Sunday, January 11, 2009

2009 Book & Blog Challenges

I finally picked a few challenges I think I have a good chance of actually completing. I still have the 1% Well Read Challenge going on until Feb 28, 2009 but I have 8 more books on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list to go (did not pace myself well) so I don't see myself finishing. I will try to complete at least 3 more though so I can at least acheive .5% for the year.

Chunkster Challenge at http://feelinchunky.blogspot.com/

Ok, I’m going to do it!
And I am picking option 2: "Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big?" That means I have until November 15, 2009 to read 3-5 adult chunksters 450 pages or longer.

I plan to read the following:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (ARC page count 451)
The Goneaway World by Nick Harkaway (ARC page count 497)
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (hardcover page count 479)

And to make it a real challenge:

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (paperback page count 492)

Plus, I’ll leave one open in case I find one I like at the library.


LT Author Challenge 2009

Dawn of She is too fond of Books hosts this one. I participated in this last year and only ended up reading 2 books for it. This year we are supposed to read at least 5 by December 31, 2009.

Here’s my list:

Dust of 100 Dogs by AS King
In the Land of Invisible Women by Quanta A. Ahmed
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender
Wake by Lisa McMann
Fade by Lisa McMann

The 2009 ARC Reading Challenge

This one, hosted by Teddy Rose at So Many Books, So Little Time, requires that we read at least 12 ARCs in 2009. Ummm…no problem! I am only going to list actual ARCs and not books sent for review in another format (though that is allowed).

Here are my first 12:

Dust of 100 Dogs by AS King
Flygirl by Sherri L Smith
A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff
Ten Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah
North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
Tell Me Who by Jessica Wollman
Triple Shot Bettys in Love by Jody Gehrman
Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff
Where am I Wearing? By Kelsey Timmerman
The Music Teacher by Barbara Hall

2009 Young Adult Book Challenge

Also a no-brainer is J.Kaye’s Young Adult Book Challenge. Only 12 by December 31, 2009? I read 65 last year, so I think I’ll just try to beat that. I'm sure a fair number of these will be from debut authors. I have my eye on this list of awesome sounding books from the 2009 Debutantes and already have the following in my TBR:

Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies by Erin Dionne
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Fairy Lust (now known as Fairy Tale) by Cyn Balog

The following are on the way (so I've been told!):

The Season by Sarah MacLean
Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard


The VC Andrews "Read the Good Trash" Movement

Thanks to Liviania for reminding me of this challenge in the comments (in my defense, it is nearly midnight). I'm only a "secret" participant because I read the Flowers in the Attic series and the Heaven series just a few years ago, and I don't know if I'll get around to reading them again this year. I do want to participate in any fun movement activities though, so that's why I have "secret" status. Thanks to Taren and Steph for hosting! If you want to join, go here.

Well Worth Watching Challenge

Joanne at Book Zombie
gave me the Well Worth Watching Award which she designed herself. I think the button she created is so cool, I want to make a challenge out of it. That means every week or so during the rest of 2009, I am going to choose a blogger to receive the award and I’ll highlight their blog, hopefully including a short interview. So if I contact YOU, I hope you'll play along :)

Comment More Challenge

I know how much I love getting comments, and I need to get in the habit of leaving more comments of my own. In fact, I am challenging myself to reciprocate comments left on my blog. That means if you comment on one of my posts, I’m going to hunt down a post of yours on which I can leave a halfway meaningful comment (assuming you have a blog and post pretty regularly). If I get busy with lots of client projects, I might get behind on this, but I’m going to try to keep up.

26 comments:

Alea said...

Yay! I was hoping you'd join some of the challenges I was doing!

I can vouch for the thickness of The Help. I saw it at the Library Book Store last week and was like Whoa! And great idea about the Well Worth Watching Challenge, that will be fun to see!

Anonymous said...

This being YA...lol...some days a nap might help.

Yan said...

Oh I can't wait to read Dust of 100 Dogs by AS King and Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. Very tempted to do a swap with you ;P I'm also doing the YA Book Challenge! I have about 5 books down I think...? lol I love the comment more challenge. I'm sooo lazy to do that challenge though.

Lenore Appelhans said...

I know, Alea! These days I gravitate towards the short ARCs to move my pile, so The Help is lucky I'm joining the Chunkster because I like the name so much - ha!!

J. Kaye - thanks for the welcome. I'll head over to yahoo asap.

Yan - I was extremely lucky to get the ARC of Dust (I begged the Flux rep at the Frankfurt Book Fair) so I might not be so inclined to give that one up. But you might have a good chance of swapping the other.

Alea said...

I just finished one that was less than 200 pages, I thought that was so crazy! It was very very nice!

Liviania said...

Some of these challenges sound really cool. I've been looking for some aside from VCA to join.

Lenore Appelhans said...

Which one Alea? One you haven't reviewed yet?

Oh Liviania, I almost forget about VCA challenge. I am pretending to be a secret participant.

Alea said...

I'll probably review it tonight, it's called At A Loss For Words. It was interesting, but a bit whiny.

High-five for being a V.C. Andrews Secret Participant!

Lenore Appelhans said...

High five back at you :) I just edited my post to include it!

Teddy Rose said...

Hey Lenore, thanks for joining the ARC Reading Challenge. It should be fun!

Linda said...

You've got quite a lot of reading ahead of you, don't you? Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Good luck with all of your challenges!

LisaMay said...

So many challenges! Good luck :)

Unknown said...

Lenore, I have full faith that you'll complete the VCA challenge with flying colors -and awesome insights into the freakiness of the VCA world.

nadine said...

Wow, that's quite a number of challenges there. Good Luck.

Laina said...

Hey!! Do you want to do a link exchange?

Literary Feline said...

Good luck with the challenges, Lenore! I am also participating in the Chunkster Challenge's "Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big?" option. I couldn't resist. :-) And the ARC Challenge was no brainer for me what with all my current ARC's waiting in the wings.

Good luck and I hope you have a great week.

Thao said...

Good luck with the challenges Lenore :)

Sandra said...

That's nice that you're doing the LT Authors challenge too. I did it last year and won the prize. I'm doing totally different books than you, there are a lot more LT authors than there were before. I'm interested in your review of Delicate Edible Birds, quite the title. A lovely award button and an interesting self challenge. You are going to be busy. Happy reading in 2009.

Ana S. said...

Good luck with all of those, Lenore! Also, congrats on the award :D I love the button too. Your interview idea is a great one! I'll be fun to learn more about other bloggers that way.

S. Krishna said...

Woo - I'm excited about The Chunkster Challenge!

Ladytink_534 said...

I joined the YA challenge and I may change my mind about the chunkster and join too. I've read a few VC Andrews over the years but the Flowers in the Attic series are my favorites.

Melissa said...

I hardly need another challenge, but I almost want to sign up for the Chunkster Challenge just for the button!

Anonymous said...

Alea: I am going to post a recommendation for Rowan of the Wood
( by Christine and Ethan Rose) and 'My Sweet Audrina' by VC Andrews. The Rowan book is good because it isn't a hugely long book!

And all the first two VC Andrews series were awesome.

Anonymous said...

Me, too, Lady tink! Flowers in the Attic is the ultimate book that 'sticks with you'. I came on here lookin for reviews on the Courtney book and "Rowan of the Wood". Just read the Rowan one recently and liked it a lot! Have you seen or read it?

Anonymous said...

Lenore, I read the Andrews series up until her demise.. once they started with 'Dawn' and that series, I wasn't
reading it anymore.