Archive for March 17th, 2008
Monday, March 17th, 2008The Pub 2008 Challenge
January 1 - December 31, 2008
March 14, 2008
COMPLETED this challenge! What a great challenge - thank you Michelle for hosting it. I finished this much earlier than I would have imagined which speaks to how successful I’ve been at obtaining ARCs. I’ve discovered a number of new authors through this challenge; most of the books I read were debut novels. My favorite book read was The Outlander, by Gil Adamson. I am looking forward to reading more of her novels. I would definitely do this one in 2009 if it is offered again.
I’ve decided to continue to track my reads published in 2008 and will simply add them to the bottom of this post.
*********
Isn’t this a beautiful button? Now can you see why I couldn’t resist joining? Especially once Michelle agreed to allow books completed after Christmas (instead of making me wait until January 1st!). Michelle’s idea for The Pub 2008 Challenge is this:
- Read a minimum of 8 books published in 2008. (Library books are acceptable!)
- No children’s/YA titles allowed, since we’re at the ‘pub.’
- At least 4 titles must be fiction.
- Crossovers with other challenges are allowed.
- Titles may be changed at any time.
I have been getting ARCs of late, and these will fit right in!
Here is my list (in progress):
1. The Outlander, by Gil Adamson (Completed December 27, 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
2. The Winter Rose, by Jennifer Donnelly (Completed January 5, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
3. The Outcast, by Sadie Jones (Completed February 3, 2008; rated 3.5/5; read my review)
4. The House at Riverton, by Kate Morton (Completed January 9, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
5. Have You Found Her - A Memoir, by Janice Erlbaum (Completed January 14, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
6. The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur, by Daoud Hari (Completed February 15, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
7. Resistance, by Owen Sheers (Completed March 6, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
8. The Story of Forgetting, by Stefan Merrill Block (Completed March 14, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
Books read after I completed the challenge:
- The Secret Scroll, by Ronald Cutler (Completed March 16, 2008; rated 2/5; read my review)
- Belong To Me, Marisa de los Santos (Completed March 26, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
- Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout (Completed April 2, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
- The Sister, Poppy Adams (Completed April 7, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway (Completed April 10, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
- The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry (Completed April 20, 2008; rated 3.5/5; read my review)
- Laughing Without An Accent, by Firoozeh Dumas (Completed May 17, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
- Songs For the Missing, by Stewart O’Nan (Completed May 27, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
- Takeover, by Lisa Black (Completed June 8, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
- The Wednesday Sisters, by Meg Waite Clayton (Completed June 10, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
- Comfort Food, by Kate Jacobs (Completed June 25, 2008; rated 2/5; read my review)
- The House at Midnight, by Lucie Whitehouse
On the TBR Mountain
This morning I gazed at my stack of books I have yet to read this month…and realized, yet again, I have overextended myself. Lately, I have been requesting (and receiving) quite a few Advance Reader’s Editions. These are the books I really need to read first; and yet there are so many other great books beckoning to me.
Here are the early review books slated for reading in the next two weeks (can you hear me snickering?):
Belong to Me, by Marisa de los Santos (Harper Collins)
Jackfish, The Vanishing Village, by Sarah Felix Burns (Inanna Publications)
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)
The Sister, by Poppy Adams (Knopf)
I’m currently reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe…which I’m enjoying. It is a classic I haven’t read before, believe it or not.
Also on the TBR Mountain are books I was supposed to finish either in February or March (still snickering):
Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
The Magnificent Ambersons, by Booth Tarkington
Independent People, by Halldor Laxness
If my math is correct, that is nine books (not counting my current read) which I have “scheduled” myself to read before the month ends. That comes out to one book every day and a half. Oh, and I didn’t even mention War and Peace which I haven’t yet started, but was supposed to be done with by mid-April.
I don’t think anyone can say I don’t have enough wonderful books from which to pick my next reading adventure!