The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

25.7

Marked by P.C. Cast (one word title)
Blood Noir by Laurell K. Hamilton (two word title)
Bookmarked for Death by Lorna Barrett (three word title)

So far my school reading hasn't fit into the challenge, but a week's vacation allowed me to get some challenge reading done - finally!

5.10 Fall Back in Time - One or More Character(s)Travel Back In Time
I listened to the unabridged audio of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The main character is hit on the head and finds himself in medieval England. It isn't a dream, and he does return to his own time at the very end.

25.10 Sam's Task - Halloween Part III: Monsterfest
I listened to the audio of World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War for the zombie in the title. Not my typical reading, but the boys enjoyed hearing it.

Finished:

15.3
• Addition - Add Up The Number Of Letters Found In Your First and Last Names Then Read A Book Written By An Author Whose Name Contains The Same Number Of Letters = 10

But Enough About Me A Jersey Girl's Unlikely Adventures Among the Absurdly Famous by Jancee Dunn

• Subtraction - Subtract The Number Of Letters Found In Your Whole Name (First, Middle, Last) From Your Age And Read A Book With That Many Letters Or Words In The Title = 10

Paper Towns by John Green

TOTAL POINTS = 85

Completed 25.8 Cait's Task - Looking for nouns

Person - Mary, Called Magdelene by Margaret George(630 pages)
Place - Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber(352 pages)
Thing - Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (293 pages)

Mary, Called Magdelene - historical fiction depicting the life of Mary Magdelene. Very good but a little wordy in some places.

Summer on Blossom Street - typical Macomber - nice, easy to read and uplifting story about characters you really like. Definitely a cozy.

Sarah's Key - outstanding story about the treatment of Jews in France during WWII. Absolutely a top-notch novel that grips you from page one and keeps you there. Will not tell more about plot - don't want to spoil it for anyone. One of best books I have read this year. Definitely 5 stars.

Points: 200
Books: 20
Pages: 7066
Tasks: 16
In Proc: 5

Here is what I have finished, so far:

5.2 Read a book that has a picture of an apple on the cover:
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

5.9 Nevermind, sorry!

10.3 Read several children's books (100 pages+) (Great task!):
Roger, The Jolly Pirate by Brett Helquist (40 pages);
How I became a Pirate by Melinda Long and David Shannon (44 pages);
Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner (32 pages).

10.10 Read a book that has the word cat(s) in the title:
The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers by Lilian Jackson Braun

This brings my total to 25 points!

8. You'll Find It In The Dictionary - Noah Webster Was Born October 16, 1758 - In Honor Of Him Visit The Random Word Generator Website And Then Read A Book Whose Title Contains The 9th, 10th, or 11th Word You Come To.
Electricity, Pose, Modern
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern (Cat Who...) by Lilian Jackson Braun
10 points
total 320

Maggie wrote: "Cynthia,

I would not call it a travel movie...it's more like a nature sort of movie. Below is the text from the IMAX website. Just let me know what you think! Thanks.

The world has a big backy..."I couldn't really tell from the descriptions I read but I'll take that

Kristina Marie wrote: "Here is what I have finished, so far:

5.2 Read a book that has a picture of an apple on the cover:
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

5.9 Read a coming of age novel:
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

10.3 Rea..."

I afraid Eclipse isn't a coming of age story - it's just ya so I can't credit you on that one.

15.8 Geography Lessons - My initials are D.P., so I picked Denmark - Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and Peru - The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.

Total Points: 425/690
Books Read: 45 (+ 8 Berenstain Bears books)
Tasks Completed: 31/45
Tasks in Progress: 5


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15 Points
8. Take Place in Countries That Share Your Initials: Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall (Botswana) AND The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (Czechoslovakia).

Not much to say about either. Neither was a great or horrible book, though Tears of the Giraffe was a lot better than The Unbearable Lightness.

Total Points: 255

20 point tasks:
3) Julie and Julia 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell

Tasks Completed = 1
Total Points = 20

Just finished
10.9 Civil War

I read The Widow of the South. Interesting story about a woman who helped in a hospital after a battle in Franklin, Tennessee.

Total points now: 110

Just finished 10.8 (Random Word Generator). My word was "boy".
I read About a Boy by Nick Hornby.

New total: 50 points

15 POINT TASK
2. Rewriting History - Read an Alternative Historical Novel. Afterwards, Post A Review Where You State Whether You Think The World (Or A Particular) Country Would Be Better Today If The Author's Version Of History Is What Really Happened. Give Reasons Why.
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick.

I can't imagine anyone saying the world would be a better place if Dick's vision here were to have occurred. The Axis powers won the Second World War, and the Japanese have taken control of the western US while the Nazis have taken control of the eastern US. The middle states are neutral, but slavery is legal and most of the "other" races have been exterminated, following Hitler's original plan. As I stated at the end of my full review, the story is meant to take place in the sixties, but I can't help but wonder how much more horrible things would be today if this vision had actually occurred.

Finished a couple more--

5.5--KIDNAPPED by Robert Louis Stevenson

I think I had this story confused with Mutiny On The Bounty, so it was a little different from what I expected. I found the dialects very difficult and the story a little slow.

and

15.1--

ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by David Sedaris

My favorite essays from this funny book were about his trip to France and how he had trouble with the language. It brought back memories of French class in college. Not a laugh out loud book, but I did chuckle a few times.

TALKING TO DRAGONS by Patricia C. Wrede

Tale of a young man who is sent off into an Enchanted Forest and his adventures with a Princess, a Fire-Witch, and a young dragon. Cute tale for the 10-teen crowd.

This brings me to 460 points!

Puttering away on several tasks, no new points to report. I did however finish "Burnt Offerings" (Anita Blake #7) for part of task 25.7 (Two) words in the title :0)

5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
5.10

10.1
10.2
10.3 The Selfish Crocodile (32pg)Aaron's hair (32pg) Where the Wild Things Are(48pg)
10.4 (Mexico)The Ruins
10.5
10.6
10.7
10.8
10.9
10.10

15.1 (Prepositions=to)Dead to the World & TBR
15.2
15.3
15.4 Jurassic Park & (Film)"Disney Nature Earth 2007"
15.5
15.6
15.7
15.8
15.9
15.10

20.1
20.2
20.3

25.1
25.2
25.3
25.4
25.5
25.6
25.7(One) TBD & (Two)Burnt Offerings (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #7) & (Three) TBD
25.8
25.9
25.10

30.1

50.1

Total Points = 35
Tasks Completed = 3/45
Books Read = 7
Pages Read = 1'513



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I have two finished tasks to report:

1 - I finished task 15.1 (using the proposition 'FROM') by reading Your Pregnancy & Birth Information You Can Trust from the Leading Experts in Women's Health Care by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists. This was basically a text book and not something anyone would probably ever read straight through but I've been reading a few sections a day throughout the month so it wasn't too bad.

I paired it with Message from Nam by Danielle Steel which was lame.

2 - I also finished Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis for the science fiction task (15.4). Sci-fi isn't my favorite thing to read but I enjoy C.S. Lewis so the book wasn't as painful to read as it could have been. I gave it three stars.

I don't normally watch a lot of television but last week I had to go to the hospital to be monitored for pre-term labor and wound up being admitted for the night for more monitoring. I didn't get to go home until lunchtime on Friday. So needless to say, I barely got any sleep with all the "excitement" going on and was too tired to concentrate on a book so I turned on the TV while waiting to be discharged on Friday morning and watched some PBS.

I watched one National Geographic program about volconoes and how they work (my fourth grade self was riveted!) I also watched one about the different types of flora and fauna of Yellowstone. And because I was stuck where I was with nothing to do, I also watched one about penguins (and started watching a fourth about African wildlife, but then my husband sprung me out and I got to go home). Each show was an hour long so it was actually 3.5 solid hours of geology and biology for me. I didn't have a pen and paper handy (and had an IV which probably would have made writing difficult) so I didn't write the program titles down, hopefully that's okay. If not, I could probably find the local programming schedule somewhere online.




TASKS COMPLETED: 13
TASKS PARTIALLY COMPLETED: 3
BOOKS READ: 17 (+4 kids books)
PAGES READ: 5,599
POINTS EARNED: 105
NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM MY 'OWNED AND UNREAD' SHELF: 15

25.3 Positive Gay Or Lesbian Character
The Color Purple by ALice Walker


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25.7. CINDY'S TASK - One, Two, Three - Read Three Books...
• One With A One Word Title: Tricks by Ellen Hopkins-9/23 (625 pgs)
• The Second With A Two Word Title: The Shack by William P. Young-9/27 (250 pgs)
• And The Third With A Three Word Title: Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner-9/22 (359 pgs)

Total: 130 points

Angela wrote: "25.7. CINDY'S TASK - One, Two, Three - Read Three Books...
• One With A One Word Title: Tricks by Ellen Hopkins-9/23 (625 pgs)
• The Second With A Two Word Title: The Shack by William P. Young-9/..."

I was just in Borders and saw Tricks and it looked good. How did you like it?

10.3 Several Children's Books
Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea
Clifford's First Autumn
What Animals Do by Richard Scarry
All for Fall by Ehtel and Leonard Kessler
Miss Spider's New Car
Curious George at the Fire Station

I'm starting big. A month in and I have 10 big ones :)

I completed the following books:
Red Sky in the Mourning: A True Story of Love,Loss, and Survival at Sea by Tami Oldham Ashcraft with Susea McGearhart (Task 5.3)
The Nanny Diaries by Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus (Task 5.8)
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (Task 25.10)

Completed task 15.9 by reading At Home in the World A Memoir. It did not really follow through for me to the end as a great reading experience. Parts were fascinating and other parts were just...not sure how to express it.

My homework assignment: In the memoir At Home in the World, Joyce Maynard states "Because I have frequently made myself a character in my work, I wrote about most of these experiences." Read one of Maynard's novels and compare and contrast the main character to Maynard (based on what you learned about her through her memoir).


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H Rider Haggard "She" for 15.7 (Audio while exercising)

I remember (some of) the film of this book from many years ago (it turns out it was the Ursula Andress version).

I enjoyed this one, and especially realising where the phrase "She who must be obeyed" came from :) though it was strange just how many times the main character/narrator seemed to be eating, sleeping, fainting or being carried from one place to another by palanquin.

That's my kind of adventuring :)

We listened to the audio version while exerting ourselves for another 15 points.

15pts helps towards 155 :)

Cait wrote: "25.3 Wendy's (GLBT): Almost Like Being in Love A Novel - Steve Kluger

I really like Steve Kluger - his books make me happy. My one (minor) complaint is that all of the characters v..."

Cait, based upon your recommendation for this task, I read My Most Excellent Year A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park, which like you said, just made me really happy. I loved it! I will also read more of Kluger.

Finished 5.5 Back to school with the reading ofThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - however, I think I understood it better in English Class!

NEW POINTS:5
OLD POINTS:185
TOTAL POINTS:190

TASKS COMPLETED:12
BOOKS READ:16
PAGES READ:5510

15.4. Science Fact vs. Science Fiction
• Read A Science Fiction Novel And Watch A Film Related To Science Or Scientific Discovery.
OR
• Read A Non-Fiction Book About Science And Watch A Science-Fiction Film.

Science Fiction
Valor's Trial by Tanya Huff
Good space opera - swash and buckle - Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr rocks the enclave. (This is the 4th of a series)

AND watched Science Fact
Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth
Nothing in this movie we that we don't already know if we have been watching/reading the news, but it is shocking to see the loss of our ice caps so graphically. I need to write my congressman.

20.2 Erin's task - BCD
Bad Monkeys
Carpe Jugulum
Dearly Devoted Dexter

Total points: 160

Finished task 10.5 Blood Eagle by Robert Barr Smith. This takes place in Germany in the 60s and involves a CIA agent, MI6 and the Mossad all tracking down a Nazi secret that is apparently about to be discovered by the KGB.

Pretty average. Nothing really new in this book. It was written by a former military officer, but even the twist in the book was something i have read elsewhere. Didnt hate it, but wouldnt recommend it, It was, however, nice and quick.

New Total: 185

I just finished task 15.8 (Geography Lesson). My initials are SG so I read for Spain and Germany.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Incantation by Alice Hoffman

Total points for this task: 15
Tasks completed: 11

Total points for challenge thus far: 155

8. CAIT'S TASK - Nouns - The Most Basic Definitions State That A Noun Is A Person, Place, Or Thing. Read 3 Books:
• With The Name Of A Person In The Title. Proper Nouns Only (David Copperfield, Odd Thomas, Still Alice Would Work; Titles With Nouns Like Woman, Teacher, Doctor Would Not)
• With The Name Of A Place In The Title. Again, Proper Nouns Only (Gods In Alabama Or Motherless Brooklyn Would Work; Titles With Nouns Like School, Country, City Would Not)
• With A Thing/Object In The Title, Such As Tree, Key, Car, Book, Etc.
Unaccustomed Earth by Lahiri Place (EARTH)
Pygmy by Palachuk Name (PYGMY is the boy’s name))
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Larsen Thing (Fire)
25 points
345 total

I completed the 30 point task. My actual job (of two weeks) is Disabilities Claims Adjudicator. I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time which is written from the perspective of an Autistic 15 year old (and Autism is a disability). It was decent, I think a better read for preteens or teenagers than adults.

My dream job is author, I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It was very enjoyable, though a quick easy read.

Point Total: 195
Page Total: 4494

Just completed
5.9 Coming Of Age Or All Grown Up

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Coming of age in the 1930s South.


Total Points - 15
Tasks completed - 2


Liz from NY

25. 4. CANDACE'S TASK - Read A Book That Has Been Written Within The Last 10 Years And Made Into A Movie Within The Last 5. Read The Book And Watch The Movie Both, Then Post A Little Review Of The Two And Tell Us Which One You Liked Better And Why. (Examples: Atonement, Twilight, The Time Traveler's Wife, Angels & Demons, Harry Potter (5& 6). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling re-read 9-27-09 870 Pages Watch 9-28-09 While I do love the movie, and I realize that it is impossible to include every detail of the book, I do think that some important parts were left out. There was no mention of the spat between Percy and the rest of the Weasley family, nor was Bill even shown (and he’s kind of important come book 7)! Also, they left out Ron, Hermoine and Draco being made into prefects. Umbridge wasn’t near mean enough, and we never learn why the dementors were after Harry in the beginning of the story (in the book we learn that Umbridge sent them). Kreatcher was barely in the movie and he plays an important role not only in this book but especially in book 7. There are a lot of other small things as well, but I think that they did pretty well trying to condense 870 pages into a manageable time frame. Both are enjoyable, but I like the book better.

Current Pages Read: 3866
Books Read: 11
Challenges Completed: 8
Total Points: 110

10.4 Cafe Tropicana- Belinda Jones
Set in Costa Rica.

Wendy's Task 25.4--Evermore by Alyson Noel


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Ooops...forgot to update my ticker

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Finished:

15.3. Discover The Equation For Good Books (Math) - Pick 2 Of The Following...
Subtraction: = 54
To Hold the Crown The Story of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York by Jean Plaidy. The story of what happened at the end of the War of the Roses in England. Not a love story!

Multiplication: 871
Sarum The Novel of England by Edward Rutherfurd. One of those sweeping sagas of multiple families, multiple centuries, multiple pages. Cynthia, this last one had 697 pages, which is one more than I should have had, but it was less than half a page, so I'm hoping I can count it.

Finished task 20.1 for a total of 50 points. New task in bold.

5.8: The 5th Horseman

20.1: House by Frank Perretti and Ted Dekker

25.1: The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs and A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

Completed task 10.9 Gone with the Wind:

March by Geraldine Brooks

Great book about the Civil War. Geraldine Brooks (pulitzer prize winner) wrote a companion novel to Little Women featuring their father whose last name is March. This tells the story of what the father does in the war - great read - and for those who loved Little Women, it adds a lot more dimension. It also brings in a great deal of information about what was happening in Louisa Mae Alcott's family re slavery and abolition.

Points: 210
Books: 21
Pages: 7370
Tasks: 17
In Proc: 5

Finished:

5.5 Maniac Magee I loved this book when I read it in 3 or 4th grade right after it won the Newberry. I still really enjoyed it and I caught more political/social undertones than I did at 9 or 10.

15.3 Math
Subtraction (24-15) = 9: Privilege
Multiplication (24*15) = 360 (335-385) The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp (375 pages)

Total Points 310/690
Total Books 32/59
Total Tasks Completed 22/45
Total Pages 9743

I finished 25.8, Cait's person, place, thing with:


Vanessa and Virginia by Susan Sellers
Wrong About Japan by Peter Carey and
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

Vanessa, Japan, Dish

+25
total 390

I completed task 25.4 by reading Q & A by Vikas Swarup (2004) & watching Slumdog Millionaire. I liked the book better than the movie. Actually there were only a few things in the movie from the book. The movie wasn't as emotional as I expected it to be. The book was excellent. The movie is still worth watching... might be better if you don't read the book first??

Total - 75 points

Birish wrote: "I completed task 25.4 by reading Q & A by Vikas Swarup (2004) & watching Slumdog Millionaire. I liked the book better than the movie. Actually there were only a few things in the movie from the b..."

I was really wondering about book versus movie. When possible, I try to read the book before the movie. I'll definitely consider movie before book on this. Thanks for the review!

I've finished several over the past couple of days (yeah vacation!)

5.10 (time travel) Dark Day in the Deep Sea, Mary Pope Osborne (I think it is kind of cheesy to use the Magic Tree House, but this one was over 100 pages and since my daughter is on a big kick right now, I'll probably read over 1000 pages of Magic Tree House during this challenge--so, I figured 5 points, OK)

20.1 (Christian) When Bobbie Sang the Blues by Peggy Darty. Ok, but the characters were a little too one-dimensional for me.

20.2 (ABCs) Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz, Solos by Kitty Florey Burnes and The Monsters of Templeton by Laura Groff (RST) I really enjoyed all three of these although they are very different. I will look for more by Burnes (I would look for more of the others, but I'm caught up on the Spellman series and this is Groff's first book.)

That puts me at
200 points
4938 pages read

Today I finished task 15.4 by reading Her Majesty's Dragon as a sci-fi book and watching 4 hours of Mythbusters yesterday. I know we only had to watch two episodes, but that show is just so addicting!

That brings my total up to 80 points.

It's finally good to be completing some tasks since I have several that are sitting half completed.

Finished task 5.6 Halloween - Mortal Causes - Ian Rankin

Rachel Lee wrote: "Finished:

5.5 Maniac Magee I loved this book when I read it in 3 or 4th grade right after it won the Newberry. I still really enjoyed it and I caught more political/social underto..."

I noticed you read Privilege by Kate Brian. Did you read her Private series? It was one of my favorites... I haven't been able to read Privilege because I always think that nothing can compare...

10.10 This Task Is The Cat's Meow - Read A Book That...
• Has The Word Cat(s) In The Title.
• Or Has A Picture Of A Cat(s) On The Cover.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

Total points 150

finished task 25.3 by reading When You Are Engulfed in Flames. oh god, i love that last essay about quitting smoking. i just quit 2 years ago, so i could totally relate. it made me crack up!




Total Points: 85/690
Books Read: 10/60
Tasks Completed: 7/45
Tasks in Progress: 2


for my goal i just wanted to finish 10 books...i did it! i'm going to re-adjust my goal to be "finish 30 books!" :)

kiki wrote: "finished task 25.3 by reading When You Are Engulfed in Flames. oh god, i love that last essay about quitting smoking. i just quit 2 years ago, so i could totally relate. it made m..."

Way to go, Kiki!

Alan, your post made me laugh. :)

Roseann, your speed amazes me. You should replace the runner on your ticker with a blur.