The Challenge Factory discussion

TCF Summer Camp
What to Pack
July: flashlight Little House on the Prairie  ♥♥♥♥ (7/17 - 7/21)

Camp Activities
July: crafts Darned if You Do  ♥♥♥ (7/10 - 7/16)

Camp Pranks
August: Tabasco sauce in the Kool-Aid Un ponte per Terabithia   ♥♥♥♥ (8/12 - 8/30)

Food at Camp
August: Hamburgers The Madwoman Upstairs  by Catherine Lowell ♥♥♥♥♥ (8/5 - 8/12)

Camp Songs
July: Alice the Camel The One and Only Ivan   ♥♥♥♥♥ (7/4)

Creatures Found at Camp
August: Horses The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation   ♥♥♥♥♥ (8/14 - 8/19)




The Dewey Decimal System is My Friend Challenge
Duration: 6 months from date started 6-27-16
Minimum pages 100
Level: Just got my card today, 1-2 books in each category

Search the stacks
000-009: Class 000 - Computer science, information & general works
Never Let A Fool Kiss You Or A Kiss Fool You: Chiasmus And A World Of Quotations That Say What They Mean And Mean What They Say   ♥♥ by Dr. Mardy Grothe (082) (6/27 - 7/3)

100-199: Class 100 - Philosophy and psychology
Alternate choice: A novel where the concept of "soul" plays a large part
Andrew's Brain  ♥♥♥ by E.L. Doctorow (8/2 - 8/6)

200-299: Class 200 - Religion
On God: An Uncommon Conversation   by Norman Mailer with Michael Lennon (211) ♥♥♥♥♥ (7/11 - 7/21)

300-399: Class 300 - Social sciences
12 Years a Slave  ♥♥♥♥♥ by Solomon Northup (306.362) (started 7/22)

400-499: Class 400 - Language
Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon the English Language   ♥♥ by Richard Lederer (428)

500-599: Class 500 - Science
Alternate choice: a novel with a MC that works with animals some way
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation   ♥♥♥♥♥ by Elizabeth Letts (8/14 - 8/19)

600-699: Class 600 - Technology
Alternate choice: a novel with a character who is a farmer or gardener, or takes place on a farm
Little House on the Prairie   ♥♥♥♥ by Laura Ingalls Wilder (started 7/17)

700-799: Class 700 - Arts & recreation
Alternate choice: a novel that has a MC who is a professional player in a sport (bending the suggestion a bit here since I chose a coach instead of a player - but WHAT a coach!!)
When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi   ♥♥♥♥♥ by David Maraniss (10/1 - 11/1)

800-899: Class 800 - Literature
Alternate choice: any novel that can be considered among "the classics"
Sense and Sensibility  ♥♥♥♥ by Jane Austen (6/27 - 7/10)

900-999: Class 900 History & geography
The Life of Elizabeth I   by Alison Weir ♥♥♥♥♥ (942.052) (8/28 - 11/21)



Done: 9/11
Little House on the Prairie Buddy Read Challenge with Trea and Cindy
July - Little House in the Big Woods  ♥♥♥♥ (7/4 - 7/6)
July - Little House on the Prairie  ♥♥♥♥ (7/17 - 7/22)
August - Farmer Boy   ♥♥♥♥ (8/1 - 8/5)
August - On the Banks of Plum Creek   ♥♥♥♥ (8/12 - 8/14)
September - By the Shores of Silver Lake   ♥♥♥♥ (9/11 - 9/16)
October - The Long Winter  ♥♥♥♥ (10/20 - 10/22)
November - Little Town on the Prairie   ♥♥♥♥ (11/1 - 11/5)
November - These Happy Golden Years  ♥♥♥♥ (11/11 - 11/12)
December - The First Four Years ♥♥♥ (12/23 - 12/24)
September 2017 - On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894   ♥♥♥♥ (9/19 - 9/21)
March - West from Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco, 1915   ♥♥♥ (10/2 - 10/7)

Totally have to add a new challenge I just found: It's Called WHAT??

Dates: 8/12/16 - 8/11/17
Finished 7/23/17

Books read: 58/58

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Translation - Saint Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio of the red cave.

✔ L: The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir ♥♥♥♥♥ (8/28 - 11/21)
✔ L: The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder ♥♥♥♥ (10/20 - 10/22)
✔ A: Un Anno Con Nonna Dowdel by Richard Peck ♥♥♥♥♥ (3/26 - 6/16)
✔ N: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen ♥♥♥♥ (1/1 - 1/8)
✔ F: Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith ♥♥♥♥ (10/10 - 10/16)
✔ A: All Things Slip Away by Kathryn Meyer Griffith ♥♥♥ (6/19 - 6/20)
✔ I: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd ♥♥♥♥ (10/23 - 10/27)
✔ R: The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith ♥♥♥♥ (12/12 - 12/16)
✔ P: Un ponte per Terabithia by Katherine Paterson ♥♥♥♥ (8/12 - 8/30)
✔ W: When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss ♥♥♥♥♥ (10/1 - 11/1)
✔ L: Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder ♥♥♥♥ (11/1 - 11/5)
✔ L: Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson ♥♥♥♥ (9/1 - 9/9)
✔ G: Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier ♥♥♥♥ (12/17 - 12/19)
✔ W: What Elephants Know by Eric Dinerstein ♥♥♥♥♥ (5/19 - 5/22)
✔ Y: Yes Please by Amy Poehler ♥♥ (8/25 - 8/28)
✔ N: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry ♥♥♥♥ (1/9 - 1/10)
✔ G: Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry ♥♥♥♥ (1/21 - 1/24)
✔ Y: Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee ♥♥♥♥ (11/6 - 11/11)
✔ L: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle ♥♥♥♥♥ (6/26 - 6/28)
✔ L: Living Beautifully: with Uncertainty and Change by Pema Chodron ♥♥♥♥ (8/30 - 12/31)
✔ G: The Girl in the Well Is Me by Karen Rivers ♥♥♥♥ (6/10)
✔ O: On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder ♥♥♥♥ (8/12 - 8/14)
✔ G: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ♥♥♥♥♥ (6/18 - 6/19)
✔ E: The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts ♥♥♥♥♥ (8/14 - 8/19)
✔ R: The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida ♥♥♥♥♥ (4/14)
✔ Y: The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers ♥♥♥♥ (6/24 - 6/26)
✔ C: The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith ♥♥♥♥ (2/13 - 2/18)
✔ H: The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag ♥♥♥♥♥ (2/19 - 2/20)
✔ W: What W. H. Auden Can Do for You by Alexander McCall Smith ♥♥♥ (2/6 - 2/13)
✔ Y: You Don't Look Your Age: And Other Fairy Tales by Sheila Nevins ♥♥ (6/26 - 6/29)
✔ R: Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind by Sakyong Mipham ♥♥♥♥♥ (1/1 - 1/20)
✔ N: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith ♥♥♥♥ (3/5 - 3/8)
✔ D: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness ♥♥♥♥♥ (3/9 - 3/16)
✔ R: A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny ♥♥♥♥♥ (4/20 - 4/23)
✔ O: The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict ♥♥♥♥ (3/2 - 3/5)
✔ B: By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder ♥♥♥♥ (9/11 - 9/16)
✔ W: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls ♥♥♥♥♥ (6/22 - 6/23)
✔ L: The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith ♥♥♥ (9/23 - 9/30)
✔ L: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott ♥♥♥♥♥ (6/2 - 6/10)
✔ L: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo ♥♥♥♥ (11/4 - 11/9)
✔ L: Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley ♥♥♥♥♥ (9/19 - 9/21)
✔ A: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain ♥♥♥♥ (6/30 - 7/3)
✔ N: Nuts to You by Lynne Rae Perkins ♥♥♥♥ (5/10 - 5/11)
✔ T: These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder ♥♥♥♥ (11/11 - 11/12)
✔ Y: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks ♥♥♥♥ (7/3 - 7/5)
✔ S: The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith ♥♥♥♥ (10/5 - 10/10)
✔ I: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman ♥♥♥♥ (11/13 - 11/28)
✔ L: Laughing All The Way To The Mosque by Zarqa Nawaz ♥♥♥ (3/17 - 3/20)
✔ I: I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzi ♥♥♥♥ (4/14 - 4/17)
✔ O: Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper ♥♥♥♥ (12/11 - 12/12)
✔ G: The Giver by Lois Lowery ♥♥♥♥♥ (1/1)
✔ O: Of Mice and Men by ♥♥♥♥♥ John Steinbeck (4/17)
✔ G: Gossamer by Lois Lowry ♥♥♥♥♥ (6/11)
✔ O: Old School by Tobias Wolff ♥♥♥♥ (4/19 - 4/20)
✔ G: Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry ♥♥♥♥ (1/21 - 1/24)
✔ O: Old Souls : Compelling Evidence From Children Who Remember Past Lives by Thomas Shroder ♥♥♥ (4/28 - 4/30)
✔ C: Chi Marathon: The Breakthrough Natural Running Program for a Pain-Free Half Marathon and Marathon by Danny Dreyer ♥♥♥♥♥ (1/1 - 2/10)
✔ H: Meditation: How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind by Pema Chodron ♥♥♥♥♥ (7/7 - 7/23)

COMPLETED SERIES:

Little House by Laura Ingalls Wilder:


A Needlecraft Mystery by Monica Ferris:


Faroes by Chris Ould:


The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper



CANCELLED SERIES:

The Embroidery Mysteries by Amanda Lee The Quick and the Thread
Reason: exceptionally poor editing, up to and including a sentence at the end of the book that was 100% false.

A Magical Cats Mystery by Sofie Kelly Curiosity Thrilled the Cat
Reason: Meh.

Black Cat Bookshop Mystery by Ali Brandon Double-Booked for Death
Reason: It just didn't grab me. At all.

Dragons Return by Susan Bass Marcus
Reason: Too many characters. Too much going on all at once. No clear direction to the plot, not for me.

Oh, I just read The Magician's Assistant a couple of weeks ago and really loved it!

Current series:

Isabel Dalhousie by Alexander McCall Smith:


Next up:

The No. Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith


Next up:


Chief Inspector Armand Gamache by Louise Penny:


Next up:


Harry Hole by Jo Nesbo


Next up:

Mary Russell by Laurie R. King


Next up:

Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman


Next up:


The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander


Next up:

Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman:


Next up:

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith


Next up:


Flavia de Luce by Alan Bradley


Next up:

Marjorie Trumaine Mystery by Larry Sweazey


Next up:
Note: Not sure I'll continue with this series. Found some pretty bad editing errors in the first one and wrote to the author about it. I'm torn, though, as I like the characters and the plot development. So I'll try at least one more.