Canadian Book Challenge 2010-2011

Canadian Book Challenge 4

Read 13 Canadian Books between July 1 2010 and July 1 2011
Reading...
1) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
2) Vanishing and Other Stories by Deborah Willis
3) Ape House by Sara Gruen
4) Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures: Stories by Vincent Lam
5) Room by Emma Donoghue
6) Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers
7) Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
8) The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood
9) As Long As The Rivers Flow by James Bartleman
10) Is by Anne Simpson
11) The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb 
12) Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Zsuzsi Gartner
13) Small Mechanics by Lorna Crozier 
14) Bees by Candace Savage
15) Folk by Jacob McArthur Mooney
16) Origami Dove by Susan Musgrave
17) Far To Go by Alison Pick
18) The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
19) The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
20) The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong
21) The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong
22) Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari
23) Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston
24) Creep by Jennifer Hillier
25) Underground by Antanas Sileika

Completed: April 11th 2011

2011 Reading Goals

One last post on 2011 reading for the day. So, I'm basically avoiding reading challenges for 2011, with two current exceptions (Jewish Literature and Short Story, although both seem to be technically defunct anyway). However my main reading goal for 2011 is to try to read more than I did in 2010, mostly because I tend to twist challenges to fit the books I want to read anyway rather than actually challenging myself. So as inspiration for my 2011 reading I've created a list of some reading goals, or books and authors I'd like to read, in the upcoming year. A lot of these books do overlap with the challenges I listed anyway. 

• Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld
• A book by Colum McCann
  
• A book by Laurie Halse Anderson
  
• A book by Ellen Hopkins
  
• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
• A book by Lorrie Moore
• A book by Lydia Davis
• A book by Dave Eggers 
• A book by Maile Meloy
• A book by Milan Kundera  (Completed The Unbearable Lightness of Being)
• A book by David Levithan (Completed The Lover's Dictionary)
• Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
• The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood 
• Center of Winter by Marya Hornbacher 
• Finish Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman 
• Finish Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
• At least 2 plays  (Completed The Tempest and Lysistrata)
• At least 5 books of poetry  (Completed Imaginary Logic, The Needle, Is, New Selected Poems: 1984-2004, Double Shadow)
• Get my pile of review copies down to less than 20 unread books! 

Do you have any reading goals for 2011? Is there anything you're hoping to see reviewed on In The Next Room next year? Are you hosting a reading challenge you'd like me to join? It's definitely something I'd consider, but I am trying to focus on ones that allow me "read from my shelves". I'm 100% open to suggestions so feel free to leave them in the comments. Thanks!

2010 Reading Challenges

GLBT Challenge 2010

Read books about GLBT topics and/or by GLBT authors.
Rainbow Level: Read 12 or more books.
Read:
1) Specimen Days- Michael Cunningham
2) Howl and Other Poems- Allen Ginsberg
3) Diving into the Wreck- Adrienne Rich 
4) A Single Man- Christopher Isherwood
5) Your Native Land, Your Life- Adrienne Rich
6) An Atlas of the Difficult World- Adrienne Rich
7) Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles- Jeanette Winterson 
8) Boy Meets Boy- David Levithan 
9) Ash- Malinda Lo
10) Written on the Body- Jeanette Winterson
11) The Dream of a Common Language: Poems, 1974-1977- Adrienne Rich
12) Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
Finished September 10 2010.

100+ Book Reading Challenge
Read 100 books in 2010
Finished September 18 2010.
For a list of books being read visit 2010 Reads.

Chunkster Reading Challenge

Read books of 450 pages (or more!).
Level- Mor-book-ly Obese. Commit to 6 Chunksters over the next twelve months. February 1, 2010 - January 31, 2011. Ebooks do not count.
Read:
1) What Is The What by Dave Eggers (480 pages)
2) The Book Thief by Mark Zusak (552 pages)
3) Crank by Ellen Hopkins (537 pages)
4) Identical by Ellen Hopkins (565 pages)
5) The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (508 pages)
6) Burned by Ellen Hopkins (532 pages)
Finished September 22 2010.

Jewish Literature Challenge

 

I am joining this (now defunct it seems) challenge.

What: Reading books by Jewish Authors or about Judaism 

When: December 1st 2010-April 26th 2011

Level: Read at least five books from the following list: 

Completed:

1. Bending Towards the Sun by Leslie Gilbert-Lurie (Review)
2. The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok (Review)
   
3. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart (Review)
4. An Exclusive Love by Johanna Adorján (Review)
5. History of a Suicide by Jill Bialosky (Review) 
6. Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel (Review) 
7. The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia (Review) 

Tentative:

1. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
2. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
3. Annexed by Sharon Dogar *
4. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss * 
5. Have a Little Faith: A True Story by Mitch Albom 
6. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay *
7. Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky *
8. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink 
9. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon *
10. The Trial by Franz Kafka
11. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand *
12. Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow *
13. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
14. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
15. The Believers by Zoe Heller * 

*Indicates I already own the book

Completed: January 26 2011

2011 Reading Goals: Book Club With Laala

This year my best but long distance friend Laala and I did a joint reading project which included three books, beginning with Life Is Elsewhere by Milan Kundera, then Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy, and lastly How To Talk To A Widower by Jonathan Tropper. Inspired by the fun we had we decided to set an actual book club schedule for 2011, beginning this month. I've decided to post it here so I have a record of the commitment, and also don't have to worry about misplacing the list. In chronological order the titles are:

• December 2010: Room by Emma Donoghue (Review)
  2011
• January: Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart (Review) 
  *Note: Laala did not actually read this book
• February: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver (Review)
• March: New Selected Poems by Carol Ann Duffy (Review)
  *Note: Laala did not finish this book

And this was when we abandoned the book club!  Apparently we don't do well with schedules...

• April: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson 
• May: Dubliners by James Joyce (Review)
• June: The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (Review)
• July: Birds of America by Lorrie Moore (Review)
• August: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (Review)
• Sept: Jacob's Room by Virgina Woolf (Review)
• October: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (Review)
• November: A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon (Review)
• December: Eve Green by Susan Fletcher (Review)

I am really excited to read all these books with Laala, I think it's a great combination of non-fiction, poetry, short story collections and fiction. I also own all the titles already except two (Murakami and Haddon) which makes it a lot easier to organize, and those I can easily get from the library. I'd also love to participate in a few read-a-longs in the upcoming year, assuming I enjoy my first experience. I haven't exactly decided which ones I'll be doing but they will likely center on classics as I find those are the ones I am most likely to benefit from a group discussion for. The Lost Entwife and A Literary Odyssey both have a great schedule of read-alongs lined up so I'll definitely be checking those out. I'd love to find a local book club, but I don't know where to start, and online works better for my crazy schedule anyway.

How do you feel about online book clubs? Do you participate in any book clubs, online or otherwise? If you are hosting any read-a-longs for 2011 definitely leave me a link, I seem discover about half of them after they've already started.