One, Two, Theme! A Very Geeky Reading Challenge

Alexandra from The Sleepless Reader and Joanna from It's All About Me have come up with a very interesting idea for a reading challenge. One, Two, Theme! -Challenge will run from 1 January until 31 December in 2011. The purpose of the challenge is to read books, both fiction and nonfiction, on various themes. Every participant should choose at least three themes. For the first theme you only have to read one book, for the second two, for the third three etc. From your second theme up, at least one of the books chosen should be fiction and one nonfiction.


I first learned about this challenge through Alexandra's blog some weeks ago and immediately wanted to join. Choosing my themes have, however, taken some time. Here, finally, they are. I'm aiming for at least six theme blocks, so will post my tentative lists from which to choose the books for six different subjects. The lists include also books I have already read, if I think that those books might be of interest to someone else who might want to choose the same theme. Here goes:


1. Vietnam
For this theme I will read The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb. This is Gibb's upcoming novel. I've read all her previous books and really like her writing. Sweetness in the Belly was one of my top reads a few years ago and I have been rather impatienly waiting for her next book. The Beauty of Humanity Movement will be published in March 2011.


2. Mesopotamia
I'll read Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie as my fiction book for this theme. The nonfiction book will be one of these:

• Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in Mesopotamia by Zainab Bahrani
• Return to Babylon: Travelers, Archeologers, and Monuments in Mesopotamia by Brian M. Fagan
• Babylon and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek
• Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City by Gwendolyn Leick
• Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia by Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat
• From Mesopotamia to Iraq: A Concise History by Hans J. Nissen
• Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization by A. Leo Oppenheim
• Ancient Mesopotamia: The Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians by Virginia Schomp

3. Napoleon Bonaparte and the Napoleonic Era
I've always found Napoleon Bonaparte a fascinating figure, but have actually not read much fiction featuring him. I hope to improve on that by choosing this theme. And I might even upgrade this theme highter up on my list in the end.

 Fiction:

• The Napoleon Series by Max Gallo (The Song of Departure, The Sun of Austerlitz, The Emperor of Kings, The Immortal of St. Helena)
• Vienna Waltz by Teresa Grant
• The Josephine Bonaparte Trilogy by Sandra Gulland (The Many Lifes and Sorrows of Josephine B.; Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe; The last Great Dance on Earth)
• The Napoleonic Trilogy by Patrick Rambaud (The Battle; The Retreat; The Exile)
• The Wellington and Napoleon Quartet by Simon Scarrow(Young Bloods; The Generals; Fire and Sword; The Fields of Death)
• Désirée by Annemarie Selinko

Nonfiction:

• Napoleon & Josephine: An Improbable Marriage by Evangelina Bruce
• Napoleon: The Path to Power 1769-1799 by Philip Dwyer
• Venus of the Empire: The Life of Pauline Bonaparte by Flora Fraser
• The Last Years of Napoleon: His Last Years on St. Helena by Ralph Korngold
• Napoleon in Egypt: The Greatest Glory by Paul Strathern
• Terrible Exile: The Last Days of Napoleon on St. Helena by Brian Unwin
• Napoleon: Man of War, Man of Peace by Timothy Wilson-Smith
• Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna by Adam Zamovski

4. Books about, or by writers from, the region of former Yugoslavia
This is a long time reading interest, but there's still quite many novels about former Yugoslavia I have not read. I'll also include here books by writers from the region, even if they don't write about the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

Fiction:

• Alamut by Vladimir Bartol
• My Nime is Bosnia by Madeleine Gagnon
• The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
• Guarding Hanna by Miha Mazzini
• Pretty Birds by Scott Simon
• Stilness by Courtney Angela Brkic

Graphic Books:

• The Fixer and Other Stories by Joe Sacco
• Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Bosnia 1992-95 by Joe Sacco

Nonfiction

• Bosnia: A Short History by Noel Malcolm
• Questions about Slovenia
• Slovenia and the Slovenes: A Small State in the New Europe by James Gow and Cathie Carmichael

5. Egypt
One geographical area more! Egypt, especially Ancient Egypt, is another subject that has more or less always interested me. I saw the British Museum's Egyptian collections when I was just seven years old and it was love at first sight. I remember my Mom feeling uncomfortable among the mummies, but I was fascinated! I even thought to study some Egyptology while at the university and even sat on a few lectures, but I didn't ever take any exams on the subject. I have, however, read quite a few nonfiction books about Ancient Egypt, and then there is Elizabeth Peters and her one of a kind heroine Amelia Peabody! This challenge will be a good reason to read the one Amelia book I still have sitting unread in my book shelf.

Fiction:

• The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany
• Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben
• Any of P. C. Doherty's mysteries set in Ancient Egypt
• Any of Christian Jacq's books set in Ancient Egypt
• The Cairo Trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street) by Naguib Mahfouz
• The Heretic Queen, Cleopatra's Daughter and/or Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
• Mamur Zapt mysteries by Michael Pearce
• Any of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries or any other of her mysteries set in Egypt
• Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger
• Any of Wilbur Smith's novel's set in Egypt
• The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Nonfiction:

• The Keys of Egypt: The Race to Read the Hieroglyphs by Lesley Adkins
• Anhenaten: King of Egypt by Cyril Aldred
• The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter
• Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter Reformation by Aidan Dodson
• A Thousand Miles up the Nile by Amelie Edwards
• A Passage to Egypt: The Life of Lucy Duff Gordon by Katherine Frank
• Dancing for Hathor: Women in Ancient Egypt by Carolyn Graves-Brown
• The Golden King: The World of Tutankhamun by Zahi E. Hawass
• Exploring the World of the Pharaohs: A Complete Quide to Ancient Egypt by Christine Hobson
• In the Valley of the Kings: Howard Carter and the Mystery of Tutankhamun's Tomb by Daniel Meyerson
• Splendor That Was Egypt by Margaret Alice Murray
• Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh or Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh by Joyce Tyldeslay
• Howard Carter And the Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun by H. V. F. Winstone

6. Nuns and Sisters
Since my late teens/early twenties I have been very interested in religious life, not as an option for myself, but as a life choice in general. I have read lots of books, mostly fiction but also some nonfiction, about nuns and sisters. There are many more books out there, though, so I thought to choose this as one of my themes, too. The list below is long (I have already read many of the books there), but I hope it will also serve others, who maybe want to read some nun books. :) And can you believe how many mystery series there are where the sleuth is a nun or a sister? Just take a look below. Many!

Fiction

• Going In and Life Class by Jenny Newman (one should start with Going In, as Life Class is a sequal to it)
• Body & Soul and/or Sacred and Profane by Marcelle Bernstein
• Secret Hearts by Sarah Dunant
• Black Narcissus, In This House of Brede and/or Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden
• Marietta in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen
• Nun's Story by Kathryn Hulme (together with In This House of Brede this is a must read for anyone wanting to read some nun-fiction (no pun intended:))
• The Convent by Panos Karnezis
• Amata Means Beloved by
• Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
• Frost in May by Antonia White

Nonfiction:

• Through the Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong
• Nuns by Marcelle Bernstein (a classic study)
• The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns by Elizabeth Kuhns
• New Habits: Today's Women Who Choose to Become Nuns by Isabel Losada
• Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns Through Two Millennia by Jo Ann Kay McNamara
• Unveiled: The Hidden Life of Nuns by Cheryl R. Read
• Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,Monroe,Michigan Sisters

And this book is not about nuns but monks, but it is such a treat that I'll list it here as an extra :) : An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World's Most Austere Monastic Order by Nancy Klein Maguire

Mysteries:

• Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Frazer
• A Nun in the Closet by Dorothy Gilman
• A Force of Habit by Christine Hilger
• Farewell to the Flesh by Gemma O'Connor
• The Nun's Tale by Candace Robb

Mystery Series:

• Sister Pelagia mysteries by Boris Akunin
• Sister Joan mysteries by Veronica Black
• Sister Frevisse medieval mysteries by Margaret Frazer
• Christine Bennett mysteries by Lee Harris
• Sister Agnes mysteries by Alison Joseph
• Sister Mary Helen mysteries by Sister Carol Ann O'Marie
• Sister Mary Teresa mysteries by Monica Quill
• Sister Cecile mysteries by Winona Sullivan
• Sister Agatha mysteries by Aimee and David Thurlo
• Sister Fidelma mysteries by Peter Tremayne

Phew! That's a long list! There are at least two, maybe three more challenges I want to join, so stay tuned for a few more challenge posts in the coming days.