I read five of six books…my favorites being Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain and Gail Caldwell’s memoir Let’s Take the Long Way Home. My least favorite of the bunch was Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

You can see all the books I read for the challenge (with links to my reviews) here.

Dewey’s Books Reading Challenge hosted by Chris at Stuff Dreams Are Made Of and Robin at A Fondness for Reading .

I was really happy to participate in this challenge to honor Dewey by reading from her books list. I completed the last book on the last day of December. My favorites from this challenge were the graphic novels: Persepolis and Persepolis 2.

To see my complete list of books read, and links to my reviews, please visit this post.

Many thanks to the hosts of this very meaningful challenge.

Lost in Translation hosted by Frances from Nonsuch Book.

The goal of this challenge was to read 6 books in translation. I ended up reading 7. This was a great challenge that exposed me to some books I might otherwise not have read. My favorite read of the challenge was Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson – but that is really splitting hairs as there was no book I didn’t love for this challenge! To see my list and get links to my reviews, visit this post.

Many thanks to Frances for hosting this fabulous challenge.

2009 Mini-Challenges for A Novel Challenge Yahoo Group hosted my ME!

Yes, you read that correctly. I won’t finish a challenge for which I was actually the host. Oh well. I just lost steam on this one and decided I didn’t care if I finished it or not. Although I’ve hosted this challenge for a couple of years in a row now, I won’t be hosting it for 2010. I’ve put out feelers at the Yahoo group but have no takers for this yet…so it may be so-long to this challenge for now.

To see what I did manage to complete, visit my post about my progress here.

Spice of Life Reading Challenge hosted by Rebecca.

I am actually really disappointed in myself for not completing this challenge – it was only FOUR books, and I couldn’t pull it off. I have a terrible track record in completing food related reading challenges, and I haven’t figured out why since I own a gazillion cookbooks and books about food and fiction which is food related. I just don’t seem to read any of them! I read one measly book for this challenge…to see my review of it (and look at the books I managed to ignore) visit this post.

Many thanks to Rebecca for hosting this original challenge – she put a ton of work into it and had mini-challenges and fun posts throughout the challenge period. I know I should just bow out of food-related challenges from now on, but if she hosts it again, I will probably not be able to resist.

My Year of Reading Dangerously hosted by Estella.

I set out to read 12 “dangerous books” – you can see my list with links to my reviews and ratings here. This was a fun challenge and I read outside my comfort zone for many of these books. My most challenging read was Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. Although I am not hurrying to read another of his books soon, I appreciated his ability to write. My favorite read of the challenge was a collection of short stories by Catherine Brady (The Mechanics of Falling).

Thanks so much for hosting, Estella!!

Orbis Terrarum hosted by Bethany at B&B Ex Libris.

For this challenge, participants were asked to read 10 books from 10 different countries and written by 10 different authors (countries were either defined by the country of origin of the author, or where the author was currently living). I actually ended up reading 12 books (you can view my list of books with links to reviews here). I really enjoyed this challenge. My favorite read was A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman (set in Sri Lanka). I also read books from Germany, Canada, Norway, Iran, Trinidad, Saudi Arabia, England, France, India, Mexico and Ireland.

Thanks for a terrific challenge, Bethany!

At the beginning of 2009, I challenged myself to read at least 6 books from the Notable Lists on the challenge blog. Here is how I did:

1. Netherland, by Joseph O’Neill (from NYT Most Notable – 2008) – COMPLETED April 4, 2009; rated 3/5; read my review.
2. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery (from Christian Science Monitor Bests – 2008) – COMPLETED July 18, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review.
3. Out Stealing Horses, by Per Petterson (from 2008 ALA Most Notable and NBCC Best Books- 2007 and NYT Most Notable-2007) – COMPLETED January 6, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review)
4. Sea of Poppies, by Amitav Ghosh (from 2008 PW Best Books) COMPLETED July 12, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review.
5. Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri (from 2008 PW Best Books, 2008 NYT Most Notable, and 2009 ALA Notable Books) COMPLETED February 22, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review.
6. Matrimony, by Joshua Henkin (from 2007 NYT Most Notable) COMPLETED February 11, 2009; rated 3.5/5; read my review.
7. What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman (from 2007 PW Best Books) COMPLETED June 16, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review.
8. The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti (2008 NYT Most Notable) COMPLETED July 29, 2009; rated 3/5; read my review.
9. The Road Home, by Rose Tremain (2008 NYT Most Notable) COMPLETED January 16, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review.
10. City of Refuge, by Tom Piazza (2008 Christian Science Monitor Best Book) COMPLETED October 8, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review.

I also knocked off some books from the 2009/10 lists (although I didn’t know it at the time). These are:

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (2009 Christian Science Monitor Best Books, and 2010 Tournament of Books Best Books) COMPLETED September 3, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review.
2. Follow Me, by Joanna Scott (2009 NYT Most Notable) COMPLETED April 25, 2009; rated 4/5; read my review.
3. The Believers, by Zoe Heller (2009 PW’s Best Books, and 2010 Tournament of Books Best Books) COMPLETED November 1, 2008; rated 4/5, read my review.
4. Last Night In Twisted River, by John Irving (2010 Tournament of Books Best Books) COMPLETED November 1, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review.

So with the exception of The Believers which I actually read in 2008, I finished 13 books for this challenge! And I’m happy with that!

Before the end of this year, I’ll be creating a challenge list of possibilities for this challenge in 2010.

I had a goal of completing 12 ARCs (and I took that literally – so I did not count review copies, only the advanced readers editions). I actually completed 17  which made me happy…until I looked at all the ARCs I have yet to read! To see my list (with ratings and links to reviews), visit this post.

My favorite reads from this challenge were The Help, by Kathryn Stockett AND Last Night in Twisted River, by John Irving.

I hope Teddy will host this one again in 2010 – I can always use the extra push to get these ARCs read and reviewed!

The Chunkster Challenge was all about reading those fat books which at times seem so intimidating. I chose the Mor-book-ly Obese option (to read 6 or more chunksters OR three tomes of 750 pages or more). My last book for the challenge was The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb…and I actually did not finish it completely until the day after this challenge ended. BUT, I did manage to finish 600 pages of it on the last day of the challenge…and since a chunkster is defined as a book longer than 450 pages, I figured I would count this one (okay, so I stretched the rules a tad…oh well!). You can see the books I read, and my ratings and links to reviews, but visiting this post. My favorite book of the challenge was Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving, with the runner up being Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Many thanks to Dana who hosted this fun challenge.  In 2010, I’ll be taking over the hosting duties for the Chunkster Challenge – hope to see you there!

The 2009 PUB Challenge was hosted once again by Michelle…and it was all about reading books published in 2009. My goal was to 9 books – and I actually did that some time ago, but just kept going. I finished 28 books (so far) this year which were published in 2009…and although I will probably read a few more before the year is out, I have decided to wrap up this challenge. You can see the books I read and their ratings and links to my reviews by visiting this page. I read some GREAT books, including some five-star ones:

• Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving
• A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman
• The Mechanics of Falling by Catherine Brady
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Thanks Michelle for another great challenge!

The New Authors Challenge encouraged readers to read new-to-me authors. Hosted by Literary Escapism, this is one of my favorite challenges. The goal was to read 50 new authors over the course of the year. So far, I have read 57…and will probably read several more before 2009 closes out. I decided to wrap up the challenge, but will continue to add new authors to my list which can be found here. Some new-to-me authors who I am eager to read more from:

Per Petterson, Joyce Hinnefeld, Jhumpa Lahiri, Catherine Brady, Benjamin Black, Tana French, Judith Ryan Hendricks, Emily St. John Mandel, Laura Lippman, Amitav Ghosh, Kathryn Stockett, Ru Freeman, Tom Piazza, and Louise Erdrich.

Many thanks to Jackie for a terrific challenge. This one will again be hosted in 2010 – hope to see you there!

Here is a summary of what I did:

Option 3: Read at least 6 books that share MORE than two themes.

My themes were:

1. Female authors
2. New to me authors
3. The plot has some sort of mystery which must be solved
4. A child or children play a central role in the book

Here is what I read:

1. What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman (Completed June 16, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
2. The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti (Completed July 29, 2009; rated 3/5; read my review)
3. Finding Nouf, by Zoe Ferraris (Complete July 24, 2009; rated 4/5; read my review)
4. In the Woods, by Tana French (Completed May 22, 2009; rated 4/5; read my review)
5. Between Here and April, by Deborah Copaken Kogan (Completed July 20, 2009; rated 4/5; read my review)
6. Last Night in Montreal, by Emily St. John Mandel (Completed June 1, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review)

Overall, these books were really good. My favorite reads were What The Dead Know and Last Night in Montreal. My least favorite read was The Good Thief.

A REMINDER TO ALL PARTICIPANTS:

• Please drop by and leave me a link to your wrap-up post HERE. I’ll be closing those links by the middle of August.
• If you have reviews of books you have not yet linked to Mr. Linky, I will be leaving up the links to the review posts (you can find them ON MY SIDEBAR) through the month of August, and then I’ll be closing those links.

Thanks to all who participated! I will be hosting the third installment of this challenge beginning February 2010…so watch for sign ups around then.

July 1, 2009 – February 28, 2010

Kristi at Passion for the Page is hosting Part II of the What An Animal Challenge. I did the first one and really enjoyed it…and I seem to have a lot of books on my stacks that meet the requirements of this challenge…so I’m in

Here are the guidelines:

1. Read at least 6 books that have any of the following requirements:

a. there is an animal in the title of the book
b. there is an animal on the cover of the book
c. an animal plays a major role in the book
d. a main character is (or turns into) an animal (define that however you’d like

2. The animal can be any type of animal (real or fictitious)–dog, cat, monkey, wolf, snake, insect, hedgehog, aardvark…dragon, mermaid, centaur, vampire, werewolf…you get the idea…

3. Books can be fiction or nonfiction.

4 You may make a list of books at the beginning of the challenge or you can just list them as you find them.

5. Book titles may be swapped out at anytime (assuming you made a list to begin with).

6. Crossovers with other challenges are permitted and encouraged.

7. You don’t have to have a blog or write a review, but you can if you want to.

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Here are the books from which I will choose:

1. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery (COMPLETED July 18, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
2. Looking After Pigeon, by Maud Carol Markson (COMPLETED November 10, 2009 ; rated 4/5; read my review)
3. Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel (COMPLETED February 20, 2010; rated 3/5; read my review)
4. Let’s Take the Long Way Home, by Gail Caldwell (COMPLETED February 15, 2010; rated 5/5; read my review)
5. The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein (COMPLETED November 3, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review)
6. Straight from the Horse’s Heart, by R.T. Fitch
7. Delicate Edible Birds, by Lauren Groff
8. Sweeping Up Glass, by Carolyn Wall
9. Dewey, by Vicki Myron
10. The Hearts of Horses, by Molly Glass
11. The Daily Coyote, by Shreve Stockton

July 1 – December 31, 2009

Rebecca is hosting the Spice of Life Challenge to read and/or review books about food and eating our way through a good life.  I just cannot resist it! Here are the guidelines:

• Feel free to overlap your books with any other reading challenges you have.
• If you feel so inclined, share a favorite cookbook as well. The idea, however, is to find new favorites to fill our belly (and our minds!).
• If you don’t have a blog, you can still join.

There are four categories:

• Cookbooks share recipes so we can recreate delicious meals.  To count a cookbook for the challenge, share a little bit about what types of recipes it contains, any of the favorites that you may have cooked, and what you liked or not about it. You obviously don’t have to read every page of a cook book or cook every recipe.
• Nonfiction books are about food in general, including history of any food, cooking and diet guides, and reference books. For reference books, as for cookbooks, you may not need to read every word, including those  dense ones that you will be referring to again and again. Sometimes nonfiction books are best read in small bites; keep in mind you have six months to nibble through something!
• Memoirs, autobiographies, or essays are written by cooks or the everyday eater and are about learning to cook or about cooking or eating in general.
• Fiction captures the significance of food in our lives by making food a main part of the story. Define this as you will: if food is important to the story, it counts!

You can join the challenge in any of three levels of participation:

• A Taste: Joining the Spice of Life Challenge for “a taste” means that, although you love food and you love books about food, just a taste of food books will satisfy you right now. You’ll read and review just read two books from any of two of the above categories (different categories).
• A Sampler: Joining the Spice of Life Challenge for “a sampler” means that you want to balance your food book diet with variety, for variety is the spice of life. You will read and review a book from each category for a total of four books.
• A Feast: Joining the Spice of Life Challenge for “a feast” means that you want to fill yourself with good food books of all kinds this year! You will read and review six to eight books from at least three of the above categories.

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I’ve decided to participate on THE SAMPLER level. Here are some ideas I have to fit each category:

Cookbook Category

The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters

Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, by the Moosewood Collective

Nonfiction Category

American Artisanal: Finding the Country’s Best Real Food from Cheese to Chocolate, by Rebecca Gray

Memoirs, Autobiographies or Essays Category

A Thousand Days in Tuscany, by Marlena De Blasi

Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell

Tender at the Bone, by Ruth Reichl

I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti, by Giulia Melucci

Fiction Category

The Book of Unholy Mischief, by Elle Newmark (COMPLETED August 18, 2009; rated 4/5; read my review)