Library Books Reading Challenge

Yes, one more challenge!  This is the Library Books Reading Challenge hosted by Book Dragon's Lair.  The purpose of the challenge is to encourage participants to utilize their library more in 2013 by committing to reading a certain number of books from the library.

 Requirements:

• choose a level - you may move up as needed, just not down.
• check books out of the library
• books may overlap with other challenges
• any format allowed (print, ebook, audio)
• reviews are not necessary but a list of books read is

 Levels:

• board book - 3
• picture book - 6
• early reader - 9
• chapter book - 12
• middle grades - 18 (this is the level I'll be aiming for)
• Young adult - 24
• adult - 36
• just insert IV - 50 

 Unless I find a super awesome challenge I just can't resist, this has to be the last one I'll be signing up for this year!  :-)

BOOKS:

1. I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
2.World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
3.Divergent by Veronica Roth
4. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
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2012 Challenges Out, 2013 Challenges In

This was my second year attempting The TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Adam @ Roof Beam Reader.  The challenge was to read 12 books that had been on my shelf for more than a year.  I managed to read 8/12 but only got around to writing reviews for 2 of them.  I still plan on writing either mini reviews or Friday Reading Journal entries on the other six but they are not going to get posted before the end of the year.  Although I didn't make it again this year, I believe I did do better than I did in 2011.

2012 was the first year I attempted the Chunkster Challenge and I was going for the mor-book-ly obese level which is 5 books over 450 pgs and 3 books over 750 pgs.  I actually almost made it on this one!  I read 7 out of the 8 required and was only missing my final 750 page book which I had planned on being Les Miserables but I didn't get around to reading it like I had hoped.  Still with going back to school in August which was totally not planned I think I did pretty well with this one.

I also participated in 2 challenges at Paperbackswap on the Historical Fiction forum.  I finished the 2013 Historical Fiction Challenge there with 24/24 books completed and fell one short on the Historical Mystery Challenge with 7/8.

Overall, not terrible but hopefully I will do better in 2013 because I am participating in a few MORE challenges than I did in 2013.  What can I say?  I love challenges, and Read-A-Thons, and blog hops.....

So here are the ones for 2013:

This is the year I conquer the TBR Pile Challenge-I just know it!  My list of 12 plus two alternates is HERE.  If you're thinking about trying this one mosey on over to Roof Beam Reader and check it out.  There's still time!

In case you haven't noticed, I like Historical Fiction...A Lot...

That is why the Historical Fiction Challenge hosted by Historical Tapestry is perfect for me! This will by far be the easiest challenge I do all year because 95% of what I read is Historical Fiction.  I think part of the reason I haven't done this one before is because I was focusing on the challenge aspect but this one is purely to share the good books I'll be reading this year-and because I'm nosy and want to know what good historical fiction everyone else is reading.  Seriously, if I fail at this one I am turning in my book nerd card to be hung up on the horrible readers wall of shame.

And this one will probably be the most challenging of the year as I am trying to accomplish the feat of scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro (or at least do the literary equivalent by reading 60 books off of my TBR.  This challenge is hosted by Bev @ My Reader's Block.  This is the first time I am trying this one and I think  may have bit off more than I can chew with this one but I'm still going to try!

So, this year I really wanted to participate in a challenge that focused on the classics because I love them but when it comes to a choice between the latest historical fiction novel or the dusty old tome written by some dead guy, the historical usually wins out.  I looked in vain for a regular old "read this many classics in 2013" type challenge but I didn't find one.  The ones I ran across either had specific categories you had to complete or the classics being read were predefined.  Not what I wanted exactly, so I'm doing my own personal classics challenge.  The goal is 1 a month so 12 classics by the end of the year.  This can even help me with the Mount TBR Challenge since I'll be picking from classics I already own!

I'll also be doing a couple reading challenges with the groups I participate in on Goodreads and Paperbackswap so it should be a pretty full year for challenges.

I am really looking forward to all of these.  What challenges have you signed up for this year?

2013 TBR Pile Challenge

As I post this I still stand a relatively good chance of completing the 2012 TBR Pile Challenge and I did have fun doing it so far (only one dud out of the bunch) so I am signing up for the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge.  This challenge is hosted by Adam @ Roof Beam Reader.

The goal of the challenge is to read 12 books that have been on your TBR at least one full year.  The challenging part is that Adam requires you to have your list posted by the end of this year and no changes are allowed after the challenge starts.  While the 12 books part is a piece o'cake, I am such a spastic reader that I really have a hard time sticking to the list.  We'll see how I do this year.  My list of 12 and 2 alternates:

1. The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George
2. World Without End by Ken Follett
3. The Canterbury Papers by Judith Koll Healey
4. Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
5. The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper
6. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
7. One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
8. Shogun by James Clavell
9. Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue
10. The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir
11. My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes
12. The Romanov Bride by Robert Alexander

Alternates:

1. The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory
2. The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama

All of these have been on my shelf since 2008.

I'm taking on the Chunkster Challenge!

Ok, I said I was limiting challenges this year so The Chunkster Challenge and Adam's TBR Pile Challenge will be it for me.  I think this one is perfect because it will still give me the freedom to read what I want but also encourage me to read those ENORMOUS books on my shelves.

Definition of a chunkster:
A chunkster is 450 pages or more of ADULT literature, whether non-fiction or fiction. A chunkster should be a challenge.

Well, I have plenty of books that would qualify so I am going to take on the most challenging category:

Mor-book-ly Obese - This is for the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to EIGHT or more Chunksters of which three tomes MUST be 750 pages or more.

CHUNKSTERS OVER 450 PGS:

1. Aztec Blood by Gary Jennings (524 pgs)  Finished!  My thoughts HERE and HERE
2. The Technologists by Matthew Pearl (480 pgs) Finished!  REVIEW
3. The Sister Queens by Sophie Perinot (528 pgs) Finished! Review 
4. Katherine by Anya Seton (541 pgs) Finished! My thoughts HERE
5. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte (520 pgs) Finished!  REVIEW

CHUNKSTERS OVER 750 PGS:

1. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (880 pgs) Finished! REVIEW
2. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (984 gs) Finished!  Review coming soon!
3. ?

2012 TBR Pile Challenge

The 2012 TBR Pile Challenge is hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader.  I signed up for this challenge for 2011 and thought "Twelve books that have been languishing on my TBR?  Too easy!"  Well, not so easy apparently because I have been horribly neglectful to my older books and have favored the shiny new ones all year.  I'll be finishing 2011's challenge with 8/12 completed.  2012 is going to be a different story though.  I promise to neglect you no longer older books!

The Goal: To read 12 books that have been on my TBR for at LEAST a year.

Here is my list of 12 + the 2 alternates for the 2012 challenge (all of which have been on my shelf since 2008):

1. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett DONE! (review coming soon)
2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
3. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
4. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon  
5. Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful by Alan Paton
6. What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage DONE! (review coming soon)
7. Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters who Ruled Europe by Nancy Goldstone
8. The Gilded Chamber by Rebecca Kohn DONE! (review coming soon)
9. An Inconvenient Wife by Megan Chance
10. Katherine by Anya Seton
    
11. The Last Queen by C W Gortner DONE! (review coming soon)
12. The Linnet Bird by Linda Holeman DONE! (review coming soon)

Alternate 1: A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah DONE! (review coming soon)
Alternate 2: Persuasion by Jane Austen

High Summer Read-A-Thon wrap up

I started the High Summer Read-A-Thon hosted by Michelle @ The True Book Addict on monday evening when I got home from work.  Here is the reading list I started with:

1. Finish King and Goddess by Judith Tarr
2. The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss
3. To Die For by Sandra Byrd
4. City of Promise by Beverly Swerling
5. Eromenos by Melanie McDonald
6. The Magicians by Lev Grossman

I am happy to say I read the first 5 books on this list and got about 10 pages into the 6th.  That brings my page count for the read-a-thon to 1,550 pages!   This was a great excuse to read my butt off.  Now to tackle the huge pile of laundry that built up while I spent all week with my nose stuck in books.  I had a lot of fun participating in this and the mini-challenges.  The results weren't too bad for my first read-a-thon!

Read-A-Thon update and mini challenges

My progress so far:

• Finished King and Goddess by Judith Tarr
• Finished The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss
• Started To Die For by Sandra Byrd

MINI CHALLENGE #1:

Laura @ The Book Snob is hosting a mini challenge which asks us to find pictures/locations from the books we are reading (or images relating to the time period we're reading about):

 When I started the Read-A-Thon, I was on p. 256 of this book.

This is a picture of the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut.  The building of this tomb occurs in the novel.

The cover pictured is for the 2nd book I read for the challenge, The Twelfth Enchantment.  Below is a picture of Newstead Abbey which belonged to Lord Byron and which the heroine of the novel Lucy Derrick visits twice to look for a very important item that is pivotal in the novel.  They say the abbey is haunted :)

This is the cover for To Die For, my current read about Anne Boleyn and her best friend Meg Wyatt.

 

This is Hever Castle in Kent which was home to the Boleyn family.  The Wyatt family lived on a neighboring estate.

MINI CHALLENGE #2:



Michelle's Mini Challenge asks us to find a work of art that would be a good cover for the book we're reading or that describes the action in the book.  I found two for the Twelfth Enchantment.

This is the description of the book from Goodreads: Lucy Derrick is a young Regency woman of good breeding and poor finances: after the death of her father, she is forced to maintain a shabby dignity as an unwanted boarder with her unpleasant uncle, fending off marriage to the local mill owner, Mr. Olson. But her prospects of even that unwanted match are complicated by the appearance of a beautiful stricken man who appears on the family doorstep begging her not to marry Mr. Olson just as he collapses. This appearance seems to open the door to a series of increasingly strange occurrences surrounding Lucy. Soon it becomes clear that there is more at stake than her own happiness — and that she is caught between two forces, one ancient and one modern — and that the soul of her very country is at stake.

The first one is the painting The Magic Circle by John Williams Waterhouse (love him!).  This book features magic prominently and the painting reminded me of the numerous spells cast, talismans made, and especially of the final face off in the book between good and evil.

The second is a painting I ran across of Lord Byron who is the beautiful stricken man who arrives on the doorstep and is a main character in the book.

And that is all for me at the moment.  I am off to stick my nose back in To Die For.  Stay tuned for my wrap up post on Sunday night.

High Summer Read-A-Thon: It's Go Time!

Now that I am home from work it is time to start reading for the High Summer Read-A-Thon hosted by Michelle at The True Book Addict.

Here is my reading list:

1. Finish King and Goddess by Judith Tarr
2. The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss
3. To Die For by Sandra Byrd
4. City of Promise by Beverly Swerling
5. Eromenos by Melanie McDonald
6. The Magicians by Lev Grossman

I seriously doubt I'm going to get all those read in a week but I'm sure going to try!  I'll be doing one update Thursday and then a wrap up post on Sunday night.  Ok, now off to read!

High Summer Read-a-thon!

Next week Michelle at The True Book Addict is hosting a High Summer Read-a-Thon.  I've never done a read-a-thon before and it sounded like fun so I'm going to try it out.  I have been reading like a madwoman anyway but this will give me a chance to put a tiny dent in my TBR or maybe even read some books for the challenges I have signed up for.  I have been so bad about reading those...

This read-a-thon starts July 25th at 12:00 am central time and runs for 1 week.  Sign ups are still open and you can check out the details here.

Can't wait!  I am trying to decide whether I am going to just go with the flow and read whatever or if I am going to make up some ambitious impossible to complete list ahead of time and go from that.  Decisions, decisions.....

Out with the Old Challenges, In with the New

Final Count for Challenges in 2010/What I'm doing in 2011

Well it has been quite the year for reading challenges! Some I did better than expected while others I didn't even come close. The important thing is that I had a blast trying to complete all the ones I signed up for. Here is how I did for 2010:

The 100+ Reading Challenge hosted by Home Girl's Book Blog challenged participants to read over 100 books for the year. My final count: 83 (4 less than I read last year but still not bad).

The 2010 Historical Fiction Challenge was actually two different challenges I participated in on the Paperbackswap Historical Fiction Forum. Challenge #1 was to read 1 book from each category with 10 categories total. I completed this one. Yay! The other was a historical fiction A-Z challenge. I am working on my last two books for this one and will have it done by the end of this year.


The Books of the Century Challenge consisted of reading books listed on Daniel Immerwahr's Books of the Century website. My goal was 5 and I read 7 which earned me the Popular Literary Culture 101 designation.

This one, originally hosted by Royal Reviews but moved to Alaine's site Queen of Happy Endings, challenged participants to read a certain level of historical novels. I went for the Obsessed level and completed it about 1/2 way through the year.

The Jean Plaidy Challenge hosted by Arleigh and Lucy at Royal Intrigue was one I also did in 2009. Sadly I did not give JP as much love as she deserved this year and only read 3. I'm hoping to read more Plaidy's this year as I really like her books. There's just never enough time!

And up for 2011....

This is the 2011 challenge from the Historical Fiction Forum on PBS. This time its a 4 parter:

1. The It's About Time Challenge: Read a book in each of 11 specific time periods
2. It's a Small World: 1 Book from each continent (except Antarctica)
3. Up to You: Read a book for 8 out of the 12 proposed categories
4. Its All Relative: Read 6 books that are somehow related

Then of course there is my Chivalrous Deeds Challenge. Feel free to go gallivanting through history with me visiting royal courts.

Adam @ Roof Beam Reader is hosting the 2001 Books To Be Read Challenge. The goal here is to read 12 books from the teetering TBR. This is the type of challenge I need to do as my house is slowly being taken over by books.

Charlie @ Bitsy Bling Books is hosting the Tour de Genre Challenge which focuses on the sub-genres of historical fiction. Complete a tour by completing a certain # of categories. I hope to complete many tours on this one.

And the last challenge I'll be doing for 2011:

Taylor @ All Things Historical Fiction is hosting the Georgette Heyer Reading Challenge. I have 75% of GH's books and haven't read a one of them. What better motivation than a challenge? The minimum goal is 3. I think I can do that.

And that is it! How did everyone do on their challenges for 2010 and what are you doing for 2011? Hope everyone has a blast trying to complete their challenges. I know I will! :)

Historical Tour de Genre Challenge-2011

Charlie from Bitsy Bling Books is hosting the Historical Tour de Genre challenge in 2011 and I have decided to join. This one celebrates all the sub-genres in historical fiction (and there are a lot of them!). The object is to complete "tours" of the sub-genres. You accomplish this by reading 6 books in different historical fiction sub genres. The challenge lasts all of 2011.

I have been on the lookout for challenges that complement each other so I don't get too overwhelmed and I think this will fit in great with my Chivalrous Deeds Challenge and the 2011 Books To Be Read Challenge that Adam is hosting at Roof Beam Reader. Can't wait to get started on all of them!

FIRST TOUR
Category 1: PLANTATION Book Read: The Long Song by Andrea Levy 1/15/11
Category2: HISTORICAL ROMANCE Book Read: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig 2/14/11
Category 3: FANTASY: Book Read: The Raven Queen by Jules Watson 3/8/11
Category 4: YA: Book Read: Cleopatra Confesses by Carolyn Meyer 5/24/11
Category 5: MYSTERY: Book Read: The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn 6/17/11
Category 6: THRILLER: Book Read: The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose 12/8/11

2011 Books To Be Read Challenge

Because I am hosting my own Historical Fiction challenge and because I have already committed to the 2011 Historical Fiction Challenge on PBS, I am trying to be selective about challenges I sign up for in 2011. The 2011 Books to be Read Challenge hosted by Adam @ Roof Beam Reader sounds like fun and is not something I'm going to feel overwhelmed with so I have decided to give it a go.

The basic idea is to read 12 books from the ol' TBR that have been languishing there for at least a year. Well, I have plenty that fit that category. Here are the 12 chosen ones and 2 alternates I am going to aim for:

• Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell (on TBR since 16 Aug 08) DONE!
  
• Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell (on TBR since 22 Mar 09)
• City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling (on TBR since 20 Jul 09) DONE!
  
• The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig (on TBR since 2 Sep 09) DONE!
  
• The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig (on TBR since 2 Sep 09) DONE!
  
• The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig (on TBR since 24 Aug 09)
• Helen of Troy by Margaret George (on TBR since 13 Oct 09)
• Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones (on TBR since 25 Dec 08)
• Tuck by Stephen R. Lawhead (on TBR since ? Apr 09)
• Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (on TBR since 22 Jul 08) DONE!
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (on TBR since 2008)
  
• Brief Gaudy Hour by Margaret Campbell Barnes (on TBR since 2009)

Alternates:

• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (on TBR since 26 Nov 2009) DONE!
• Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell (on TBR since Feb 2009) DONE!

Can't wait to get started! :)

Chivalrous Deeds: A Historical Fiction Reading Challenge for 2011

I LOVE reading challenges and participate in several every year. For 2011 I decided to host my own-Chivalrous Deeds: A Historical Fiction Challenge!


The Object of the Challenge: As a Knight or Lady Knight, to visit as many courts as possible. For example, reading Victoria Victorious by Jean Plaidy would count as 1 visit/chivalrous deed achieved at the court of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Reading No Will But His by Sarah Hoyt would count as 1 visit/chivalrous deed achieved at the court of Catherine Howard and Henry VIII, etc...

Rules/Guidelines:

1. You can visit any court from any point in history as long as the book you are reading is Historical Fiction
2. You can visit the same court more than once but not consecutively. Knights and Lady Knights have many great deeds to perform and so must not tarry at one court for too long!
   
3. No books started before 1 January 2011 will count for this challenge
4. Participants can only win 1 prize in this challenge
5. Entries will be counted by posting a link to your review of the book. You do not have to have a blog to participate as long as you are posting a review somewhere and can provide a link to it (Paperbackswap, Goodreads, Librarything etc...). I will add a place to post these links closer to the end of the year.
   

Duration: The Chivalrous Deeds Historical Fiction Challenge will begin 1 January 2011 and finish on 31 December 2011.

Prizes: I will be giving 2 prizes for this challenge.

1. The person who reads the most books for this challenge will receive their choice of a book from the Book Depository not to exceed $20.
2. The person who visits the greatest number of different courts during the challenge will receive a book of their choice from The Book Depository not to exceed $20.

Signing Up:

This challenge is open to anyone living in a country on this list that The Book Depository ships to.

To sign up please leave a comment with your name and email address.

For any questions about the challenge I have not answered please drop me an email at bippityboppitybook@ymail.com

That's it! Time to shine up the armor and sharpen the sword. Please join me in 2011 to go questing through history!

Books of the Century Challenge

I ran across this interesting challenge posted on A Novel Challenge and decided to join. It is called the Books of the Century Challenge which is being hosted by Tim. The goal is to read books from the Books of the Century website and you can choose to shoot for the following levels:

Popular Literary Culture 101 -- Five books from the entire list.
Popular Literary Culture 201 -- Ten books from the entire list.
Popular Literary Culture 301 -- One book from any of five different decades on the list.
Popular Literary Culture 401 -- One book from each decade on the list.
Master's in Popular Literary Culture -- Twenty books from the entire list, with at least each decade represented once.
Doctorate in Popular Literary Culture -- Two or more books from each decade on the list.

I have already read 63 books on this list. Since I am already participating in quite a few challenges, I think I am going to aim for the Popular Literary Culture 101 level.

For more information please click on the appropriate button in the sidebar to the right or visit:

http://booksofthecenturychallenge.blogspot.com/

2010 Plaidy Challenge

I have been looking forward to this challenge as I love Jean Plaidy. I participated last year and I had a blast.

The 2010 Jean Plaidy Challenge is being hosted by Arleigh and Lucy at http://www.royal-intrigue.net/

There are three different levels you can sign up for. Please check it out! I had so much fun doing it last year (and I won a book!).

For more information and to sign up if interested, please click the button located in my sidebar to the right :)

A Few More Challenges :)

The Goddess of Reading Challenges must be blessing me because I found two more awesome challenges to participate in. The first is the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge hosted by http://www.theroyalreviews.blogspot.com/ . There are 4 levels you can choose to participate under, from Curious if you are just dipping your toe in the ocean of wonderful Historical Fiction out there (3 books), to Obsessed for those of us who have been reading it (and loving it!) for awhile (20 books). I am obviously in the obsessed category. If you look at what I’ve read for the past two years, 90% of it is Historical Fiction.

The second of these wonderful challenges is the Tudor Book Challenge hosted by http://benedictionary.wordpress.com/ The object of this one is to read books about or inspired by the Tudor Era. This one also has four levels of participation from Commoner to King/Queen. Read a Tudor related novel, post a review, and be eligible for fabulous prizes!

Please check them both out! I am really excited to be participating in all of these challenges this year. I find I always do so much better when I feel like I'm reading towards a goal.