The One With the Challenge (R.I.P. V)

Challenges, in general, just don't tempt me anymore. Yes, I realize, yet again, that such a fact paints me as a freak among book bloggerdom. Early on, I realized that I'm pretty much the biggest challenge failure on the Earth. This didn't stop me from continuing to make lists and attempt participation only to repeatedly fail with flying colors. I guess I'm just not the sort that takes joy in reading within established parameters, that and I read at a snail's pace which means if I join more than one challenge, I'm suddenly in way over my head. This year I finally bagged even pursuing the illusion of challenge participation.



All that said, though, along comes Carl's R.I.P. challenge, a hallmark of the fall in book blogger land, and I find that despite my failure to review the one book I read for it last year (Challenge Fail Take 29!), I want to come out and play again. You know why? No, it's not an alarming compulsion to read kinda creepy books as the air gets crisper and cooler and the leaves start changing colors and people start carving jack-o-lanterns and putting them out on the porch to glow the night away, noble and rewarding as that might be (and the actual reason that most people are joining the challenge, I'd bet). It's nostalgia. R.I.P reminds me of when I was a baby blogger just starting to poke around the blogosphere and reviewing whatever books I felt like reading whenever I felt like reading them. I remember my first rounds of the blogosphere, when the first 24 Readathon was just coming to be. I remember seeing everyone reading all these atmospheric fall-ish sort of books, and it all sort of reminds me of my blogger self of yesteryear(s) who was excited about reviewing every book she read just to see if she could and wasn't busy dancing on the line between blogging as fun and blogging as chore. I miss my bloggy roots, and I guess that's why when R.I.P. comes around every year I have a bizarre compulsion to join in despite my total disavowal of challenges.

So here it goes. Again. I'll be doing the Peril the slacker Third, where you only have to read one book.

This one that everyone probably already read for last year's R.I.P. will probably be the one...



But it could be this one, too.



Or maybe even this one.



I know I've not given many details of the actual challenge, so if you happen to, um, not know what the heck challenge I'm talking about, you should absolutely go check it out. I mean, it's a book blogging tradition!

Now, wish me luck. I suck at this challenge stuff. =P

RIP IV Challenge

Once upon a time, when I was a baby blogger, this challenge was going on. (Click on the picture if somehow you've managed never to have heard of it or are getting a late start on it like me!) I think it may be part of what reeled me into the book blogosphere despite my never having taken part in the challenge before this year. It was so exciting to see so many people enthused about this challenge and reading all sorts of deliciously atmospheric books during a season (fall!) that seems to cry out for them. This year, I'm actually joining up.

I'm only planning to do Peril the Third which is the option that demands that only one book be read. I know myself, as many of you know me, to be a pretty slow reader, so I do like to set my goals low so that I can achieve them and perhaps actually surpass them. Carl tells us that we don't have to commit to a list, but suggests that we make a pool of reading options for the challenge.

Here's a few that I'm thinking about especially, though I do have a good few more options if these don't end up suiting me...

Dewey's Books Challenge

Despite my dismal failure at nearly every challenge I try, I'm going to have to give Dewey's Books Challenge a try, if only to try and honor her memory through reading. I'm sure you've all heard about this one by now, so I won't go on about the details - that's what the link's for! Anyhow, I'm going with option number 2 which is to choose and read 5 books that Dewey reviewed on her blog. Because I'm determined to succeed, I'm trying to make my list as easy as possible for me to accomplish, including mostly books that I already intend to read in 2009 and perhaps, uh, one that I've read already. Here's my list, which is, of course, subject to change upon my whims.

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Thanks to Chris and Robin for hosting!

Weekly Geeks #9

It seems as though I've been sitting out most of the Weekly Geeks lately. I did do the one with the catching up on your reviews, but never made it to the wrap-up post. So, this week, with the help of having an extra week, I'm back with a vengeance.

This week's challenge was to organize your challenges, or if you happen to never have joined one, to join one. This was a good one for me because it definitely helped me move some stuff from the "I should do" pile to the "I did" pile.

Now, I can't say that I'm a great fan of challenges (Did anybody just hear that collective gasp from all of book blogdom?). I like the meeting new people and feelings of accomplishment and maybe seeing a new face or few around the old blog, but I loathe overstructuring my reading. It makes it feel like work. Which means, I'm currently a little peeved at myself for acquiring a bit too many free books that come with reviewing commitments attached. Not that I regret a single one, I just need to gear up on some good old fashioned self-discipline, you know, not jumping at every opportunity that comes along even if that book does sound like it maybe might be good and, you know, making an actual concentrated effort to read more instead of uh, looking for more books that I want to read. Oh, it's a vicious cycle here in Booklust Land.

That said, I do indulge in a few challenges here and there and would say that I had a pretty well-rounded week of challenge housekeeping.

I started out by wrapping one up. That would be the Spring Reading Thing which I sort of succeeded and failed at, at the same time. It's my first completed challenge for better or for worse.

I cleaned up my list post - solidified the list a bit and linked my completed reviews - for the Pub '08 Challenge which I'm near to finishing. I just need to read more fiction. Now wait, let's take a moment to let the ridiculosity of that statement sink in. "I need to read more fiction." Ha! My how the reading tables have turned.

Finally, I joined one. I'm hoping this will be one that I can't fail at, because that would be very bad for me indeed. Everybody loves a challenge they're just about guaranteed to succeed at, now, don't they? So, yes, I joined the ARC Reading Challenge, a challenge that I'm sorely in need of. I'm about halfway through one of my selections already, and about a chapter and a half into one of the others, so it seems to be kicking off on a good note. I hope to far exceed my four selections!

That's about it. Like I said, there aren't too many challenges that I've joined for me to organize, but I still think I got a lot out of my week of challenge organization. Thanks, Dewey, for finally getting me off my butt to do some of this stuff that I keep telling myself I'm going to do! =)


On a bit of a side note, I'm wildly excited that my long holiday weekend has begun (the 4th of July should be on a Friday or a Monday every year if you ask me). Looking forward to hanging out with my family, doing a lot of reading, and, of course, getting that Three Cups of Tea review that you've all been waiting for written. Hope the rest of you have a fun/exciting/relaxing weekend as well!

Wrapping Up the Spring Reading Thing

Alas, I have failed at my goal for the Spring Reading Thing...sort of. When I started, my goal was to read all those pesky books that were waiting for review or that I owed to somebody from BookObsessed at the time. More importantly, I wanted to boost my reading numbers. I got off to a sorry start to reading this year, and I was hoping to read a bit more than I started out the year reading. I failed at the first goal and succeeded at the second.

Here are the books that I claimed I was going to read...

Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich
The Widows of Eden by George Shaffner
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen
Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn by Sarah Miller
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Then, here are the books I actually read...

Stealing Heaven - Elizabeth Scott
The Beet Queen - Louise Erdrich
Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson
Fever 1793 - Laurie Halse Anderson
The Widows of Eden - George Shaffner
The Cactus Eaters - Dan White
Black Wave - Jean and John Silverwood
Queen of the Road - Doreen Orion
A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray
Three Girls and Their Brother - Theresa Rebeck
Forgive Me - Amanda Eyre Ward

With Forgive Me squeaking in just under the wire (so under the wire in fact that I haven't had time to write my review of it yet), I made my number goal. Some unexpected reading "have tos" snuck in after I made my list and threw off my plan, but all in all, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I read some great books (ones that I was planning on and ones that I really wasn't).

All of my reads were written by authors that were new to me except for Forgive Me and The Beet Queen. My favorite? Probably A Great and Terrible Beauty for absorbing me so much that I was nearly able to forget that I had a dreadful cold while reading it. The Cactus Eaters and Queen of the Road tie for a close second for laugh out loud funny vicarious traveling. And I'm still plodding through Three Cups of Tea from my original list(which puts me at eleven and a half books, so, I did really good, right? Ha!), which is a good, informative, and even inspirational book but not a quick read by any means especially since I seem to be suffering some non-fiction burnout. I told myself I would read more non-fiction this year, and I have! Perhaps too much! 6 of 18...that's a solid third of my reading that's been non-fiction, and that's not counting Three Cups of Tea or those two other, ahem, I mean three other non-fiction titles I've agreed to review in the near future, and the five others that might well be coming in the mail shortly from Elle. Yikes! Anyhow, I digress.

All in all, I have to say that the Spring Reading Thing was a pretty rewarding experience for me despite my not quite success. It definitely got me reading more than I'd been, and that's just what I was hoping would happen. Thanks again to Katrina for hosting, and I might well join up should you choose to host a Fall Into Reading challenge!

Happy Spring!

So, it's spring. Of course, it's ridiculously cold outside and doesn't seem very springy at all, but I did brave the crowds of irritating youths to get some free Rita's Italian Ice, so spring must really be here. Spring generally means everything gets to start anew and afresh, right? Well, it's recently come to my attention that the enormous pile of waiting to be read books on my nightstand is simply out of control and I would desperately like to finish them and start a new and a fresh pile, hence the joining of....



The Spring Reading Thing is hosted by Katrina at Callapidder Days and encourages us to set our own goals for books to be read between now and June 19th. I liked the nice loose parameters and welcome the incentive to tackle the dreaded "nightstand pile of doom" even though my langorous reading speed of late might make this list a bit too ambitious...even though it's not all that ambitious to the average reader (or maybe I should say "average book blogger"?). Nonetheless, I will cease my advance excuse making now and get on with the list!

Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich
The Widows of Eden by George Shaffner
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen
Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn by Sarah Miller
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

and, this is unoffical, but if I am seized by a vast increase in reading speed, I'll include Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth here as my "bonus" book, as in, I'd be perfectly happy if I got all those other ones read, but if I get those read plus this daunting chunkster, I'd be truly ecstactic and deserve a great pat on the back.

There's the list. Reviews will be linked to this post as I finish the books. So let the reading (and uh...spring too, please) begin!

The Pub '08 Challenge

The Pub '08 Challenge

The rules are simple:

- 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.


Having contemplated joining since it was announced, this is the post where I finally break down and join the Pub '08 Challenge hosted by 3M. I was kind of holding out to see how many new titles I would end up needing to buy or borrow from the library before I made a committment, and having been awarded (much to my surprise) yet another book from the Early Reviewer program on Library Thing and with a few more to come from Elle, I'm convinced that I'll have enough throughout the course of the year to do the challenge without needlessly adding significantly to my TBR pile.

Here's my list...

1. The Translater by Daoud Hari
2. Widows of Eden by George Shaffner
3. Three Girls and Their Brother by Theresa Rebeck
4. Have You Found Her by Janice Erlbaum
5. The Cactus Eaters by Dan White
6. Black Wave by Jean and John Silverwood
7. Queen of the Road by Doreen Orion
8. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
9. Songs for the Missing by Stewart O'Nan
10. A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs
11. Home Girl by Judith Matloff
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Now, we interrupt this post for a brief moment of narcissism. The March issue of Elle magazine finally arrived in my mailbox. Now if you'll recall (that is, if you were here in Nov/Dec last year), I got to jump on the bandwagon of its Readers' Jury program again, and they sent me 3 books to read and comment on for the March issue, all 3 of which I uh... didn't love. Nonetheless, I'm enjoying my 15 minutes (okay...15 seconds) of fame again this year because two of my little comments are in the magazine. Now, for a fashion magazine, I'm always rather impressed that they have a pretty decent book section (*flips through pages aimlessly* hmmm...this season's little black dresses, 5 easy tricks for eyebrow shaping, Hollywood's secrets to great hair, and...BOOKS!), so it's fun to be a tiny part of it. It's not like my reviews and ramblings aren't already wandering all over the internet being read by other humans, but gosh, it's kind of an extra-special thrill to see my name and what I wrote on the pages of the magazine (and I always manage to be shocked that they chose *my* comments to put in the mag!).

By the way, if you happen to be interested in trying it, you can e-mail eagerreader at elle dot com and well...ask nicely about joining up with the program, and there's always a chance they'll actually reply to you with more info and an application (as they did for me - but it did *take* a while). You get three ARCs to read and write mini-reviews of (which may or may not get published in the magazine) for the month of your jury and then the 5 other top books from the other months to read during the summer for their grand prize. The only downfall is that it's kind of a crapshoot as to what you're going to get. I've read some great books for it (a few of my favorites from last year that I probably still wouldn't even know about if it hadn't been for Elle), and some not great books for it (including a few of my anti-favorites from last year). All in all, it's a pretty neat experience.

That's all for now. I did, however, finish a great book last night, so hopefully I'll be back soon with its review!

My first blogly reading challenge - Man Booker Challenge

I tried and tried and tried to resist joining a challenge despite mounting temptation from all sides (or should I say all blogs?). I don't like to overplan myself and not give myself enough flexibility in my reading. I've done it before many a time and have emerged from the experience hopping mad at myself. I mean, who needs another thing in life to fail at?

Nevertheless, Dewey has managed to sufficiently tempt me with the Man Booker Challenge, which involves reading six books in 2008 that have either won the Booker Prize or have been short or long listed for it. I have about a zillion books that qualify on Mt. TBR, and I only have to commit to 6 books, so I figure I'll be able to manage it - and I'll have knocked some books off said Mt. TBR and have enjoyed some good reading by this time next year. So here it goes with the list...



1. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
2. Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth
3. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
4. Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
5. The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
6. Quarantine by Jim Crace

It goes without saying (said the committment-phobe) that the list is subject to change. These are just the ones that are especially striking my fancy now.