I've enjoyed the MA Center for the Book Reading Challenge for a few years now & am doing it again in 2026. Anyone else doing reading challenges in 2026? Or have suggestions for books? I'm a bit stumped for Feb (sports related book maybe???) but have several options to check on for Jan. #booksky
Cover of a book: El Cementerio de los Cuentos sin Contar by Julia Alvarez
Finished what will probably be my final read of the year! #booksky
And I think we chatted about it, but 'Lolly Willowes' by Sylvia Townsend Warner is old but very interesting and I loved it!
Have you read 'When The Angels Left The Old Country' by Sacha Lamb? If not, you should!
Love that collection!
November reading - a fairly quiet month! Continuing to read old books (Wuthering Heights) and read for the MA Book Challenge (A History of the World in 6 Glasses).
I'd try those - it's hard to find something nobody reacts to. Sometimes it's the other ingredients setting people off (e.g. xantham gum). If you want to go for something else, there are Glutino brand GF pretzels in a lot of shops. This is such a thoughtful thing to do!
I loved Hawad's book, "In The Net" and that theme is strong throughout.
October reading!
This month's MA Reading Challenge book was Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands.
Last of the summer reading! Still going with international reading although that challenge is done (Twenty Days of Turin was weird in a great way, La Mala Costumbre was very well written) but also going for some old-school comfort reads (Agatha Christie). #BookSky
Very different, mostly historical English novel, but then there is a pact with Satan and a coven of witches.
The Man With Six Senses was interesting, but as 1920's aspec SFF fiction goes, I can now say that I preferred Lolly Willowes. Still glad I read it!
The MA Center Reading Challenge prompt for September is a book told in non-chronological order. For now, I've requested Leite Derramado by Chico Buarque from the library. Any other suggestions??? English, Spanish, Portuguese or translated to one of those!
Author from Greenland, not sure that's she's Inuit though.
Last Night in Nuuk by Niviaq Korneliussen!
Anyone who is not a cis male and has a complicated or undiagnosed medical issue must, instead, have anxiety or depression. Takes dedication for a Dr. to stick to that with concrete labs to point to, though.
Apologies if I mixed up any flags and sent you info for places you already have!
Loved her "Silence of the Wilting Skin" but haven't gotten to this one yet!
Another anthology: "New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean" has short stories from Trinidad, Barbados, Bermuda. The editor, Karen Lord (Barbados) has several SFF novels as well.
If you are OK with folktales, the play "Death of a Muruk" by Bernard Narokobi works for Papua New Guinea, the children's book "Tales From the Sandalwood Box" for Tajikistan. Both out of print.
Turkmenistan - more lit-fic than SFFH but there is a ghost. "Tale of Aypi" by Ak Welsapar.
Nalo Hopkinson edited "Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root: Caribbean Fabulist Fiction" - includes work from Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago. Out of print, sadly.
Good luck! Maybe re-read the application tomorrow before hitting submit?
Cover collage including: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, Our Colors, Goblin Market and Other Poems, A Thousand Times Before, Not Good For Maidens, A Change of Habit, New Leaf, Lolly Willowes, The Ace and Aro Relationship Guide
June reading! Finally go around to reading Lolly Willowes.
This sounds fascinating! Will check out Jaeger's work!
Collage of covers from books read in May 2025: Emma Goldman by Alice Wexler, Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Toward Eternity by Anton Hur, Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams, Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, and Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green.
May reading - more nonfiction than usual, some classics, some literary sci-fi, and poetry from the Marshall Islands.
Solo Dance is excellent! I read it for Taiwan in my read-around-the-world challenge.
I tend toward Bookshop for new books, Thriftbooks for used/hard-to-find.
Book covers of the books I read in January: Heat and Light, Carved in Bone, Diario de Un Bibliotecario de Tombuctu, Hercules O Gato, Manual De Um Homicidio, The Way of Kings, Futuro Ancestral, Lunar Boy, The Long Call
There are more important things happening in the world, but I still wanted to share my January reading. Strongly recommend Ailton Krenak (available in English as well!).
I've been working on around the world challenge for about 3 years now. Read a book (or part of a book/anthology in some cases) from every country in the world. Finished the last book today!
You may have read these, but something about "weird literary queer European books" makes me think of you & I really liked "Call Me Esteban" - lit-fic queer novella/linked short stories in pre+post-war Sarajevo & "Our Wives Under The Sea" - creepy and atmospheric.
