Last week, the lovely Cathy from 746 Books played reading bingo with the books she’s read since she started her blog. It seemed like so much fun that I’ve decided to see how far I get on the Reading Bingo chart! I’m only using the books I’ve read this year (since I’ve got those on a neat little Excel spreadsheet). Spoiler alert: I didn’t manage to get all the boxes ticked, but that doesn’t matter, ’cause it was still fun to do!
More Than 500 Pages: There are a few books that qualify for this category, but I went for The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which I read quite recently and was absolutely blown away by.
A Forgotten Classic: I think this is a bit of a strange category. What makes something a classic? What makes it so that it is forgotten? If it’s forgotten, doesn’t that automatically mean it’s not a classic? …Couldn’t decide on a book for this one.
A Book That Became a Movie: Again, there were a couple of candidates, but I chose Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, which I reread recently.
A Book Published This Year: I read a couple of 2013 novels, but the only book I read that was published in 2014 is Prime Deception by Carys Jones. It was sent to me by the author, but unfortunately I didn’t like it, and the book was riddled with typos and spelling mistakes…
A Book With a Number in the Title: It already seems like ages ago, but I read One Day by David Nicholls sometime in May, I think. Loved it! Great read, but a definite tear jerker.
A Book Written by Someone Under Thirty: Alas, I didn’t read any books that qualify for this category, this year!
A Book with Non-Human Characters: I don’t read many books with non-human characters, so I chose The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness. There’s definitely something supernatural about one of the characters…
A Funny Book: Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple definitely made me laugh at times, although there were certainly some touching moments as well.
A Book by a Female Author: I read quite a few of those, but went for Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris, in the end. It’s the third book in the Chocolat series and absolutely captivating once again!
A Book with a Mystery: I read Elizabeth George’s Missing Joseph, one of the Inspector Lynley mysteries, this year. Quite mysterious indeed!
A Book with a One-Word Title: I haven’t technically read any of those yet, but I’m currently reading Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, so I say that counts!
A Book of Short Stories: Didn’t read any of those this year (yet), I’m afraid!
Free Square: I’m going to use this one for The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster, which is one of the most impressive books I’ve read this year (and ever).
A Book Set on a Different Continent: A Dry White Season by André Brink, about apartheid, comes to mind. Very impressive (but heavy) read!
A Book of Non Fiction: I don’t really read non fiction all that often, and haven’t read any this year. Not in book form, that is.
The First Book by a Favourite Author: I decided to interpret this as “the first book he’s written”. No idea if that’s the way it should by interpreted, or if it’s “the first book I’ve read by this author” (which seems more likely). Anyway, I went for Looking for Alaska by John Green. Amazing novel!
A Book I Heard About Online: As a book blogger I read about quite a few books online, obviously, and I usually can’t remember which books I heard about online first before I heard about them anywhere else. I do remember The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion getting quite a bit of attention, though. And for good reason, it’s a wonderful, wonderful novel.
A Best-Selling Book: I didn’t really look into it, but I think My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult must have been a bestseller. What with the major motion picture and all, and it being Jodi Picoult.
A Book Based on a True Story: Didn’t read any of those either this year.
A Book at the Bottom of Your TBR Pile: Well, this just seems silly to me. If a book is at the bottom of my to be read pile, I’m not going to read it anytime soon, am I?
A Book Your Friend Loves: My friend Yvonne recommended Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen to me, and I actually borrowed her copy. Great recommendation, I loved the book!
A Book That Scares You: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis scared the living daylights out of me.
A Book That’s More Than 10 Years Old: I read a lot of old books, and the first that came to mind was The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, which was written in 1951 (and isn’t the oldest on my list).
The Second Book in a Series: There’s only one book I read this year that fits this category: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the second book in the Hunger Games series.
A Book with a Blue Cover: The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith probably has the most gorgeous cover of all of the books I’ve read this year, and it’s kind of blue. Kind of yellow as well, but mostly blue!
That was fun! Which of these books did you read this year as well?
Books Baking and Blogging 
ohh what a great idea. I am going to draw up a chart and see how far i get too. loving your past blogs. and the food. I so want to come to norway.
It’s really fun to try and come up with books for every category! And thank you very much! 🙂 I live in the Netherlands, though, not in Norway. 😉
Sorry..borh places look pretty.