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52 Week Book Challenge Update

June 17, 2022 By nextphaseinfitness 18 Comments

Free photos of Reading

Each month, I post a wrap up of the books that I’ve read during the previous month, including the books that were part of the 52 Book Club Challenge that I’ve been participating in this year. At the end of March, I broke my right arm, and decided to take a blogging break, as typing with my left hand was too slow and tedious. I haven’t posted since, so this is a catch up post, with challenge books read in April and May.

52 Week Book Challenge

Prompt: Character with superhuman ability
Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

“A gothic tale full of mystery and romance about a willful female surgeon, a resurrection man who sells bodies for a living,
and the buried secrets they must uncover together.”
– Goodreads 

I loved this book and was disappointed when I was finished it. I was surprised to find, after I reading Anatomy, that it is considered to be YA.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Prompt: Five syllable title
Seven Perfect Things by Catherine Ryan Hyde

“Seven Perfect Things is a story about joy, where to find it, how to know it when you see it,
and the courage it takes to hang on to it once you have it”.
– Goodreads

How could anyone resist a novel with cute puppies on the cover. The book isn’t really about the puppies, but there is plenty of puppy cuteness to enjoy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Prompt: Someone Reading in public
Daring To Fly: The TV star on facing fear and finding joy on a deadline by Lisa Miller

TV journalist, Lisa Miller’s memoir, about her life from childhood, and deciding on a career in  a journalism. Her career led to the excitement of many years as an  international correspondent that also brought many challenges to overcome.

I chose this book, for the prompt of someone reading in public, after attending an online reading with the author. Hearing Lisa read excerpts from her book, convinced me that I must read it.. I struggled to find anyone reading in public at the time, as I was housebound due to the broken arm. It was impossible for me to get out as I wasn’t able to drive.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

Prompt: Based on the spine
A Woman’s Fortune by Josephine Cox

“With her family’s fate resting on her shoulders, Evie learns her lessons in life fast. It’s going to take a woman’s courage to find a new beginning…”
– Goodreads

Historical fiction, my favourite genre. I enjoyed the first two thirds, but then I lost interest in the characters, and  struggled to finish it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

I chose this book for this prompt, as the  very bright blue spine always stands out to me on my bookshelf

Prompt:Jane Austen inspired
First Impressions: A Novel Of Old Books, Unexpected Love and Jane Austen
by Charlie Lovett

A very imaginitive mystery, featuring one of English literature’s most popular and beloved authors, Jane Austen.
“The author weaves a romantic, suspenseful, and utterly compelling novel about love in all its forms and the joys of a life lived in books.”– Goodreads

I loved this book and would recommend it to all lovers of Jane Austen.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Prompt: Book with an alternate title
Persuasion by Jane Austen

This is Jane Austen’s last book. It is definitely my favourite of her books, and possibly my most favourite of all books. I’m fairly sure this is my fourth reading and I enjoyed it every bit  as much as the first time. Each time I read Persuasion, I come across parts that I don’t remember from previous readings.

“As far as we know, Jane Austen meant to use the title The Elliots, but she died before the book was published, and her family decided to go with the catchier Persuasion.”
– wikipedia
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Prompt: Related to the word gold
Madame Midas by Fergus Hume

“Madame Midas is what they call Mrs. Villiers, living in the Australian mining town of Ballarat. She once possessed enormous wealth, built up over the years by her loving father – and then learned the least pleasant of lessons, marrying an Englishman, whose true colors were soon unfurled at every nearby gambling and drinking establishment.”
– Goodreads

My third read of this book that is a favourite.  Historical fiction about an unusually powerful woman on the Victorian goldfields, during the goldrush of the 1850s.
Madam Midas was a best seller in the 19th century and the author Fergus Hume’s second phenomenally successful book.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Prompt: Published by Simon and Schuster
The Suitcase Of Dreams by Tania Blanchard

“After enduring the horror of Nazi Germany, and the chaos of postwar occupation, Lotte Drescher and her family arrive in Australia in 1956,
full of hope for a new life….. a sweeping, dramatic tale of love and identity, inspired by a true story.”
– Goodreads

I loved this story. There was so much sadness and happiness. At times it was a bit of a roller coaster.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This post features only the books for the 52 Book Club Challenge . Having more spare time than usual, due to the broken arm, I have read many more books than those featured here.

 

Star Rating

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book. For me a book that gets five stars,  is a book that I really enjoyed and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ Unputdownable. Would read it again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fantastic read. Not to be missed

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable. Would recommend it.

⭐️⭐️ Wouldn’t read it again.

⭐️ Don’t recommend this book at all.

 

Have you read any great books this month? I’d love to hear from you and promise to reply to all comments.
This post is linked to the monthly #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge linkup hosted by bloggers Deb,Sue, Donna, and Jo. Click on the previous links to check out what they’ve been reading. 

 

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Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: 52 Book Club 2022 Reading Challenge, books

Comments

  1. Joanne Tracey says

    June 17, 2022 at 11:27 am

    I agree with you re Persuasion. There’s such a quiet maturity about it. I’ve immediately gone and uploaded First Impressions – how could I not?
    Thanks for linking up and bringing us another eclectic bunch of books.

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      June 17, 2022 at 7:27 pm

      Jo I’m looking forward to your thoughts on Impressions.

      Reply
  2. Sue from Women Living Well After 50 says

    June 17, 2022 at 12:35 pm

    Welcome back Jennifer and I hope your arm has healed well. We’ve missed you blogging. The 52 week challenge is a great idea and I might try to do that one next year if there is one. You’ve come up with some good books to match with the prompts – such variety. Reading is such a pleasant pastime and I love how we all come together each month to share what we have read. #WOYBS

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      June 17, 2022 at 5:20 pm

      They have the challenge each year Sue, with different prompts. I look forward to the bookshelf challenge each month Sue so big thanks for the opportunity.

      Reply
  3. Denyse Whelan says

    June 18, 2022 at 11:18 am

    Good on you making up for the time you couldn’t blog with ease . I sure hope your arm is healing OK.

    I listened to Lisa read her book and did enjoy it. I was particularly interested in how she overcame her fear of flying..which was weird as she said because she grew up in planes. She had to use a therapy like I have used, exposure therapy, and its hard but worth it. I am somewhat perplexed with her on-line persona getting a lot of criticism of her pro LNP stance and her ignorance of when she is being racist. These are two takeaways by me where I have read about this in recent times.

    Denyse.

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      June 19, 2022 at 6:42 pm

      I agree with you Denyse. Lisa’s fear of flying is a bit strange. I’ve seen the way she’s been trolled. It must be very distressing for her.

      Reply
  4. Retirement Reflections says

    June 19, 2022 at 5:27 am

    Thank you for joining us at WOYBS. I am loving my reading of Jane Austen’s work and will definitely check out First Impressions. Thank you for the recommendation

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      June 19, 2022 at 6:40 pm

      I hope you enjoy it Donna.

      Reply
  5. Debbie Harris says

    June 19, 2022 at 9:04 pm

    I always enjoy reading your updates Jen and the prompts for this reading challenge are so clever, as are your choices! I’ve added Anatomy and First impressions to my want to read pile as we are now doing Jane Austen in our online bookclub. I do hope your arm is healing and as Sue said, we’ve missed you in the blogging world, so welcome back! Thanks for joining us for WOYBS, it’s always great to have your suggestions 🙂

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      June 20, 2022 at 12:00 pm

      Hi Deb I will be interested to hear if you enjoy those books. I’m positive that you will. It’s so great to be back. Taking enforced time out has been very frustrating

      Reply
  6. Bernie Cruikshank says

    June 20, 2022 at 2:41 pm

    Jennifer, I absolutely love your meme about reading late into the night and not putting the book down! I found your list interesting and will try to grab a couple of those for my reading list. I often find the Australian books difficult to find in Canada, unfortunately. Hope your arm heals up well. Fractures aren’t fun at all. Bernie

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      June 20, 2022 at 3:55 pm

      Thanks Bernie for your good wishes. If you have trouble finding some of the titles perhaps ebooks could be the way to go.

      Reply
  7. Janet Alcorn says

    June 21, 2022 at 12:39 pm

    The 52-week challenge sounds like a good way to broaden ones reading horizons!

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      June 22, 2022 at 7:50 pm

      It certainly is Janet. Thanks for popping in

      Reply
  8. Julie says

    June 23, 2022 at 1:29 pm

    “A Love Story” sounds very interesting and outside of something I would usually read.

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      June 26, 2022 at 10:34 am

      It’s a beautiful read Julie

      Reply
  9. Kirstin says

    June 24, 2022 at 1:02 am

    Sounds like you had quite a few winners on your list. I haven’t heard of any of them. I just finished a book for my book club called American Predator…it was true crime…kind of crazy.

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      June 26, 2022 at 10:33 am

      Hi Kristin I enjoy true crime but it’s been a while since I read one. Will check out American Predator

      Reply

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