Even though I've given up on challenges, I've gone ahead and signed up for another. This one is the brainchild of Dewey, and it seems relatively easy for me to fulfill. That is, for now.

This week's challenge is simple: find some new bookblogs to read. Sounds simple enough for me!

My first new find was Rhinoa's Ramblings, and I immediately liked her because she apparently likes the Legend of Zelda and we seem to share similar tastes in music. She's also mastered the three-column layout, which I ef up every time I try it. My envy waxes.

My second find was This Book is For You, whose review of Twilight pretty much confirmed everything I had suspected about it. Thanks for saving me from that one!

My third is TigerMel over at Cynical Optimism. She's reading books with a "save the Earth" theme, which I found intriguing.

I also found Bookworm. I admit she found me first, so I technically found her via Technorati, but I'm enjoying her posts on parenting as much as I'm enjoying her bookish posts.

Dewey is hosting the Printz Award Challenge. The challenge is to read 6 Printz Award winner or honor books in 2008. My list:The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak (Also 888 and Book Around the World)
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen YangLooking for Alaska, by John GreenA Step From Heaven, by An Na

In 2008 I'll be participating in Becky's Young Reader's Challenge. I need to read 12 books aimed at the 12 and under crowd. I read a lot of these anyways so I figured why not! I'll stay away from picture books since I'm doing that for the Celebrate the Author Challenge.

List to come

It may surprise people a bit, but the first of our many crises that I plan to address is the threat of nuclear armageddon. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fading of Cold War tensions, it seems we've grown complacent about nuclear weapons. The only danger, according to Emperor Cheney, his corporate media sychophants, and President Knucklehead, is that Iran might obtain nuclear weapons. Wrong.

I will discuss all this tomorrow, but today is one of those days that makes me wonder how all these bloggers who, like me, have actual jobs, manage to throw something at the Internet every day and make it stick. I don't have time today, so I will share with you an e-mail I received that makes me wonder how we've managed to survive this long as a species.

Welcome To The Orbital Forcing Homepage

Global Warming is caused by the planet Venus

I am already committed to reading from a large list of banned books so I just picked 4 for this challenge which is Feb 24 to June 30.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

These are the books I finished March 2008 along with some stats.
Note: I only include picture books read if they are for a challenge.

eg. Title/Author (Challenge) (Pages)

Emil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn (Jewish Literature) (194)
Matrimony by Joshua Henkin (Review Book) (291)
Willie's Dad by Stanley Williams (Review Book) (PB)
Astro Socks by Leigh M. Le Creux (Review Book) (75)
Sacred Fire Poetry and Prose by Nancy Wood, Paintings by Frank Howell (73)
Charlie Bird: The Best Bird Ever by Linda Bird (Review Book) (PB)
It's All in the Cards: Tarot Reading Made Easy by John Mangiapane (222)
Burn: The Life Story of Fire by Tanya Lloyd Kyi (Planet Earth 2008 and Review Book)(135)
Parenting Your Toddler by Patricia Henderson Shimm and Kate Ballen (221)
Whale Song by Cheryl Kaye Tardif (Review Book) (199)
The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter: A Treasury of Myths, Legends and Fascinating Facts by
David Colbert (214)
William Shakespeare by Dorothy Turner (Great Lives) (Shakespeare) (32)
My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss (Celebrate the Author) (PB)
The 500 Hats of Bartholmew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss (Celebrate the Author) (PB)
The Boy on Fairfield Street:How Ted Geisel Became Dr. Suess by Kathleen Krull (Celebrate the Author) (48)

Ex Libris has a great idea for a different kind of book challenge. Soup's On is about reviewing recipe books and making a few new recipes aloong the way. From Apr 1/08 to March 31/09 I need to read and review 6 cookbooks and make one recipe from each. Cool eh?

I won't be making a list beforehand other than I'm reviewing a Passover cookbook.

I was doing this Sept 2007 to Sept 2008 because I missed sign ups but now since it's starting again in 2008 and I've only read two books out of my whole list, I'm going to change those two books and make this a 2008 challenge. This also means I have to come up with an author list.

A - A Dog So Small by Phillipa Pearce
B - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (re-read)
C - Critical Conditions by Stephen White (also for 888 challenge)
D - Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor
E - Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (also for In Her Shoes Challenge)

From May 1 - Feb 28/09, read 10 books from the 1001 list (which would be about 1%) for this challenge. I'm already planning to read 15 books from this list before Dec. 21/08 so this challenge shouldn't be a problem. Below are the 15 books. Life of Pi by Yann MartelThe God of Small Things by Arundhati RoyMemoirs of a Geisha by Arthur GoldenThe Stone Diaries by Carol ShieldsWild Swans by Jung ChangThe Color Purple by Alice WalkerNineteen Eighty-Four by George OrwellOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken KeseyTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper LeeJourney to the Center of the Earth by Jules VerneEmma by Jane AustenThe Handmaid's Tale by Margaret AtwoodOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia MarquesThe Poisonwood Bible by Barbara KingsolverSlaughter House-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know. The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself. One thing we know, our God is also your God. The earth is precious to Him. And to harm earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
-- Chief Seattle –

Have a great Tuesday!

Okay, one more challenge! My eye has been caught by the reinvigorated Chunkster Challenge, being hosted this year by So many books, so little time. Even though I didn't come close to meeting my goals with this one last year, it was fun. And I think it would make a lovely counterpoint to the Short Story Challenge -- a few stories, a reaaallllly long novel. Balance. So I'm going to sign up again, and fortunately, cross-challenge books are permitted. Yay, War & Peace!

As I get ready to watch Persuasion, the first of the Jane Austen marathon on PBS, I had a couple of things to bring to your attention:

*1st Becky's Mini-Austen Challenge is underway. Hope you have your books picked out for that.

It's here! The 2008 TBR challenge!

I didn't get to participate last year so I'm excited. I just need to finalize my list. I already have a lot of books to read so I can't choose all new books but I don't want them all to overlap either.

So the list is to come, very soon of course since I have to have it done by Dec. 31/08

From February 1 to July 14, 2008 I'll be re-reading some books I loved as a child. I'll be reading the first 3 for sure and the last 3 are extras. My list is as follows:

Ramona The Pest by Beverly Cleary
Babysitter's Club: Kristy and the Worst Kid Ever by Ann M. Martin
The Overnight by R.L. Stine
Good Work, Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
A Light in the Attic by Dennis Lee
Encylopedia Brown by Donald Sobal

Becky is like me, she can't stop making challenges!

This one is to read 3-5 books by authors who have won the Margaret A. Edwards Award.

Kathleen is hosting the Winter Reading Challenge.

This is a list of books I'll be reading in December, January and February.

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
Season of the Witch Natasha Mostert
Looking for Juliette by Janet Taylor LisleThe Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley
My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen
Dog Years by Mark Doty

I finished this challenge on time. I challenged myself to read 12 books and I finished them all.

I did make a goal to catch up on my reviews which I did but I'm behind again unfortunately. I had fun and hope to participate again next year.

You can see my list of books read here.

I think I am getting cold feet looking at my own list. However, I have to do this. I can't go on procastinating!

Man Booker Challenge 2008
1) 2007 The Gathering by Anne Enright
2) 2006 *The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
3) 2000 *The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood currently reading it
4) 1981 *Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
5)
6)

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For the Title Master Reading Challenge, you read at least 4 books where the words in the title all start with the same letter. (Note, The is not counted but A is)

Here is a list of books that I'm already reading that fit the theme. In brackets is the challenge(s) they also fall under. I will read at least four of them between March 1 and July 1/08.

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (Whitecoulls)
X-traordinary X-tremes by Mary Packard (A to Z extra)
Criss Cross by Lynee Rae Perkins (888, Newbery)
Midnight Magic by Avi (Young Adult extra)
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume (Young Readers)
Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (Newbery)
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (Newbery)
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (Newbery)

I finally decided what I'll be reading for my Jewish Literature Challenge from Dec. 4, 2007 to April 26, 2008

The Christmas Revolution by Barbara Cohen
The Rabbi's Girls by Johanna Hurwitz
A Woman in Jerusalem by A.B. Yehoshua
Emil and Karl by Jacob Glatstein
Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
The Illuminated Soul by Aryeh Lev Stollman

Plus I'll be reading Picture books and Children's Non-fiction on Hannukah and Passover that I just pick from the library at the time.

I must be out of my mind. I joined a few more challenges for 2008. I think I can overlap many of those. Click on the icons to know more about those challenges. Join as many as you can.

The challenges in alphabetical order are:

Total 52 books. 26 each for authors and titles.

This is a challenge to read 1 out of every 10 books in the first 100 books of the 1001 list. Wow that wasn't any clearer was it? LOL. I have from May 1 - Oct 31. The sections left blank haven't been decided yet. 1-1011-20 - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime21-3031-40 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides41-50 - Life of Pi by Yann Martel51-6061-70 - The Human Stain by Philip Roth71-8081-90 - The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver or The hours by Michael Cunningham91-100 - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy or Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Booknut is hosting this great challenge to read 4 books by authors that are not Caucasian. More details here.

I'm definitely participating as the majority of the authors I read are white. I don't have a list of books yet but I'll work on them. I'm going to do her second choice and read one from each of the categories listed (that's 6 books, but 4 minimum to finish this challenge) This challenges is from January-April 2008

I'll be reading 1-3 books by this author before March 2008. I don't know which ones yet. I wasn't going to make a list.

Dana is hosting The Chunkster Challenge this year. I didn't get to participate in last year's challenge because it had already started by the time I found the book-blogging community.

This fits right in to the books I have already planned for 2008 so I am going to play along.

The rules are that you must read 4 books that are at least 450 pages(750 large print) between January 7th and December 20th, 2008.

Joy at Thoughts of Joy is hosting the Non-Fiction Five challenge again. I missed it the first time. It's supposed to encourage people to read more non-fiction but that's not really a problem for me as I read LOTS of non-fiction. I still want to participate though!

My list:
I Sleep At Red Lights: A True Story of Life after Triplets by Bruce StocklerSiblings Without Rilvary by Adele Faber and Elaine MazlishNibbles and Me by Elizabeth TaylorStolen Lives : Twenty years in a desert jail by Malika Oufkir and Michèle Fitoussi ; translated by RosSchwartz.Stick figure : a diary of my former self by Lori Gottlieb

Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting this challenge to read books that are part of these categories: Fantasy, Folklore, Fairy Tales and Mythology. This is a Spring challenge and takes place from March 21 to June 20. He has three journeys, I'll be taking this one:

Quest the First

Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time II criteria. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.

So without futhur ado, here is my list of choices:

From April 1 - November 30, 2008 I'll be reading 5-8 books by authors who go by their intials. (e.g C.S. Lewis, R.L. Stine, T.S. Eliot....)

I only have a few set out for now. No lists are necessary so I can add to this as I see a book I want to read that fits.

1. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
2. A Woman in Jerusalem by A.B. Yehoshua (Also for Jewish Literature and Spiritual Book Challenge)