HelenNZ takes up the challenge on 2024

Hi, I am back for 2024.
Last year I set myself too many monthly challenges which I failed to meet, so I will allow myself some more freedom to choose as the TBR stack has not reduced with too many additions.
I will be off to a slow start again as I have 3 library books to complete before I tackle my own books.
I will once again aim for 48 books, being 4 of my own a month.

Welcome back!

>2 cyderry: Thanks Cheli.

Welcome back, Helen! Have a great reading year!

Hi Helen. I'm looking forward to following your reading again this year. Happy ROOTing and Happy New Year.

Good to see you back, Helen!

All the best, Helen! Are the tickers working for you now? I am very pleased that they are working for me.

>7 KWharton: My tickers are still behaving badly sometimes, but I just leave the page and try again.

Happy to see you here again! Happy ROOTing!

>7 KWharton: I continued to use the method you suggested i.e. opening another window for tickerfactory first and then adjusting my own ticker in a separate window which stopped the problem. I have yet to try adjusting this years thread as I am currently reading some library books so it will be a while before I try on this years ticker.

Thank you to my well wishers. I really shouldn't be starting my year with library books as this is what put me behind last year.

I have completed my first book for the year, albeit a library book but one for my online book
January.
1. Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko

I have decided that one of my challenges this year will be to read the Booker prize winners that I have in my TBR so here is a list:
1. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie 1981 - Read August
2. Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally 1982 - Read July
3. Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey 1988 - Read October
4. Possession by A.S. Byatt 1990 - Read December
5. The Famished Road by Ben Okri 1991 - read September
6. Last Orders by Graham Swift 1996 Read May
7. The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst 2004 - read November
8. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga 2008 - Read March
9. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders 2017 - Read June
10. Milkman by Anna Burns 2018 - Read February

I am surprised at how many I have waiting but I know I tend to avoid the heavy tomes as some of these are. If I achieve these I can always add the many I have on the shortlists to make one a month.

>12 HelenBaker: Of those, I loved The Line of Beauty and Milkman. Especially Milkman, though it is a tough read. I have The White Tiger on my own relatively short TBR list, and my wife just took Oscar and Lucinda out of the library. Happy reading!

>13 rocketjk: Thanks for the recommendations. Off to a slow start as I have been reading some library tomes. Back to my own books now.

January.
1. Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko
2. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
3. The Winners by Fredrik Backman
4. Boy Overboard by Peter Wells*
5. Slow Down You're Here by Brannavan Gnanalingam*

February.
6. Milkman by Anna Burns*
7. The Bone Tree by Airana Ngarewa*
8. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood*
9. Spring by Ali Smith
10.Trespasses by Louise Kennedy*

March.
11. We Come With This Place by Debra Dank
12. Independence Day by Richard Ford*
13. Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan*
14. The Dressmaker & the Hidden Soldier by Doug Gold*
15. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga*
16. Border Crossing by Pat Barker*
17. The Vanishing Sky by L. Annette Binder

April.
18. Warlight by Michael Ondaatje*
19. Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe
20. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens*
21. The Melody by Jim Crace

Hi Helen. How are you doing? I hope everything is alright. And the reading is still going, be it Library books or books you own yourself. Happy Reading.

>22 connie53: Thanks for stopping by Connie. Life just seems extra busy at present and my husband spends most of his day on the computer. Tuesday mornings are the only time I can spend time catching up on emails when he goes to visit his friend. Also now I am taking my nearly 5 year old grandson Alex on school visits and of course iit falls on a Tuesday morning. My reading has also slowed down as I joined a patchwork quilting group last year and also a knitting group, so I have many distractions. Reading is still a priority though. Hope you are well.

May.
22. Kind by Stephanie Johnson*
23. The Conversion by Amanda Lohrey
24. Last Orders by Graham Swift*
25. The English Girl by Daniel Silva
26. The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri*
27. Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts by Josie Shapiro
28. Earth by John Boyne*

June.
29. The Way I Found Her by Rose Tremain*
30. The Fraud by Zadie Smith
31. The Broken Book by Fiona Farrell*
32. Keeping Up Appearances by Tricia Stringer
33. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders*
34. The Waters by Carl Nixon
35. The Heist by Daniel Silva

Hi Helen, just wondering how you are doing, not only with ROOTing but also in real life. Is it still that busy? It's good to have some hobbies. I love to do jigsaws, in particular those with smart-cut pieces.





Those pieces are all different in size and form.

that does look a fun puzzle to make. Ah yes, puzzling is another hobby of mine, more so since my eldest daughter set up a puzzle library in her community. She has received hundreds of donated puzzles and I have been helping her by checking to make sure all the pieces are there. This in turn has lead her to a whole community of puzzlers both in New Zealand and internationally. In fact, I traavelled with her and some others last November to the Australian National Speed puzzling competition, in Sydney, where they competed. She is now the Chair person of the New Zealand Jigsaw Puzzle Association and they are planning the first NZ speed puzzling competition in July. Adele ran one locally, very successfully and I competed in the teams event with three of my grandchildren. We came in 4th place, which we were very happy with.
We, too, have learned to appreciate the different styles and qualities of puzzles. The Ravensburger brand is the one used a the world competition and they are sponsoring the New Zealand competition. I have not been puzzling for a few weeks but need to get practising as I have a dozen or more to make.
The family still keep me busy. We have 4 grandchildren after school and daycare, weekdays. Unfortunately my youngest daughter, Michelle has tested positive for covid this morning, so we are hoping her 3 sons don't get it as well or indeed her husband. It is still out there.

Love the puzzle discussion! Now that we have a house and a space where we can do puzzles, I plan to start collecting (and raiding the local puzzle library).

July.
36. Ned & Katina by Patricia Grace*
37. A Better Place by Stephen Daisley*
38. 10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world by Elif Shafak
39. Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor*
40. My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes

August.
41. Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally*
42. A Sister in my House by Linda Olsson
43. Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshanathan*
44. Day's End by Garry Disher
45. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie*

Hi Helen. I'm sorry I did not visit your thread earlier. Great to read you entered a puzzle-contest with your grandkids and came out in 4th place. Very good job.

The ROOTing is going well too.

Did anyone else get covid? I hope not.

September.
46. Days of Innocence and Wonder by Lucy Treloar
47. The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey
48. As It Is In Heaven by Niall Williams*
49. The Famished Road by Ben Okri*

Hi Helen, Back again.

Covid is back here too. I will get my fifth shot in november.

In the mean time I will be careful a bit more.

October.
50. The Night She Fell by Eileen Merriman*
51. The time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll*
52. Like Heaven by Niala Maharaj*
53. Amma by Saraid de Silva
54. Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey*
55. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
56. Long Island by Colm Toibin*
57. At The Grand Glacier Hotel by Laurence Fearnley*
58. The Alleys of Eden by Robert Olen Butler*

November.
59. The English Spy by Daniel Silva
60. Lioness by Emily Perkins
61. A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier*
62. The Mires by Tina Makereti*
63. The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst*

December.
64. Bishops: My Turbulent Colonial Youth by Mona Williams
65. Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
66. Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
67. The Shadow Year by Hannah Richell
68. Posession by A.S. Byatt
69. The Animals in that Country by Laura Jean McKay*
70. The Foreign Woman by Fiona Kidman*
71. Oracles & Miracles by Stevan Eldred- Grigg*
72. The Shining City by Stevan Eldred-Grigg*
73. Fire by John Boyne*
74. The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut*

Well I am not sure I will achieve my target of 48 of my own books read, but I have completed my Booker Prize challenge. I had 10 past winners on my shelves unread and have finished them all by reading one a month. In many cases it was sheer determination as most were around the 500 page mark and some were heavy going and challenging. Challenge completed, now to refocus on my goal of 48 which seems a little unobtainable with 9 to go by month's end.

Congratulations on finishing so many chunksters. That’s quite an achievement!

>38 MissWatson: Thank you. I am now reading the shortest books I can find in an attempt to reach my goal.