Initials Reading Challenge

***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

***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

***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

***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

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

***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

***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)