Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

Are you intrigued by controversial topics? Do you like to sometimes go beyond what is mainstream? Not easily embarrassed or offended? If so, this reading challenge is for you.

Inspired by a discussion in our Challenge Suggestions thread, I have put together a new challenge for our more adventurous readers.

Duration: 6 months
Required total number of books: 10

Read two books for each category. Books can either be fiction or non-fiction. Categories are pretty loose, so I encourage you to write a brief statement why you feel the book/s you’ve chosen fits the category.

Religion and/or Spirituality (religious persecution, controversial spiritual movements, wars or conflicts caused by religion, books involving gods, deities or other religious figures, etc)

Politics (books set in the political arena; politicians as characters; biographies of political figures, etc)

Sexuality (m/m or f/f books, ménage, BDSM, strange sexual fetishes, etc)

Other Controversial Topics (This is pretty much an open field: rape, abortion, addiction, racism, child abuse, etc)

Banned Books (There are many lists available online. Please link which list your book/s come from)

You can sign up anytime you like. Be sure to put in your start date and end date.

To share and/or get ideas for this challenge, check these shelves out:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/booksh...

http://www.goodreads.com/group/booksh...

***For Questions/Suggestions please go to this thread here: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Really want to join this challenge. Will have to have a think about which books I'm going to read... I shall commence the search of Mount TBR!

BTW: I'm going to delete some of the discussion comments and place them here for this challenge: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Yes, I'll try it this year as well...I "started" a day early, but since that book was a deluxe "bodice-ripper" I hope I can be forgiven.

1/10

Religion and/or Spirituality:
Ime rože (The Name of the Rose) by Umberto Eco
TBD

Politics:
Extreme Exposure by Pamela Clare (a US senator as main character)
TBD

Sexuality:
Private Property by Leah Braemel (ménage)
Personal Protection by Leah Braemel (BDSM)

Other Controversial Topics:
Stormfire by Christine Monson (rape, "forced seduction", torture, castration, physical abuse etc.) — 03/14
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma (incest)

Banned Books (list):
Rakov povratnik (Tropic of Cancer) by Henry Miller
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

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12/14 Read

Religion
Invincible – 4/10 (Greek & Egyptian Gods)
Pleasure of a Dark Prince – 4/19 (Norse Gods)
Hush (Orthodox Judaism)

Politics
Extreme Exposure – 4/11 (State Politics)
Sarah's Gift – 4/8 (Amish Politics)
Abigail's New Hope – 4/18 (Amish Politics)

Sexuality
Rode Hard, Put Up Wet – 4/7 (BDSM, M/M)
Wicked Sexy – 4/3 (Menage)
Wicked Bad – 4/13 (Menage, M/M)

Controversial
The Chosen One (Polygamy, Incest)
Comfort Food – 4/3 (Sexual Slavery)
Stolen – 4/24 (Kidnapping, Hostage, Stockholm Syndrome)

Banned – from http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy...
The Agony of Alice – 4/1
Go Ask Alice – 4/7

I'm in. I'll try to make it a bit more challenging by trying for only fiction, and not academic books.

Duration: 07/04/2011 - 06/09/2011

1/10 read

Religion/Gods
1. TBA
2. TBA

Politics
1. TBA
2. TBA

Sexuality
1. Bareback by Chris Owen (m/m)
2. Lord Kir of Oz by Cheyenne McCray (d/s)

Controversial
1. Fallen Star by Morgan Hawke (sexual slavery) (really good book)
2. Death Row: The Fugitive by Jaid Black (abduction)

Banned
1. TBA
2. TBA

Read:

8/10 read

2 books of religion or spirituality
-When Hope Prevails by Sam Offen (Holocaust) 11/16/10
- Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult (Girl talks to God) 1/18/11

- 2 books of Politics
- The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (Communist China) 1/9/11
- The Russian Word for Snow by Janis Cooke Newman (1st democratic election in Russian/International adoption) 4/8/11

2 books of sexuality
- Beauty's Punishment by Anne Rice (BDSM) 12/16/10
- Celtic Charms: Destined by Dawn Madigan (erotica)

2 books of another controversial topic
- Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult (wrongful birth) 1/6/11
- Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult (Death Penalty) 2/13/11

2 books on a banned list
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (www.wikipedia.org)
- Beauty's Release by Anne Rice (writing as A.N. Roquelaure)(http://www.banned-books.com/bblista-i... ) 3/15/11

Challenge Duration: March 14 - September 14 (2011)

10/10 - Done!

Religion and/or Spirituality:
Ime rože (The Name of the Rose) by Umberto Eco — 02/30
Immortal Blush by Lanette Currington (a goddess as main character) — 03/21

Politics:
Extreme Exposure by Pamela Clare (a US senator as main character) — 04/02
Naked in Death by J.D. Robb (a US senator as one of the main characters) —04/15

Sexuality:
Stay Forever by P. Lee (m/m) — 03/21
Riley's Surprise by Jordan Skye (f/f, BDSM) — 03/21

Other Controversial Topics:
Stormfire by Christine Monson (rape, "forced seduction", torture, castration, physical abuse etc.) — 03/14
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma (incest) — 04/07

Banned Books: (list)
Rakov povratnik (Tropic of Cancer) by Henry Miller — 04/08
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert — 04/04

Congratulations, Mojca!

Really like this idea, am gonna do some research about which books I might read and will get back to this.

Thanks for the interesting topic.

14/14 Read Done!

Religion
Invincible – 4/10 (Greek & Egyptian Gods)
Pleasure of a Dark Prince – 4/19 (Norse Gods)
Hush – 4/29 (Orthodox Judaism)

Politics
Extreme Exposure – 4/11 (State Politics)
Sarah's Gift – 4/8 (Amish Politics)
Abigail's New Hope – 4/18 (Amish Politics)

Sexuality
Rode Hard, Put Up Wet – 4/7 (BDSM, M/M)
Wicked Sexy – 4/3 (Menage)
Wicked Bad – 4/13 (Menage, M/M)

Controversial
The Chosen One – 4/28 (Polygamy, Incest)
Comfort Food – 4/3 (Sexual Slavery)
Stolen – 4/24 (Kidnapping, Hostage, Stockholm Syndrome)

Banned – from http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy...
The Agony of Alice – 4/1
Go Ask Alice – 4/7

Congratulations, N.L.!

Thanks. :)

Congrats Mojca and NL. That was fast!

Tash wrote: "Really like this idea, am gonna do some research about which books I might read and will get back to this.

Thanks for the interesting topic."

You can also make the list as you go, if you can't figure out which books to use for each category right away.

Start date:9/1/12
End date: 3/1/13

2/10

Religion or Spirituality:
1.Wings of the Wicked
2.Pure

Politics:
1.Twice Bitten 9/4/12
2.Red-Headed Stepchild 9/8/12

Sexuality:
1.The Concubine (Blaze Historicals #2)
2.About That Night...

Other Controversial Topics:
1.Crank(Drug abuse)
2.Stolen: A Letter to My Captor (Kidnapping, Hostage, Stockholm Syndrome)

Banned Books:
1.Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire