Apoorv - Conquest of The Challenges !

[Apoorv]

My first time here and I was welcomed with two amazing challenges. So, to face these challenges put before me, this will be my workspace, my battlefield, my race track henceforth wherein I will try and reach the expected goal in the stipulated time.

Both challenges this year are exciting and interesting !

Challenge 1 : A - Z Challenge
Challenge 2 : Colorful Year Challenge

[Apoorv]

To start the first of the two challenges, for a change I will set out on the look out for various authors who will help me complete the alphabets.

In its own way, its very interesting to see if you complete the whole alphabet series with variegated authors.

Its always interesting to see if you complete the whole alphabet series with variegated authors.

Challenge : 2014 A-Z Challenge
Duration : January, 2014 - December, 2014

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Alphabets

✔ A
Achebe, Chinua | Things Fall Apart | 4/29/2014
Albom, Mitch | The Five People You Meet in Heaven | 4/8/2014
Albom, Mitch | Tuesdays with Morrie | 7/11/2014
Alexie, Sheman | The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian | 3/24/2014
Ambrose, Stephan | Pegasus Bridge | 8/12/2014
✔ B
Barnes, Julian | The Sense of an Ending | 2/3/2014
Barr, Nevada | Blood Lure | 6/15/2014
Barr, Nevada | Track of the Cat | 8/7/2014
Brennert, Alan | Moloka'i | 5/31/2014
Brown, Sandra | Thursday's Child | 9/8/2014
Burd, Nick | The Vast Fields of Ordinary | 7/21/2014
Burgess, Anthony | A Clockwork Orange | 8/20/2014
Burroughs, William | The Cat Inside | 4/30/2014
✔ C
Cain, James M. | Double Indemnity | 2/28/2014
Cain, Susan | Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking | 4/11/2014
Camus, Albert | The Stranger | 4/15/2014
Cather, Willa | One of Ours | 6/29/2014
Chase, T.A. - Rhodes, Devon | A Sticky Wicket in Bollywood | 8/16/2014
Chatwin, Bruce | Utz | 8/9/2014
Christie, Agatha | Murder on the Orient Express | 3/22/2014
Cohn, Rachel | Dash & Lily's Book of Dares | 7/5/2014
Connolly, Sheila | One Bad Apple | 11/26/2014
✔ D
Dickens, Charles | A Christmas Carol | 2/25/2014
Ducornet, Rikki | Netsuke | 3/2/2014
✔ E
Esquivel, Laura | Like Water for Chocolate | 10/10/2014
Evanovich, Janet | Full House | 8/30/2014
Evanovich, Janet | Naughty Neighbor | 8/17/2014
Evanovich, Janet | One for the Money | 7/26/2014
✔ F
Fitzgerald, F. Scott | The Great Gatsby | 6/17/2014
Flynn, Gillian | Sharp Objects | 11/9/2014
Ford, Jamie | Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet | 3/27/2014
✔ G
Goldberg, Billy - Leyner, Mark | Why Do Men Have Nipples?: Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini | 3/5/2014
Grafton, Sue | A is for Alibi | 10/26/2014
Green, Abby | The Brazilian's Blackmail Bargain | 7/18/2014
Green, John | An Abundance of Katherines | 8/2/2014
Green, John | The Fault in Our Stars | 3/12/2014
✔ H
Haddon, Mark | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | 2/13/2014
Hailey, Arthur | The Final Diagnosis | 12/20/2014
Halliday, Gemma | Spying in High Heels | 5/17/2014
Halliday, Gemma | Killer in High Heels | 5/21/2014
Halse Anderson, Laurie | Speak | 6/13/2014
Heinlein, Robert A. | Between Planets | 1/31/2014
Hemingway, Earnest | The Old Man and the Sea | 6/23/2014
Higashida, Naoki | The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism | 4/4/2014
Higgins Clark, Mary | Loves Music, Loves to Dance | 3/19/2014
Hinton, S.E. | Taming the Star Runner | 7/15/2014
Hunter, Maddy | Alpine for You | 9/19/2014
Hunter, Maddy | Top O' the Mournin' | 9/25/2014
Hunter, Maddy | Pasta Imperfect | 10/4/2014
I
✔ J
Johnson, Craig | As The Crow Flies | 6/8/2014
✔ K
King, Stephan | Carrie | 4/19/2014
Kinsella, Sophie | Can You Keep a Secret? | 11/30/2014
Kinsella, Sophie | I've Got Your Number | 12/20/2014
Knowles, John | A Separate Peace | 3/31/2014
✔ L
Levithan, David | Boy Meets Boy | 4/11/2014
Levithan, David | The Realm of Possibility | 12/25/2014
Levithan, David | The Lover's Dictionary | 8/4/2014
Levithan, David | Two Boys Kissing | 1/21/2014
Levithan, David | Wide Awake | 8/6/2014
Lowry, Lois | The Giver | 7/28/2014
✔ M
Maher, Bill | When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism | 4/1/2014
Mott Davidson, Diane | The Last Suppers | 8/13/2014
Murakami, Haruki | Norwegian Wood | 2/8/2014
Murakami, Haruki | After Dark | 5/3/2014
Myers, Tim | Innkeeping with Murder | 8/27/2014
N
✔ O
Oates, Joyce Carol | Evil Eye: Four Novellas of Love Gone Wrong | 10/24/2014
O'Dell, Scott | Island of the Blue Dolphins | 12/7/2014
Olsen, Tillie | Yonnondio: From the Thirties | 7/27/2014
Orwell, George | Animal Farm | 2/28/2014
✔ P
Patterson, James | 1st to Die | 11/30/2014
Patterson, James | 7th Heaven | 10/19/2014
Peck, Dale | Sprout | 7/7/2014
Plath, Sylvia | Ariel | 4/22/2014
Q
✔ R
Raskin, Ellen | The Westing Game | 6/30/2014
Roberts, Nora | Enchanted | 7/31/2014
Rose, Karen | I Can See You | 6/22/2014
Roux, Abigail | Stars & Stripes | 11/13/2014
Rowell, Rainbow | Fangirl | 12/9/2014
✔ S
Sebold, Alice | The Lovely Bones | 8/22/2014
Seles, Monica | Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self | 1/5/2014
Simsion, Graeme | The Rosie Project | 8/31/2014
Sparks, Nicolas | The Notebook | 6/7/2014
Sparks, Nicolas | A Walk to Remember | 8/10/2014
Sparks, Nicolas | Safe Haven | 9/12/2014
✔ T
Thompson Walker, Karen | The Age of Miracles | 5/25/2014
Tiernan, Cate | Book of Shadows | 9/3/2014
✔ U
Ullman, Ellen | By Blood | 11/30/2014
V
✔ W
Walker, Alice | The Color Purple | 8/9/2014
Waller, Robert James | The Bridges of Madison County | 1/11/2014
Wells, H.G. | The Time Machine | 10/16/2014
Wolff, Isabel | Behaving Badly | 10/5/2014
X
Y
✔ Z
Zamyatin, Yevgeny | We | 8/26/2014

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Summary
Total Alphabets Read : 20 / 26
Total Books Read : 92

[Apoorv]

Its very chic how the second challenge is sketched. It indeed gave me an incentive to try it out and see till where I go and form a spectrum of my own books. Kudos Lynn on the same !

I plan to accomplish the complete set with the hard level, but lets see how things pan out.

Challenge : Crazy Color Challenge
Duration : 1/1/2014 - 12/31/2014
Target : HARD - 3 Books for Each Color

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1. Blue Cover : 7 / 3 - Done!
✔ The Fault in Our Stars - John Green (3/12/2014)
✔ The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism - Naoki Higashida (4/4/2014)
✔ The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker (5/25/2014)
✔ The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (6/17/2014)
✔ The Old Man and the Sea - Earnest Hemingway (6/23/2014)
✔ Wide Awake - David Levithan (8/6/2014)
✔ The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (8/22/2014)



2. Green Cover : 5 / 3 - Done!
✔ A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (2/25/2014)
✔ Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie (3/22/2014)
✔ As The Crow Flies - Craig Johnson (6/8/2014)
✔ Taming the Star Runner - S.E. Hinton (7/15/2014)
✔ One for the Money - Janet Evanovich (7/26/2014)



3. Red Cover : 6 / 3 - Done!
✔ The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon (2/13/2014)
✔ Between Planets - Robert A. Heinlein (1/31/2014)
✔ When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism - Bill Maher (4/1/2014)
✔ Carrie - Stephan King (4/19/2014)
✔ Spying in High Heels - Gemma Halliday (5/21/2014)
✔ The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion (8/31/2014)



4. Black Cover : 6 / 3 - Done!
✔ The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes (2/3/2014)
✔ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie (3/24/2014)
✔ The Stranger - Albert Camus (4/15/2014)
✔ I Can See You - Karen Rose (6/22/2014)
✔ The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin (6/30/2014)
✔ The Giver - Lois Lowry (7/28/2014)



5. White Cover : 8 / 3 - Done!
✔ Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self - Monica Seles (1/5/2014)
✔ Animal Farm - George Orwell (2/28/2014)
✔ Why Do Men Have Nipples?: Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini - Mark Leyner (3/5/2014)
✔ Ariel - Sylvia Plath (4/22/2014)
✔ The Notebook - Nicolas Sparks (6/7/2014)
✔ Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson (6/13/2014)
✔ Sprout - Dale Peck (7/7/2014)
✔ The Brazilian's Blackmail Bargain - Abby Green (7/18/2014)



6. Yellow Cover : 6 / 3 - Done!
✔ Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami (2/8/2014)
✔ Netsuke - Rikki Ducornet (3/2/2014)
✔ Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe (4/29/2014)
✔ The Last Suppers - Diane Mott Davidson (8/13/2014)
✔ Naughty Neighbor - Janet Evanovich (8/17/2014)
✔ Full House - Janet Evanovich (8/30/2014)



7. Pink Cover : 2 / 3
✔ Two Boys Kissing - David Levithan (1/21/2014)
✔ The Lover's Dictionary - David Levithan (8/4/2014)



8. Purple Cover : 4 / 3 - Done!
✔ Boy Meets Boy - David Levithan (4/11/2014)
✔ Killer in High Heels - Gemma Halliday (5/21/2014)
✔ The Color Purple - Alice Walker (8/9/2014)
✔ Innkeeping with Murder - Tim Myers (8/27/2014)



9. Orange Cover : 6 / 3 - Done!
✔ Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford (3/27/2014)
✔ One of Ours - Willa Cather (6/29/2014)
✔ Yonnondio: From the Thirties - Tillie Olsen (7/27/2014)
✔ Track of the Cat - Nevada Barr (8/7/2014)
✔ A Walk to Remember - Nicolas Sparks (8/10/2014)
✔ A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess (8/20/2014)



10. Gray Cover : 3 / 3 - Done!
✔ Loves Music, Loves to Dance - Mary Higgins Clark (3/19/2014)
✔ Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan Cain (4/11/2014)
✔ Moloka'i - Alan Brennert (5/31/2014)



11. Brown Cover : 7 / 3 - Done!
✔ The Bridges of Madison County - Robert James Waller (1/11/2014)
✔ Double Indemnity - James M. Cain (2/28/2014)
✔ The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom (4/8/2014)
✔ The Cat Inside - William Burroughs
✔ Blood Lure - Nevada Barr (6/15/2014)
✔ Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom (7/11/2014)
✔ A Sticky Wicket in Bollywood - T.A. Chase - Devon Rhodes (8/16/2014)



12. Colorful Cover : 9 / 3 - Done!
✔ A Separate Peace - John Knowles (3/31/2014)
✔ After Dark - Haruki Murakami (5/3/2014)
✔ Dash & Lily's Book of Dares - Rachel Cohn (7/5/2014)
✔ The Vast Fields of Ordinary - Nick Burd (7/21/2014)
✔ Enchanted - Nora Roberts (7/31/2014)
✔ An Abundance of Katherines - John Green (8/2/2014)
✔ Utz - Bruce Chatwin (8/9/2014)
✔ Pegasus Bridge - Stephan E. Ambrose (8/12/2014)
✔ We - Yevgeny Zamyatin (8/26/2014)



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Summary
Total Colors Completed : 11 / 12
Total Books Read : 69 / 36

[Lynn, Moderator]

Welcome to the challenges Apoorv :)

[Apoorv]

Lynn wrote: "Welcome to the challenges Apoorv :)"

Thank you so much Lynn.. appreciate the welcome and its an absolute pleasure to be a part of these amazing challenges. Kudos to you, for coming up with them.

Hopefully there will be many more such tasks in the future and I would get a chance to be a part of it. :)

[Apoorv]

Updated both the challenges upto April 1, 2014.

[Apoorv]

Quarter way through the year and I am nearly half-way through both the challenges. Exciting ! :)

Updated till April 30, 2014

[Apoorv]

Halfway through the year and it seems I need to concentrate more on books with a pink, purple and orange colored covers.

Interesting, how this task has panned out for me without making any consious effort to collate the colors.

Updated till June 30, 2014

[Lynn, Moderator]

That's why I liked the colour challenge, it was only once I reached the last colour that I really had to make a concerted effort to find something.

However at the same time, the challenge did make me look at covers with more interest overall.

[Ahtims]

Wow. A remarkable challenge.
All the best (better late than never)

[Apoorv]

Now, what I really need to work on in terms of the alphabets is : I, N, Q, U, V, X, Y, Z

Interesting to see how I have never got around an author with a last name N. Should pay careful attention to my author now.. the last five alphabets are anyway crazy ! :P

For the colors, I completed two sets this month.. now just two more left.

Updated till July 31, 2014.

[Apoorv]

Lynn wrote: "That's why I liked the colour challenge, it was only once I reached the last colour that I really had to make a concerted effort to find something.

However at the same time, the challenge did mak..."


It indeed does, Lynn ! I now start looking at my color covers first and then the story :P

But, I must say its fun at times to go ahead and read your books and then realize the colors you have gathered.. like I would have never thought I would have read so many white colored books, a color which is not really my favorite ! ;)

[Apoorv]

Smitha wrote: "Wow. A remarkable challenge.
All the best (better late than never)"


Thank you so much, Smitha Ji ! It indeed is a fun challenge and it adds a cutesy charm to what we read ! :)

[Apoorv]

As we are inching towards the end of the year, the challenge is looking good to be completed !

Need some books with authors for I, N , Q, U, V, X, Y. Also, one more Pink cover book and I will be done with the other challenge ! :)

Loving it..

Updated till August 31, 2014.