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Sara wrote: "Congrats, Carolien. I thought Nella Larsen right away, but alas 1929!"

I'm planning on reading her in any case, so good thought!

Okay sounds good, Carolien. We will help each other.

Congratulations on your first challenge completed!

Cynda encouraged me to read The Blazing World, so I finished the Old part of my Old and New Challenge in the process.

An interesting read as it is generally regarded as one of the oldest pieces of science fiction writing. Margaret Cavendish was married to the Duke of Newcastle who had to flee England as a Royalist during the English Civil War. He lost quite a few of his estates and Margaret managed some of it while he was in exile. The Civil War obviously informs her world view as the world she creates is unified and at peace.

I find it interesting that the early female science fiction authors all create utopian places which address some of their daily concerns. I read Three Hundred Years Hence last year and Mary Griffith creates steam boats that are safe and markets which are not dirty. In Sultana's Dream, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain creates a world managed by women with solar power.

There is a lot of religious motifs, but I also get the idea that Margaret Cavendish used the opportunity to write some of her own philosophical and scientific thoughts.

Wow, you're half done your New and Old Challenge -- that's amazing! I find that challenge quite intimidating (I guess because I can't switch out the books), and have only read 2 books on mine so far. I'm really impressed!

Wobbley wrote: "Wow, you're half done your New and Old Challenge -- that's amazing! I find that challenge quite intimidating (I guess because I can't switch out the books), and have only read 2 books on mine so fa..."

I've completed it once and failed miserably at it more than once. It's the challenge I think most of us struggle with, because you cannot switch books out. This year quite a few of mine were booked as buddy reads upfront so I knew I'd at least get those done!

Ooh, that's smart! I'm a dummy, and decided to pick books that are on my physical bookshelf, which gave me far fewer options. Although, I am glad to be getting through some of those books, and deciding whether I actually want to keep them -- and it has the advantage of (sometimes) freeing up space!

Carolien wrote: "Cynda encouraged me to read The Blazing World, so I finished the Old part of my Old and New Challenge in the process.

An interesting read as it is generally regarded as one of the..."

This is one I have heard of for so long, but not read yet. Your descriptions of the story make it sound like a good book to try. Nice progress on your Challenges.

Smart strategy for your new and old, Carolien! I may have to steal that next year!! You are making quite a bit of progress!! Inspiring!

"Lynn wrote: This is one I have heard of for so long, but not read yet. Your descriptions of the story make it sound like a good book to try. Nice progress on your Challenges."

It's not an exciting read and there is a long stretch in the first part where it is more philosophy than anything else, but it has the advantage of being short. And the world-building is definitely interesting. So, yes, worth a try.

Carolien wrote: "Wobbley wrote: "Wow, you're half done your New and Old Challenge -- that's amazing! I find that challenge quite intimidating (I guess because I can't switch out the books), and have only read 2 boo..."

Same here, Carolien! I've only finished the Old/New Challenge once in about six years! And this year, I have only read 5/15, and three of them are my alternates!! I have hopes of finishing several more, but not sure I'll finish this year either. Good luck to you on completing it this year :)

I've finished the Genre challenge so that's progress. Not much happening with the others I'm afraid. I am reading a lot for work at the moment and that is mostly very recent climate and nature-related works which has slowed me down. I've also just spent 6 weeks coughing non-stop with a post-viral cough, but that is slowly improving so hopefully I can make a bit more progress now.

Oh, that cough sounds awful, Carolien--glad you're starting to improve. Congrats on finishing the genre challenge!

Congrats, hope you continue to get better.

Carolien I see that you have Made a on your lists too. Maybe we will have opportunity to read that play together later this month when hopefully you will feel better.

And I look forward to our reading The Alexiad starting about mid-month. You feel better and I will catch up on some reading between now and then. We have another reading with us too mid-month, so just heal.

Cynda wrote: "Carolien I see that you have Made a on your lists too. Maybe we will have opportunity to read that play together later this month when hopefully you will feel better."

I'm glad it made it for the group read. It might then push me to read A Man Was Going Down the Road which is on my list and apparently contains quite a lot of imagery linked to Medea.

I do hope the cough disappears soon, Carolien, that can be so frustrating! Lots of reading time left in the year.

I managed to finish the Group/Buddy reads challenge - big thank you especially to Sara and Cynda who encouraged me to join quite a few buddy reads this year!

Well done! Finishing a challenge is so satisfying!

Congratulations, Carolien! You are doing great on your challenges.

Congratulations! I am always behind everyone but I have enjoyed the buddy reads too.

Congratulations, Carolien! It's fun reading together!

I've completed the Short Story challenge and I am busy with one book to finish the century challenge, but not sure it will happen by tomorrow. In any case, it was an interesting year of reading. Looking forward to 2024!

Congrats, Carolien on a great reading year. Here's to the next one.

Well done Carolien! I'm glad you had a good reading year, and I hope you'll be just as satisfied at the end of 2024!