Monster Joke Month 2018 - Announcement, Ideas And A Prize!

It's time for the fourth annual Monster Joke Month!! Way back in 2015 I created the Monster Joke Month snail mail project and it has run every year since for the entirety of October. For those of you who are new, the basic idea is that every piece of mail that you send in October, you write a monster joke on the envelope! You then share the ones you send/receive on social media using the hashtag #MonsterJokeMonth and/or #MJM2K18. It's a bit of fun and I'm sure it may brighten up some postpersons day. If you'd like to go check out the original announcement, that's right here.

Do remember to use the hashtags though so I can see what people are sending and receiving. I like to do a round up of some of my favourite I've seen at the end of October. I will also be choosing my favourite monster joke and I will send the person who wrote it a prize!

I know not everyone sends snail mail on the regular, so I always give some ideas of how to join in - 

 - Sign up for a pen pal at IGGPPC (International Geek Girl Pen Pal Club) - there's nothing more satisfying than sending and receiving old school snail mail. Don't let the name fool you, both males and females are more than welcome! It's also a wonderful community and there's a lot more going on than just pen pals, so check it out! 

 - Send a note, card or letter to a friend or family to let them know you're thinking about them or just to say hi!

 - Sign up at Postcrossing. Postcrossing is a super fun service where you can send a postcard and then you receive a postcard in return (it's explained much better on their site!) I've received and sent postcards from China, USA, the Phillipines and Finland just to name a few of the places. 

 - Regardless of Monster Joke Month Post Pals is a wonderful charity that helps brighten the lives of sick children through the power of snail mail. (I know this is a UK based charity, but I'm sure there are similar charities in other countries).

 - Send a card or letter to a soldier. There are hundreds of sites where you can send a morale boosting letter to a soldier overseas and I'm sure they'd enjoy a good monster joke too!

- I discovered Donate A Letter this year and it's a wonderful idea, regardless of MJM, this is something people should get involved with. The idea is to write a letter to someone with cancer, whether you know them or whether a stranger to fill their mailboxes with positivity. The site explains everything and you can follow them on Twitter @frommetoyou01

These are just a few of the many, many ways you could join in on Monster Joke Month! If you have any other ideas though, please make sure to put them in the comments. Also let me know if you're planning on joining in, the more the merrier!

Don't forget to post your pics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and be sure to use the hashtags #MonsterJokeMonth and #MJM2K18 if you feel like tagging me, I'm @NerdishMum on both twitter and Instagram and my page is Life Of A Nerdish Mum on Facebook.

I can't wait to see all your jokes and the fun mail that you send this year!

Monster Joke Month 2017 - Welcome, Ideas and a Prize!

Monster Joke Month is back! This is the third year of me hosting Monster Joke Month since I launched it in 2015 and I still absolutely love it. (You can see my original announcement here).

For those of you new to Monster Joke Month, an explanation - During the month of October, any post that you send you put a joke about monsters either on the envelope or in the letter (or both) and you take a picture and use the #s #MonsterJokeMonth and #MJM2K17 on all social media so I can see what people are sending and receiving. I like to do a round up of some of my favourite I've seen at the end of October. This year I've also decided to step it up a bit and I will be choosing my favourite monster joke and I will send the person who wrote it a prize! I'll announce the prize later in the month so keep your eyes peeled for that!

If you don't normally send post but want to get involved, I have plenty of ideas for you to be able to join in.

 - Sign up for a pen pal at IGGPPC (International Geek Girl Pen Pal Club) - there's nothing more satisfying than sending and receiving old school snail mail. Don't let the name fool you, both males and females are more than welcome! It's also a wonderful community and there's a lot more going on than just pen pals, so check it out! 

 - Send a note, card or letter to a friend or family to let them know you're thinking about them or just to say hi!

 - Sign up at Postcrossing. Postcrossing is a super fun service where you can send a postcard and then you receive a postcard in return (it's explained much better on their site!) I've received and sent postcards from China, USA, the Phillipines and Finland just to name a few of the places. 
 - Regardless of Monster Joke Month Post Pals is a wonderful charity that helps brighten the lives of sick children through the power of snail mail. (I know this is a UK based charity, but I'm sure there are similar charities in other countries).

 - Send a card or letter to a soldier. There are hundreds of sites where you can send a morale boosting letter to a soldier overseas and I'm sure they'd enjoy a good monster joke too!

These are just a few of the many, many ways you could join in on Monster Joke Month! If you have any other ideas though, please make sure to put them in the comments. Also let me know if you're planning on joining in, the more the merrier!

Don't forget to post your pics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and be sure to use the hashtags #MonsterJokeMonth and #MJM2K17 if you feel like tagging me, I'm @NerdishMum on both twitter and Instagram and my page is Life Of A Nerdish Mum on Facebook.

I can't wait to see all your jokes and the fun mail that you send this year!

Some previous years jokes


 

Ideas For Monster Joke Month

Monster Joke Month is nearly upon us and I thought I'd share some ideas on ways you can find a reason to send a post card or a letter if you aren't already a fan and user of snail mail! If you're new to the idea, check out this years announcement post HERE.

1. Sign up to IGGPPC - International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club is a place where geeks and snail mail collide! The community is super awesome and sign ups for pen pals this month are already open and will be till the end of the month. Also guys don't let the name fool you, there are plenty of male Iggles out there too!

2. Sign up to Postcrossing - You send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person in the world. This is super fun and I've used it a lot before and have received postcards from Russia, America and even China.

3. Tell a friend/family member you miss them - We all have that one friend or family member that we love but we just don't get to see as often as we'd like. Send them a card or a quick note, or heck even an 18 page (front and back) masterpiece just to say that you're thinking about them.

4. Send a letter through Post Pals - Regardless of Monster Joke Month, this charity is one that you should definitely look into as you can brighten the lives of sick children. Taking a few minutes to write a card could really make a difference.

If you have any other ideas, please share with me! Lets get as many people as we can involved and excited about Monster Joke Month.

These are just a few ideas and there are other options for each idea, there are lots of places online where you can find the right pen pal or right mail exchange etc for you. These ideas are ones I've had personal experience with and so can say they are good to use!

How many people are planning to join in with Monster Joke Month between the 1st and 31st of October, lets see a show of hands/claws/paws/tentacles?

Monster Joke Month 2016 Snail Mail Project

I can't believe it's this time of year again already and I'm here to announce that I will be hosting Monster Joke Month for its second year this October!

If you're new to the idea, see my original announcement post here from last year. But the general idea is that for every bit of post that you send in the month of October, you put a monster joke on the envelope and then when you send or receive a piece of post with a monster joke on, you use the hashtag #MonsterJokeMonth and/or #MJM2K16 to post it on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook etc. At the end of October I will then do a new post collating my favourite from throughout the month!

It was popular last year, but I'd really like to see loads more people join in this year! Even if you don't normally send snail mail, find a reason to send a friend a post card or write to someone you haven't seen in a while. (You could even sign up to somewhere like IGGPPC and get a pen pal and introduce yourself with a joke!).

As another idea, last year I made Halloween cards and sent them out to my penpals and this year I'm hoping to do something similar, just to more people!

The cheesier the better for your jokes. I've included some pictures of ones I used last year to show how hilariously bad some of them were. I also included bonus jokes on the inside of the cards too, so feel free to put your jokes wherever you prefer!

So get writing and posting between the 1st and the 31st of October and lets have some monsterish fun!

Don't forget to let me know if your are participating and as long as you use one of the hashtags, I should be able to see all your lovely photos.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what people come up with this year!

The Iliad - Homer

My most recent buddy read was a bit more intense than the previous few, our choice was The Iliad by Homer, translation done by Alexander Pope. It was also a little different as there was three of us working our way through this one.

When me and my buddy reader where coming near to the end of our previous buddy read (Pillars Of The Earth) when one of our friends from the IGGPPC (International Geek Girl Pan Pal Club) community got in touch to say that if we ever chose to read The Iliad that she'd love to buddy read alongside us. As it was on both our buddy read wish lists we decided to just make it our next read and then we could all get started.

When I started to read following the introduction to the first chapter/book I was really surprised to find that it was written in the form of a rhyming poem. I'm not exactly sure what I expected, it just was not this. At first I really enjoyed this as it was really easy to read and I was flying through my daily pages. After a while though I realised that I was not taking in a single word, I was just following the flow of the words without actually absorbing what was going on. I ended up having to go back a few days worth of reading to re read and slow myself down so I could know what was going on. According to research done by our newest buddy reader, this is actually one of the worst translations to read unless you already know the story inside and out.

Once I'd got into the habit of slowing myself down and the occasional use of Wikipedia, I quite enjoyed the epic tale that was told. I would definitely like to have seen more information into some stories, though I'm not 100% on the timeline so it may have not made sense at the time. I think the battles were the hardest to read as they just seemed to be a list of names rather than anything actually happening, whereas other bits seemed very graphic. As in War and Peace, people each had more than one name and it wasn't always very clear who was who. It did get easier as I went along and checked online if I couldn't figure it out, but it definitely didn't help towards the overall enjoyment.

I'm rating this book 2 stars and I feel that I am actually rating the translation/edition rather than the story itself, so maybe one day when I feel up to it, I'll find a better version and try again. But for now, something was definitely lost in translation.

Thank you to both my lovely buddy readers for getting me through this and actually concentrate on what I'm reading.

We read this from the 20th of May 2016 to the 1st of July 2016.
I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads.

Conquering My Everest - War And Peace

Before I get into the review or any of the details of my reading experience etc I would just like thank every single person who got behind me while I have been reading War and Peace. The people who have liked my tweeted updates or my daily updates on Goodreads. The people who have sent me encouraging messages and memes. And especially to my buddy reader who without her I would never ever have gotten through this book! So thank you F, you're amazing!!!

I started reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy on the Readathon Day 2015 which was held on the 24th of January 2015. The readathon was 4 hours long and I was really proud of myself as I managed to read 153 pages and though it was excruciatingly wordy, I was getting through it. As an example of the wordy-ness, this is a sentence from the top of page 6 "As she named the Empress, Anna Pavlovna's face suddenly assumed an expression of profound and sincere devotion and respect, tinged with melancholy, and this happened whenever she mentioned her exalted patroness" - I feel this could have been done in a much more succinct way and in a way that didn't make Anna's face sound like it was performing a drama.

So we move onto April and I finally get around to picking the book up to continue reading it and I manage three pages before I fall fully asleep sat on the sofa.  tried on and off until September and I kept managing the same three pages before falling asleep, whether I was tired or not. In October I had some success and I finally read 26 pages all in one go and then on another day another six, but I just couldn't do it any more. It was so painful to force myself to read it and to keep myself awake, especially as there are so many books that I want to read. So I made the decision that I was going to DNF (did not finish) my first ever book! I made my intention known on Goodreads and then from nowhere one of my Iggle (IGGPPC member) friends said that she had wanted to read War and Pace too and that she would get a copy and catch up with me and we would read it together! I jumped at this as I was upset that I was leaving a book unfinished and had let it beat me, so a few days later we started reading 10 pages a day until new year and then we upped it to 20 pages a day.

Having someone else reading this with me gave me the motivation I needed to get through this tome. It didn't seem as much effort to get through the pages and with deciding to read a set amount of pages a day, it really felt like I was making progress. I am eternally grateful to F for helping me out with this and I look forward to all out future buddy reads to get through books we want to read, because we should read.

Onto the review. I am being very, very generous giving this two stars instead of one. The only reason that I am doing this is that during the times of "peace" there were bits of scandal and gossip that kept me almost interested. There is a whole host of characters that come and go so often that you forget who they are as a lot of them have very similar names. Some characters disappear for a long time, only to come back and die in nothing more than a sentence. One character has more lives than a cat and is pronounced dead so many times, you just don't care any more. There was character that I did like and I was pleased that he got his happy ending that he deserved.

The sections which were from Napoleans point of view, to me felt like they were added as an after thought or were written at a different time by a different person as they read so different to the rest of the story, I discovered through F that War and Peace was originally released as a serial so it is actually possible that these parts were added as an after thought. Towards the end of the book, Tolstoy seems to forget he is telling a story and there is more than one chapter which are just his opinions on war and history. It's very jarring getting to these parts when the chapter before and after are jut continuations of the story as if the middle bit never happened.

As I've said at the start, I would not have got through this book without the support of my buddy reader and I really respect people who can do it alone (and enjoy it!) I'm proud we got through it and I'm certainly glad that I can honestly say that yes I have read War and Peace.

Have you ever read War and Peace? What was your reading experience and did you enjoy it?

I started reading this book on the 24th of January 2015 and finished it on the 10th of February 2016.
I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads

Monster Joke Month 2015 Snail Mail Project

A few weeks ago I had an idea which I thought was really fun and the more I've thought about it the more I wanted to share it with other people and hopefully for those people to get involved and join in.

My idea is that for the entire month of October, every piece of mail that I send out, whether it's a letter, package or a post card, will have a monster joke on it. I absolutely love Halloween and I thought this would be a really fun way of celebrating it using snail mail and sharing the fun with other people.

For other people to join in, I thought that I would create a hashtag and then every piece of mail you receive/send with a monster joke on, you could post a pic on Twitter or Instagram (or any other form of social media that you use) with the hashtag #MonsterJokeMonth or #MJM2K15

I really hope that people get involved as I am really excited about this and I'm really looking forward to seeing the monster jokes, the cheesier the better!

Please let me know if you're planning on joining me and I'll be watching the hashtags and re-tweeting/re-gramming any and all that I find. I'll also be blogging about the project throughout the month of October and I'll share some of my favourite jokes.

Snail Mail August 2015 Round Up

I thought I'd share something a little different this month and show my snail mail stats. I'm a member of the International Geek Girl Pen Pal Club (IGGPPC) and through them I have met a lot of wonderful friends that I exchange letters and postcards with. During August I've been keeping a record of how far each of my letters have travelled for both incoming and outgoing mail. I recorded the distances as the crow flies rather than by transport as I have no way of knowing which route any of them would take.

I sent a total of five letters and 2 postcards throughout the month and individually they travelled the following distances

Letter one travelled 4049 miles
Letter two travelled 33 miles
Letter three travelled 4782 miles
Letter four travelled 70 miles
Letter five travelled 5198 miles
Postcard one travelled 155 miles
Postcard two travelled 65 miles

I received one letter and two postcards which travelled the following distances

Letter one received travelled 70 miles
Postcard one travelled 4043 miles
Postcard two travelled 3797 miles

I then thought it might be fun to add up the distances to see how far in total everything has travelled, I'm thinking of maybe doing an quarterly and annual round up to see just how far my post travels

Letters sent total distance travelled 14.132 miles
Postcards sent total distance travelled 220 miles
Post sent total distance travelled 14,352 miles

Letters received total distance travelled 70 miles
Postcards received total distance travelled 7840 miles
Post received total distance travelled 7910 miles

Overall total distance travelled
Letters - 14,202 miles
Postcards - 8060 miles
Combined - 22,262 miles

I really hope you enjoyed having a look into my snail mail life, I'm hoping to do more blogs about the kind of things I do with my pen pals in the future.

Preston Table Top Day 2015

The 11^th of April this year was the 3^rd annual International Table Top Day. International Table Top Day was created three years ago as a way for board gamers around the world come together and celebrate table top gaming and this year I was able to go to an event to celebrate it. The event that I went to was Preston Table Top Day and it was held in the Foster Learning Building at the University of Central Lancashire, UK.

When we got there (finally, university campuses are confusing!) we were welcomed into the building by the organisers and pointed in the direction of the room the event was being held in. Inside were tables galore laid out ready for people to play games, game tables all ready set up for bigger games and stalls to buy table top goodies.

We stopped by was The Museum of Gaming table, who were showing some ancient games and letting people play. Me and my husband had a go at a game called Rota from Roman times and it was so much fun. It’s very much like noughts and crosses, except that it is circular and there is a second stage in which you can then move your pieces into empty places to try and win if no one matches their three counters in the first stage.

We had a look around and watched some people playing family games and a man painting game pieces. We chatted to the stall holders about games and what they suggested and our friend bought himself One Night: Ultimate Werewolf (which we played and it was awesome). The final game we played was Cube Quest, which was incredibly fun! It’s kind of a strategy game that involves flicking cubes across the board.

Preston Table Top Day was family friendly and I took a 6 year old and a 21 month old with me and they both thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There were so many games and activities to get involved in and there was something there for everyone. We would definitely go again and would recommend that people go and get involved on International Table Top Day.

I was cheeky and asked if I could ask the organiser, Millie, some questions and she was good enough to agree:-

Can you tell me the history or story behind Preston Table Top Day?

Preston Table Top Day was part of International Table Top Day, Wil Wheaton has a YouTube show called Tabletop (yes it’s Wesley from TNG) and they created the holiday back in 2013. I went to an event last year at Harlequin’s Game Shop, it was great. I recorded a radio show about it and was lucky enough to have a phone interview with Boyan Radokovich (the producer and “games guru” of the show) You can listen to the show here.

How did you get involved in being the organiser of the event this year?

I thought it would be great to have a HUGE event for the day and level it up from the one I went to in 2014. So I chatted to people and spoke to people on Facebook and Twitter and a lot of people agreed that it would be a good idea. So I went on to set up a Kickstarter page to help fund the event, thinking that I would just get enough to cover the cost of the venue and the insurance. We ended up with almost double the amount so we were able to get make special t-shirts for the backers, have a game designed for us, there were prizes and promotional items that were given away through a free raffle, a Pandemic tournament was run with prizes and the entrance was free for everyone who came. It also meant that the people who volunteered to help got some drinks and I was able to give them each a thank you present.

But I’ve waffled away from the question, I was the organiser because I wanted there to be a giant Table Top Day event, so I made it happen. There were some amazing people, who I couldn’t have done it without, but basically I wanted it to happen in my City so I did everything I could to make it.

Can you tell me about your day job?

I make podcasts, some YouTube videos and I write some blogs. But really I’m a stay at home mum; I take the kids to school, cook tea, load the washer and wash the dishes. There’s fun stuff too, I’m very lucky that I get to spend so much time with my family, see my kiddies grow up and spend time with my husband, it’s actually great fun.

Was there a final tally as to how many people attended?

178! The real count is a little higher, there were some kiddies there that didn’t count towards the door tally and also the vendors and volunteers aren’t in that total. But 178 people played games at Preston Table Top Day!

What is your favourite board game?

I love a game called The Resistance; it’s a social game where you’re either a spy or a Resistance member. The aim of the game depends on what team you’re on. If you’re a Resistance member, you need three successful missions. If you’re a spy, you want to sabotage three missions. Everyone’s roles are hidden; it’s a game full of social deduction, lies and convincing your friends that you’re really on their team…even when you’re not.

Will there be a Preston Table Top Day 2016?

I think so, I’m currently deciding on if I should try another Kickstarter or if we should charge a really small ticket price and see if we can get a bigger venue or a bigger area of UCLAN.

A big thank you to Millie for your time and effort in organising this event and thank you for answering my questions

This was originally published on the IGGPPC blog which you can view here.

Panels Comic Challenge

Just when you thought I was doing enough challenges, I go and add another one! This challenge was suggested by the head honcho of the Iggle Bookworms and I thought "why not"

The Panels challenge is a sister to the BookRiot read harder challenge but is for comics instead of books. As I like to broaden my interests and up my knowledge, I thought this was another great way of adding different formats to my reading pile.

I will say that this was actually harder to put together than any of my book challenges and that some of these choices are likely to change depending on whether I can get my hands on them or not.

So to the list:

Read a comic book from the Golden Age (30's to early 50's) - Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner Vol. 1
Read a comic book that features a creative team representing more than one gender - Adventure Time Vol. 1 by Ryan North
Read a comic book originally published in Europe - Requiem Vampire Knight Vol. 1: Resurrection
Read a piece of comics journalism - A.D. : New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld
Read a self contained graphic novel - Watchmen by Alan Moore
Read a comic book from an independent publisher - Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince
Read a comic book by an all female creative team - Lumberjanes #1 by Grace Ellis and Noelle Stevenson
Read a comic book about a culture other than your own - Sailor Moon, Vol. 01 (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon 1)
Read a comic book about a religion other than your own - Thor: The Mighty Avenger #1
Read a comic book marketed at children or all ages - Tiny Titans #1
Read a comic book that features a LGBTQ character - Rat Queens #1
Read a comic book that won an Eisner Award - Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loab and Alex Ross
Read a webcomic - Digger by Ursula Vernon
Read a comic book starring anthropomorphic animals - Maus: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Maus #1) by Art Spiegelman
Read a volume of manga - Maria Holic 1
Read a comic book written and drawn by the same person - God Hates Astronauts by Ryan Browne
Read a collection of comic strips - Calvin & Hobbes #1
Read a comic about a non-traditional superhero - C.O.W.L. Volume 1: Principles of Power by Kyle Higgins
Read a new to you comic from the library - Supergirl, Vol. 1: Last Daughter of Krypton
Read a science fiction comic book - V for Vendetta by David Lloyd
Read a fantasy comic book - Jack of Fables: The (Nearly) Great Escape by Bill Willingham
Read a comic book featuring non-traditional art - Pax Arena #1
Read a comic set in a country other than your own - Essex County Vol. 1: Tales From the Farm by Jeff Lemire
Read a controversial comic book - Heroes Reborn: Captain America
Read a book about comic books - How to Draw Your Own Graphic Novel: Learn All About Creating Characters, Storytelling, lettering and Inking by Frank Lee
Read a comic with a villain for the protagonist - Sinestro Vol. 1: The Demon Within by Cullen Bunn

I'm really looking forward to reading some of these titles, in particular the comics journalism, I didn't know that that kind of thing existed, so it should certainly be interesting.

2015 Reading Challenge

I've always been a reader, I was an early starter too being able to read before the age of two. I have never had a period of time during which I haven't read, however there have been times when I have just read less. Until around August 2014, I was going through one of the less reading stages when I came across people on Twitter, who are part of International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club, talking about their book challenges and adding books to their TBR list on Goodreads. This really peaked my interest and got me thinking more about reading. I had previously had a Goodreads account, but at that time, it didn't feel right and the people who I was friends with just didn't seem to understand the way I read or the wide variety of genres on my books list. Fast forward back to August and I set myself up a brand new account and started adding the people I'd now met and it has been a brilliant experience. So many like minded people that are friendly and willing to talk about their opinions on books and will recommend books that they feel you will like depending on what they know about you.

Following on from this I have read more and more each month and have been thoroughly enjoying myself to the point where I want to start reviewing books again and have been making brief comments on my most recent books. Being a part of this community I was made aware of some reading challenges for 2015 and I thought why not try them out and use it as a building block to restart my reviews and give me prompts for my blog. The two lists which I have chosen to complete are PopSugar's Ultimate Reading Challenge and BookRiot's Read Harder Challenge, where there has been a duplication of a topic I have only done one and on the PopSugar list, there was a topic "a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't" and as I was a good girl and read everything that I was supposed to, I substituted this with "a book your dad loves". There is only one topic which I missed out completely and that was "an audiobook" though I may try one out later in the year.

I have created a bookshelf on my Goodreads and I will be blogging my reviews of each book as I go along so that I can share my experience with others.

So without further ado, here is my list:

A book with more than 500 pages - A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin
A classic romance - Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
A book that became a movie - Divergent by Veronica Roth
A book published this year - Burned by Karen Marie Moning
A book with a number in the title - Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
A book written by someone under 30 - Eragon by Christopher Paolini
A book with nonhuman characters - The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
A funny book - High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
A book by a female author - The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
A mystery or thriller - A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
A book with a one-word title - You by Caroline Kepnes
A book of short stories - Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
A book set in a different country - Helen of Troy by Margaret George
A nonfiction book - Portrait of a killer: Jack The Ripper by Patricia Cornwell
A popular author's first book - Star Quest by Dean Koontz
A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet - Making Money by Terry Pratchett
A book a friend recommended - In the Dark by Richard Laymon
A Pulitzer Prize-winning book - The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
A book based on a true story - All I want for Christmas Is...Letters from Santa's Mailbag by Carl Anderson
A book at the bottom of your to-read list - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A book your mum loves - The Borrowers by Mary Norton
A book that scares you - The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
A book more than 100 years old - The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker
A book based entirely on its cover - The Children's Book by A, S, Byatt
A book your dad loves - Perfect Victim by Christine McGuire and Carla Norton
A memoir - Marley and Me by John Grogan
A book you can finish in a day - Animal Farm by George Orwell
A book with antonyms in the title - War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit - The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas
A book that came out the year you were born - The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
A book with bad reviews - Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
A trilogy - The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner - 1. The Maze Runner 2. The Scorch Trials 3. The Death Cure
A book from your childhood - The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton
A book with a love triangle - Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
A book set in the future - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
A book set in highschool - Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
A book with a colour in the title - Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
A book that made you cry - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
A book with magic - The Tales of Beedle Bard by J. K. Rowling
A graphic novel - Secret Wars by Jim Shooter
A book by an author you've never read before - The Luck of Troy by Roger Lancelyn Green
A book you own but have never read - The Flying Sorcerers by David Gerrold
A book that takes place in your hometown - Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill
A book that was originally written in a different language - The Art of War by Sun Tzu
A book set during Chirstmas - The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
A book written by an author with your same initials - Little Toot by Hardie Gramalky
A play - Equus by Peter Shaffer
A banned book - American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
A book based on or turned into a TV show - The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
A book you started but never finished - Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
A book written by someone when they were under 25 - The Shadow Thief by Alexandra Adornetto
A book written by someone when they were over 65 - I Dream of Zenia with Bright Red Teeth by Margaret Atwood
A book published by an indie press - The Assassin Princess by Blake Rivers
A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ - The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
A book by a person whose gender is different to your own - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
A book that takes place in Asia - Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
A book by an author from Africa - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture - Dreamkeepers: A Spirit-Journey into Aboriginal Australia by Harvey Arden
A microhistory - The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester
A YA novel - The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
A sci-fi novel - Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
A romance novel - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade - Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
A book that is a retelling of a classic story - Cinder by Marissa Meyer
A collection of poetry - A child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure - Hidden by Casey Hill
A book published before 1850 - Emma by Jane Austin
A self improvement book - Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr Spencer Johnson

There are 70 books in total on my challenge list and I hope to fit in some others to achieve my goal of 100 books this year.

Here's to a very productive and enlightening 2015!