Books in 2008

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Below are the books I've committed to read for different challenges in 2008. Considering I usually read at least 100 books/year and typically more it should be very doable and even give me time to spare! Excellent :-)

Underlined means I'm currently reading it. * means it's a reread. I delete books from the list once they're read.

DONE! :D

Completed Challenges 2008

These are only the ones I've blogged about here. In addition to these I've completed another 20 challenges either on other blogs or on the ANovelChallenge YahooGroup.

• Medical Madness Challenge
• Unread Author Challenge
• Speculative Fiction Challenge
• Winter Reading Challenge
• Jewish Literature Challenge
• The Eponymous Challenge
• 2 New 2 U Challenge
• Themed Reading Challenge
• Numbers Challenge
• Spiritual Reading Challenge
• Spring Reading Thing 2008
• Book Binge
• Pub 2008
• Another Blooming Challenge
• Jane Austen Mini-Challenge
• 100+ Reading Challenge
• Short Story Challenge
• Herding Cats
• What an Animal
• I Heard it Through the Grapevine
• July Book Blowout
• The ARC Challenge
• In Their Shoes
• Nineteenth Century Women
• Non-fiction Five
• Orbis Terrarum
• The Whitcoulls Challenge
• Chick-Lit
• Summer Reading Challenge
• Casual Reading Challenge
• Romantic Reading Challenge
• Initials Reading Challenge
• First In a Series
• Reading Through The Decades
• Wind-Up Challenge
• Young Adult Challenge
• Chunkster Challenge
• Classics Challenge
• The 2nds Challenge - 2008
• Young Adult Romance Challenge
• Back To History
• TBR Challenge 2008
• Celebrate the Authors
• What's In A Name
• Fall Into Reading 2008
• The 888 Challenge

Montgomery Mini-Challenge 2009

There are so many wonderful books by Lucy Maud Montgomery that get overlooked because most readers only know about the Anne-series, and aren't aware that she wrote more than 20 novels as well as several short-stories and poems. I think that's a shame, so therefore this challenge to introduce people to the rest of her work.

So, by November 30th, 2009 (her would-be 135th birthday) read books of LMM that aren't part of the Anne series.

How many books should you read? Well, up to you really, but I'd say at least four, in order to get a proper variety of her work. If you really want to be thorough, you can pick a novel, a short-story collection, a poetry collection and one of her journals! (I recommend the first as being the most interesting) but just reading four of her novels is fine as well :)

Audiobooks are allowed, and books can be used for other challenges as well.

Most of her books are available through Gutenberg or Librivox (so they can be used for e-book and audiobook challenges as well!) - I've found links to all her novels here. For a complete list of her works (including short-stories, poetry and non-fiction) go here.

Sign up by leaving a comment on this post linking to your challenge post. If you don't have a blog, just post the list in the comments :)

Winter Reading Challenge 2009 - DONE

This will be my progress and wrap-up post for the Winter Reading Challenge. The challenge runs from December 21st - March 20th.

* The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
* The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
* The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
* Saving Faith - Patrick Garry
* The Time Paradox - Eoin Colfer
* Tales of Beedle the Bard - J.K. Rowling
* In Search of the Castaways / The Children of Captain Grant - Jules Verne

Chick-Lit Challenge 2009 - 9/10

This will be my progress and wrap-up post for the 2009 Chick Lit Challenge which runs from January 1st to December 31st, 2009.

1. Legs - Angela Lam Turpin
2. While My Sister Sleeps - Barbara Delinsky
3. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn
4. Grand Avenue - Joy Fielding
5. And Then He Kissed Her - Laura Lee Guhrke
6. The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
7. Border Wedding - Amanda Scott
8. By the Time You Read This - Lola Jaye
9. Goodnight, Beautiful - Dorothy Koomson
10. If You Could See Me Now - Cecelia Ahern

2009 Audiobook Challenge - DONE

This will be my progress and wrap-up post for the 2009 Audiobook Challenge. The goal is to listen to 12 audiobooks in 2009. I have no list yet, but am counting on getting lots of inspiration from Librivox. The challenge runs for all of 2009.



1. In Search of the Castaways / The Children of Captain Grant - Jules Verne
2. Chronicles of Avonlea - LMM
3. Further Chronicles of Avonlea - L.M. Montgomery
4. A Mango-Shaped Space - Wendy Mass
5. Enchantment - Orson Scott Card
6. Run for Your Life - James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
7. Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie
8. The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis
9. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis
10. The Silver Chair - C.S. Lewis
11. The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis
12. The Story of the Treasure Seekers - E. Nesbit

Fall Into Reading 2008 - Wrap Up

The Fall Into Reading 2008 officially ends today, so it's time to do my wrap-up post. I only read half the books for the challenge that I did last year, but you have to remember that last year I wasn't quite as addicted yet, so there weren't as many different challenges to read books for ;)

Anyway, to remind you, the books I read were:

• The Wrath of the Empress - Tamora Pierce
  
• The Spellcoats - Diana Wynne Jones
  
• A Jolly Good Fellow - Stephen Masse
  
• Last Chance Saloon - Marian Keyes
  
• The Death Committee - Noah Gordon
  
• The Magicians' Guild - Trudi Canavan
  
• Dragonfly - Julia Golding
  

Out of those the best surprise was Last Chance Saloon. I expected a simple chick-lit and while it definitely belongs in that genre, Marian Keyes managed to add an extra something to it, making it a "deeper" book than I had expected.

My two favourites on the list were The Magician's Guild and Dragonfly - both of which blew me away though I hadn't expected them to.

The biggest disappointment was The Death Committee. I usually love Noah Gordon's books, but this one just wasn't up to snuff and I basically had to force myself to get through it.

My favourite thing about the Fall Into Reading challenge is the flexibility of it - I can make it as easy or as demanding as I'm motivated for. So I'll definitely be signing up for the Spring Reading Challenge once March rolls around! :-)

999 Challenge - DONE

The 999 challenge is even more daunting than the 888 challenge seeing as there are now 9 categories with 9 books in each. But I assume that also means 9 overlaps allowed? The challenge runs from Jan 1st - Dec 31st, 2009. I haven't decided on the books yet, but here are the categories:

• Fantasy / Sci-Fi: 9/9
  
  1. Kushiel's Dart - Jacqueline Carey
     
  2. Knife - R.J. Anderson
     
  3. Storm Front - Jim Butcher
     
  4. The Fledging of Az Gabrielson - Jay Amory
     
  5. The Tales of Beedle the Bard - J.K. Rowling
     
  6. A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
     
  7. Bloodhound - Tamora Pierce
     
  8. Finnikin of the Rock - Melina Marchetta
     
  9. The Innocent Mage - Karen Miller
     
• Historical fiction: 9/9
  
  1. The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
     
  2. Atonement - Ian McEwan
     
  3. Freedom to Love - Rhonda Kulczyk
     
  4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer
     
  5. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
     
  6. The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
     
  7. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn
     
  8. Mr. Allbones' Ferrets - Fiona Farrell
     
  9. The Cross-Legged Knight - Candace Robb
     
• Non-fiction: 9/9
  1. The Powers of a Praying Wife - Stormie Omartian
  2. Ghost Girl - Torey Hayden
     
  3. Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings - Mary Henley Rubio
     
  4. The Way of the Heart - Henry Nouwen
     
  5. Bibelen fortalt for store og små - Ingrid Schrøder-Hansen
     
  6. The Coffee Mom's Devotional - Celeste Palermo
     
  7. Traveling Mercies - Anne Lamott
     
  8. Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading - Maureen Corrigan
     
  9. Bounderies - Henry Cloud
     
• ARC: 9/9
  1. Marcelo in the Real World - Fransisco X. Stork
     
  2. Dog Whisperer - Nicholas Edwards
     
  3. Run for Your Life - James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
     
  4. The Allure of the Curse - Patrick Vaughn
     
  5. A Deadly Habit - Andrea Sisco
     
  6. The Music Teacher - Barbara Hall
     
  7. The Thirteen Treasures - Michelle Harrison
     
  8. My Swordhand is Singing - Marcus Sedgwick
     
  9. Melting Stones - Tamora Pierce
     
• Books (originally) in Danish: 9/9
  1. Jamen, bad jeg da for lidt? - Leif Andersen
     
  2. Tonni på tourné - Estrid Ott
     
  3. Dødens mange facetter - Dennis Jürgensen
     
  4. Libri di Luca - Mikkel Birkegaard
     
  5. Dronningeofret - Hanne-Vibeke Holst
     
  6. De to komtesser - Valborg Dahl
     
  7. Ateistisk andagtsbog - Leif Andersen
     
  8. Drager over Kabul - Morten Hesseldahl
     
  9. Mission: drømmeprins - Pernille Eybye
     
• TBR: 9/9
  1. The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
     
  2. By the Time You Read This - Lola Jaye
     
  3. If You Could See Me Now
     
  4. Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb
     
  5. Dune - Frank Herbert
     
  6. And Then He Kissed Her - Laura Lee Guhrke
     
  7. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
     
  8. Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong
     
  9. The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society - Beth Pattillo
     
• Chick-Lit: 9/9
  1. Legs - Angela Lam Turpin
     
  2. Everything Is Fine - Anne Dee Ellis
     
  3. Grand Avenue - Joy Fielding
     
  4. Addition - Tori Jordan
     
  5. Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater
     
  6. The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Mary E. Pearson
     
  7. The Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs
     
  8. Hello, Darkness - Sandra Brown
     
  9. The Sweetgum Ladies Knit for Love - Beth Patillo
     
• Books in a series: 9/9
  1. The Conch Bearer - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
     
  2. Marked - P.C. & Kristin Cast
     
  3. Betrayed - P.C. & Kristian Cast
     
  4. Stolen - Kelly Armstrong
     
  5. Pirates of the Relentless Desert - Jay Amory
     
  6. The Treasure Seekers - Edith Nesbit
     
  7. Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye - Kaza Kingsley
     
  8. The Tea House on Mulberry Street - Sharon Owen
     
  9. Priestess of the White - Trudi Canavan
     
• New to me authors: 9/9
  1. Farthing - Jo Walton
     
  2. A Mango-Shaped Space - Wendy Mass
     
  3. Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie
     
  4. The Girl She Used to Be - David Cristofano
     
  5. The Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale
     
  6. Odalisque - Fiona McIntosh
     
  7. The Shack - William Paul Young
     
  8. The Reader - Bernhard Schlink
     
  9. Testimony - Anita Shreve
     

TBR Lite 2009 - DONE

It doesn't look like the "usual" TBR challenge is being repeated for 2009, but instead I found this TBR - Lite challenge. I'll be doing option A, meaning I have to read 6 of the following 12 books. Challenge runs from Jan 1st - Dec 31st, 2009.


1) Little Earthquakes - Jennifer Weiner
2) The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
3) The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
4) Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb
5) If You Could See Me Now - Cecelia Ahern
6) And Then He Kissed Her - Laura Lee Guhrke
7) Monday's Child - Louise Bagshawe
8) The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
9) Sabriel - Garth Nix
10) Farthing - Jo Walton
11) By the Time You Read This - Lola Jaye
12) Goodnight, Beautiful - Dorothy Koomson

2009 ARC Reading Challenge - DONE

This will be my progress and wrap-up post for the 2009 ARC Reading Challenge. I don't currently have 12 ARCs, but fully expect to receive that many (at least) in 2009. The challenge starts now and ends on December 31st, 2009. Some of these are older books, but as they're only now being translated into Danish, and I'm receiving them as Danish ARCs, I'm counting them anyway :-)




1. Saving Faith - Patrick Garry
2. Marcelo in the Real World - Fransisco X. Stork
3. Dog Whisperer - Nicholas Edwards
4. Run For Your Life - James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
5. Legs - Angela Lam Turpin
6. The Allure of the Curse - Patrick Vaughn
7. The Fledging of Az Gabrielson - Jay Amory
8. Freedom to Love - Rhonda Kulczyk
9. The Conch Bearer - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
10. Storm Front - Jim Butcher
11. Priestess of the White - Trudi Canavan
12. The Girl She Used To Be - David Cristofano

9 For 09 - DONE

This will be my progress and wrap-up post for the 9 for 09 challenge that runs from Dec 27th, 2008 to Dec 27th, 2009 (the person hosting it hates starting anything on January 1st ;) ) For definitions of the different categories, see challenge website.

Long: The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett (more than 1000 pages)
Free: A Deadly Habit - Andrea Sisco (received for free as an ARC)
Dusty: Dune - Frank Herbert (has been standing on my shelves for AGES)
Used: Atonement - Ian McEwan (received via Bookmooch)
Letter: A Mango-Shaped Space - Wendy Mass (the letter 'M' is both in my real name, the title and the author's name).
Strange: Farthing - Jo Walton (alternative history - not something I typically read)
Distance: Everything in Fine - Anne Dee Ellis (Any book placed in the US would fit this description, as there are more than 6000km from Denmark to the US.)
Alive or Not: The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis (Died in 1963)
Cover:

100+ Reading Challenge - DONE!

This will be my post for the 100+ Reading Challenge. January 1st, 2009 - December 31st, 2009

A progress report can be found here

The Countdown Challenge - DONE

Read 9 books published in 2009, 8 in 2008, 7 in 2007 etc.

This challenge runs from 08-08-08 until 09-09-09

2009
1. The Vampire's Revenge - Raven Hart
2. Marcelo in the Real World - Fransisco X. Stork
3. Dog Whisperer - Nicholas Edwards
4. Run for Your Life - James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
5. Knife - R.J. Anderson
6. Freedom to Love - Rhonda Kulczyk
7. Dødens mange facetter - Dennis Jürgensen
8. The Coffee Mom's Devotional - Celeste Palermo
9. The Music Teacher - Barbara Hall
2008
1. Hvor skyggen falder - Teddy Vork
2. Sagen om den brændende klovn - Dennis Jürgensen
3. Spiral Hunt - Margaret Ronald
4. Immortal Warrior - Lisa Hendrix
5. The Scarlet Spy - Andrea Pickens
6. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
7. Book of Lies - Brad Meltzer
8. Shadowmagic - John Lenahan
2007
1. Extras - Scott Westerfeld
2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
4. The Spy Wore Silk - Andrea Pickens
5. A Jolly Good Fellow - Stephen Masse
6. Demon - Tosca Lee
7. The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Decked Out - Neta Jackson
2006
1. Perfect Match - Jodi Picoult
2. The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught - Neta Jackson
3. Peaches - Jodi Lynn Anderson
4. Does My Head Look Big In This? - Randa Abdel-Fattah
5. Farthing - Jo Walton
6. A Perfect Mess - Eric Abrahamsen
2005
1. The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Real - Neta Jackson
2. The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler
3. The Death Committee - Noah Gordon
4. Avalon High - Meg Cabot
5. Where Rainbows End - Cecelia Ahern
2004
1. The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down - Neta Jackson
2. The Novice - Trudi Canavan
3. Bitten - Kelley Armstrong
4. The High Lord - Trudi Canavan
2003
1. Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
2. A Breath of Snow and Ashes - Diana Gabaldon
3. The Conch Bearer - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
2002
1. The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
2. Atonement - Ian McEwan
2001
1. The Farseekers - Isobelle Carmody