Literary challenge: 20 reading ideas
Do you feel like reading but lack inspiration? Have you finally finished the pile of books on your bedside table and are feeling idle? Have you been browsing our eLectures e-book platform but can’t make up your mind? Feel like taking up a challenge?
Start a reading challenge!
Here’s a suggestion of 20 categories, along with a few (obviously non-exhaustive) suggestions for each. And to see this challenge through to the end, set yourself a deadline for reading these 20 books, whether it’s the end of 2020, 3 months from now or 3 weeks from now (dare I say it!).
Let yourself be inspired, and feel free to browse the catalog for other books!
1. A book adapted for the screen
Blade Runner: Do androids dream of electric sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Nos étoiles contraires by John Green
The reader by Bernhard Schlink
More ideas here
2. A novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat
Le saut de l’ange by Lisa Gardner
Pandemia by Franck Thilliez
Sous les eaux noires by Lori Roy
3. A novel set in another time
A certain April in Adana by Daniel Arsand
A Wonderful Girl by Mary Wesley
The Hussar by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
4. A book recommended by your librarians
A world without end by Ken Follett
In a nut shell by Ian McEwan
Villa Kérylos by Adrien Goetz
Find other ideas here
5. A book of over 600 pages
Belle du seigneur by Albert Cohen
In Search of Lost Time – Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
That strange thing about me by Orhan Pamuk
6. An award-winning book
Bakhita by Véronique Olmi
Au revoir là-haut by Pierre Lemaître
Chanson douce by Leïla Slimani
7. A book with a blue cover (or your favourite color!)
Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles by Virginie Grimaldi
I promise you freedom by Laurent Gounelle
Hôtel Mahrajane by Robert Solé
8. A story set in summer
A season in Hydra by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Le temps est assassin by Michel Bussi
This too shall pass by Milena Busquets
9. The first volume in a series
Vango – entre ciel et terre by Timothée de Fombelle
The Assassin of the Ruins by Cay Rademacher
The prodigious friend by Elena Ferrante
10. A testimonial book
Vera Kaplan by Laurent Sagalovitsch
Inyenzi ou les Cafards by Scholastique Mukasonga
Return from Iwaki by Christophe Fiat
11. The United States as a backdrop
Ceux qui partent by Jeanne Benameur
The Wind Will Carry Us by Jojo Moyes
A Summer in the West by Philippe Labro
12. A book of poetry
Elsa by Louis Aragon
L’effraie and other poems by Philippe Jaccottet
The country behind the tears by Jean-Pierre Lemaire
13. A story set on an island
Return to the island by Viveca Sten
Ryôsuke’s Dream by Durian Sukegawa
Sukkwan Island by David Vann
14. A funny book
Completement cramé ! by Gilles Legardinier
The sweet poisoner by Arto Paasilinna
Fire, Gilda! by Géraldine Barbe
15. A literary classic
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Márquez
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Find other ideas here
16. In camera
Two sisters by David Foenkinos
Au soleil redouté by Michel Bussi
Cries, murmurs and roars by Marcello Fois
17. A feel-good book
Et tu trouveras le trésor qui dort en toi by Laurent Gounelle
Stop it, Margaret! – An inspiring feel-good novel by Adeline Russier
The first day of the rest of my life by Virginie Grimaldi
Find other ideas here
18. A book to learn something
Haikus by Muriel Detrie
I tidy my house and get organized by Sabine Polifonte-Ranguin
German in 5 minutes a day by Olga Dischinger
Find other ideas here
19. Fantasy
Lifestone by Jo Walton
L’Ensorceleur des choses menues by Régis Goddyn
The Altaii Warrior by Robert Jordan
Find other ideas here
20. A Swiss author
Horrora Borrealis by Nicolas Feuz
Là-bas, août est un mois d’automne by Bruno Pellegrino
Roland Buti’s Grand National
Find other ideas here
