It’s time again for my favorite reading challenge, the R. I. P. Challenge. It’s hard to believe this is the ninth year. I don’t think I participated until the third one. I absolutely love this time of year for reading creepy stories.
I like to do Peril the First, which is to “read four books, any length, that you feel fit (the very broad definitions) of R. I. P. literature.” I have been gathering together my list of potentials, and I plan to select my reads from the following list of books:
- More Than This, Patrick Ness: This book is my school’s all-school read, and it fits the challenge—a suspenseful YA thriller, or at least it appears to be so far.
- This House is Haunted, John Boyne: I bought this one my Kindle for last year’s R. I. P., I think, but I never read it. Looking forward to it!
- Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children), Ransom Riggs: Another one I’ve had for a while. I so enjoyed the first one. I have been meaning to finish the second.
- The Witch’s Daughter, Paula Brackston: This one has been on my radar for a while, and it’s also perfect for the Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge.
- Dracula in Love, Karen Essex: Another one that I’ve been meaning to read for ages.
- When She Woke, Hillary Jordan: I won this one in a Goodreads giveaway, and I never read it. I need to! It looks interesting.
- Ghostwalk, Rebecca Stott: I have had this book for a long time, and the cover looks quite creepy. Bonus—Isaac Newton, alchemist.
- Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron: Being A Jane Austen Mystery, Stephanie Barron: This one might be good or might be wretched. Jane Austen metafiction is a mixed bag. Still, Byron is in it.
- The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, Steven Johnson: The lone nonfiction selection fits the bill nicely and comes with excellent recommendations from a history teacher friend of mine.
Aside from More Than This, I’m not sure which of these books I’ll choose. They look like a good list.
I didn't know that More Than This was a possible. I have it sitting here so maybe I'll give it a try (if I run through the other 30 books on my list … haha!). I'll also be reading This House is Haunted. It looks good! Hollow City was really good but Ghostwalk, not so much. Still, you might like it more than I did.
I think it fits. At any rate, the challenge has wide criteria. Go for it!
you have good books! I read Ghostwalk some years ago… and on my wish list at Amazon is This House is Haunted so I will really look forward to your review on that one! have fun!
Thanks! Enjoy the challenge!
RT @danamhuff: R. I. P. Challenge 2014: http://t.co/cOzwuHDRNV
I should probably try to get to Hollow City as well. I have had the book ever since seeing Ransom Riggs at a writing event during the first week of the book's release. And I've heard good things.
Wonderful to have you with us again this year. You've been doing it since year three, eh? Seems like both a long time and a blink of the eye. Time is odd.
Thanks, Carl, for hosting the challenge every year. So many people say it's their favorite.
I love that More Than This is your school's all-school read. Wonderful choice by whoever chose it! And I hope you love it — it started VERY slowly for me, and I got worried that I wouldn't care for it. But then everything turned around, about a third of the way in, and I couldn't stop reading it.