Nov 27, 2009

2009 and 2010 Challenges


I'm participating all weekend Nov. 27-29, 2009, in the Thankfully Reading Weekend as well.  Check out the details at the Book Blog Social Club.

It's that time again to start thinking about some reading challenges. Anna and I at War Through the Generations are working on the announcement post for the 2010 Viet Nam Reading Challenge.  I hope that you will all consider our challenge in the new year, since we had such a great time with the WWII Reading Challenge this year.

Ok, here are some of the challenges I'm planning on for 2010:


For the All About the Brontes Challenge, sponsored by Laura's Reviews, you just need to commit to reading, watching, or listening to between 3 and 6 Bronte items (books, movies, audiobooks, etc.) between January 2010 and June 30, 2010.

I'm going to strive to read/watch 3-5 items, and these are the three I've picked, though I could change my mind:

1.  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Book/Movie)
2.  Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (Book/Movie)
3.  The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James (Book)
4.  Emily's Ghost: A Novel of the Bronte Sisters by Denise Giardina (Book)

Won't you join me?!


S. Krishna's Books is hosting the South Asian Author Challenge, which given the swath of South Asian Books I've seen and those I've read, I'm going to commit to reading 3 books that qualify between January 2010 and December 2010.

These are the 3 books I'm currently considering for this challenge: (Links are to S. Krishna's reviews)

1.  The Sari Shop Widow – Shobhan Bantwal 
2.  Burnt Shadows – Kamila Shamsie
3.  The Enchantress of Florence – Salman Rushdie

Please check out her list of South Asian Authors' Books that qualify for the challenge and the breakdown of those authors by genre.  Won't you join the fun?!



Next up is a challenge that is likely to be tough to finish for me, but I'm going to sign up anyway because I love the genre.  Book Chick City is hosting the Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge 2010.  The goal is to read 12 thriller/suspense books between January 2010 and December 2010.

I haven't preselected any books for this challenge.  I think I'm going to pick these twelve books as I go along.

I hope you'll consider this great challenge too.


Last, but not least.  I'm jumping on this bandwagon late, but Regular Rumination is hosting the Valparaiso Poetry Review of contemporary Poets and Poetics.  I'm going to dive into the deep end on this one, since I adore poetry.   This means I have to read between 11 and 15 books between May 16, 2009 and May 16, 2010.

I'm hoping that some of the poetry books I've read this year count for the challenge, which would be the following:  (Click on the links for my reviews).

1.  How to Read a Poem by Molly Peacock
2.  Becoming the Villainess by Jeannine Hall Gailey
3.  Green Bodies by Rosemary Winslow
4.  Apologies to an Apple by Maya Ganesan
5.  Carta Marina by Ann Fisher-Wirth
6.  More of Me Disappears by John Amen
7.  Fair Creatures of an Hour by Lynn Levin

If they don't, I have my work cut out for me.  I hope you'll consider adding some poetry to your reading!



Here are the guidelines from Literary Escapism:

1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010.

2. Since this is an author challenge, there is no restriction on choosing your novels. They can definitely be from other challenges. However, the authors must be new to you and, preferably from novels. Anthologies are a great way to try someone new, but only a third of your new authors can be from anthologies.

3. I want this to be an easy challenge, so you can pick to do either 15, 25 or 50 new authors. It all depends on how fast you read and how adventurous you want to be. If you reach your goal halfway through the year, don’t stop. Any new author you try can be added to Mr. Linky. We all want to know about your new experience.

4. After reading your new author, write your review and then add your link to Mr. Linky. Make sure you include your name and the author.

5. Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike are welcome

I don't have a list ready for this challenge yet, but I think it will fill out throughout 2010 with all the challenges I've joined. I'm going to start with a small goal of 15 new-to-me authors.

What challenges are you joining?

FTC Disclosure:  Clicking on certain book titles will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate Page; No purchase necessary.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Serena, thanks for joining the Thriller & Suspense challenge, I'm so pleased you did! I love the Brontes so I'm off now to join that challenge myself :)

Serena said...

I hope I can finish that challenge with the Viet Nam War Challenge next year. But I guess we'll see how it goes.

Literary Feline said...

What better way to spend a weekend than lost in books? I am participating in the Thankfully Reading Weekend event too.

I'm forgoing all challenge this next year. I'm debating whether to think of the War Through the Generations as one continuing challenge though so I have an excuse to continue participating. :-) My dad is a Vietnam veteran and so that particular war has a special significance in my life, even though I wasn't alive yet during it.

Good luck with your challenges this next year!

Sandy Nawrot said...

I am totally on board for your War Through the Generations Challenge again. Don't know if I will sign up for 10 like I did last year, but I'm in! I'm also going to do C.B. James' Read the Book/See the Movie Challenge, the TBR Challenge, and Reading From My Shelves Challenge. Support Your Library and 100+ are also sort of no-brainers as well, so I'll probably add those in. I am waiting for a Graphic Novel Challenge. That is going to be my "try something new" thing this next year!

bermudaonion said...

Wow! Good luck with all of the challenges.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

I haven't thought about 2010 challenges yet....suppose it's time I start!

Staci said...

I like the variety of challenges that you've decided to do for next year. I think all of the ones I've signed up for will be it for me...but I always seem to succumb to more as the year progresses!!

Staci said...

I like the variety of challenges that you've decided to do for next year. I think all of the ones I've signed up for will be it for me...but I always seem to succumb to more as the year progresses!!

Anonymous said...

If u will be having War Through Generations Challenge in 2010, I am in . U have made a good selection of challenges for 2010. Very balanced :)

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Hope you had a great weekend with Thankfully Reading. I thought it was fun!

J.T. Oldfield said...

I can't wait for your announcement for War Through the Generations, not just because I want to make my list, but because it might inspire me to think of a Christmas present for my Father-in-law, who likes to read about Vietnam & marines. :)

Vasilly said...

I've joined a ton of challenges for next year: VQR, Flashback, South Asian Authors, Rory Gilmore Project and more.

Jackie (Literary Escapism) said...

Welcome to the New Author Challenge (again). :) Question, did you find the link somewhere and used that one or did you go through LE? Quite a few people have been having problems, but I can go straight to it and nothings wrong. I'm beginning to think there's a bad link somewhere.

Wow...that is an array of challenges you're doing this year. I told myself I was going to cut back on the challenges this year, but I still think I've signed up for five.

Anna said...

Good luck with all the challenges! I really haven't thought about which challenges I will be participating in, beyond the Vietnam War challenge. I probably should do that, though. LOL

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Serena said...

you better get thinking, Anna! Its around the corner. I had all these challenge ideas piled up in my email so I took my time off to peruse them and choose which ones I wanted to do. I hope you'll join me in the Brontes!

Laura's Reviews said...

Thank-you for joining the All About the Brontes Challenge! It looks like you've got a lot of great challenges lined up for next year!

Serena said...

Laura: That was an easy decision. I love Wuthering Heights and have wanted to read other Bronte books.