reading challenge obsessed...

starting over

2015-11-16T10:13:00.000-05:00

While I'm not going to delete this blog, I do believe I'm going to give up on it. I haven't been able to keep up with it, keeping track of what books I've read for what challenges and whatnot. And frankly, I'm sort of challenged out. Okay, not totally...but I am making an effort to be FAR more selective in the future. :D

Stephen King/Richard Bachman Reading Challenge

2014-08-12T14:55:00.001-04:00

Dates: Perpetual (otherwise I could never do it!)

Host: Meaghan

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read all of Stephen King's books. You do not have to reread any you've already read, but I think I am going to challenge myself to do that, too. If you want, you can also watch the movies...think I'll work on that, too.

Will list them as I read them:

Will list them as I watch them:

Women of Color

2011-12-31T21:49:00.003-05:00

This is a bit different. This is not an official reading challenge. This is a personal challenge, though I think everyone should join in.

Susan put together her "unofficial list of great YA by or about women of color." And I'm challenging myself to read them all. Sounds fantastic, doesn't it?

Susan's unofficial list of great YA by or about women of color:
1. When Kambia Elaine Flew In From Neptune by Lori A. Williams
2. Every Time A Rainbow Dies by Rita Williams-Garcia
3. No Laughter Here by Rita Williams-Garcia
4. Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia
5. If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
6. The House You Pass On The Way by Jacqueline Woodson
7. Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
8. From The Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson
9. Sold by Patricia McCormick
10. Heaven by An Na
11. The Parable of The Sower by Octavia E. Butler
12. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Persepolis by Majane Satrapi
14. The Rock and The River by Kekla Magoon
15. Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins
16. Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis
17. A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott
18. Down To The Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole
19. Don’t Get It Twisted by Paula Chase
20. Jason & Kyra by Dana Davidson
21. Forged by Fire by Sharon Draper
22. Kendra by Coe Booth
23. Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger
24. Does My Head Look Big In This? By Randa Abdel-Fattah
25. Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
26. Skunk Girl by Sheba Karim
27. The Meaning of Conseulo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
28. In The Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
29. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
30. First Part Last by Angela Johnson
31. Pemba’s Song by Marilyn Nelson
32. Wanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan
33. M + O 4EVR by Tonya Hegamin
34. Lucy The Giant by Sherri L. Smith
35. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
36. Throwaway Piece by Jo Ann Hernandez
37. White Bread Competition by Jo Ann Hernandez
38. Across A Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande
39. Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon
40. Ash by Malinda Lo
41. The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake

The Printz Project

2011-12-31T14:10:00.003-05:00

Dates: Perpetual--WooHoo!

Hosts: Suey and Jessica

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read the Printz winners. And honors, if you're so inclined.

The list:

2009
Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves, by M.T. Anderson
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
Nation, by Terry Pratchett
Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan

2008
The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean
Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet, by Elizabeth Knox
One Whole and Perfect Day, by Judith Clarke
Repossessed, by A.M. Jenkins
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath, by Stephanie Hemphill

2007
American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Volume I: The Pox Party, by M.T. Anderson
An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
Surrender, by Sonya Hartnett
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

2006
Looking for Alaska, by John Green
Black Juice, by Margo Lanagan
I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth, a Photographic Biography, by Elizabeth Partridge
A Wreath for Emmett Till, by Marilyn Nelson

2005
how i live now, by Meg Rosoff
Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel
Chanda’s Secrets, by Allan Stratton
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary D. Schmidt

2004
The First Part Last, by Angela Johnson
A Northern Light, by Jennifer Donnelly
Keesha’s House, by Helen Frost
Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler

2003
Postcards from No Man’s Land, by Aidan Chambers
The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer
My Heartbeat, by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Hole in My Life, by Jack Gantos

2002
A Step From Heaven, by An Na
The Ropemaker, by Peter Dickinson
Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art, by Jan Greenberg
Abrams Freewill, by Chris Lynch
True Believer, by Virginia Euwer Wolff

2001
Kit’s Wilderness, by David Almond
Many Stones, by Carolyn Coman
The Body of Christopher Creed, by Carol Plum-Ucci
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, by Louise Rennison
Stuck in Neutral, by Terry Trueman

2000
Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
Skellig, by David Almond
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hard Love, by Ellen Wittlinger

Notes:
Proof that my brain is in a state of decline...I could have sworn I'd signed up for this a few weeks ago. Oh well. Better late than never.

The Lambda Challenge

2010-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

Dates: No time restraints. :)

Host: Adventures in Reading

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read as many Lambda Literary Award winners as you want.

My list:

Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking by Aoibheann Sweeny (Lesbian Debut Fiction)

Name All the Animals by Alison Smith (Autobiography/Memoir)

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (Humor)

Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvaduai (Children's/Young Adult)

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (Lesbian Memoir)

Harry Potter Reading Challenge

2010-07-31T15:52:00.000-04:00

Date: August 1st of 2009 through July 31st of 2010

Host: Michelle

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read the Harry Potter series. (As an added bit of fun, I'm going to try to watch all the movies, too.

The list read, as I complete them:

The list watched, as I complete them:

1% Well-Read Challenge Round 2

2010-03-31T23:59:00.003-04:00

Dates: March 1st of 2009 through March 31st of 2010 (each are the dates for option #3)

Host: 3M

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): There are actually 3 different options, but basically it involves reading 10-13 books from "the list."

Notes: Despite the fact that I totally suck at finishing challenges, I'm going for option three which involves 13 books instead of 10. Simply because then I don't have to pay attention if they are from the "old" list or the "new" list. Yes, this boils down to pure laziness.

My list consists only of books which are currently in my house.

I wish I could include rereads as a.) I know I'll be rereading a few on the list because we'll be using them for school, and b.) there's some others I'd just really love to read again (like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and some of the Vonnegut). But I know that's not the point of the challenge.

My list of possibles:

*Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
*The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
*The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
*Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
*Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
*Life of Pi by Yann Martel
*The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Marakami
*The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
*Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
*Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
*The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
*Neuromancer by William Gibson
*Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
*Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
*Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
*The Lords of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (because I still haven't read The Return of the King yet)
*The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
*Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
*The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
*Out of Africa by Isak Dineson
*All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
*Orlando by Virginia Woolf
*We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
*The Hounds of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
*Kim by Rudyard Kipling
*The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
*The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
*Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
*The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
*Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
*Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
*Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
*Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
*Walden by Henry David Thoreau
*Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
*Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Arthurian Challenge 2

2010-03-31T22:00:00.001-04:00

Dates: April 1st of 2009 through March 31st of 2010

Host: Becky

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read as many books as you'd like that in one way or another involve Arthurian legend.

My list:

*King Arthur and His Knights of The Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green

(O.K., O.K., calling this a list is a stretch. But being completely ignorant of all things Arthur, I thought I'd get my feet wet and see where it goes from there.)

What an Animal 2

2010-02-28T16:04:00.001-05:00

Date: July 1st of 2009 through February 28th of 2010

Host: Kristi

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read six books that have an animal in the title, on the cover, or playing a major role in the book. Fiction or non-fiction.

My list (to be announced as I go):
*Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Florey Burns

Japanese Literature Challenge 3

2010-01-30T22:01:00.002-05:00

Date: July 30th of 2009 through January 30 of 2010.

Host: Bellezza

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read at least one book of Japanese origin. Yep, that's it. And dammit, this year I'm actually going to do it! I am!

My list of possibles (I will count myself a success if I read just one of these, but really, truly I hope I manage more than that!):

*Basho: The Complete Haiku

*Grotesque and/or Out by Natsuo Kirino

*some manga (possibly some Fruit Baskets by Natsuki Takaya)

*The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Colorful Reading Challenge

2009-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Rebecca

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 9 books with a color in the title. There are six required colors (red, white, blue, black, silver, and gold), and the other three are reader's choice.

My tentative list:

Red: Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech

White: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson.

Blue: The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint

Black: Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden

Silver: The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett

Gold: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Green: Green Angel by Alice Hoffman

Yellow: The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic that Shaped Our History by Molly Caldwell Crosby

Rose: Rose Madder by Stephen King

Young Adult Challenge '09

2009-12-31T23:58:00.014-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: J.Kaye

For Details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 12 young adult books.

My list of possibles:

*An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

*Paper Towns by John Green

*A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti

*Nation by Terry Pratchett

*How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

*The Hollow People by Brian Keaney

*Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

*Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

*The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

*Gossamer by Lois Lowry

*Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess

*Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

*Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

*The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

*Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata

*Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

*The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

*The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

*The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

*American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

*The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

*Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

*Janes in Love by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

*Pemba's Song by Marilyn Nelson and Tonya C. Hegamin

*The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

*The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

21 Cultures Challenge

2009-12-31T23:57:00.010-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Lost in Books

For Details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 21 books about 21 different cultures, modern or traditional. Books can be fictional, but must not be about a fictional culture.

My list of possibles:

*The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost (Tarawa)

*Getting Stoned with Savages by J. Maarten Troost (Fiji and Vanuatu)

*The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma by Thant Myint-U (Burma)

*The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly (Thailand)

*Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang (China)

*Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (China)

*Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino (Japan)

*Legend of Chun Hyang by CLAMP (Korea)

*A Taste of Earth and Other Legends of Vietnam by Thich Nhat Hanh (Vietnam)

*The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)

*In the Land of Invisible Women by Qanta A. Ahmed, MD (Saudi Arabia)

*The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Iran)

*I’jaam by Sinan Antoon (Iraq)

*A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti (Israel/Gaza)

*The Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)

*Antipode by Heather E. Heying (Madagascar)

*Blood Diamonds by Greg Campbell (Sierra Leone)

*They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky by Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, and Benjamin Ajak with Judy A. Bernstein (Sudan)

*House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb (Zimbabwe)

*ZenZele by J. Nozipo Maraire (Zimbabwe)

*Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)

*Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (Kenya)

*A Sunday by the Pool in Kigali by Gil Courtemanche (Rwanda)

*King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild (Congo region)

*No More Strangers Now interviews by Tim McKee (South Africa)

*Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Sweden)

*Winterwood by Patrick McCabe (Ireland)

*The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman (England)

*The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (England)

*The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (Germany)

*Fax from Sarajevo by Joe Kubert (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

*The Jaguar Smile by Salman Rushdie (Nicaragua)

*The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (Chile)

*A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela (Chile)

*The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Dominican Republic)

*Tell My Horse by Zora Neale Hurston (Haiti and Jamaica)

*Almost Heaven by Martin Fletcher (rural U.S.)

*The Crucible by Arthur Miller (Puritan New England)

*Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden (Cree of northern Ontario, Canada)

*Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson (Haisla of British Columbia, Canada)

*Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee by Dean Cycon (many indigenous cultures around the world)

Young Readers Challenge

2009-12-31T23:56:00.004-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Becky

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read at least 12 children's books (anything written to be read, or read aloud, to children 12 and under).

My list (to be filled in as I go):
1. Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones by Judy Schachner
2. Have You Got My Purr? by Judy West
3. Toots the Cat by Karla Kuskin
4. Comic Adventures of Boots by Satoshi Kitamura
5. Cat and Fish by Joan Grant
6. Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
7. Circle of Cats by Charles de Lint
8. Cat, What Is That? by Tony Johnston
9. The Scaredy Cats by Barbara Bottner
10. The Cat Who Walked Across France by Kate Banks
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Dream King Challenge

2009-12-31T23:55:00.007-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Jessi

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): There are several levels of participation, but the basic gist is reading Neil Gaiman works in a variety of categories and watching one movie.

My list:

*The Wolves in the Walls (children/young adult)

*Fragile Things (short story collection)

*Anansi Boys (novel)

*The Sandman: Doll's House (graphic novel)
bonus for category:
--The Sandman: Dream Country
--The Sandman: Season of Mists
--The Sandman: A Game of You

*Mirrormask (audiobook)

*The 13 Clocks (other: Neil approved reading)

*Death: At Death's Door by Jill Thompson (Neil spin-offs)

*Stardust (movie)

Dewey Decimal Challenge

2009-12-31T23:54:00.005-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: The Novel World

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read one book from each of the Dewey Decimal categories.

My list (to be filled in as read):

000 - Generalities
100 - Philosophy and Psychology
200 - Religion
300 - Social Sciences - Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule (364.152 RUL)
400 - Language - Sister's Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey (428.2)
500 - Natural Sciences/Math - The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA by Mark Schultz (576.5 SCH)
600 - Technology - George & Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism by Charlotte Moore (618.928 MOO)
700 - The Arts - That's Life: Finding Scrapbook Inspiration in the Everyday by Nic Howard (745.593 HOW)
800 - Literature and Rhetoric - The Crucible by Arthur Miller (812 MIL)
900 - Geography and History - House of Stone: The True Story of Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb (968.9105 LAM)

World War II Challenge

2009-12-31T23:53:00.001-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Hosts: Anna and Serena

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read at least 5 books, fiction and/or non-fiction, that involve WWII.

My list of possibles (I'm going for 5 of these; any extras will be icing on the cake):

*Smoke and Ashes by Barbara Rogasky

*Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

*The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

*The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

*Dawn of Fear by Susan Cooper

*The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

*Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose

*The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

*Night by Elie Wiesel

*Plot Against America by Philip Roth

*Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (would be a reread)

*The Zookeepers Wife by Diane Ackerman

*Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata

*...I never saw another butterfly...: Children's Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944

World Citizen Challenge

2009-12-31T23:50:00.003-05:00

Date: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Eva

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Basically, read books about the world. There are a variety of levels of participation. And a variety of categories. I obviously secretly love failure, because I'm going for the post graduate level. That means seven books, including one from each of the six categories.

My list of possibles:

***Note 1--I tried very hard to stick with only books that we already owned, but a couple (*) have been on my wish list for a long time, and I figured this was a good excuse to possibly finally pick them up.

***Note 2--I'm not entirely sure I have all these books in the appropriate category. Please feel free to set me straight.

Politics:

The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright

The Fate of Africa by Martin Meredith

A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa by Howard W. French

The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda by Yaroslav Trofimov

*A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela

*House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb

Economics:

*The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey Sachs

History:

The Massacre at El Mozote by Mark Danner

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild

Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader

Culture:

*Labor's Lot: The Power, History, and Culture of Aboriginal Action by Elizabeth A. Povinelli

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

Worldwide Issues:

Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones by Greg Campbell

Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster by Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro

The New Killing Fields: Massacre and the Politics of Intervention edited by Nicolaus Mills and Kira Brunner

Memoirs:

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Joung Ung

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan by Benson Deng, Alephonsian Deng, and Benjamin Ajak with Judy A. Bernstein

In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed MD

Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee by Dean Cycon (This isn't exactly a memoir. But I'm not sure it quite fits under economics either. Just wasn't sure where to put it, but thought it definitely fit in with the spirit of the challenge, so I wanted to use it.)

Essay Reading Challenge

2009-12-31T23:48:00.002-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Books and Movies

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 10, 20, or 30 essays.

My list (I think I'll shoot for 30) to be added as read:

1. "Bugs in the Brain" by Robert M. Sapolsky (from Monkeyluv and Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals)
2. The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby ***This actually contained a total of 28 essays, so technically I'm in great shape for this challenge. :)
3. "The Pony Problem" by Sloane Crosley (from They Said There'd Be Cake)
4. Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby ***This actually contained 15 essays.
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The Science Book Challenge

2009-12-31T23:47:00.002-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31t of 2009

Host: Science Besieged

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read at least 3 science books.

My list of possibles:

*The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors by John Gribbin

*Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley

*The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley

*The Diversity of Life by E.O. Wilson

*Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins

*Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

*Adam's Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form by Michael Sims

*Into the Jungle: Great Adventures in the Search for Evolution by Sean B. Carroll

*The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

*Civilization and the Limpet by Martin Wells

*Why Geese Don't Get Obese (And We Do) by Eric P. Widmaier

*When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy

*Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees: The Nature of Cooperation in Animals and Humans by Lee Dugatkin

*Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation by Olivia Judson

*The Snakebite Survivors' Club: Travels Among Serpents by Jeremy Seal

*Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? by David M Raup

*The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind by Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin

*Unearthing the Dragon by Mark Norell

*Antipode: Seasons with the Extraordinary Wildlife and Culture of Madagascar by Heather E. Heying

*Stalking the Plumed Serpent and Other Adventures in Herpetology by D. Bruce Means

*Throwim Way Leg: Tree-Kangaroos, Possums and Penis Gourds--On the Track of Unknown Mammals in Wildest New Guinea by Tim Flannery

*Among Orangutans: Read Apes and the Rise of Human Culture by Carel Van Schaik

*A Primate's Memoir by Robert Sapolsky

*The Wisdom of the Bones by Alan Walker and Pat Shipman

*A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold

*Animal Minds by Donald R. Griffin

*King Solomon's Ring by Konrad Lorenz

*Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan

*Life on a Little Known Planet by Howard Evans

*Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer

*A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

*How to Dunk a Doughnut: The Science of Everyday Life by Len Fisher

*Nature of Australia: A Portrait of the Island Continent by John Vandenbeld

*The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

*Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1928 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It by Gina Kolata

*The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

*Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization by W. Hodding Carter

*The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic that Shaped Our History by Molly Caldwell Crosby

*The Survival Factor by Mike and Tim Birkhead

*Of Kinkajous, Capybaras, Horned Beetles, Seladangs, and the Oddest and ost Wonderful Mammals, Insects, Birds, and Plants of Our World by Jeanne K. Hanson and Deane Morrison

*Why Aren't Black Holes Black? by Robert M. Hazen

*The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon

*The Secret Life of Germs: What They Are, Why We Need Them, and How We Can Protect Ourselves Against Them by Philip M. Tierno, Jr., Ph.D.

*The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA by Mark Schultz

The Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge

2009-12-31T23:46:00.014-05:00

Date: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: J.Kaye

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): There are different levels (numbers of books to choose to read), but essentially it just involves reading books from one's library as opposed to buying them. I'm choosing the "12 book" level...in true wimp style.

My list, to be completed as I go:
1. A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti
2. Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
3. The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman
4. House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb
5. Fax From Sarajevo by Joe Kubert
6. The Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
7. The Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman
8. George & Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism by Charlotte Moore
9. Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
10. ...I never saw another butterfly...: Children's Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944
11. The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot
12. Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee by Dean Cycon

What's In a Name 2

2009-12-31T23:45:00.006-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st, 2009

Host: Annie

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read one book from each of 6 different categories (book with body part in its title, book with relative in its title, book with profession in its title, book with medical condition in its title, book with time of day in its title, and book with building in its title).

My list of potentials (a quick pulling of books that worked from my TBR piles):

*body part-
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Blood Diamonds by Greg Campbell
Cell by Stephen King
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet
Blood Run by Leah Ruth Robinson
Deep as the Marrow by R. Paul Wilson
The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
Bone: One Volume Edition by Jeff Smith

*relative-
The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman (might use as a profession instead)
Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung
The Wood Wife by Terri Windling
The Piper's Sons by Bruce Chandler Fergusson
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

*profession-
Iris, Messenger by Sarah Deming
I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
The Buffalo Soldier by Chris Bohjalian
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
Judge & Jury by James Patterson and Andrew Gross
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
The Judges by Elie Wiesel
The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman
King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu
In The Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed, MD

*medical condition-
The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Shock by Robin Cook
Seizure by Robin Cook
Insomnia by Stephen King
George & Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism by Charlotte Moore

*time of day-
Nighttime Is My Time by Mary Higgins Clark
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
Forests of the Night by James W. Hall
Night by Elie Wiesel
Five Past Midnight in Bhopal by Dominiuqe Lapierre and Javier Moro
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

*building-
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook
A Stranger in the House by Gloria Murphy
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
The Museum of Dr. Moses by Joyce Carol Oates
The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman
Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb
The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech

Elizabeth Scott Challenge

2009-12-31T22:00:00.000-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Becky

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read at least two books by Elizabeth Scott.

My list:

*Living Dead Girl

*Love You Hate You Miss You

Read Your Own Books '09

2009-12-31T21:00:00.020-05:00

Date: January 1st through December 31st of 2009
(However, I found out about it on March 16th, so my list will only include books read after this time.)

Host: MizB

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read books you already own. Didn't take a brain surgeon to figure that one out, huh? You choose your own goal as to number of books. No need for a predetermined list.

Notes: My goal is 29. Decided to join this because a.) I seemingly am incapable of NOT joining a challenge, and b.) I'm hoping this nudges me to get some of my own books read.

My list (to be filled in as I go):
1. Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese
2. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
3. Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater
4. The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech
5. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
7. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
8. Starting Points by Linda Harrison
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
10. Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby
11. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
12. Fables: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham
13. Fables: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham
14. Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham
15. Legend of Chun Hyang by CLAMP
16. The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
17. The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going
18. Nation by Terry Pratchett
19. The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
20. The House with the Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs
21. Death: At Death's Door by Jill Thompson
22. Affluenza by John DeGraaf, David Winn, and Thomas Naylor
23. A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld
24. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
25. Bone: One Volume Edition by Jeff Smith

Herding Cats II

2009-12-31T20:30:00.001-05:00

Dates: April 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Renay

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): List exactly 5 books you've read in 2007, 2008, and/or 2009 that you highly recommend. Then try to read some of the other participant's suggestions.

My list of suggestions:
*The Stand by Stephen King
*We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch
*And the Band Played On: People, Politics, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts
*Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
*The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

My list to read:
*Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
*The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar
*28: Stories of AIDs in Africa by Stephanie Nolen
*Nation by Terry Pratchett
*Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

--This list took serious weeding. It was originally easily five times this long, but I promised myself if I joined I would only make a list of five.

GLBT Reading Challenge

2009-12-31T17:26:00.015-05:00

Dates: July 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Amanda

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 6 books that somehow fit under the umbrella of GLBT. Fiction and non-fiction. GLBT by topic and/or by author.

My list, which is highly subject to change:

*The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel (doesn't actually count towards the challenge...I couldn't make myself wait for the challenge to start...oops)

*Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

*Freak Show by James St. James

*Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking by Aoibheann Sweeney

*Wide Awake by David Levithan

*Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

And a few extras I'd really love to get to:

*Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger

*Hero by Perry Moore

*The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson

*grl2grl by Julie Anne Peters

*Luna by Julie Anne Peters

*Night Kites by M.E. Kerr

*The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

*Girl Goddess #9 by Francesca Lia Block

*Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block

*The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson

*Thinking Straight by Robin Reardon

*Why I Wake Early: New Poems by Mary Oliver

*Orlando by Virginia Woolf

*The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

*Pedro and Me by Judd Winick

*Normal by Amy Bloom

Graphic Novels Challenge

2009-12-31T12:52:00.012-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Laza

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read graphic novels. There are several levels of participation. I'm shooting for the Majors level of 12 books.

My list of possibles:

The Sandman: The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman

The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey

Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Rose by Jeff Smith

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Petersen

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Nightmares & Fairy Tales: Once Upon a Time by Serena Valentino

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

Fax From Sarajevo by Joe Kubert

Palestine by Joe Sacco

The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot

Berlin: City of Stones by Jason Lutes

Amulet: Book One The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA by Mark Schultz

Bonus reads:
The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman
The Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman
Fables: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham
Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham
The Sandman: A Game of You by Neil Gaiman
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
Pedro and Me by Judd Winick
Janes in Love Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Nathan Hale
Death: At Death's Door by Jill Thompson
A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld
Bone: One Volume Edition by Jeff Smith

Manga Challenge

2009-12-31T12:51:00.002-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Rhinoa

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 6 Manga.

My list (to be filled in as I go):

1. Bizenghast One by M. Alice LeGrow
2. Bizenghast Two by M. Alice LeGrow
3. Legend of Chun Hyang by CLAMP
4.
5.
6.

Dewey's Book Reading Challenge

2009-12-31T12:49:00.005-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st of 2009

Host: Chris

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Either read one book from each year in Dewey's archives or read any five books from her archives.

***Obviously, this is more than your average reading challenge. In fact, I prefer to think of it not so much as a challenge, but as a time to spend some time in spirit with Dewey. She is so loved. And she is so missed.***

My list of possibilities:

*Looking for Alaska by John Green

*The Maternal is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood & Social Change edited by Shari MacDonald Strong

*The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

*How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

*The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

*The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

*Le Petit Prince by Antoine de St.-Exupéry

*Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

*The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket

*The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

*The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton

*American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

*We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

*The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot

*The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards

*The Pesthouse by Jim Crace

*Into the Forest by Jean Hegland

*The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

*Nation by Terry Pratchett

--Oh my, this list could go on for pages...

Suspense and Thriller Reading Challenge

2009-12-31T12:44:00.001-05:00

Dates: February 12th 2008 through December 31st 2009

Host: J. Kaye

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 12 books, each from a different sub-genre of thrillers.

My list:

1. Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule (true crime thriller)

2. Sea Change by James Powlik (environmental thriller)

3. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (horror thriller)

4. Joyride by Jack Ketchum (psychological thriller)

5. Vanish by Tess Gerritsen (medical thriller)

6. Blaze by Richard Bachman/Stephen King (crime thriller)

7. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (sci-fi/dystopian thriller)

8. Pandora's Clock by John J. Nance (techno-thriller)

9. Trace by Patricia Cornwell (forensic mystery)

10. Testament by David Morrell (action thriller)

11. Deep as the Marrow by F. Paul Wilson (political thriller)

12. Double Cross by James Patterson (serial killer thriller)

100 Shots of Shorts

2009-12-31T10:07:00.000-05:00

Dates: Whenever. (Gotta love that!)

Host: Rob

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read one hundred short stories.

My list:

1. "Down to a Sunless Sea" by Mathias B. Freese (1/3/09)
2. "I'll Make It, I Think" by Mathias B. Freese (1/10/09)
3. "The Father Thing" by Philip K. Dick (1/12/09)
4. "Orange" by Neil Gaiman (1/17/09)
5. "Ass-Hat Magic Spider" by Scott Westerfeld (1/17/09)
6. "The Menace From Earth" by Robert Heinlein (1/17/09)
7. "The Home Team" by Greg Wickenhofer (1/17/09)
8. "Summer All in a Day" by Ray Bradbury (1/18/09)
9. "Cheats" by Ann Halam (1/18/09)
10. "The Fluted Girl" by Paolo Bacigulupi (1/18/09)
11. "The Harvest" by Amy Hempel (1/23/09)
12. "The Surfer" by Kelly Link (1/31/09)
13. "The Chatham Bear" by Mathias B. Freese (1/31/09)
14. "Herbie" by Mathias B. Freese (2/14/09)
15. "Alabaster" by Mathias B. Freese (2/15/09)
16. "Juan Peron's Hands" by Mathias B. Freese (2/15/09)
17. "Little Errands" by Mathias B. Freese (2/16/09)
18. "Arnold Schwarzenegger's Father Was a Nazi" by Mathias B. Freese (2/17/09)
19. "Echo" by Mathias B. Freese (2/20/09)
20. "Chicxulb" by T.C. Boyle (2/23/09)
21. "Young Man" by Mathias B. Freese (3/1/09)
22. "Nicholas" by Mathias B. Freese (3/7/09)
23. "Billy's Mirrored Wall" by Mathias B. Freese (3/8/09)
24. "The Babysitter's Code" by Laura Lippman (3/9/09)
25. "Unanswerable" by Mathias B. Freese (3/12/09)
26. "For a While, Here, In this Moment" by Mathias B. Freese (3/17/09)
27. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor (3/17/09)
28. "The April Witch" by Ray Bradbury (3/21/09)
29. "Uncle Dobbin's Parrot Fair" by Charles de Lint (3/22/09)
30. “No One’s a Mystery” by Elizabeth Tallent (3/23/09)
31. "Repair Kit" by Stephen Baxter (7/5/09)
32. "Phantom Pain" by Lydia Peelle (8/3/09)
33. "Madame Rosette" by Roald Dahl (9/6/09)
34. "Man from the South" by Roald Dahl (9/6/09)
35. "Sound Machine" by Roald Dahl (9/?/09)
36. "Taste" by Roald Dahl (9/25/09)

*Stories by Mathias B. Freese are from Down to a Sunless Sea.

9 for '09

2009-12-27T23:59:00.000-05:00

Dates: December 27th of 2008 through December 27th of 2009

Host: Isabel

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read one book from each of nine categories. All books must already be in your TBR pile.

My list:

*The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. (This is for the "long" category. Each participant gets to choose their own definition of long...it is to be longer than one's typical read. But I read books of all different lengths, so I wasn't sure what to choose. Finally went with a book that would have fit in the Chunkster Challenge parameters at 485 pages.)

*News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (This is for the "free" category. I got this one from Paperback Swap.)

*Black Sunday by Thomas Harris (This is for the "dusty" category. I've had this one on my shelves for well over 5 years.)

*Five Past Midnight in Bhopal by Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro (This is for the "used" category. Bought this used from Amazon.)

*The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (This is for the "letter" category. For this category, one needs to choose a title that has a letter of one's name in it. I found one that had all the letters of my first name in it.)

*Sleeping With Ward Cleaver by Jenny Gardiner (This is for the "strange" category. Chick lit is definitely out of my comfort zone.)

*The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan. (This is for the "cover" category. I love the cover of this one! Definitely why I picked it up to start with.)

*An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (This is for the "alive or dead" category. For this category, one needs to choose a book by an award winning/award nominated author. The book chosen for the challenge does not necessarily have to be the award winner/nominee.)

*The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost (This is for the "distance" category. For this category, one needs to choose a book set over 1,000 miles from one's home. The South Pacific definitely fits the bill.)

42 Challenge

2009-12-03T23:59:00.002-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 3rd of 2009 (officially)...but permission has been granted to start anytime

Host: Becky

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read and/or watch and/or listen to 42 items in the realm of science fiction. No need to make list ahead of time.

My list (to be filled in as I go):

1. The Thing, directed by John Carpenter (film)
2. Fahrenheit 451, directed by François Truffaut (film)
3. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (novel)
4. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells (novel)
5. "I Am The Doorway" by Stephen King, from Night Shift (short story)
6. "The Father Thing" by Philip K. Dick (short story)
7. "Orange" by Neil Gaiman (short story)
8. "Ass-Hat Magic Spider" by Scott Westerfeld (short story)
9. "The Menace From Earth" by Robert Heinlein (short story)
10. "The Home Team" by Greg Wickenhofer (short story)
11. "Summer All in a Day" by Ray Bradbury (short story)
12. "Cheats" by Ann Halam (short story)
13. "The Fluted Girl" by Paolo Bacigulupi (short story)
14. "The Surfer" by Kelly Link (short story)
15. The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge by Harry Harrison (novel)
16. A Sound of Thunder directed by Peter Hyams (film)
17. The Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer (novel)
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (novel)
19. "Repair Kit" by Stephen Baxter (short story)
20. Masters of Science Fiction "A Clean Escape" (TV show episode)
21. Masters of Science Fiction "The Awakening" (TV show episode)
22. Stargate directed by Roland Emmerich (film)
23. Masters of Science Fiction "Jerry Was a Man" (TV show episode)
24. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.

RIP IV

2009-10-31T23:59:00.005-04:00

Dates: September 1st of 2009 through October 31st of 2009

Host: Carl

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 1, 2, or at least 4 books of a mysterious, suspenseful, chilling, creepy, gothic, horrific, etc. nature.

My list:

*Pemba's Song: A Ghost Story by Marilyn Nelson and Tonya C. Hegamin
*The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Classics Challenge '09

2009-10-31T07:20:00.000-04:00

Date: April 1st through October 31st of 2009

Host: Trish

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Choose a level (4, 5, or 6 classics). For extra fun, add a bonus of a modern/future classic from the list of suggestions that the participants come up with.

My tentative list:

*The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

*All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

*Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

*The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Bonus book:

???

The End of the World (As We Know It) '09

2009-10-09T23:59:00.003-04:00

Date: March 10th through October 9th of 2009

Host: Becky

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read at least four books of the apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic variety.

My list of possibles (with the exception of the last on the list, I stuck with books we already own):

*The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers

*Germ by Robert Liparulo

*The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

*Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams

*Category 7 by Bill Evans

*Black Hole by Charles Burns

*Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear

*Folk on the Fringe by Orson Scott Card

*The Road by Cormac McCarthy

*Cell by Stephen King

*World War Z by Max Brooks

*The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

*Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

*The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

*Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (as a possible reread, because I really don't remember it)

*The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer (which I just got out of the library...how convenient)

Non-Fiction Five '09

2009-09-30T21:34:00.006-04:00

Dates: May 1st through September 30th of 2009

Host: Trish

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 5 non-fiction books, with at least one of them in a different "category" than the rest.

My list of possibles:

*Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer (science)
*The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA by Mark Schultz (science)
*The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang (history)
*Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (graphic memoir)
*The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarte Troost (travel)
*Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul by Edward Humes (current events)
*Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (diary)
*The Hot Zone by Richard Preston (medicine)
*Zodiac by Robert Graysmith (true crime)
*College-Prep Homeschooling: Your Complete Guide to Homeschooling through High School by David P. Byers, Ph.D. and Chandra Byers (how-to)
*Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (economics/sociology)
*Walden by Henry David Thoreau (environmental essay)
*Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee by Dean Cycon (economics/travel)
*Pedro and Me by Judd Winick (memoir?)
*Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey (language/writing)
*Normal by Amy Bloom (sociology/science)
*Affluenza by DeGraaf, Winn, and Naylor (sociology/economics/environment)
*A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld (history/personal stories)

The Countdown Challenge

2009-09-09T23:59:00.022-04:00

Dates: August 8th 2008 through September 9th 2009

Host: 3M

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 9 books published in 2009, 8 books published in 2008, 7 books published in 2007...all the way down to 1 book published in 2001.

My list (unofficially, of course):

2009:

1. The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA by Mark Schultz
2. A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

2008:

1. The Missing Girl by Norma Mazer Fox
2. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
3. The Floods: Good Neighbors by Colin Thompson
4. The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper
5. The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey
6. Amulet: Book One The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
7. In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed
8. The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

2007:

1. Double Cross by James Patterson
2. 50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade by Miles Litvinoff and John Madeley
3. That's Life: Finding Scrapbook Inspiration in the Everday by Nic Howard
4. Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese
5. The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech
6. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
7. Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee by Dean Cycon

2006:

1. Bizenghast Two by M. Alice LeGrow
2. The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
3. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
4. House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb
5. George & Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism by Charlotte Moore
6. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

2005:

1. Looking for Alaska by John Green
2. Bizenghast One by M. Alice LeGrow
3. A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti
4.
5.

2004:

1. Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule
2. Fables: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham
3. Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham
4.

2003:

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
2. Fables: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham
3. Death: At Death's Door by Jill Thompson

2002:

1. Rose by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess
2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

2001:

1. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

The 999 Challenge

2009-09-09T23:58:00.002-04:00

Dates: January 1st through September 9th, 2009

Host: ?

For details: Click here (sign ups) or here (the blog).

The Challenge (put simply): Read nine books from each of nine categories of your own choosing. Nine books may overlap with one another.

My list (again, I'm just doing this unofficially):

Young adult:
1. A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti
2. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
3. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
4. The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot
5. Nation by Terry Pratchett
6. Janes in Love by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
7. The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
8. Pemba's Song by Marilyn Nelson and Tonya C. Hegamin
9.

War theme (fiction and/or non-fiction):
1. House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb
2. Fax From Sarajevo by Joe Kubert
3. ...I never saw another butterfly...: Children's Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Set in countries other than U.S.:
1. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
2. A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti
3. In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed, MD
4. Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee by Dean Cycon
5. No More Strangers Now interviews by Tim McKee
6. Legend of Chun Hyang by CLAMP
7.
8.
9.

Children's Classics:
1. The House With the Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Science Fiction:
1. The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge by Harry Harrison
2. The Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Borrowed from Rich:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Borrowed from Annie:
1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Novellas (less than 250 pages):
1. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
2. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
3. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
5. Pemba's Song by Marilyn Nelson and Tonya C. Hegamin
6.
7.
8.
9.

One-word titles:
1. Rose by Jeff Smith
2. Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
3. Normal by Amy Bloom
4. Affluenza by John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor
5. Normal by Amy Bloom
6. Affluenza by DeGraaf, Winn, and Naylor
7.
8.
9.

Eco Reading Challenge

2009-09-01T23:38:00.005-04:00

Date: May 1st through September 1st of 2009

Host: Chris.

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 1-5 books related to the environment or green-living, plus commit one green reading act (see Chris's post for explanation).

My list (I'm shooting for three, but will count it as a success if I finish one):

*Walden by Henry David Thoreau

*Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine

*Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert

*The Diversity of Life by E.O. Wilson

*Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee by Dean Cycon

*Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic by John De Graaf, David Winn, and Thomas Naylor

...or whatever strikes my fancy

Notes:
I love this challenge! I have no idea yet what my green reading act may be...we already do all the things she had listed, right down to already planting a new tree in our yard this year. But hopefully I'll be able to come up with something new.

Southern Reading Challenge 3

2009-08-15T23:55:00.001-04:00

Date: May 15th through August 15th of 2009

Host: Maggie

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read three books set in the south by southern authors.

My list:

*A Painted House by John Grisham

*A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

*The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

...or whatever strikes my fancy at the time

Notes:
Maybe the third year is the charm when it comes to actually finishing this challenge. ;) I considered not joining this year...I mean one can only fail at something so many times before one starts feeling like a real loser, right? But then I got to thinking about a couple of books that I likely wouldn't have read if not for this challenge, like The Secret Life of Bees and Sonny's House of Spies, and it made me sad to think that I might be passing up finding another treasure like those if I didn't join. Sound reasoning, if you ask me.

What an Animal Reading Challenge

2009-06-30T23:59:00.008-04:00

Dates: July 1st, 2008 through June 30, 2009

Host: Kristi

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 6 books with any combination of the following: animal in the title, animal on the cover, animal plays big part in book, main character turns into an animal.

My list of possibles (after wasting a great deal of time pulling out every book with an animal in its title off my TBR shelves, excluding books that are in the middle of a series):

*The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

*The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge by Harry Harrison

*The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World by Harry Harrison

*Wolves of the Crescent Moon by Yousef Al-Mohaimeed

*The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

*Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan

*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

*The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

*Lord of the Flies by William Golding

*The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

*The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

*Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey (thanks, Jean!)

*The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman

*The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johansen

*Dark Horse by Tami Hoag

*Stone Monkey by Jeffery Deaver

*Wolf by Gillian Cross

*May-Bird and the Ever After by Jodi Lynn Anderson

*Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul by Edward Humes

*The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst

*Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

*The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa

*The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey by Salman Rushdie

*The Bat-Poet by Randall Jarrell

*...I never saw another butterfly...: Children's Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944

*The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot

*The Hoboken Chicken Emergency by Daniel Pinkwater

Well, I definitely have a eclectic mix to choose from anyway. :)

Once Upon a Time III

2009-06-20T23:59:00.005-04:00

Dates: March 21st through June 20th of 2009

Host: Carl

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): There are actually a number of different options, but in general it just involves reading books from the fantasy/folklore/fairy tale/mythology realms.

Okay, so here's a potential pool of each of the categories:

Myth:
*A Taste of Earth and Other Legends of Vietnam by Thich Nhat Hanh
*Native American Myths by Diana Ferguson
*Warriors Gods & Spirits from Central & South American Mythology by Douglas Gifford
*The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
*The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursa
*The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
*Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
*The Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman

Folklore:
*The Book of Ballads by Charles Vess and others
*Outfoxing Fear: Folktales from Around the World edited by Kathleen Ragan
*Best-Loved Folktales of the World selected by Joanna Cole (though I won't read all of this during the challenge)
*Legend of Chun Hyang by CLAMP

Fairy Tale:
*The Illustrated Treasury of Fairy Tales designed by Rita Marshall
*Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (though I won't read all of this during the challenge)
*The Complete Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales (though I won't read all of this during the challenge)
*Pay the Piper: A Rock 'N' Roll Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
*The Sisters Grimm: The Unusual Suspects by Michael Buckley
*The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
*The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech
*Fables: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham
*Fables: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham
*Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham

Fantasy:
*The Princess Bride by William Goldman
*The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar
*Green Angel by Alice Hoffman
*The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
*Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip
*What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Gregory Maguire
*Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest by Matt Haig
*The Book Without Words by Avi
*Strange Roads by Peter S. Beagle
*River Secrets by Shannon Hale
*Attica by Garry Kilworth

And possible books to mine stories for Short Story Weekends:
*The Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury
*M Is for Magic by Neil Gaiman
*Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
*Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint
*The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
*Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy edited by Ekaterina Sedia

Spring Reading Thing 2009

2009-06-20T23:58:00.009-04:00

Dates: March 20th through June 20th of 2009

Host: Katrina

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Make a list of things to read this spring...and read them.

Notes:
*The Spring Reading Thing in 2007 was the very first reading challenge I ever joined. :) Just look where it's led.
*I love that we can add other reading goals, along with or instead of, a list of books. Very cool idea!

My list:

Books:
*Fax From Sarajevo by Joe Kubert
*The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
*Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby
*Nation by Terry Pratchett
*The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
*The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going
*...I never saw another butterfly...: Children's Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944
*Step on a Crack by James Patterson

Books to read to boys:
*Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater
*The Hoboken Chicken Emergency by Daniel Pinkwater
*Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest by Matt Haig

Misc.:
*read 5 scrapbooking ideas books and/or magazines from stack
*read and recycle 10 other magazines from stack

Book Awards II

2009-06-01T23:59:00.008-04:00

Dates: August 1st, 2008 through June 1st, 2009

Host: 3M

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 10 award winners. Must encompass winners from at least 5 different awards.

My list of possibles:

*The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh (Arthur C. Clarke Award 1997)

*Lisey's Story by Stephen King (Bram Stoker Award 2006)

*lost boy, lost girl by Peter Straub (Bram Stoker Award 2003)

*Bag of Bones by Stephen King (Bram Stoker Award 1998)

*Fax From Sarajevo by Joe Kubert (Eisner Award: Best Graphic Album 1997)

*A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly (Carnegie Medal 2003)

*The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett (Carnegie Medal 2001)

*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Costa/Whitbread 2003 and Alex Award 2004)

*Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (Hugo Award 1987 and Nebula Award 1986)

*The Road by Cormac McCarthy (James Tait Black Memorial Prize 2006 and Pulitzer Prize 2007)

*Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear (Nebula Award 2000)

*Dune by Frank Herbert (Nebula Award 1965 and Hugo Award 1966)

*The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Newbery Award 1979)

*The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Newbery Award 1959)

*The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (Christopher Award 2007)

*American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (Printz Award 2007)

*Looking for Alaska by John Green (Printz Award 2006)

*How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (Printz Award 2005)

*The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (Pulitzer Prize 1975)

*All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (Pulitzer Prize 1947)

*A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (Royal Society Prize 2004)

*Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (World Fantasy Award 2005 and Hugo Award 2005)

*The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly (Alex Awards 2007)

*The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (Alex Awards 2007)

*Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (Alex Awards 2006)

*Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Alex Awards 2006)

*The Class Castle by Jeannette Walls (Alex Awards 2006)

*Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan (Alex Awards 2005)

*The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Alex Award 2004)

*Crow Lake by Mary Lawson (Alex Award 2003)

*Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (Alex Award 2002)

*Stardust by Neil Gaiman (Alex Award 2000)

*The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa (Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2007)

*The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright (Pulitzer Prize 2007)

*What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn (Costa First Novel Award 2007)

Exploration: Reading Latin America

2009-04-30T23:59:00.000-04:00

Dates: January 1st through April 30th of 2009

Host: Katrina

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read four books, fiction or non-fiction, from/about Latin America. There are a variety of different options.

My list:

*A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela

*The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey by Salman Rushdie

*The Massacre at El Mozote by Mark Danner

*News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Diversity Rocks Reading Challenge

2009-02-28T23:59:00.001-05:00

***Yeah! I made it!***

Dates: January 1st through February 28th of 2009 (?)

Host: Ali

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): There are several options. I'm choosing The Non-Joiner level, reading one book by a non-white author.

My list of possibles:

*In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed, MD

*Fledgling by Octavia Butler

*Story-Wallah: Short Fiction from South Asian Writers edited by Shyam Selvadurai

*The Jaguar Smile by Salman Rushdie

*Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino

*The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Sci-Fi Experience '09

2009-02-28T23:58:00.000-05:00

Dates: January 1st through February 28th of 2009

Host: Carl

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): It's NOT a challenge! Just read as much or as little Sci-Fi as you'd like.

My list of possible reads (hoping to read at least three of them):

*The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge by Harry Harrison

*The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

*Larklight by Philip Reeve

*The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers

*Heads by Greg Bear

*Germ by Robert Liparulo

*Jennifer Government by Max Barry

*Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

*The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Short Stories:

*"The Father Thing" by Philip K. Dick

*"Orange" by Neil Gaiman (from The Starry Rift edited by Jonathan Strahan)

*"Ass-Hat Magic Spider" by Scott Westerfeld (from The Starry Rift edited by Jonathan Strahan)

*"The Menace From Earth" by Robert Heinlein

*"The Home Team" by Greg Wickenhofer

*"Summer All in a Day" by Ray Bradbury

*"Cheats" by Ann Halam (from The Starry Rift edited by Jonathan Strahan)

*"The Fluted Girl" by Paolo Bacigulupi

*"The Surfer" by Kelly Link (from The Starry Rift edited by Jonathan Strahan)--read, but didn't review

R.I.P. III Reading Challenge

2008-09-07T13:50:00.011-04:00

***A resounding success! I finished on time and even read more than I needed to!***

Dates: September 1st through October 31st of 2008

Host: Carl

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Several options available. I'm going with Peril the First, which means reading 4 books of the dark/creepy/scary variety.

My pool of possibles:

*The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason (yes, maybe this will be the time that I actually give this well-loved book a go)
*The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
*Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
*Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo
*The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
*We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
*Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
*Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
*The Thirteen Tale by Diane Setterfield
*Witch-Hunt by Marc Aronson
*Dracula by Bram Stoker
*Lost Boy, Lost Girl by Peter Straub
*The Society of S by Susan Hubbard
*The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker
*Daphne du Maurier's Classics of the Macabre
*Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
*From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury
*Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest by Matt Haig
*The Homecoming by Ray Bradbury
*Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
*Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub
*The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
*The Witches by Roald Dahl
*The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Floods: Good Neighbors by Colin Thompson

Japanese Literature Challenge 2

2008-07-11T13:32:00.003-04:00

Dates: July 30th, 2008 through January 30, 2009

Host: Bellezza

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read at least 3 works of Japanese literature.

My list:

*The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

*Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

*Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino

July Book Blowout

2008-06-26T08:51:00.006-04:00

Dates: July 1st through July 31st

Host: Mrs. S

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read as many books as you can during the month of July.

My list (to be filled in as I go):

1. Six Modern Plagues and How We Are Causing Them by Mark Jerome Walters
2. Becoming a Superhero by William D. Smith (counts as half a book)
3. How did I get to be 40 & other atrocities by Judith Viorst
4. Death: The High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman
5. Stuart Little by E.B. White

Classics Challenge

2008-06-02T10:45:00.009-04:00

Dates: July 1st through December 31st

Host: Trish

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 5 classics, and then one bonus book from the list that the participants put together of should be/will be classics.

My list:

*Dracula by Bram Stoker

*Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

*Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

*Walden by Henry David Thoreau

*Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

*Bonus book: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

It's the End of the World...challenge

2008-05-16T15:29:00.003-04:00

Dates: May 15th through September 15th

Host: Becky

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read at least three apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic books.

My list:

*The Stand by Stephen King (for the 7th or 8th time)

*The Road by Cormac McCarthy

*Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams

The Southern Reading Challenge

2008-05-05T06:45:00.006-04:00

***Oh man...I can't believe I blew it again this year. In fact, I did even worse than last year. Yikes!***

Dates: May 15th through August 15th

Host: Maggie

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 3 books both set in the South and written by Southern authors.

My list:

*A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

*Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (O.k., o.k., I know he's not from the South, but Maggie said I could use this book last year because the book gives such a good feel for Savannah, so I'm hoping she won't mind if I use it this year. I had it as a bonus read last year, but never got to it.)

*A Painted House by John Grisham (I didn't really want to read another John Grisham book for this year's challenge, but since I already owned it and since it sounds a bit different from others of his I've read, I decided it would have to do.)

Alternates:

*The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

*Sonny's House of Spies by George Ella Lyon

%1 Well Read Challenge

2008-05-04T15:09:00.011-04:00

Dates: May 1st '08 through February 28th, '09

Host: 3M

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 10 books from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list

My list (with a few extras for wiggle room):

*Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

*The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

*The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

*Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

*Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

*The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

*Dracula by Bram Stoker

*The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

*The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

*The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

*Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

*Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

*Walden by Henry David Thoreau

*Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Medical Mystery Madness '08

2008-05-01T12:26:00.004-04:00

Dates: June 1st through November 1st

Host: Debi

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read at least three medical thrillers.

My list:

*Vanish, by Tess Gerritson

*The Sisterhood, by Michael Palmer

*Shock, by Robin Cook

Afraid I'm not spreading my wings here...three authors I'm already well acquainted with. But if I can manage it (yeah right, who am I kidding?!!), I'd like add a few extras as well. I counted, and in addition to the ones on my list, I have 12 more medical thrillers in my TBR pile.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine Challenge

2008-04-21T17:40:00.003-04:00

Dates: June 1st through November 30th

Host: Lynne

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read three books recommended by others.

My list:

*Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See (Kara's doing)

*The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright (Eva's doing)

*Larklight, by Philip Reeve (Annie's doing)

Novella Challenge

2008-04-02T06:50:00.007-04:00

Dates: April 1st through September 30th

Host: Trish

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 6 novellas (definition for challenge--a book of 100 to 250 pages, or thereabouts).

My list:

*The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

*Wolves of the Crescent Moon by Yousef Al-Mohaimeed

*Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

*The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

*Gossamer by Lois Lowry

*The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Initials Reading Challenge

2008-03-31T06:56:00.010-04:00

***I just realized that I actually finished this one a while back. WooHoo for me!***

Dates: April 1st through November 30th

Host: Becky.

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read at least 5 books by authors who go by their initials.

My list of possibles:

*100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson

*The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

*Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

*The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

*Stuart Little by E.B. White

*The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

*As Deep as the Marrow by F. Paul Wilson

*Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

*Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot

*The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg

*Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by H.P. Lovecraft

*A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez

*The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

*Pendragon: The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale

--This way, way, way more books than I'll actually read, but I just couldn't narrow down my choices at this point. :)

Spring Reading Thing '08

2008-03-20T07:09:00.005-04:00

***I believe this is what they mean by going down in flames. I did not read one single book from my list. Pathetic.***

Dates: March 20th through June 19th

Host: Katrina

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Make a list of books and read them.

My list:

*Zodiac by Robert Graysmith

*The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

*The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Boockmeier

*The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

---Special Note:
I realize my list is pretty short. I'm already so over-committed with other challenges, but there was no way I could pass this one up. Katrina's Spring Reading Thing 2007 was the very first reading challenge I ever joined. It started my obsession, and thus remains very close to my heart :-)

Once Upon A Time II Reading Challenge

2008-03-19T08:04:00.017-04:00

***Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! I did it! All five books, plus A Midsummer Night's Dream!***

Dates: March 21st through June 20th

Host: Carl.

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Actually, there are a few different options. I am choosing Quest 3, which involves reading 5 books from the world of fantasy, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology, and finishing up with a June reading of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

My list of possibles (because I'm having a really hard time committing to a specific five):

*Runemarks by Joanne Harris

*What-the-Dickens by Gregory Maguire

*Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

*Horns & Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson

*The Book without Words by Avi

*The Wood Wife by Terri Windling

*The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar

*The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu

*The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

*100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson

*Beauty by Robin McKinley

*The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block

*Wicked by Gregory Maguire

*Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

*The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

*A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

*Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson

*The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

*A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

Twisted Fairy Tales Reading Challenge

2008-03-14T19:58:00.012-04:00

***Failure...in the sense that I didn't complete my books in time. Success...in the sense that I did get two books read.***

Date: March 5th through May 5th

Host: Enna Isilee

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read at least four fairly tale retellings, adaptations, or in the tradition of a fairy tale books.

My list:

*The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

*The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley (finished late)

*Beauty by Robin McKinley

*The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Alternates:

*A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

*Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley

*The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block (finished late)

The Non-Fiction Five Reading Challenge '08

2008-03-13T15:36:00.009-04:00

Date: May 1st through September 30

Host: Joy

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 5 non-fiction books. Try to mix it up at least a little bit.

My list:

*Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan

*The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright

*New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers: Tales of Parasites and People by Robert S. Desowitz

*Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule

*The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari

*All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward

Yes, I realize that was 6 books...I just couldn't decide which one to leave out.

Substitutes:

*Six Modern Plagues and How We are Causing Them by Mark Jerome Walters

Banned Books Challenge

2008-01-31T09:11:00.004-05:00

***Blew it. Only 2 out of my 4 were completed on time. Oh well.***

Dates: February 24th through June 30th, 2008

Host: Pelham Public Library

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read banned books, you choose how many.

My list: (It was really hard to narrow this down!)

*The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (although I've read it a bazillion times, I never tire of it)

*Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

*Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut (this will also be a reread...a needed one because I can't remember any of the stories)

*The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Heart of a Child Reading Challenge

2008-01-31T08:14:00.007-05:00

***Well, better late than never, as they say.***

Dates: February 1st through July 14, 2008

Host: Becky

For Details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 3-6 books that you loved in childhood (childhood being broadly defined as birth to age 18).

My list: (though no list is required)

*The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (favorite book as a little tyke)

*Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (favorite book as a preteen)

*The Stand by Stephen King (during middle school, Stephen King took over as my favorite author...read The Stand when it first came out and it immediately became my all-time favorite book)

Margaret A. Edwards Reading Challenge

2008-01-16T06:35:00.005-05:00

***WooHoo! Pulled this one off. Finished up with my last review on June 1st. Hey, I made the deadline.***

Dates: February 1 through June 1, 2008

Host: Becky

For Details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 3-5 books by any Margaret A. Edwards award winner. All one author or mix it up.

My list:

*Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

*Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

*I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson

Alternatives, or hopeful additions:

*The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold by Francesca Lia Block

*Voices by Ursula Le Guin

The Chunkster Challenge (2008)

2008-01-09T20:21:00.004-05:00

Dates: January 7th through December 20th, 2008

Host: Dana

For Details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read at least 4 books of 450+ pages.

My list:

*Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King --522 pages--

*Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi --490 pages--

*The Stand: Complete and Uncut by Stephen King --1153 pages--

*Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke --782 pages--

Alternates:

*The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien --458 pages--

*The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova --642 pages--

Books Read: March 21, 2007-December 31, 2007

2007-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

* American Gods by Neil Gaiman (12/29/07)
* The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (12/16/07)
* When Santa Fell to Earth by Cornelia Funke (12/16/07)
* Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (12/9/07)
* New and Selected Tales by Mary Oliver (11/22/07)
* The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (11/17/07)
* Animal Farm by George Orwell (11/10/07)
* Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (10/28/07)
* The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett (10/21/07)
* The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury (10/20/07)
* A Time to Kill by John Grisham (10/20/07)
* The Lewis & Clark Expedition: Join the Corps of Discovery to Explore Uncharted Territory by Carol A. Johmann (10/19/07)
* Cross by James Patterson (10/17/07)
* Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (10/15/07)
* MacBeth by William Shakespeare (10/12/07)
* Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (10/11/07)
* The Trials of Life by David Attenborough (9/30/07)
* Tithe by Holly Black (9/7/07)
* Lethal Practice by Peter Clement (8/22/07)
* And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts (8/22/07)
* To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (8/5/07)
* Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (7/29/04)
* Terminal Condition by David Shobin (7/24/07)
* The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan (7/21/07)
* Angel of Mercy by Andrew Neiderman (7/6/07)
* Kiss Me, Kill Me by Ann Rule (6/28/07)
* Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (6/26/07)
* The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (6/17/07)
* The Call of the Wild by Jack London (6/4/07)
* The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards (6/3/07)
* Before I Say Goodbye by Mary Higgins Clark (5/25/07)
* We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch (5/22/07)
* Just Jane by William Lavender (5/12/07)
* Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (4/27/07)
* George vs. George: The American Revolution as seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer (4/18/07)
* Tai Shan of the Dead by Jean Lightner Norum (3/31/07)
* Executive Orders by Tom Clancy (3/27/07)
* Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (3/21/07)

A-to-Z Reading Challenge

2007-12-31T14:19:00.030-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st, 2008

Host: Joy

For Details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): For each letter of the alphabet, read a book whose title starts with the letter and a book by an author whose last name begins with the letter. Total of 52 books.

My list (to be filled in as I go):

TITLES:

A-Adoration of Jenna Fox, The (Mary E. Pearson)

B-Bat-Poet, The (Randall Jarrell)

C-The Cobra Event (Richard Preston)

D-Death: The High Cost of Living (Neil Gaiman)

E-Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)

F-The Field Guide (Holly Black)

G-The Goose Girl (Shannon Hale)

H-Horns & Wrinkles (Joseph Helgerson)

I-I Was a Rat (Philip Pullman)

J-

K-

L-Life As We Knew It (Susan Beth Pfeffer)

M-

N-Notes from a Small Island (Bill Bryson)

O-

P-Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)

Q-Quickie, The (James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge)

R-Rose and the Beast, The (Francesca Lia Block)

S-The Stainless Steel Rat (Harry Harrison)

T-The Translator (Daoud Hari)

U-

V-

W-The War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells)

X-

Y-

Z-

AUTHOR:

A-Asher, Jay (Th1rteen R3asons Why)

B-Bradbury, Ray (Fahrenheit 451)

C-Cooper, Helene (The House at Sugar Beach)

D-Dahl, Roald (The Witches)

E-Edwards, Ali (Life Artist)

F-

G-Gaiman, Neil (The Graveyard Book)

H-Hale, Shannon (Enna Burning)

I-

J-

K-King, Stephen (The Stand)

L-Lowry, Lois (The Giver)

M-Madeley, John and Miles Litvinoff (50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade)

N-

O-O'Brien, Robert C. (Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH)

P-Patterson, James (Double Cross)

Q-

R-

S-Stoker, Bram (Dracula)

T-Talbot, Bryan (Alice in Sunderland)

U-

V-

W-Wilson, N.D. (100 Cupboards)

X-Xinran (Sky Burial)

Y-

Z-

Mythopoeic Awards Reading Challenge

2007-12-29T10:03:00.001-05:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st

Host: Lenneth (Foxy Writer)

For Details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 7 nominees and/or winners from the Mythopoeic Awards list.

My list of possibles:

*The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke

*Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

*Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

*Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

*Stardust by Neil Gaiman

*Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley

*Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

*Three Days to Never by Tim Powers

*The Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

*The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Sci-Fi Experience

2007-12-29T09:40:00.006-05:00

***There was no real list to be completed, so success or failure is somewhat irrelevant. Nonetheless I consider this a success. I read 4 books, and enjoyed every one. Awakened a love for a genre. Can't beat that.***

Dates: January 1st through February 29th (2008)

Host: Carl

For details: Click here.

The experience (put simply): Notice it says "experience" not "challenge"...that's because there are no rules, no lists to be made. Just reading and reviewing some sci-fi.

My list:

--Were you not paying attention above?!! There are no lists!

But I do have a few books in mind...I hope to get to at least a couple of them...

*War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
*The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
*The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison
*Dune by Frank Herbert
*Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
*Star Split by Kathryn Lasky

Graphic Novels Reading Challenge

2007-11-29T11:55:00.011-05:00

***This is what a challenge is all about...I was introduced to a totally new world of books, and I couldn't be more thrilled! Finished way ahead of time, but have no intention of leaving this world behind.***

Dates: January 1st through December 31st

Host: Dewey

For Details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read at least 6 graphic novels.

My thoughts: This is a totally new realm to me, and I am really looking forward to it! A couple of my choices have actually been on my wish list for a while, so here's the perfect opportunity to go ahead and buy them, huh?

My list:

*The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

*Death: The High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman

*Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Peterson

*Fables by Bill Willingham

*The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

Alternates:

*Percy Gloom by Cathy Malkasian

*The Books of Faerie by Bronwyn Carlton

*The Borden Tragedy by Rick Geary

*We Are On Our Own: A Memoir by Miriam Katin

Reading Full Circle Challenge

2007-11-03T18:54:00.004-04:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st

Host: Joy

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Using common words from titles, connect one book to the next, eventually forming a complete circle back to the first.

My list:

*The House With a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs

*Pandora's Clock by John J. Nance

*Pandora: New Tales of the Vampires by Anne Rice

*The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

*The Society of S by Susan Hubbard

*The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

*Mysterious Island by Jules Verne

*The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

*The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

What's in a Name Reading Challenge

2007-10-31T16:02:00.009-04:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st

Host: Annie

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read one book in each of 6 categories...a book with a color in its title, a book with an animal in its title, a book with a plant in its title, a book with a place in its title, a book with weather event in its title, and a book with a person's name in its title.

My list:

*Light on Snow by Anita Shreve (weather event)

*Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (plant)

*Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King (place)

*Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule (color)

*The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (first name)

*I Was a Rat by Philip Pullman (animal)

Substitutes:

*The Floods: Good Neighbors by Colin Thompson (weather event)

*The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block (plant)

*New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers by Robert S. Desowitz (place)

*The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson (first name)

Book Around the States Reading Challenge

2007-10-31T06:51:00.007-04:00

Dates: Ongoing, as in no time limit! (This makes it impossible to resist!)

Host: Bonnie

For details: Click here.

My list: (filled in as I come up with appropriate books)

Alabama--Sonny's House of Spies by George Ella Lyon
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas--100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts--The Borden Tragedy by Rick Geary
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon--Emily's Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary
Pennsylvania--Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Hometown Challenge

2007-10-29T14:03:00.002-04:00

***What can I say? I totally forgot about this one! And all I needed to do was read a single book. Oh well.***

Dates: November 1st through March 1st

Host: Callista

For Details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read at least 1 book either set in your hometown or by an author from your hometown.

My list:

*The Tenth House by Phillip Tomasso III (set in the Rochester, NY area)

*If, and only if, I enjoy the first, I'll also read the sequel, Third Ring.

Y.A. Reading Challenge

2007-10-15T11:22:00.015-04:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st

Host: Joy

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 12 Young Adult books.

My list:

*elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

*Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

*Stardust by Neil Gaiman

*The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

*The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

*The Secret Hours by Scott Westerfield

*Gossamer by Lois Lowry

*The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint

*The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

*The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

*Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

*The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan

Substitutes:

*The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

*The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

*Star Split by Kathryn Lasky

*Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

*The Missing Girl by Norma Fox Mazer

*Sonny's House of Spies by George Ella Lyon

*Enna Burning by Shannon Hale

*Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Numbers Challenge

2007-10-12T13:23:00.009-04:00

***WooHoo! Finished this baby in the knick of time! (Seriously, with just a couple hours to spare.) Well, thanks to Callista's extension, that is.***

Dates: January 1st through August 1st

Host: Callista

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 5 books with numbers in their title.

My list:

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson

The 6th Target by James Patterson

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Alternates:

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

24 Hours by Greg Iles

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Vampire Plagues, London 1850 by Sebastian Rook

Book of A Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Decades Challenge 2008

2007-10-07T12:04:00.011-04:00

Date: January 1st through December 31st

Host: 3M

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read at least 8 books from 8 consecutive decades.

My "possibles" list:

1860s-

*Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

*Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

1870s-

*The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne

*The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

1880s-

*The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

*Heidi by Johanna Spyri

1890s-

*The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

*The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

*Dracula by Bram Stoker

1900s-

*Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

*Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

*The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

1910s-

*The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle

*Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter

1920s-

*Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

*All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

1930s-

*Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

*And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

1940s-

*Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

*All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren

1950s-

*Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

*The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson

1960s-

*Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

*The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

1970s-

*Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

*The Princess Bride by William Goldman

*All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward

1980s-

*The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

*Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut

*Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

1990s-

*The Giver by Lois Lowry

*The Stand: Complete and Uncut edition by Stephen King

*Stardust by Neil Gaiman

--This is obviously many more books than I will actually read for the challenge. I just wanted to give myself some leeway as to not only what 8 consecutive decades I actually tackled, but also which particular from each decade.

Inklings Mini-Challenge

2007-09-26T08:14:00.005-04:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st

Host: Becky

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read two books by J.R.R. Tolkien and two books by C.S. Lewis.

Reasons for joining:

1. I'm tired of being put to shame by my 10-year-old daughter. Annie has read The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and The Silmarillion by Tolkien, as well as the all the Narnia books. I have read none of these.

2. These books are so cherished by so many that I would be a fool not to get them read eventually, right?

My list (though finishing all of these is probably wishful thinking on my part):

*The Fellowship of the Ring

*The Two Towers

*The Return of the King

*The Magician's Nephew

*The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

*The Horse and His Boy

*Prince Caspian

*The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader'

*The Silver Chair

*The Last Battle

Wow...this may be a "mini-challenge" to most, but for me it qualifies as the full-fledged deal!

Jane Austen/Masterpiece Theater Mini-Challenge

2007-09-26T07:59:00.001-04:00

***I gave Sense and Sensibility a shot. I just couldn't get into it. Just not for me, and since there's so many books out there I do want to read, I'm just bowing out of this challenge.***

Date: January 1st through December 31st

Host: Becky

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read two Jane Austen novels or watch two of the Masterpiece Theater productions of her novels or any combination of the above.

Reasons for joining:

1. I'm obsessive.

2. I've never read any Jane Austen.

3. I had actually hoped to watch the Masterpiece Theater productions after reading each book anyway.

My list:

Well, I'm hoping to get to all six of these, but I certainly make no promises. If I manage to knock off two of them, I will be happy with myself.

*Sense and Sensibility

*Persuasion

*Emma

*Pride and Prejudice

*Mansfield Park

*Northanger Abbey

signing up for the readathon

2007-09-25T11:33:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that I already mentioned this over my "everyday" blog, and despite the fact that this isn't technically a reading challenge, I decided to mention Dewey's Readathon here as well. I just can't explain how excited I am about this! October 20th simply can't get here soon enough. 24 hours of self-indulgent reading! I mean, can you beat that?!! I think not.

Anyway, I figured I would mention it over here, as this will probably be the spot where I write my updates during the readathon. Not to mention the fact that this fun little adventure ought to give me desperately needed help in putting a dent in some of these reading challenges, right?

Celebrate the Author Reading Challenge

2007-09-19T08:03:00.009-04:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st

February-
Judy Blume
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

*March-
Dr. Seuss
The Lorax (my all-time favorite Dr. Seuss!)

*April-
Beverly Cleary
Ralph S. Mouse
--substituted Emily's Runaway Imagination

*May-
James M. Barrie
Peter Pan

*June-
Cynthia Rylant
The Octopus (Lighthouse Family)

*July-
E.B. White
Stuart Little

*August-
Ruth Stiles Gannett
My Father's Dragon

*September-
Roald Dahl
The Witches

*October-
Johanna Hurwitz
Lexi's Tale

*November-
Daniel Manus Pinkwater
Looking for Bobowicz

*December-
Avi
Ragweed

So, did you notice that all my selections are children's books? That's because I'm devoting this challenge to the boys. These will be among the books that I read to them. Gotta say, I really looking forward to this one!

1st in a Series Reading Challenge

2007-09-16T08:45:00.014-04:00

Dates: January 1st through December 31st

Host: Joy

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 12 books, each of which is the first in a series.

My list (updated 9/16):

The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles)

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials)

Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen (Smoky Barrett series)

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (Goose Girl series?...not sure what to call it)

The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch series)

The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld (Midnighters)

MayBird and the The Ever After by Jodi Lynn Anderson (MayBird series)

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & The Olympians)

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (Book of Ember)

The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley (The Sisters Grimm)

The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison (Stainless Steel Rat series)

Substitutes:

Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman (The Sandman)

The Floods: Good Neighbors by Colin Thompson (The Floods)

My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (Dragon series)

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein (LOTR)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Ender series)

The Book Awards Reading Challenge

2007-09-16T08:23:00.006-04:00

***Couldn't have done much worse on this one! But I'm determined to kick butt on the Book Awards II!***

Dates: July 1st through June 30th

Host: 3M

For details:The Book Awards Challenge

The Challenge (put simply): Read any 12 award winning books.

My list:

*Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card --1985 Nebula Award and 1986 Hugo Award

*A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole --1981 Pulitzer Prize

*The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan --2006 National Book Award, Non-Fiction (7/21/07)

*Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman --2006 Mythopoeic Award, Adult Literature

*New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver --1992 National Book Award, Poetry

*Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear --2000 Nebula Award

*The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook --1997 Edgar Award

*American Gods by Neil Gaiman --2002 Hugo Award and 2002 Nebula Award

*Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes --1966 Nebula Award

*Looking for Alaska by John Green --2006 Printz Award

*The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare --1959 Newbery Award

*To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee --1961 Pulitzer Prize (8/5/07)

The Unread Authors Challenge

2007-09-16T08:00:00.003-04:00

***Hooray! Finish writing up my final book review for this one on February 27...nothing like pushing the limits, huh?***

Dates: September 1st through February 29th

Host: Ariel at Sycorax Pine

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 6 books by authors you've never read before.

My list (with alternates):

*Ray Bradbury
The Halloween Tree

*Bill Bryson
A Short History of Nearly Everything OR
A Walk in the Woods OR Notes from a Small Island OR In a Sunburned Country

*Trenton Lee Stewart
The Mysterious Benedict Society

*Chuck Palahniuk
Haunted

*George Orwell
Animal Farm

*Scott Westerfeld
Uglies

Alternates:
*Brandon Mull
Fablehaven

*Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones

*Terry Prachett
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

*Gabrielle Zevin
elsewhere

*Philip Pullman
The Golden Compass
--I Was a Rat

*Shannon Hale
The Goose Girl

*Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol

*H.G. Wells
The War of the Worlds

Four-Legged Friends Reading Challenge

2007-09-15T20:30:00.004-04:00

***Came up short. Only finished two of the three by the deadline.***

Dates: September 20th through February 26th

Host: Kailana

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 3 to 5 books in which an animal is the main character, or at least a very important character.

My list:

*Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, which I will be reading to the boys (spider and pig) (10/15/07)

*Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (dog)

*The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (mouse)

The Newbery Challenge

2007-09-15T20:12:00.007-04:00

***Came up short. Only finished four of the six by the closing date.***

Dates: May 15th through December 31st

Host: In memory of Nattie

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simple): Read 6 Newbery Award winners.

My list (updated 9/15/07):

*Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (6/26/07)

*The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

*Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

*The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

*Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (7/29/07)

*The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

2nds Reading Challenge

2007-09-15T19:53:00.001-04:00

***I did it! Finished up on Dec. 29th, 2007.***

Dates: October 1st through December 31st

Host: Joy

For details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Read 3 books by authors whom you've read only one previous work.

My list:

*American Gods by Neil Gaiman (I've read Coraline. And adored it.)

*The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett (I've been so anxious to read this book ever since Annie and I read Chasing Vermeer last year for school.) (finished 10/21/07)

*The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was one of my all-time favorite books as a kid.)

The Book to Movie Reading Challenge

2007-09-15T19:10:00.002-04:00

***Oops. Blew this one. Only finished 2 of the 3 by the deadline.***

Dates: September 1st through December 1

Host: Callista at S.M.S. Book Reviews

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 3 books that have made into movies.

My list:

*MacBeth by William Shakespeare (10/12/07)

*Zodiac by William Graysmith

*Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (I actually read this back in 2000, but I want to refresh my memory before moving on the the others)

Medical Mystery Madness Reading Challenge

2007-09-15T18:19:00.002-04:00

***I did it! O.K.-I sort of cheated...I originally planned to read one more book. But I'm going to consider it a success none-the-less, since I still read one more book than was actually required.***

Dates: June 1st through October 31st

Host: Debi

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 2 or more medical mystery thriller type books.

My list (updated 9/15):

*Angel of Mercy by Andrew Neiderman (7/6/07)

*Terminal Condition by David Shobin (7/24/07)

*Lethal Practice by Peter Clement (8/22/07)

R.I.P. II Reading Challenge

2007-09-15T16:29:00.001-04:00

***I did it! I finished up book four on 10/20/07.***

Dates: September 1st through October 30th

Host: Carl

For Details: Click here.

The Challenge (put simply): Peril the First--Read four books of the eerie, creepy, dark variety.

My List of Possibles--Peril the First (updated 9/15):

*Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (10/28/07)

*MacBeth by William Shakespeare (10/12/07)

*Cell by Stephen King

*Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

*Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

*The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury (10/20/07)

*Tithe by Holly Black (9/7/07)

*Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (10/9/07)

*The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason

The Non-Fiction Five Reading Challenge

2007-09-15T15:02:00.000-04:00

***I did it! Finished 9/30/07***

Dates: May 1st through September 30th

Host: Joy

For Details: Click here.

Challenge (put simply): Read 5 non-fiction books, trying to vary them at least a bit.

My list:

*The Trials of Life: A Natural History of Animal Behavior by David Attenborough (9/20/07)

*We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories From Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch (5/22/07)

*The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan (7/21/07)

*Kiss Me, Kill Me by Ann Rule (6/28/07)

*And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts (8/22/07)