Books of the Century Challenge

As if I don’t have enough on my plate this year but this Books of the Century Challenge is so irresistible.  I’ll commit to Challenge 301 – although secretly I’d like to conquer Challenge 401.

Starting with 5 books from 5 decades

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Challenge 2010 – Progress Report

(Hyperlinks to my reviews on Lizzy’s Literary Life)

The Tin Drum Readalong
Part One: 31.01.2010
Part Two: 28.02.2010
Part Three: 28.03.2010

Really Old Classic Challenge
1. Parzival – Wolfram von Eschenbach

Wilkie Collins Mini Challenge
1. Basil
2. The Moonstone

British Authors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

What’s In A Name 3
1. A book with a food in the title: An Apple In The Dark – Clarice Lispector
2. A book with a body of water in the title: Dirty Snow – Georges Simenon
3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title: The White Queen – Phillipa Gregory
4. A book with a plant in the title: A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees – Clare Dudman
5. A book with a place name (city, country) in the title: A Far Cry From Kensington – Muriel Spark
6. A book with a music term in the title: The Long Song – Andrea Levy

Countdown Challenge 2010
Separate post to follow.

Read the Book, See The Movie

1.
2.
3.
4.

Chunkster Challenge 2010

1. The Tin Drum
2. The Moonstone
3.
4.

 

Awesome Author Challenge

1. Georges Simenon
2. Ngaio Marsh
3. Hilary Mantel
4. Joyce Carol Oates
5. Alice Munro
6. Joseph Boyden

The Pub Challenge 2010
1. Miss Thing – Nora Chassler
2. The House of the Mosque – Kader Abdolah
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Decades Challenge 2010
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. 1945 – Died In The Wool – Ngaio Marsh
6.
7. 1960 – Dirty Snow – Georges Simenon
8.
9.
10.

Award Winners IV
1. Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson (PEN/Hemingway Award)
2. Love Begins In Winter - Simon van Booy (2009 Frank O’Connor Award)
3. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (2009 Booker Prize)
4. Through Black Spruce - Joseph Boyden (2008 Giller Prize) 
5. If The Dead Rise Not - Philip Kerr (2009 CWA Ellis Peter Historical Dagger)
6. The Chalk Circle Man - Fred Vargas (2009 CWA International Dagger)
7. An Orange
8. Let The Great World Spin - Colum McCann (2009 National Book Award Fiction)
9. BBC National Short Story Award  2009  – Various
10. Motherless Brooklyn - Jonathan Lethem (2000 CWA Gold Dagger)

Colourful Reading Challenge 2010
1. Black Through Black Spruce - Joseph Boyden
2. Blue    Blue Poppies - Jonathan Fall
3. Red     Snow White, Blood Red – Marcus Sedgwick
4. White The White Queen - Philippa Gregory
5. Gold    The Flying Camel and The Golden Hump – Aharon Megged
6. Silver
7. Yellow Yellowknife – Steve Zipp
8. Grey Shades of Grey – Jasper Fforde
9. TBD

British Authors
1. Jasper Fforde
2. Hilary Mantel
3. Donald Paterson
4.
5.
6.

And finally, participation in some old favourites ….

I’m delighted that these 3M is continuing these challenges in 2010.  Needless to say I’m in – bringing total challenges for the year to 13.  I say that’s enough for any one bookworm.

The Pub 2010 – 10 books, published for the first time in the UK during 2010

Award Winners IV – 10 months, 10 awards, January – October 2010

Decades challenge 2010 – 10 books from 10 consecutive decades, January – December 2010

Reading lists for all to be compiled as I go along.

A Few More

Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge.  I’m off to the Saturday Matinees again next year. I’m feeling ever so nostalgic ….. Read 4 books, watch 4 movies.

Chunkster Challenge 2010 – 3 books of 450 pages or more. I’ll select from: Wolf Hall, The Tin Drum, My Mutual Friend, The Moonstone, East Lynne, Lady Audley’s Secret

 

 

 

 

Colourful Reading Challenge 2010

9 books with 9 colours in the title: Black, red, white, blue, gold/yellow, silver plus 3 discretionary

 

What’s In A Name 3?

January 1 – December 31, 2010

Beth at Beth Fish Reads is the new host of What’s In A Name 3 Challenge. Here’s how it works: Between January 1 and December 31, 2010, read one book in each of the following categories:

1. A book with a food in the title:  An Apple In The Dark- Clarice Lispector
2. A book with a body of water in the title: The Draining Lake – Arnaldur Indridason
3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title: The White Queen – Phillipa Gregory
4. A book with a plant in the title:  A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees – Clare Dudman
5. A book with a place name (city, country) in the title: Alone in Berlin – Hans Fallada
6. A book with a music term in the title: The Long Song – Andrea Levy

I’m delighted this challenge continues.  Great timing as I have just finished What’s In A Name 2.

Building:  Castle in the Clouds / Medical Condition: Dismissed Dead /Time of Day:  Miss Pettigrew lives for a Day / Body Part: The Blind Side of the Heart / Profession: My Cleaner /Relative:  Midnight’s Children

TwentyTen Challenge

 

This is such a creative challenge -  how can I resist?  The rules according to Bartsbookshelf:

• Read 2 books from each category, making a requirement of 20 books total.
• The categories are intended to be loose guidelines only, if you decide it fits, then it fits. (Apart from those marked **)
• Categories marked with ** have tighter rules, and these must be followed.
• Each book can only qualify for one category.
• Crossovers with other challenges are allowed.
• Books read from 01/01/2010 to 31/12/2010 are eligible.

So, on with the categories (and my first thoughts on what I will read …)

1. Young Adult
   Any book classified as young adult or featuring a teenage protagonist counts for this category.  (Two books by Philip Reeve,  A Darkling Plain / Here Lies Arthur)
2. T.B.R. **
   Intended to help reduce the old T.B.R. pile. Books for this category must be already residents of your bookshelves as of 1/11/09. (The only difficulty here is selecting two from the 700+ TBR!)
3. Shiny & New
   Bought a book NEW during 2010 from a bookstore, online, or a supermarket? Then it counts for this category. Second-hand books do not count for this one, but, for those on book-buying bans, books bought for you as gifts or won in a giveaway also count!  (To be determined)
4. Bad Blogger’s ***
   Books in this category, should be ones you’ve picked up purely on the recommendation of another blogger count for this category (any reviews you post should also link to the post that convinced you give the book ago).
   *** Bad Bloggers: Is hosted by Chris of Stuff as Dreams are Made on. (I already have a mountain of these.  The first two to spring to mind are:  The Flying Camel and the Golden Hump, recommended by Dovegreyreader and Colony, recommended at the Asylum.)
5. Charity
   Support your local charity shops with this category, by picking up books from one of their shops. Again, for those on book-buying bans, books bought for you as gifts also count, as long as they were bought from a charity shop. (To be decided)
6. New in 2010
   This category is for those books newly published in 2010 (whether it be the first time it is has been released, or you had to wait for it to be published in your country, it counts for this one!) (I’m eagerly awaiting new releases by Jasper Fforde and Andrea Levy ….)
7. Older Than You
   Read two books that were published before you were born, whether that be the day before or 100 years prior! (I’ll select two C19th sensational novels for this.)
8. Win! Win!
   Have a couple of books you need to read for another challenge? Then this is the category to use, as long that is, you don’t break the rules of the other challenge by doing so! (To be determined.)
9. Who Are You Again?
   This one isn’t just for authors you’ve never read before, this is for those authors you have never even heard of before! (Cue 2 debut novels …..)
10. Up to You!
    The requirements for this category are up to you! Want to challenge yourself to read some graphic novels? A genre outside your comfort zone? Something completely wild and wacky? Then this is the category to you. The only requirement is that you state it in your sign-up post. (Two non-fiction titles for me.)

More Challenges

Wilkie Collins Mini-Challenge – 2 books 01.10.2009- 30.11.2010

Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge – 40% of books read between 01.10.2009 and 30.11.2009 must have been on the shelves for 6 months or longer.

November Novella Challenge – 4 novellas in November

Potential reads: Cheerful Weather for a Wedding, Mathilda, The Lemoine Affair, The Green Dwarf, Something (anything!) by Theodor Storm, A Minute’s Silence, Confusion

Really Old Classics Challenge – One book pre-1600 by 28.02.2010.

Awesome Author Challenge – Moderate level – 6 new-to-me authors 01.01.2010 – 31.12.2010.  To be chosen from the following:  Anton Szerb, Willa Cather, John D MacDonald, Joyce Carol Oates, Colette, Anthony Trollope, Alice Munro, Virginia Woolf, Hilary Mantel

Countdown Challenge Wrapup

 With two weeks to go, I still had 3 titles to read and a major distraction in the form of the Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF).  Short stories to the rescue then.  But I couldn’t find a single short story published in 2003 on my shelves!  As I was trawling through the TBR, however,  I came across The Atlantic Ocean, a compilation of essays on Britain and America, which contained a variety of short pieces originally published in the years I needed to complete this challenge.  I was so relieved.  I was too close not to make it to the finishing line on this particular challenge.  Now that I have crossed that line, here’s a list of what I read, with hyperlinks to my reviews, where these exist.

9 from 2009

1. Land of Marvels – Barry Unsworth 2. The Crossroads – Niccolo Ammaniti 3. Grace – Alex Pheby 4. The Hidden – Tobias Hill 5. The Outlander – Gil Adamson 6. The Letters – Fiona Robyn 7. The Earth Hums In B-Flat – Mari Strachan 8. The Sweetness at The Bottom of The Pie – Alan Bradley 9. Burnt Shadows – Kamila Shamsie 10. The Wilderness – Samantha Harvey 11. A Cool Head – Ian Rankin 12. The Salati Case – Tobias Jones 13. Adam Gould – Julia O’Faolain 14. My Driver – Maggie Gee 15. Berlin Tales – Edited by Helen Constantine  16. The Blind Side of the Heart – Julia Franck (Trans. 2009) 17. Ice Cold – Andrea Maria Schenkel

8 from 2008

 1. A Case of Exploding Mangoes – Mohammed Hanif 2. Country of the Grand - Gerard Donovan 3. Late Nights on Air – Elizabeth Hay 4. This is Not About Me – Janice Galloway 5. Burning Secret – Stefan Zweig 6. The Bachelors – Adalbert Stifter 7. Glenfarron – Jonathan Falla 8. The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga 9. Typhoon – Charles Cumming 10. The Secret Scripture – Sebastian Barry 11. The Behaviour of Moths – Poppy Adams 12. Castle In The Clouds – Monica Janssens 13. Sorbonne Confidential – 14. Don’t Get Fooled Again – Richard Wilson 15. Fleck – Alasdair Gray 16. Shakespeare on Toast – Ben Crystal 17. Dear Everybody – Michael Kimball 18. Molly Fox’s Birthday – Deirdre Madden 19. Mystic Pig – Richard Katrovas 20. Home – Marilynne Robinson 21. The Invention of Everything Else – Samantha Hunt 22. Scottsboro – Ellen Feldman

 7 from 2007

1. The Road of Bones – Anne Fine 2. Helpless – Barbara Gowdy 3. Binu and The Great Wall- Su Tong 4. Amok and Other Stories – Stefan Zweig 5. The Road Home - Rose Tremain 6. No Word From Gurb – Eduardo Mendoza (Spanish 1999 – Trans 2007) 7. The Murder Farm – Andrea Maria Schenkel (German 2007 – Trans 2008)

6 from 2006

1. The Book of Chameleons – Jose Agualusa 2. Mothers and Sons – Colm Toibin 3. Beyond Sleep – W F Hermans (Translated 2008) 4. Child’s Play - Carmen Posadas (Translated 2008) 5. Fists – Pietro Grossi (Translated 2009) 6) Beware of Pity – Stefan Zweig (Translated 2006)

5 from 2005

1) The Big Over Easy- Jasper Fforde 2) My Cleaner – Maggie Gee 3) Three Bags Full (Trans 2006) 4) One City 5) After Hurricane Katrina – Essay from The Atlantic Ocean - Andrew O’Hagan 

4 from 2004 1. Author! Author! – David Lodge 2. The Blue Fox – Sjon (Translated 2008) 3. 98 Reasons for Being – Clare Dudman 4. Inkheart – Cornelia Funke

 3 from 2003

1. Me and Kaminski - Daniel Kehlmann (German 2003 Translated 2008) 2. All My Friends are Superheroes – Andrew Kaufmann 3. Celebrity Memoirs – Essay from The Atlantic Ocean – Andrew O’Hagan

2 from 2002 1. One Step Behind – Henning Mankell 2. Pharos – Alice Thompson

1 from 2001

1. The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde

Numbers Challenge 2009 Wrapup

Objective: 5 titles containing numbers.

January 2009 – August 2009

For the second year running, I had to resort to a short story to finish this challenge.  I’m simply rubbish at Challenges that don’t run from January to December.  However, I have completed it and that is the main thing.

I read:

1) The Two Faces of January – Patricia Highsmith

2) Three Bags Full – Leonie Swann

3) 98 Reasons for Being – Clare Dudman

4) One City – Alexander McCall-Smith, Ian Ranking and Irwine Welsh.  (Review will appear tomorrow.)

5) Bed 29 – Guy de Maupassant  (Review to follow in due course.)

All were enjoyable reads.  And, I’ll sign up, if there’s a Numbers Challenge III.

 

All with the exception of the Fforde were great reads.  I enjoyed the challenge and look forward to joining in again next year.

Book Awards III

Rules: from Read 5 books from 5 different awards during July 1, 2009 through December 1, 2009. Overlaps with other challenges are permitted. Lists may be changed at any time.

I’m in again.  I love this challenge.  No idea what I’ll read at this juncture.  I’m still working on Book Awards II which I finished months ago but I continue to read on.  (Current count is 17.)

Prizewinners in the TBR:

Olive Kitteridge / The Solitude of Prime Numbers / Pharos / De Niro’s Game / Through Black Spruce / Moonshine in the Morning / An Equal Stillness / Fists / The Stillness of Life / Europe Central / The Silence of The Rain / How the Soldier Played the Gramophone /

What I read: Fists – Pietro Grossi / BBC National Short Story Award 2008 / The Suspicions of Mr Whicher – Kate Summerscale/ The Bethlehem Murders – Matt Rees / The White Castle – Orhan Pamuk / The Passport – Herta Mueller

A Colourful Reading Challenge

January – December 2009

The point of the challenge is to read 9 books with 9 different colors in the title.
Six colors are required, while the last 3 can be your choice.
Books may be overlapped with other challenges.

Hosted by Lost In Books

1. BLUE: The Blue Fox – Sjon

2. RED: The Red House Mystery – A A Milne

3. WHITE: The White Castle – Orhan Pamuk

4. BLACK: Black Gold of the Sun – Ekow Eshun

5. SILVER: The Silver Swan – Benjamin Black

6. GOLD: The Camel and The Golden Hump – Aahron Megged

MY THREE OPTIONS:

7. YELLOW: Crome Yellow – Aldous Huxley

8. OLIVE: Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Trout

9. VIOLET: March Violets – Philip Kerr

EDIT: 11.10.2009

I haven’t made much progress.  So I’m changing the reading list to reflect my growing preoccupation with short stories.  These I will read before the year is out!

1. BLUE: The Blue Fox – Sjon

2. RED: Red – Somerset Maugham

3. WHITE: Snow White and the Prince – Regi Claire

4. BLACK: The Black Monk – Anton Chekov

5. SILVER: The Silver Swan – Benjamin Black

6. GOLD: The Girl with the Golden Eyes – Honore de Balzac

MY THREE OPTIONS:

7. YELLOW: Yellowknife – Steve Zipp

8. OLIVE: Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Trout

9. VIOLET: March Violets – Philip Kerr

Challenge Startup 2009

OK – Here we go -  I’m over-committed but let’s see how it all pans out.  These are my initial intentions.  I reserve the right to change my reading lists according to any whim which may come my way!

Titles in bold = I’ve read it!  Hyperlinks to my reviews on Lizzy’s Literary Life.

Countdown Challenge (View status on separate post).

Books Awards Challenge II Objective: 10 prizewinners in 10 months August 2008 – June 2009
1.  Lorraine Connection – Dominque Manotti (Duncan Laurie International Dagger)
2. The Book of Chameleons (Independent Foreign Fiction Prize)
3. Late Nights on Air (Giller Prize)

4. The Remains of the Day (Booker Prize)
5. Catholics (W H Smith Novel of the Year)
6. Helpless (Trillium English Novel Book Award)
7. The White Tiger (Booker Prize)
8. The Chocolate War (New York Times Notable Book of the Year)
9. I’m Not Scared (Viareggio Award)

10. The Crossroads (Premio Strega)
11. What A Carve Up! (John Rhys Llewellyn Prize)
12. Royal Highness (Nobel Laureate)
13. The Road Home (Orange Prize)

14. The Outlander (Hammett Prize for Crime Writing)

15. Midnight’s Children (Booker Prize, Booker of Bookers)

16. The Sweetness at The Bottom of the Pie (Debut Dagger)

17. Home (Los Angeles Times Fiction Award 2008, Orange Prize 2009)

18. The Secret Scripture (Costa Book of the Year 2009)

Objective: 10 titles from 1001 Books to Read Before You Die
May 2008 – Feb 2009

1. The Lost Honour of Katherina Blum 2. The Remains of the Day 3. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest 4. The Radetzky March 5. Amok 6. The Turn of the Screw

Out of time – 0.06% well-read is better than nothing I suppose.

7. The Third Policeman 8-10 Written by Edith Wharton

13 Canadian books
July 2008 – June 2009
1. Late Nights on Air 2. Helpless 3. The Emperor of Ice Cream 4.  The Outlander 5. Catholics 6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of The Pie 7. All My Friends are Superheroes

The Well-Seasoned Challenge
3 books Jan-March 2009

1) The Big Over Easy 2) Shakespeare on Toast 3) The Emperor of Ice-Cream

The Latin American Challenge
4 books Jan-April 2009

1) Child’s Play (Uruguay)

Out of time but I’m going to finish the challenge anyway!

2) Chronicle of A Death Foretold (Colombia) 3) A Quiet Flame (Argentina) 4) The Comedians (Haiti)

German Literature Challenge
6 books Jan-Dec 2009

1) The Jew’s Beech 2) A Village Romeo and Juliet 3) The Murder Farm 4) Me and Kamiski 5) The Blind Side of the Heart 6) Royal Highness

Lost In Translation
6 books in translation (in addition to the Latin-American and German challenges listed above!) Jan-Dec 2009
1) Beyond Sleep (Dutch) 2) The Blue Fox (Icelandic) 3) No Word From Gurb (Spanish) 4) Berlin Tales (German) 5) Fists (Italian)  6) Soldiers of Salamis 7) The Camel and the Golden Hump Steal You Away

The Art History Challenge

6 books Jan- Dec 2009

1) The Vaughan Bequest 2) Summer in February 3) Me and Kaminski 4)Lizzie Siddal – Tragedy of a PreRaphaelite Supermodel 5) Friedrich 6) Stealing the Scream 7) The Lost Painting I Was Vermeer

What’s In A Name
Jan-Dec 2008
Time of the Day:  Midnight’s Children
Body Parts: The Blind Side of the Heart
Medical Condition: Fever Crumb
Relative: My Cousin Rachel
Building: Castle In The Clouds
Profession: Royal Highness

Decades 09 9 books 9 Consecutive Decades

1909 Royal Highness
1910
1922 The Enchanted April
1930
1940
1952 The Tiger In The Smoke
1964 Two Faces of January
1979 The Mangan Inheritance
1981 Midnight’s Children
1994 What A Carve Up!

5 books Jan-August 2009

1) The Two Faces of January 2) 98 Reasons for Being 3) Number9Dream 4) Three Bags Full 5) One City

Orbis Terrarum
9 books 9 countries March-Dec 2009

1) The Blind Side of the Heart (Germany)

2) The Blue Fox (Iceland)

3) No Word from Gurb (Spain)

4) Fists (Italy)

5) Midnight’s Children (India)

6) Burnt Shadows (Pakistan)

7) Home (USA)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Canada)

9) The Earth Hums in B-Flat (Wales)

Challenge Wrapup 2008

Total completed challenge count – 17!

Total challenge books/stories read – 80+.

Further details with links to my reviews below:

Jan-Dec 2008
Colour:
The White Tiger
Animal:
The Bower Bird
First Name:
The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum
Place:
Death in Rome
Weather:
Violets and Strawberries in The Snow
Plant:
The Blue Flower

3 books September – December 2008

1) The Remains of the Day (No review) 2) Catholics  3) The Turn of the Screw

Objective: 9 books, 9 authors, 9 countries April – December 2008
1) Death in Rome – Germany  2) Pandora in the Congo – Spain 3) The Fifth Woman – Sweden 4) The Story of A Marriage – USA 5) Lorraine Connection – France  6) Romanno Bridge – Scotland  7) A Case of Exploding Mangoes – Pakistan  8. Country of the Grand – Ireland 9) Late Nights on Air – Canada

Objective: 6 novellas April – September 2008
1) The Falconer  2) Michael Kohlhaas  3) The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum  4) Doctor Glas (No Review) 5) The Lesson of the Master 6) The Bachelors

Objective: 6 Booker nominees Jan – Dec 2008
1) Lies of Silence  2) The Colour of Blood  3) Fasting, Feasting
4) The Stone Diaries  5) The Secret River (No Review)  6) A Case of Exploding Mangoes

THEMED READING CHALLENGE

Objective 4 Books Jan – June 2008
Theme: Our Feathered Friends

1) The Bower Bird  2) The Cry of the Owl 3) The Falconer 4) The Midwich Cuckoos

Objective: 4 titles describing characters within March – May 2008
1) A Partisan’s Daughter  2) Tess of the D’Urbervilles  3) The Man In The Window  4) The Artificial Silk Girl

2 New to U
Objective: Discover 2 new authors Feb-May 2008
1) Penelope Fitzgerald  2) Wolfgang Koeppen

Objective: 5 books with numbers in the title Jan – August 2008
1) The One From The Other  2) First Among Sequels  3) The Fifth Woman  4) Where Three Roads Meet  5) The Other Two

Objective 3 books recommended by others
May – November 2008
1) The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets 2) Engleby (No review)  3) The Remains of the Day (No review)

July 2007 – June 2008 Objective 12 award-winning titles
1) Gone With The Wind 2) Sacred Hunger 3) The Lizard Cage 4) The Boy and The Sea 5) Consolation 6) Mister Pip 7) The Tenderness of Wolves 8. Joseph Knight 9) The Trick Is To Keep Breathing 10) Foreign Parts 11)A Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam 12) The Shoe Tester of Frankfurt 13) Restless 14) The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne 15) Set In Stone 16) The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox 17) What Was Lost 18. The Bower Bird 19) The Stone Diaries 20) Fall On Your Knees 21) The Road 22) The Great Victorian Collection 23) The Secret River (No review) 24) Death In Rome 25) Fault Lines 26) Pack of Lies (No review) 27) The Oxford Murders 28. The Blue Flower 29. The Lost Honour of Katherina Blum

   

Objective: 4 books by Russian authors or set in Russia
Jan – Dec 2008

1) The Grasshopper  2) A Vengeful Longing  3) The Overcoat 4) The Road of Bones (No review)

Objective 1: 8 published 2008
1) A Vengeful Longing  2) The Long Delirious Burning Blue
3) A Partisan’s Daughter 4) Trauma  5) The Man in the Window  6) Pandora in the Congo  7) The Falconer  8) Being Emily  9) The Ice Princess  10) Glister  11) Lorraine Connection 12) A Case of Exploding Mangoes  13) Country of the Grand  14) Late Nights on Air
15) This is Not About Me  16) Burning Secret  17) The Bachelors  18) Glenfarron
19) Typhoon 20) The White Tiger  21) The Secret Scripture  22) The Behaviour of Moths

Additional Personal Objective 2: 7 published 2007

1) The Bower Bird  2) The Book of Words  3) The One from the Other  4) Fault Lines  5) Where Three Roads Meet  6) Helpless  7) Binu and The Great Wall (No review)

Objective 12 historical reads from differing genres jan – Dec 2008
Faction
1) Author! Author!
Memoir
2) This is Not About Me
Adult Fiction
3 ) The Radetzky March (No review) 4 ) Innocent Traitor  5 ) The Secret River (No review) 6 ) The Blue Flower  7) North and South   Beware of Pity  9) Land of Marvels (Review pending)

Historical Crime
10) A Gentle Axe  11) A Vengeful Longing  12) The One From The Other

What An Animal!
6 books with animals in the title or animals as the main character
July – December 2008
1) The Book of Chameleons (No review)
2)The White Tiger  3) The Raven  4) The Behaviour of Moths
5) The Grasshopper  6) One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (No review)

UNREAD AUTHORS CHALLENGE
6 Books August 2008 – January 2009
1) David Lodge
2) Henry James
3) Colm Toibin
4) Charlotte Perkins Gilman
5) Anton Chekhov
6) Nikolai Gogol

Objective: 8 Books 8 Consecutive Decades Jan – Dec 2008
1888 The Lesson of the Master

1891 Tess of the D’Urbervilles
1900 The Touchstone
1913 Burning Secret
1922 Amok and Other Stories
1932 The Artificial Silk Girl
1940 The Power and the Glory
1954 Death in Rome
1962 The Cry of the Owl
1974 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum
1987 The Colour of Blood
1997 Fall On Your Knees

 

 

The Art History Challenge

Here’s one that preraphaelite supermodel Lizzy just cannot resist!

6 books in 12 months with art as a central theme.  Could be fiction or non-fiction.  Perfect – this will get me to those neglected, bought on a whim, TBR books, starting with:

1) Lizzie Siddal – Tragedy of A Preraphaelite Supermodel - Lucinda Hawksley (about time I got round to this!)

2) Stealing the Scream – Edward Dolnick

3) The Lost Painting – Jonathan Harr

4) Stone Virgin – Barry Unsworth

5) I was Vermeer – Frank Wynne

6) The Yellow House – Martin Gayford

Themed Read Challenge 2009

I had such fun with My Feathered Friends last year, that I’ve must rejoin the challenge in 2009.

Not sure what my theme will be - with a physical TBR of 600+ books, I have plenty of scope.

Current contenders are

a) A tribute to H2O – water in its various guises (Ice, Rain, Sleet, Hail, Snow, Lakes, Rivers, Seas etc)

or

b) Dutch Masters (Dutch novels in translation)

or

c) Celestial bodies be they suns, moons, stars or planets.

Either way I’m signing up for the first option – 4 titles.

EDIT:  Changed my mind about all of the above.  My theme is 2009: A Year In Books and I’m creating option D.  12 books – one theme, which becomes obvious when you see the following list.

Two Faces of January – Patricia Highsmith / Summertime in February – Jonathan Smith / March Violets – Phillip Kerr or The March – E L Doctorow or March – Geraldine Brooks / Broken April – Ismail Kadare / May contain Nuts – John O’Farrell / May Week was in June – Clive James / Winter in July – Doris Lessing / LIght in August - William Faulkner / The Last September - Elizabeth Bowen / October – Richard B Wright / November – Gustave Flaubert / A Wedding In December – Anita Shreve

Should manage four of those in the challenge timeframe with no problem.  The rest will keep me occupied right into 2010.

Countdown in The Pub

Oh yes – a challenge designed to flush out those recently published books that didn’t quite make it to the TBR.  Brilliant idea, Michelle, particularly as it dovetails with The Pub 09 and is retroactive. from 8.8.2008.   Count me in for both!

Status as of 4.11.2008:

9 from 2009

1. Land of Marvels – Barry Unsworth
2. The Crossroads – Niccolo Ammaniti
3. Grace – Alex Pheby
4. The Hidden – Tobias Hill
5. The Outlander – Gil Adamson
6. The Letters – Fiona Robyn
7. The Earth Hums In B-Flat – Mari Strachan
8. The Sweetness at The Bottom of The Pie – Alan Bradley
9. Burnt Shadows – Kamila Shamsie
10. The Wilderness – Samantha Harvey

8 from 2008

1.    A Case of Exploding Mangoes - Mohammed Hanif
2. Country of the Grand - Gerard Donovan
3. Late Nights on Air - Elizabeth Hay
4. This is Not About Me - Janice Galloway
5. Burning Secret - Stefan Zweig
6. The Bachelors - Adalbert Stifter
7. Glenfarron - Jonathan Falla
8. The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga
9.    Typhoon – Charles Cumming
10.  The Secret Scripture – Sebastian Barry
11. The Behaviour of Moths – Poppy Adams
12. Castle In The Clouds – Monica Janssens
13. Sorbonne Confidential -
14. Don’t Get Fooled Again – Richard Wilson
15. Fleck – Alasdair Gray
16. Shakespeare on Toast – Ben Crystal
17. Dear Everybody – Michael Kimball
18. Molly Fox’s Birthday – Deirdre Madden
19. Mystic Pig – Richard Katrovas
20. Home – Marilynne Robinson
21. The Invention of Everything Else – Samantha Hunt
22. Scottsboro – Ellen Feldman

Still in the TBR

Possible choices:  Sea of Poppies / The Spare Room / The Imposter / The Truth Commissioner / The Monsters of Templeton / The Have-Nots / The Lemur / Unaccustomed Earth / The Murder Farm / The Sweetness of Life / Family Connections / The Loudest Sound and Nothing / Say You’re One of Them / Reading the OED /  When Will There Be Good News? / The Cellist of Sarawejo / The Private Patient / The Saladin Murders

7 from 2007

1. The Road of Bones – Anne Fine
2. Helpless – Barbara Gowdy
3. Binu and The Great Wall- Su Tong
4. Amok and Other Stories – Stefan Zweig
5. The Road Home - Rose Tremain
6. No Word From Gurb – Eduardo Mendoza (Spanish 1999 – Trans 2007)

7. The Murder Farm – Andrea Maria Schenkel (German 2007 – Trans 2008)

Possible choices:  The Ministry of Special Cases / The Sound of Butterflies / Lies / Here Lies Arthur / Resistance / Crusade / Blood Red, Snow White / Inglorious / Imposture / My Revolutions / The Silver Swan / Nightingale / Riptide / Death and the Maiden / Stealing the Scream / Tokyo Year Zero / The Bethlehem Murders / The Flying Camel and the Golden Hump

6 from 2006

1. The Book of Chameleons – Jose Agualusa
2. Mothers and Sons – Colm Toibin
3. Beyond Sleep – W F Hermans (Translated 2008)
4. Child’s Play - Carmen Posadas (Translated 2008)

5. Fists – Pietro Grossi (Translated 2009)

6) ?

Possibles from the TBR: A Darkling Plain / Liquidation / Out Stealing Horses / Critique of Criminal Reason / Moral Disorder / The Immaculate Conception / Beware of Pity / The People on the Street / I was Vermeer /

5 from 2005

Possible choices: The Olive Readers / Gentlemen and Players / Turkish Gambit / The Death of Achilles / The Falls / The Minotaur / The Finishing School / Port Mungo / Three Day Road /

1) The Big Over Easy

2) My Cleaner

3) Three Bags Full (Trans 2006)

4) One City

5) ?

4 from 2004

1. Author! Author! – David Lodge

2. The Blue Fox – Sjon (Translated 2008)

3. 98 Reasons for Being – Clare Dudman

4. Inkheart – Cornelia Funke

Possible choices: The Soldiers of Salamis / Leviathan / Good Faith / Broken April / Coram Boy

3 from 2003

1. Me and Kaminski - Daniel Kehlmann (German 2003 Translated 2008)

2.  All My Friends are Superheroes – Andrew Kaufmann

3. Little Indiscretions – Carmen Posadas (Translated 2003)

Possible choices: The Silence of the Rain / Dirt Music / The Seahorse / Treading Air / Maus I / The Novel Life of P G Wodehouse / Crossing the Lines

2 from 2002

1. One Step Behind – Henning Mankell

2. Pharos – Alice Thompson

Possible choices: Number9dream / Blue Poppies / Don’t Look Back

1 from 2001

1. The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde

Might add another: Journey by Moonlight

100 Shots of Short

I loved Short Story September – so it is a natural progression to take up Rob’s 100 Shots of Shorts Challenge.  No time limit.  Even better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we go.

1. The £1,000,000 bank note – Mark Twain

2. The Other Two – Edith Wharton

3. A Journey – Colm Toibin

4. The Long Winter – Colm Toibin

5. Burning Secret – Stefan Zweig

6. The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman

7. The Overcoat – Nikolai Gogol

8. The Lesson of the Master – Henry James

Numbers Challenge 2008 Wrap-Up

 

Objective: 5 titles containing numbers.

January 2008 – August 2008

Completed this by the skin of my teeth on 31st August at 23:22 pm!  I had to resort to a short story to finish it off and because I felt guilty about that, I read two short stories instead!

Titles completed were:

1) The One From The Other - Phillip Kerr
2) First Among Sequels - Jasper Fforde
3) The Fifth Woman - Henning Mankell
4) Where Three Roads Meet - Salley Vickers
5) The Other Two - Edith Wharton / The £1,000,000 Banknote - Mark Twain

All with the exception of the Fforde were great reads.  I enjoyed the challenge and look forward to joining in again next year.

Short Story September

http://readywhenyouarecb.blogspot.com/2008/08/short-story-september-is-coming.html

The £1,000,000 Bank Note – Mark Twain

The Other Two – Edith Wharton

The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Book to Movie 2008

September – November 2008

I enjoyed this so much last time that I cannot resist this year.

First thoughts:

The Remains of the Day / Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day / One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest / Cold Heaven

I actually read:

Catholics / North and South / One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest