Reading Challenges

Rather than cluttering up my blog with pages for each challenged I decided to combine them into a single page.

RIP III Challenge – Autumn 2008

Another challenge hosted by Carl. The RIP challenge is always fun although kind of sad since it means it is the end of summer.

I’m doing Peril the First and will be reading 4 of the following books.

• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (I’m ready to shoot myself for even suggesting it but I will be starting this one Sept 1 assuming the book is delivered by then..)
• Dracula by Bram Stoker (in the same order as the Collins)
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (also on my A-Z list – a double whammy!)
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (another A-Z double whammy.)
• Untamed: A House of Night book by Kristen Cast and PC Cast (preordered)
• Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest (I have an ebook file)
• The Umbrella Man and other Stories by Rohld Dahl (own it)
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (I once read two pages of it, it’s uncomfortable to hold)
• Valient by Holly Black

Once Upon at Time II Challenge – Spring 2008

Carl’s Once Upon a Time II challenge. Thanks for hosting it again Carl! It’s a great challenge!

My goal for this year is to actually read more than one challenge book.

• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (complete June 15)
• Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
• Prom Dates From Hell by a bunch of lovely folks Since I don’t have access to this one now (it’s Kit-Cat’s and I’ve moved – I did manage to read the first story though) I’ve substituted it with Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale which I read in April. Had I know I could have gotten it for the challenge I would have put it on the list anyway.
• Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (completed April 6)
• The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (completed April 7)

The first two are on my A-Z challenge and I believe were on my list for this challenge last year. (oops…) The last three are on loan from Kit-Cat and I’ve had them for ages. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to read them I just haven’t been reading. I really thought that this whole being unemployed thing would be great for knocking books of my TBR list. And no doubt it would be… if I shut off the Food Network (Canada). Again…oops!

I’m hoping to have these all read before mid-May. (That didn’t happen.) I’d like to reread A Midsummer Night’s Dream but I’ll be packing and moving at the beginning of June.

A-Z Challenge 2007-2008
I’m going to be doing an A-Z challenge in 2007. I’m going to start compiling a list of books that I’d *like* to read…whether or not I’ll stick to the list or sub in different books is anyone’s guess. Depending on how long it takes me to finish this list I *may* do an A-Z authors list. I’ll have to see how things go.

Edited Dec 07 for books I actually own… end date pushed to June 2008

A – Age of Innocence by Edith Warton
B – Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers running wild in the twenties by Marion Meade
C – Children of War by Susan Goodman
D – Darcy’s Story by Janet Aylmer
E – Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde
F – Finding Cassidy by Laura Langston
G – Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
H – Heat by George Monbiot
I – Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (yeah, yeah, two books but once I read one I’ll want to read the other so might as well just combine the two from the get-go)
J – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
K – King Dork by Frank Portman
L – Lesley Castle by Jane Austen
M – Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
N – Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
O – Olga’s Story by Stephanie Williams Our Hidden Lives by Simon Garfield
P – The Pact by Jodi Picoult
Q – The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci (thanks Denise)
R – The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason
S – Shake Hands with the Devil:The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Gen. Romeo Dallaire
T – The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield January 2007
U – Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits Uglies Scott Westerfeld
V – Villette by Charlotte Bronte
W – Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
X – X stands for Unknown by Isaac Asimov (thanks to Framed and Booked)
Y – You Suck by Christopher Moore
Z – Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman

Summer Reading Challenge 2008

1. Read book I own but haven’t read x 5
   1. Endymion Spring (alas didn’t get it’s own post even though it deserved it)
   2. Bed Rest
   3. Candyfreak
   4. Body Language
2. Read a banned/challenged book x4
   1. Face on the Milk Carton
3. Read a classic that I haven’t read before x4
   1. The Odd Women
   2. The Diary of Adam and Eve
   3. The Secret Garden
   4. Persuasion
4. Read a history book x 3
   1. The Canadian Housewife: An Affectionate History
   2. Debs at War
   3. A Century of Excellence
5. Read a book I’ve started before but never finished x 3
   1. The Moonstone (or as I call it – The Damned Bloody Moonstone)
   2. Emma
6. Read a biography x 2
   1. We Beat the Street
   2. The Year of Magical Thinking
7. Read a play (at least one Shakespeare) x 2
   
   1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare)
8. Read a non-fiction book about something scientific (how’s that for nice and general?) x 2
   1. Let them Eat Flax
9. Read a book of poetry x 1
   1. Book of Longing
10. Read a collection of short stories x 1
    1. Girls Night In
11. Read a book in French x1

The original post: Summer Reading Challenge

The possibilities: Will I stick to these? Not likely

Update: Halfway pointish