geeking...week 9

And this week’s theme is Challenges.

1. If you participate in any challenges, get organized! Update your lists, post about any you haven’t mentioned, add links of reviews to your lists if you do that, go to the challenge blog if there is one and post there, etc.

2. If you don’t participate in any challenges, then join one! There’s a good selection of possibilities over on my right hand sidebar (scroll down) where I list those I participate in. There’s also A Novel Challenge, a blog that keeps track of all sorts of reading challenges.

3. Towards the end of the week, write a wrap-up post about getting your challenges organized OR if you’re joining your first challenge, post about that any time during the week. Once you have your post up, come back and sign Mr Linky with the link to the specific post, not just to your blog.

Ah yes, this week's challenge is much needed around these here parts! Which frankly, seems ridiculous, as I have a whole separate blog just for my challenge lists. The problem, however, is that this addiction/obsession/exercise in sheer lunacy is so overwhelming that even that blog isn't entirely solving the problem of keeping me organized. So, here, all in one post, I'm going to try to get down a list of all the books I still need to read, which challenge they're for, and the date the challenge ends. Sounds daunting. And while this will make for quite the boring post, it will hopefully serve as a great reference for me in the months to come.

---by June 30, 2008:
*Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut (Banned Books Challenge)
*The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (Banned Books Challenge)

This is also when The Book Awards Challenge ends, but I am writing that one off, as I still have seven books to go. No hope there, huh? I'm hoping to redeem myself with Book Award II.

---by July 14, 2008:
*Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume (Heart of a Child Reading Challenge)
*The Stand: Complete and Uncut by Stephen King (Heart of a Child Reading Challenge, End of the World Challenge, Chunkster Challenge, Decades '08 Challenge)

---by July 31, 2008:
*Stuart Little by E.B. White (Celebrate the Author Challenge, Initials Challenge)
*A Painted House by John Grisham (Well-Rounded Challenge, Southern Challenge)

---for the month of July 2008:
*as many books as I can get read (July Book Blowout)

---by August 1, 2008:
*The 6th Target by James Patterson (Numbers Challenge)
*Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (Numbers Challenge)

---by August 15, 2008:
*A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Southern Reading Challenge, 1% Well-Read)
*The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen (Southern Reading Challenge)

---by August 31, 2008:
*My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (Celebrate the Author Challenge)
*Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule (Well-Rounded Challenge, Non-Fiction Five, Suspense & Thriller Challenge, What's in a Name Challenge)

---by September 15, 2008:
*The Road by Cormac McCarthy (End of the World Challenge, Book Awards II)
*Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams (End of the World Challenge)

---by September 30, 2008:
*The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells (Novella Challenge, 1% Well-Read Challenge, Reading Full Circle Challenge, Decades '08 Challenge, Initials Challenge)
*Wolves of the Crescent Moon by Yousef Al-Mohaimeed (Novella Challenge)
*The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (Novella Challenge)
*Gossamer by Lois Lowry (Novella Challenge, YA Reading Challenge)
*The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (Novella Challenge)
*New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers: Tales of Parasites and People by Robert S. Desowitz (Non-Fiction Five)
*Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan (Non-Fiction Five)
*The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright (Non-Fiction Five, Grapevine Challenge)
*The BFG by Roald Dahl (Celebrate the Author, Well-Rounded Challenge)

---by October 31, 2008:
*Lexi's Tale by Johanna Hurwitz (Celebrate the Author)
*lost boy, lost girl by Peter Straub (Well-Rounded Challenge, Book Awards II)

---by November 1, 2008:
*Vanish by Tess Gerritsen (MMM '08, Suspense & Thriller Challenge)
*The Sisterhood by Michael Palmer (MMM '08)
*Shock by Robin Cook (MMM '08)

---by November 30, 2008:
*The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien (Initials Challenge, Inklings Challenge)
*Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Grapevine Challenge)
*Larklight by Philip Reeve (Grapevine Challenge)
*Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Manus Pinkwater (Celebrate the Author)
*The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (Well-Rounded Challenge, 1% Well-Read)

---by December 20, 2008:
*Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi (Chunkster Challenge, Decades '08 Challenge)
*Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Chunkster Challenge, Mythopoeic Challenge, Book Awards II)


---by December 31, 2008 (this is where things get really ugly):
*The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan (Well-Rounded Challenge, YA Challenge)
*Ragweed by Avi (Celebrate the Author)
*"Lost Hearts" by M.R. James (Short Story Challenge)
*"The Sussex Vampire" by Arthur Conan Doyle (Short Story Challenge)
*"How 7 Went Mad" by Bram Stoker (Short Story Challenge)
*"The Signalman" by Charles Dickens (Short Story Challenge)
*"The Body-Snatcher" by Robert Louis Stevenson (Short Story Challenge)
*"The Boys of Goose Hill" by Charles de Lint (Short Story Challenge)
*"The Oakthing" by Gregory Maguire (Short Story Challenge)
*Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (Mythopoeic Challenge)
*Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer (Mythopoeic Challenge, YA Reading Challenge)
*Stardust by Neil Gaiman (Mythopoeic Challenge, YA Reading Challenge, Decades '08 Challenge)
*Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley (Mythopoeic Challenge)
*Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Mythopoeic Challenge)
*The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke (Mythopoeic Challenge)
*Light on Snow by Anita Shreve (What's in a Name Challenge)
*Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (What's in a Name Challenge, Decades '08 Challenge)
*Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King (What's in a Name Challenge)
*The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (What's in a Name Challenge)
*Death: The High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman (Graphic Novel Challenge)
*We Are On Our Own: A Memoir by Miriam Katin (Graphic Novel Challenge)
*elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (YA Challenge)
*The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (YA Challenge)
*The Secret Hours by Scott Westerfield (YA Challenge, 1st in a Series Challenge)
*The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint (YA Challenge)
*The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (YA Challenge)
*Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (YA Challenge)
*The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (1st in a Series Challenge)
*Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen (1st in a Series Challenge)
*Fablehaven by Brandon Mull (1st in a Series Challenge)
*The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (1st in a Series Challenge)
*MayBird and the The Ever After by Jodi Lynn Anderson (1st in a Series Challenge)
*The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (1st in a Series Challenge)
*The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (1st in a Series Challenge)
*Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (Inklings Challenge)
*The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (Inklings Challenge)
*The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (Inklings Challenge)
*Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Decades '08 Challenge, Classics '08, 1% Well-Read Challenge)
*The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (Decades '08 Challenge, Reading Full Circle Challenge)
*The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (Decades '08 Challenge, 1% Well-Read Challenge)
*The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle OR Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (Decades '08 Challenge)
*All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (Decades '08 Challenge)
*And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Decades '08 Challenge)
*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith OR All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (Decades '08 Challenge)
*The House With a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs (Reading Full Circle Challenge)
*Pandora's Clock by John J. Nance (Reading Full Circle Challenge, Suspense & Thriller Challenge)
*Pandora: New Tales of the Vampires by Anne Rice (Reading Full Circle Challenge)
*The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (Reading Full Circle Challenge)
*The Society of S by Susan Hubbard (Reading Full Circle Challenge)
*The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (Reading Full Circle Challenge)
*The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (Reading Full Circle Challenge)
*Blaze by Richard Bachman/Stephen King (Suspense & Thriller Challenge)
*Deep as the Marrow by F. Paul Wilson (Suspense & Thriller Challenge)
*Double Cross by James Patterson (Suspense & Thriller Challenge)
*Dracula by Bram Stoker (Classics '08, 1% Well-Read Challenge)
*Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Classics '08, 1% Well-Read Challenge)
*Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (Classics '08)
*Walden by Henry David Thoreau (Classics '08, 1% Well-Read Challenge)
*The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Classics '08)

---also by December 31, 2008 (even if I finish all of the above--yeah, right!--I will still also need to read for The A-Z Challenge:
*"J" title
*"O" title
*"U" title
*"X" title
*"Y" title
*"Z" title
*"I" author
*"Q" author
*"U" author
*"X" author
*"Y" author

---by February 28, 2009:
*Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (1% Well-Read Challenge)
*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (1% Well-Read Challenge, Book Awards II)

---by June 1, 2009:
*The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh (Book Awards II)
*The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett (Book Awards II)
*Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (Book Awards II)
*The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Book Awards II)
*How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (Book Awards II)
*A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (Book Awards II)

---by December 3, 2009:
*40 more items, many of which will hopefully be filled in through other challenges (42 Challenge)

---by December 31, 2009:
*Sea Change by James Powlik (Suspense & Thriller Challenge)
*World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (Suspense & Thriller Challenge)
*Joyride by Jack Ketchum (Suspense & Thriller Challenge)
*Three Days to Never by Tim Powers (Suspense & Thriller Challenge)
*Trace by Patricia Cornwell (Suspense & Thriller Challenge)
*Testament by David Morrell (Suspense & Thriller Challenge)

Whew. Now that was one tedious, time-consuming, and most especially, depressing post! Yet I'm grateful to have done it, as I hope it will help keep me on a track a bit more.

And now, if you want to visit some people who not only sign up for truckloads of challenges, but also actually finish them, you might want to visit these fellow "Geeks"...

Wendy
Eva
Becky

Thanks for being such a wonderful hostess, Dewey!