Wanderlust Bingo

A new challenge for 2021…

FictionFan92 Comments

Wanderlust Bingo

I loved the Around the World in Eighty Books challenge. It made me look for books I wouldn’t normally have gone for, many of which were great reads, and forced me out of my insular British comfort zone. I’ve been trying to think of a replacement challenge ever since I finished it. So here it is…

A bingo card with 25 boxes containing regions of the world, methods of travel and geographical features.

My plan is that for the first half of the year I’ll just wait and see what boxes I can fill from my general reading, and then towards the end I’ll frantically try to find books to fill in any missing squares! Any type of book will count – crime, fiction, science fiction, non-fiction. A country can only appear once, and one of the boxes will be filled by a book from my home country of Scotland.

If you fancy joining in, feel free! Otherwise, I’m hoping you’ll give me the pleasure of your company as I travel. 😀

Wish Me Bon Voyage!

92 thoughts on “A new challenge for 2021…”

  1. Bon Voyage indeed! I enjoyed your reviews for the around the world challenge, so I look forward to seeing what you review for this one. I’m hoping to make some more progress with my Transmongolian Railway reading challenge this year, so I’ll be travelling with in my reads too 😊

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    • Thank you! I have my bags packed and my passport ready… 😀 Maybe we’ll meet somewhere out east and share a local delicacy or two! (So long as it’s not insects or eyeballs… 😉 )

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  5. I’m still doing my Reading Bingo Card for 2020, but I’m tempted to try this. I think it’s a good idea to leave it until the halfway point and then look for books to slot into the squares you have left for the rest of the year. Are you going to do updates for us to see where you’re up to – and to spur us on?

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    • Yes, I’ll include it on my usual quarterly challenges round-up and see what books fit in, though I may have to move them around at the end of the year to fill all the boxes – that’s not cheating, is it? 😉 I’d love it if I’ve tempted you – it’d be fun to compare our journeys! 😀

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  9. Oh, I love it, FictionFan! It sounds like such a fun challenge, and a great way to expand the reading horizons, which is great. I’m packing my bags, and will be ready to travel along with you…

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  17. Good idea to begin a new year with a fresh challenge, you will probably be surprised by how many boxes you can fill from your existing TBR. Good luck.

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    • I’ve missed the Around the World one so this will encourage me to look beyond the British coastline! Yes, I tried to keep the categories fairly wide so I wouldn’t get bogged down in searching for a specific place.

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  18. Bon Voyage indeed, what a fun challenge! I keep being tempted by the Round the World challenge, I think this year I should just aim to organise myself, I agree with you I need to get out more! The classics challenge and blogging has shown me how insular my reading is. Good Luck!!

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    • Thank you! Yes, it was when I started blogging that I realised how insular my reading was, and the Around the World challenge was brilliant for reminding me to look at books from other countries. I’ve kept the categories wide in this one, so in theory it should be easy… 😉

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  21. How interesting! And since we’re still in the midst of this pandemic, it feels like an ideal (and safe!) way to travel. Bon Voyage, FF — not sure I’m going to play along, but I’ll be happy to tuck myself into a wee corner of your luggage and enjoy vicariously.

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    • Thank you! Ha, I must admit I prefer virtual travel to the real thing even when life is normal! I’ve packed suntan lotion, a woolly hat, and plenty of medicinal chocolate, so I’m ready for anything… 😀

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  23. This one looks like great fun and I’ll enjoy following your progress. Maybe we can make suggestions, if it comes down to filling in the final blanks.

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    • Thank you! My bags are packed and I’ve got the suntan lotion on, so I’m ready to go! Yes, indeed, all suggestions welcome! I’ve kept the categories wide in the hopes they’ll be reasonably easy to fill, but I bet I’ll get stuck on a few… 😀

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    • Thank you – my bags are packed and I’m ready to go! 😀 Yes, I wanted to keep the categories pretty wide so they’d be reasonably easy to fill. I think Australia’s in Oceania? Hahaha, you’ve found my weak spot – my geography’s terrible. Thank goodness for Google! 😂

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  27. This looks fun, I can’t wait to see what you come up with! It will be good to get out in the world again, but it looks like it may be a while. In the meantime I will follow you on your virtual journey.

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  28. This looks like a lot of fun! I will eagerly anticipate reading about your adventures. “Walk” sounds like an interesting category… a book that immediately comes to mind is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry but I think maybe you’re not too keen on that one? Do I remember that correctly, or have I confused you with another blogger?

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    • You’re quite right – I hated Harold Fry! But it would be a great one for the “walk” box. 😀 I’ve left the categories wide in the hopes it’ll be easy to fill the boxes, but I bet I still get stuck on one or two! My bags are packed… 😀

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  32. This is a great challenge. I also admire that you finished an Around the World in 80 Books challenge. I will be seeing what I can fill in with my reading and following you while you complete yours.

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    • Oh, good, you must let me know where you get to! Haha, it took me more than four years to do the 80 Books challenge – but it was worth it! I’ve been missing it ever since I finished it… 😀

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  33. Wanderlust bingo… I love it! I also like your strategy of filling it in as you go through the year before frantically choosing specific books at the end of the year to finish it. I think I would probably choose that strategy too haha!

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  37. Only just discovered this and have been merrily filling in the squares only to realise how hard it is with your rule about including a country only once. if I understand that correctly I can’t have France in the “village” square if I’ve already used France in my “Europe” square??

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    • Haha, yes, only one France allowed! It turned out much harder than I meant it to. It wasn’t really the different countries that stumped me, since that was deliberate to make me “travel”. It was all the odd ones like Desert and Forest – I kept finding books I thought would work and then hating them. It was supposed to be a one-year challenge but I still haven’t finished it… 😂

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  38. I found one I thought would fit for “desert” – The Long Dry by Cynan Jones which is about a drought in Wales. But then realised that would rule out the book I’d chosen for “train” which is also Wales. So far I’ve got to 12.. Clearly this is going to be a multi year project too…..

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  39. I just found this via Margaret at Booksplease. Looks like my cup of tea but a bit late to start now, plus I have a lot of other challenges to finish before the year’s end. I’d quite like to try it next year though, might you be hosting it again?

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    • There’s only two or three of us doing it and we’re all doing it at different speeds with no set end date (there was an end date in the beginning but it didn’t quite work out!) So if you fancy doing it sometime then go right ahead and set a timetable that works for you! I’ll probably do something similar next year but will change a couple of the boxes since some of them turned out surprisingly hard to fill. I do like to have some kind of “travelling” challenge on the go – it stops me from staying in my usual British rut. Always glad to have other bloggers along for the trip! 😀

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      • Thanks for your reply and for explaining what you’re doing. I’ve bookmarked this post and will also follow your blog so that if you decide to do a new bingo card next year I can decide whether or not to do that one instead. I’m a massive armchair traveller, both fiction and non-fiction, and travel challenges are actually quite rare I notice, which is why I pounced on yours. 🙂 Thanks again.

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        • I’ve actually just been playing with the bingo card, making a few changes to it for next time, so it will definitely appear as a new challenge sometime in January. I thought I might do it over two years next time – both Margaret and I found it impossible to complete in one year given all our other reading commitments and challenges (though Christine sailed through it)! I do hope you’ll join in – it’s always fun seeing what books other people pick to fill those elusive boxes! 😀

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