I’ve finally finished last year’s challenge !!

My reading life is often enlivened by taking part in reading challenges set by someone else or making up my own. It provides a bit of discipline to my reading and often makes me try books that I would otherwise not attempt.

In 2022, to commemorate my sixtieth birthday, I chose to read sixty books – one from each year from 1962 to 2022. I have finally finished reading and reviewing my list and the more astute among you will notice that it has taken me slightly longer than the year to achieve my goal.

I’ve created a new page for this website with my list and you can find it here. Looking at the list with the benefit of hindsight it is quite an eclectic mix.

Thirty of the books were written by female authors. I didn’t set out to make it exactly half and it is interesting to note that the older books are more likely to be written by men than those published more recently. My usual ratio of male to female authors is, however, 25% to 75%.

Only two of the books were read in translation – Love in the Time of Cholera and Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow. The books, however featured stories set in whole or in part in the UK, Germany, Japan, the Caribbean, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, USA, India, Colombia, China, Greenland, Denmark, France, Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Nigeria and Greece to name just some of the countries. Some books are set in fantasy or imaginary lands and a couple in space.

Most of the books are contemporary for when they were written but a few are historical and a couple are science fiction. I don’t read a lot of historical fiction so I’m happy with this. The book set in the earliest time is probably The Women of Troy and the most futuristic is Dune.

The stories are literary fiction, crime novels, fables, fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction and thrillers. Although some of the books contain a bit of romance only The Thorn Birds can really be described as a romantic novel. Some of the books are in series but most are stand-alone and one (Wide Sargasso Sea) is the prequel of another book which is a classic.

Some were long (some were very, very long) such as Midnight’s Children, American Gods, Possession, The Sea, the Sea, and A Little Life. The shortest, by a long way, was Jonathan Livingston Seagull which was also the only book to have pictures.

I was glad to have read many of the novels which are well known or regarded as modern classics and it’s difficult to choose a favourite. The Bridges of Madison County was a discovery for me and I thought it was excellent. The City, the City was probably the cleverest idea and I thought that the author did it well. Dune and the Spy Who Came in from the Cold were rereads of books mostly forgotten and it was a delight to be reintroduced to them. The Bloody Chamber was short stories. I don’t read horror but Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Owl Service were as creepy as I could stand and are both excellent books. A recurring theme of the books was migration and the immigrant experience, especially The Road Home, Small Island and White Teeth. I didn’t enjoy some of the books but you’ll have to look up the reviews to see which they were.

Have a look at the list, which is here, and see how many of them you have read.

I’m not advising anyone to take up a challenge like this but if you do make sure you leave plenty of time and don’t include too many long books. Whatever you do and however you feel about challenges such as this do keep reading.