The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

Completed my second task 5.1 Children--The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud


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For some reason my ticker did not update. Hopefully this one does.


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I finished 10.3 (children's books). I chose these solely because they're the ones my kids pulled out first in the last two days. Here you go:
Peekaboo Kisses by Barney Saltzberg
Tails by Matthew Van Fleet
Skippyjon Jones by Judith Schachner
Firefighter by Dana Meachen Rau
Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
Pages for this task: 126

Teresa wrote: "Candace wrote: "Michelle wrote: "10.2 (Addiction) Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Total Points: 10
Total Pages: 224
"

Michelle - what did you think of Go Ask Alice? I have it slated ..."

Good, I'm glad I have it selected then. I thought it would be pretty interesting.

5.2 An Apple a Day: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen 9.01.09

10.3 Children's books: pages must be 100 or more: 9.01.09
Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss (64 pp.)
Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton 44 pp.
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (42 pp.)

10.9 U.S. Civil War: A Light in the Storm by Karen Hesse 9.02.09

Total pages = 609

Total Points = 25

5 POINT TASK
2. An Apple (Book) A Day Keeps The Librarians Away - September Is National Apple Month So Let's...
Three Apples Fell From Heaven, Micheline Aharonian Marcom.

Yay! I'm off the mark!

I finished Nicole's poetry task for 25 points.

I read Haven't You Grown! - a collection of poems about families selected by Belinda Hollyer. This was a fun read with some funny poems in that I could completely identify with ... and also some sad ones.

Then I read Skin and Bone by Kathryn Fox - really enjoyed this, a good tense thriller!

Rhyming words were Grown and Bone :)

Total points: 25
Tasks completed: 1/45
Books read: 2/59
Total pages: 580

Woohoo got one down. I've got two other books pretty much done but they're in categories where I have to read like three books. Oh well still got plenty of time to go.


10.3- collection of childrens stories: The Great Treasury of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter of course.

I finished another task -

10.3 - Stanley "Stan" Berenstain - Just-So Stories For Little Children by Rudyard Kipling

Total Books Read = 2
Tasks Completed = 2
Tasks In Progress = 3

SuzieR wrote: "Teresa wrote: "Candace wrote: "New updates!

For task 5.4 (Adoption) - I read Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis. Its a story about a little girl asking h..."

I guess I questioned this book for the task too since the task specifically stated a novel or non fiction book. Even if it is a 5 pt task.....I didn't think that a children's picture book counts as a novel.

10.3
I read:

The Kweeks of Kookatumdee by Bill Peet
The Bravest Knight by Mercer Mayer
Ella by Bill Peet
Too Many Leprechauns by Stephen Krensky

I really do love Bill Peet! And the Bravest Knight had the most extraordinary illustrations, I loved it!

Point Total: 10
Page Total: 144

SuzieR wrote: "Teresa wrote: "Candace wrote: "New updates!

For task 5.4 (Adoption) - I read Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis. Its a story about a little girl asking h..."

oh I didnt know that, but not gonna change my books now LOL

I read a bunch of Berenstein Bears books for task 10.3. I read:
Berenstein Bears and Baby Makes Three, Really Big Pet Show, Go to School, Forget Their Manners, No Girls Allowed, Moving Day and Trouble With Chores.
I would have read more but I didn`t have a chance. I now remember why I loved those books so much- they`re totally awesome for little kids!
At 30 pages per x 7 books = 210 pages
Total Points: 10

10.3 Stan Berenstain - I really wanted to read an adult book for this task, so I read The Bears and I Raising Three Cubs in the North Woods by Robert Franklin Leslie and I am so glad I read it! What an utterly amazing book! I did break down (upon urging of my son), however, and read a bunch of Bernstain Bear books as well: The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree, Bears in the Night, Inside, Outside, Upside Down, He Bear, She Bear, The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree, Bears on Wheels, and The Bike Lesson-GLB

5.10 Fall Back in Time -
Screaming Mummies of the Pharaoh's Tomb II by James Howe (this one on my daughter's urging). From here on out, I'm picking my own books :)

Total points: 15
Tasks Completed: 2
Tasks in Progress: 3

Task 10.3 completed:

I read a few children's books I've been meaning to read for a while, and then I scavenged the Caldecott shelf at my library. Here's what I ended up reading, for a total of 268 pages:



Total Points = 25

I'm feeling so inadequate! How on earth are some of you reading so much? And some of them are big books too!

Ah well, off the mark with an easy and good read. Wish I'd got this a few days earlier for the summer beach challenge instead of the awful thing I did read!

5.4 Adoption – Sea Swept by Nora Roberts

Total: 5/690 points
1/59 books
1/45 tasks
330 pages

25.4 Book and movie combination

I read My Sister's Keeper and then saw the movie this afternoon. I was shocked at the way they changed the ending to the movie, but I actually preferred it. The way it ended in the book made the entire trial, story, etc competely pointless in my eyes.

I was disappointed that they didn't flesh out Jesse's character in the movie as much as they did in the book. It made his ending much more satisfying in the book because I knew what he had gone through.

I guess I would say I liked the movie better because of the different ending. Plus, I didn't find Sara nearly as obnoxious in the movie as I did in the book.

That brings my total to:
1 book
25 points

Task 5.4 Adoption--Sea Swept by Nora Roberts

a href="http://www.TickerFactory.com/exercise...
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I have completed task number 20.1 Most Improved Player Julie KS.

I read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.

This brings my total to:

2 tasks completed
4 books read
317 pages read
30 points attained

Sam wrote: "Nicole wrote: "Abigail wrote: "Bridgit wrote: "How messed up is it that it is only 7:30 pm on Day 1 of this challenge and after reading this thread I already feel SOOOOO behind! "

Me too, Bridgit!..."

I wish I could do anything moderately, but I am very all or nothing when it comes to challenges (of all types)!!!!!!

I will just be catching up on weekends.

We certainly have some speed readers in this group, that's for sure. :)

I finished my first task ever. Yay!

For 15.6, drama club, I read Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard and watched the 1990 film version directed by the playwright, Stoppard.

I thought it was interesting to see how Stoppard interpreted his own play, how he abandoned some of his own stage notes (or elaborated on them) in order for the story to work better on film. I also thought Tim Roth's Guildenstern was pretty fantastic...much more nuanced than the character seemed when I was reading.

Total Points: 15

5.7 Giving Thanks- READ: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and the thing I'm most thankful for is my family who are dysfunctional but nowhere near as dysfunctional as the Walls family! Wow! Great read though!

5 points total so far

First completed task for my first challenge!

5.2 An Apple (Book) A Day Keeps The Librarians Away
Apples Are from Kazakhstan The Land that Disappeared by Christopher Robbins.

Total points: 5

10.3 Children's books

I read a few childrens' books. I read both Where the Wild Things Are and Donde Viven Los Monstruos/Where the Wild Things Are to practice my Spanish. I learned some new words (like pestañear means to blink) and learned that sometimes things are lost in translation (wild rumpus became festejos which means celebrations).

I also just happened to come across an article on the NY Times website about the Spike Jonze version of Where The Wild Things Are and it includes this video which is a small taste of a documentary on Maurice Sendak. It is worth a quick watch.

I also read Maurice Sendak's Really Rosie Starring the Nutshell Kids and The One Pig with Horns (this last one not being by Sendak, but an excellent book all the same - one time I animated the main character in a very very short and somewhat silly movie)

Rosencratz and Gildenstern Are Dead is AMAZING. I hate the first act and skip it, but after that it is golden.

And I like your children's book cover spread, Deidre.

I'm enjoying my brief, glorious reign at the top of the leaderboard. I have a feeling Roseanne will overtake me by the end of the day and I'll never be that high again, so I'm savoring the moment.

5 Points
6. Halloween Adjective: Bloody Kiss by Furumiya Kazuko. In the Japanese, it is Buradii Kisu, which sounds cooler (sound it out loud).

Lame vampire love story. Doesn't live up to the cool title.

Total Points: 70

I finished the half of task 30.1 today by reading How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely. I would love to be a novelist someday or a writer of some kind that would be one of my dream jobs. This book was really good book that takes a satirical look at the publishing industry and novel writers in general. He pokes fun at the best-seller type authors with a character who sets out to write a novel that contains elements common to all of them so that it can't possibly fail at earning him fame, fortune, and women. The author even includes passages from these fake examples of typical best-seller books to illustrate his point. The only thing I found frustrating though is that a few of those fake books actually sounded like things I'd want to read...lol.


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1 TASK COMPLETE
2 TASK STARTED
2 BOOK READ
631 PAGES READ

Finished 5.9 by reading the coming-of-age YA novel, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. It's a really great book, and I *loved* that the heroine wants to be a scientist -- as a girl in 1899 Texas, no less.

Right now, I have:
2 Tasks completed
1 Task partially completed
7 Books read (but 5 of these were children's, so don't be daunted!)
782 Pages read
15 Points earned

Katie wrote:
For 15.6, drama club, I read Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard and watched the 1990 film version directed by the pla..."

Bonnie wrote: "Rosencratz and Gildenstern Are Dead is AMAZING. I hate the first act and skip it, but after that it is golden.

Hi Bonnie and Katie.
I am doing R & G Are Dead too for 15.6. The library has both the movie and the written play waiting for me to pick up tomorrow. I have never read the play, but the movie is one of my favourites. It will be interesting to see how Stoppard handles each direction differently. I haven't seen the film in years but I'm glad you both enjoyed it!! Tim Roth and Gary Oldman are amazing but I did particularly enjoy Tim Roth. :)
Jennifer

Bonnie wrote: Rosencratz and Gildenstern Are Dead is AMAZING. I hate the first act and skip it, but after that it is golden.

Ohhh, I liked the first act--the coin tossing (syllogism) and the players (an audience!). If you haven't seen the movie, you should. Richard Dreyfus is pretty funny as the lead player. And as I said, Tim Roth is mWah!

Ok, so here goes.....

One book read, 5 points.
Club Dead for task 5.6

5 points total
1 task completed
plenty to go

Finished task 10.9 (Civil War). For this task I read Joan Lowery Nixon's A Dangerous Promise. Its the story of a young boy (12 years old in fact) who enlists in the Union Army as a drummer boy. He gets wounded in the Battle of Wilson's Creek. I live in Springfield, MO - Wilson's Creek is just west of my city. I had no idea that the book would be so close to home!!! It was a good story, I really enjoy the books in the Orphan Train Series - this was the first time I've ever read this one though.

Total points = 45


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I am on the board! I can't believe it's day 2 and I am already so frustrated. it doesn't matter how fast I read (and I read very fast) if my day doesn't allow me the time for it...

5.1 Things I Want My Daughters to Know

I loved it. I think it is Noble's best novel. I was tearing up way too much though. I am so sappy.


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That is the book (Things I Want My Daughter to Know) I am going to read for that task too Nicole. Good to know it was a good read!

Angela wrote: "That is the book (Things I Want My Daughter to Know) I am going to read for that task too Nicole. Good to know it was a good read! "

It was so good. I really loved the characters.

5.8 Two authors - The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow


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I finished another book for a different task. I read Manhunt by Janet Evanovich for the one word title book of task 25.7. It was just a nice easy romance novel without pretension but also not of the harlequin variety either - I knew from the get-go that the two people were going to get together but that didn't make me like it any less.

I'm a little frustrated because I don't have all the books to complete any of the tasks I've started as I usually like to read everything for a task and then move on to the next. Oh well I will be able pick up a few of them from the library tomorrow but in the mean time no need to waste any reading time I've got.


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1 TASK COMPLETE
4 TASK STARTED
3 BOOK READ
850 PAGES READ

Well, I'm not on the board yet but I've finished the first book in Cindy's Task (25.7).
For the one-word title, I read Fallen by David Maine.
I really enjoyed this "fleshing out" of the Cain & Abel story and liked the characters and how they were portrayed. The writing form (telling the story backwards) works really well for this theme in that it brings many questions to mind that cannot be answered without knowing the history, which is told in future chapters.
A thought-provoking story and well-written. I gave it 4 stars.

first task finished! :)

10.10 - Cat-A-Logue A Curiosity of Feline Facts

Total Points: 10
Tasks Completed: 1

25.3 "Engulfed in Flames" by David Sedaris. I liked "Naked" better-this one was just okay.

On the board with 25 points!

25.10 Sam's Task--The Witch at Blackbird Creek by Elizabeth George Speare



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Completed:

5.4 The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (9/1)
5.7 Fugitives & Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon by Chuck Palahniuk
-- the thing I am most thankful for is home, which happens to be Portland! (9/2)
10.1 Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth Jr. & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (9/2)

Points: 20

Completed:

25.3 WENDY's Task: Boy Meets Boy

tasks completed: 1
Points thus far: 25

LizVegas

Wow guys! It's only day 2 and we've already got almost 3 full pages of completed tasks! Way to go us!

I haven't been reading as much as I should... so I've only completed 2 tasks:

5.3 - Sea Travel - Catherine and the Pirate by Karen Hawkins (9/1)
5.8 - 2+ Authors - Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan (9/2)

WARNING on Nick & Norah... If you don't care for VERY STRONG LANGUAGE, this book is not for you! There was one page in particular... (p. 95) that has... *counts* 26 f-words on it. And it's the first page of a chapter, so the top third of the page is virtually blank. I don't think there was a single page without an f-bomb. It really bothered me. And that's just the language.... There was a lot of other stuff.... :P



PS - Cynthia... I think we just had our third Sara join the group. Do you need me to change my name? Hmmmm... I think I'd go with saranicole...

COMPLETED TASKS:

10.7 HEROES - Falling Boy by Alison McGhee - READ 9.2.09

I read this for another book group, but found the writing style lacking and some of the characters annoying. The story centers around a 16 year old paraplegic, who has the reputation of a super-hero. I thought the story had potential, but didn't deliver.





TASKS COMPLETED: 1
TASKS IN PROGRESS: 3
BOOKS READ: 3
PAGES READ: 656
POINTS EARNED: 10

Ok, here goes. My first points on the board for task 25.5, by reading Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings

FINISHED:

5.7 The Book Whisperer Awakening the Inner Reader in Every ChildTHANKFUL for children and books

5.9 The Sudoku Puzzle MurdersCORA FELTON senior citizen

25.6 Franklin D Roosevelt - L256 pages

AND Lincoln as I Knew Him Gossip, Tributes, and Revelations from His Best Friends and Worst Enemies281 pages

Roosevelt Accomplishments

served 4 terms, new deal, welfare, unemployment benefits, medical benifets, social security, 1st african american supreme judge,started plans united nation, made provisions to regulate business such as publi works, fdic, securities and exchange, national labor relief, land lease, gi bill

Scandals, ( very few and hard to find, even then sugarcoated) made of had an affair with secetary, possible cover up of sex scandal when enlisted, didnt do enough for civil rights

Ambrhama lincoln accomplishments, emancaption procolamation, 13th amendment, ended slavery, leader during civil war, gettysburg address homestead act, forgein policy kept other countries out of our civil war, morril act ( started public colleges), national banking act ( foundation for banks, ) Railroad built ocean to ocean,

This book is all gossip, truth etc on this president, the only scandal alluded to were depression, alcholism and he didnt care for woman, prefered the company of men

10.3 4 berenstain books, total 102 pages

Finished task 15.2 - Alternative History by reading Fatherland by Robert Harris. Here is my review without spoilers. This book took place in 1964 Germany after the Nazi's had won WW II. They basically took over all of Europe (except Switzerland) from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural mountains. This state was like the Soviet Union during the height of the cold war but instead of the KGB it was the Gestapo. I believe that this is probably likely what would have happened if they won the war but I don't think that it would have been a pleasant place to live. Everyone afraid to say or do anything that might be considered treason. They had private phone lines bugged as well as people's apartments. It is scary to think of living that way. It discusses how history is rewritten to bolster the German pride. If something bad happens then the documents to prove it are burned and a new history is created.

TOTAL POINTS - 15

5.9 Gingerbread (coming of age)
10.8 Away Laughing on a Fast Camel Even More Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (my 11th word on the generator was "laughing"...i lucked out!)

total points = 15

Finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian for 10.6. I had no idea it was a YA novel. Much quicker read than i thought. Read it in about 2 hours during the commercials of Top Chef Las Vegas and the Best of So You Think You Can Dance.

I have already read the Time Traveler's Wife and am going see the movie tonight, so I'll be able to add those points tonight hopefully.

Current Total: 10