I also completed the 2014 Monthly Motifs challenge, in which participants were asked to read at least one book per month that corresponded with that month’s assigned theme.

Here’s what I read for each month, along with a short explanation of why it fits:

January (Around the World — a book set in, or by an author from, a country different than your own):
Julia Quinn — Just Like Heaven (U.K. – England)
Elizabeth Hay — Late Nights on Air (Canada)
D.E. Stevenson — The Two Mrs. Abbotts (U.K. – England)
Susanna Kearsley — The Shadowy Horses (U.K. – Scotland)

February (Award Winner):
Lois Lowry — The Giver (Newbery)

March (Fairytales or Fairy Creatures):
Elizabeth Blackwell — While Beauty Slept (Sleeping Beauty)

April (Short & Sweet — short stories or anthologies):
B.J. Novak — One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories

May (Mystery, Murder, and Mayhem):
Elizabeth Peters — Borrower of the Night
Michael Innes — Death at the President’s Lodging
William Ritter — Jackaby

June (A Long Journey):
J.R.R. Tolkien — The Hobbit

July (Assassins, Warriors, Rebels):
Richard Stark — The Hunter (Parker is a criminal and trained killer)
Baroness Orczy — I Will Repay (set during the French Revolution)
Chris Wooding — The Black Lung Captain (the crew of the Ketty Jay are rebels)

August (Alternate Reality):
Jo Walton — Farthing (England makes a separate peace with Hitler)

September (Book to Movie):
Philip K. Dick — Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (became the movie “Bladerunner”)

October (The Witching Hour — book with a witch in it):
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett — Good Omens (there are multiple witches in this one!)

November (Oldie but Goodie — a book published and/or set before the year 2000):
D.E. Stevenson — Mrs. Tim of the Regiment (published in the 1930s)

December (That’s a Wrap — finish a series or read the next book in a series):
Rhys Bowen — The Twelve Clues of Christmas (next book in the Royal Spyness series)
Kate Ross — The Devil in Music (last book in the Julian Kestrel series)

For more information on any of these books, check out my Review Index page. And if the challenge looks interesting to you, be sure to sign up for the 2015 version!