Caleb's 2016 Challenge

[Caleb]

CHALLENGES SUMMARY

[Caleb]

Page Count challenge

I'm trying again for 21,000 pages this year.

The Books

1. - Octoberland - by A. A. Attanasio. 372 pages.

2. - The Strangled Queen - by Maurice Druon. 304 pages.

3. - Mockingjay - by Suzanne Collins. 392 pages.

4. - Authority - by Jeff VanderMeer. 341 pages.

5. - Eucalyptus - by Murray Bail. 264 pages.

6. - Wizard and Glass - by Stephen King. 840 pages.

7. - All Clear - by Connie Willis. 641 pages.

8. - Island of Icarus - by Christine Danse. 88 pages.

9. - Wayward - by Blake Crouch. 298 pages.

10. - What Maisie Knew - by Henry James. 309 pages.

11. - The Owl Service - by Alan Garner. 224 pages.

12. - Last Summer - by Michael Thomas Ford. 408 pages.

13. - Interrupt - by Jeff Carlson. 397 pages.

14. - Mrs Dalloway - by Virginia Woolf. 190 pages.

15. - The Steerswoman - by Rosemary Kirstein. 279 pages.

16. - Further Tales of the City - by Armistead Maupin. 368 pages.

17. - The Harp in the South - by Ruth Park. 225 pages.

18. - The Martian Chronicles - by Ray Bradbury. 241 pages.

19. - The Fall - by Albert Camus. 128 pages.

20. - The Frozen Sky: Blindsided - by Jeff Carlson. 300 pages.

21. - The Moon is Down - by John Steinbeck. 142 pages.

22. - Living All Day - by M H Mead. 290 pages.

23. - The Five - by Robert McCammon. 518 pages.

24. - The Power and the Glory - by Graham Greene. 224 pages.

25. - Gifts - by Ursula Le Guin. 274 pages.

26. - Mooraker - by Ian Fleming. 320 pages.

27. - The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - by José Saramago. 377 pages.

28. - Barracuda - by Christos Tsiolkas. 528 pages.

29. - Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises - by Ernest Hemingway. 216 pages.

30. - Hard Light - by Elizabeth Hand. 368 pages.

31. - A Fortunate Life - by Albert B. Facey. 331 pages.

32. - The Shell Collector - by Hugh Howey. 270 pages.

33. - The City of Mirrors - by Justin Cronin. 602 pages.

34. - Memories of My Melancholy Whores - by Gabriel García Márquez. 115 pages.

35. - Black & Orange - by Benjamin Kane Ethridge. 422 pages.

36. - Truth - by Peter Temple. 287 pages.

37. - The Slave - by Isaac Bashevis Singer. 240 pages.

38. - The Windup Girl - by Paolo Bacigalupi. 505 pages.

39. - We of the Never Never - by Jeannie Gunn. 238 pages.

40. - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - by Agatha Christie. 304 pages.

TOTAL 13,180 out of 21,000 pages (62.76% complete)

[Caleb]

Book Bonfire

Again, I'm looking to knock over some of the books I have in my bookshelves. I've set my target on 12 read over the course of the year.

The Books

1. - Octoberland - by A. A. Attanasio.

2. - Wizard and Glass - by Stephen King.

3. - All Clear - by Connie Willis.

4. - Last Summer - by Michael Thomas Ford.

5. - The Harp in the South - by Ruth Park.

6. - The Fall - by Albert Camus.

7. - The Moon is Down - by John Steinbeck.

8. - The Power and the Glory - by Graham Greene.

9. - Gifts - by Ursula Le Guin.

10. - Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises - by Ernest Hemingway.

11. - A Fortunate Life - by Albert B. Facey.

12. - Memories of My Melancholy Whores - by Gabriel García Márquez.

TOTAL 12 out of 12 books (100% complete)

CHALLENGE COMPLETE!!!

[Caleb]

Gimme the Prize (The Nobel Prize Edition)

This year, along with reading prize-winners, I want to focus a bit more on Nobel Prize winners. So the challenge will be to read at least 8 non-Nobel prize-winners and at least 6 Nobel prize-winners - to total 14 prize-winners.

Non-Nobel Prize-Winners

1. - Eucalyptus - by Murray Bail. Miles Franklin Literary Award (1999).

2. - All Clear - by Connie Willis. Hugo Award for Best Novel (2011)

3. - The Power and the Glory - by Graham Greene. Hawthornden Prize (1941)

4. - Gifts - by Ursula Le Guin. PEN Center USA Literary Award (2005)

5. - A Fortunate Life - by Albert B. Facey. New South Wales Premier's Literary Award for Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction (1981)

6. - Black & Orange - by Benjamin Kane Ethridge. Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel (2010)

7. - Truth - by Peter Temple. Miles Franklin Literary Award (2010)

8. - The Windup Girl - by Paolo Bacigalupi. Nebula Award for Best Novel (2009)

Sub Total 8 out of 8 books (100% complete)


Nobel Prize-Winners

1. - The Fall - by Albert Camus. 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature

2. - The Moon is Down - by John Steinbeck. 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature

3. - The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - by José Saramago. 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature

4. - Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises - by Ernest Hemingway. 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature

5. - Memories of My Melancholy Whores - by Gabriel García Márquez. 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature

6. - The Slave - by Isaac Bashevis Singer. 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature

Sub Total 6 out of 6 books (100% complete)

TOTAL 14 out of 14 books (100% complete)

CHALLENGE COMPLETE!!!

[Caleb]

Short-cuts

Another year where I try to insert short stories along with my novels/novellas. Again, I'm aiming to read as many short-stories as I do novels/novellas.

The Stories

TOTAL 0 stories (on track)

[Caleb]

Dear Author

I'm adding my non-challenge challenge again this year. This is a list of authors that I hope to cover across the year. Plans never survive first contact with the enemy (time) and I don't expect there to be an exception this year, but it's always interesting to me to see how my planning compares to reality by the end of the year.

The Authors

Margaret Atwood
José Saramago
John Steinbeck
Ernest Hemmingway
Naguib Mahfouz
Albert Camus
Thomas Mann
Doris Lessing
William Faulkner
A. A. Attanasio
Stephen King
Colin Taber
Paolo Bacigalupi
Suzanne Collins
Robert Jackson Bennett
Neal Stephenson
Christian Cantrell
Agatha Christie
Maurice Druon
Benjamin Kane Ethridge
Richard Flanagan
Andrew McGahan
Ian Fleming
Greg Gifune
Graham Greene
Michael Thomas Ford
Ursula K. LeGuin
Jeannie Gunn
Joe Haldeman
Elizabeth Hand
Joe Hill
Hugh Howey
Kameron Hurley
Jeff VanderMeer
Kazuo Ishiguro
Stephen Lloyd Jones
Daniel Keyes
Ann Leckie
Andrew Levkoff
C S Lewis
Liu Cixin
Ken Liu
Sergei Lukyanenko
Armistead Maupin
David Mitchell
Richard K. Morgan
Nnedi Okorafor
Ruth Park
Dan Simmons
Peter Straub
Christos Tsiolkas
Barbara Vine
Connie Willis
Stephen T. Harper
Alan Garner
Jeff Carlson
Blake Crouch
Rjurik Davidson
Dennis Lehane
James Franco
Peter Temple
Gary Ballard
Robert McCammon
John Ajvide Lindqvist
Iain M Banks
Salman Rushdie

[Caleb]

The Great Aussie Reading List

Patriotic colours are displayed in another attempt to give some attention to Australian authors. This year, I'm picking an arbitrary target - 6 books.

Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish
The White Earth
We Of The Never Never
Barracuda
Ossard's Shadow
Harp In The South
Truth

The Books

1. - Eucalyptus - by Murray Bail.

2. - The Harp in the South - by Ruth Park.

3. - Barracuda - by Christos Tsiolkas.

4. - A Fortunate Life - by Albert B. Facey.

5. - Truth - by Peter Temple.

6. - We of the Never Never - by Jeannie Gunn.

TOTAL 6 out of 6 books (100% complete)

CHALLENGE COMPLETE!!!

[HomeInMyShoes]

First! :P

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Resident Book Pusher]

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "First! :P"

damn it!

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Resident Book Pusher]

Nice challenges, though!

[HomeInMyShoes]

I should probably look at Nobel winners too, but whatever. I've got Alexeivich and Munro on my short radar.

My suggestions for a Nobel winner would be: Kenzaburo Oe, Mo Yan and Halldor Laxness

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Resident Book Pusher]

I can't make reading lists. I seem to fail at them.

[HomeInMyShoes]

MrsJoseph wrote: "Homeinmyshoes wrote: "First! :P"

damn it!"

You were all over my reply though. :)

I do better with reading lists. It seems when I don't have a list lined up I sit around wondering what should I read, while when I have a list I can avoid the whole option paralysis black hole.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Resident Book Pusher]

I get moody and suddenly can read only things NOT on the list. Stupid brain.

[Caleb]

Well - not doing so well on my challenges this year. It's not a huge deal as I'm still reading books and that's the most important thing.

I predict that I will be well short by the end of the year, but still better off than I was at the start of the year. ;)

[Orlok]

The fun of the challenge is the journey. :-)

[Caleb]

So - what did I achieve this year?
Well - it wasn't that bad really. Two challenges I flunked out on was my short story challenge. I couldn't have done worse, not reading a single short story all year. :)

My page count challenge was a bit of a travesty as well with me not quite getting to 2/3 complete.

However, I did get the rest of my challenges. I read 6 books from Nobel Prize for Literature winners and a total of 14 prize winning books altogether. I read 12 of my physical books, reducing the unread content of my bookshelves by a fraction. I also managed to read 6 novels from Australian authors.

The main victory of the year was that I read a bunch of fantastic books and broadened by horizons a little more. Each year is a success of some kind even if not the kind I set out in these challenges at the start of the year.

Anyway - I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season and will have a great new year filled with books, authors and great reading!

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

Congratulations on all of your success! May 2017 find you healthy, happy, and reading! :)

[Orlok]

Caleb wrote: "The main victory of the year was that I read a bunch of fantastic books and broadened by horizons a little more. Each year is a success of some kind even if not the kind I set out in these challenges at the start of the year."

The above says it all for me regarding these challenges, and is why I do them. Well done on your achievements!

[Christa, The Renewed]

Yes ^^^ what Orlok said! And what Nyssa said also. :)