2009 Challenges

Housekeeping post...

The 30 I finished:

100+ Reading Challenge
1st in a series
2nds Challenge
Bang Bang Book Challenge
Banned Book Challenge
Casual Classics
Centuries Challenge
Chick Lit 2
Childhood Favorites
Classics Challenge
Dewey's Books
Genre Challenge
Graphic Novels Challenge
In their shoes
It's the End of the World... As We Know It
Jewish Literature Challenge
Lost in Translation
New Authors
Once Upon a Time III
Orbis Terrarum
R.I.P. IV
Romance Reading Challenge
Suspense and Thriller Challenge
Themed Reading Challenge
War through the Generations
Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge
What an Animal!
What's in a Name 2
YA Romance Challenge
Young Adult Challenge

And the 30 I didn't manage... although I was close to finishing a lot of them! :-)

999 Challenge
A-Z Challenge
Audiobook Challenge
Battle of the Prizes
Book Awards II
Book Awards 3
Celebrate the Author
Countdown Challenge
Decades 2009
Dewey Decimal Challenge
Eco Reading Challenge
Erotica Romance
Every Month is a Holiday
Japanese Literature II
Latin American Reading Challenge
My Year of Reading Dangerously
Naming Conventions
New Classics Challenge
Non-Fiction Five Challenge
Numbers Challenge
Political History Challenge
Pub Challenge
Rescue Challenge
Science Book Challenge
Southern Reading Challenge
Spiritually Speaking Challenge
Support Your Local Library
TBR Challenge
Whitcoulls Challenge
World Citizen Challenge

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril…IV

I'm a tad late signing up for Carl's R.I.P. IV challenge, but who cares, right?

The challenge is to read from the following genres until 31 October, scary Halloween...

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

So getting into the mood of the season, here are my possibilities... I'm aiming for Peril the First or Second, depends how many books I can realistically get through while reading for other challenges too!

Check out Carl's original post for more details and visit the review site to see what everyone else is reading.

Completed: ALL 4/2-4 as of 31 October 2009 (read my wrap-up post here)

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Linqvist
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
No Time for Goodbye by Lynwood Barclay
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, volume 1 by Joss Whedon et al.
Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts

Southern Reading Challenge

"It's that time of year!", says Maggie from Maggie Reads. That time is the start of the Southern Reading Challenge, which I absolutely loved participating in last year and so can't possibly miss out on this year.

Maggie's challenge runs from May 15 to August 15 and requires us to read 3 books that have something to do with the Southern US. For details check out the challenge post.

I think my list of possibles is a bit long, but so what! :-)

Completed: 2/3 as of 29 July 2009

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
Murder on a Bad Hair Day by Anne George

Book Awards 3 Challenge

This round of the popular challenge hosted by 3M is shorter, only 5 months. It runs from 1 July to 1 December and requires us to read 5 books that won 5 different awards. For full details, visit the challenge post.

I get intimidated by many of the award winners so this challenge is always really good for me. Here's the list I'll be choosing my 5 from:

Completed: 2/5 as of 25 August 2009

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (1997 National Book Award)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2009 Newbery Award)
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (Printz Award)
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Pulitzer winner)
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Nobel Prize Prize)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2009 Costa Award)
The White Tiger by by Aravind Adiga (Man Booker Prize)
The Hours by Michael Cunningham (PEN/Faulkner Award 1999 + Pulitzer Prize 1999)
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz (2008 Alex Award)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (2007 Alex Award)
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (1986 Nebula Award + 1987 Hugo Award)

Battle of the Prizes

Lezlie of Books 'n Border Collies brought another great-sounding challenge to my attention: the Battle of the Prizes. This is hosted by Rose City Reader and basically puts the Pulitzer against the National Book Award. The challenge post explains all the details, but basically we're asked to read one book that won the Pulitzer, one book that won the National and one book that won both. Then we'll be able to judge and compare the two awards.

The challenge lasts from May 1 to September 7 2009.

I really, really shouldn't be signing up to more challenges, but how great does this sound? ;-)

Completed: 0/3 as of 1 May 2009

Pulitzer options:
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (1932)
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1937)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1940)
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1981)
Ironweed by William Kennedy (1984)
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (1995)
American Pastoral by Philip Roth (1998)
The Hours by Michael Cunningham (1999)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (2001)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2003)
March by Geraldine Brooks (2006)

National Book Award options:
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (1997)
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (2001)

Double-dipper: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

The Eco Reading Challenge

Chris from Book-a-rama came up with this interesting idea for a challenge. The Eco Reading Challenge requires participants to read 5 books about green/environmental issues between May and September. Chris tells us to be very creative with our choices, there are plenty of fiction books that have environmental factors in their stories as well!

I think this sounds interesting - and although I've already signed up for every challenge known to man, three books on Chris' examples list are already planned in my reading for the next few months so I think I can probably make it. Or at least be close.

Ah who am I kidding, I just can't resist a good reading challenge!

Completed: 1/5 as of 5 June 2009

The Omnivore's Dilemna by Michael Pollan
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Watership Down by Richard Adams

Arthurian Challenge

I don't know anything at all about King Arthur and knights and round tables. Which is why I didn't join Becky's Arthurian Challenge the last time around - I had no idea where to start.

Well, yesterday I went over to see what Trish was up to and low and behold, not only is she joining this challenge, she has (with Nymeth's help) come up with a list of basic books that should be read! I can't not steal this list and read from it as well. I simply can't.

So here it is, I'm officially joining the Arthurian Challenge, which runs from April 2009 to March 2010 and I can read as few or as many books as I wish. :-)

Completed: 0 as of 8 April 2009

King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table - Roger Lancelyn Green
The Age of Chivalry - Thomas Bulfinch
The Once and Future King - TH White
The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley

Non-Fiction Five Challenge

I really enjoyed this when Joy hosted it last year and I'm sure that this year will be just as great! This edition is hosted by Trish, who has kept the rules the same, I believe. Check out the original post to see them, but basically you have to read 5 non-fiction books between 1 May and 30 September 2009. I have tons of these on my radar so this will be easy! :-)

Completed: 3/5 as of 26 July 2009

The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The Story of God by Robert Winston
Paris - A Secret History by Andrew Hussey
Imperium by Ryszard Kapuściński
A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The Stork Club by Imogen Edwards-Jones
We Thought you would be Prettier by Laurie Notaro
The Best Friends' Guide to Pregnancy by Vicki Iovine

Once Upon a Time III

Carl is hosting this fabulous challenge again - and this is one you don't want to miss, it's become a tradition in the blogging world that spring time is fantasy and mythology time!

Carl is really good at getting everyone to participate, even people who don't have that much time or promised not to join any more challenges. He's created various levels of participation - check them out in his post about the challenge.

I'm opting for Quest the First: Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time III criteria. These criteria are basically fantasy, fairy tale, mythology and folklore. Cool, eh? My possibilities are below...

The challenge ends at Midsummer.

Completed: ALL 6/5 as of 19 June 2009 (see my wrap-up post here)

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Sleeping Beauty and Other Stories
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
Ombria in Shadow by Patricia McKillip

Plus: A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

It's the End of the World (as we know it) Challenge

I missed this last year, but will give it a try this time around, since I like the 'end of the world' theme. Gloomy, eh?

The goal is to read at least 4 books between 10 March and 9 October 2009. For all info, check out the original post and Becky's blog.

Completed: ALL 4/4 as of 10 July

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Carbon Diaries 2017 by Saci Lloyd
Berserker by Fred Saberhagen
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
The Mist by Stephen King
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Messenger by Lois Lowry
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Classics Challenge

Trish is hosting the Classics Challenge again and she's right, I really can't resist. I enjoyed this last year and since I want to read more classics anyway, this is certainly the right way to go.

There are several options and I'm choosing to read 6 classics + one modern classic between 1 April and 31 October 2009. To sign up and for detailed info, visit the challenge post.

Completed: ALL 6/6 and 1/1 as of 29 June 2009

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (re-read)
The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (re-read)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (re-read)
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
War of the World by H.G. Wells
Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
A Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Possibilities for the "Should be/Will be Classics" Bonus
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Dune by Frank Herbert
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

YA Romance Challenge

Becky of Becky's Book Reviews is hosting YA Romance Challenge.

Read six YA romance novels between March 1, 2009 and June 30, 2009.Romance should be a strong element with the story. But it doesn't have to be the only element.

Completed: ALL 6/6 as of 30 June 2009 (see my wrap-up post here)

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
Bloom by Elizabeth Scott
Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott
Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

1% Well-Read Challenge

I enjoyed this one last year and reading from the 1001 list is a project of mine anyway, so here I am for another year.

There are several options this year - I chose to read 13 books from the combined list. The challenge last from 1 March 2009 to 1 March 2010 - all info is here.

This year, I'm not making definitive lists, but long lists of possibilities, like the one below.

Completed: 8/13 as of 5 January 2010

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Unless by Carol Shields
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
I'm not Scared by Nicolo Ammaniti
Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
The Hours – Michael Cunningham
Silk – Alessandro Baricco
Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
City Sister Silver – Jàchym Topol
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
Wild Swans – Jung Chang
Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
Watchmen – Alan Moore & David Gibbons
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The French Lieutenant’s Woman – John Fowles
Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf

Orbis Terrarum Challenge

Another one that I loved doing last year and the 2009 version promises to be bigger and better! For all info and to sign-up, visit the dedicated blog - and don't miss Bethany's blog either, Orbis Terrarum is her fabulous idea.

The challenge is to read 9 books by authors from 9 different countries in 9 months. My possibilities are listed below.

Completed: ALL 9/9 as of 19 August 2009 (read my wrap-up post)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Sweden)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Russia)
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Poland)
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (Mexico)
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)
The Bone People by Keri Hulme (New Zealand)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (the Ukraine)
Seek the Fair Land by Walter Macken (Ireland)
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Germany)
The White Tiger by Aravind Ariga (India)
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (France)
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (Italy)
Wild Swans by Jung Chang (China)
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (Czech Republic)
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (United States)
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Canada)
A Midsummer Night's Dream by Wiliam Shakespeare (United Kingdom)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (France)

Banned Book Challenge

Yay, another challenge! :-) I participated in this one last year and really enjoyed it, so here I am again.

The challenge is to read books that have been banned or challenged - you choose the number you want to read and read them between 22 February and 30 June. I plan to read 4 during this time, out of the list below.

For sign-ups and info, visit the Fahrenheit 451: Freedom to Read.

Completed: ALL 4/4 as of 6 June 2009 (read my wrap-up post)

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (re-read)
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

A-Z Challenge 2009

I finished this one in 2008 and really enjoyed it, so am definitely doing it again. There are many options this year (check out the challenge post), but I'll be sticking to the same formula as in 2008, so by title AND by author. The only difference from last year is that I'm not making a list, simply slotting in whatever I read for the other ten thousand challenges I signed up for!

Completed: 48/52 as of 30 December 2009

By title:

A - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
B - The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
C - Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch by B.J. Daniels
D - The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted by Elizabeth Berg
E - Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
F - The Family Way by Tony Parsons
G - Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon
H - How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
I - I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna
J - Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
K - Karlson on the Roof by Astrid Lindgren
L - Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
M - The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
N - Native American Songs and Poems, edited by Brian SwannO - On Beauty by Zadie Smith
P - Persepolis (The Complete) by Marjane Satrapi
Q - Queen of Babble in the Big City by Meg Cabot
R - Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Gray
S - Shopaholic and Sister by Sophie Kinsella
T - The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
U - The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
V - Vegan, Virgin, Valentine by Carolyn Mackler
W - The Witch of Portobello by Paolo Coelho
X - Elephants on Acid and other bizarre eXperiments
Y - Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells
Z - Shadows in BronZe by Lindsey Davis

By author:

A - Atwood, Margaret - The Handmaid's Tale
B - Black, Lewis - Nothing's Sacred
C - Cabot, Meg - The Princess Diaries
D - Davidson, MaryJanice - Undead and Unemployed
E - Edwards-Jones, Imogen - The Stork Club
F - Follett, Ken - Code to Zero
G - Grahame, Kenneth - The Wind in the Willows
H - Hinton, S.E. - The Outsiders
I - Iovine, Vicki - The Best Friends' Guide to Pregnancy
J - Jacobs, Kate - The Friday Night Knitting Club
K - Kirino, Natsuo - Out
L - Loos, Anita - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
M - Meyer, Stephanie - Twilight
N - Nemirovsky, Irene - Suite Francaise
O - Orenstein, Peggy - Waiting for Daisy
P - Pfeffer, Susan Beth - Life As We Knew It
Q - Quindlen, Anna - A Short Guide to a Happy Life
R - Roberts, Nora - Morrigan's Cross
S - Seinfeld, Jerry - Seinlanguage
T - Thompson, Hunter S. - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
U - Umrigar, Thrity - The Space Between Us
V - Vonnegut, Kurt - Slaughterhouse-Five
W - Wiesel, Elie - Night
X - Xinran - The Good Women of China
Y - Yang, Gene Luen - American Born Chinese
Z - Zarr, Sara - Story of a Girl

In their shoes

Vasilly over at 1330V is hosting the In their shoes challenge, which encourages us to read memoirs, biographies and autobiographies. Check out the dedicated blog for the full rules - but basically I can choose what to read and how many books to read!

A list of possibilities is below.

Completed: 6 as of 9 May 2009

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wells
Nothing's Sacred by Lewis Black
The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Night by Elie Wiesel
Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein
The Stork Club by Imogen Edwards-Jones

Political History Challenge

Sharon of Ex Libris is hosting this interesting challenge, to read 4 books on or related to political history in 2009. For full information, go to the challenge post.

A list of my possibilities is below.

Completed: 0/4 as of 1 January 2009

PRL for beginners by Jacek Kuron and Jacek Zakowski (in Polish)
The Provisional IRA by Patrick Bishop and Eamonn Mallie
Life of a European Mandarin by Derk-Jan Eppink
Great Power Diplomacy 1814-1914 by Norman Rich
Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski

Jewish Literature Challenge

Callista is hosting the second Jewish Literature Challenge - it runs from 21 December 2008 until 27 April 2009 and requires us to read at least 4 books by Jewish authors or about Judaism.

I have tons of ideas, which are listed below - the list might change though!

Completed: ALL 4/4 as of 22 April 2009

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Night by Elie Wiesel
Maus I and II
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
The Story of God by Robert Winston
Nothing's Sacred by Lewis Black
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Lost in Translation Reading Challenge

Frances of NonSuch Book is hosting the Lost in Translation challenge - a year long challenge to read at least 6 books in translation. Visit the challenge post for more info.

I have so many of these on my list that I think I'll be able to make it no problem! My possible books are listed below.

Completed: ALL 6/6 as of 28 February 2009 (view my wrap-up post here)

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson (Swedish)
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (German)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Russian)
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shibiku (Japanese)
Out by Natsuo Kirino (translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder)
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (Spanish)
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Spanish)
The Witch of Portobello by Paolo Coelho (translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa)
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (translated from the French by Mattias Ripa and Blake Ferris)
Karlson on the Roof by Astrid Lindgren (translated from Swedish)
Aesop's Fables by Aesop (translated from the Greek)
Night by Elie Wiesel (translated from the French by Stella Rodway)