42. Haven by Emma Donoghue
43. The Blood Flower by Alex Reeve
44. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
45. The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper
46. The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon
47. Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris
48. Hawker and the King’s Jewel by Ethan Bale
49. All the Broken Places by John Boyne
50. The Bookseller of Inverness by SG MacLean
51. The Hidden Palace by Dinah Jefferies
52. In the Shadow of Queens by Alison Weir
53. The Romantic by William Boyd
54. The Drums of War by Michael Ward
55. Ashes in the Snow by Oriana Ramunno
56. Blue Water by Leonora Nattrass
57. Cup of Gold by John Steinbeck
58. The Winter Garden by Nicola Cornick
59. Blue Postcards by Douglas Bruton
60. The Secret of Matterdale Hall by Marianne Ratcliffe
61. The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough
62. Nights of Plague by Orhan Pamuk
63. The Darlings of the Asylum by Noel O’Reilly
64. Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick – review to follow

Here are the rules for the 2023 challenge, taken from Marg’s blog:

Everyone can participate! If you don’t have a blog you can post a link to your review if it’s posted on Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon, or you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish.

Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, History/Non-Fiction, etc.)

During the following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

20th Century Reader – 2 books
Victorian Reader – 5 books
Renaissance Reader – 10 books
Medieval – 15 books
Ancient History – 25 books
Prehistoric – 50+ books

You can sign up for the challenge here. I will be aiming for Prehistoric again in 2023. Let me know if you’re planning to take part too!

The end of 20 Books of Summer…and the start of R.I.P XVII!

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This year’s 20 Books of Summer (hosted by Cathy at 746 Books) is over now, so let’s take a look at how I did. The rules were very simple – just make a list of 20 books and read them during June, July and August. In previous years I’ve never come close to finishing my list, but this time I’ve been much more successful!

Here are the books I’ve managed to read and review from my list, in the order I read them:

1. Fortune by Amanda Smyth
2. Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo
3. The Colour Storm by Damian Dibben
4. Death in the Andamans by M.M. Kaye
5. Summerhills by D.E Stevenson
6. Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby
7. Pied Piper by Nevil Shute
8. At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie
9. The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
10. A Pin to See the Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse
11. Haven by Emma Donoghue
12. The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel
13. Fool’s Quest by Robin Hobb
14. The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer
15. Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie
16. The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper
17. Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull
18. The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon

I’ve also read this one but not had time to review it yet:

19. Something Light by Margery Sharp

And I’m reading this one now:

20. Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick

I could probably have completed all twenty by the deadline, but didn’t want to rush the last few books. I’ve also read several others that weren’t on my list, so I consider this summer’s reading to have been a success – particularly as it included some very long books!

If you’ve been taking part, how did you do?

~

This is also the first day of another of my favourite reading challenges, R.I.P., which is back for its seventeenth year! This used to be one of the biggest events in the book blogging calendar but seems to take place mainly on Instagram and Twitter now. I still like to join in, even if it’s in a more casual and flexible way these days.

The idea is to read, watch or listen to anything that fits one of the following categories:

Mystery
Suspense
Thriller
Dark Fantasy
Gothic
Horror
Supernatural

After reading from my 20 Books of Summer list all summer, I don’t want to make another long list of R.I.P. reads as I would prefer to be spontaneous and just read whatever I feel like reading. However, there are a few books that I would definitely like to get to during this year’s challenge.

Two mysteries on my NetGalley shelf:

The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz
Blue Water by Leonora Nattrass

A book of short stories I would like to dip into throughout the event:

Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn

I have plenty of other books on the TBR that would also be perfect for R.I.P., so watch this space to see what else I decide to read!

If you would like to join in with R.I.P. XVII, more details can be found on the Readers Imbibing Peril blog or by following @perilreaders on Twitter or Instagram.