The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

Wow!! Way to go, Sara!!! Congratulations!!!

Way to go, Sara!!

Finished my last task for the season AND made my goal of 200 points with just four hours to spare. Hooray!

20.4 Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
(Movie released in 2005, book published in 2003)

I loved this book. It was a 5 star for me, and I'm pretty stingy with 5 star ratings. This is the second of Foer's books that I've read, and I'm always amazed by how he plays with language. I also liked the way the book was structured, with interwoven stories of the past and present and letters from one author to the other.
The whole time I was reading it I was wondering how on earth such a complex book could be made into a movie. I was prepared to be disappointed, but when I watched the movie this evening I was pleasantly surprised. Eugene Hutz, lead singer of one of my fav bands (Gogol Bordello) plays Alex, so that was cool. The movie focused very heavily on the modern portion of the story with very little of the Trachimbrod history woven in, but I suppose that would have been really difficult to follow in the movie. Interestingly, while the book is very heavy on language, the movie had relatively little dialogue; only about half of the movie involved people talking.
I definitely preferred the book to the movie because of Foer's word play and all of the information on the history of Trachimbrod, but I think the movie really captured the spirit of the book.

Tasks Completed: 17
Total Books: 28

Total Points: 215

25.10

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks

*dances for Sara!!*

10.5. Oktoberfest Is A Sixteen-Day Festival Held Each Year In Munich, Germany During Late September (And Running To Early October). - Read A Book Written By A German Author, Set In Germany, Or A Non-Fictional Book About Germany.

Monster (volume one) by Naoki Urasawa (set in Dusseldorf, Germany)

Total points 305
Tasks complete 21

And wrapping up my Fall Challenge -
I just finished Biedermann und die Brandstifter by Max Frisch for task 5.5, going to school. I first read this book, "Biedermann and the Arsonist" (Called "The Fire Starter" in its English Rendition) in high school German, and LOVED it. It is hilarious!! It shows how stupid people can be. My favorite line, "Scherz ist die drittbeste Tarnung. Die Zweitbeste: Sentimentalitaet... Aber die beste und sicherste Tarnung (finde ich) ist immer noch die blanke und nackte Wahrheit. Komischerweise. Die glaubt niemand." --- translated "Humor is the third best camouflage. The Second: sentimentality... but the best and most certain camouflage, I find, is always the barenaked truth. Strangely enough. No one believes it."

Point Total: 430
Page Total: 10884

Congrats Sara and Gina!!! Can't wait to see your tasks!

Congratulations Gina and Sara - I will be sending you individual congratulations tomorrow (I've already sent out my max number of messages for the day). I can't wait to see your tasks!

Cynthia

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This is my last post of the challenge and I finished a couple more tasks:

5.2: An apple a day keeps the librarian away - Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

25.4: Candace's Task - I read New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. I liked the book better but I really liked the movie too. The movie was so much better than Twilight which was kinda cheesy. I found that the movie was pretty true to the book with some minor changes but nothing too big that it drove me nuts.

25.8 Cait's Task - Nouns:
Person - Juliet, Naked A Novel by Nick Hornby
Place - Here Today, Gone to Maui by Carol Snow
Thing - Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani

50 PJ Read's Task:
I. Senses - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I loved this book. This book involved all the senses because the main character Katniss had to use all her senses to stay alive in the Hunger Games.
II. Emotion - Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie Plum comes up against another crazy villian. Joe Morelli's cousin is kidnapped and once again Stephanie is trying to save the day with crazy hijinks with Grandma Mazur and Lula. This books involves fear because even after all these books, Stephanie is still not a good bounty hunter and more often than not is afraid of what might happen.
III. Memories - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. This is not a good memory but I vividly remember 9/11/01 and I don't think I will ever forget anything about that day. This book was sad and brought me back to that day. I still have newspaper articles from that day.

Total Points: 360
Total Books: 32
Tasks Completed: 21
Total Pages; 10873

congratulations, sara and gina! :)

Way to go, Sara & Gina!
And congrats to Asho, too, for meeting your goal!

My last task for Fall! I finished 15.10 by reading Marked for the student part and The Hour I First Believed A Novel for the teacher part.

My total for this challenge is 440 points.

Final posting for me. I didn't do as well as I anticipated but I did read some good books this time around.

20.1: Shadows of Lancaster County – Mindy Starns Clark 11/22

25.6: President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman – William Lee Miller 11/23
Accomplishments: Issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and his leadership during the civil war as just two of Lincoln's accomplishments.
Scandal: His family issues (death of son, uncontrolable wife) and letting other government officials linger too long in office.

50: A Natural History of the Senses – Diane Ackerman 11/25 This book focus on all 5 senses - touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight and was very intersting. I found myself often wondering "what would I do without..."

Good Grief – Lolly Winston 11/04 This book was about a woman who lost her husband and had to deal with that loss and try to work through the "what-ifs."

Engaging Men – Lynda Curnyn 10/17 I bought this book because of the cover - there is an engagment ring on the cover and I'm reminded of the day I got engaged.

New Points: 95
Previous Points: 290
Total Points: 385
24 Tasks Completed: (5.2, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.9, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.7, 10.10, 15.3, 15.6, 15.8, 15.10, 20.1, 20.2, 25.1, 25.2, 25.6, 25.7, 25.10, 30.1, 50)

Congrats to everyone who finished. I'm not sure how active I'll be in the Winter Challenge but I'll definetly be back for the Spring. Good luck everyone!

COMPLETED TASKS:

5.10 TIME TRAVEL - The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier (pp 352) READ 11.30.09
I loved this book. While vacationing at a professor's home in Cornwall, Dick agrees to assist him in trying a hallucinogenic drug, which has the affect of transporting him back in time, 600 years earlier. I got so caught up in the story that took place in the 1300's, I couldn't wait for Dick to take more of the drug to get back there again so I could find out what was happening. 5 stars

5.4 ADOPTION - *The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (pp 307) READ 11.30.09
I liked the story of Bod and his graveyard family. 3 stars




TASKS COMPLETED: 45
TASKS IN PROGRESS:
BOOKS READ: 62/62
PAGES READ: 18,991
TOTAL POINTS EARNED: 690
*Books I Own


I'm FINISHED! I feel like Forrest Gump after running across the country, when he just decided to suddenly stop running. I think I need to stop reading, at least for a day.

Just scraping in under the wire, I have three more challenges done:

10.7: Hero(ine)s - The Lightning Thief

20.1: Faith - The Nun's Story

20.3: Group Read - Julie and Julia 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen

Total Points: 200
Tasks Completed: 13
Total Books: 18

Hooray!

Wow, congrats Lisa!!!!

Ok, so for one last post under the wire, here's my final count for points!

15.10 Teacher-Student Relations: Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56 by Rafe Esquith and Science Fair by Dave Barry

20.2 Learn Your ABC'S: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin; Storm Cycle by Iris Johansen; and Twenties Girl A Novel by Sophie Kinsella

25.2 Two related authors: An Unexpected Song by Iris Johansen and Beyond Belief by Roy Johansen (mother/son pair)

30.1 Job/Dream Job: Sugar Cookie Murderby Joanne Fluke (I have always wanted to own my own bakery!)and The Freedom Writers Diary How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them by Erin Gruwell (I'm a teacher)

Total new points: 90
Previous points: 60
Total ending points: 150

Congratulations Gina and Lisa.

@ Gina & Sara



NICE FINISH!

Oops! Forgot a couple of tasks!

25.4 Candace's task- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger I liked the book better in this case, though I really liked the movie too. I felt like the movie really portrayed the emotions felt by Claire throughout the story, though I did have difficulty keeping track of the time period through both the movie and the book!

5.9 Coming of Age: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

New pointsL 30
Previous points: 150
Total: 180 points

Lisa wrote: "@ Gina & Sara



NICE FINISH!"

Congratulations to you as well Lisa! Can't wait to hear your task.
Cynthia

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Congratulations to all those who finished- I'm impressed! lol

Congratulations Lisa!!

Finished my goal! 10.2 Running with Scissors A Memoir

I reached my personal goal of 200 points!

Heather in KS

Congratulations, Lisa!!! Heather, congratulations on reaching your goal! That's awesome!

congratulations on hitting your goal, heather! :)

Oops! I forgot to check the task to see if it had anything. OK

15.2 Fatherland - I think how history actually turned out (with the Nazi's not winning WWII and creating an empire of Europe) is preferable. It was such an interesting story though to think, well what if? What if the super powers in the cold war were the US and Nazi Germany? The implications are ridiculous. Life as we know it today would be radically different.

Hope this is good!

Sara ♥ wrote: "All right. I'm done!! WOO HOO! And with 4 whole hours to spare!"

WOO HOO FOR YOU!! Congratulations, Sara!!!

Good job everyone who finished!!

Lisa wrote: "I'm FINISHED! I feel like Forrest Gump after running across the country, when he just decided to suddenly stop running..."

Congratulations, Lisa, on crossing the finish line!!!

Congrats, Lisa!

And to Heather, too, for meeting your goal!

Well, I am not going to get a chance to watch the movie tonight, so I will make Twilight by Stephenie Meyer my 5.2 Apple book and I will not get to the gymn tonight to finish my Getting Physical book. So that makes my final total this season 225.

Yay, last post for me!

For task 20.2 (ABC), I read:

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder - 5*, I loved Wilder's characters.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon - 3*, an entertaining book with a great narrative voice

Diaspora and Visual Culture Representing Africans and Jews ed. by Nicholas Mirzoeff - 5*, This book made me miss school. *sigh* A great work of scholarship. I intend to write a full review...at some point. Suffice it to say Mirzoeff pieced together these seemingly disparate articles to enlightening effect.

Total Points: 575

Thanks, Cynthia, for putting this challenge together and moderating so even-handedly. And thanks to all who participated for making this so much fun (and adding to my TBR list).

Congrats once again to all the finishers. See you in the Winter Challenge thread!

25.1 -- The Crow Road and Break, Blow, Burn

I really liked this task & am so glad Nicole approved my poetry/essays book! Break, Blow, Burn contained 43 poems, each followed by a 2-3 page essay interpreting & discussing the poem. While I may not have always agreed with or understood the interpretations (no matter how many times I read Kubla Khan and the accompanying essay, I still don't "get it"), it did teach me a bit about how to read and appreciate a poem.

The Crow Road was a very well-written novel set in Scotland, revolving around a young man, Prentice, as he comes to terms with his memories, family dynamics, disappearances, deaths, and love.

Pages read: 6217
Books read: 19
Tasks completed: 14
Total Points: 305
Liz (Bklyn)

5.5. of mice and men - john steinbeck
5.6. wicked - Gregory Maguire
5.8. the right address - carrie karasyov, jill karagram
5.9. the story sisters - alice hoffman
5.10. timeline - michael crichton

10.2. beautiful boy - David Sheff
10.5. the reader - Bernhard Schlink
10.7. batman: hush - jeph loeb

15.8. [J:]apan: memoirs of a geisha - arthur golden
[A:]fghanistan - a thousand spendid suns

20.2. [S:]ail - james patterson
The [T:]alisman - stephen king
[R:]evolutionary Road - Richard Yates

25.7. snobs - julian fellows
club dead - charlaine harris
dead man’s folly - agatha christie
25.8.[miss petegrew:] lives for a day - winifred watson
living dead in [dallas:] - charlaine harris
the girl with the dragon [tattoo:] - steig larsson
25.10. pride & predjudice & [zombies:] - Seth Grahame-Smith

165 points!

not as great as i was hoping but my goal was to at least hit 150 points. i only had 1 unfinished task, so that's not too bad :)
can't wait to hit the ground running again tomorrow!

Sneaking in my last two just under the wire - I finished up 5.8 with Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's Superfreakonomics, as well as 10.8 with Jon Katz's Soul of a Dog (my three words were epic, note, and dog). Overall, a pretty successful fall - while I didn't finish, I think I did perform better percentage-wise than in summer.

Final Tally: 560 points

Congrats to Lisa, Gina, and Sara!! What an amazing finish to the challenge!!!

Cutting it close but I just finished one more

5.1 Our Children are our future: My Grandfather's Son A Memoir by Clarence Thomas

New points: 5
Previous points: 180
Total points: 185

Squeaking in with one last task completion: I finished The Shadow of the Wind for the 20-point Group Read Task.

Total Points: 125

Making a last minute update after some major reading time tonight.

25.7. a) Evening – Susan Minot - read 11/30/09
b) The Moonspinners – Mary Stewart - read 9/11/09
c) In The Groove – Pamela Britton - read 11/9/2009

Also...some I haven't had time to add in...

15.7. First Family - David Baldacci (took forever cause I listened while walking outside!)

30.1 - Current job (at the time I read this I was only working at a yarn shop so I'm hoping it's ok to use this) Patterns in the Sand by Sally Goldenbaum read 9/27/2009

Dream job is to own a bed & breakfast/hotel - Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas 10/12/2009

I have a few other books I read, but I couldn't fit them into any categories, or into one where I didn't need another to finish out the task.

So, that should finish me up with the following:

Completed Tasks: 9
Total Points: 130

I think that's the best I've accomplished so far, so I'm happy with that. Plus I read almost 6,000 pages, more if you count what I listened do and what I couldn't count for points.

I've enjoyed this challenge!

That's it - it's all over. What a great challenge and on to the next one!!!