Movie adaptions

Is there a book you really loved that was subsequently turned into a movie? Did it live up to your expectations? Why or why not?

There's no straight answer to this, because some did, some didn't, and some far exceeded my expectations - so I'm going to split up my answers in Yes, No and Somewhat, and give examples for each.

No

Twilight Yes, I'll admit it, I adore the books. However, the first movie was a huge disappointment, and I haven't even seen New Moon yet. I just don't think Kristin Stewart(?) is a very good actress, and not only do I not find RP at all attractive, I serious disagree with the way he acts Edward (I was going to call him a bad actor too, until I saw an interview with him - he's actually pretty brilliant!) Such a shame.

The 3rd Anne Movie I'm not sure which Anne book they thought they were making a movie adaption of, but it SUCKED. I'm seriously wondering if Sullivan even read any of the later books.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Sorry. It just didn't work for me.

The Golden Compass I did like the way they portrayed the compass, but that was pretty much the only thing I liked. I don't know how they managed to get it THAT wrong, but they did.

Somewhat

Prince Caspian Caspian was far too old, and I disliked both the powerstruggle between him and Peter and using him as a love interest for Susan. Other than that I loved it - especially the description of the kids' return to Narnia.

Harry Potter - all of them. They are good, but could never live up to the books. Although some of the characters are EXCELLENTLY cast (Snape and Prof. McG in particular)

Yes

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe They did a magnificent job on this one. I was so worried if it could live up to my expectations, and it far surpased them. Well done! :)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I didn't care much for the B-plot about Wonka's father, but otherwise I loved it. It was just as magical as the book.

The Lord of the Rings Of course it helps that I didn't care for the books much ;) I thought the movies quite well done though, so while they'll never become favourites, they did live up to my expectations in that they weren't boring either ;)

The Millenium trilogy I was very interested in seeing HOW they'd manage to turn these into movies - especially The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest - but they did an excellent job. Once again movies that surpassed my expectations.


... I'm probably missing some really obvious ones, but that's all I can think of right now. Other movie adaptions I either saw the movie first (like P&P, Traveling Pants and the Ya-Ya Sisterhood) or I didn't care much for the book in the first place (like The Jane Austen Book Club, Stardust and Bridget Jones)

Spring Reading Thing 2010 - 7/13

I can't believe I missed the start of Spring Reading Thing 2010! Time is going by much too quickly, and I can't keep up. Ah well, I'm only five days late, so I hope I'll still be allowed in :)

As usual I'm going to go for one book per week, i.e. 13 books in total, as the challenge runs from March 20th to June 20th. No special theme, just books I want to read.

• Wintergirls - Laurie Halse Anderson
  
• The Lost Diary of Don Juan - Douglas Carlton Abrams
  
• Mistwood - Leah Cypress
  
• The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
  
• Knit Two - Kate Jacobs
  
• Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause
  
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Grace Lin
  
• September - Rosamunde Pilcher
  
• Sabriel - Garth Nix
  
• The Lightening Thief - Rick Riordan
  
• Idlewild - Nick Sagan
  
• Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
  
• The Book of Elsewhere - Jacqueline West

Update
For the first time ever, I didn't finish the spring reading thing challenge! That doesn't mean I haven't read, just that I haven't been reading these particular books. However, the challenge states that I may change my list at any time, so I guess I could just exchange the last 6 books for some I have read, and consider it completed! ;)

Opening Hooks

There really is nothing better than a really great opening hook in a novel - it piques the interest and curiousity and begs you to read more immediately. It lets you know that you've chosen a good book. And it gives you a bit of an idea of what you are in store for.

Here are some of my all-time favourite opening lines. Sometimes the books themselves unfortunately don't live up the the first line, but thankfully most often they do.

• "If it had not rained on a certain May morning, Valancy Stirling's whole life would have been entirely different." From L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle.


• "Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." From J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcere's Stone.


• "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." From C.S. Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader.


• "Ross Wakeman succeeded the first time he killed himself, but not the second or the third." From Jodi Picoult's Second Glance


• "It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance." From Diana Gabaldon's Cross-Stitch/Outlander.


• "People usually start life by being born." From Walter Moers' The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear.


• "The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world." From Barbara Robinson's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.


• "I might as well say, right from the jump: it wasn't my usual kind of job." From Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book.


• "I am what they call in out village "one who has not died yet" - a widow, eighty years old." From Lisa See's Snow-Flower and the Secret Fan.


• "My father had a face that could stop a clock." From Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair.

(While I'm at it, check out the first sentence of Anne of Green Gables - it's an entire paragraph!)

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.

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.

• Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong
  
• The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society - Beth Pattillo
  
• While My Sister Sleeps - Barbara Delinsky
  
• Bloody Good - Georgia Evans
  
• Gifts - Ursula Le Guin
  
• Dune - Frank Herbert
  
• Gathering Blue - Lois Lowry
  
• Royal Exile - Fiona McIntosh
  
• The City of Dreaming Books - Walter Moers
  
• Evermore - Alyson Noel
  
• The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafón

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

5 Year Reading Plan

I'm not returning to my earlier level of challenge commitment yet, but the 100project on LiveJournal sounded like a suitable compromise. The idea is to pick 100 books you've been wanting to read for awhile, and commit yourself to reading those within the next 5 years, posting regularly with progress reports. I like the idea that it's a 5 year plan, as that makes it a lot more realistic challenge. I easily read more than 100 books in a year (am at 64 so far this year alone), but with my various jobs I can't have that many books from a reading list. I wouldn't have time to read anything else, and I'd get bored. There HAS to be some room for spontaneity. But 5 years is perfect - that's just 20 books from the list each year or one every second'ish week.

The books I've chosen are a random selection of my GoodReads 'to-read-owned' and 'to-read-not-owned' lists - I've limited myself to books I know are available at the libraries, as I don't want to be hindered by the difficulty of finding the books.

The Lost Diary of Don Juan - Douglas Carlton Abrams
If You Could See Me Now - Cecelia Ahern
The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Alborn
Tuesdays with Morrie - Mich Alborn
Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong
A Gentle Madness - Nicholas A. Basbanes
Library: An Unquiet History - Matthew Battles
*Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernières
Libri di Luca - Mikkel Birkegaard
Daughter of the Blood - Anne Bishop
Valiant - Holly Black
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - John Boyne
In a Sunburned Country - Bill Bryson
Ill Wind - Rachel Caine
*Xenocide - Orson Scott Card
The Rape of Nankin - Iris Chang
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
About the Author - John Colapinto
A Home at the End of the World - Michael Cunningham
Limes Billede - Leif Davidsen
*Blink - Ted Dekker
Slammerkin - Emma Donoghue
The Stolen Child - Keith Donohue
*The Last Concubine - Lesley Downer
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
Middlemarch - George Eliot
The Crimson Petal and the White - Michelle Sagara Faber
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader - Anne Fadiman
Cathedral of the Sea - Ildefonso Falcones
Time and Again - Jack Finney
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
World Without End - Ken Follett
Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke
*The Last Gospel - David Gibbins
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
And Then He Kissed Her - Laura Lee Guhrke
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
*Pompeii - Robert Harris
The Observations - Jane Harris
Dune - Frank Herbert
Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb
The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs
*A Very Long Engagement - Sébastien Japrisot
*The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
Ironweed - William Kennedy
The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
Halfway to Forever - Karen Kingsbury
Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause
Goodnight, Beautiful - Dorothy Koomson
Beggars in Spain - Nancy Kress
Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Laihiri
Gone, Baby, Gone - Dennis Lehane
*Boys from Brazil - Ira Levin
What the Dead Know - Laura Lippman
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Wicked - Gregory Maguire
A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
Bella Tuscany - Frances Mayes
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
The Birth House - Ami McKay
Firethorn - Sarah Micklem
Sabriel - Garth Nix
The Scarlet Pimpernel - Emmuska Orczy
Here be Dragons - Sharon Kay Penman
Bloodhound - Tamora Pierce
*September - Rosamunde Pilcher
The Perilous Gard - Elizabeth Marie Pope
My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett
*Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
The Cross-Legged Knight - Candace M Robb
*Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
Contact - Carl Sagan
Idlewild - Nick Sagan
*Border Wedding - Amanda Scott
Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
Peony in Love - Lisa See
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Shape-Changer's Wife - Sharon Shinn
The Pilot's Wife - Anita Shreve
Outer Banks - Anne Rivers Siddons
The Bronze Horseman - Paullina Simons
Animal's People - Indra Sinha
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
The Amulet of Samarkand - Jonathan Safran Stroud
Sophie's Choice - William Styron
The Bonesetter's Daughter - Amy Tan
The Kitchen God's Wife - Amy Tan
The Hundred Secret Senses - Amy Tan
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
*Vienna Prelude - Bodie Thoene
The End of Mr. Y - Scarlett Thomas
City of Pearl - Karen Traviss
Reunion - Fred Uhlman
Rabbit Angstrom - John Updike
*Ben Hur - Lew Wallace
The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
Cast in Shadow - Michelle Sagara West
The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton

Abandoned for the time being...

I've recently landed a new job as book reviewer and book consultant for a Danish publisher. Very sweet job and they absolutely shower me with new books to read. Unfortunately this means that I no longer have as much time to read books of my own choosing, so I've decided to leave the challenges be for the time being.

I'm still hosting the LMM Mini Challenge and the Whitcoulls challenge, and am not planning on giving those hostings up, but I'll probably not actively participate in either.

That doesn't mean I've abandoned my reading though! My reviews can always be found at Bogormen. I still update that a couple of times a week on average.

I hope you will join me there.

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

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

Books in 2008

This is a sticky-post. Scroll down for the newest posts.

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