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Reading Challenges
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New Year Reading Challenge
Thanks to Sammee and Li getting me hooked on Doctor Who, I suspect I won't be doing much reading over the next few months. Was that intentional, to hinder me in this challenge? Hmmmm...But, if I were to try the challenge:
1. NEW RELEASE
Clockwork Princess - to be released on March 19, 2013 and/or Splintered. Just saw Then She Fell and am re-reading Alice in Wonderland, so thought this would be cool! Splintered is FINISHED on 1/21/13 It was a fairly formulaic, poorly-written Young Adult novel with the usual elements. Very disappointing, but I managed to weather through it. It would have been interesting to see from the point of view of Gregory Maguire - far from a perfect author, but definitely able to get some nuance into these reimagined classics.
2. NEW SERIES
2001 A Space Odyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey
FINISHED 1/11/13 Definitely a good book to read while watching Doctor Who. I was surprised at how riveted I was by the descriptions of daily life on the space craft, and the musings about the origins of our evolution and where we might be going.
3. "NEW" TITLE
The Good Fairies of New York - changed this one because I saw it on my shelf and realized I'm long overdue to read it. And its intro was written by Neil Gaiman. FINISHED 1/19/13 I wanted to like this more than I did. Very quirky and fun in a way. There was some sweetness to the characters and lots of cleverness, but I didn't totally gel with it. Curious to hear if anyone else has read it and what they think. Pretty quick read, even though there are lots of characters and multiple story lines.
and Dead Is the New Black, poached from Janel's list.
4. NEW GENRE
Oh, my - can't even begin to read Boxen, the Juvenilia of CS Lewis. Painful! I think I'll borrow a page from Sammee's book, so to speak, and choose something from Romance. I'm going to do The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. The Lucky One
FINISHED 1/12/13 Holy cow - it was a quick, easy read, but very very cheesy and filled with romantic cliches. Kind of like a Lifetime movie.
5. NEW FRIEND
I found this in Abby's "to read" list, so I figured, "why not?"
Imaginary Girls
FINISHED 1/8/13 - ended up still not loving it, but it got me re-hooked into its mysterious nature and I plowed through. Quick enough read! Finished just after midnight last night. It was sort of blah. Abby, I'd say a reason to finish it is that we can discuss it, but not if there's any other book you'd rather read!
Mod
Just One Day
Gayle Forman is one of my favorite authors. Really looking forward to this one.
New Series
The Raven Boys
I liked the Shiver series, let's see how I do with The Raven Boys.
New Title
New Kids on the Block: Five Brothers and a Million Sisters
Love(d) my New Kids!
finished January 10, 2013
New Genre
Sister
I don't read Crime novels so we'll see how I do with this one.
finished February 1, 2013
New Friend
Vanessa has a really awesome To-Read list! I chose Gathering Blue because it's on my To-Read list as well and I want to read all the books in The Giver series.
finished January 13, 2013
I can't promise I'll actually get through it, but I genuinely want to try!!1. NEW RELEASE
Just One Day by Gayle Foreman, yey!
2. NEW SERIES
The Wolves of Mercy Falls, Shiver (Book #1)
3. "NEW" TITLE
The Emperor's New Clothes... seriously, I never read it, I just know the story.. go figure!
4. NEW GENRE
Psychology
Beyond Human Nature: How Culture and Experience Shape the Human Mind by Jesse J Prinz
5. NEW FRIEND
Li isn't a new friend, but I've really wanted to read this since she told me about it...
Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony
and Mia, let me know what you think of Imaginary Girls... I tried twice to read it and just couldn't. :-\
Who are we kidding? Y'all know I won't be reading at all because I'll be up late watching Doctor Who.
Okay, I know that we're going to be updating our original posts with our progress, but I wanted to share a quote from page 64 of 2001: A Space Odyssey, where he pretty much perfectly describes a character reading from an iPad (called a "Newspad")and says, " The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be." This was published in 1968! Starting to think that Arthur C. Clarke may have had a TARDIS...
Also, Abby, I now have a new book challenge - to read Imaginary Girls by January 20th, because I just borrowed it from the library and that's how long I have it!
Mod
1. NEW RELEASE: Just One Day (Just One Day #1) by Gayle Forman
2. NEW SERIES: What's Left of Me(The Hybrid Chronicles #1) by Kat Zhang or Starters (Starters and Enders #1)
3. "NEW" TITLE: Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman
4. NEW GENRE: Romance. I may have read this many years ago and was instantly turned off by the cheesy covers & storylines but I will put my judgement hat on a shelf and give it another go with Red Lory by Dave Newell
5. NEW FRIEND either Natalie - The Rise of Nine (Lorien Legacies, #3) by Pittacus Lore or Marcella - The Future of Us by Jay Asher
My running list...will update once I am able to actually get through any given book!1. NEW RELEASE
Splintered by A.G. Howard
** released on January 1, 2013
2. NEW SERIES
Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series)
3. "NEW" TITLE
Dead Is the New Black by Marlene Perez
4. NEW GENRE
Historical biography - I don't think I have EVER read a book in this genre.
Night by Elie Wiesel
5. NEW FRIEND
I chose one of Sammee's books...
Damned by Chuck Palahniuk
Mod
I had the same issue up until this morning. It will come to you & once your in the zone you'll devour these books. Gotta start with a good one. Starting with a duds ruins everything !
Oh, duh. Shoulda looked here first before suggesting that Janel look here. :-)
By the way, guys - nobody said you were able to update the books as you go, or say you'll read this OR that. We're allowed to do that? Because I may ad some "ors" to my list. Abby - I'm a third through Imaginary Girls (because I read some on a long subway ride and turned off the Doctor Who for the evening). It's not like I'm loving it, but the mysterious aspect of it is keeping me going. Ruby is such an unpleasant character. If this weren't part of the challenge, I'd probably pack it in and just go and read some spoilers!
Mod
The idea is to create one post on this thread and just update that one with the dates finished.
(For a true example, check out the summer reading challenge thread.)
Mod
Mia, thanks... thats exactly how far I got the last time and you are absolutely correct Ruby was not my favorite character.. she annoyed me a lot actually. I still have it electronically so we'll see if I try again.
Not sure if I'll have time to do this or not, but I'd like to give it a shot, here are my choices:1. NEW RELEASE
Storyteller by Jodi Picoult (to be released in February)
2. NEW SERIES (Finished January 22, 2013)
Wilderness Series by Sara Donati (First book is Into the Wilderness)
3. "NEW" TITLE
Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (I've always love the stories about Anne so I'm actually kind of excited to check this one out.. haha. Yes, I know I'm a dork.)
4. NEW GENRE (Finished January 11, 2013)
The Land of Nod by Gary Hoover
This one was harder to come up with because though I certainly have genres that I favour I have pretty eclectic tastes and have read books from many different genres. However, I decided to read one from the alien genre.
5. NEW FRIEND (Finished January 8, 2013)
Seriously, I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres
I picked a book from Li's list.
Happy Reading All! :)
Oooh, maybe I'll add Storyteller to my list - didn't realize Jodi Picoult had a new one coming out. Also, curious to hear what you think about Emily of New Moon, Vanessa. I read the trilogy. I actually think that the first two Anne books were the best of the lot. After that, she gets a bit lost in her own flowery, purply writing. Yeah, I'm a dork, too. Man, Book Bodegans! We are nerds at SO many levels. Thanks for inviting me to this fine gathering of nerds, Sammee!
ooohhh....I thought we could update our post as we find the books for each catergory that we would want to read! Duh! I should have been clued in when I saw everyone else list their books!! LOLWill update my post with books by the end of the week! I am already sooooo behind!
The only reason I'm making ANY progress at all is that I've stopped watching Doctor Who for the time being (as that turns into hours and hours), and I'm working so much that I need to give myself these little breaks in the evening to escape into something quiet, non-TV, non-screen time!
Mia wrote: "Oooh, maybe I'll add Storyteller to my list - didn't realize Jodi Picoult had a new one coming out. Also, curious to hear what you think about Emily of New Moon, Vanessa. I read the trilogy. I a..."Hey! I thought I'd let you know that Jodi Picoult's new book Storyteller is actually up in the giveaways right now (draw on January 19), so you should enter to win because getting it free makes it even better! :)
Thanks Vanessa!Hey - I feel like a dolt not being able to figure this out, but can anyone tell me how to do boldface type in these comments??
Mia wrote: "Thanks Vanessa!Hey - I feel like a dolt not being able to figure this out, but can anyone tell me how to do boldface type in these comments??"
You're welcome and that's a good question, it's actually code that you have to put in. Put < b > in front of that you want bold (but without the spaces) and < / b > at the end (again, without the spaces). That should make it bold for you. :o)
thanks!
Thanks from me too!I wrote it down in my great big "stuff I have to remember" note book. (I could not function without a calendar on my phone, notebooks and sticky notes!)
I actually got one!2. New Series
1st book of the Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series. It was recommended by a pen pal and would figure the library only has the 2nd and 3rd books in the series so I had to cough up some cash to start the series. ;)
Sammee, I think I'm taking a YA hiatus too! Really GOOD YA stuff is still enjoyable. But when I read that someone's finger grazes someone's chin and an unfamiliar tingle goes up and down her flesh, I just roll my eyes. Yadda yadda yadda. Im reading Splintered right now. I think that, in the hands of a mature author, this really could have gone somewhere. I"m only half way through, and tempted to stop, but figure I'll plod on just to see where it ends up.
Mod
And as for the YA stuff, I'm so over-it! it's all too formulaic now along with being poorly written.
Yeah - now that I've finished Splintered, I may finish Carnival of Souls, and I'll definitely check out Clockwork Princess, but I'm heading away from YA for a bit. Will have to think up some additional challenge books to read. Of this set, my favorite was 2001 A Space Odyssey, and I did get the four part series for Christmas.
I'm so going to loose this challenge... :( I'll read at least one of mine... LOL
Mod
:)
Congratulations!!
As the winner, you get to choose March's read.
Everyone else, let's go ahead and finish our books. I know we have some good ones on our lists.
Since we already have a winner, we'll shorten the challenge by a month.
Challenge now ends February 28.
We'll be back to our monthly read on March 1st.
Mod
You've dethroned me, lol how does it feel?
Aw, I kinda feel like I shut down the challenge, though. (Borrowing two of them from the library gave me the impetus to read them more quickly.)So, what do we do to revitalize the challenge?
And, Sammee, I'm betting you'll make a comeback and kick my butt in the next challenge. ;-)
Guys -- hate to say this, but I think the book I'm gonna choose for March is one that I've already had a love-hate relationship with, even though I haven't read it. One that was suggested before, but I didn't want to read it. But I'm now thinking that, if we all read it together, maybe it will generate some interesting conversation. How about we tackle The Casual Vacancy so, when we say we don't like JK Rowling's "ooh, look at me, I can write gritty stuff," new style we will have actually read it?
Mod
I love that you feel the same way about the book as I do.
The casual vacancy it is!
:)
Whoa, I've actually been proactive and put myself on the waiting list at the Library for March's book. I'm ninth in line, so I should have it not to far into March. Yay Me *LOL*
Since I had some extra time on the airplane rides to and from Portland, OR, I actually started The Casual Vacancy already. The only comment I have so far is that JK Rowling's writing style leaves something to be desired. She has many characters and writes from multiple points of view, so she does LOTS of qualifying her pronouns. For example: "Mia was wondering what Sammee was reading because, she, Mia, wanted to read a new book. Abby then decided to text Sammee to see what she, Sammee, was reading. Kai wondered why she, Kai, was reading this post when there were so many good books to read instead." (Y'all get the point!) Anyway, won't post more yet about March's book. I'm trying to slow it down and so I've finished Unearthly and I'm working through Hallowed now. Haven't yet started Just One Day, but it's on my Kindle, waiting to go. Will defer the rest of Casual Vacancy for March....
Mod
We were already dragging our feet about this book. I trust your judgment, Mia, so I'm fairly certain it's going to get a big old shrug of the shoulders from me.
:\
Are you enjoying the Unearthly series? I love those books!
I, Kai, read the post because I love you guys!
Kai - literally laughed out loud when I saw that. :-) Li, yes, I'm liking Unearthly. Not grand literature or anything, but definitely better than expected, as Sammee promised!
As for Casual Vacancy, it's not terrible. I've paused it until March, but am very curious to hear what others (and I) will think as we read it.
Mia was thinking about how much Li liked the Unearthly series and reflected that she, Mia, ended up crying like a baby at the end of Hallowed. ;-)
Mod
Mod
LOL to all of you! :-) Yes, see - we, the book bodegans, NEED to read this book together!
Okay, guys - time to start (continue) The Casual Vacancy! (Zipped through Just One Day and am dabbling in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunger now...)
Mod
Li - really liked it! It was a little hyperbolic when it came to the degree to which she was influenced by her parents, but I did like the sort of "finding yourself" aspect of it and would definitely check out her other books! Waiting for the new one from the guy's point of view...when is that due?
.:.Book Bodega.:.
Books mentioned in this topic
One Day (other topics)Dead Is the New Black (other topics)
The Good Fairies of New York (other topics)
Murder Past Due (other topics)
The Lucky One (other topics)
More...
In celebration of a new year, BookBodega is really excited to present a 5 book reading challenge that's about all things NEW!
Here are the rules...
1. Challenge will run from January 1 to March 31.
2. You must read 5 different books.
3. Must update your entry post as you read.
(See previous challenge threads for example.)
No last minute completed entries.
Dates are taken into consideration should we have a tie for the winner.
Ok, now that that's out of the way, here are the challenge categories:
1. NEW RELEASE
Read a newly released book (published January, February, or March 2013).
2. NEW SERIES
Is there a series you've been wanting to check out but haven't gotten around to it? Here's your chance. Read book 1 in the series you've had your eye on.
3. "NEW" TITLE
Read any book with the word NEW in its title.
4. NEW GENRE
New year, new beginnings.
Step out of your comfort zone and read a book in a genre you've never read before. Not sure how to get started, click here for a list of genres.
5. NEW FRIEND
New year, new beginnings, new friendships.
Read a book from another BookBodega member's "To-Read" list. In your entry post, make sure to mention which friend inspired you. Group members can be found here.
There you have it.
2013's first Reading Challenge.
Good Luck, Enjoy, and Happy Reading!