Picture Prompt Book Bingo

Back at the start of the year, Mayri at Bookforager set up a Book Bingo challenge complete with bingo card. I decided that I would give it a go.

It has taken me five months to complete the card, which I’m pretty pleased with.

These are the books I read and the picture prompts I linked them to:

• In the Pines – the plant picture at D1, which I took to represent nature. In the Pines is about the main character’s life long relationship with the forest and includes beautiful photographs of forest scenes.
• The Radetzky March – the crossed swords at C2, which I took to represent war. The Radetzky March is about a lack of war and its impact on men serving in the army, as well as being about a family socially elevated thanks to an action taken during war.
• Empireland – the globe picture at C1. Empireland is about the ongoing influence the British Empire has on British society. The imperial project was a global one, with positive and negative impacts.
• Such A Fun Age – the house picture at B4, which although it looks a bit spooky, also looks quite grand. There’s a grand house in Such A Fun Age that has a big impact on two of the characters.
• On Literature – the pile of books at A1. On Literature is an examination of literature and literary criticism across a collection of essays and lecture papers by Umberto Eco.
• Fatale – the skeletal hooded figure at A2, which suggests death to me. Fatale starts with an unexpected death and becomes a hunt for a killer in this satirical and anarchic take on the Noir genre from Jean-Patrick Manchette.
• Oldladyvoice – the pocket watch at D3, which I’m taking to mean the passage of time. Oldladyvoice is a coming of age tale set during the summer of 1993, and follows the longing of nine-year-old Marina to grow up and yet still remain a child.
• The Book of Disquiet – the Ex Libris bookplate at B3, because books live in libraries and libraries are collections of writing. The Book of Disquiet is both a book and a collection of writing, a library in its own way.
• Sugar and Slate – the sailing ship at A3 as a symbol of travel and history. Sugar and Slate is about heritage, the slave trade, and the author travelling between countries to find out who she is.
• Thirsty Sea – the heart at D2. Thirsty Sea focuses on Maria whose childhood trauma has left her with a peculiar relationship with love.
• The Silence of the Sea – the dinosaur at C3 as a symbol of history that really needs to stay history. The Silence of the Sea is a fictionalised history of the German occupation of France during the Second World War.
• Uncle Silas – the witch at D4. Uncle Silas is a Gothic horror that features a horrible female governess with witchy characteristics.
• The Good Immigrant – the cup at C4. The Good Immigrant won the 2016 Books Are My Bag Readers’ Choice Award.
• Where We Find Ourselves – the space rocket at B2. Where We Find Ourselves is an anthology of short stories about place and belonging when you’re of global majority heritage, which at times must feel like you’ve landed on another planet.
• Of Myths and Mothers – the mythological creature at B1. Of Myths and Mothers is a short story collection that mixes mythology with ideas about motherhood, and in some cases creates new mythologies.
• Crudo – Saturn at A4. Saturn in astrological terms is the planet that governs discipline and responsibility, attributes that Crudo‘s central character is low on.

And here’s my completed card.

It was a fun thing to do, alongside my personal challenge to travel across Europe and cross some books off my To Read pile, my dip into Dewithon22 and my book borrowing from the library.

Thanks, Mayri, for coming up with this challenge!