1010 Challenge - 1/4 of the way there

I have done really well so far with this challenge. I am now a quarter of the way through, though I know this will slow down once I have read all the books that I have in my possession. I have made a stab out of all of the categories, except for Classics. I am reading Les Miserables, but as I am taking part in a readathon, it will be a long while before I have read it all. 8 of these are 1001 books, great to chip away at that list, though I know that soon the new edition will be published, adding even more to read!



Group 1: 1001 Books /10

1. The Tin Drum
2. The Shining

Group 2: Spain and the Spanish speaking world 6/10

1. Paradise Travel
2. Captain Alatriste
3. Purity of Blood
4. The Scarlet Cloak
5. The Return
6. The Queen's Sorrow



Group 3: British Writers 4/10

1. Sexing the Cherry **1001 Book
2. Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner **1001 Book
3. The Book lovers' Appreciation Society
4. The Riddle of the Sands **1001 Book


Group 4: Books not written in English 1/10

1. D. Maria II



Group 5: Travel 2/10

1. Attention. Deficit. Disorder
2. In the Heart of the Sea



Group 6: History 2/10

1. Castle Rackrent **1001 Book
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society



Group 7: Myths and Legends 2/10

1. The Lusiads **1001 Book
2. Stardust this is the audiobook read by the author



Group 8: Classic

None so far



Group 9: Olympic Challenge 2/10

1. The Successor Albania **1001 Book
2. This Body Guyana



Group 10: Asia 4/10

1. Sacred Games
2. Inheritance
3. River Town
4. Tale of a certain Orient

Feriado na Espanha

This academic year I have really lucked out as we have two Tuesday bank holidays, and as I don't work Mondays, that means two long weekends. I decided to push ahead with my Spain category for the 1010 Category Challenge
I also wanted to do some themed releasing, so took some Spain related books with me to Salamanca.

The first book I dropped off was The Queen's Sorrow I was given this by a friend a while ago, and wasn't sure what it would be like. I have decided to count it as a Spain book because the narrator of the book was a Spaniard brought over with Philip when he married Mary. I left it at Las Torres a cafe in the Plaza Mayor, the main square in town. Make sure you try their tostada, yummmmm

I really think this was more of a gastronomic RnR, as I spent a lot of time in cafes and restaurants keeping warm. I came across this great little cafe just outside the Plaza Mayor, Café & Té. I decided to drop off a couple of books here, the first two in the Captain Alatriste series by the Spanish writer Arturo Perez Reverte:Captain Alatriste (Adventures of Capt Alatriste 1)andThe Purity of Blood (Adventures of Capt Alatriste 2)

After visiting the Modernism Museum, I had a cuppa in a very dark, moody looking cafe half way between the cathedrals and Plaza Mayor, Peccata Minuta Luckily there was a table in the window where I could read in the daylight and people watch. I left my final two books on the piano at the back of the cafe:The Scarlet Cloak,The Return

I hope that they get picked up and enjoyed by someone else. I took a tome to read on the way home,Sacred Games (now int'l BOOKRING)a book I have been keeping away from as it is 950 pages long. I am over 700 pages in and can tell you it is worth every minute. I also picked up a couple of books there, La Sombra del Viento, for my little brother's Christmas present, and a set of short stories by a Galician writer, Manuel Rivas.