Challenge 2011 - How did I do?

I signed-up for 8 and finished 6.

Challenge One – One, Two, Theme!

Hosted at http://onetwotheme.blogspot.com/

Theme One: Finish the trilogy – Via Delle Oche – Carlo Lucarelli

Theme Two: Medical Conditions - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot / Therapy – Sebastian Fitzek

Theme Three:  From Scottish Publishers:  Dead Sharp – Len Wanner (Two Raven’s Press / The Stillness of the Sea – Nicol Llubjic  (Vagabond Press) / Jamrach’s Menagerie – Carol Birch (Canongate)

Theme Four: Food and Drink: Chocolate Wars – Deborah Cadbury / The Tea Lords - Hella S Haase / The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine - Alina Bronsky / Unusual Uses for Olive Oil – Alexander McCall Smith (not reviewed)

Challenge Two: What’s In A Name 4?

Hosted at http://whatsinaname4.blogspot.com/

1) A book with evil in the title: Crime - Ferdinand von Schirach

2) A book with a life stage in the title: Death at Pemberley – P D James

3) A book with a jewel or gem in the title: The Rajah’s Diamond - R L Stevenson (no review)

4) A book with travel or movement in the title: The Foxes Come at Night – Cees Nooteboom

5) A book with a size in the title:  Great House – Nicole Krauss

6) A book with a number in the title: The Rule of Four – Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason (No review.)

Challenge 3 – Criminal Plots 2010

Hosted at http://networkedblogs.com/brlC6

I knew this would be tough.  I read 27 crime novels in 2011 and still didn’t complete the challenge!

1) A book by a new to you author who’s blurbed a book you enjoyed. Didn’t read one.

2) A book that has been made into a movie. Another miss.

3)A book with a protagonist opposite your own gender. So if you’re female, the protagonist should be male; if you’re male the protagonist should be female.   The Taint of Midas – Anne Zouroudi (No review - The protagonist annoyed me too much!)

4) A book set outside the country in which you live.  A Short Cut to Paradise – Teresa Solana

5)A book that’s the first in a new-to-you series.  City of Dreadful Night – Peter Guttridge

6)A book by a 2011 debut author. Snowdrops – A D Miller

Challenge 4 – Not Really A Challenge, just The TBR Dare – Hosted by Ready when you are, C B

Reading only from my TBR stacks (with the exception of book group reads) for 6 weeks starting from 1.1.2011.  I made it!

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5. The 2011 Challenge (Hosted at Bart’s Bookshelf)

The requirement will be a total of 20 books from 11 categories.

To YA or not YA…
Thyme Running Out- Panama Oxridge

With a Twist 
Of Italian Noir:  Carte Blanche and The Damned Season by Carlo Lucarelli

Hot off the Presses.
The London Train – Tessa Hadley / Everything and Nothing – Araminta Hall

It Wasn’t Me! (aka Bad Bloggers*)
Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel (Original review by ?) / The City and The City – China Mieville (Original Review by ?)

Show it Who is Boss! (On the TBR 1/12/10)
Carsten The Trustee and Other Stories – Theodor Storm / Steal You Away – Niccolo Ammaniti 

Bablefish.
Therapy – Sebastian Fitzek / A Short Cut to Paradise - Teresa Solano

Will-Power? What Will-Power? (Bought in 2011)

Irretrievable – Theodor Fontane / An Uncertain Place – Fred Vargas

Mind the Gap (Finish that Trilogy)
Via Delle Oche – Carlo Lucarelli

Back in the Day (Rereads)
Fighting It! – Regi Claire / Effi Briest - Theodor Fontane

Way Back When (Older than Me)
The Broken Jug – Heinrich von Kleist / The Pledge – Friedrich von Durrenmatt

Slim-Pickings (Novellas)
Lucinella – Lore Segal / Next World Novella – Matthias Politycki

Challenge Six Seconds Challenge 2011 – hosted by A Few More Pages

A Short Cut to Paradise - Teresa Solana
The Liberation of Celia Kahn – David J Simons
The Dark Vineyard – Martin Walker
On Canaan’s Side - Sebastian Barry
Blow on A Dead Man’s Embers – Mari Strachan
Law and Peace – Tim Kevan

Challenge 7: The Themed Reading Challenge is my favourite.  My theme for 2011 was Revisiting Real Life Destinations. I meant this to be an international trip but in the end I ended up staying on mainland Britain!

Brighton:
City of Dreadful Night – Peter Guttridge

Glasgow:
The Credit Draper and The Liberation of Celia Kahn by David J Simons

London:
The London Train – Tessa Hadley

Preston:
A Dark Anatomy – Robin Blake

Challenge Eight: Pink Sheep Cafe‘s challenge was too much for me.  It seems I am incapable of picking up a book with an ugly cover.  But I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this is the ugliest cover I came across in 2011.  Sarah Hall – The Beautiful Indifference