NancyEWhite's 2015 Category Challenge

I'm back for my first category challenge since 2008.

I'm looking to shape and guide my reading rather than set specific goals for particular writers, titles or quantity. When I get that detailed, I find that I rebel against myself. That just gets weird.

I've had a ball creating 9 Categories over the past few days. My son just turned 9 so it felt right to stop there.

1. Kind of a Big Deal - LibraryThing inspired, award winning, well reviewed, recommended IRL, blurbed by writers I like/trust, hyped

2. Time to Move Along - Paper or Kindle books I bought before 2015. I'm hoping to clear some that I bought many years ago, but we shall see how well I do

3. This I Believe - Politics, Feminism, Queer Studies, Religion, Anti-Racism, Animal Rights, Class and worker issues, etc.

4. Small but Mighty - Short stories and poetry - I resist these and want to change that

5. Oh look! Shiny! - Published in 2014 or 2015

6. I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore - Speculative Fiction, Dystopia, Horror, Sci Fi -Excited about the monthly reads here and the Horror! reading group

7. Buckle Up. We're Going for a Ride - Mysteries and thrillers. Stand-alone and series

8. "We are made to tell the world there are no outsiders. All are welcome...all, all, all"* - Non-American writers

9. Getting to Know You - Biography, memoir, autobiography

*Desmond Tutu

Kind of a Big Deal -
LibraryThing inspired, award winning, well reviewed, recommended IRL, blurbed by writers I like/trust, hyped

1. The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. 4 Stars - Orange Prize, Lots of Best of 2014 Lists
2. Station Eleven by Hilary St. John Mandel - 4 Stars - National Book Award nominee
3. The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison - 3.5 StarsGushing reviews in major publications, Lots of Best of 2014
4. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran - 5 Stars Recommended by RidgewayGirl
5. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill - 4 Stars - Folio Prize Shortlist, NYT Notable Book of the Year
6. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - 4.5 Stars - Booker Longlist, NYT Notable Book of the Year

Time to Move Along -
Paper or Kindle books I bought before 2015. I'm hoping to clear some that I bought many years ago, but we shall see how well I do

This I Believe -
Politics, Feminism, Queer Studies, Religion, Anti-Racism, Animal Rights, Class and worker issues, etc.

1. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran. 5 Stars - Feminism, Class
2. Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace by Anne Lamott - 4.5 Stars - Politics, Grace, Compassion

Small but Mighty -
Short stories and poetry - I resist these and want to change that

1. Blue Horses by Mary Oliver - 4 Stars

Oh look! Shiny! -
Written in 2014 or 2015

1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - 4 Stars
2. Blue Horses by Mary Oliver - 4 Stars
3. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran - 5 Stars
4. The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison - 3.5 Stars
5. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill - 4 Stars
6. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - 4.5 Stars

I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore -
Speculative Fiction, Dystopia, Horror, Sci Fi -Excited about the monthly reads here and the Horror! reading group

1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - 4 Stars
2. Victorian Dark: Risen by Elizabeth Watasin - 3.5 Stars
3. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole - 3 Stars
4. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill - 4 Stars
5. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - 4.5 Stars
6. My Real Children by Jo Walton - 3.5 Stars

Buckle Up. We're Going for a Ride -
Mysteries and thrillers. Stand-alone and series

1. Victorian Dark: Risen by Elizabeth Watasin - 3.5 Stars
2. Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey - 3.5 Stars

"We are made to tell the world there are no outsiders. All are welcome...all, all, all" (Desmond Tutu) -
Non-American writers

Getting to Know You -
Biography, memoir, autobiography

1. The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison - 3.5 Stars
2. Confessions of a Sociopath by M.E. Thomas - 3.5 Stars

Set Aside

1. Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway - I set this aside in 2012 and then again now. I don't remember why I did so then, but this time I was really enjoying it. Then, a friend passed away, and the snarky humor seemed less enjoyable. I am likely to pick this back up again when it is a better fit.

2. Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood - Library book expired before I finished. I'll get back to it.

3. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande - I began this and found it lovely. I'm very interested in end of life care, palliative care and aging, but this wasn't the time for this book since a friend of mine recently died of very aggressive lung cancer at 50 (no, she didn't smoke). I'll definitely be reading this.

Most of your categories cover what I like too, so I'll be watching what you read with interest.

I have a short stories and plays category too! Looking forward to seeing what you read for yours.

Looking forward to following along.

Welcome back!

Enjoy your challenge!

Interesting setup!

Dropping a star.

Welcome back!

When I get that detailed, I find that I rebel against myself. That just gets weird.

LOL!

The first book I finished this year fits into my "Kind of A Big Deal" category.

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. This novel following the life of a 19th century woman botanist was nominated for the Orange Prize (which has a new name that I hate - something to do with Baileys) and was on many "Best of 2014" lists. The characters were compelling, the travel was interesting and the plants were described so beautifully I could smell them and feel the cool soft moss under my fingertips.

Station Eleven by Hilary St. John Mandel fits into 3(!) of my categories - "Kind of a Big Deal", "Oh, Look! Shiny" and "I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore. This dystopia jumps around in time and point of view to describe the end of this world and the beginning of the next. The ways in which the characters are connected are revealed over the course of the novel. I was struck by the bittersweet emotion I felt as the narrative unfolded.

>21 nancyewhite: - That was one of my Christmas gifts - can't wait to read it!

>21 nancyewhite: This is like the 500th positive review I've seen for Station Eleven. I really need to read it soon!

I read Victorian Dark: Risen by Elizabeth Watasin for the Speculative Fiction Challenge. It is a mystery set in a steampunk Victorian England. Art, a Quaker, lesbian, reanimated ghost and her partner, Jim, a skull work together to solve supernatural crimes. It fits into my 'Not in Kansas Anymore' and 'Buckle Up' categories.

It was silly, light and short enough to make it fun to read. I'm game for the second in this series

The Castle of Otranto was another one for the 'Not In Kansas Anymore' category.

While I understand that this book spawned the Gothic novel and was wildly imaginative in 1764, the melodrama was too much for me. I might very well have abandoned it. Then I discovered the thread where lyzard tutors Squeaky_Chu on the book. It really changed everything about the read for me.

How to Build a Girl was another entry for 'Kind of a Big Deal' and the first for 'This I Believe'

I loved this book. When I say loved, I mean the kind of googly-eyed where you want to walk on the beach and look at sunsets together. A teenager who is too poor, too fat, too bookish and too weird for her Thatcher-decimated hometown finds her way out through writing. I was a fat, bookish, weird girl who grew up in a rough section of a city (Pittsburgh) that lost almost its entire industry in the mid-80s so I was very moved by this story.

It's more than that though, Moran is a great writer. The book is full of humor and growth and love and pain and compassion and characters you care about. When you read it, you'll also know why I feel just fine about being a blubbering, enthusiastic, over the top fan-girl.

When I created the 'This I Believe' category, I imagined it as composed of non-fiction books. This novel addresses class and feminist issues in so many ways. It is refreshing to read a story of these things as experienced rather than from a detached or overtly political perspective.

The Empathy Exams fits into 'Kind of a Big Deal' and is the first in 'Getting to Know You'

This was hit or miss for me. I like the concept of essays linked by a theme. I'm passionate about and interested in anything to do with compassion or empathy so it should be in my strike zone. Some of it was. The first essay about being a medical actor who played out scenarios where med students had to use people-skills to understand the situation and reassure the patient was fantastic. As was the one where she detailed the time she spent at a conference for people with Morgellon's Disease and the effort to remain caring and empathetic when you are skeptical of the disease itself. The final essay where she turns an eye toward the frustration, dismay and near ridicule directed by women who write about their pain vs. knowing that the pain itself is real and that women are not wrong for feeling or expressing that pain packs a wallop. The pain is real. Just because we are ashamed or accused of naval gazing or don't want to be perceived as overly emotional creatures incapable of rational thought does nothing at all to the fact that the pain is real.

An essay about a literary trip to Mexican cities that have been severely impacted by the violence of the drug cartels and another about the time a stranger punched her in the face and stole her camera left me cold.

Side note: This is the first that I learned that when women go to the medical world for pain they are far more likely to get anti-anxiety medication while men get actual pain drugs. Ugh.

>26 nancyewhite: Hurray! Glad to hear you liked How to Build a Girl. It ended up on my TBR pile after I devoured her other books (Moranthology and How to Be a Woman).

Confessions of a Sociopath by M.E. Thomas fits into 'Getting to Know You'

A woman sociopath gives us access to her inner life, her behaviors, the way her mind works, her childhood and her exploits (she literally calls people she is manipulating or using exploits). It is fascinating and frustrating. Obviously, she is a braggard which sometimes leads to finding her very annoying. Nonetheless, I liked it and her attempt at candor (well perhaps it is candor it is equally likely that she is lying). I think it is important to consider that there are probably many people who when tested might be diagnosed sociopaths but are making their way through a non-criminal life. If that is accurate, then we must ask ourselves what, if anything, we need to change about their perception, the mental health system, capitalism (ha!) or child-rearing.

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill fits into 'Kind of a Big Deal'

Short book of connected paragraphs, quotes, snippets, observations create an intimate and unexpected portrait of a woman's life as she moves through marriage and motherhood.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell fits into 'Kind of a Big Deal' and 'I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore'

Superbly written and interestingly structured speculative novel with elements of the supernatural and dystopia. Mitchell writes beautifully and stays on track with a vast number of moving parts in this great book.

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey fits into the 'Buckle Up, We're Going for a Ride' mystery category.

An unreliable narrator sinking further and further into dementia jumbles together the past and the present. The story is set in the 1940s when her sister disappeared and today when she cannot find her best friend. The narratives are intertwined as she experiences both periods in her life simultaneously.

I liked this and felt that the narration was a plausible representation of how it might be inside a person's mind as they lose their faculties. This is the third book I've read in the past few years where memory loss was central to the plot. I think I'll pass on the next hot book in this micro-genre.

The Healey book sounds interesting.

As an alternate history, My Real Children by Jo Walton also fits into the "I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore" speculative fiction category.

Imagine my delight when I picked up this book and within a few pages it was describing another woman with Alzheimer's. As I mentioned, this theme is done for me for a while.

I'm glad I decided to press forward. Alzheimer's simply bookends a very good story when a woman vividly remembers having lived two distinct lives. In one she accepts a man's marriage proposal. In the other she declines. This leads to two radically different trajectories.

I really liked the notion of alternate history played out domestically. In one life there are nuclear aggressions, a different political system in the UK and the US, and other atrocities. In the other, there are people living on the moon and JFK survived for a second term. Rather than being the focus, we learn of all of these events as the characters experience them in chapters that alternate between life and the other.

I liked the concept and the narrative. I did not enjoy very much of the dialogue. It was stilted and didn't feel like the way people actually speak. Occasionally it was jarring enough to throw me out of being immersed in both worlds.

Nevertheless, I'd recommend this book if you are an alternate history fan who might like to see it played out domestically.

Anne Lamott's Small Victories fits into my "This I Believe Category"

I devoured this book of essays. I love how honest Lamott is, how she creates a path to being frazzled, impatient and broken while still living in love, joy and, yes, grace. Lamott can write beautifully and adeptly describes her relationships to other people and to God. This book is Christian if that matters to you one way or the other. I am not, but I love what she has to say. Her very left-wing politics offset the occasional paragraphs about loving Jesus.