Reading Challenge Update

When I committed to the 2015 Reading Challenge of reading 52 different books with specific requirements, I half expected to totally drop out.  Where was I going to find time to read 52 books? And in genres that I've never had any interest in, like sci-fi or graphic novels?

But lo and behold, it's the last day of July, and I'm halfway through. With almost half a year to go, I only have 23 left to read. Which, actually suddenly makes it sound like a lot...

Here's the categories I have left to tick off (some with the qualifying book already scheduled):


A book with 500 pages (Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres)
A classic romance (Time to re-read my old favorite,Bronte's Wuthering Heights)
A book with a number in the title (Unless I come across something else, I plan to re-read Dickens' Tale of Two Cities)
A funny book (Reading right now, The Rosie Effect, sequel to The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion)
A mystery or thriller
A book of short stories (I left two of my favorite books of short stories, Dying Light and The Lives of Kelvin Fletcher, in Scotland, so this might be my chance to repurchase. Both written by Arkansas authors who taught at my university, Donald Hays and Miller Williams respectively)
A book set in a different country (Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe)
A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet (God Help The Child by Toni Morrison)
A Pulitzer Prize-winning book
A book based on a true story (12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup)
A book your mom loves (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson)
A book that scares you (Maybe, if I can face it, Kiss The Girls by Alex Cross)
A book more than 100 years old
A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't (But I read them all! Can I count college?)
A book with antonyms in the title (Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America and Found Unexpected Peace by William Lobdell)
A book that came out the year you were born (The BFG by Roadl Dahl - going to read it to the kids out loud)
A book set in high school 
A book with a color in the title (The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Always wanted to read that.)
A book with magic (Either going to read Tolkien's The Hobbit for the first time or re-read Rowling's Harry Potter)
A graphic novel (Incognegro by Mat Johnson)
A book that was originally written in a different language
A book set during Christmas (Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Never actually read it before!)
A book you started but never finished (That could be any number of books currently on my shelf - maybe Warriors, the book about cats by Erin Hunter that my 8-year old Fi really wants me to read)


I also need to figure out how to fit Still Life With Woodpecker (Tom Robbins) in there, our next book club book.

I'll take suggestions on any topics with no book!

And on that note, I'm off to read. I'd like to finish The Rosie Effect this week and get back up to my minimum five books a month in order to finish this thing out! Only got two each in for the months of June and July!