Challenges

Reflections on the A-Z Challenge 2023 Edition

Another April has gone by and it’s been another successful A-Z Challenge here on ElenaSquareEyes.

This was the tenth year in a row I’d taken part in and completed the challenge and I think it was the most organised I’d ever been. I had written and scheduled all the posts before April began which had never happened before. I was also on top of replying to comments and visiting other blogs taking part in the challenge at the start of the month. Unfortunately, that didn’t really continue as real life got in the way; I had a friend’s wedding I had to travel to so that took a few days of my time and in the middle of the month I started a new job. The new job is full-time but it’s kind of shit work too which I’ve never done before so I’ve been getting used to working alternate Fridays and Saturdays and starting and finishing at different times, not the usual 9-5 which I’ve pretty much always done.

I am going to try and reply to all the comments I missed by the end of the week, and return the favour to the blogs that came and visited me. While the A-Z Challenge is a personal challenge, I think the community aspect is still really important.

This year’s theme was very different and was all about Doctor Who. My most popular posters were on “Dalek”, “Amy’s Choice”, Christopher Eccleston, and Sarah Jane Smith. My favourite posts to write were on “Rose”, “Dalek” and “Utopia” (they’re such good episodes!), and about x-tra/would-be companions. It was really fun to focus in on one show and the different aspects of it that I love so much and sharing that joy with other people, whether they were familiar with the show or not.

At the moment I have no idea what my theme for the A-Z Challenge would be next year or even if I’ll take part. I always said I wanted to make it to ten years which I have so if I don’t think of a theme or don’t have the time to for the challenge, I won’t feel too bad about it.

I hope all of you who took part in the challenge had fun and a successful A-Z in April. Thanks to all those who stopped by my blog and liked, commented or followed – it always means a lot. For more information on the A-Z in April Challenge visit the website.

Also wanted to give a shout out to fellow A-Z in April blogger Tim Brannan, The Other Side who also had Doctor Who as their theme but included the original/classic Doctor Who characters and stories too. I’ve learnt a lot from their posts and one day I will watch the original run of Doctor Who for the first time!

Magical Readathon: Spring Equinox 2023 TBR

April is just around the corner so that means it’ll soon be time for the Magical Readathon – my favourite readathon. The prompts for this readathon are each assigned to a subject and you need to read so many subjects/books in order to work towards your chosen career. The Spring Equinox edition of the readathon takes place throughout the month of April and G over at BookRoast has all the info you need about the extra stuff like side quests and things.

Last year I completed all the classes/books I needed to become a Moon Warden and I’m now a Novice in that career path. The way the Magical Readathon works now means I can carry on with that career in order to advance and become an Apprentice, or I could choose a completely different magical career. I honestly am not sure what I want to do yet. If I want to carry on with my Moon Warden training then I’ll need to take five classes – Elemental Studies, Astronomy, Art of Illusion, Restoration, and Spells & Incantations. I think I might end up being a bit chaotic and just try and read as many books as I can and see what leaves me with in terms of potential career paths. So with that in mind, I’ve noted down all 14 prompts and what books I’m planning to read for them – if I manage to get to all of them. While the amount I read on average each month has increased this year, I think 14 books is probably pushing it a bit.

Alchemy – Type of metal in the book title
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
I believe the sequel to Iron Widow is coming out later this year so it’s about time I picked it up. I don’t often read sci-fi (even though I love sci-fi shows/films) so Iron Widow should be something different.

Animal Studies – Flip a coin, heads read a non-fiction book, tails read a fiction book
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
I did indeed flip a coin and got heads so I picked The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I’m going to Amsterdam in May and am planning on visiting the Anne Frank House, and while I learnt about her and the Holocaust in school, I’ve never read her diary so thought it was about time to rectify that and I have the audiobook from my library. (more…)

The Blogging from A-Z Challenge 2023 Edition

It’s fast approaching that time of year again! And this year is a huge milestone for me and this blog. This April will be the tenth year of me doing the A-Z in April Challenge. Ten years! The challenge is to post on your blog every day in April except Sundays – though this year is a bit different. Not including Sundays, there are (usually) twenty-six days in April which matches with the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. That means on 1st April you write something beginning with the letter A, on the 2nd something beginning with the letter B and so on and so forth. This year though the Z post will be on the last day of the month which is a Sunday.

This year it’s a completely new theme, though it’s not something completely foreign to my blog. Last year I re/watched all of New Doctor Who, from Christopher Eccleston to Jodie Whittaker. I say re/watched as I’d seen Nine and Ten’s eras multiple times, I’d watched most of Eleven’s but kind of stopped watching when the Ponds left, then completely missed Twelve’s era, and only started watching the show again properly halfway through Thirteen’s era. So, it was a case of revisiting characters and stories I loved and had a lot of nostalgia for, and watching things for the first time.

So, as I was spending six months watching Doctor Who, I couldn’t help but think ahead to this challenge and start making notes as to what characters, episodes, and themes could fit this challenge. That means April on here is going to be everything Doctor Who. It’s been fun picking out episodes that I have a lot to say about or having the space to gush about characters that I’m five or more years late to meeting. This is probably the year I have been most prepared ever as I had already noted down what each post/letter would be by the end of 2022 and started writing and scheduling posts in January!

There’s still time to sign up for the A to Z in April Challenge. I do recommend it; it definitely makes you stretch yourself to think of something for every letter and it encourages you to be organised – something I’m always trying to be better at when it comes to my blog.

A to Z Blogging Challenge 2022 Masterpost

I somehow forgot to do this after I completed the challenge in 2022 and as I’m prepping for the 2023 challenge I thought it was about time I put together my 2022 masterpost. 2022’s edition of the A-Z blogging challenge was full reviews of films that began with each letter of the alphabet.

Sign Up Post
A – Absolute Power (1997)
B – Blue Steel (1990)
C – City Heat (1984)
D – Dead Man’s Shoes (2004)
E – Enough Said (2013)
F – Firefox (1982)
G – The Good Shepherd (2006)
H – House of Flying Daggers (2004)
I – The Immigrant (2013)
J – Jenny’s Wedding (2015)
K – King Leopold’s Ghost (2006)
L – Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
M – Matchstick Men (2003)
N – Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)
O – One for the Money (2012)
P – Psycho (1960)
Q – Quincy (2018)
R – Rope (1948)
S – Space Cowboys (2000)
T – The Trouble with Harry (1955)
U – Upside-Down Magic (2020)
V – Vita & Virginia (2018)
W – White Hunter Black Heart (1990)
X – X+Y (2014)
Y – The Year of Spectacular Men (2017)
Z – Zoe (2018)
Reflections Post

My reading in 2022 and bookish goals for 2023

After a not great reading year in 2021, I was back on track in 2022. I made my Read the World Project my focus and I completed it before my self-imposed deadline! That’s novels/poetry/non-fiction/short stories from 205 different countries around the world. I’m so happy that I broadened my reading horizons that way and I really do feel a sense of accomplishment over it.

My goal in 2022 was to read 52 books and review half of them and I smashed that target – I read 79 books and reviewed 42 of them. I always want to have an equal split between male and female authors if possible, with the understanding that it’ll probably be leaning towards women which it was in 2022. “Both” got a decent sized chunk last year as I read The Old Guard comics and reread/caught up on the Saga comics series and both of them are written by both men and women writers and artists. When it comes to what genres I read in 2022, Sci-fi got a bit of a boost thanks to the Saga comics and because I reread the Hunger Games trilogy and then the prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Horror definitely made an appearance thanks to the 12 Challenge as I’m normally a complete wuss. I started 2022 with 88 books on my physical/digital TBR and I ended it with 75 books on my TBR! That number has been the goal for my owned TBR for the past two years and I’ve finally done it. (more…)

My film year in review and my film-related goals of 2023

In 2022 I was very chill about film-watching and didn’t make myself watch things like the awards buzzy films just to keep in the loop (which was one of my goals last year!). I do think my whole procrastinating/mindless scrolling through social media did possibly have an affect on my film-watching like it did my reading at times though. I did also re/watch Doctor Who from Christopher Eccleston to the end of Jodie Whitaker’s era (I kind of stopped watching when the Ponds left and didn’t start again until the middle of Thirteen’s run) which took me six months so watching a couple of episodes of Doctor Who took the same time as watching a film might’ve.

In total I watched 177 different films, about 40 of which were rewatches. I said 2021 was the year I’d watched the least films but turns out 2022 now beats that which I’m OK with as I still watched a lot of good films, including these which made my Favourite Films of 2022 list. I still do enjoy watching films, whether they’re the latest blockbuster or something more obscure that I’m only watching because there’s an actor I like in it, but it’s nice not to put any pressure on myself to hit an arbitrary number or anything. I did see 45 different films at the cinema which was more than I expected because unlike previous years I didn’t really spend many Saturday’s at the cinema watching two or more films in a row like I used to. Again, I think this is a sign of me being choosier over what I want to watch rather than going to the cinema just for the sake of it. I did have an unlimited card which meant for about £16 a month I could see as many films as I like but I don’t think I was using it to its full potential as I used to so I cancelled it. I did get a similar card for a cinema that’s a lot closer to me (as in less than a 10-minute walk away) so I can go see a film at like 6pm after work and walk there rather than having a 30 minutes’ drive to the cinema.

I completed my 52 Films by Women challenge for both directors and writers again this year which I’m always happy about. Though it wasn’t intentionally I did like how only one of the films directed by women was a rewatch – which was of course, Mamma Mia! (more…)

It’s blogtober time!

It’s that time of year again and as I seem to have gotten into the habit of alternating between blogtober and blogmas every year, this year it’s blogtober’s time to shine. Thought I’d do a little intro post as it gets another day used up which is always handy and I can forewarn you as to what’s likely to end up on here over the next few weeks.

As you may have noticed about the past weekend, I’m planning to post spooky/horror film reviews every Saturday and Sunday. I’m a self-confessed wuss but I do like pushing myself out of my comfort zone a bit with this. I mean, last blogtober I watched some great films like 30 Days of Night and Practical Magic for the first time. I’ve gone through my watchlists of the various streaming platforms I have and have put together a potential watchlist. I think there’s a nice mix of different kinds of horror films, and some are more family-focussed if I do get scared! I will say while I’ve included them, I doubt I’ll watch the Fear Street films as slasher-horror films are probably the kind of horror films I can deal with the least. Creature-horror films like zombies, vampires and werewolves are much easier for me to handle.

London Film Festival is this month and I’m going to spend one day in London to see Call Jane and Till on the big screen and I’m planning on taking full advantage of the films available online on the BFI Player so there may be some reviews for some of those films this month. Also, this month is Cambridge Film Festival which seemed to come out of nowhere – I feel like it’s usually in November? So, to have it this month was a surprise but one I’m going to try and take advantage of as it takes place around the corner from my work so it’d be silly not to. After rereading The Hunger Games trilogy, I rewatched the films so there’s going to be reviews for each of them every Friday this month.

I haven’t really been doing my usual Monday film reviews recently but I’m going to try and get back into that habit and on Thursdays there should still be book reviews even though I’ve now finished my Read the World Project. It’s fun but almost daunting to be able to pick up any book I have on my shelves, it almost feels like too much choice right now. Things like Top Ten Tuesday, Book Blogger Hop, and tags may also help me fill in the gaps.

So yeah, will be a lot busier on this blog this month. As I’m writing and scheduling this post at the end of September, I have 14 posts scheduled (including the two from this past weekend) which I think is pretty good going – especially as I got COVID at the end of September though thankfully I didn’t have it bad at all, was more like a bad cold for three days, and I’m now testing negative.

My Read the World Project? Completed it!

Way back in January 2017, I decided I was going to try and read a book from every country in the world before my 30th birthday in September 2021, giving me just under five years. To begin with I wasn’t sure if I was going to go with authors from every country or just having the book set in each country be enough. I soon went with the authors from that country approach though as I thought that while it was likely to be more challenging, it would allow me to experience a more authentic take on a country and its people, culture and history.

I didn’t meet my self-imposed target of reading a book from every country in the world before I was 30. This was due to a combination of things over the years I was doing this challenge. There were times I was in reading slumps, or when I wasn’t prioritising the international books, or when I couldn’t find certain ones, or just how generally a lot of the books for this challenge were non-fiction or historical fiction and those kinds of books don’t tend to be ones that I read very quickly.

After failing at my original deadline with 48 books/countries still to go, I decided to tweak things a bit so I had till my 31st birthday to read a book from every country in the world as then I’d at least still have completed the challenge in my 30th year. And with my 31st birthday tomorrow I’m very pleased to say that on 17th September 2022 I read the final book for my Read the World Project! Part of me was kind of annoyed that I didn’t stick to my original goal but a lot of things happened over the years I’ve been reading books from around the world – I moved to a new city, got new jobs, there was a global pandemic, I experienced the loss of three close family members, including my dad, in the space of three weeks in March 2020. It’s no wonder that reading of any kind got pushed to the back burner at times.

I have read books from 205 different countries! Technically there are 195 countries in the world but I did things like split the UK into England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and read books by authors from places like Taiwan, Palestine and Kosovo which often has their autonomy disputed. I read short stories, novels, poetry, essays, non-fiction, plays, children’s stories – just about every type of literature you can imagine to complete this challenge. I also read physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks during this challenge as there were some books that were only available digitally or were a lot cheaper than a physical copy. It was fascinating discovering authors and books that I never would’ve heard of or read if it wasn’t for this challenge.

No offence to any of the books I read but there’s some I have very little memory of as I read them like four years ago. Part of me would be interested in rereading some of the books from the early part of this challenge to see if my opinions changed at all now I’ve read more widely and have experienced so many different writing styles.

I’d say I read a lot of things out of my comfort zone but to be honest I’m not sure what my comfort zone is anymore. Because such a huge chunk of my reading for the past five years has been focused on my Read the World Project, and often there wasn’t a lot of choice when it came to what I read for a country as there might only be a few books translated into English, I’ve read what I had to, not necessarily what I was interested in. I grew up a fantasy fan and I’ve read the odd fantasy book over the past few years but I’m not sure if that is still my favourite genre. I’ve acquired a lot of books over the years from browsing Waterstones or from the times I’ve been subscribed to things like Illumicrate or FairyLoot and I’ve read very few of them even if at the time I got them they sounded super interesting.

It’s going to be a bit weird but also exciting to have total freedom with my reading choices again. The times I went on holiday I would always take a mixture of “fun books” aka not for my Read the World Project and books for my Read the World Project as I never felt like I could completely stop reading books from around the world as I didn’t want to fall behind or get out of the habit of reading them.

I want to mention a few websites that really helped me find books and writers for my Read the World Project. I’m not the first person to embark on this reading journey and I’ll surely not be the last but finding others who had blogged about their experience of reading a book from every country in the world helped me a lot when I was stumped on a country.

While it was sometimes really hard to find certain books because they were old or out of print or ridiculously expensive, looking over those websites gave me options and helped me feel confident that I would find some sort of literature from each country somehow. Taking full advantage of the University of Cambridge’s library sure helped (I work in a University department so automatically get library access) especially with some of the smaller countries, and I’m lucky enough to have the disposable income to do things like pay to have the one copy of a book I found on AbeBooks to be shipped from Texas to the UK – it was The Golden Horse and cost $56. Thankfully this was before the British Pound tanked in value so it worked out to cost about £42.

I’m really pleased and proud to have read a book from every country in the world. I learnt a lot from so many of the books I read. Even the fiction books as when a book is written by someone who has lived that culture or experience, that authenticity shines through. It was an interesting but sometimes difficult challenge and I’m looking forward to revisiting some of the authors I read for my Read the World Project in the future.

I’ve put together a master post for my Read the World Project so anyone who’s interested in a specific country can easily find the work I read for it.

Reflections on the A-Z Challenge 2022 Edition

Another April has gone by and it’s been another successful A-Z Challenge here on ElenaSquareEyes.

This was the ninth year in a row I’ve taken part in and completed this challenge and I think this was the year I was closest to failing. I refused to fail because I don’t like failing anything and while I had the best intentions and had over half of the posts written and scheduled before April came around, the latter half of the month got away from me. It feels somewhat apt that I’m only just putting together my reflections post, days after the so called deadline, because the last few weeks have definitely blurred into one another for me.

I do enjoy writing film reviews but I seem to always forget how long they take and watching and reviewing 26 films in a relatively short space of time does take a while. I watched some films I’d been putting off for ages so this challenge was a success plus I watched some that I liked for more than I expected to like Letters from Iwo Jima and Rope. Rope especially is a film I can see myself revisiting often.

The most popular posts/reviews were of House of Flying Daggers, Space Cowboys, and Blue Steel which is an interesting mix of genres. Funnily enough the most popular film review of the month was XXY which was featured in 2020’s April A-Z Challenge. That was the last time I did film reviews for the challenge and after two years of it I’m not sure if I’ll manage a third.

I didn’t visit and comment on as many blogs as I hopped to but I did enjoy reading the ones I did visit and I really appreciate all the comments I received. I think next year I will aim to get all my posts written and scheduled before April actually begins, that way I’ll have far more time to visit all the other blogs taking part. I don’t know what my theme will be for my tenth year doing this challenge. I’ve done film reviews, favourite characters, favourite songs, favourite anything, and I have a whole year to figure it out. I say this and watch me panic about it in March 2023 so if you have any suggestions for a theme please do share!

I hope all of you who took part in the challenge had fun and a successful A-Z in April. Thanks to those who stopped by my blog and liked or commented – it always means a lot. For more information on the A-Z in April Challenge visit the website.

Asian Readathon 2022 TBR

In May in the United States, it is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and in honour of that Cindy from WithCindy on YouTube created a readathon where the main aim is to read books by Asian authors. Her announcement video explains it all really well and she also has a Google Doc with extra info and resources and there’s a Twitter account for the readathon too.

This year’s challenge is loosely themed around the film Everything Everywhere All At Once (which I can’t wait to see) and is meant to be easy, accessible, and open to interpretation. The reading challenges are:

– Read a book written by an Asian author.
– Read a book featuring an Asian character who is a woman and/or older.
– Read a book by an Asian author that has a universe you would want to experience or a universe that is totally different from yours.
– Read a book by an Asian author that has a cover worthy of googly eyes (aka a gorgeous cover).
– Read a book by an Asian author that has a high rating OR was highly recommended.

These challenges can be combined if you want to make it even easier! There is a twist though. You can combine challenges and read in any order; however, each book you read should feature a character or author of a different Asian ethnicity. This is to encourage cultural diversity. I’ve made a note of each authors nationality/identity as is available online.

Read a book written by an Asian author (though any of these books meet that challenge)

QuixotiQ by Ali Al Saeed (Bahraini)
This is a book I’ve already started once but struggled a bit with but as it’s less than 200 pages I know I can get through it if I just knuckle down and focus on it.

Armenian Golgotha by Grigoris Balakian, translated by Peter Balakian (Armenian)
A memoir about Grigoris Balakian’s eyewitness account of the Armenian Genocide which happened from 1915-1918.

Written in Black by K.H. Lim (Bruneian)
A coming-of-age novel offering a snapshot of a few days in the life of ten-year-old Jonathan Lee, attending the funeral of his grandfather, and still reeling from the drama of his mother leaving for Australia and his brother getting kicked out of the house and joining a rock band. I got the ebook of this for cheap recently so it’d be good to read it this month.

Read a book featuring an Asian character who is a woman and/or older (most of these books have female leads though)

Mama Hissa’s Mice by Saud Alsanousi, translated by Sawad Hussain (Kuwaiti)
Three friends who share neither ethnic origin nor religious denomination, get involved in a protest group and one of their grandmothers, Mama Hissa, warns them against it. This is another ebook.

Read a book by an Asian author that has a universe you would want to experience or a universe that is totally different from yours (a few of these books can fit this challenge)

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (Chinese-Canadian)
While the societal aspects of Iron Widow don’t sound great, the world of giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall sounds very cool. Plus, it’s been a wile since I’ve read a sci-fi novel.

Read a book by an Asian author that has a cover worthy of googly eyes

The Cabinet by Un Su Kim, translated by Sean Lin Halbert (South Korean)
This is one of the books from the 12 Books Recommended by 12 Friends Challenge and I have the audiobook. It sounds like a bit of a weird story and I love the cover.

The Beast Player and The Beast Warrior by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano (Japanese)
These two are some of the most gorgeous books I own. This is a YA duology about a girl who discovers she can talk to the huge, magical beasts of her world and becomes entangled in politics and war as she tries to keep herself and the beasts safe.

Read a book by an Asian author that has a high rating OR was highly recommended

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (Chinese-American) and She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (Chinese-Australian)
I’ve heard nothing but good things about both of these books. They’re both fantasy books that are inspired by Chinese history and it’s been a while since I’ve read an historical fantasy epic.

Are you taking part in the Asian Readathon? Or do you have any books by Asian authors on your TBR in general? I would love to hear about them.