A Classic Challenge and a Bit of Craziness

As if I don't have enough to read (though my lists are getting rather short) and I am not behind on reviews by enough (I have seven books that I have finished by not been able to write about, at least not to my satisfaction), I thought it was time to add another challenge or so to my list.


The first challenge, taking place from July 1 to December 31, 2008, is the Classics Challenge, hosted by Trish at Trish's Reading Nook. The rules are to read five classics but there is also an optional addition of one book that someone believes should be or will be a classic. Here is my present list for this challenge (though I am sure one or two of the titles will change before December):

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
A Thousand and One Arabian Nights
Lady Chatterly's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
And my new classic will be:
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

As for the craziness, I recently saw that Dewey at The Hidden Side of a Leaf is hosting a 24-Hour Read-A-Thon. The idea is very simple: stay up and read for twenty-four hours, or as long as you can, and support those reading with you through blogging. (Here is the FAQ.) You can be a Reader (like I plan to be), or a Cheerleader. Readers will start reading on Saturday, June 28th at 9 a.m. (PST), which means 11 a.m. for me. (Can I tell you how happy I am that I won't need to get up early? I don't do mornings if I can help it.) There will also be mini-challenges posted by the Cheerleaders and other awesome people devoting time to this idea. All in all, it sounds like a great way to spend a day, even if it is a little crazy. I have no idea what I will be reading then (after all, it is two weeks away and my TBR pile may have changed quite a bit by then) but I am looking for any suggestions you may have.

Challenge the Third

I found another challenge today that is just so wonderful and hard to resist that I decided to jump in and join. The challenge is Once Upon A Time II hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. The rules are simply to read a number of stories that would fall under the genre headings of Fantasy, Folklore, Fairy Tales, or Mythology between March 21 and June 20. I will be going for Quest the Third, so I will try to read five books that will fall under any of those headings and then add A Midsummer Night's Dream. Thus, here is my list for this challenge:

Fantasy
Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop
Fairy Tale
Phantastes by George MacDonald
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Mythology
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
And Finally
A Midsummer's Night Dream by William Shakespeare

Another Challenge...

Why not? This one looks fun and I can cross-list several of the books from the A-Z Challenge. This one is the Decades '08 Challenge and the rules are fairly simple. You must read at least 8 books from consecutive decades, with the one restriction being that books from the 2000's don't count. With that in mind, here is my tentative list.

1810's- Persuasion by Jane Austen
1820's- Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
1830's- The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
1840's- The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
1850's- Phantastes by George MacDonald
1860's- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
1870's- Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
1880's- The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
1890's- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
1900's- The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit
1910's- Manalive by G.K. Chesterton
1920's- Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
1930's- Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
1940's- Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
1950's- Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
1960's- Mila 18 by Leon Uris
1970's- The Princess Bride by William Goldman
1980's- So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
1990's- A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane

All of this may change and the 1840's and earlier may get scrubbed by the end of the year but this is what I am looking at doing for now.

A-Z Reading Challenge

While I understand this may qualify me for madness, I have decided to attempt the largest reading challenge I could find: the A-Z Reading Challenge. Basically, you make a list of books beginning with each letter of the alphabet and another list of authors, resulting in a list of 52 books. I figure its a good way to start off this blog. Anyway, I have started to form a list but it is by no means permanent and I will probably change half of them by the time December rolls around. Can I actually read 52 books in less than 52 weeks (since I am starting this on the very last day in January)? We'll see. Meanwhile, if someone knows a great book that would fill a space on my list, I am always open to the suggestion of a new read.

A-Z by Authors

A- Austen, Jane - Persuasion
B- Bishop, Anne - Queen of the Darkness
C- Carroll, Lewis - Through the Looking-Glass
D- Duane, Diane - So You Want to Be a Wizard
E- Edwards, Kim - The Memory Keeper's Daughter
F- Fforde, Jasper - The Fourth Bear
G- Goldman, William - The Princess Bride
H- Hamid, Moshin - The Reluctant Fundamentalist
I- Irving, John - A Prayer for Owen Meany
J- James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
K- Koontz, Dean - Odd Thomas
L- Lewis, C.S. - Out of the Silent Planet
M- MacDonald, George - Phantastes
N- Niffenegger, Audrey - The Time Traveler's Wife
O- O'Connor, Flannery - Wise Blood
P- Picoult, Jodi - My Sister's Keeper
Q- Quindlen, Anne - Blessings
R- Rai, Bali - (Un)arranged Marriage
S- Sebold, Alice - The Lovely Bones
T- Therese de Lisieux - Story of a Soul
U- Uris, Leon - Mila 18
V- Verne, Jules - Around the World in Eighty Days
W- Wick, Lori - The Visitor
X- Xinran - Sky Burial
Y- Young, Elizabeth - A Promising Man (and About Time, Too)
Z- Zacharias, Walter - The Memories We Keep

A-Z by Titles

A- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
B- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
C- Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
D- Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
E- The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit
F- Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
G- The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
H- Heir to the Shadows by Anne Bishop
I- In Lucia's Eyes by Arthur Japin
J- Jesus of Nazareth by Benedict XVI
K- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
L- Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
M- Manalive by G.K. Chesterton
N- Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
O- Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
P- Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
Q- Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot
R- The Redemption of Althalus by David & Leigh Eddings
S- Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult
T- That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
U- The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
V- Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald
W- Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
X-
Y- Yesterday's Kings by Angus Wells
Z- Zel by Donna Jo Napoli