The Countdown Challenge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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