This is my 'base post' for my very own Mixing It Up Challenge 2012! For more details, and to sign up for some horizon-expanding reading this coming year, head on over HERE where you'll find instructions, a Linky and a complete list (with guidelines and ideas) of the sixteen potential categories you can read from... How many you choose to tackle, and what book you pick for each one, is entirely up to you!
Personally, I'm feeling ambitious for the New Year, so I'm going for the ALL THE TRIMMINGS AND A CHERRY ON TOP participation level, aiming to read a book from each of the 16 categories. I've listed them all here, with a few ideas for each one. Of course I might end up reading something entirely different, but either way, when I complete one of the categories I'll exchange the ideas list for a review link so I can see what's left to read!
~ MY MIXED-UP READING LIST ~
Classics
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
Exciting adventure classic in which hunter Allan Quatermain sets out with two friends on a quest to find King Solomon's legendary diamond mines. The fire of the African desert, the ice of the mountains, a brutal tribal war and some huge movie-worthy moments come together in a beautifully written, gripping and evocative novel that is definitely going to be one of my favourites of 2012!
Exciting adventure classic in which hunter Allan Quatermain sets out with two friends on a quest to find King Solomon's legendary diamond mines. The fire of the African desert, the ice of the mountains, a brutal tribal war and some huge movie-worthy moments come together in a beautifully written, gripping and evocative novel that is definitely going to be one of my favourites of 2012!
Biography
Ideas: J.R.R. Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter; Kinsey by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy; Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters; Desperate Romantics by Franny Moyle; Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff; Beautiful by Katie Piper; Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry
Cookery, Food and Wine
Ideas: Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell; Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser; English Food by Jane Grigson; The Devil's Cup: Coffee, the Driving Force in History by Stuart Lee Allen
History
Ideas: The Battle by Richard Overy; The Arsenic Century: How Victorian Britain was Poisoned at Home, Work and Play by James C. Whorton; Henry: Virtuous Prince by David Starkey; The Year 1000: What Life was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium by Robert Lacey; Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939 by Virginia Nicholson; The American West by Dee Brown; The Coffee House: A Cultural History by Markman Ellis
Modern Fiction
Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas
Short stream-of-consciousness novel about Ari, a nineteen year-old gay Greek boy living in Melbourne. He is conflicted about everything in life - his sexuality, his friends, his future, his traditional parents - and relies on sex, drugs and music to get him through his days in relative peace. Like a more relatable modern version of Catcher in the Rye - angry, absorbing, passionate, political and dryly humorous.
Graphic Novels and Manga
Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas
Short stream-of-consciousness novel about Ari, a nineteen year-old gay Greek boy living in Melbourne. He is conflicted about everything in life - his sexuality, his friends, his future, his traditional parents - and relies on sex, drugs and music to get him through his days in relative peace. Like a more relatable modern version of Catcher in the Rye - angry, absorbing, passionate, political and dryly humorous.
Graphic Novels and Manga
Ideas: V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd; Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
Crime and Mystery
Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter
The sixth Sara Linton novel, in which a detective is arrested in her home town on suspicion of murder and arson. Her Chief of Police, coming to the rescue with his coroner wife Sara, uncovers a web of corruption, drug trafficking and neo-Nazi bigotry. They must fight the stifling claustrophobia of the town and piece together what really happened that night, before they become the next victims of the meth dealers' reign of terror. My first Karin Slaughter - but definitely not my last!
The sixth Sara Linton novel, in which a detective is arrested in her home town on suspicion of murder and arson. Her Chief of Police, coming to the rescue with his coroner wife Sara, uncovers a web of corruption, drug trafficking and neo-Nazi bigotry. They must fight the stifling claustrophobia of the town and piece together what really happened that night, before they become the next victims of the meth dealers' reign of terror. My first Karin Slaughter - but definitely not my last!
Horror
Ideas: World War Z by Max Brooks; Carrie by Stephen King; Salem's Lot by Stephen King; The Ghosts of Sleath by James Herbert
Romance
Ideas: I'm going to hit our Mills and Boon romance shelf at the shop for something really cheesy for this one!
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Ideas: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood; The Passage by Justin Cronin; Under the Dome by Stephen King; Blindness by Jose Saramago; The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells; The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham; Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton; The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Travel
Ideas: A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke; The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World by Janine Eberle; The Tent, the Bucket and Me: My Family's Disastrous Attempts to go Camping in the 70s by Emma Kennedy; Duende: A Journey in Search of Flamenco by Jason Webster; The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by Paul Theroux
Poetry and Drama
Ideas: Collected Poems by Philip Larkin; Everyman collection of Christina Rossetti; Educating Rita by Willy Russell; Paradise Lost by John Milton; Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Journalism and Humour
How to Leave Twitter: My Time as Queen of the Universe and Why This Must Stop by Grace Dent
Pithy and amusing little book about the Twitter Experience - how we come to join, how we get hooked, the different kinds of people who inhabit the Twitterverse, celebrity tweeters, the politics of following and unfollowing, conversations, viral videos, jokes, links and all sorts of other stuff. Great for a social media junkie with a sharp sense of humour!
Science and Natural History
Pithy and amusing little book about the Twitter Experience - how we come to join, how we get hooked, the different kinds of people who inhabit the Twitterverse, celebrity tweeters, the politics of following and unfollowing, conversations, viral videos, jokes, links and all sorts of other stuff. Great for a social media junkie with a sharp sense of humour!
Science and Natural History
Ideas: Life on Earth by David Attenborough; Out of the Blue: A History of Lightning by John S. Friedman; Leviathan, or The Whale by Philip Hoare; Bad Science by Ben Goldacre; Sex, Drugs and Chocolate: The Science of Pleasure by Paul Martin, The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston; Wonders of the Solar System by Brian Cox; The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Children's and Young Adult
Seizure (Virals 2) by Kathy Reichs
The second book in the series, in which a group of teenagers, previously infected with a new strain of parvovirus, attempt to locate a famous pirate's treasure to stop their beloved Loggerhead Island being sold off. Young Indiana Jones meets Pirates of the Caribbean, I loved it!
Social Sciences and Philosophy
The second book in the series, in which a group of teenagers, previously infected with a new strain of parvovirus, attempt to locate a famous pirate's treasure to stop their beloved Loggerhead Island being sold off. Young Indiana Jones meets Pirates of the Caribbean, I loved it!
Social Sciences and Philosophy
Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender by Nick Krieger
Fascinating transgender memoir, shortlisted for the GLBTQ category of this year's Indie Lit Awards. Landing in San Francisco's Castro neighbourhood, Nina Krieger finds herself drawn into the local queer community and, surrounded by an intriguing new group of genderfluid individuals, begins to question and explore her own relationship with her body, gender and identity. Insightful, honest, and thought-provoking.
Fascinating transgender memoir, shortlisted for the GLBTQ category of this year's Indie Lit Awards. Landing in San Francisco's Castro neighbourhood, Nina Krieger finds herself drawn into the local queer community and, surrounded by an intriguing new group of genderfluid individuals, begins to question and explore her own relationship with her body, gender and identity. Insightful, honest, and thought-provoking.
Good luck everyone - and don't forget to keep an eye on the original sign-up post for updates as the year goes on! Happy mixed-up reading for 2012!
Wow - great ideas for your books! I may have to rethink signing up for only 12. :) Have fun reading!
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks! Well, you know where we are if you change your mind about your categories! I'm just in the middle of working out categories and choices for an even bigger challenge on LibraryThing ('12 in 12' - as many books as possible in each of twelve self-chosen categories) and it's making my mouth water, as it were. I want to start reading all of them right now! ;)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a fab idea! Best of luck with it :-) Awesome book choices. Responding to your comment on my blog I'm not taking part in ANY challenges next year. I've done so many the past 2 years that I'm not doing a single one and letting myself read what I want and cracking through the TBR pile. I'm taking a more relaxed approach next year but of course will still be supporting you along with everyone else :)
ReplyDeleteHaha, yes - that might be me next year! I overdid it challenge-wise in 2010 so I kept it simple this year - but of course I ended up keep picking up new stuff again instead of tackling Mount TBR. Hence my renewed enthusiasm for challenges for 2012!
ReplyDeleteSo help me, I WILL shrink my heaving shelves to more manageable proportions! Sooner rather than later, hopefully!
I am having the devil of a time trying to narrow down my choices! I do love the wide range of categories. I've never read a graphic novel, so that one will be a particular challenge for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd forgive me, but placing Romance right after Horror seems particularly apt. Or perhaps it should be the other way around!
Julia
Haha, sorry about that juxtaposition there Julia! I was just working my way around our bookstore picking out sections, and our crime/thriller/horror section happens to be just in front of the romance!
ReplyDeleteI've never read a graphic novel either, but I've got three on my list to check out at the library next week. It'll be a first for both of us! You don't need a definite list before you start anyway, so you can take things as they come if you prefer...
Hi Elli,
ReplyDeleteThis is very nice challenge :) and I am all game for it :)
I am travelling as of now, so will be participating from January 2012 :)
Thanks for the challenge
I'm participating in the challenge on my book blog and wanted to check in. You asked me to leave my participation level and I've decided to try for the double-tiered cake.
ReplyDeletehttp://nashvillebookworm.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/mixing-it-up-challenge-book-list/
Thanks!
Michael (aka Nashville Book Worm)