Elle's 2021 "Lowering-the-Bar" Challenge

Returning to the 50-Book Challenge since I seem to crap out at around 35 each year. COVID has been brutal on my desire to read. This year will be better. Focus!

1: Devolution by Max Brooks
2: The Sacred Power: A Seeker's Guide to Kundalini by Kripananda, Swami

3: Girls on the Line by Jennie Lu (YAL)

4: Creative Dreaming: Plan And Control Your Dreams to Develop Creativity, Overcome Fears, Solve Problems, and Create a Better Self by Patricia Garfield

5: I killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick (YAL)

6: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

8: We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia (YAL)

9: The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire Book 1) by Andrea Stewart

10: Lobizona: A Novel (Wolves of No World, 1) by Romina Garber (YAL)

7: Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater (YAL); The Dreamers #1
16: Mr. Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater (YAL); The Dreamers #2

11: Fights: One Boy's Triumph Over Violence by Joel Christian Gill (graphic novel)

12: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

13: The Kybalion & The Emerald Tablet of Hermes: two essential texts of Hermetic Philosophy by Three Initiates

After reading through Rudolf Steiner's _Theosophy_, I plan to reread the Kybalion section. The Emerald Tablet is very short and while there are some interpretations within the section, it is mostly various translations of the original text throughout the past few millennia. I found the Kybalion much more engaging and thought-provoking, as well as confirming much of what I either have experienced on some level myself, or read from others.

14: The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen (YAL); #1

One of the more original storylines I've read in a while, though there is a pretty obvious referent to GoT with the "mountain of a man," Greggur, hunting Fie and her two princelings. Have started The Faithless Hawk. Hope it finishes the series. I hate waiting for next installments.

15: The Faithless Hawk by Margaret Owen (YAL); #2

I need to read 9 more books by the end of June to get to the half-way mark. My goal is to try and read 15-20 books over the summer. Perhaps a bit of a chunk to bite off, but since most will be YAL from my library @ school, it could be do-able.

17: Theosophy by Rudolf Steiner
18: Kent State by Deborah Wiles (YAL)

19: Dear Justyce by Nic Stone (YAL); companion book to Dear Martin
20: Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi (2021 Alex Award Winner)

21: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix (YAL)

22: Shadow and Bone (1) by Leigh Bardugo (YAL)
24: Siege and Storm (2) by Leigh Bardugo (YAL)
26: Ruin and Rising (3) by Leigh Bardugo (YAL)

23: Runes for Beginners: A Guide to Reading Runes in Divination, Rune Magic, and the Meaning of the Elder Futhark Runes by Lisa Chamberlain

25: Mystic by Default by James Swartz

27: Edinburgh and Dore Lectures on Mental Science by Thomas Troward

28: The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them through a War by Delphine Minoui

29: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

30: Samadhi: Unity of Consciousness and Existence by Ivan Antic

31: Meditate by Swami Muktananda

32: Psychic Being (Soul: Its Nature, Mission, Evolution) by Sri Aurobindo

33: Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises From The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

34: Starsight by Brandon Sanderson (YAL; Skyward #2)