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Challenges
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2020 Monthly Challenge
Chill OutA book with a Wintry cover or title.
I don't like books set in winter!
But: a digital children's book I read has snow on the cover: Rabbit's Bad Habits... not getting a paper book off my shelves but oh well!... cute, but it's incredibly short; I'll count it, but also read extra for the second challenge... ;)
Celebrate
A book or two that goes along with this list of Holidays.
- I just read Roald Dahl's Mischief and Mayhem for International Joke Day. It's a cute compilation of excerpts from Dahl's books about pranks that characters pull, and possible pranks that child readers can pull, with bonus jokes and riddles.
- I'm going to count the two aunts in The Vacation for National Aunt and Uncle Day.
- The Pinballs is about foster children finding a stable home at last... it probably fits International Day of Friendship and/or National Parents’ Day; I'll pick the better when I'm done.... Ok done. Really fits both well. But only 3* so I can't actually recommend it.
- M.E. and Morton definitely fit friendship day. Odd book, better for certain empathetic readers than just anyone who feels like a misfit. 4*
Chill Out - Literature from the "Axis of Evil": Writing from Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and other Enemy Nations (snow with some footprints in it on the cover)
Harry Potter's Birthday - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (once I finish the Harry Potter book I was supposed to be reading for last month's challenge)
Still lagging...so many distractions, and I keep reading other things.
Glad to see you're still here, Diane.
Categories just happened to fit my TBR pile. :) We will be moving in a year (building house). So I need to read all the 112 books that my youngest daughter has requested (mainly High School or Newbery Honors). I didn't think the categories would fit any, but this month they did. I won't be able to finish June for a long while (sorry). Hope that makes sense. My mind is going 100 different directions at the moment.
Reading Challenge: JulyTheme: Chill Out and Celebrate
Chill Out
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - Finished
Celebrate
July 18 - World Listening Day - Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner (Audiobook) - Finished
July 24 - National Cousins Day - The Good Master by Kate Seredy
I have finished City of Thieves which is set in the Russian winter, the cover is a snowy scene
Done. Read four children's books off my dtb Mt. TBR, plus one picture-book from overdrive/libby library lending system.
Reading Challenge - AugustTheme: Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! during the Dog Days of Summer,
which will soon be Gone But Not Forgotten.
1. Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! - Read a book with something hot in the title or on the cover. (Examples - Smoke, fire, smolder, burning, sizzle, etc.)
2. Dog Days of Summer - In ancient Greece and Rome, the Dog Days were believed to be a time of drought, bad luck, and unrest, when dogs and men alike would be driven mad by the extreme heat.
Read a book with a title or cover that you can link to drought, bad luck, unrest, driven mad, extreme heat.
(Examples: Dry by Augusten Burroughs, Unlucky 13 by James Patterson, The Outsiders by SE Hinton, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, Drunken Fireworks by Stephen King, etc.)
3. Gone But Not Forgotten - In memory of Ray Bradbury, who would have turned 100 years old on Aug. 22, read a Sci Fi book.
It doesn't have to be by Bradbury, any Sci Fi book will count.
(If you have never read Fahrenheit 451 now would be a good time to do it, as it would fit in any of these 3 themes.)
Happy Reading!
Focusing on what I have in dtb and need to release:1. Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! - Dragon's Breath which means The Frog Princess first.
2. Dog Days of Summer - Running Out of Time for unrest etc... diptheria is mentioned, and a secret that promises a sort of 'madness' I'm guessing.
3. Gone But Not Forgotten - For this I need to get Gypsies off my shelf.
All done! I enjoyed all four books, so thank you for some more fun ones!
1. Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! - Invisible by James Patterson, about an serial killer/arsonist (cover looks like flame & smoke)2. Dog Days of Summer - Scented Gardens for the Blind, by Janet Frame ( for driven mad)
3. Gone But Not Forgotten - Adulthood Rites by Octavia Butler
Reading Challenge - AugustTheme: Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! during the Dog Days of Summer,
which will soon be Gone But Not Forgotten.
1. Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! - The Fever Code #5 James Dashner - READ 8/23/20
2. Dog Days of Summer - Drunken Fireworks by Stephen King - READ 8/22/20
3. Gone But Not Forgotten - The Sparrow by Mary Russell - READ 9/27/20
1. Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! - The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - Finished2. Dog Days of Summer - Dry by Augusten Burroughs (drought) -
Finished
3. Gone But Not Forgotten - R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury
Cheryl wrote: "Nice set, K M."Thanks, Cheryl. Now if I could just finish all my previous month's picks so I can start reading these! Yours look pretty interesting, too.
Actually, most of your books look interesting to this retired teacher :-)
:smiles: I have a bunch to add to my 'tbr-owned' GR shelf, mostly a bunch of Scholastic paperbacks etc. that I found here in my hometown at the 6 Little Free Libraries that my mother took me to.
I've been watching you all with your reading challenges. Been in a bit of a reading slump myself so I'm going to pick some books from my bookcrossing TBR that meet this month's challenges.1. Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! - The Fires of Merlin by T. A. Barron I've been reading this series out of order so it will be interesting to pick this one up as I think I missed a book in between it and the last Merlin book I read.
2. Dog Days of Summer - Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz This one will help clear a drawer holding TBR hardcovers.
3. Gone But Not Forgotten -Noir by Christopher Moore This is lighter than the science fiction I usually read, but it has little grey men (Aliens) and Roswell, NM and is written by a humorous author so it should be good. (my husband and I started listening to this together in 2019 and I couldn't concentrate on the audio. So I have a paper copy to read now)
Holding Wonder By Zenna Henderson a collection of science fiction short stories written in the 1960's and 1970.
I've liked a few by Moore but hadn't heard of Noir... I look forward to learning what you think of it.Holding Wonder was influential in its time, probably worth reading. I used to have a copy... hm....
Cheryl wrote: "I've liked a few by Moore but hadn't heard of Noir... I look forward to learning what you think of it.Holding Wonder was influential in its time, probably worth reading. I used to h..."
In the early 90's my aunt gave my preteen self a copy of The Anything box to read while I had the chicken pox. It was one of the best things I had ever read (I was just starting to branch out into science fiction). I've read the first two stories in this so far and the writing is just as good as I remember.
Noir is I think one of his more recent books.
Edwina wrote: "Reading Challenge - AugustTheme: Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! during the Dog Days of Summer,
which will soon be Gone But Not Forgotten.
1. Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! - Read a book with something hot in th..."
Sci-fi romance? I have one that has been sitting on my shelf for years. Will that work, Edwina?
Nancy wrote: "Edwina wrote: "Reading Challenge - AugustTheme: Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! during the Dog Days of Summer,
which will soon be Gone But Not Forgotten.
1. Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! - Read a book with some..."
Whatever works for you, Nancy, works for me!
:)
Edwina wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Edwina wrote: "Reading Challenge - AugustTheme: Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! during the Dog Days of Summer,
which will soon be Gone But Not Forgotten.
1. Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! - Read a ..."
It is a futuristic romance, but I also found a strict sci-fi last night on my shelf. Just trying to line up all these challenges, Edwina.
Edwina,Do you happen to know how many pages Drunken Fireworks by Stephen King is? I'm getting it from the library as an audio book so it doesn't state pages and I like to keep track of my pages read. I see that it's a short story as part of the book Bazaar of Bad Dreams. I can find it in Table of Contents but none of them list page numbers. I'm guessing around 25 pages but wanted to ask in case you had a physical copy. TIA
Diane wrote: "Edwina,Do you happen to know how many pages Drunken Fireworks by Stephen King is? I'm getting it from the library as an audio book so it doesn't state pages and I like to keep track of my pages re..."
Mine is an audio book.
The cover states "Only available on Audio" so I had no idea that it is part of a short story collection. I think it only took about an hour or so to listen to it so it isn't many pages long.
Done with August. Now to my other groups' challenges and BotMs....
Congrats! I have been so bad with reading this month...
nimrodiel wrote: "Congrats! I have been so bad with reading this month..."I hear ya, nimrodiel. I've been so bad with reading this year! And, Cheryl, you're an inspiration.
I just really need to get the shelves cleared.... ;)
Me too! Every book I read and clear off the shelves is one less I need to move in April. I don't think I've collected enough boxes LOLI did finish 2 for August. So that leaves 2 for June and 1 for August. No worries I'm ready for September so I don't pack the book I need for the challenge rofl
Today I finished a June challenge:1. 59th Birthday - Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya - READ 9/1/20
That leaves me 1 for June which I started today and 1 for August which is on the top of my TBR pile. Then I will also add September reads to my current TRB as well.
Hope everyone is well and you're enjoying some relaxful reading time!
Reading Challenge - SeptemberTheme: A labor of love should never be banned!
1. Labor - Read a book of 400 pages or more.
2. Love - National Read a Book Day is September 6, which just so happens to be my Birthday (how appropriate!)
So I've decided to give all of you a gift.
Drumroll, please ... You may read any book you like on Sept. 6th and count it for this challenge. It can even be Green Eggs and Ham or Hop On Pop. LOL
3. Banned - Celebrate Banned Books Week (September 27 – October 3, 2020) by reading a book from this list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
Happy Reading!
1. Labor - The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart2. Love - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson - Finished
3. Banned - The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
Reading Challenge - SeptemberTheme: A labor of love should never be banned!
1. Labor - Read a book of 400 pages - Separation of Power #5 Mitch Rapp by Vince Flynn (432 pages) - READ 9/10/20
2. Love - Edwina's Birthday - Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff - READ 9/6/20
3. Banned - Celebrate Banned Books Week - The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - READ 10/4/20
Happy Birthday Edwina!!!!! Enjoy your day <3
Yay! Thank you for sharing your birthday with us Edwina, and many happy returns of the day!Reading Challenge - September
Theme: A labor of love should never be banned!
1. Labor - We'll have to see. I'll try Walking The Tree first because it will also help me in my Women's SF group. I do tend to dnf big books though so this is most def. subject to change. --- ok, yup, dnf'd that one. And it turns out that the last pp were sample of next book, so it didn't even qualify. I could maybe read a big short story collection but I just don't have time this month. Oh well.
2. Love - National Read a Book Day is September 6
11 Birthdays is a sweet MG story, a reread because I found a copy in a Little Free Library so why not. 4*
3. Banned -
This might be difficult as I do this most every year for one group or another. I'll have to see what I can find from that list. Maybe a reread. Probably not getting a dusty dtb off my shelf. But it is a worthy challenge so I'm still glad to do it!.... Read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.. At my age I found it mostly boring, but I can see the appeal... and understand why some adults didn't want their kids to read it. It seems to me to hold up pretty well, even against all the modern MG fiction that I read... 3*stars.
National Read a Book Day! What a great day for a birthday, Edwina! How about this - since I am so far behind, I wouldn't mind reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which is 413 pages long, and on the banned book list. And on your birthday, I shall read A. A. Milne's Winne-the-Pooh.
K M wrote: "National Read a Book Day! What a great day for a birthday, Edwina! How about this - since I am so far behind, I wouldn't mind reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which is 413 pages long, and on t..."Hey, that sounds great!
Winnie-the-Pooh has always been my favorite since the youngest age I remember :)
K M wrote: "National Read a Book Day! What a great day for a birthday, Edwina! How about this - since I am so far behind, I wouldn't mind reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which is 413 pages long, and on t..."The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is one that I highly recommend to everyone. Brutal, horrifying, and yet ... strangely fascinating.
You could use Pooh for your banned book, as it has been banned in many countries.
I fondly remember Winnie-the -Pooh from my (and my children's) childhood(s), too, but not sure if I read it or The House on Pooh Corner. Came across WtP on the shelf the other day, and decided to read (or reread). Banned? Wow- hadn't heard that one. Never know what will offend some folks.
I am changing last month's Sci Fi "Gone but not forgotten" choice to The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells. I realized that my other choice was book 2 of a series, and I've forgotten enough of first book to want to read it again before attempting the 2nd. And TIM is a bit shorter ;-)
Finished June's challenge:3. Father's Day - Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus by James Otis - READ 9/5/20
My dad actually won this book in a Salvation Army Sunday School attendance contest when he was a boy.
Now only behind 1 for August :) which I'll be reading next, that is AFTER Edwina's birthday read :) :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Edwina! Hope you're having a wonderful day! I thought of you quite often today while reading your birthday book and sent you bookish wishes. :)
Yes, Edwina, Happy Birthday. I am happily reading Winnie-the -Pooh in your honor.
Re banned books, an interesting article that includes some of the 'reasons' that books are banned, and some titles I didn't notice on the list Edwina gave:https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainm...
I'll probably read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret as it's so very famous and honestly I should have read it long time ago, either as a child or a parent, but didn't.
i have a list of over 600 banned/ challenged reads. i have a stack of banned books waiting for my October reads
Is your list shareable? Googling gives "10 most frequently banned" and such, nothing like 600!
Cheryl wrote: "Is your list shareable? Googling gives "10 most frequently banned" and such, nothing like 600!"Here is 544 of them. :)
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
I've read 75 of the top 100 books and 3 are on your to-read shelf. :) Thanks for sharing this Edwina. My list come from OCLC, ALA, Wikipedia and 2 other sources. I don't want to get in trouble by posting URLs unless it's allowed
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Theme: Chill Out and Celebrate
Chill Out
A book with a Wintry cover or title
Treasures of the Snow by Patricia M. St John - READ 7/14/20
Celebrate
July 31 Harry Potter's birthday - Harry Potter & the Cursed Child by JK Rowling - READ 7/23/20