The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

Task 5.9: Plum Lovin'

Task 30.3: Two for the Dough 336 pagesFour to Score313 pages High Five 352 pages Total pages 1001

Task 5.6 It's A Dirty Job But: Hot Six--The main character is a bounty hunter

Chugging along and hoping to make 400 points by the end! Just finished 25.8:

1-word title:
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
*highly* recommended

7+-word title:
Since You're Leaving Anyway, Take Out the Trash by Dixie Cash

Finished 35-4, Roseann's task!

For part A I read "Fat Chance" by Deborah Blumenthal

For part B I read "The Non-runners Marathon Trainer" by David A. Whitsett

My resolution is (was :)) to exercise more and lose weight!

835 points

For task 30.1 (Celebrate the End of the Decade), I read:

A. The Swinging Bridge by Ramabai Espinet, published in 2004 - This was my first book by this author. I really enjoyed the writing, but couldn't get into the story.

B. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, film released in 2002 - This play was pretty fun. I'm going to have to read more Wilde.

Total Points: 135

I read 4 Goodreads authors- all 5 stars!!!

Hynd- Conspiracy in Kiev
Gennifer Choldenko -Al Capone Does My Shirts
Lisa Genova- Still Alive
G.M. Maillet- Death of a Cozy Writer

I've been catching up on Fables for the past few weeks...what a fun series!

5.9 Isn't It Romantic: Fables: Storybook Love

25.10 Don't Judge a Book by its Cover: The Jungle Books I can't find my edition on goodreads, but it's the Borders Classics with a green silhouette of Mowgli and Bagheera. Its very pretty.
Fables: Legends in Exile

30.3 Snowed In and Loving It: Fables: Animal Farm (128)
Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers (240)
Fables: Homelands (192)
Fables: Arabian Nights (144)
Fables: Wolves (159) = 863 pgs total

35.3 It's About Time: Fables: The Mean Seasons

I don't feel like I've completed many of the tasks this time but then I'm happy with my point count so it's fine. Anyway I've just finished the 30 point task of Snowed in and Loving It. I read The Way Home by George Pelecanos which had 309 pages, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith which had 250 pages and The Master Bedroom by Tessa Hadley which had 306 pages. So in total for this task I read 865 pages.

Previous Reads

5.2 She was a Grand Old Flag Maker - The Little White Car by Danuta de Rhodes
5.4 A Winning Decade - The Road by Cormac McCarthy
5.5 A Librarians Job is Never Done - Mr Dixon Disappears by Ian Sansom
5.7 Eyeing the Year of the Tiger - Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
5.8 Baby It's Cold Outside - Chords and Discords by Roz Southey
5.9 Isn't it Romantic - Flights of Love by Bernhard Shlink
5.10 The Allure of Alliteration - The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite by Beatrice Colin

10.1 Under the Big Top - Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
10.4 The Winners Choice - PJReads list Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin
10.7 Small Screen Stories - My Favourite People and Me by Alan Davies

15.8 Silver Screen Celebrations - A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg and ELF

20.3 Group Reads - The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

25.1 1001 Books - What a Carve up by Jonathan Coe and Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan
25.5 Odd Task Out - American Tabloid by James Ellroy
25.6 Island Dreams - The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
25.7 The Lost Generations - The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald and Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
25.8 Inane Answering Machine Day - The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Diaz and Incendiary by Chris Cleave
25.9 The World of Books - The Principessa by Christie Dickason and The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson
25.10 Don't Judge a Book by a Cover - The Househunter by Henry Sutton and Gear by Doug Tennapel

30.1 Celebrate the End of the Decade - The Girl who Played with Fire by Steig Larrson and Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
30.7 Multitasking - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol

35.2 Going on a Winter Vacation - The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher and Sixty Lights by Gail Jones



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Finished Task 30.3

Supernatural: Rising Son by Peter Johnson 144 pages
Cinderella's Millionaire by Katherine Garbera 192 pages
Expecting the Sheikh's Baby by Kristi Gold 192 pages
Common Murder by Val McDermid 320 pages

Total pages = 848

Finished 25.10 Emily's Task. I picked by Amy Bloom. At first glance all you see is the fruit but looking closer you see a landscape scene. I was really drawn into the cover. I wish I could have been drawn into the book as well but this was only a 2* read for me. I think that the story was a little disjointed and had a hard time when the author randomly switched from past to present without a turn signal. I listened to this so maybe there were breaks in the text to signal a change. For the second part I read . This is my first graphic novel and I don't think that I will be trying any more. I found this story lacking but I really don't like the format.

This will bring me to 495 points.

Three more tasks down, 6 more to go...

5.3 Royal Reading: The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory - This book about the early life of Katharine of Aragon was very interesting from a historical point of view. The book switched back and forth from a straight 3rd person narrative to 1st person glimpses of Katharine's inner thoughts, and I kept getting the sense that the two Katharines did not completely dovetail into one person. I think I would have liked it more without the first person parts.

10.10 From Russia with Love: The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander - a really good story and a slightly different twist to the tale of the last days of Tsar Nicholas and his family. Well researched and touching.

25.1 1001 Books:
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett - A great old-fashioned hard-boiled detective story; though truthfully if you have seen the movie, you need not read it. The movie perfectly captured nearly everything in Hammett's book. Read the book instead of watching the movie next time, it's just as good as being there.

The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene - I appreciated a lot of the insights the author made through his characters and setting, but my goodness what a depressing story about a good man, a police officer in a coastal African city during WWII, who slowly descends into corruption.

My longest books were World Without End by Follett 1014 pages
and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Clarke 1006 pages.
(Moral: Read shorter books!)

Finished:

20.1 MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - BETH MN'S TASK - REVISITING THE PAST
Choose Your Favorite Task From A Past Challenge. The Task You Choose Must Originally Have Been Worth 15 Points Or Higher. When You Claim Points, Let Us Know Which Challenge And Which Task You're Revisiting.

Fall 2009
GROUP READ - Read The Shadow of the Wind, Julie and Julia 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, or Shutter Island.

Read: Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell

New Point Total: 300
Tasks Completed: 13
Books Read: 17
Audio Books: 1
Pages Read: 5328

I just realized that I can claim a "ticket" for supporting a GoodReads author. In post 2380 (Feb 04, 2010 at 3:01PM) I claimed points for task 15.6 with The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

Stein is a GoodReads author.

Thanks!

Finished two more tasks!
30.1 (A) A. Read One Book That Was Published In The Past Decade. I read a book published in 2009: The Kingdom of Ohio by Matthew Flaming (Hardcover, 336 pages) (Goodreads Author). A promising beginning that doesn’t go anywhere, 2 *’s.
And
30.1 (B). One Book That Was Made Into A Movie In The Past Decade.
I read The Extraordinary Journeys: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, translated by William Butcher (Paperback, 304 pages) It was made into a movie in 2004 (starring Jackie Chan as Passepartout). (The 1956 movie with David Niven as Phineas Fogg was much better than the 2004 movie, by the way.) Around the World in Eighty Days was written originally in French. I read an English translation. Translations vary in quality and it is very important to get a good translation, one that is true to the original. This edition of Around the World in Eighty Days was translated by William Butcher. It reads smoother than other translations. Goodreads agrees with me :0)
Goodreads review: "While most translations misread or even abridge the original, this stylish version is completely true to Verne's classic..."

Also claiming
5.6. IT'S A DIRTY JOB BUT… - In The Fall Challenge We Read About Our Current And Dream Job So For This Task...
A. Read A Novel Where The Main Character Does A Job You Could Never Imagine Doing.
Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi (Hardcover, 248 pages)
Pump Six and Other Stories is a collection of 10 novelettes by Paolo Bacigalupi. All 10 are set in dystopias of the future; in 9 of the stories, in order to survive the main character has to either kill someone or steal from someone (as in: stealing food from the mouth of a baby). The tenth story is the title story, Pump Six. In Pump Six, the main character takes drugs and maintains the sewer system (no, it doesn't work out well). I could not imagine myself doing what these characters did in these stories to survive the dytopic societies in which they live, making this book a "job I can't imagine doing".


610 + 30 +5 = 645
Matthew Flaming is a Goodreads Author




Tasks Completed: 32
Points for this task: 30+5
Points thus far: 645/1100
Books read: 44
Pages Read: 13,676
Read but not yet claimed: 3 books

5 point task
2. SHE WAS A GRAND OLD FLAG MAKER - In Honor Of Betsy Ross (Born January 1, 1752 – Died January 30, 1836) Famously Credited With Sewing The First American Flag…
A. Read A Book That Has A Red, White, And Blue Cover. (Other Colors May Appear But R/W/B Should Be The Primary Colors Of The Book)
O is for Obama by Dana Milbank

Current Point Total: 160
Jessica (MI)

15.2 I read "Skylight Confessions" by Alice Hoffman and "Queen Zixi of Ix" by L Frank Baum.

I am really enjoying Alice Hoffman's books, and the 2nd book was a wonderful re-read. I loved the book as a child, and I still love it as a grown up!

Two more tasks, 3 more books:

#5.5 = A Librarian's Job is Never Done: main character is a librarian
Mr. Dixon Disappears by Ian Sansom Feb 17 My review

#25.1 Leora: Read 2 books from the '1001 Books to Read' list
A. #142 The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
B. #991 The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyon

Total Pages = 22,400

Total Points = 1015

I finished Sara Nicoles task today, 25-3

Part A: Gulity Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton. This has a mostly plum cover.



Part B: The Outdoor Chums-The First Tale of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club by Captain Quincy Allen.

Part C-Guilty Pleasures has been in my pile o' unread books for a LONG time! The Outdoor Chums book I read on Gutenberg.

860 points

I just finished another task, TASK 10.5 - POPULARITY

For this task I read The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, which was on the Goodreads most popular list for November 2009, which is my birthday month.

POINTS SO FAR: 120
POINTS TO ADD: 10
TOTAL POINTS: 130

I finished task 15.3 by reading Catching Fire, which lives up to Hunger Games easily, and Living History, the autobiography of Hillary Clinton, which was sort of disapointing.

Point Total: 255
Page Total: 8132
Book Total: 25

I have been slacking (too distracted by the new Spring tasks!). Need to get back on track!

30.10 THERESA IN OHIO'S TASK - COLOR BY NUMBERS
A. Read A Book With A Bright Or Happy COLOR Word In The Title - Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle by Dorothy Gilman.
AND
B. Read A Book With A NUMBER In The Title - Anyan's Story: A New Guinea Woman in Two Worlds by Virginia Drew Watson.

Total Points: 925/1100
Tasks Completed: 52/58
Tasks in Progress: 3

almost there, bjrose! :)

finished task 10.5 by reading In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. it was bueno, though nothing earth-shattering for me. he does write really well!




Total Points: 890/1100
Books Read: 56/81
Tasks Completed: 39/58
Tasks in Progress: 2

I have completed task #5.4 by reading The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. It was slow going and I could see what was coming well before the narrator but I gave it 4 stars anyway. The writing was just that good.

I completed task 10.1 UNDER THE BIG TOP with The Magician's Elephant**** by Kate DiCamillo.

And 30.9 RACHEL LEE'S TASK - THE NEWBERY AWARD
1990 Medal Winner: Number the Stars**** by Lois Lowry
Honor Books: The Winter Room*** by Gary Paulsen


Total points: 385
Total pages 6777

50 Point Task-
I read Silver Wedding by Maeve Binchy. 3 stars and I read The Skeleton in the Closet by M.C. Beaton. 3 stars

50 points!

Total Points: 575
Total Books Read: 37
Total Pages Read: 11,882
Tasks in Process: 5.3 (might finish this, might not)

Finished a quick read, 5.10 - Alliteration

Haunted Heart by Lisa Rogak

Totals:
Points:490
Books:31
Tasks:22
Pages:9593

I haven’t posted my completed reads for a couple weeks. So here they are:

10.3 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. It was sad but very good. I gave it four stars.

20.2 The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I adored it and gave it five stars. (Goodreads author)

30.3 Secrets of a Summer Night, It Happened One Autumn and Devil in Winter all by Lisa Kleypas. I’ve had the sniffles for the past week and these were wonderfully brainless anecdotes. My total number of combined pages for this task is 1,125 which exceed the limit set forth by the task.

Points: 220
Books Read: 15
Tasks Completed: 11

Task 5.10 Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

I'm not going to make it, but close, so close!

15.4 Book with you favorite game (card, board, video) in the title or relates to the game AND spend an hour or more playing the game: Bridge of Birds and played bridge, by Barry Hughart, 278pp read 12/18/2010.

15.10 Read a book by an author who died in 2009 and watch a film with actor or director who died in 2009: The Diamond Throne by David Eddings 435pp read 2/17/2010 and watched Patton (Karl Malden) 12/10/1009.


Books read 69/79
Tasks completed 47/58
Points 945/1100
Pages read 22096

For task #5.1 I read Fish Out of Water by MaryJanice Davidson. My favorite Disney Movie is Little Mermaid.

This is the third book in a trilogy about a human/mermaid hybrid named Fred and she is hilarious.

This takes my total up to a whopping 165. Life just keeps getting in the way. LOL

I completed the following challenges :
1) 35.1 - PJ Reads task - Fun with the Dewey decimal system : based on First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (rated 5 stars), my version is 498 pages :
- 496 African languages: Oui mon commandant by Amadou Hampaté Ba (Memoirs of Amadou Hampaté Ba, who spent his life collecting west african oral traditions)
- 248 Christian experience, practice, life: The poisonwood bible by Barbara Kingsolver

2) 30.1 - Bonnie's task - Celebrate the end of the decade : Joséphine 1 & 2 by Pénélope Bagieu (published in 2008 and 2009) and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (2007 movie version)

Books read: 13
Challenges accomplished: 8
Points : 175

Ok. I misread one of the challenges, so I am currently at 350 points and 6057 pages.

I am going to redesignate the book from 35.2 to
20.1 MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - BETH MN'S TASK - REVISITING THE PAST
From the Summer Challenge I chose 30.2: Ann From S.C.'S Task - Read A Book That You Have Started But Never Finished. For that I am redesignating the Island Trilogy Bind-Up by Gordon Korman. I had started Shipwrecked, but Survival and Escape were unfinished.

So my new Total points: 370
Total pages: 6473

I finished 25.10. I thought the cover of Eclipse is very well designed (much better than the book), and for the graphic novel I read Persepolis 1: The Story of a Childhood, which was excellent!

New Point Total: 405
Task Completed: 19
Tasks in Progress: 5
Books Read: 34
Pages Read: 11007

15.3 For this task I read "Predator" By Patricia Cornwell. This is one of the Kay Scarpetta series.
For the autobiography I read "It Ain't All About The Cookin'" by Paula Deen.

15.9 The longest book on my TBR shelf was "The Kite Runner" Khaled Hosseini. For my new author I read "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" By Stephen Chbosky.

5.4- I read "Three Junes" By Julia Glass. This won the National Book Award in 2002. I LOVED this book.

5.9- I read "Loving Frank" By Nancy Horan.

New Points: 40
Total Points: 285
Total Tasks: 17

DONNA JO'S TASK - GOING ON A WINTER VACATION I readA Northern Light and Northern Lights

DONE
10.3 RENAISSANCE READING - In Honor Of Zora Neale Hurston (Born January 7, 1891– Died January 28, 1960) Famous Harlem Renaissance Author…
A. Read A Novel That Was Written By An African American That Also Has An African American Protagonist. OR B. Read A Non-Fictional Account Of The Harlem Renaissance Or A Biography/Autobiography Of An Important African American Figure From That Time Period. Ex. Langston Hughes Or Billie Holiday
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
10 points
1100 total
24,827 pages read!!!!!!!

BJ Rose wrote: "Two more tasks, 3 more books:

#5.5 = A Librarian's Job is Never Done: main character is a librarian
Mr. Dixon Disappears by Ian Sansom Feb 17 My review

#25.1 Leora: Read 2 books fr..."

Go BJ GO BJ GO BJ!!!!!

Wendy wrote: "DONE
10.3 RENAISSANCE READING - In Honor Of Zora Neale Hurston (Born January 7, 1891– Died January 28, 1960) Famous Harlem Renaissance Author…
A. Read A Novel That Was Written By An African Americ..."

Congrats on finishing!!!

Kathryn wrote: "Wendy wrote: "DONE
10.3 RENAISSANCE READING - In Honor Of Zora Neale Hurston (Born January 7, 1891– Died January 28, 1960) Famous Harlem Renaissance Author…
A. Read A Novel That Was Written By An ..."

Thanks!!!

Cindy wrote: "I'm not going to make it, but close, so close!

15.4 Book with you favorite game (card, board, video) in the title or relates to the game AND spend an hour or more playing the game: [book:Bridge ..."

Read some shorter books. You can do it!!

30.8. KARI ♪'S TASK - EXPLORING WITH LEWIS AND CLARK
Jefferson's Great Gamble: The Remarkable Story of Jefferson, Napoleon and the Men Behind the Louisiana Purchase and Meriwether: A Novel of Meriwether Lewis and the Lewis & Clark Expedition
I think if I had to put up with the inconveniences of this time period (outhouses, lack of plumbing, no air conditioning). I would prefer to live in the late 1700's and experienced the American Revolution rather than the age of expansion.
Books Read: 55
Pages Read: 17459
Tasks Completed: 40
Tasks in Progress: 3

congrats, wendy! :)

Good job, Wendy.

kiki wrote: "congrats, wendy! :)"

Thanks KIKI!!

Congrats all finishers!

Donna Jo wrote: "Good job, Wendy.
"

Thanks, I got bogged down in December, so I had a tough time keeping up with you!!!

25.9. BRIDGIT'S TASK - THE WORLD OF BOOKS
A)Any Book That Has A Map Included- Magician's Gambit (The Belgariad, #3) by David Eddings
B)Any Book That Has Extra Content- 1984 by George Orwell (Has NewSpeak with appendix at back detailing the different aspects of the language.

Books read: 15
Tasks completed: 10
Total Points: 190

Wendy wrote: "DONE..."

Congratulations, Wendy!!! That's awesome!

"Cindy wrote: "I'm not going to make it, but close, so close!..."

Cindy, Cindy, go, go, go!!! You can do it, that we know!!!!

Congrats to everyone that has finished! There's no way I'll make it, but I'm ok just plugging along. :)

For 25.6, I read Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 13 by Bisco Hatori, which is set in Japan.

For 30.5, I read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (deceased narrator) AND Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor (published posthumously).

TOTALS:
Points: 305
Tasks completed: 15/58
Tasks in progress: 6
Books read: 27
Pages read: 7,285