Mixing It Up

The Mixing It Up challenge will be a good way to stretch my reading! I tend to get stuck in a rut when I read – hopefully this will inspire me to branch out over more genres than I normally would.

The rules are pretty simple (and the original link is found here): Read 1 book for each category. I’m ridiculous, so I’m going to try to read one from each category. Thank goodness I’ve got all year! Here’s my list thus far* (and why only some are in color, I have no idea):

Classics

Ideas: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins; Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy; The Time Machine by H.G. Wells; Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut; Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck; Brave New World by Aldous Huxley; A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; The Souls of Black Folk by W E B Du Bois; The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Biography

Ideas: Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim; If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell; The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett; Catwoman by Suzan Colon

Cookery, Food and Wine

History

Ideas: How to Lose a Battle by Bill Fawcett; The Bridge at Andau by James Michener; Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl; Codebreakers’ Victory by Hervie Haufler; The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

Read: The Bridge at Andau by James Michener

Modern Fiction

Ideas: Paper Trail by Michael Dorris; Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier; Howards End by EM Forester

Graphic Novels & Manga

Ideas: xkcd volume 0 by Randall Munroe; The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman; The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore

Crime & Mystery

Ideas: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear; The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale; The Blood Detective by Dan Waddell; A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley; Thunderball by Ian Fleming; The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett; Brighton Rock by Graham Greene; The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett; You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming; The Man Without a Name by Martin Russell; Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler; Didn’t Anybody Know My Wife? by Willo Davis Roberts; High Country by Nevada Barr; The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain; Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers; Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs

Horror

Ideas: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson; Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill; I am Legend by Richard Matheson; The Island by Peter Benchley

Romance

Ideas: Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Ideas: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu; The Best Science Fiction of the Year #5 with Terry Carr ed.; Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen Donaldson; Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey; The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury; Savage Empire by Jean Lorran

Travel

Poetry & Drama

Journalism & Humor

Ideas: A Calvin & Hobbes collection; The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2008 by Jerome Gropman (ed.)

Science & Natural History

Ideas: Chances Are… by Michael and Ellen Kaplan; Annoying by Joe Palca; In the Likeness of God by Philip Yancey; The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston; Dear Professor Einstein, ed. Alice Calaprice; The Secret of Life by Joseph Levine & David T Suzuki; Laughter by Robert Provine; The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved by Larry Kusche; Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach; Famous First Flights that Changed History by Lowell Thomas; Memory by Larry Squire & Eric Kandel

Children’s & Young Adult

Ideas: The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes; Dead Man’s Chest by Roger L Johnson; Daydreamer by Janet Quin-Harkin; The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett; The Saracen Lamp by Ruth M Arthur; Blubber by Judy Blume

Social Sciences & Philosophy

Ideas: Forgotten God by Francis Chan; So You Don’t Want to Go To Church Anymore; Six Hours One Friday by Max Lucado

*Since cross-posting is allowed, I’m considering books that serve dual purpose. However, since the goal of this is to stretch my reading boundaries, I’m also going to try to read as many books outside those as possible. Book ideas that are cross-posted are in blue and take second priority to non-italicized books.