March 1 – December 31, 2009

Bethany of B&B Ex Libris is hosting the Orbis Terrarum Challenge 2009. Here are the guidelines:

1. Choose 10 books (for the 10 months).
2. Each book must from a different country (defined as the country of origin of the author, or the country he/she lives in)
3. No list is required, which means you can change your mind at any time. As long as there are 10 from 10 different countries, written by 10 different authors: Anything goes

Bethany is also including mini-challenges as part of the overall challenge (these are optional). I am considering doing the Short Story mini challenge over the summer.

I will be making my list as I go for this challenge, but have listed some possibilities below:

1. The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, by C.M. Mayo (COMPLETED May 1, 2009; rated 3.5/5; read my review) – MEXICO
2. Christine Falls, by Benjamin Black (COMPLETED May 6, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review) – IRELAND
3. Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie (COMPLETED May 30, 2009; rated 3/5; read my review) – INDIA
4. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, by Kate Summerscale (COMPLETED June 7, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review) – ENGLAND
5. The Elegance of a Hedgehog, by Muriel Barberry (COMPLETED July 18, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review) – FRANCE
6. Finding Nouf, by Zoe Ferraris (COMPLETED July 24, 2009; rated 4/5; read my review) – SAUDI ARABIA
7. A Disobedient Girl, by Ru Freeman (COMPLETED September 28, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review) – SRI LANKA
8. A Bend in the River, by V.S. Naipaul – (COMPLETED October 3, 2009; rated 1/5; read my review) – TRINIDAD
9. Someone Knows My Name, by Lawrence Hill (COMPLETED August 12, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review) – CANADA
10. The Passport, by Herta Muller (COMPLETED November 24, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review) – GERMANY
11. Kristin Lavransdatter, by Sigrid Undset (COMPLETED December 20, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review of The Wreath, The Wife, and The Cross) – NORWAY
12. Persepolis AND Persepolis 2, by Marjane Satrapi (COMPLETED December 28, 2009; rated 4/5 and 4.5/5; read my review of Persepolis, and Persepolis 2) – IRAN

March 1, 2009 – March 31, 2010

Michelle from 1 More Chapter is hosting this popular challenge again for 2009-2010.  Here are the guidelines:

There are three options from which to choose:

1. Read 10 titles from the original list from March 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.
2. Read 10 titles from the new list from March 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.
3. Read 13 titles from the combined list (of almost 1300 titles) from March 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010. In other words, “What were they thinking dropping titles from Dostoevsky and Jane Austen?”

For all options, overlaps with other challenges are allowed, and you may change your list at any time.

I’m choosing option #3  and I am going to choose books which I already own. Here is a list which shows all the books.

Books read with ratings and links to my reviews:

1. (#219) Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie (Completed May 30, 2009; rated 3/5; read my review)
2. (#297) A Bend in the River, by V.S. Naipaul (Completed October 3, 2009; rated 1/5; read my review)
3. (#770) The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton (Completed January 26, 2010; rated 4/5; read my review)
   

I will choose my books from those listed below (which already reside on my TBR Mountain):

From the New List:

• The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Small Island, by Andrea Levy
• The Line of Beauty, by Alan Holinghurst
• A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, by Marina Lewychka
• Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong
• Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

From the Old List:

• (#3) On Beauty, by Zadie Smith
• (#8) The Plot Against America, by Philip Roth
• (#18) What I Loved, by Siri Hustvedt
• (#19) The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
• (#31) In the Forest, by Edna O’Brien
• (#43) The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen
• (#50) The Feast of the Goat, by Mario Vargos
• (#52) The Devil and Miss Prym, by Paulo Coelho
• ($62) The Human Stain, by Philip Roth
• (#82) Cloudsplitter, by Russell Banks
• (#93) Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden
• (#99) American Pastoral, by Philip Roth
• (#104) Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels
• (#117) A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry
• (#125) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
• (#135) Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks
• (#141) A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth
• (#205) Oscar and Lucinda, by Peter Carey
• (#219) Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie
• (#223) Beloved, by Toni Morrison
• (#236) Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• (#297) A Bend in the River, by V.S. Naipaul
• (#365) The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
• (#381) Them, by Joyce Carol Oates
• (#387) Cancer Ward, by Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
• (#399) One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• (#440) The Golden Notebook, by Doris Lessing
• (#538) The Grass is Singing, by Doris Lessing
• (#588) Native Son, by Richard Wright
• (#609) Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
• (#689) The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
• (#717) Siddharth, by Herman Hesse
• (#741) Of Human Bondage, by William Somerset Maughan
• (#770) House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton
• (#788) The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
• (#810) The Kruetzer Sonata, by Leo Tolstoy
• (#837) The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostovsky
• (#880) The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins
• (#890) Bleak House, by Charles Dickens
• (#925) The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper
• (#933) Persuasion, by Jane Austen
• (#936) Emma, by Jane Austen
• (#937) Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen
• (#940) Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen

August 1, 2008 – January 31, 2009

UPDATE: JANUARY 6, 2009 – CHALLENGE COMPLETED!

Many thanks to Ariel for hosting this fun challenge. I ended up reading a total of 9 books from 6 different authors. By far, my favorite authors from this challenge are Per Petterson, Kate Grenville, Rose Tremain, and Daphne du Maurier…all authors I will visit again in my reading!

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Once again, Ariel from Sycorax Pine is hosting the Unread Authors Challenge. She’s using the same group blog for this challenge as the last one. I love widening my horizons and reading books by new-to-me authors, and so I decided to join part II of the challenge. Here are the rules:

1. Read at least SIX books by an author whose work you have never read before.
2. You may choose six different “unread” authors to introduce yourself to, or you may choose just one or two and explore their work in greater depth.
3. Authors may be drawn from any genre of literature. The only requirement is that they be authors whose work you substantially regret not having read yet.
4. Your choices may overlap with other challenges you have underway.

Here are the authors I read:

1. Per Petterson (COMPLETED Out Stealing Horses January 6, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review)
2. Pat Barker (COMPLETED the WWI Trilogy consisting of Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, and The Ghost Road – December 25, 2008. Click on the titles to read my reviews and see my ratings)
3. Kate Grenville (COMPLETED The Secret River October 13, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
4. Rose Tremain (COMPLETED The Colour August 25, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review; COMPLETED Music and Silence October 10, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
5. Daphne Du Maurier (COMPLETED Rebecca November 7, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
6. Alice Munro (COMPLETED The View From Castle Rock September 26, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)

January 1 – December 31, 2009

1.   Read a collection of short stories and either blog about it, OR tell the group about what you read.

Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri (read February 22, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review)

2.  Read a play. Blog about it, OR tell the group about your experience.

3. Read a nonfiction book; write a review on your blog or post it to the group.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, by Kate Summerscale (read June 7, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review)

4. Read 2 essays from the same collection; write a review on your blog or tell the group about what you read.

5. Go to a book event; blog about it or tell the group about it.

6. Borrow a library book, read it and review it on your blog (or tell the group about it).

7. Read a book by a new to you author. Do a little research on the author…do they have a blog? How many books have they written? Have they won any prizes? Where do they live? etc… Blog about the book you read and the author OR tell the group about them.

Out Stealing Horses, by Per Petterson (read January 6, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review) – Read my post about Per Petterson.

8. Make a donation. You can either donate to an organization that supports reading OR make a physical donation of a book (or books) to ANYONE. Blog about it or tell the group what you did.

9. Promote literacy. This is wide open – use your imagination. You could give a child a book, or read a book to someone who cannot read, or volunteer at an event which promotes literacy, or donate to your local library, or write something on your blog with a link to a group which promotes literacy, or anything in between.  The only rule with this one is that you must PROMOTE literacy in some way…

10. Participate in a buddy read or Group discussion. This can be a face to face group, an on-line group or a one on one discussion with a friend who read the same book. Either way, blog about your experience or share with the group. Did the discussion give you greater appreciation or insight into what you read?

The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga – read for 21st Fiction Yahoo Group AND Booker Yahoo Group (finished January 3, 2009; rated 4/5; read my review) – Read my post about my experience.

11. Read a book outside your comfort level or from a genre you don’t normally read. Blog about it, or tell the group about it.

After the Floods, by Bruce Henricksen – MAGICAL REALISM (completed January 18, 2009; rated 3.5/5; read my review)

12. Read a classic (defined as anything published before 1970). Tell us why it fits the category of being a classic. Write a review or tell the group about the book.

Tortilla Flat, by John Steinbeck (completed August 24, 2009; rated 4.5/5; read my review) Steinbeck’s classic novella was first published in 1935 and has continued to be read and discussed in schools and book groups. It captures Depression era California like few novels do.

June 1 – September 1, 2008

UPDATE August 31, 2008: I completed this challenge on August 29, 2008. It was really fun to read these light, very well-written novels. There wasn’t a bad one in the bunch! Thank you Debi for hosting the challenge!

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Hosted by Debi at Journey to the End of the TBR Pile, the Chick Lit Challenge is simple: Read three books from the Chick Lit genre. I have a few of these on my TBR pile, so it was hard to say no to this one! Here’s my list (subject to change):

1. The Wednesday Sisters, by Meg Wait Clayton (COMPLETED June 10, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
2. Rules for Saying Goodbye, by Katherine Taylor (COMPLETED August 4, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
3. Love Walked In, by Marisa de los Santos (COMPLETED August 29, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)