Reading Challenge 2022

 

Hello, everyone! Happy New Year! As per usual, I'm going to try The Reading Armchair Reading Challenge. I've changed the prompts a bit to make it more interesting and reflect more my current reading habits. The main goal of this reading challenge is to help me diversify my reading and discover 

So, in 2022 I will be reading the following books:

1. a novel from Europe: The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig

2. a novel from the Middle East: 

3. a novel from East Asia: The Three-Body Problem, by Liu Cixin

4. a novel from North America: Everyman, by Philip Roth

5. a novel from South America:

6. a novel from Oceania: 

7. a novel from Africa:

8. a novel that won the Man Booker Prize: 

9. a novel written by a Nobel Prize recipient: 

10. a book of poetry: 

11. a collection of short stories: 

12. a graphic novel: 

13. a classic: 

14. a non-fiction book: 

15. a memoir/biography: 

16. a philosophy book:

Hopefully, this year I'm going to complete the challenge as I'm very excited about my TBR list! Feel free to join me and let me know which books you'd like to read in 2022. 

Play(list) by the Book - Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

Hello, everyone! As you already know, creating playlists with music mentioned in novels is one of my favourite things. So, whenever I come across a book that has a couple of references, I'm hoping that they would be enough to justify a playlist. As a rule of thumb, I only create playlists for books that have more than 10 songs mentioned in them. 

So, I was more than happy to discover that Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine qualified for a Play(list) by the Book. I wouldn't say that this playlist has a consistent theme, but it is rather sort and enjoyable. 

As per usual, I have included all the songs and artists mentioned in the text. The songs mentioned in Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine were a few, and so, I mostly had to choose the ones I preferred for each artist. I found it interesting that Eleanor mentioned a lot of musical composers, and for this reason, you will some musical pieces in the playlist. 

At first, I hesitated to include Michael Jackson in the playlist, as he is not clearly mentioned. You see, in that scene, Eleanor is wearing some white gloves and her colleagues make fun of her by imitating moon walk. I ended up including a song though, as at least to me, the reference was clear enough.

Find more playlists at: Play(list) by the Book

Play(list) by the Book - After the Quake, by Haruki Murakami

Hello, everyone! Even though I hadn't planned a new Play(list) by the Book, I happened upon a short story collection that gave me a chance of creating a new one. 

Of course, it's not surprising if you consider that it's yet another Haruki Murakami book. Previously, I had created a playlist dedicated to Kafka on the Shore, and the author is known for using music in his work. This playlist though is short and features a lot of old school jazz songs. I can see myself putting on with a glass of wine. Sit back and enjoy!  

As per usual, for this list, I have used all the songs and artists mentioned in the text. In this case, there were just a few songs mentioned specifically. Since I wasn't familiar with most of these jazz musician, I selected random songs that I liked. 

If you want to dig a little deeper, then you can check out Jazz at the Philarmonic All Star and the album Concerts by the Sea, by Erroll Garner. These are the only cases where I had an ensemble and a specific album to choose from. Moreover, in the text, there is a mention to the Trout Quintet by Schubert, from which I have only included one part. 

This Play(list) by the Book was a surprising addition to the series as until the fourth short story I didn't really have enough songs to justify a playlist. However, I always have so much fun compiling these literary playlists, and this was no exception!

Find more playlists at: Play(list) by the Book