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SPRING CHALLENGE 2011: AUSTRALIA
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Spring Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS)

Task 15.9 (in like a lion, out like a lamb) - I read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.
Total Tasks Completed: 12
Total GoodReads Authors: 6
Points This Post: 15
Total Points: 200

Degree of Guilt by Richard North Patterson read 4/29/11
Big Book ticket: 534 pages
Total This Post: 10
Completed Tasks: 37
Total Points to Date: 625
Goodreads Authors: 11
Big Books: 500+ (6), 750+ (1), 1000+ (0)

10.10 THE FINAL FRONTIERS
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling (42 pgs, fantasy)
The Twits by Roald Dahl (96 pgs, fantasy)
Points: 10
Total points: 265
Tasks completed: 20
Books read: 24
Goodreads authors: 2
Big Books: 500+(0), 750+(0), 1000+(0)

A. 2005 Damon Knight Award winner: Anne McCaffrey
Lyon's Pride by Anne McCaffrey
B. 2010 World Fantasy Award winner: Terry Pratchett
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Points: 25
Total Points: 470
Total Books Read: 24
Total Tasks Completed: 33

Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr*
*Melissa Marr is a goodreads author
25.6 Australia and Oceania
A) The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher
Option 1 - natural disaster/weather; earth-wide drought is central to this story
B) Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Option 3 - contains word 'out'
30.2 TV Reality Names
A) City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare*
*Cassandra Clare is a goodreads author
AI: Kris Allen
B) Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon*
Jennifer McMahon is a goodreads author
DWTS: Jennifer Grey
Points = 545

A. #4 of my oldest books
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
C. Borrowed from the Library
Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
+15 Points
Task 30.7. Title Connections
A Option:
Street Love by Walter Dean Myers
and
Love & Lies: Marisol's Story byEllen Wittlinger
+30 Points
Points this Post: 45
Grand Total: 470

Requiem for a Mezzo by Carola Dunn
Approved in the help thread.
Total points to date 405


"You never truly understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother." Albert Einstein.
Grandmother Spider by James D. Doss
20.8 It's My Birthday. Jayme VA's Task: the Night I Was Born.
Roots by Alex Haley
I have never seen the mini-series Roots nor read the book before. This was so interesting.
Today's total: 40
Grand total: 860

Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse
Two word title
Points for this task: 10
Total points: 150
Task Completed: 10
Books Read: 11

Boy2Girl by Terence Blacker
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Points This Post: 30
Total Points: 700
Tasks Completed: 44
Books Read: 57
Goodreads Author Books: 6
Big Books: 500+(1), 750+(1), 1000+(1)

15 points
5.7 Read Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay from the library.
5 points
total points these two tasks: 20

a) Reduce: #18 on my TBR at the start of the challenge - Dying for Chocolate by Diane Mott Davidson
b) Reuse: I didn't get around to reading The Thyroid Solution: A Mind-Body Program for Beating Depression and Regaining Your Emotional and Physical Health by Ridha Arem during the Winter Challenge
Points this post: 15
Total Points: 345
Tasks Completed: 25
Books Read: 33
GoodReads Authors: 5
Big Books: 500+ (2), 750+ (1), 1000+ (0)

Option 1: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Total Books Read: 1
Total Challenges Completed: 1
Total Pages Read: 375
Big Book Tickets:0
GoodReads Author Tickets:0
Total Points: 20

15.5 -- Award Me I read from the 2009 Man Booker list
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Points the Task 15
Total Points 330
Books read 29
Tasks done 28
Pages 9983

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling
109 pages
Points for this task: 5
Total points: 155
Task Completed: 11
Books Read: 12

20.8. It's My Birthday. Jayme VA's Task: The Night I was Born
I read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, on which the 1983 miniseries Jane Eyre is based.
This book is 533 pages so I am claiming a big book ticket.
Points this post: 20
Total Points: 170
Total tasks completed: 10
Total books read: 12
Total pages read: 5134
Total GoodReads authors: 1
Total Big Books: 500+ (2) 750+ (1), 1000+ (0)

5.8 - Blow Your Stack
The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket
Total Points: 70
Total Books: 8
Total Tasks: 7

Read a fantasy or science fiction book.
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
This Post: 10
Total Points: 400
Tasks Completed: 30/54
Goodreads Authors: 4
Big Books: 500+ (1), 750+ (1), 1000+ (0)

Task 15.4 - It's a Repeat
I decided to do option A, and read Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley.
Points this task: 15
Total points: 365
Tasks completed: 23
Books read: 29
Pages read: 7753
Goodreads authors: 6
Big books: 500+ (1); 750+ (0); 1000+ (0)

Murder Down Under by Arthur William Upfield read 4/30/11
Total This Post: 15
Completed Tasks: 38
Total Points to Date: 640
Goodreads Authors: 11
Big Books: 500+ (6), 750+ (1), 1000+ (0)

MsOPP (Julie)'s Task: "I Need to Know What Happens Next!"
I read Books 3, 4 and 5 of the Mercedes Thompson series:
Iron Kissed
Bone Crossed
Silver Borne
Points This Post: 50
Total Points: 910
Tasks Completed: 54
Books Read: 71
Goodreads Authors: 19
Big Books: 500+(2), 750+(0), 1000+(0)

Completed task #5.6 Water Water Everywhere - Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption/Laura Hillenbrand

5 points
Completed 5.8 Blow Your Stack - Forbidden/Suzanne Brockmann
5 points
Completed task #5.9 Shrimp on the Barbie - The Outsiders/S.E. Hinton
5 points
Completed task #15.4 It's A Repeat - Option B
Book One: In Bed With the Devil/Lorraine Heath
Book Two: Blue-Eyed Devil/Lisa Kleypas
15 points
Completed task #20.1 Cindy AL's Task: Lassiez Les Bon Temps Rouler! - Skintight/Susan Andersen
20 points
This post = 50 points
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Total challenge points as of 04/30/11 = 275

A)Reduce - What Is America?: A Short History of the New World Order I've owned this one for several years - I can recall buying it on a trip home to Canada.
B)Recycle - borrowed a book from April - Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
15.6 There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Africa's Children - inspired by reading All Families Are Psychotic which involves a character from Africa who has some sort of super blood that cures AIDS.
20.2 My words were: epidemic, laundry, bee, pasta, bandit so I read Little Bee. Chris Cleave is a Goodreads Author.
30.6 I got 5 - Ares and read If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home which is about the Vietnam War and 4 - Homer and read Foundation.
Points this Post: 80
Total Points: 80
Total Tasks Completed: 4
Total Books Read: 6
Total Goodreads Authors: 1
Total Big Books:

5.8 Blow Your Stack Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
15.10 Spring Break One Day
Points this Post: 25
Total Points: 105
Total Tasks Completed: 7
Total Books Read: 9
Total Goodreads Authors: 1
Total Big Books:

5.8 Blow Your Stack: National Pancake Week is celebrated the first week in March. Read a book from your To Read stack that was added before February 19, 2011 - The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory.
5.10 Kia Ora: Read a book originally written in a language that is not your native language - The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector.
10.5. It Takes Two: Read a book with a 2 word title - Lucky You by Carl Hiaasen.
20.6. Seasoned Reader. Kathryn CA's Task: Young Adult Series. Read a YA book that is a part of a series and has at least 400 pages (You can read multiple books from series to add up to 400 pages if you want)- Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter (317 pages)
and
Cats of the Clans by Erin Hunter (97 pages)
Both books are from the Warriors series.
Total = 375

Task: 30.7 Title Connections
Option A
Book 1: Moon Tiger
Book 2: Tiger Hills
Total Points: 195
Previous Reads:
5.9 Shrimp on the Barbie - The Humbling by Philip Roth
10.1 Sing Out - Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
10.4 Elementary, my dear Watson - Started Early, Took my Dog by Kate Atkinson
15.4 It's a repeat - Cold Comfort Farm and The Double Comfort Safari Club
20.9 - Lucky Me - Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
20.10 Group Read - I am Number Four by Pitticus Lore
25.6 It's all about Australia and Oceania - Zeitoun by Dave Eggers and So Much for That by Lionel Shriver
30.1 Literature Map by Gender - For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemmingway and On the Road by Jack Kerouac
30.3 Yours, Mine and Ours - The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O Farrell and The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
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I got the following five words: mobile phone, captain, soap, arm, thunder
So I read The Life Adventures And Pyracies Of The Famous Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe, which includes the word "captain" from above.
Points this post: 20
Total Points: 475/910
Tasks Completed: 30
Books Read: 38
Goodreads Authors: 12
Big Books: 500+(1), 750+(2), 1000+(0)

15.2 -- Blurb It Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy which had a blurb by Nevada Barr - Track of the Cat
20.5 Bigger is Better. Infected by Scott Sigler **GoodReads Author**
Points This Task: 35
Total Points:230
Tasks Completed: 14
Books Read: 19
GoodReads Authors: 4
Big Books: 500+(1), 750+(0), 1000+(0)

Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe
Megan lives in Canada and I live in the U.S.
Total Points: 330
Tasks Completed: 20


20.5 Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde
30.5 Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins and The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie my date is the 31st-members' dates 31st(Hannah the Blond) and 30th(StacyMI)
50.1 Definitely Dead, All Together Dead, From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
total points: 400



20.6 Seasoned Reader. Kathryn CA's Task: Young Adult Series
For this task, read a YA book that is a part of a series and has at least 400 pages.
Violet Eyes: A Retelling of the "Princess and the Pea" (Once Upon A Time) (2010) by Debbie Viguié Mass (Market Paperback, 195 pages)
*series (Once Upon A Time) explicitly approved* post #10 of help thread
AND
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Gallagher Girls #2) (2007) Ally Carter (Hardcover, 240 pages)
pages: 195 + 240 = 435
225 + 20 = 245

Tasks Completed: 16
Points for this task: 20
Points thus far: 245
Books read: 20
Pages Read: 5550
Read but not claimed: 7
Goodreads Authors: 3

1 new task
25.6. Jennifer N's Task: It’s All About Australia and Oceania - Choose 2 options
#2 Initials in AUSTRALIA: Stephanie Laurens: Where the Heart Leads
#3 Read a book that has one of the following words in the title: open
Open Season by Linda Howard
Total Points = 630
Tasks Completed = 43
Total Pages = 17,204
GoodReads Authors = 7
Big Books (500+) = 2

Task 5.4 - Fan Club
I went to Bill Willingham's fan listing and went to the Goodread's page of the fan "Josh".
I read Fables: Homelands by Bill Willingham.
Points this task: 5
Total points: 370
Tasks completed: 24
Books read: 30
Pages read: 7945
Goodreads authors: 6
Big books: 500+ (1); 750+ (0); 1000+ (0)

The Other Family by Joanna Trollope
Added to my to read shelf February 4th 2011.
Total points to date 410


Pobby and Dingan by Ben Rice - obtained from swap
10.4 Elementary, my dear Watson:
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
10.10 The Final Frontiers:
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Total Points: 70
Total Tasks Completed: 8
Total Books Read: 9
Total Pages Read: 2616
Total GoodReads Authors: 2
Total Big Books: 500+ 1, 750+ (0), 1000+ (0)


A. Fiction - Improving safety -- military
I read Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson where the main character is an American soldier during the American Revolution
* Anderson is a GR Author - claiming ticket! *
B. Nonfiction - Increasing knowledge - teacher
I read Literary practices as social acts by Cynthia Lewis which is a study of classroom literacy practices
New Total: 125

Music & Silence by Rose Tremain read 5/1/11
Big Book ticket: 512 pages
Total This Post: 10
Completed Tasks: 39
Total Points to Date: 650
Goodreads Authors: 11
Big Books: 500+ (7), 750+ (1), 1000+ (0)



25.2 Sandy's Task: Your Bucket List
A. Think of something that’s on your personal “bucket list” and read a book that somehow relates to it.
I have always wanted to visit my extended family in Italy; so I read:
La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind (2005) by Beppe Severgnini (translated by Giles Watson) (Hardcover, 217 pages)
B. Read a book from the list of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die.
Surfacing (1972) by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author) (Mass Market Paperback, 235 pages)
Goodreads Author: Margaret Atwood
245 + 25 = 270
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Tasks Completed: 17
Points for this task: 25
Points thus far: 245 + 25 = 270
Books read: 22
Pages Read: 6002
Read but not claimed: 6
Goodreads Authors: 4

from task 20.3 to task 5.5 'Brother Sister' (5 points)
Then for 20.3 'International Women's Day' I have read Beloved by Toni Morrison. She is American, I am British. (Points already counted)
Also for 5.2 'Circle of Friends' I have read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. 11 friends have read it. (5 points)
Points This Post: 10
Total Points: 710
Tasks Completed: 46
Books Read: 59
Goodreads Author Books: 6
Big Books: 500+(1), 750+(1), 1000+(1)

15.5 -- Award Me
1989 Award Winner:
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Task Points: 15
Grand Total: 480
Tasks Completed: 24
Books Read: 32
Pages Read: 9651
Goodreads Author Books: 4
Big Books: 500+(2), 750+(1), 1000+(0)

For this task, read a book that was later made into a mini series.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
This book was made into a miniseries in 2004.
This Post: 20
Total Points: 420
Tasks Completed: 31/54
Goodreads Authors: 4
Big Books: 500+ (1), 750+ (1), 1000+ (0)



Task 30.5 - “All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, or a book”
My birthday is on the 3rd, so I picked:
From Andreea's shelf - Life of Pi by Yann Martel
From NickiUK's shelf - Face the Fire by Nora Roberts
Task points = 30
Challenge total = 325

I read The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure which is written by a William AND has the word princess in the title. And was much more entertaining than the Royal Wedding.
New Points: 20
Total Points: 100


20.10 GROUP READ
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Points: 20
Total points: 285
Tasks completed: 21
Books read: 25
Goodreads authors: 2
Big Books: 500+(0), 750+(0), 1000+(0)
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Books mentioned in this topic
Fer-de-Lance (other topics)The Possessed: Adventures With Russian Books and the People Who Read Them (other topics)
The League of Frightened Men (other topics)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (other topics)
Quidditch Through the Ages (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Alan Bradley (other topics)Rex Stout (other topics)
Elif Batuman (other topics)
J.K. Rowling (other topics)
Georges Simenon (other topics)
More...
COMPLETED TASKS:
5.3 Gimme Five:
author whose last name is five or fewer LETTERS
❀The Night Season (Gretchen Lowell, #4) by Chelsea Cain READ 4.22.11
20.3. Best Review Contest. Katy's Task: Happy International Women's Day!
published in 1911+, by a female author born in or currently resides in a country other than your own
❀13, rue Thérèse by Elena Mauli Shapiro - born in Paris READ 4.29.11
*********************************************************************
COMPLETED TASKS: 30/54
TOTAL POINTS: 530/910
BOOKS READ: 39/71
GOODREAD AUTHORS: 12
BIG BOOKS: 500 pp. [ ✔ ✔ ] 750 pp. [ ✔ ] 1000 pp. [ ]