mathgirl40's 2021 BC Challenge

My goals for the year:

1. Move ABC books in a timely manner and end the year with fewer than 5.
2. Read, register and release at least 30 books from my own shelves.
3. Register and release at least another 10 books from my shelves that I will not likely read or reread in the near future.

ABC books acquired in 2021:

1. The Power of One by Bruce Courtenay (BC link) -- finished
2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (BC link) -- finished
3. Walking Home by Kelly Winters (BC link) -- finished
4. Unnatural Causes by Richard Shepherd (BC link) -- finished
5. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (BC link) -- finished
6. Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey (BC link) -- finished
7. The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (BC link) -- finished
8. A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton (BC link) -- finished
9. Birdbrain by Johanna Sinisalo (BC link) -- finished
10. For Love by Sue Miller (BC link) -- to be read

Books from my own shelves (finished and registered):

1. Photo Finish by Ngaio Marsh (BC link)
2. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (BC link)
3. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (BC link)
4. Rice Mother by Rani Manicka (BC link)
5. Age of Iron by J. M. Coetzee (BC link)
6. Yarrow by Charles de Lint (BC link)
7. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (BC link)
8. The China Governess by Margery Allingham (BC link)
9. In the Teeth of the Evidence by Dorothy Sayers (BC link)
10. Wildfire Season by Andrew Pyper (BC link)
11. Death is Now My Neighbour by Colin Dexter (BC link)

I'm listing here some of the unread candidates for release that have been sitting on my shelves for a while. I won't get to them all this coming year, but if I get a good number of them out the door, I'll be happy!

As For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross
The Diviners by Margaret Laurence
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham
Dead Souls by Ian Rankin
A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin
Night Frost by R. D. Wingfield
The Cashier by Gabrielle Roy
The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
Anna's Book by Barbara Vine
Arthur: King of the Middle March by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Jaws by Peter Benchley
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers
Myths of the Norsemen by Roger Lancelyn Green
Run by Ann Patchett
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

>1 mathgirl40: In a timely manner & end with less than 5. Wow, that's a goal :-) Good luck! I hope MTBR is not 100 books high :-)

>5 BoekenTrol71: Thanks! It's nice that I've been able to keep my ABC stack small, but I still have loads of unread books of my own on my shelves. The list in the above post are just a fraction of them. I also have lots of books that I really should release but am reluctant to, because they were gifts or ones that I optimistically believe I will reread one day!

Some recent books finished:

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas -- A YA novel about a teenaged girl who witnesses her friend being killed by a police officer. This was sent to me via the Favourite Book of 2020 Roundabout and it was powerful and very relevant to the current times.

Photo Finish by Ngaio Marsh -- A book from my own shelves, this is the second-to-last book in the Inspector Alleyn mystery. Alleyn and Troy are invited to a house party and concert on a remote New Zealand island and the featured singer ends up being murdered.

A couple more books to report:

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay -- A historical novel set in South Africa during and in the decade following WWII. This was sent to me as part of the Favourite Book of 2019 Roundabout. It's a very compelling coming-of-age story that also explores the political and racial tensions at that time.

Transcendental Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi -- This is a book from my own shelves that I picked up because it's on the Tournament of Books shortlist this year. It is about a Ghanaian American woman who does research into addiction. She must deal with her mother's depression, the consequences of her brother's earlier death, and the conflict between her religious and scientific beliefs.

>8 mathgirl40: I've read both of those and I agree that The Power of One is a wonderful read. I had to think about Transcendental Kingdom before doing my review of it; I didn't find it lived up to her first book Homegoing but it was interesting. Have you read Homegoing?

>9 gypsysmom: Yes, I had read Homegoing and really liked it. In comparison, I found Transcendent Kingdom a little disappointing, though it was still very well written.

This is a book from the 2021 Tournament of Books list, which I'd mostly worked through this year.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam -- This is an unusual post-apocalyptic novel that is short on details of the disaster but instead explores two families' fears and prejudices as they react to the event.

These are books from the Favourite Book of 2020 bookring (including a late-comer from the 2019 bookring):

Walking Home by Kelly Winters -- Winters describes her journey along the Appalachian Trail. Rich in detail about the natural features of the trail, the book also describes the author's journey to overcome personal challenges.

Unnatural Causes by Richard Shepherd -- This memoir by a forensic pathologist is a fascinating read. There are some gruesome details but also a lot about the science and how data is interpreted.

Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead -- This historical fiction novel is set in a reform school for Black children, and tells the story of a boy who is unjustly sent there.

I liked The Rice Mother very much (if you need encouragement to read one of your list above mentioned...).

>10 mathgirl40: Did you like Nickel Boys? I've been meaning to read it since it came out.

>11 BoekenTrol71: Your comment has motivated me to pull Rice Mother off my shelf and I plan to start it shortly!

>12 gypsysmom: I did like Nickel Boys. It was an engrossing story and had some unexpected twists, but I did not like it nearly as much as I liked The Underground Railroad.

>13 mathgirl40: So maybe I will not rush to get Nickel Boys just yet.

Books read since my last update:

The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka -- This family saga set in Malaysia is quite bleak, but I found the historical setting really interesting and I liked the telling of the story from the perspectives of the various characters.

Age of Iron by J. M. Coetzee -- Set in Apartheid South Africa, this novel by Nobel laureate Coetzee is in the form of a letter from a woman to her daughter reflecting on her life and the social/political issues that surround it.

Yarrow by Charles de Lint -- This is an urban fantasy novel set in Ottawa, Canada, by one of my favourite authors. It's one of his earlier books, not part of his popular Newford series, but still a good read.

>15 mathgirl40: I've never read anything by Charles de Lint. Obviously I'll have to change that as your taste in sf is usually a good indication that I will like it. Thanks for the recommendation.

>16 gypsysmom: Thanks for the compliment. I too have received many good recommendations from you in the past!

The latest roundabout book:

Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey -- This is a coming-of-age story about a boy who cares for the war horses of Artos, a character based on King Arthur. Though the target audience is probably middle-school to YA, I really enjoyed this historical fiction story.

>17 mathgirl40: Ignore my question on the July post as I see you did enjoy the book.

>18 gypsysmom: Ha! I answered that question just now. I am always happy to gush about books I like repeatedly. :)

I finished last month's roundabout book, The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, which was charming and quite moving. I'd definitely recommend it if you're a cat lover, as, among other themes, it explores the special connection between a cat and its human.

A couple of roundabout books that I'd finished and moved along to the next reader:

A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton -- A moving story about survivors of the Nagasaki bombing.

Birdbrain by Johanna Sinisalo -- An adventure story set on the remote hiking trails of Tasmania, New Zealand and Australia.

I didn't get nearly as many books off my own shelves as I'd intended at the beginning of the year, but I did make a push in the final month to get these finished and registered, ready for release.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith -- A solid mystery by Galbraith, a.k.a. J. K. Rowling, the first in the Cormoran Strike series.

The China Governess by Margery Allingham -- An Albert Campion mystery featuring a young man who strives to find out his true identity.

In the Teeth of the Evidence by Dorothy Sayers -- A collection of short stories, with one Lord Peter Wimsey story, several Montague Egg stories, and some standalones.

Wildfire Season by Andrew Pyper -- A tense thriller set in the forests of northern Canada, with a firefighter as the main character.

Death is Now My Neighbour by Colin Dexter -- Inspector Morse investigates a death that has connections to elite academics at the University of Oxford.

That's it for my 2021 reading! Though I didn't get as many books cleared from my own shelves as I'd intended, I did end up with only one ABC book on my TBR pile (which I can't really call MTBR anymore)! This arrived late in December, so I don't feel guilty carrying it into the new year.