Showing posts with label challenge 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label challenge 2009. Show all posts

25 Oct 2009

Dewey's Read-A-Thon

Yes, I'm joining Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon

The timing isn't optimal for me - it runs from 2pm Saturday - 2pm Sunday, meaning that I'm going to miss out on quite a number of hours because of sleeping and a family birthday. Still, it's a read-a-thon, so I'm sure I'm going to have a blast no matter what!

The idea is that I pick a list of books to read, and then spend the day alternatively reading and updating here on my progress. I'll probably just have the one post and then update as I go along. Cheering would be lovely - or join in the fun yourself!

Past readers suggest reading shortish and light books in order not to get bogged down and stay motivated, so here's a list of the books I'm contemplating. Mind you, I'm a very erratic reader, so chances are quite high that I might end up picking up something else altogether ;)
Who Do I Talk To? by Neta Jackson, 400p
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, 215p
Gifts by Ursula Le Guin, 288p
Tre piger i en bil by Estrid Ott, 200p (estimate)
Evermore by Alyson Noel, 301p
Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede, 336p

No, I am NOT expecting to be able to read almost 2000 pages in just 24 hours, but at least this gives me a nice selection to choose from. It'll be fun! And slightly insane ;)

T-4 (10:00) This will be my blogpost for the Read-a-Thon Challenge. I'll be updating it throughout the day, so those interested can bookmark it, and those not can just skip this post and forget all about it ;-) Right now I'm about to read out to run my weekend errands, so I'll be ready for the non-stop reading to commence once the clock strikes 2pm. see you then :)

Hour 0 (13:55): Ready to start with a glass of water and my first book Lærkeunger by Helene Hørluck.

Hour 2 (16:00): Okay, Lærkeunger was no fun. I wanted to start with a trip down memory lane, but I've obviously outgrown the book. I read the first 10 pages and by then I'd had enough. Instead I picked up Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry and am already half way! :-) Have exchanged the glass of water for a bag of chips and a Pear Somersby.

Hour 3 (17:10): Finished Gathering Blue. It's not quite as good as The Giver but I still really enjoyed it. I wish I'd known I'd like it so much, and I'd have bought The Messenger while in NYC. I'll have to see if the library has it. Next up: Who Do I Talk To? by Neta Jackson.

Hour 4 (18:30): Progress on Who Do I Talk To? - 78 pages. I'm taking a break from that now to go make dinner and listen to The Angel's Game by Carlos Zufon on my audiobook :) I'm glad audiobooks count as well!

Hour 7 (21:00): Got about half an hour's worth of listening done while making dinner. Had to take a break while eating though, as Lars has a night shift, and I wanted to socialise with him during the meal. He's left now, so I'm all by myself until 8am tomorrow morning... which is really 12 hours from now since we're falling back tonight. I probably won't be able to read through the night, but I'll give it my best shot! :-D Progress on Who Do I Talk To? - 120 pages.

I cannot write the title of that book without thinking of I Go To The Rock sung by Breeze of Gospel. Go listen to it, it's excellent!

Hour 8 (22:00): Progress on Who Do I Talk To? - 202 pages. That's 80 pages in 45 minutes, not too shabby, eh? I've got another 193 pages to go, so if I don't take too many breaks, I may just make that by midnight. We'll see.

Remember to go cheer the others on as well! :)

Hour 10 (23:50): Made it with 10 minutes to spare! :-) And it was EXCELLENT. After my disappointed reaction to Where Do I Go?, Neta Jackson more than redeemed herself in this one, and had me alternatively laughing and crying. Alas, the next book doesn't come out until June next year - go figure!

Next up... haven't quite decided yet. Either Gifts or Evermore. Since it's getting late, I'll be going for whichever has the biggest chance of keeping me awake for a couple of more hours.

Hour 11 (01:14): Gotta admit, staying awake is getting harder! It's at times like these I wish caffeine helped me stay awake. I ended up picking Evermore and have read 68 pages. It's interesting enough to keep me awake so far, but I keep shaking my head at how much of a Twilight-wannebe it is. I'll try to finish it, but it's another 230 pages, so I may have to admit defeat sometime before then.

Hour 12 (02:00): Still reading, but am going to turn off the computer now. Expect the next update in 7-9 hours. Progress on Evermore - 130 pages.

Hour 21 (10:00): No, my maths isn't off, we fell back ;) Once again awake, once again reading. Progress on Evermore - 217 pages.

Hour 22 (11:00): Just finished Evermore. Wow... people who think Edward was a creepy stalker SO shouldn't read this one. I have no qualms with Twilight, but Evermore reminded me a bit too much of Hush, Hush (which made me feel dirty by reading) for comfort.

This will probably be my last update until the Read-a-Thon is over. I'm going out shortly and won't be back until after the 24 hours are up. I'll still be reading though :)

Running Totals
Number of books completed: 3
Total number of pages read: 909
Number of hours reading: 12 hours out of 22

My reviews will be up at bogormen sometime after the Read-A-Thon has finished.

2 Oct 2009

Fall Into Reading 2009 - DONE

Okay, I'm back. Fall Into Reading over at Callapidder Days was my first and is still my favourite challenge, so I'm going to have to join in on this one. Of course it helps that the criteria are really, really easy to fulfill :)

Simple: List any number of books you want to read (or finish) between now (or September 22nd rather, but I forgot all about it and thus am late) and December 20th. No book limit at all. Easy, right?

I figure listing books I've read since September 22nd would be A) cheating, B) defeating the purpose, so I'll make a brand new list of books I want to read from now on. One book per week left comes to 11 books.

Hmm... looks I have a bit of a fantasy/paranormal/goth theme going ;)

8 Jan 2009

Christian Readers 09 - DONE

This will be my progress and wrap-up post for the Christian Readers challenge. Since the challenge runs for 4 months, I'll challenge myself to read 4 books.

1) Jamen, bad jeg da for lidt? - Leif Andersen (The title translates: But... Then Didn't I Pray Enough?)
2) The Way of the Heart - Henry Nouwen
3) The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
4) Traveling Mercies - Anne Lamott

1 Jan 2009

LMM Mini Challenge - DONE

Since I created this challenge I figured I'd better take part of it as well ;) Here are my 4 books:
1) The Doctor's Sweetheart (Short story collection)
2) The Blue Castle (novel)
3) Chronicles of Avonlea (short story collection)
4) Further Chronicles of Avonlea (short story collection)

I've chosen these four because they're all available as free audiobooks at librivox, so I can listen to them when I bike to and from work :)

What's In A Name - Take 2 - DONE

I had so much fun with this one last year, so here goes again. The What's In A Name challenge. This year the categories are as follows:

1. A book with a "profession" in its title. Dog Whisperer - Nicholas Edwards

2. A book with a "time of day" in its title. Midnight Sun - Stephenie Meyer

3. A book with a "relative" in its title. Stepford Wives - Ira Levin

4. A book with a "body part" in its title. Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye - Kaza Kingsley

5. A book with a "building" in its title. The Tea House on Mulberry Street - Sharon Owen

6. A book with a "medical condition" in its title. Insomnia - Stephen King

23 Dec 2008

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

22 Dec 2008

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

21 Dec 2008

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

18 Dec 2008

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:

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

4 Nov 2008

Whitcoulls Challenge - Take 2 - DONE

I had so much fun last year, so of course I'll be doing the Whitcoulls challenge again :)

The rules this year are a bit different - you only have to read a minimum of 4 books, but they all have to be new reads (i.e. no rereads) and all from the same list!

I've chosen the following from the 2008 list.

1. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
2. The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
3. Dune - Frank Herbert
4. Atonement - Ian McEwan

Extra credit / Alternatives:
5. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
6. Santaram - Gregory David Roberts

The challenge runs from November 15th, 2008 to November 15th, 2009