One of the lovely things about being an online arts centre is that Notes can Xanadu can feature writing and literature alongside other art forms. With this in mind, we have created a reading challenge for 2021. Each month there will be a theme, with several sub-categories, and the challenge is to read one or more books each month to fit the topic. Feel free to add sub-categories, the only rule is that one book each month should be a new read. The entire challenge can be downloaded in pdf format here. We also have an Excel spreadsheet, thanks to Karin Hammarstrom, one of our participants, which you can also download, and use to track your progress.
Every month, we’ll introduce the theme and sub-categories in a post like this, and also give some reading suggestions. Please leave a comment and tell us what you are reading, and whether you are enjoying it, or any other information that you would like to share with your fellow readers.
The theme for February is Spring Awakenings.
Sub-categories:
- a book about nature
- a coming of age story
- a novel where the protagonists are animals
Reading suggestions:
- The Family Tree by Sheri S Tepper
- The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
- Wild Woods by Richard Nairn
I’m reading:
The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow.
Come back next month for our March suggestions, and don’t forget to leave a comment below to tell us how you got on in January! Happy reading!
The discussion group for our January reads will be on Sunday, 7 February, at 4pm GMT. February’s will be on Sunday, 7 March, at 4 pm GMT. If you would like to attend either of these, please email notesfromxanadu@hotmail.com if you haven’t already done so.
In another first for us in 2021, we will be holding a Stitch ‘n’ Bitch on Thursday, 18 February, at 7.30 pm, in one of the rooms of Xanadu Online Theatre. For those who haven’t heard the term before, a Stitch ‘n’ Bitch is when people get together to work on their various projects while having a natter and a bit of craic at the same time.
About our host: Aoife Flood’s knitting journey began on a trip to New Zealand in 2007, when she came across a book of designer knitting patterns while browsing in a shop. She decided that, if she wanted to have these designer clothes, the best way was to knit them herself. So that was it; she got the bug and has been hooked ever since. Aoife will sharing some of her wonderful work with us in a gallery exhibition in the coming weeks. She is wearing one of her own pieces in the photo.