Autobiography/Memoir Challenge

I decided to enjoy another challenge! Bobbie at Til We Read Again is hosting an autobiography/memoir challenge. You have to read four biographies or memoirs from June 20 to September 20. I have several biographies on my TBR list, so I'm hoping to get those knocked out for this challenge. I tend to pass them over for fiction, so hopefully this will inspire me to actually read them.

Four-Month Reading Challenge Part Three

She Read a Book is hosting a four-month challenge part three! I'm trying to read the unread books I own this year, so I'm going to try to accomplish this challenge with as few library books as possible.

230/250

5 Point Challenges

Read a book by an author you’ve never read before - The Alchemist

Read a book with a one word title - Cranford

Read a book with an animal name in the title - The Cricket in Times Square

Read a book with a proper name in the title - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Read a fantasy - The Good Fairies of New York

10 Point Challenges

Read an ‘Austenesque’ book - Intimations of Austen by Jane Greensmith

Read a book with a two word title - Big Boned by Meg Cabot

Read a book that is part of a series - Living Dead in Dallas

Read a book about a real person - Fall to Pieces by Mary Forsberg Weiland

Read a mystery - The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

15 Point Challenges

Read a book written in the 60’s (any century)- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Read a book with a number in the title - 100 Worst Bosses by Jim Stovall

Read a book by an author born in March, April, May or June. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - June 13

Read a book with a three word title - Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Read a book by an author with three names - La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith

20 Point Challenges

Read a book with over 500 pages - The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Read a book with a four word title - Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin

Read a book by two authors - Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Read a book written in the 70s (any century)

Read a book that has been number one on the NYT Best-sellers list - House Rules by Jodi Piccoult (March 21, 2010)

Four-Month Challenge Part 2 Wrap-Up

The four-month challenge part two is over! It ran from from Nov. 1, 2009 to Feb. 28, 2010. She Read a Book is hosting the four-month challenge part three if you want to join in for the next round.

I enjoyed participating in this challenge, although I wish had managed to finish it completely. I noticed that only one person actually finished it though, so I'm in good company!

5 Point Challenges
Read a book with a proper name in the title – Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss
Read a book about a queen or king – The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
Read a book by or about/related to a Bronte - I started The Bronte Myth but haven't finished it.
Read a book about Vampires - Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Read a book by V.C. Andrews – Flowers in the Attic
10 Point Challenges
Read a book by Canadian author – The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Read a book by or about/related to Charles Dickens - The Man Who Invented Christmas
Read a book set in France - French Milk by Lucy Knisley
Read a book by Georgette Heyer - I started Friday's Child, but haven't finished it.
Read an ‘art’ themed book.
15 Point Challenges
Read a book with a Civil War theme (any country)
Read a book with characters inspired by King Arthur or about King Arthur/Camelot
Read a biography/autobiography – Stolen Innocence by Elissa Walls
Read a book related to or something by Shakespeare
Read a book by an author born in November, December, January or February – Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, born Jan. 25
20 Point Challenges
Read a book with a wintery theme (Christmas, snow, ice, freezing, star, camel, mistletoe, etc.)A Christmas Carol
Read a book that was a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction – Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Read a book that begins with A and one that begins with Z
Read a book from The Modern Library Top 100 – To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Read a book and then write a review – The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs

160/250 points

My two favorite books I read for this challenge are Chang and Eng and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I absolutely loved both of them!

A Tournament of Reading Challenge

Okay, I'm joining another challenge, the Tournament of Reading challenge. Since I'm already going to read the History of the Medieval World by Susan Wise Bauer, and I'd like to try rereading the Divine Comedy, that's two of the three books needed for the peasant level, so surely I can at least reach that right?

100+ Books Challenge

My goal for 2010 is to read 180 books, so I should definately complete the 100+ book challenge, although I'm not 100% confident I'll hit 180. I will keep a running list of all books I read in 2010 here though, which will help me keep count without having to count blog posts or something.

1. The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
2. French Milk by Lucy Knisley
3. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers by Brion McClanahan
4. High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly by Donald Spoto
5. Biblioholism by Tom Raabe
6. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
7. One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell
8. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James
9. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
10. Summer by Edith Wharton
11. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
12. Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts
13. Maybe Baby edited by Lori Leibovich
14. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
15. Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
16. Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby
17. Plum Bun by Jessie Redmon Fauset
18. Enchantment by Donald Spoto
19. The Black Tower by Louis Bayard
20. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
21. 100 Worst Bosses by Jim Stovall
22. A Marriage Most Scandalous by Johanna Lindsey
23. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
24. La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith 
25. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
26. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
27. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
28. No Choice But Seduction by Johanna Lindsay
29. House Rules by Jodi Piccoult
30. Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
31. Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky
32. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
33. The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola
34. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
35. Big Boned by Meg Cabot
36. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
37. Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin
38. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
39. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
40. Unclutter Your Life in One Week by Erin Doland
41. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
42. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
43. The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano
44. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
45. The Good Fairies of New York
46. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella
47. The Cricket in Times Square
48. The Complete Idiot's Guide to New York City
49. The Lonely Planet - NYC Guide
50. National Geographic New York
51. 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith
52. American Nerd by Ben Nugent
53. Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
54. Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume edited by Jennifer O'Connell
55. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
56. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume
57. Intimations of Austen by Jane Greensmith
58. How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen
59. The Language of Secrets by Dianne Dixon
60. Fall to Pieces by Mary Forsberg Weiland
61. Heart of the Matter by Emily Griffin
62. Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton
63. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
64. The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell
65. Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
66. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
67. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
68. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
69. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
70. Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon by Jane Austen
71. How to Read a Novel by John Sutherland
72. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
73. Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith
74. On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah
75. Jemima J by Jane Green
76. The Wedding Girl by Madeleine Wickham
77. Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
78. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
79. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson
80. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Bibliophilic Challenge

The Bibliophilic Challenge is about reading books about books, another favorite category of mine. I'm just going to sign up for the bookworm level (three books) to start with and may upgrade later. I have a couple of Harold Bloom books I need to read and I like Jasper Fforde so I should be able to move up but since I've signed up for several other challenges I'm just going to leave it at that level for now.

1/3

1. How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen

Our Mutual Read Challenge

I love love love this challenge: Our Mutual Read. I adore the Victorian period. I focused on eighteenth and nineteenth century English literature for my MA, and the Victorians of course fall into the later part of that era. I would like to read other books by some of my favorite authors from that time, so this is great inspiration! I'm going to shoot for the top challenge, 12 books, at least six written during the Victorian time frame, the others can be something that takes place during that time or is written about that time. I'm also going to try the period film mini-challenge.

Books read:
Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton

Here's a starting list:
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Vanity Fair - William Thackeray
Hard Times - Charles Dickens
The Old Curiousity Shop - Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
Pendennis - William Thackeray
Shirley - Charlotte Bronte
Agnes Grey - Anne Bronte
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne
Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
Something by Benjamin Disraeli
The Life of Charlotte Bronte - Elizabeth Gaskell
The Mill on the Floss - George Elliot
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
The Man Who Was Thursday - G.K. Chesterton

Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge

I thought this was a particularly fun challenge: Read the Book, See the Movie. I like watching movies based on books I've read, so I thought this would be fun. I just signed up for the Saturday Movie Matinee, which is four books/movies. I'm not going to pick my four yet, although looking at my flashback challenge list I see several options there. I've also been meaning to read Snow Falling on Cedars for a long time, so maybe this will inspire me to actually do it.

Science Book Challenge

I saw the Science Book Challenge on Eva's blog and thought that it would help motivate me to actually read the science books I keep thinking about reading instead of actually reading.
I know I'll read the Politically Incorrect Guide to Science because it's been sitting on my shelf for a while, but for the other books for this challenge I think I'm just going to browse the shelves at the library and see what strikes me. I just have to read three books for this challenge by the end of 2010.

Flashback Challenge

Flashback reading challenge For the Flashback challenge, I'm going to do the literati level, which is to reread over six books.

Books read:
A Cricket in Times Square (first read in college, oddly enough)

Here are the books I plan to read:
Wuthering Heights (a book I first read in junior high, then again in college)
Jane Eyre (a book I first read in college)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (a book I first read in high school, then used for part of my thesis in college)
Daphne's Book (a book I first read in elementary school)
Vanity Fair (first read in college)
Heidi (first read in elementary school)
The Secret Garden (first read in elementary school)
The Great Gatsby (first read in high school, then again in college)

I'm sure I'll also reread at least one book by Jane Austen.

This challenge runs through the end of 2010.

Countdown Reading Challenge

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Another exciting challenge! This one will force me to read books actually written this century. The past few years I've focused heavily on reading classics. I started reading the classics beginning with the ancient Greeks and worked my way through Beowulf, at which point I switched to British only works and read my way up to Shakespeare. The last few months I've tried to just read normal books for a bit of a break. I want to continue my timeline reading, but I've missed a lot of books over the past few years so this will motivate me to catch up.
So what's the challenge? It's a Countdown Challenge. You read 10 books that come out in 2010, 9 in 2009, 8 in 2008, etc. down to 2001. This will also force me to read new books as they come out instead of buying them and letting them join my ever growing to-be-read (TBR) pile.


Total: 33/55 books

2010
1. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag - Alan Bradley
2. Not My Daughter - Barbara Delinksky
3. Every Last One - Anna Quindlen
4. The Imperfectionists - Tom Rachman
5. The Language of Secrets - Dianne Dixon
6. Heart of the Matter - Emily Griffin
7.
8.
9.
10.

2009 (Done)
1.The Guinea Pig Diaries - A.J. Jacobs
2. Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffeneger
3. A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore
4. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
5. The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History by John Ortved
6. High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly - Donald Spoto
7. The Girl She Used to Be - David Cristofano
8. Fall to Pieces - Mary Forsberg Weiland
9. Unclutter Your Life in One Week - Erin Doland

2008 (Done)
1. Shakespeare Wrote for Money - Nick Hornby
2. Made in the U.S.A. - Billie Letts
3. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen - Syrie James
4. Stolen Innocence - Elissa Wall with Lisa Pulitzer (done)
5. Remember Me - Sophie Kinsella (done)
6. More Than It Hurts You by Darin Strauss (done)
7. The Man Who Invented Christmas - Les Standiford
8. The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

2007
1. Made from Scratch - Sandra Lee
2. The Fourth Bear - Jasper Fforde
3. French Milk - Lucy Knisley
4. Everything I Needed to Know about Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume
5. Big Boned - Meg Cabot
6.
7.

2006
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

2005
1. 44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith
2.
3.
4.
5.

2004
1.
2.
3.
4.

2003
1. Club Dead - Charlaine Harris
2.
3.

2002 (Done)
1. Living Dead in Dallas
2. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan - Sophie Kinsella

2001 (Done)
1. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Four-Month Reading Challenge

Okay, so I knew this reading challenge thing was going to suck me in. I've signed up for two more challenges. They both allow crossovers from other challenges, so I might be able to count some books for both challenges, but I'm not going to go out of my way to do that.
The first challenge is a four-month challenge running from Nov. 1, 2009 to Feb. 28, 2010.

Here's the challenge, and a few books I've plugged in that are already on my to-be-read list or things that came to me as I looked at the categories. I'm such a nerd. I can't believe I'm this happy about discovering these things.

5 Point Challenges
Read a book with a proper name in the title – Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss
Read a book about a queen or king – The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
Read a book by or about/related to a Bronte
Read a book about Vampires - Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Read a book by V.C. Andrews – Flowers in the Attic
10 Point Challenges
Read a book by Canadian author – The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Read a book by or about/related to Charles Dickens - The Man Who Invented Christmas
Read a book set in France - French Milk by Lucy Knisley
Read a book by Georgette Heyer
Read an ‘art’ themed book. – The Girl with the Pearl Earring
15 Point Challenges
Read a book with a Civil War theme (any country) The Killer Angels
Read a book with characters inspired by King Arthur or about King Arthur/Camelot – The Crystal Cave
Read a biography/autobiography – Stolen Innocence by Elissa Walls
Read a book related to or something by Shakespeare –
Read a book by an author born in November, December, January or February – Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, born Jan. 25
20 Point Challenges
Read a book with a wintery theme (Christmas, snow, ice, freezing, star, camel, mistletoe, etc.)A Christmas Carol
Read a book that was a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction – Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Read a book that begins with A and one that begins with Z - Arguing with Idiots and
Read a book from The Modern Library Top 100 – To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Read a book and then write a review – The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs

160/250 points