TSS: Challenges

First, congratulations to everyone who participated the Read-a-thon! I imagine things will be quiet in blogland today…everybody’s asleep!

This past week, I’ve been thinking about the challenges I signed up for earlier in the year, and I decided that with the exception of the two books I already have out of the library (one is for book club), I will dedicate the rest of the year to reading challenge books, and see if I can finish at least one (challenge, that is). I know some people work full time and participate in, like, ninety-six challenges a year. I only signed up for four, mostly because they sounded fun but also, I’ll admit, because I was unemployed and I needed to feel productive. I needed some goals. And, well, I still need goals. Who doesn’t? I am not a terribly disciplined reader, but one must try, no? So here’s what’s on my plate:

9 for ’09

This is the challenge I think I am most likely to be able to complete, mainly because I’ve already read three of the books on the list. My 9 for ’09 Challenge reading list:

• Long. A book that’s longer than the books you usually read: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke – Completed and reviewed
• Free. A book recieved as a gift or through a swap or mooch: Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, by ZZ Packer
• Dusty. A book that’s been on your shelf for three years or more: The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
• Used. A book you bought used: The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon (purchased from Powell’s)
• Letter. A letter from your name, matched to a letter in a book’s title (first letter of my first name, which is “P”): Postcards from The Edge, by Carrie Fisher
• Strange. A book from an unfamiliar genre: Haunted Ground, by Erin Hart – Completed, needs review
• Distance. A book by an author whose birthplace is more than 1000 miles away from where you live: Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami. He was born in Kyoto, and I live in Atlanta.
• Alive or Not. A book by any living author who has won or been nominated for a literary prize, or something by a dead author: Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize – Completed, needs review
• Cover. Pick a book based on its cover–ugliest or prettiest–and explain how the book does or does not live up to its cover: Summer at Tiffany, by Marjorie Hart

Orbis Terrarum

If I finish 9 for ’09, then I’ll move to this challenge next. It’s long, but I think I have a chance of finishing these books. The 1% Well-Read challenge has several longer books. I think The Magic Mountain alone would hang me up not to mention The Ambassadors. My picks for the Orbis Terrarum challenge, where I must read ten books from ten different countries by December 2009:

1. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak (Australia) – Completed, needs review
2. 100 Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Columbia)
3. The Savage Detective – Roberto Bolano (Chile)
4. Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys (Dominica) – Completed and reviewed
5. One of three choices for Canada: Kamouraska – Anne Hébert; The Road Past Altamont – by Gabrielle Roy; or The Little Country – Charles DeLint
6. Red Mandarin Dress: An Inspector Chen Novel – Qiu Xiaolong (China)
7. Snow – Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)
8. Out Stealing Horses – Per Petterson (Norway). My backup: The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson (Sweden).
9. Something by Kenzaburo Oe (Japan)
10. Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh (India)

1% Well-Read