The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

10.6 Read a book by a Native American author or has a Native American character in it. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
25.2 Read two books by authors who are related.
I read "How To Ditch Your Fairy" by Justine Laaleister and "The Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld. They are husband and wife.

Completed Tasks 9
Total Points 135

10.6 - I read The Gabrielino by Bruce W. Miller for a new grand total of 40 points. :)

5.10
I read A Wrinkle in Time. I think this was an approved book for the task.

Total points: 450

I don't believe I was credited with the points for this task. I posted it yesterday. Thanks.

15.10. Teacher-Student Relations

I read the Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

and

Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates

COMPLETED TASKS:

15.2 ALTERNATIVE HISTORY - *The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (pp 374) READ 11.28.09
Review: There is a part of me that would love for the alternate universe that exists in The Eyre Affair to be real. Who wouldn't like to come face to face with some of their favorite literary characters or find themselves as a character in one of their favorite novels. There are also plenty of novels I'd like to change the plot of, like Thursday Next supposedly did in Jane Eyre. Unfortunately, if too many people had the power to enter this alternate literary world, I'm afraid we would lose too many good books, and the stories would continually change. I would repeatedly read the same book to check for alternate endings or deleted characters. This is a fun world to think about, but I prefer the way things are now.




TASKS COMPLETED: 39
TASKS IN PROGRESS: 6
BOOKS READ: 55/62
PAGES READ: 17,157
TOTAL POINTS EARNED: 630
*Books I Own

I'm trying to get through my remaining books, but I don't know if I can keep up the pace. I may have to up the strength of my readers!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone!!!

I haven't been around for a while and whew, it looks like the Winter Challenge is going to be another daunting one! Congrats to all who have finished and good luck to those that are ever so close ;-).

Hope you are all having a good start to the holiday season and I'll see you in the next challenge.

Completed Task 25.8

Miles McGinty by Tom Gilling
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
One Glass is Never Enough by Jane Wenham-Jones

Finished task 25.7 (nouns,person place & thing)

read Emma and The Handmaid's Tale

total points: 80

Ashley wrote: "Finished task 25.7 (nouns,person place & thing)

read Emma and The Handmaid's Tale

total points: 80"
I see the name and thing - where is your place?

With this post I am finally finished with the challenge. My last task was 10.8 Random Word Task. One of my words was window so I read Light in the Window by Jan Karon. I gave this book 3*. I like these books but sometimes they are a little slow going for me. But they are nice and light.

Congratulations, Stephanie!!

Congrats Stephanie!

I have finished two more tasks:

15.5 Study Abroad (these books originally written in Spanish, in which language I can not do more than order dos margaritas!)
Daughter of Fortune A Novel by Isabel Allende - What I liked best about this book was its look at the California Gold Rush and the role of women at that time and place. A good story but maybe a little heavy handed in that respect.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - just finished it last night and still absorbing it. So many layers, so many stories. A really amazing book but the way it is written kind of made me swallow it whole. I was surprised that it ended up being such a sad book (to me at least).

20.3 Group Read
Shutter Island - I actually was kind of dreading this task because I usually find myself disappointed with mainstream thrillers, but I really liked this one, it was well written with a great plot, not too contrived. I gave it 4 stars and will likely read more by Lehane.

That brings me to 260. I think I can finish one more task, just not sure which one that will be. :) But still doesn't look like I will get to 300. :( No bother, I am really excited about the winter challenge coming up!

Good job, Stephanie!

Hey Cynthia! I'm not sure if you missed my post or if there was a problem with it. Can you let me know if I need to do anything more to claim my points? (post 3744 should have brought me up to 640) THANKS! (and congratulations Stephanie!)

Way to go Stephanie! I can't wait to see your task!

Congratulations, Stephanie!

Congratulations Stephanie!

@ Stephanie

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I finished two more tasks:
25 Points
Candace's Task (book and a movie)
I read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke and watched the movie. I really enjoyed the book, but of course I love books where characters love books. However, I thought Funke could have cut out about 25% of the book. Needless to say I'll be reading the next two in the series.

50 Points
PJReads Task
1. Senses: Die in Plain Sight by Elizabeth Lowell. Deaths that are thought to be accidents are actually revealed to be murders through a series a paintings (hence the sight).
2. Emotions: A Faint Cold Fear by Elizabeth Slaughter. A killer is on the loose on a college campus and several people fear for their own lives or the lives of others.
3. Memories: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I'm not much of a keepsake person. But I have several books I will never part with because of the people who gave them to me. The love of books is a motif in this book. I love the Cemetary of Forgotten Books and Sempere & Sons bookstore in the novel.

Final Total: 200 Points

Congratulations, Stephanie! I can't wait for your task!



I've finished another task...

15.8: My initials are MO
M - Mexico...The Pearl by John Steinbeck
O - Oman (only country beginning with O)...Sandstorm by James Rollins




Tasks Completed: 44
Total Points: 685
Total Pages: 20983

Half a book left!

10.2
I read The Beach **. What stood out in this book that showed addiction was the self-centeredness of the author. I am not sure if you could call him an addict, but it helped me get through the book to think him as one. There were a lot of drugs on the beach and I hope that it was the drugs that made him make the choices he did.

Total points: 460

Way to go Stephanie!!

I finished 25.6 BJ Rose's Task with Traitor to His Class The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

I'll give a brief list of accomplishments because a comprehensive list could take pages: 1) The creation of social security, the 40-hour work week, and unemployment insurance. 2) The New Deal and the programs that went with that. 3) After reading this book, I also believe his relationship with Churchill throughout WW II, even before we entered the war, was what cemented the enduring relationship between the U.S. & Great Britain.

I do wish FDR would have tackled the issue of health insurance when he did social security, because it was on the table and he had the political juice. If he had, it would be one less thing for us to deal with now.

Scandals: The complete absence of a marriage between he and Eleanor was surprising to me and the indications that she was in a female love affair totally knocked me over. I think the biggest thing for me was FDR using his daughter to arrange liaisons/dates with his girlfriend, Lucy Rutherford.

Great book - I would recommend it to anyone especially right now - there are so many parallels to the current economic situation, it seems like we're reliving history.

Total points 225.

Stephanie wrote: "With this post I am finally finished with the challenge..."

Hurray! Stephanie!!
Looking forward to your task...

C'mon! Gina & Michelle!!
You're so close!!

I completed the rhyme time task (#25.1) by reading the following:

High-Rise by J.G. Ballard (204 pgs)
Ain't I a Woman! A Book of Women's Poetry from Around the World edited by Illona Linthwaite (182 pgs)

Rhyming words: "high" and "I"
Total pages read: 386

Congrats Stephanie!

And congrats to everyone else who has finished! I have no idea how you guys do it...

Congratulations, Stephanie!!! Great accomplishment!!

Finished 25.2 (Father/Son) Under the Dome - Stephen King / Welcome to Lovecraft, Vol. 1 - Joe Hill

Total Points - 690...Fall Challenge completed!

woohooo stephanie!!!

go michelle, you're almost there!

:)

Sam, that's awesome! Congratulations on finishing!

Way to go, Sam!

Sam wrote: "Finished 25.2 (Father/Son) Under the Dome - Stephen King / Welcome to Lovecraft, Vol. 1 - Joe Hill

Total Points - 690...Fall Challenge completed!"

Hurray! Sam!!
Another task to anticipate!!!

yeay, sam!!! how did i miss you??? sorry! :)

Wow...two more winners! And the third is coming!!
Congratulations to Stephanie and Sam.
Michelle, you can do it.

Finished another task.
15-6: Art I went to an art exhibition 'Exotic Worlds' by Mario Prencipe on the 21st of this month.

For the book, I read The Painter by Will Davenport.
This is a re-read. When thinking about art/art history-related fiction I owned, this book just popped up. It was about a famous painter, told from two timelines and there were mystery and murder.

+15
Total points: 205

I've sent my task to Cynthia, although it's already posted in Reading with Style. If you haven't checked out Reading with Style yet, stop by and look it over.

As to Under the Dome for those who asked, it wasn't as good as The Stand or It, although it has elements of both in it. I'm still hoping he has one last great work in him, but this isn't it. UtD, though, is a great improvement over Lisey's Story and Duma Key--it's a classic King page-turner that you wish could go on forever. It's the kind of novel that doesn't have to be great...it just has to be fun.

Finished 2 tasks today:
10.1 - Buddy Holly I read Albert Einstein by Leopold Infeld. Published in 1950.
10.9 - Civil War I read
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.

Points: 515
Tasks:32
Books:44
Pages:13617

Way to go, Sam! (And great task, too!)

7. CINDY'S TASK - One, Two, Three - Read Three Books...
• One With A One Word Title-Drood
• The Second With A Two Word Title-Olive Kitteridge A Novel in Stories
• And The Third With A Three Word Title-Her Fearful Symmetry

Tasks copleted:10
Total points:165

I have now finished:

15-4 with King of Foxes by Raymond Feist and I watched 3 episodes of MythBusters.

15-6 with Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz which i read on my treadmill, thank God for the little plastic book holder thingys!

Almost there-finishing up 3 already started books and I will be done!

645 points

Keep reading Leora--I know you can do it!

Finished 15.1 by reading two books I've really wanted to get through:
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet and The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
Pillars was a bit of a disappointment because the writing was so bad. I really liked the Diaz book, however, and look forward to reading his short stories.
New point total: 90

@ Sam

Congrats to Sam and Stephanie!! I've got to check out the new tasks, I'm amazed so many people are finishing...I'll be happy to break 300 this time around :)

One more task done, three more to go!

I finished 25.6 BJ Rose's task - I read about Abraham Lincoln. I read "They Have Killed Papa Dead!" The Road to Ford's Theater, Abraham Lincoln's Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance by Anthony S. Pitch (560 pgs.). This book is surrounding the dangers Lincoln faced in his presidency, as well as J. Wilkes Booth plan to first abduct Lincoln (which then turned to a murder plot). Very fascinating book and really a page turner. I looked towards this task with dread, but I did enjoy the book.


Previous score: 630
Current Score: 655

I hope I get to finish. I'm off tomorrow and Monday, but I'm going to be visiting my sister-in-law, who just gave birth and I will be too busy cooing over my nephew to read...

Congrats Stephanie and Sam!! I can't wait to see your tasks!

Congrats Sam!!

Final task finished!

5.1 Sons From Afar by Cynthia Voigt




Tasks Completed: 45
Total Points: 690
Total Books: 62
Total Pages: 21239

Looking forward to two whole days of rest!

woohooo michelle!!! congratulations! :)

Congratulations Michelle!!!

Congrats Michelle!!

Completed 15.1
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet A Novel
ANDThe Memory of Running

Hotel was a 5-star read for me. It is about a Japanese-American family living in Seattle during WWII. I was reading Traitor to His Class at the same time which discussed the decision to send Americans of Japanese descent to concentration camps during WWII and Hotel brought that decision down to a human level rather than a policy level.

Memory of Running was only a 3-star for me. It was hot and cold but not a bad book.