Feeling Challenged?

I AM!!!

I have recently been cruising some other book blogs and have discovered that there are many reading challenges out there. Upon more exploration, I have found that there are some out there that fit me perfectly and have decided to take on these challenges! I am posting a list of my books along the sidebar for each individual challenge. As I complete them, I will post a review as usual, but make a special note about which challenge (if any) the review will qualify for. In addition, I will post a link to the review on the sidebar as a way for me to keep track of which ones I complete. When the entire challenge is done, I will post as well as make a note on the sidebar until the deadline has passed. I hope that some of you will join me and help to spread the word. It should be fun!!

The first challenge is From The Stacks.

Here are the rules:

If you are anything like me your stack of purchased to-be-read books is teetering over. So for this challenge we would be reading 5 books that we have already purchased, have been meaning to get to, have been sitting on the nightstand and haven't read before. No going out and buying new books. No getting sidetracked by the lure of the holiday bookstore displays. The bonus would be that we would finally get to some of those titles (you know you picked them for a reason!) and we wouldn't be spending any extra money over the holidays. The time frame would be Nov. 1st until Jan. 30 and there will be some small, fun prizes awarded to random participants and/or those with clever review posts.

The review links are to be posted on a separate form. For those that may be interested, here is the link. Here is my list of books for this challenge:

• Lucky by Alice Sebold
• How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
• Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern
• Peace Like A River Leif Enger
• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

The second challenge is 9 Books for 2009.

Here are the rules:

• Open to anyone, whether you have a blog or not!
• No need to register or to announce what you are going to read.
• Start in any category that you wish.
• 3 books from this reading challenge can be used in other reading challenges.
• Just post in the comment section.
• The genre of the books can be ANYTHING (fiction or non-fiction), but it must be decent (because you have to write reviews about the books).
• Other reading materials (graphic novels, poetry, museum catalogs, art books, zines etc.) are OK.
• The book must already be in your bookcase or storage area.
• The Challenge starts 12/27/08 to 12/27/09. (I hate to begin anything on January 1st).
  You can post starting on 12/27/08.
• Format of work can be paper, audio, or electronic.

There are 9 categories to this challenge. I have posted the categories (see the website for details on these categories) and which books I am reading for each below.

• Long: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
• Free: Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
• Dusty: Sounds of the River by Da Chen
• Used: The Bishop's Mantle by Agnes Sligh Turnbull
• Letter: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• Strange: American Indian Myths and Legends selected and edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz
• Distance: The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
• Alive or Not: The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Cover: Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo