LazyDayLit's JANUARY 2024 Reading WrapUp & Challenge Progress

GOODBYE JANUARY! 

Hello readers!
We are already through a month in the new year.
It did seem to drag a bit but that meant plenty of time to read! 
I ended up reading 20ish books in all!

The breakdown:
10 fiction novels
3 graphic novels (one of which was NF)
1 full nonfiction 
6 poetry collections

That seems like a stellar start to the year for me!


What I read this month:

FICTION READS

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
One For Sorrow by Mary Downing Hahn

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
After the Forest by Kell Woods
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Winterling by Sarah Prineas


GRAPHIC NOVELS READ IN JAN

Anne of Green Gables: the Graphic Novel by Mariah Marsden 
Blankets by Craig Thompson
Cold Bodies by Magdelena Visaggio 

NONFICTION READS

How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis, LPC (read/listened to entire book)
How NOT To Kill Your Houseplant (referenced!)
The Wheel of the Year: An Illustrated Guide to Nature's Rhythms by Fiona Cook and Jessica Roux (Read/referenced)


POETRY COLLECTIONS

2AM Thoughts by Makenzie Campbell
All Along You Were Blooming by Morgan Harper Nichols
Dream Work by Mary Oliver

Nineteen by Makenzie Campbell
Changing the Tides by Shelby Leigh
Dog Songs by Mary Oliver

Chapter Books Read to My Daughter

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell 
(This was a first read for me even though I adored the 90's film adaptation!)




CHALLENGE PROGRESS

ABC CHALLENGE

(My ABC Challenge Post)

JANUARY

Fiction:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
8 / 26

Graphic Novels:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
3 / 26
Nonfiction/Poetry:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
4 / 26

Fiction:
A - After the Forest
B - Bookshops & Bonedust
C - Cold Mountain
D - Dead of Winter
L - The Lost Village
O - One For Sorrow
S - The Sanatorium
W - Winterling

Graphic Novels:
A - Anne of Green Gables: the graphic novel
B - Blankets by Craig Thompson
C - Cold Bodies

Nonfiction/Poetry:
A - All Along You Were Blooming
D - Dream Work, Dog Songs
N - Nineteen
C - Changing the Tides

January TBR Tackle Challenge
(hosted by @booksare42 on Storygraph)

1. Starts with C or P:
Cold Mountain ✔ or Paladin's Grace

2. First book in a series:
The Sanatorium ✔

3. Plants on the cover:
After the Forest ✔

4. Fantasy:
Bookshops & Bonedust ✔

5. Blue or gold on cover:
One For Sorrow ✔

Challenge completed! 


Devour Your TBR
January prompt: Off My Shelves:
The Snow Child
One For Sorrow
The Lost Village
Cold Mountain
Winterling
Black Beauty

BookRiot's READ HARDER Challenge
(my Read Harder blog post)

3/24

JAN: +3

Prompt 1: A cozy fantasy:
Bookshops & Bonedust

Prompt 8: Read a book translated from a country you've never been to:
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten, translated from Swedish

Prompt 21: A book that went under the radar in 2023:
After the Forest by Kell Woods

The52BookClub Reading Challenge
(My 52BookClub Challenge blog post)

6 / 52

JAN: +6

Prompt 1: Locked-room mystery
The Sanatorium
Dead of Winter

Prompt 3: More than 40 chapters
The Sanatorium

Prompt 5: Magical realism
The Snow Child

Prompt 12: Starts with the letter L
The Lost Village

Prompt 24: A cover without people on it
Cold Mountain

Prompt 39: a nonfiction that a friend recommended
How To Keep House While Drowning


PopSugar Reading Challenge
(my PopSugar Challenge blog post)

Jan: +6

Prompt 2: A bildungsroman (coming-of-age)
Blankets by Craig Thompson

Prompt 10: By a self-published author:
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

Prompt 12: A book from an animal's POV
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Prompt 20: A book set in the snow:
Dead of Winter

Prompt 35: A book w/ magical realism
The Snow Child

Prompt 38: a cozy fantasy
After the Forest 


Barnes&Noble ReadingChallenge

Jan: +4

Books that have:
Witches: After the Forest
Mountains: Cold Mountain

Books that made me feel:
Cozy: Bookshops & Bonedust
Shiver: Dead of Winter


2024 NONFICTION READER CHALLENGE
(my Nonfiction Challenge blog post)

History:


Memoir/Biography:
Blankets by Craig Thompson (GN)

Crime & Punishment:

Science:

Health:
How to Keep House While Drowning

Travel:

Food: 

Social Media:

Sport:

Relationships:
2Am Thoughts (poems)
Nineteen (poems)
Changing With the Tides (poems)
Dog Songs (poems)

The Arts:
Dream Work (poems) 

Published in 2024:


NEW TO ME AUTHORS

JANUARY:
Marian Marsden
Makenzie Campbell
Craig Thompson
Magdelena Visaggio
Morgan Harper Nichols
Camilla Sten
Kell Woods
Shelby Leigh
Eowyn Ivey
Charles Frazier
Sarah Prineas
Anna Sewell



Happy reading! 

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

The 2024 PopSugar Reading Challenge!

Hello, readers! 
Happy New Year! 

This is the TENTH year of this reading challenge's existence and the sixth year I've participated! 

This reading challenge provides 50 prompts in all to help readers read more books, whether that be from your shelves, more ebooks or audiobooks, or more books out of your comfort zones.

I don't put any pressure on myself to finish this challenge but participating and widening my reading horizons is always fun. 

Want to join in? 
Check out PopSugar's Reading Challenge HERE!


The Prompts

1. A book with the word "LEAP" in the title


2. A bildungsroman (coming-of-age)
Blankets by Craig Thompson
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

3. A book about a 24-year-old
Black Sheep
The Circle

4. A book about a writer
The Shining
Misery
The Ghost Writer

5. A book about KPop
(NOT my thing. I read one last year. I'll skip this one.)

6. A book about pirates
Fable
If The Tide Turns
Tress of the Emerald Sea

7. A book about women's sports and/or by a woman athlete
Chlorine

8. A book by a blind or visually impaired author:
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

9. A book by a deaf or hard-of-hearing author:
Show Me A Sign
El Deafo
The Storyteller by Dave Grohl

10. A book by a self-published author:
Bookshops & Bonedust

11. A book from a genre you typically avoid:
Bookworm
The Lonely Hearts Book Club

12. A book from an animal's POV
Black Beauty
Open Throat
Hollow Kingdom

13. A book originally published under a pen name:
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known

14. A book recommended by a book seller:
Legendborn

15. A book recommended by a librarian:
Yellowface
We Deserve Monuments

16. A book set 24 years before you were born:
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
A Clockwork Orange

17. A book set in a travel destination on your bucket list

18. A book set in space
Dead Space
Dead Silence
This Is How You Lose the Time War

19. A book set in the future
The Future 
Red Rising

20. A book set in the snow
The Snow Child
Dead of Winter

21. A book that came out in a year that ends with 24
Mislaid in Parts Un-Known
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

22. A book that centers on video games
The Last Wish

23. A book that features dragons
The Eye of the Dragon

24. A book that takes place over the course of 24 hours
Whalefall

25. A book that was published 24 years ago (2000)
Persepolis Vol 1
Spindle's End

26. A book that was turned into a musical
The Phantom of the Opera

27. A book where someone dies in the first chapter
The Overstory
The Maid

28. A book with a MC who's 42 years old
The Family Remains 
Misery

29. A book with a neurodivergent main character
Cloud Cuckoo Land
In the Lives of Puppets

30. A book with a one-word title that you had to look up in a dictionary:
Chouette
Vespertine

31. A book with a title that is a complete sentence
I Keep My Exo-Skeletons To Myself
They Both Die at the End
We Have Always Lived in the Castle

32. A book with an enemies-to-lovers plot
For the Wolf
The Wolf and the Woodsman
This is How You Lose the Time War

33. A book with an unreliable narrator
Bunny
The Wife Upstairs
Piranesi
The Woman in Cabin 10

34. A book with at least 3 POVs

35. A book with magical realism
The Snow Child

36. A book written by an incarcerated or formerly incarcerated author:
The Fury

37. A book written by NaNoWriMo
Clockwork Boys

38. A cozy fantasy novel
After the Forest

39. A fiction book by a trans or nonbinary author
The Witch King

40. A horror book by a BIPOC author 
Jackal
Rouge
Bunny

41. A memoir that explores queerness
Freshwater

42. A nonfiction book about indigenous people
Braiding Sweetgrass
When Stars Are Scattered

43. A second-chance romance
The Witch of Wild Things
Nineteen Steps

44. An autobiography by a woman in rock-n-roll
Sinead O'Connell's memoir

45. An LGBTQIA+ romance
The House in the Cerulean Sea

BONUS PROMPTS:

46. A book in which a character sleeps for over 24 hours

47. A book with 24 letters in the title
I'm Thinking of Ending Things

48. A poetry collection with at least 24 poems

49. The 24th book of an author

50. A book that starts with the letter X




HAPPY READING! 

Devour Your TBR 2024 Reading Challenge

 DEVOUR YOUR TBR 
2024

hosted by Destiny @howlinglibraries


Hello readers! 

I came across this reading challenge over on Storygraph and haven't found it mentioned anywhere else but wanted to share my possible reads for the monthly prompts to hold myself accountable! 



The monthly prompts:


1. January Jumpstart
(Kick off the year with books already on your TBR! If you've never read it and you owned it or had it on your TBR before Jan 1, 2024, it counts!)

My hopeful/s:

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey -
 I've had this one on my Dec/Jan TBR for a couple of years now so I'm hoping to jumpstart the year by knocking it off my pile! 

2. Fluffy February
(This month is all about fluff and feel-good moments so read some lighthearted romance, humor, and all the comfy and cozy vibes!)

Heartstopper Volume 5 by Alice Oseman


3. March on the Margins
(March is all about celebrating diverse voices through reading books written by authors from marginalized groups. This includes BIPOC authors, queer authors, disabled authors, and authors with mental illness.)

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi


4. April Antiquities
(Read books with a historical setting, whether it takes place in a historical fantasy world, ancient Rome, or even just 1985.)

The Women by Kristin Hannah - I've enjoyed her latest few historical fictions so I may give this a try!


5. Mysterious May
(May is all about reading mysteries and thrillers. Cozy mysteries count too!)

The Maid by Nita Prose -
I enjoy mysteries but more so if they're already in one of my usual genres (horror, gothic, hist fic) so I couldn't think of any off the top of my head but this one has been rather popular so I'll give it a try. 


6. Pride Parade June
(This month is all about reading queer rep and queer voices!)

Evocation by S.T. Gibson 
Spinning Gold by Carmella Lowkis


7. Sci-Fi July
(This month is dedicated to science fiction and dystopia!)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler


8. ARC August
(This month is all about reading advanced reader copies!)

At this point, it's too soon to tell what ARCs I'll have to read and I certainly hope I've read anything I've received in the past by now! 


9. Sword & Shield September
(Anything fantasy!)

Fantasy is such a saturated genre right now that there's just too much for me to choose from and nothing has really stood out recently. I'll either come back to this or just add any fantasy book I end up reading to the challenge. 


10. Ominous October
(Time to bust out the spooky reads!)

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare


11. Remember November
(Time to get to any books you didn't have the chance to read! Read from previous TBRs, lists, or challenges.)

I love the idea of spending November catching up on other lists! I did this in 2023 while focusing on other neglected projects. 


12. December Delights
(Read new and/or new-to-you books from your favorite authors!) 

Another one I'm not positive about yet but I may choose something from Neil Gaiman, VE Schwab, T Kingfisher, or Seanan McGuire for this prompt.  





Want to join in on this challenge?
Check it out on STORYGRAPH!

The 52BookClub's 2024 Reading Challenge (My Goals & TBR

Hello book lovers!

Are you looking for a fun reading challenge for the new year?

One of my newest yearly favorites has been the52bookclub's annual reading challenge, which includes 52 unique prompts and sometimes includes bonus prompts and giveaways!

(image belongs to and links to the52bookclub.com)

This is the 7th annual challenge and has garnered quite a following over at Facebook, Goodreads, and Instagram. They also share this reading challenge on Storygraph which has a fantastic way to keep track of what you may and do read for the challenge, as well as see what other participants are reading for each challenge in case you are having trouble with a prompt or two.

Without further ado, here are the prompts and a couple of hopefuls I have planned for each of them!

1. A locked-room mystery
(both locked-room mystery & isolated-area mystery novels count)

My recommendation:
Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong 
(takes place on an isolated island!)

What I might read for this prompt:
Murder on the Orient Express
One By One
Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six
The Sanatorium
Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates

2. Bibliosomia: A smelly book:

I do love a smelly book! 
I'll probably link this prompt with some of my childhood "smemories" (smell-based memories) because I was an early reader and some book smells remind me of different times in my life. For example, certain book smells remind me of my elementary school library. Another is that I had a Little Bear book as a child that had a specific smell that I've only encountered once or twice since. Smemories are fun. 

3. More than 40 chapters:

My recommendation:
Outlander

What I Might Read:
Probably an Outlander sequel (I've been stuck on the 4th for years!)
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

4. Lowercase letters on the spine:
(instead of all uppercase letters)

What I Might Read:
Class by Stephanie Land
(physical book has an all lowercase title on spine)

5. Magical Realism

My recommendation:
The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

What I Might Read:
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

6. Women in STEM

Hidden Figures


7. At least 4 different POVS

My recommendation:
Sign Here by Claudia Lux

What I Might Read:
???

8. Features the Ocean

My recommendation:
The Deep by Rivers Solomon 

What I Might Read:
Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

9. A character-driven novel

My recommendation: 
Sign Here by Claudia Lux  

What I Might Read:
???

10. Told in nonchronological order

???

11. Title starting with the letter 'K'

Killers of a Certain Age

12. Title starting with the letter 'L'

Lute
Little Eve
Looking-Glass Sound

13. An academic thriller (dark academia)

My recommendation: 
Catherine House
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

What I Might Read:
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

14. A grieving character

???

15. Part of a duology

My recommendations:
Six of Crows / Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
This Poison Heart / This Wicked Fate by Kalynn Bayron

What I Might Read:
This Savage Song / Our Dark Duet by VE Schwab
Fable / Namesake by Adrienne Young

16. An omniscient narrator
(an 'all-knowing' narrator)

My recommendation:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

What I Might Read:
Dune by Frank Herbert

17. Nominated for The Booker Prize
(best novel written in English / published in the UK or Ireland)

What I Might Read:
Shuggie Bain

18. An apostrophe in the title

Paladin's Grace by T Kingfisher

19. A buddy-read

Hmm. I have no buddy-reads planned at the moment.
Will have to see if my book buds are up for it! 

20. A revenge story

???

21. Written by a ghostwriter

Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobbie Brown

22. A plot similar to another book

???

23. The other book with a similar plot

???

24. A cover without people on it

Murder Road by Simone St James

25. An author 'everyone' has read except you

Catriona Ward 
('everyone in the horror community, at least)

26. Hybrid genre (cross genre)

???

27. By a neurodivergent author:

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

28. A yellow spine

After the Forest

29. Published in a Year of the Dragon
(1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024)

???

30. Picked without reading the blurb

The Bad Ones
You Like It Darker

31. Includes a personal phobia

???

32. Time-frame spans a week or less

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

33. An abrupt ending

???

34. Set in a land-locked country

???

35. Title matches lyrics from a song

???

36. Has futuristic technology

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


37.  Palindrome on the cover

???

38. Published by Hatchette

???

39. Nonfiction recommended by a friend

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

40. Set during a holiday you don't celebrate

???

41. A sticker on the cover

???

42. Author debut in the second half of 2024

???

43. About finding identity

???

44. Includes a wedding 


45. Chapter headings have dates


46. Featuring indigenous culture


47. Self-insert by an author
(when an author writes themselves in as a character in the novel)


48. The word "secret" in the title


49. Set in a city starting with the letter "M"


50. A musical instrument on the cover

Lute by Jennifer Thorne

51. Related to the word "Wild"


52. Published in 2024

Hashtags

#the52bookclub
#the52bookclub2024


You can find out more about this challenge over at the52bookclub's website! 


If you want to keep up with what books I'm reading for which prompts, feel free to follow at Goodreads, Storygraph, and Bookstagram! 

2024 ABC Reading Challenge

 

Hello readers! 

Happy 2024! 

I've been participating in some form of this ABC challenge for years and always enjoy crossing out titles and adding to my reading journal & Bookstagram stories. I almost never finish every letter but it's become a habit to do this challenge! 
 

PREVIOUS YEARS

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022
2023

2024 ABC READING CHALLENGE

*title = currently reading OR on current pile

title = finished reading

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

MY TBR LIST

(scroll down past this list for the list of books I ended up reading)

A
All the Light You Cannot See | An Unkindness of Ghosts 

B

Bad Cree | Bad Dolls | The Bad Ones | Belladonna | Birnam Wood | *Black Sheep | The Book of Doors | The Book of Witches | Bookshops & Bonedust | *Bookworm | *Bunny

C

The Children on the Hill | Come Closer | The Curator

NF: *Class: A Memoir | *The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

D

Dead of Winter | Delicious Monsters 

E

*Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

F

*Fable | The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill | The Familiar | Forestborn | The Fragile Threads of Power

NF: A Fever in the Heartland

G

Godkiller

H

A Haunting on the Hill | Head Like A Hole | Holly Horror | House of Cotton | House of Roots and Ruin

I

*If the Tide Turns | Illuminations | In the Lives of Puppets | Infested | *The Invisible Hour | The Impossible Life | *Impulse

NF: The Invisible Kingdom

J

K

L

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library | The Life Impossible | Little Eve | The London Seance Society | Lone Women | Looking Glass Sound | Lute

M

*Mislaid in Parts Half-Known | *Mister Magic | Murder Road

N
The Night Shift | Nineteen Steps

O

The October Witches 

P

Paladin's Grace | The Push

Q

R
The Reformatory | *Rouge

S

Shark Heart | Silver Nitrate | Sisters of the Lost Nation | Starling House | Stone Blind | Swamp Story

T

The Taking of Jake Livingston | This Is How You Lose the Time War | Together We Rot | Tress of the Emerald Sea

Trailed: One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders

U
The Unmaking of June Farrow

V

Vampires of El Norte

W

Whalefall | What Feasts At Night | What Kind of Mother | The Winter Knight | The Wishing Game | Witch King | The Witch King | The Witching Tide | Wolfsong | The Women | The Woods Are Waiting | Wrecker

NF: The Witching Year

X

Y

Z

BOOKS I ACTUALLY READ IN 2024

*title or __  = currently reading
(GN) = Graphic Novel
(NF) = Nonfiction
(PC) = Poetry Collection

_____________________

Fiction

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Graphic Novels

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Nonfiction/Poetry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

#
*2Am Thoughts by Makenzie Campbell (PC)

A
Anne of Green Gables: Graphic Novel by Mariah Marsden (GN)
All Along You Were Blooming (PC)
After the Forest by Kell Woods

B
Blankets by Craig Thompson (GN)
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

C
Cold Bodies by Magdelena Visaggio (GN)
Changing With the Tides by Shelby Leigh (PC)
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
*The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year (NF)

D
Dream Work by Mary Oliver (PC)
Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
Dog Songs by Mary Oliver (PC)

E

F

G

H
How To Keep House While Drowning (NF)

I

J

K

L

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
*The Lonely Hearts Book Club

M


N

Nineteen by Makenzie Campbell (PC)

O
One For Sorrow by Mary Downing Hahn

P
Paladin's Grace by T Kingfisher

Q

R

S
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

T

U

V

W

Winterling by Sarah Prineas

X

Y

Z

I'll be linking up to the 2024 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge hosted by EscapeWithDollycas.
You can see the general rules and sign up HERE.

_________________________

You can follow and see what I'm currently reading at Goodreads, Storygraph & Bookstagram! 

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LazyDayLit's Most Anticipated New Releases of 2024

 Hello readers! 

New Year, New Books! 
What are you looking forward to?


My 2024 Most Anticipated New Releases: 

JANUARY

Mislaid in Parts Half-Unknown by Seanan McGuire - Jan 9  FANTASY
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett - Jan 16  FANTASY


FEBRUARY

An Education in Malice by ST Gibson - Feb 13  GOTHIC FANTASY
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden - Feb 13  FANTASY
What Feasts At Night by T Kingfisher - Feb 13 HORROR
The Women by Kristin Hannah - Feb 6  HIST FIC


MARCH

Murder Road by Simone St James - Mar 5  MYSTERY
You Like It Darker by Stephen King - Mar 21  HORROR
If the Tide Turns by Rachel Rueckert - Mar 23  HIST FIC

APRIL

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo - April 9  FANTASY


MAY 

   

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen - May 14  HORROR
The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry - May 14  HORROR
Evocation by ST Gibson - May 28  FANTASY


JUNE

How To Make A Horror Movie and Survive by Craig Dilouie - June 18  HORROR


JULY

I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones - July 16  HORROR


AUGUST

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig - Aug 29 LITERARY FIC


SEPTEMBER 



OCTOBER 

Don't Let the Forest In by CG Drews - Oct 29   YA HORROR

NOVEMBER 



DECEMBER




What new releases are YOU looking forward to? 
Feel free to let me know of any others not listed here!