To keep an eye on the progress in this 2015 reading challenge (source: Pop Sugar), I keep a list here on my blog.
20 december 2015: finished! 1. a book with more than 500 pages Done: Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Shadow of the Wind 2. a classic romance Done: Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice (read review) 3. a book that became a movie Done: Pascal Mercier - Night train to Lisbon (read review) 4. a book published this year Done: Andreas Gruber - Todesurteil 5. a book with a number in the title Done: Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities 6. a book written by someone under 30 Done: Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist 7. a book with nonhuman characters Done: Beatrix Potter - The Tale of Peter Rabbit 8. a funny book Done: Jerome K. Jerome - Three Men In A Boat 9. a book by a female author Done: Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom’s Cabin 10. a mystery or thriller Done: Agatha Christie – Murders in the Orient Express 11. a book with a one-word title Done: William Beckford – Vathek 12. a book of short stories Done: E.T.A. Hoffmann – Nachtstücke 13. a book set in a different country Done: Charlie Lovett - The Bookman's Tale 14. a nonfiction book Done: Philipp Blom - Enlightening the World: The Triumph of Reason in a Unreasonable Age 15. a popular author's first book Done: Jane Austen – Sense and Sensibility 16. a book from your favorite author that you haven't read yet Done: Mark Twain – Life on the Mississippi 17. a book a friend recommended Done: Josephine Pennicott - Poet's Cottage (read review) 18. a Pulitzer-prize winning book Done: Alice Walker - The Color Purple 19. a book based on a true story Done: Solomon Northup - Twelve Years A Slave 20. a book at the bottom of your to read list Done: Noah Gordon – The Physician 21. a book your mom loves Done: David Lagercrantz - The Girl in The Spider's Web 22. a book that scares you Done: Stephen King - Revival 23. a book more than 100 years old Done: Louis Couperus - Van oude mensen, de dingen, die voorbijgaan... 24. a book based entirely on its cover Done: Carlos María Domínguez – The Paper House 25. a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't Done: Harry Mülisch – The Discovery of Heaven 26. a memoir Done: Anne Frank - The Diary of Anne Frank (read review) 27. a book you can finish in a day Done: John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men 28. a book with antonyms in the title Done: Arthur Japin - De zwarte met het witte hart (read review) 29. a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit Done: Josephine Pennicott - Currawong Manor (read review) 30. a book that came out the year you were born Done: Ken Follett – Pillars of the Earth 31. a book with bad reviews Done: Gustave Flaubert – Madame Bovary 32. a trilogy (the first) Done: Stieg Larsson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) 33. a trilogy (the second) Done: Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium #2) 34. a trilogy (the third) Done: Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium #3) 35. a book from your childhood Done: A.A. Milne - Winnie-the-Pooh 36. a book with a love triangle Done: William Shakespeare - Othello 37. a book set in the future Done: Dmitri Glukhovski - Metro 2033 38. a book set in high school Done: Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower 39. a book with a color in the title Done: Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange 40. a book that made/makes you cry Done: Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (read review) 41. a book with magic Done: William Shakespeare - The Tempest 42. a graphic novel Done: Art Spiegelman – Maus (read review) 43. a book by an author you've never read before Done: Wilkie Collins - The Haunted Hotel 44. a book you own but have never read Done: Geert Mak - Amsterdam: A brief life of the city 45. a book that takes place in your hometown Done: Max Dendermonde – Kunstmin, liefde en dood in Dordrecht 46. a book that was originally written in another language Done: John Milton – Paradise Lost 47. a book set during Christmas (or similar holiday) Done: E.T.A. Hoffmann - Nutcracker and Mouse King 48. a book written by an author with your same initials Done: Vladimir Nabokov – Lolita 49. a play Done: Friedrich Schiller - Die Räuber 50. a banned book Done: Marquis de Sade - Justine 51. a book based on OR turned into a tv show Done: Arthur Conan Doyle – The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 52. a book you once started but never finished Done: Ildefonso Falcones – Cathedral of the Sea Every now and then, I take out my pencils and paper and start to draw something. So far I had only used lead pencils, but I never was satisfied with the result. The colors are pale, there's always too little choice in color, etc. etc. Painting is nothing for me, but then I found out about pastels. With pastels, you can mix colours, you can rub them for color transitions and the colors themselves are very intense. So I got me a box of pastels, as well as pastel pencils for details. I've been busy discovering how to work with them... you can see my first try outs below! (I am not very talented, but hey, it's the fun that counts anyway!).
In the weeks before Christmas, I published a literary advent calendar on my Facebook page. I took photos of my favorite books and tried to express the atmosphere of the book in the scenery of the photo. Now that it's over, you can see all of these pictures here in my blog.
If you want to read more about the books and my opinion, check out the album on my Facebook page! |