The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion
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SUMMER CHALLENGE 2010
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Summer Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)
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I read The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett (a Goodreads author)
Really interesting - I enjoyed it.
Points: 95
Books: 6
Books by Goodreads authors: 2
Pages: 1585
Tasks: 5
I finished task 15.3 by reading In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson (add book feature is not working for me that the moment). It was featured on this blog: http://www.alifeinbooks.com/?p=134I was highly amused. I am not normally a non-fiction sort of girl, but Bryson is genius. I think he could discuss pretty much any topic and have it be interesting.
Points: 70
Tasks: 6
Pages: 2672
Books: 8
20.6 Supporting Goodreads authors- list makersto qualify as a must read(for me) a book has to be on my nightstand for a while just waiting for the right time, also it has to have lots of recommendations backing it up.Killing Floor by Lee Child was just that for me. I thought at first it wasn't must read then about 75 pages in became a nail biting page turner. This was definitely a must read in my book, if a little brutal...well more a lot brutal in many scenes. it's like an action adventure movie in book form.
This should bring me to 35 points with 3 tasks complete.
25.1 A - 61 Hours - Lee Child (Jack Reacher series retired military. 25.1 B - Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher series Red cover.
I'm ready to claim 2 more tasks:
5.1 - Heat Wave
It's summertime and it's getting HOT out there..Read a book with one of the following words in the title (Hot, Hotter, Heat, Warm, Warmth, Heatwave, Fire, Sizzle, Blaze, Scorch, Sun, Sunny, Toasty or another similar word). (EXAMPLE: Heat Wave)
I read: The Year of the Quiet Sun by Wilson Tucker (Paperback, 252 pages) , a time travel novel first published in 1970. It won a retrospective John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1976). It was nominated for Nebula Best Novel Award in 1970. It was nominated for the Hugo Best Novel Award in 1971. The first half was pretty good. The second half was very dated, a 1960s feeling dystopia.
5.6 - "I Only Regret That I Have But One Life To Lose For My Country."
Nathan Hale (June 6, 1755 – September 22, 1776) was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and is widely considered America's first spy. In memory of this famous patriot read a book with a main character who is a spy or where espionage plays an important role in the plot.
I read: Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution (2009) by John A. Nagy (Hardcover, 384 pages) This is a very thorough explanation of the spycraft used by both the English and the Americans during the Revolutionary War (yet, somehow, Nathan Hale is never mentioned.) The author includes the actual ciphers and codes used for the secret messages.
20 + 5 + 5 = 30
Tasks Completed: 3
Points for this task: 5+5
Points thus far: 30/950
Books read: 3
Pages Read: 892
Books by Goodreads authors: 0
Read but not claimed: 5
(Parts of the following 2-book tasks: 15.4, 25.1B, 25.10B, 30.1B, 30.2A)
I completed task 20.10 Group reads by reading
by Suzanne Collins.Completed Tasks: 4/53
Books Read: 6/71
New Total: 55/950
5.2 Blockbuster Books: Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert.Points for this task: 5
Total Points: 65
Tasks Completed: 4
Books Read: 6
Pages Read: 1640
5.3 S.U.M.M.E.R. Read Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty.20.2 A Trip to the Past: I read Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn. The book takes place from 81 to 96 A.D. in Rome. I loved this book and I would not have picked it up were it not for this task. I saw it in the Phoenix Bookstore in Essex Falls, VT on the recommended for book groups wall. It is the debut novel for the author. The characters are well developed and the story is engaging and fast-paced. It has gladiators, Roman Emperors, lavish lifestyles, and more!
*Kate Quinn is a Goodreads Author
Points for this task: 20+5
Total Points: 75/950
Tasks Completed: 7
Books Read: 7
Books by Goodreads authors so far: 2
Big Books: 0 (500+), 0 (750+), 0 (1000+)
Just completed task 25.10 (Name game!)I read Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen and Food, Girls, & Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff.
Good stuff!
Total pages: 4726
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Completed:5.2 Blockbuster: The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson (6/14) 246pp *4 STARS*
I'm looking forward to seeing Hereafter, which is ghost story directed by Clint Eastwood (who has yet to let me down) and starring Matt Damon (he just gets better and better).
5.3 Initials: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson (6/15) 144pp *3 STARS*
This story was just ok. I think I'm pretty desensitized to it by now.
Total Points: 35/950
Total Pages: 1,470
Books Read: 6/75
Tasks Completed: 3/35
20.7 For Those We Love to HateI read The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer. I love the Twilight books, and enjoyed this additional perspective.
Points for this task: 20
Total Points: 55
Tasks Completed: 4
5.9 - Get Caught ReadingSpent time reading in the new addition of our public library, The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens.
5 more points/20 points total
4 tasks completed
This is my first post I hope I have done this right..if not someone plz tell me..5.1 Heat Wave-- Fire by Kristen Cashore 5 pts
10.10 Great Minds think alike--The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner By Stephanie Meyer 10 pts
20.10 Group Reads---The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins 20 pts
15.3 Books and Blogs---Uglies By Scott Westerfeld 15 pts
http://en.wordpress.com/tag/adult-and...
5.4 Lesser known Awards-- Booklist top ten science fiction/fantasy--Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 5pts
10.4 Roll the Dice--I rolled a 2,3,5
Pretties By Scott Westerfeld 384 pages 10 pts
Hope this is right thanks this has been fun!
20.10 Group ReadsI just finished The Book Thief and posted in the group message board. This book was wonderful and I highly reccomend it to anyone!
Points: 70
Books: 6
Tasks: 6
Pages: 2613
10.10 - Great Minds Think AlikeFlowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
White Oleander was a book I gave 5 stars too. I chose Eliotsmuse as the reviewer who also gave White Oleander 5 stars. She gave Flowers for Algernon 5 stars.
Points: 10
Sandra wrote: "5.1 Heat WaveThe Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston
Total points: 5"
I loved this book!
Mod
10.6, Stand Up For Your Rights, with
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman
15.9, Know Yourself, with
Secrets of a Former Fat Girl: How to Lose Two, Four (or More!) Dress Sizes--And Find Yourself Along the Way by Lisa Delaney
About 6 years ago, I lost 5 sizes. About 85% of my journey paralleled Lisa Delaney's. She changed her life at age 25- I wish I had done it then and not at age 43. I think she provides excellent honest advice- but not many "secrets". I work very hard to maintain the "former", but in my mind I might always be the "fat girl".
15.3, Books and Blogs, with
Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House by Meghan Daum
blog: http://whatarewritersreading.blogspot... Writer Joanna Smith Rakoff recommended it in March
I had high hopes for this memoir. This is not unlike a relationship diary detailing the good, the bad, and the ugly, but instead of men, her obsession was real estate- apartment hopping, open houses, getting in over her head. She's a talented writer- smart, funny, and honest, but just like a friend with boyfriend troubles- at times I just wanted to shake her. Read it for her writing.
20.9, Terri's Spirit of Independence, with
A. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 541 pages
B. watched Hairspray (1988)
Cutting for Stone is a skillful novel with a strong story and well developed characters.
25.8, Sandy's Once Upon a Time, with
Treasury of Fairy Tales by Dorothea S. Goldenberg 383 pages
Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Norway by Virginia Haviland 96 pages
(479 pages total)
+85
total 285
Yea, another post for 10 more points! I feel like I'm moving through this challenge a lot more slowly than I did last summer and it's bugging me.Books read so far:
10.4 (Rolled 6-2-6) The Host by Stephanie Meyer, 619 pages (Finished 6/10)
10.5 Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews (Finished 6/16)
15.4 - # 8: Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters - pen name for Barbara Mertz (Finished 6/14) and … (task not yet finished)
15.7 New/Borrowed: Otherwise Engaged by Eileen Goudge (Finished 6/3); Old/Blue: (task not yet finished)
Total Pts: 20/940
Books Read: 4/71
Tasks Completed: 2/53
For 10.1 - Stormy Weather, I read Three Quarters Dead by Richard Peck. Richard Peck is one of my favorite authors. He writes superb juvenile historical fiction. This book is all about my very least favorite things to read about - catty teen girls and weird paranormal. No surprise that I didn't care much for it, but I have to admit that Peck does it well. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone who liked this kind of thing, though I only gave it 2 stars.
5.9 Get Caught ReadingI read Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West at school (lunch, between classes etc.) I now have many comments in my yearbook on how smart I am and to "keep reading"
15.6: A. Portugal: A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveller by Frances Mayes & C. 2nd Longest Book: The Swan Thieves: A Novel by Elizabeth KostovaPoints: 15
Total Points: 45
Total Pages: 2473
20.3 School May Be Out...The Awakening (first published in 1899)
20.7 Those We Love to Hate
I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President
The Awakening wasn't nearly as titillating as I was expecting (c'mon, like men didn't go out and have affairs all the time? And about her husband being "completely devoted" to her, he certainly seemed to be wrapped in his own little world for most the book, venturing out only to snap at her). "I Am a Genius...," on the other hand, was absolutely brilliant. Everyone should read it.
Total: 40 + 290 (from earlier) = 330pts
10.9 - “You Cannot Open A Book Without Learning Something.” - ConfuciusSchool may be out for summer but that doesn't mean you have to stop learning. For this task you will need to select a subject that you would like to learn more about (it can be any subject from history to cars to photography). Then you will need to read...
A.A non-fiction book related to your subject (EXAMPLE: For photography you could read...Creative Night: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques)
OR
B.A fiction book were the main character does something related to your subject for a living (EXAMPLE: For photography you could read Chasing Cezanne: A Novel)
I wanted to learn more about Russian history, particularly the Romanovs, so I read The Last Days of the Romanovs by Helen Rappaport
Current Point Total: 20
Jessica MI
5.1 - Heat WaveAlso read The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston.
It'll go on the must read again list!
Total points: 35
Tasks Complete: 6
20.10 - Group ReadRead The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and discussed it in the group read thread. Will be interested to read more reactions to the book.
Total points: 55
Tasks complete: 7
10.6: Stand Up For Your RightsDrown by Junot Díaz
This book was written by a man originally from the Dominican Republic and the racism immigrants face coming to America.
Task Points: 10
Total Points: 75
Pages: 208
Tasks Completed: 5
Books Read: 8 (working on 2 tasks)
Total Pages Read: 2072
Books by Goodreads authors: 0
Big Books: 0(500+), 0(750+), 0(1000+)
5.5 Dropping NamesIn the Woods
by Tana French
Tasks Completed: 6
Books read: 7
Points earned: 85
Goodreads author tickets: 1
Task 20.10--Group ReadI have read The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie. I have posted my comments on the group discussion board.
20 points
Total points: 65
First points on the board finally:5.4 Lesser Known Awards - To Say Nothing of the Dog - Locus Award 1999
10.6 Stand Up for Your Rights - Shanghai Girls
Lisa See is a Goodreads author
Tasks in Progress: 4
Finished: 15.8 Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
.Winter's Tale by Jon Godden
and Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin.
If you are an extremely sensitive animal lover, don't read the Godden one.
20.2 Rookie of the Season: Henry IV, part 1 by William Shakespeare, while written too late, it is set in and about 1403-1407
15.10A. Georgette Heyer-Cousin Kate
B. Hmm, I come from a small family and only have three cousins so I like the fact that we are close
What a fun week! For 5.9 I read Dragonwyck by Anya Seton at an outdoor gig my son was playing drum at. Sitting on a pier, music and a book, sheer perfection!
20.10 I finished the Group read ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
Tasks Completed - 6
Books Read - 6
Pages Read - 2128
Goal/Points - 50/350
5 Points5.2 The Annotated Movies in 15 minutes: Wizards by Cleolinda Jones
So despite how embarrassing it sounds, I am looking forward to the Nicolas Cage movie The Sorcerer's Apprentice. That movie is about wizards, as was this book.
5.3 When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead
5.6 The Spymaster's Lady - Joanna Bourne
I have to give this one an extra shout it. If anyone is looking for a book to fill this task and doesn't mind some romance (it's there but not too much surprisingly for a romance novel) this book is great.
20 points
20.6 Beastly - Alex Flinn
I think this book is a must read because it deals with someone who is not nice. At all really. And his redemption. I believed it. It's an interesting retelling of a classic fairy tale and a better romance than most YA novels i've read recently (that were striving to be romantic).
Totals
Points:80
Challenge Completed: 7
Books Read: 14
Goodreads Authors: 2 (no new ones this time)
5.2 - Blockbuster BooksThe Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella (and I WILL be seeing the film!)
5.3 - S U M M E R
Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore
Total points: 65
Tasks completed: 9
5.2 Blockbuster movie - Eat Pray Love
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman
430 points
Julie McVey20.5 - Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World ~ Vicky Myron
Total Points = 20 points
Total Books = 1 book
5.9 Definitely Dead20.6 The Help
I'd say yes, a must-read. I read somewhere that the maid-white woman tale has been exploited and told too many times, but not for me. I liked the book and the relationships between the women. Took a bit to get into, but then a page-turner.
Tasks Completed: 4
Total Points: 55
5.10 "If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all."Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
This book gets me a Big Book ticket (629 pages)
Total points: 35
My update:Total books read: 3
Total points: 25
Tasks completed:
5.9 - The Middle Place
10.9 - Night Gardening
10.10 - The Hunger Games
Went on a Katie MacAlister reading spree. Only have 2 more "dragon" books left. Likely to use those in this challenge somewhere. All of them are quite humorous, steamy, and very quick n' easy to read (considering 2 I read in one day just about).5.1 Heat Wave
Playing With Fire by Katie MacAlister - GR Author (3 Stars)25.9 Donna Jo - Tankini (Published in the last 5 Yrs & 850pgs+)
Fire Me Up by Katie MacAlister - GR Author (3 Stars) - Pub 03may05 368 pgs
Light My Fire by Katie MacAlister - GR Author (3 Stars) - Pub 7nov06 329 pgs
Holy Smokes by Katie MacAlister - GR Author (3 Stars) - Pub 30sep08 352 pgsPoints: 30
Total Points: 30
Goodreads Author Pool: 4
https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?k...
20.4 Rose's Garden. This is my 4th challenge so I had to read a book with a fruit/flower or appliance in the title. I really could not get into this book (2*).
On post #234 I claimed points for a book by Amanda Hocking. She's a goodreads author. She's a new author, and at the time it wasn't listed, so I didn't claim it, but she's listed as one now. She's only had her books up for a few weeks.
5 POINT TASKS1.
2. Eclipse by Stephine Meyer
3.
4.
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1) by J.K. Rowling
6. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
7. Up in the Air by Walter Kirn
8. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
9.
10.
10 POINT TASKS
1.
2. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium, #2) by Stieg Larsson
3. The Host By Stephine Meyer
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) by Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland (Translator) (rolled a 465)
5. True Believer by Nicholas Sparks
6.
7. The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson
8.
9. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
10.
15 POINT TASKS
1. Cyrano de Bergerac (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)by Edmond Rostand and Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
2. Ghost Stories of Minnesota (Ghost Stories of) by Gina Teel and Finger Lickin' Fifteen (Stephanie Plum, #15) by Janet Evanovich
3. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell
4. Salem's Lot by Stephen King and Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye (A Psychic Eye Mystery, #1) by Victoria Laurie
5. Carrie by Spehen King and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Blindness by José Saramago, Giovanni Pontiero (Translator) and Breaking Dawn by Stephine Meyer
7. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
8.
9. A Hopeless Romantic by Harriet Evans
10. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
20 POINT TASKS
1. Throw Darts At A Cheesecake (Bernstein/Miller Mystery, #1) by Denise Dietz
2. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Anonymous, Seamus Heaney (Translator)
3. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
4. The Toaster Broke, So We're Getting Married: A Memoir by Pamela Holm
5.Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert
6. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
7. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
8. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
9. Catching Fire (Hunger Games, #2) by Suzanne Collins
10. The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1) by Suzanne Collins
25 POINT TASKS
1. Killing Floor (Jack Reacher Series, #1) by Lee Child and Look Again by Lisa Scottoline
2. When Lightning Strikes (1-800-Where-R-You, #1) by Meg Cabot and It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy by Greg Behrendt, Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt
3. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Anonymous Celebrity (Latin American Literature) by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão, Nelson Vieira (Translator)
4. Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, #1) by Dan Brown and The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
5.
6.
7. A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain and Cooking Up Murder (A Cooking Class Mystery, #1) by Miranda Bliss
8. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
9. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
10.Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1) by Charlaine Harris and Chocolat by Joanne Harris
30 POINT TASKS
1.Body Art by Kym Menzies and Uglies (Uglies, #1) by Scott Westerfeld
2. Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
3. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith and Deep End of the Ocean (Oprah's Book Club) by Jacquelyn Mitchard
4.Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta, #1) by Patricia Cornwell and Beat the Reaper: A Novel by Josh Bazell
5.
50 POINT TASK
4491/26371 Pages Read
145/950 Total Points
15/71 Books Completed
Books by Goodreads authors: 2
Big Books: 0 (500+), 0 (750+), 0 (1000+)
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The Seasonal Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Daughters of the North (other topics)At the Sign of the Golden Pineapple (other topics)
The Catcher in the Rye (other topics)
Every Man Dies Alone (other topics)
Sepulchre (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Elise Broach (other topics)Virginia Woolf (other topics)
Roald Dahl (other topics)
Shel Silverstein (other topics)
J.K. Rowling (other topics)
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Oops! I forgot to mention that this book is 563 pages long.