A ~ Z Reading Challenge 2008 (23)

A ~ Z Reading Challenge 2008

Requirements:

~ align the author’s last name or the title of a book (excluding “the”, “a”, etc.) with its corresponding letter in the alphabet

~ enter a different book for each author and title (total of 52 books)

~ complete the alphabet lists anyway that suits your fancy

(i.e.: complete each list separately in alphabetical order, read both “A” entries, then “B” entries, fit whatever you’re reading into either list, etc.)

~ complete the challenge in the year 2008

Titles:
A-After the Fire by Belva Plain
B-Baby Proofing Your Marriage by Cockerell, O’Neil and Stone
C-Creed for the Third Millenium, A, Colleen McCullough
D-Double Take by Brenda Joyce
E-
F-French Silk by Sandra Brown
G-Great rossing, Asterix and the, By Goscinny and Uderzo
H-Heart of Thunder by Johanna Lindsay
I-
J-
K-Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
L-Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler
M-Morning Comes Softly by Debbie Macomber
N-Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
O-Once and Always by Judith McNaught
P-Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult
Q-Quiver by Javed Akhtar
R-Road, The, Cormac McCarthy
S-Silken Web, The, Sandra Brown
T-Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher

U-Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
V-

W-Wind Dancer, The, Iris Johansen
X-
Y-Yellowknife by Steve Zipp
Z-

Authors:
A-Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, Half of a Yellow Sun,
B-Bond, Larry, Day of Wrath
C-Chopin, Kate, The Awakening
D-Davis, Kenneth c., America;s Hidden History
E-Eco, Umberto, The Name of the Rose
F-Freese, Mathias B., Down to a Sunless Sea
G-Gaiman Neil, American Gods
H-Hesse, Herman, Siddhartha
I-Ishiguro, Kazuo, The Unconsoled
J-Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat
K-
L-
M-Marquez, Gabriel Garcia, Collected Stories
N-
O-Ortega, Shiela, The Road from La Cuava
P-Picoult, Jodi, Mercy
Q-
R-
S-Sparks, Nicholas, The Notebook
T-Tan, Amy, The Bonesetter’s Daughter
U-
V-

W-
X-
Y-
Z-Zusak,Markus, The Book Thief

Chunkster Reading Challenge 2008

Chunkster Reading Challenge 2008

• To qualify the book must be 450 pps regular type OR 750 pps large text.
• You must read FOUR chunksters (one each quarter), you OBVIOUSLY may read more
• The Challenge will run Jan 7th, 2008 – Dec 20th, 2008 (the only chunky thing occupying my mind over Christmas is ME! AND I am using my foresight remembering my inbox on Dec 31st/ Jan 1 of THIS year when all the challenges ended). BUT any chunkster started after Jan 1 qualifies.
• OH THERE WILL BE PRIZES – one a quarter. Prizes to be determined later ( so making the rules on the fly here, peeps). Think small and fun, not big and chunky.

My list:

*Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

*Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

*Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
*Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
*Roots by Alex Haily

*A Creed for the Third Millennium by Colleen McCullough

*The French Silk by Sandra Brown

Graphic Novel Reading Challenge 2008

Graphic Novel Reading Challenge 2008

To participate in the Graphic Novels Challenge, simply choose at least 6 graphic novels to read from January 2008 to December 2008.

You may overlap with other challenges. You may also change your list of titles at any point if something comes up that you want to switch around.

*1. Asterix and the Great Crossing
*2. Asterix and the Mansions of the Gods
*3. Asterix in Spain
*4. The adventures of Tintin: The Black Island
*5. Tintin and the Lake of Sharks
6. …..

Shakespeare Reading Challenge June 2008

Shakespeare Reading Challenge June 2008

This challenge is about William Shakespeare. Your challenge (if you choose to accept it) is to read 4 (four) books about Shakespeare. Not just the plays but anything about him.

You can read fiction, non-fiction, anything that supports his being the author, anything that does not support him being the author. If you want to read the plays and/or the sonnets, that’s fine too.

Planet Earth Reading Challenge 2008

Planet Earth Reading Challenge 2008

Tto read one book about each of these four parts of our planet, or two or three books on geology (since there are so many of them), and one on another topic.

• Lithosphere: the rocky (and molten) part of our planet
• Hydrosphere: the oceans and the water cycle
• Biosphere: evolution and the global ecosystem
• Atmosphere: our thin, blue blanket of air

Outmoded Authors Challenge Sep 2007-Feb 2008

Outmoded Authors Challenge Sep 2007-Feb 2008

The challenge will last for six months and end on February 29th 2008. During that time you may choose to read however many books by however many authors you like. Membership will be open to all, including those who don’t have a blog, until January 31st 2008. As you can see I’m not one for too many rules, not liking them myself when it comes to any sort of group reading activity.

Outmoded Authors

• Alfred Chester
• Andrew Salkey
• Anna Kavan
• Blaise Cendrars
• C.L.R. James
• Cesare Pavese
• Christina Stead
• D.H. Lawrence
• Dawn Powell
• Djuna Barnes
• E.R. Eddison
• Elizabeth Bowen
• Freya Stark
• G.K. Chesterton
• George Bernard Shaw
• Italo Svevo
• Ivy Compton-Burnett
• J.K. Huysmans
• Janet Frame
• Jesse Hill Ford
• John Dryden
• John Galsworthy
• Malcolm Lowry
• Marian Engel
• May Sarton
• Mercé Rodoreda
• Olivia Manning
• Orlando Patterson
• Radclyffe Hall
• Richard Hughes
• Rosalyn Drexler
• Sarah Orne Jewett
• Sybille Bedford
• The Fireside Poets
• Violette Leduc
• W. Somerset Maugham
• Walter Scott

Neustadt Challenge May-Aug 2008

Neustadt Challenge May-Aug 2008

The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award for a body of work by poets, novelists, or playwrights. The prize is not limited by geographic area, language, or genre, and is hosted by the University of Oklahoma and the international literary publication World Literature Today.

You have two options with this challenge, which will run from May – August, 2008.

1. Read three books/plays/collection of poetry by one of the authors who have received the award.

2. Read three books by three different authors.

Here is the list of award winners.

2008 Patricia Grace (New Zealand) – to be awarded in Fall 2008)

2006 Claribel Alegría (Nicaragua/El Salvador)
2004 Adam Zagajewski (Poland)
2002 Alvaro Mutis (Colombia)
2000 David Malouf (Australia)
1998 Nuruddin Farah (Somalia)
1996 Assia Djebar (Algeria)
1994 Kamau Brathwaite (Barbados)
1992 João Cabral de Melo Neto (Brazil)
1990 Tomas Tranströmer (Sweden)
1988 Raja Rao (India)
1986 Max Frisch (Switzerland)
1984 Paavo Haavikko (Finland)
1982 Octavio Paz (Mexico) 
1980 Josef Škvorecky  (Czechoslovakia/Canada)
1978 Czeslaw Milosz (Poland)
1976 Elizabeth Bishop (USA)
1974 Francis Ponge (France)
1972 Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia) 

1970 Giuseppe Ungaretti (Italy)

Mini-Jane Austen Challenge 2008

Mini-Jane Austen Challenge 2008

*Persuasion
*Northanger Abbey
*Mansfield Park
*Emma

Man Booker Challenge 2008

Man Booker Challenge 2008
1) 2007 The Gathering by Anne Enright
2) 2006 *The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
3) 2000 *The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood currently reading it
4) 1981 *Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
5)
6)

Triple eight (888) Challenge 2008

Triple eight (888) Challenge 2008

1. Challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2008.

2. Choose 8 categories of your own that you would like to read 8 books EACH in.

3. You will be allowed 8 overlaps, for a total of 56 unique book titles.

4. You may overlap these 56 titles with any other challenge.

5. You may change your list or your categories at any time.

I have been procastinating about making a list for this. Suppose I have to do it now as it already half of January 2008.

My tentative categories:

1) 8 romances

*French Silk by Sandra Brown

*The Silken Web by Sandra Brown

*Heart of Thunder by Johanna Lindsay

*The Wind Dancer by Iris Johansen

*Double Take by Brenda Joyce

*Morning Comes Softly by Debbie Macomber

*Once and Always by Judith McNaught

2) 8 award winners

1940 (Pulitzer) *The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
1946 (Nobel Prize Winner) *Siddhartha – Hermann Hesse
1961 (Pulitzer) *To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
1981 (Booker) *Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
1982 (Nobel Prize Winner) *Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
1995 (Cheltanham) *The Unconsoled – Kazuo Ishiguro
2004 (Royal Society Prize -Sciences) *A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
2006 (Booker) *The Inheritance of Loss – Kiran Desai
2006 (World Fantasy) *Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami

3) 8 classics

*Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
*Emma by Jane Austen
*Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
*The Small House at Ellington by Anthony Trollope
*A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy
*Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
*Hard Times by Charles Dickens
*Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
*The Three Muskeeters by Alexandre Dumas
*Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

4) 8 non fiction

*Civilisation by Kenneth Clark
*The Snoe Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
*Travel Writing 1700-1830 An Anthology, Edited by Elizabeth A. Bohls and Ian Duncan
*The Argumentave Indian by Amartya Sen
*Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins
*A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
*Shiva: The Wild God of Power and Ecstacy by Wolf-Dieter Storl
The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking

5) 8 Stephen Kings books

6) 8 books that make me feel good. It can be assorted

*Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

*Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

*Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

*Hearts and Minds by Rosy Thornton

*Did I see Angels by Kathryn Maughan

*Yellowknife by Steve Zipp

*Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

*Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

7) 8 collected short stories

*Collected stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
*Metamorphosis and other stories by Franz Kafta
*The Best Short Sories by Rudyard Kipling
*Collected Stories of Guy de Maupassant
*Murder in the Menu Edited by Peter Haining
*Twelve Read Herrings by Jeffrey Archer
*The Raven and other writings by Edgar Allan Poe
*Collected Ghost Stories
*The Frankenstein Omnibus Edited by Peter Haining

8) 8 Comics or graphic books

*1. Asterix and the Great Crossing
*2. Asterix and the Mansions of the Gods
*3. Asterix in Spain
*4. The adventures of Tintin: The Black Island
*5. Tintin and the Lake of Sharks
6. …..