A chance to read all the books I own/borrowed, but have not read. 12 books in 12 months. I own most of these books, but a few are borrowed from friends.

• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Doysovesky
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Plays by Anton Chekhov
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Little, Big by John Crowley
• The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
• Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
• The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
• William – an Englishman by Cicely Hamilton

Alternates

The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
Summer by Edith Wharton
Year of Wonders by Gerladine Brooks
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
The Warden and Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Known World by Thomas P. Jones
Bleakhouse by Charles Dickens
Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

I’m a reading challenges addict! Here is Dewey’s second challenge, six books from the Man Booker Prize to be read between January to December 2008.

• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
• Life & Times of Michael K
• Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
• The Gathering by Anne Enright
• Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre
• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Alternates:
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
The Sea by John Banville
Posession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Atonement by Ian McEwan (shortlisted)
…and the rest

Bookers I have read:
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Read four books about William Shakespeare, poetry/plays and books about him included. It runs between January 1, 2008 to June 30th, 2008.

1. The Tempest
2. Othello
3. Sonnets
4. Shakespeare: The World As Stage by Bill Bryson

Alternates: any other plays I have not read.

The sonnets will be the complete sonnets. I also just finished putting the Bill Bryson audiobook on my iTunes. It’s 6 hours from 5 discs, and I look forward to hearing all of it in the new year.

They are all the rage, and I love joining new challenges, but I also like a lot of time allowances and flexibility so I can’t join all of them.

Current Challenges

• Something About Me (0 of ?) – When I picked out my books for this, I knew I was not going to be read all of them. I am currently one from this list, and a couple more before this ends in Dec 31.
• Book Awards (5 of 12) – Progress is going well, and there is lots of time for me to complete this before July 1. I’ll read at least one from the list before the year is over.
• Book to Movies (2 of 3) – Currently reading third book, and set to be finished by end of month.
• Second Chances (0 of 3) – Most books will be read in the last month (December).
• Seafaring Reading (0 of 2) – I have the second book in the series, not the first yet. Probably Christmas reading as well.
• Pulitzer Project – No time limit, and each update will say if I’ve read a Pulitzer since the last one.

Pending Challenges

• Decades 08 – Eight books from eight decades in 2008. Want to do 16 decades.
• In their shoes – I picked six bios/memoirs to be read in the calendar year.
• Russian Reading – Four Russian related books in one year.
• What’s in a Name? – Six books in one year.
• TBR 2008 – Twelve books in twelve months. Plan to sign up so list will be up next month.

Completed Challenges

• Summer Reading Challenge, Round 2 – Completed my goals, and read all the books.

This challenge goes from January 1 to December 31, 2008. One title from each of the six categories. I only intend to read one book under each category, but I’ve given myself options and alternates as usual.

1. A book with a color in its title.
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Color Purple by Alice Walker

2. A book with an animal in its title.
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Wings of the Dove by Henry James

3. A book with a first name in its title.
Life and Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee
Anil‘s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

4. A book with a place in its title.
Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
The Known World by Thomas P. Jones

5. A book with a weather event in its title.
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

6. A book with a plant in its title.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

A memoirs / biography reading challenge running through the whole of 2008. As with most of my lists, this is tentative and subject to change.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
William Shakespeare or Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson
Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832 by Stella Tillyard
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

Death by reading challenges, eh? The Seafaring challenge features books of nautical nature. It runs from November 1, 2007 to January 31, 2008. I really just have one goal in this challenge: Read any book(s) from the Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forrester.

I love the miniseries, and I’ve been meaning to read at least one of these books for years. One book makes me Lieutenant, but I want to attain at least Captain by the end of January.

Oh here are some bonuses as per my usual challenge posts:

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
..and any Pulitizer Prize or Newbery winning book that fits into this category

I am really open to suggestions since I have read little in this genre. Nonfiction can apply, but it must be engaging of course.

When I was 13 going on 14, I read Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I loved it. It made me appreciate not only Russian literature, but the classics in general. Tolstoy remains one of my favourite authors to this day, and I read War and Peace and The Death of Ivan Ilych last year. I’ve also always wondered about reading Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. The rules of this challenge are read a minimum of four books on Russia, about Russia, set in Russia, written by Russians, etc. I aspire to complete some of this tentative list, and I’ve picked a couple of moderately lengthed books to help me out. Continue reading →

Time for the 2008 book challenges to start popping up and getting organized. This is Decades ’08: Eight books from eight consecutive decades. That’s the minimum, and I can change my list at any time. The following is a tentative list which is subject to change at any time, and I’ve just named a couple books I’d like to read for most of the decades. I really only intend to read one from each.

Continue reading →