general questions/updates/rules for School Year Challenge

[Lynnie]

Tami, I know you posted forever ago but we just got back internet and stuff.. Thanks for thinking of us over in Kentucky. I'm going to create a weather thread so I don't clog up this one... It seems like we've talked about weather on a lot of threads. haha.

[Michelle]

Ah! I have my whole list done, but I haven't been able to finish any books because of all my stupid school work :(

[Lynnie]

Jamie, for the religion one, do you think Everything is Illuminated would count?

[Lynnie]

ack.. more questions! sorry.

Do you think the Virgin Suicides would count as an emotional condition?

and

The only book related to speech pathology that i know of (other than textbooks blah) is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I hear that it was his speech pathologist that "listened" to him and wrote his story. But I don't know how important she is in the story.. She might only be in like a tiny part. So would that count?

Oh! If anyone else knows of any books w/ a speech pathologist as a character, I would LOVE to hear about them!!

[Bonnie]

Thanks Jamie!

And if you're okay using fictional medical conditions, I would count the Time Traveler's Wife for 10 pts, #5. In the book it is classified as such and it is a handicap in a way; definitely big impact on the protagonist's life!

[Tahleen]

I have a quick question: what should I do for being an English major? I mean, technically I could choose any type of literature since it has to do with my field of study... but I don't want to cheat haha. And I'm still working on my list!

[Lori]

Tahleen, I am planning on reading a book about writers; I couldn't find a book about an English major either.

[Tahleen]

Hmmm. That is a good compromise I think. And after all I am a writing minor...

[Tahleen]

Oh wait! Isn't there a book called The English Major? I'm not sure if it's about an actual English major, I think it's about a man going across the country or something. I saw it at the bookstore once.

[Tahleen]

Sorry, one more question! Is it against the rules to use books I'm reading for class? Since sometimes I don't actually read them....

[Lauren]

just finished Year of Wonders for 15 points for a subject you should have studied in school.. it was about the plague village.. it was really good.. why did we never even hear about plagues in school? weird...

[Laura]

Jamie, okay no problem! I'm probably going to read those two anyway but any suggestions for an actual religion book?

I should be sleeping and i have no idea why I am not lol...

[Lauren (strangled)]

Going to make just this post & edit it as I make my way through the list :)

5 points
1) The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
2) The Picture of Dorian Gray
3) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
4) Lolita
5) I Have Lived A Thousand Years Growing Up In The Holocaust
6) 8 Ball Chicks
7) The Book Thief
8) A Piece of Cake A Memoir
9) Jesus Land A Memoir
10) One Hundred Years of Solitude

10 points
1) The Warmest December
2) Fahrenheit 451 (august)
3) Lies My Teacher Told Me Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
4) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
5) Devil in the Details Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood
6) Dawn
7) Bar Flower My Decadently Destructive Days and Nights as a Tokyo Nightclub Hostess
8) Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee An Indian History of the American West
9)Of Human Bondage (england)
10) Hunger (norwegian)

15 points
1) Loose Girl A Memoir of Promiscuity
2) Rant An Oral Biography of Buster Casey
3) Madness A Bipolar Life (psychology)
4) House of Leaves
5) Edie Factory Girl
6) Aftermath, Inc. Cleaning Up After CSI Goes Home
7) New Moon
8) The Crucible (i never skipped the book for sparknotes, but this is something most people seemed to read in high school that i never did, so..)

25 points
1)Anna Karenina
2)Clever Girl Elizabeth Bentley, the Spy Who Ushered in the McCarthy Era
3)Daughters of Another Path Experiences of American Women Choosing Islam
4) Pride and Prejudice


TOTAL:20 points

[Bonnie]

10 Points:
1) Read a book with the name of a month in it:The Door to December by Dean Koontz.

Total Points: 15

[Michelle]

Just finished :07 Second or Less for 5 pts (#10 A book you already own)! Yay I finally had time to finish it lol

[Kelsey]

I just finished The Secret Life of Bees for 5 pts (author I've never read before). It was very good! On to Shantaram before I change my mind...

[Tahleen]

Okay, here's my working list. Sorry it took so long to put up!

5 points:
1) Harvesting the Heart
2) The Likeness A Novel
3) The Last of the Mohicans
4) Our Inner Ape A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are
5) A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
6) Mrs. Dalloway
7) Jessica Z.
8) Blood and Chocolate
9) On Beauty
10) Shattered Mirror

10 points:
1) Across Five Aprils
2) The Wind in the Willows
3) Lies My Teacher Told Me Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
4) Practical Magic
5) The Last Lecture
6) Neverwhere A Novel
7) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
8) Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee An Indian History of the American West
9) Pigs in Heaven
10) Water Witches

15 points:
1) Franny and Zooey
2)The House of the Seven Gables
3) Dewey The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
4) The Graveyard Book
5) Mornings on Horseback The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt
6)Kitchen Confidential Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
7) My Sister, My Love The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike
8) The Great Gatsby

25 points:
1) The Historian
2) Madapple (author's name is Christina, which is my middle name)
3) Buddha or Bust In Search of Truth, Meaning, Happiness, and the Man Who Found Them All
4) The Three Musketeers

Aha, complete!!!! VICTORY. Well, maybe not until I finish them will it be victory...

[Emily]

Jamie wrote: "now to answer some questions:

Emily..I'm not familiar with the disease in The Time Traveler's wife as i've never read it..but i'm going to say let's stick with real ones. unless anyone else thinks..."

Okay fair enough. How aboutThe Time Traveler's Wife for: 4) Read a book by an author you've never read before

So i'm at a total 40 points

[Dawn]

I just finished reading "The Secret Life of Bees" (loved it!!!) for 5pts (#10. Read a book you already own)

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Leader Board:


Lauren--45 pts
Emily-- 40 pts
Justine 35 pts
Emily--35 pts
Kelsey--35 pts
Lauren--30 pts
Ashley--30 pts
Lynn-- 25 pts
Lauren(strangled)--20 pts
Bonnie--20 pts
Ashley(co-mod)--5 pts
Franzz- 5 pts
Katerina- 5 pts
Amanda--5 pts
Brianna-- 5 pts
Jamie-- 5 pts
Tami-- 5 pts
Dawn- 5 pts
Michelle- 5 pts

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Some answers to questions:

Alot of people have asked about the religion one so I'll just explain...I'm looking more for books about actual religion given that it is a 25 pt challenge. Alot of books asked about definitely touch on religion as part of the story or they might be a different religion..but it's not really making you read about a different religion..and for a 25 pt challenge it should..like for that challenge..i picked a book about a Muslim woman and Islam. However..i'm not trying to be super strict about it..so if you have a book that you want me to take a look at to see if it counts..let me know!

Lynn--Virgin Suicides will count and so will the Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

about an English major--a book about a writer is fine..an English teacher..with that one I think you can do alot..if you think of something and don't know if it will count..just let me know..i'll happy to check it out.

oh also..it's definitely not against the rules to read something you are reading for class. that's totally fine given how busy we all are.

also another question has been asked..for the medical condition..let's make it a book with a real medical condition rather than a fictional one.

Some suggestions that i came up with for the "religion" category:

Christian:
Blue Like Jazz--Donald Miller
anything by CS Lewis

Buddhism:
anything by the Dalai Lama
or there are some on this list -- http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/26...

Islam:

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/75...

Judaism:

A Rabbi Talks With Jesus by Jacob Neusner
What Do Jews Believe? The Spiritual Foundations of Judaism by David Ariel

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

also..sorry this has taken me so long..i have been so busy and not around my computer at all these days!

[Lynnie]

so would Siddhartha count as the religion book? It was on the buddhism list

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

yeah i'd say so!

[Tahleen]

For the English major thing, can I read Dewey The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World? It's about a librarian, and I'm planning to get a master's in library science... if not I'll find something else. And does Buddha or Bust In Search of Truth, Meaning, Happiness, and the Man Who Found Them All count for religion? Thanks! Sorry for so many questions!

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

yes for both :)

[Tahleen]

Awesome! And I finished Blood and Chocolate for five points :)

[Justine]

I finished Jessica Z. for 5 points.

[Lorianne]

Hmm. I randomly picked up 2 books and finished them both the other night.

Frostbite for 1 word title
Shadow Kiss for a book w/ female lead character

I also re-read Vampire Academy, which I've had for a while now, so that's already owned :)

20 pts.

[Lori]

Since the illnesses have to be real and not imaginary, then I'm guessing the place we want to visit/live (9 on the 10 points) has to be real as well?

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

I would prefer it..however...if it is something you really want to read and you can't find anything else than I'll allow it.

[Lauren]

Hey Jamie... I changed one of mine. The one that has to do with a subject you are studying or studied... my major was history, then business. So I changed the book to a book about the history of Sarah Churchill. Hope that's okay! =)

[Tahleen]

I just finished Shattered Mirror for five points--a book I already own.

[Lori]

Jamie, The one I currently have slated is The Wizard of Oz (have wanted to go there since I was like 2), but I could find something else.

[Kelsey]

I totally want to live at Hogwarts...

[Tami]

I am with Kelsey! But I would have to have a wand and magical capabilities.

[Kelsey]

Naturally. =)

[Audrey]

Hi, My name is Audrey and I was wondering if I could join you all. I am not currently a college student but still considered in that age group. I have 4 years of college under my belt but quit after getting married and getting pregnant with my son. I am currently trying an A-Z Challenge and would also like to join this one. I have already picked out most of my books for this challenge but I am in the middle of 2 books for my A-Z Challenge and #1 in the 5 point list (Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez). Anyone that has read this book, I have read the first 50 some pages of this book and am about to go insane because I thought it was a love story between two young adults and come to find out I have gotten way to much information on how old people pee, 4 month fights over soap, and the love of chess. When do they actually get to the good part? :)

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Lori..that's fine if you want to use that.
Audrey..definitely join in with us!!
Lauren..that's totally fine!

[Lorianne]

Finished All Quiet on the Western Front -- banned/challenged book for 10 points.

[Anna]

I've been trying to put together my list and have a few questions:

Read a book about/relating to the particular field of study you are in/were in: I have a sociology major and I have yet to find a book about a sociologists but would a book by a sociologist work?

Read a book about a subject you wish you could have studied in school: I'm starting to think I should have gone to culinary school..could I read a book about a chef?

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

anna..both sound good to me!

[Lynnie]

finished Bright Lights, Big Ass (hysterical!) for 5 points... giving me a total of 30 points.

[Audrey]

Here is my Current List(Subject To Change):

5 points
1. The Life and Loves of April Johnson by Eve Vaughn (3/18/2009)
2. So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll an Irish Mill Girl by Barry Denenberg
3. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
4. Great Dream Of Heaven by Sam Shepard (2/3/2009)
5. Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic
6. Homespun Bride by Jillian Hart (3/16/2009)
7. The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss (3/20/2009)
8. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
9. Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather by Gao Xing Jian (2/28/2009)
10. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (2/11/2009)

10 Points
1. A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve
2. Refiner's Fire by Mark Helprin (June 28th)
3. Joy School by Elizabeth Berg (2/6/2009)
4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (2/10/2009)
5. The Obsessive Compulsive Trap by Dr. Mark Crawford (2/5/2009) Highly Recommend!!
6. Revolution by George Barna
7. Kids Love Indiana by George and Michele Zavatsky (3/1/2009)
8. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
9. Memoirs of a Geisha
10. A Home in the Valley by Diane Crawford (2/18/2009)

15 Points
1. Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris
2. Reconciled by Elizabeth Grace Daniel
3. Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan
4. Going Down South: A Novel by Bonnie Glover
5. The Life and Times of Mother Teresa by Tanya Rice (2/19/2009)
6. At the Elbows of My Elders by Gail Milissa Grant (2/16/2009)
7. It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Currently Reading)
8. The Call of the Wild by Jack Landon

25 Points
1. Queen by Alex Haley
2. How to Be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life by Melissa Hellstern
3. A Rabbi Talks with Jesus by Jacob Neusner
4. Mirage: Why Neither Democrats Not Republicans Can Balance The Budget, End the Deficit, And Satisfy the Public by George Hager & Eric Pianin

Total Points: 110 Points

[Audrey]

Yesterday I finished Great Dreams of Heaven by Sam Shepard (#4) for 5 Points.
I will probably get through this list slowly because I am also doing two other challenges.

[Tahleen]

Phew, finally finished my list. It's on the page before this if anyone is interested in checking it out/stealing ideas from it.

[Mandy]

This looks like fun!

Working on a list, but so far I have finished:
World Without End (700+ Pg. Book) 25 pts.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Author I've never read) 5 pts

So, 30 pts so far. :)

[Lori]

I'm just curious about how some of you ladies are able to get so many books finished so quickly? I have such a hard time making it through books because of school and homework. Any tips?

[Kelsey]

I dont' really have much time either. I think I just read really fast, and I've pretty much been using all my free time lately (which isn't much) to read. (Before bed, on break at work, in between classes, etc...)

[Emily]

For 10 points

4)read a book and then watch the movie adaptation
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

I'm up to 50 points.