Tuesday, May 05, 2009

as has long been established, I cannot say "no"

Lazily copied and pasted from my reading challenge blog, my latest weaknesses:


Date: May 15th through August 15th of 2009

Host: Maggie

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read three books set in the south by southern authors.

My list:

*A Painted House by John Grisham

*A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

*The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

...or whatever strikes my fancy at the time

Notes:
Maybe the third year is the charm when it comes to actually finishing this challenge. ;) I considered not joining this year...I mean one can only fail at something so many times before one starts feeling like a real loser, right? But then I got to thinking about a couple of books that I likely wouldn't have read if not for this challenge, like The Secret Life of Bees and Sonny's House of Spies, and it made me sad to think that I might be passing up finding another treasure if I didn't join. Sound reasoning, if you ask me.

*****


Date: May 1st through September 1st of 2009

Host: Chris.

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read 1-5 books related to the environment or green-living, plus commit one green reading act (see Chris's post for explanation).

My list (I'm shooting for three):

*Walden by Henry David Thoreau

*Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine

*Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert

*The Diversity of Life by E.O. Wilson

...or whatever strikes my fancy

Notes:
I love this challenge! I have no idea yet what my green reading act may be...we already do all the things she had listed, right down to already planting a new tree in our yard this year. But hopefully I'll be able to come up with something new.

*****


Dates: Perpetual--WooHoo!

Hosts: Suey and Jessica

For details: Click here.

The challenge (put simply): Read the Printz winners. And honors, if you're so inclined.

The list:

2009
Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves, by M.T. Anderson
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
Nation, by Terry Pratchett
Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan

2008
The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean
Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet, by Elizabeth Knox
One Whole and Perfect Day, by Judith Clarke
Repossessed, by A.M. Jenkins
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath, by Stephanie Hemphill

2007
American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Volume I: The Pox Party, by M.T. Anderson
An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
Surrender, by Sonya Hartnett
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

2006
Looking for Alaska, by John Green
Black Juice, by Margo Lanagan
I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth, a Photographic Biography, by Elizabeth Partridge
A Wreath for Emmett Till, by Marilyn Nelson

2005
how i live now, by Meg Rosoff
Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel
Chanda’s Secrets, by Allan Stratton
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary D. Schmidt

2004
The First Part Last, by Angela Johnson
A Northern Light, by Jennifer Donnelly
Keesha’s House, by Helen Frost
Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler

2003
Postcards from No Man’s Land, by Aidan Chambers
The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer
My Heartbeat, by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Hole in My Life, by Jack Gantos

2002
A Step From Heaven, by An Na
The Ropemaker, by Peter Dickinson
Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art, by Jan Greenberg
Abrams Freewill, by Chris Lynch
True Believer, by Virginia Euwer Wolff

2001
Kit’s Wilderness, by David Almond
Many Stones, by Carolyn Coman
The Body of Christopher Creed, by Carol Plum-Ucci
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, by Louise Rennison
Stuck in Neutral, by Terry Trueman

2000
Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
Skellig, by David Almond
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hard Love, by Ellen Wittlinger

Notes:
Proof that my brain is in a state of decline...I could have sworn I'd signed up for this a few weeks ago. Oh well. Better late than never.

16 comments:

Amanda said...

Yay! I'm part of the Printz Project, too! I love it.

Jessica said...

Debi, welcome to the Printz Challenge! We're so glad to have you on board. (I can't say no to anything either.)

Ana S. said...

I've been trying to resist these, but looking at your lists really makes it hard! And I'm SO excited you want to read A Confederacy of Dunces :D

Suey said...

Just coming by to welcome you to the Printz Challenge. Which one is next on your list?

serendipity_viv said...

I am doing the southern one too. Perhaps I need to set up a British reading challenge or a London one to get everyone reading about good old Britain.LOL

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane said...

You do love a good challenge, don't you?! LOL :) Hope you enjoy the books for these. I should do the Southern Reading one sometime, but I read books of that genre anyway. I read A Painted House already this year, for one of the two challenges I joined (Annie's, of course!). I also really loved the Sarah Addison Allen book I read, I think it was the Sugar Queen. Wonderful book :)

Have a great day!

chrisa511 said...

Sheesh...I really want to join the Southern Reading Challenge, but I think I'm going to have to pass :( I know I won't get any of it done! But I'm super super super excited about the Printz Challenge!! I've literally never been disappointed with a Printz book!

Melody said...

More challenges, yay!! But I'm banning myself from joining more, LOL.

Have fun reading, Debi! :)

kreed said...

I am pretty sure you can't actually fail at a reading challenge so I think you can continue to join them - as if you need my permission!

Stephanie said...

How did I know you were going to join the Printz challenge?? Oh, yeah...'cause I joined it too!! We are so weird! I'm reading Frankie Landau-Banks right now. I picked up Monster at the library and actually requested a couple others on ILL. Crazy!

I'm still not sure on the Eco challenge...but you never know.

And I will definitely be doing the Southern Challenge again this year. I've always loved that one!

Kailana said...

I belong to the Printz challenge, but I resisted the rest. Good luck with them, though, and have fun!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

If I can figure out whether or not I have any southern lit currently on my challenge lists I'll join. I acutally have Painted House on my shelf, but I just can't do one more book. :P I can say no!! Ha.

I really want to do the Eco challenge, but I have ZERO books that would count. I asked Chris if books with green covers counted but she didn't respond. :P

Chrisbookarama said...

Thanks for joining! It's great that you'll be planting a tree!

Anonymous said...

Oh,good! I'm not the only one who gets sucked in. I'm doing both the Eco & Printz,too. I figure there's no point for me to join the Southern one since that's what i gravitate towards anyway. I read The Sugar Queen last year...and Confederacy of Dunces (which I should have read years ago!)

Staci said...

Looks like a lot of fun reading is headed your way!!!!

Eva said...

I'm joining the Southern challenge again too! And the eco-challenge is so tempting... *sigh* I think you'd enjoy Food Matters, if you're looking for eco-suggestions. And you could try eating vegan or vegetarian for a week as an eco activity!