Whats in a Name Challenge

I was trying to stop joining challenges half way through the year, but this was too tempting to miss...

*The Challenge: Choose one book from each of the following categories.

1. A book with a "profession" in its title. Examples might include:
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood (Read)
The Ranger's Apprentice - John Flannigan (Read)


2. A book with a "time of day" in its title. Examples might include:
Embrace the Night - Karen Chance (Read)
Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance (Read)
Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance (Read)


3. A book with a "relative" in its title. Examples might include:
The Memory Keepers Daughter - Kim Edwards
A Friend of the Family - Lisa Jewell*

4. A book with a "body part" in its title.
The Sweet Scent of Blood - Suzanne McLeod* (review)
'...and thats when it fell off in my hand' - Louise Rennison (Read)

5. A book with a "building" in its title.
Animal Farm - George Orwell (Read)

6. A book with a "medical condition" in its title.
Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac - Gabrielle Zevin (Read)

Okay, im not sure about some of these, if i read better ones then i shall change it. Some need their reviews linking/writing and hopefully i'll get around to that soon. Not sure if a farm counts as a builing or not though...

Reading Project

According to the BBC (BBC Big Read top 100 - this list has been passed around a bit, and can apparently be found on facebook...) the average person has only read 6 of these books, today i printed it off and counted and i am that person (i have also started 13 and had another 5 read to me) but still, bad form. Compared with the mother and she has read about 26. we have each selected five we want to read by christmas.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series
5 To Kill a Mockingbird
6 The Bible -
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (seen the bbc addaption - looks far too depressing)
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - (MsNDream, parts of macbeth + romeo&juliet, sonnets)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (mum read to me)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy -
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (lion witch & wardrobe and magician's nephew)
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac -
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker (03/03/10)
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White - HATEDHATEDHATEEDHATED So very much!
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - X (I think so)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Blue = own
Green = mums read to me
italics = started (generally mean to continue, just got distracted...) includes series read part of
bold = finished/read all of
Purple bold = read and own

Mum and I have each selected five we wish to read by christmas

Mum:
Far from the Madding Crowd
Tale of Two Cities
The Da Vinci Code (not sure if she'll like this, being religeous)
Catch 22
The Three Muscateeres

Me:
Pride and Predudice (Finished 18th September 2009)
Animal Farm (Finished 24th September 2009)
The Handmaid's Tale (Finished 23rd September 2009)
Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding (Finished 4th October 2009)
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (Finished 23rd November 2009)

Of course i would like to read more than that, but hopefully there will be other years and i can chip away gradually, reading the woman in white and grapes of wrath and all the others that look tempting (but which im probably not going to stick to if i try now).

5 To read by end of easter hols...
Emma - Jane Austin
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
The Hitch-hiker's guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

Summer Holiday Reviews

Reviews to books i read over the summer hols that are not directly linked to the main challenges im doing can be found on my other blog, however, links to these reviews can be found on the 'Read this year:' section on the left, or within my 100+ challenge. I am trying to write reviews for most of the books i'm reading this summer (who knows, it might make me a little better at it :S) but i shall probably still skip out on books i read that i dont think other people would want to know about (i read a lot of fiction that is rather light-hearted and is unlikely to interest a great many people). Just so you know where they are, in the off chance anyone actually cares :P :) have a nice summer :) :)

TBR Challenge 2009

TBR Challenge... what i've been waiting for. yet again its late entry (but 5 months seems a long time to wait for next year, and i'll have probably forgotten/be too busy with january exams and re-takes by then) so here goes.

What stands out for me about this challenge is that your list has to be set in stone, wheras most challenges allow you to alter it, i think this is a good thing, should help to shift the stubbon tbrs of the shelf :P

I'm hoping that its alright if you use books that you've already started (most were admittedly started this year) as i find they're the worst sorts of tbrs for me (and i can count over 69 from where im sitting, not even thinking about the three underbed boxes full...) the only one thats really pushing it is the two towers, which i started years ago, but i really need something like this to help push those last few pages (also i was struggling to find 12 that were desperate tbrs, most are just hanging around waiting for my attention to fall on them. The idea is to read 12, 1 for each month (or for me, starting late, 2.4 per month or as many as i can this holiday!)

well, heres my list: (and im sure i'll regret some of the choices later, especially once i've discovered forgotten books, or remembered why i didnt get into them in the first place...)

1. Pride and Predudice - Jane Austen
2. The Singing - Alison Croggon
   
3. The Handmaid's Tale - Margarett Atwood
4. Animal Farm - George Orwell
5. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
6. Preistess of the White - Trudi Canavan
7. Bisringr - Christopher Paolini
8. Fortress of Grey Ice - J.V.Jones
9. The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett
10. The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkein
11. Chocolat - Joanne Harris
    
12. Something Blue - Emily Griffin

well, there we go... set in stone. almost included l'étranger, but the blog advises that you use books that have been hanging around for over 6months, and my copy only arrived in the post today :P shall have to find some other challenge... hopefully my late joining won't be a problem :S

Bold = Completed

Raved about reads challenge

I've just found out about this on someone else's blog and have had a look at the hosting page but it appears to have been a challenge for 2008, i dont know whether it has been repeated for 2009 or not, but it says it is an ongoing one and theres no end-time, so i figured..may as well.

Raved about reads requires you to create a list containing at least 3 books that you have heard other people going on about, and then try and read them, hosted by MizB.

Okay, so heres my list, i'll probably add to it as i go along, but am going to put the names of people who have recomended them to me next to it. here goes...

• Breaking Dawn - Stephene Meyer (Too many people have raved for me to count, unfortunately they keep on giving parts of the ending away, so ahve to read soon!)
  
• The Host - Stephene Meyer (Abi, Emma etc)
  
• Darren Shann (demon series) (Abi,Ema etc)
  
• The Colour of Magic (1st discworld) - Terry Pratchett (Abi + others)
  
• The Other Bolyn Girl - Phillipa Greggory (Abi)
  
• Scarlett - Alexander Ripley (Abi again, sequel to gone with the wind, which i enjoyed, however, am unsure if its right to read the sequel when written by someone else, have also read bad reviews, shall see how things go)
• War & Peace - Tolstoy (mum, apparently i'll 'love it'...)
• North & South - Elizabeth Gaskell (mum + i love the bbc adaption)
• Bisringr - Christopher Paolini (pippa (i've read most but the writing style is so up itself i keep stopping))
• A clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgees (James - probably recomended knowing id never manage it)
• One flew over the cuckoo's nest - ? (James)
• Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (James)
  
• Animal Farm - George Orwell (James)
• 1984 - George Orwell (James)
• The Island - Victoria Hislop (Freya)
• And then there were none - Agatha Chrsitie (Freya)
• Atonement - Ian McEwan (Lydia)
• To Kill a mockingbird - Harper Lee (Just about everyone i talk to!)
  

16 to go... i hope to get at least 5 done this holiday
Links to reviews of ones i've read (am editing as i finish them)
Purple = Rread

Romance Reading Challenge 2009

Im at a bit of a loss over what to do for this challenge, the aim is to read at least 5 romance books during the year, but i've just checked through what i've read already, and every single one has romance in it (im a bit of a sucker for it, and tend to only read books if they contain some sort of romantic relationship) which would make starting the challenge now pretty pointless, however, i figure if, rather than doing it for any romance books, did it for the classic ones - the type that everyone knows about (Pride and Predudice etc) then it could work and get me to read more of them. I have already read Gone with the Wind and Persuasion, which i think i'll count, but that leaves another three...

Hosted by Naida.

Read so far:

• Pride and Predudice - Jane Austen
• A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare
• Persuasion - Jane Austen
• Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (Read - no review yet)

A midsummer night's dream is pretty weak in the 'cassic romance' department, so depending on how much time i have left, if i read another i may change it to something more suitable.

100+ Challenge 2009

1. Blue Moon Rising - Simon Greene
2. Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine
3. Tithe - Holly Black
4. Crown Duel
5. The Princess Academy - Shanon Hale
6. Club Dead - Charlaine Harris
7. Touch the Dark - Karen Chance
8. Claimed by Shadow - Karen Chance
9. Embrace the Night - Karen Chance
10. Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance
11. Remember Me - Sophie Kinsella
12. Eclypse - Stephene Meyer
13. Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance
14. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
15. The Rangers Apprentice, the Ruins of Gorlan - (need to find out author)
16. An offer from a Gentleman - Julia Quinn
17. Storm Front - Jim Butcher
18. Bella - Jilly Cooper
19. Persuasion - Jane Austen
20. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac - Gabrielle Zevin
21. Kitty and the Midnight Hour - Carrie Vaughn
22. Beauty - Robin McKinley
23. Star-Crossed - Rachael Wing
24. Emily - Jilly Cooper
    
25. Minx - Julia Quinn
26. Harriet - Jilly Cooper
27. The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
28. Brighter than the Sun - Julia Quinn
29. Splendid - Julia Quinn
30. Dancing at Midnight - Julia Quinn
31. To Catch an Heiress - Julia Quinn
32. Teen Idol - Meg Cabot
    
33. How to Marry a Marquis - Julia Quinn
34. AQA Britain (1483-1529)
35. The Lost Duke of Wyndham - Julia Quinn
36. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn
37. Everything and the Sun - Julia Quinn
38. Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance (re-read)
39. A Midsummer Nights Dream - William Shakespeare
40. Resenting the Hero - Moira J Moore
41. Addition - Toni Jordan
42. Mr.Cavendish, I Presume - Julia Quinn
43. And then there were none - Agatha Christie
44. Love you to Death - Meg Cabot
45. High Stakes - meg Cabot
46. Mean Spirits - Meg Cabot
47. Young Blood - Meg Cabot
48. Grave Doubts - Meg Cabot
49. Fantastic Mr Fox - Roal Dahl
50. Heaven Sent - Meg Cabot
51. The Sweet Scent of Blood - Suzanne McLeod
52. Fool Moon - Jim Butcher
53. Magic Study - Maria V. Snyder
54. Touch the Dark - Karen Chance (again)
55. Claimed by Shadow - Karen Chance (again)
56. Embrace the Night - Karen Chance (again)
57. Graceling - Kristin Cashore
58. The Secret Countess - Eva Ibbotson
59. The Singing - Alison Croggon
60. Warprize - Elizabeth Vaughan
61. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
62. Bella - Jilly Cooper (again)
63. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Attwood
64. Animal Farm - George Orwell
65. When he was Wicked - Julia Quinn
66. Bridget Jone's Diary - Helen Fielding
67. Angus, thongs and full frontal snogging - Louise Rennison
68. Its OK, I'm wearing REALLY BIG Knickers! - Louise Rennison
69. Knocked out by my Nunga-Nungas - Louise Rennison
70. Dancing in my Nuddy-Pants - Louise Rennison
71. '...and thats when it fell off in my hand' - Louise Rennison
72. '...then he ate my boy entrancers.' - Louise Rennison
73. '...startled by his furry shorts!' - Louise Rennison
74. 'Luuurve is a many trousered thing...' - Louise Rennison
75. 'Stop in the name of pants! - Louise Rennison
76. 'Are these my basoomas i see before me?' - Louise Rennison
77. Cinderella - Never-Never Land Stories
78. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Never-Never Land Stories
79. Little Red Riding Hood - Never-Never Land Stories
80. The Musicians of Breman - Fantasy Land Fairy Tales
81. Polo - Jilly Cooper
82. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
83. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn (again!)
84. The Changeover - Margaret Mahy
85. The Magic Finder - Roald Dahl
86. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
87. Minx - Julia Quinn (again)
88. Beastly - Alex Flinn
89. Everything and the Moon - Julia Quinn (again)
90. Slam - Nick Hornby
91. Brighter than the Sun - Julia Quinn (again)
92. Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews
93. Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris
94. How to Marry a Marquis - Julia Quinn
95. Love Struck - Rachael Wing
96. Tales from Russia - James Mayhew
97. Emily - Jilly Cooper (again)
98. Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance (again)
99. Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr
100. Old Magic - Marianne Curley
     

100+ Challenge: To read 100+ books in 2009. these are the ones i have done so far (list can also be found on the left, where it will probably be more up to date with links to reviews etc) at the moment i think im roughly on target, hopefully the holidays will give me a good chance to eat away at the numbers some more, as i've hardly managed to read anything during term time due to hectic college schedule. Hosted by J.Kaye