BW1: Welcome to our Wild and Whimsical Reading Quest

 

"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, 

you can only think what everyone else is thinking."

— Haruki Murakami (Norwegian Wood)

Happy New Year! Welcome to another year of Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.  Welcome back to all our regulars and our newbies. If you haven't participated in years past, the goal is to read 52 Books. How you get there is up to you. And if you prefer to set your own goal, you are welcome to do so. We don't have a set reading list so you can choose to play along or chart your own path in your quest to read.  All that matters is the reading. 

To aid in the journey, there are a number of weekly, monthly, annual, and perpetual quests along with an updated quirky 52 Books Bingo and our author of the month Bookish Bookology to explore.  

We traditionally start out the year in the weird and wonderful world of Haruki Murakami, our January author of the month. While we wait for his newest book, The City and It's Uncertain Walls to be released in the United States some time this year, I'll be exploring his non fiction conversations with Seiji Ozawa in Absolutely on Music, and dive into the fiction world of Sputnik Sweetheart.

Although Penguin suggests starting with some of Murakami's slimmer novels, my first introduction to Murakami was his chunky fantasy novel 1Q84, filled with magical realism, music, cats, weird characters, choices, and the meaning of life.  Which lead to reading most of his bibliography. 

Discover more about Murakami in his non fiction memoir, Novelist as a Vocation in which the man seriously doesn’t think he is a good writer, but shares his stories, his process, and so much more.

Plus, we are traveling through the alphabet again with A to Z and Back Again. There are a variety of ways to complete the project and you don't have to stick with authors or titles only. The choices are unlimited, including:

• Choose an author whose first or last name begin with the letter. 
• Pick a book starting with the letter in the title of the book. Except for those pesky articles or prepositions. 
• Read a book with a character whose name starts with the letter. 
• Choose a book in which the setting of the story starts with the letter. 
• Choose a genre that starts with the letter.
• Read a book with a literary term or plot device starting with the letter. 

Big A, little A, what begins with A -  Allusion, Angels, Agatha, Adams, Adventure, and Action all begin with A. 

Are you ready to go? Great! Put on your hat and walking shoes, strap on your backpack, grab your walking stick as we follow rabbit trails of thought throughout the world on a wild and whimsical reading quest.

Happy Reading! 

Please share your book reviews and link to your website, blog, Goodreads, Google+, Tumblers, or Instagram page. If you do not have a social media account, please leave a comment to let us know what you are reading. The link widget closes at the end of each book week. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field paste a link to your post, then check the privacy box and click enter.