winner, winner, chicken dinner!*

image from etsy - available here

By jiminy, I think I've done it.  I've only gone and completed the Semi-Charmed Winter 2014 Book Challenge.  Go me, go me, go me!  (We've been watching Yo Gabba Gabba again recently.  Does it show?) 

And for anyone interested, here is how I did it:

5 points: Freebie! — Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (247 pages) ****

10 points: Read a book written by an author who has published at least 10 books. —  The Red Room, Nicci French (407 pages) ***

10 points: Read a book of short stories. — The Ladies of Grace Adieu, Susanna Clarke (235 pages) ****

10 points: Read a book with a food in the title. — The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley (363 pages) ****

15 points: Read the first book in a series that is new to you. — The Maze Runner, James Dashner (384 pages) ****

15 points: Read a book that was originally written in a language that is not your native language. — The Butterfly Effect (originally published in Norwegian), Pernille Rygg (224 pages) ****

15 points: Read a book written by a local author i.e. French. — The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles, Katherine Pancol (447pages) ****

20 points: Read a "bookish book." — The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly (321 pages) *****

20 points: Read a book with a direction in the title. — South of the Border, West of the Sun, Haruki Murakami (224pages) ****

25 points: Read a book from a genre you don't usually read. — Stalin Ate My Homework, Alexei Sayle (321 pages) – autobiography ****

25 points: Read a book with a song lyric in the title. — Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (304 pages) after Never Let Me Go by Florence and the Machine *****

 30 points: Read two books with a different meal in each title. — Campari for Breakfast, Sara Crowe (304 pages) ***** and Dinner at Mine, Chris Smyth (295 pages) **

200 points!  (dances around room doing victory dance with glitter hands)

My favourite book was without a doubt, Campari for Breakfast which I laughed and laughed and laughed at. It was hilariously funny, and I have suggested it to everyone who has asked me for a book recommendation since the start of the year. All two of them. It was one of those books you want to race through because it is too good to put down, but that you also never want to end. Finding out later that Sara Crowe does the voice for Queen Thistle in Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom in no way put a damper on it for me. That show is genius. I have yet to get bored of it. Bear in mind that I have seen most episodes at least 10 times. And the ones with the Wise Old Elf in his underpants at least 20.

The biggest surprise (aside from realising two chapters in that I'd already read South of the Border, West of the Sun but  c o m p l e t e l y  forgotten) in doing the challenge has, again, been the rediscovery of my LOVE of reading and I'd like to thank Megan, again, for hosting such an exciting challenge.  I'll be back for the next one (not least because I am desperate to finish fast enough to choose a category for one of her challenges one day!)

*I'm actually in no way the actual winner since some speedy readers managed to finish the whole thing in less than a month, and many more have finished before me as the months have progressed.  But in the race against myself, I can claim victory.  I think.  My set ideas of victory have been severely challenged recently by my three year old (constantly concerned at the moment about "being the winner").  When I pop the pirate, she is the winner.  She is also the winner if she pops the pirate.  Go figure.