January Reads – 2016 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

Each year, the creative people over at POPSUGAR publish a reading challenge. I printed the challenge and sort of haphazardly checked things off of it last year. I also printed the 2016 list, but it got shuffled into a pile of other papers on my desk. As I was reading the blog over at A Reading Writer, I saw that challenge again.

Inspired, I’ve decided I’m going to attempt a monthly reading challenge check-in here on my blog. The list includes 40 books, so my goal is to check off just one item per book. Here’s the challenge and an overview of what I read in January that fit the list. You can also see what I’m reading right now via the Goodreads widget to the left—if you have any ideas on what item a particular book could check off the list, let me know if the comments. I need all the help I can get!

http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-Challenge-2016-39126431 (check marks are mine)

January – 2016 Reading Challenge

A book set in your home state: Freshwater Boys by Adam Schuitema is a collection of eleven short stories set in west Michigan. The protagonists are all male, which got a bit monotonous for me, but I loved reading about places I know and love.
A book set in Europe: Juliet by Ann Fortier is a book I read for my book group. Our mission was to read a book about a place we want to travel, and this book is all about the city of Sienna, Italy. Sienna is definitely on my dream travel list.
A book that is published in 2016: Leaving Blythe River by Catherine Ryan Hyde is a book I received in a giveaway from the Facebook group Reader’s Coffeehouse. The book will be published in June 2016, so I got a sneak peek. The book is a great story of a teen boy who learns important lessons about himself and human relationships as he attempts to find his father who is lost in the Blythe River Range.

I didn’t get off to a great reading start in January. I started several books, but these were the only three I started AND finished in January. Here’s to a more productive February!

What was the best book you read in January?