Collected by Zora Neale Hurston, Adapted by Joyce Carol Thomas, Illustrated by Ann Tanksley

Stars: ***

This book was read for the Zora Neale Hurston Challenge.

“During her travels in the Gulf States in the 1930’s, Zora Neale Hurston recorded stories told by the people she met, to preserve their rich oral legacy. The Six Fools is one of the stories collected in Every Tongue Got to Confess, her third volume of folklore. It has been masterfully adapted for children by National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas.”

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'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

When I first saw this I thought it said Enormous Challenge LOL. Then I read it again and I was like, Epony what? I'll be reading 4 books from March 1 to May 31 whose titles contain at least one of the characters names (like Oliver Twist) or a description of a character (like Merchant of Venice)

So here's my list:

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (Also Book Awards)
Waiting For Sarah by Bruce McBay (Also Canadian Book)
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan (Also Whitecoulls List)
When Madeline Was Young by Jane Hamilton (Also 888)

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)

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 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.

Okay so this wrap-up is only 28 days late. :) I just barely finished this challenge on time although I still haven't posted the reviews for the last two. I ended up changing my chosen author near the end to Richard Peck. I read Strays Like Us, Through a Brief Darkness and A Long Way From Chicago. I enjoyed them all and will be reading more Peck for sure.

Stars: ***1/2 These books were read for the Decades 08 Challenge and as part of the A Novel Challenge Mini-Challenge 2008.

Alice in Wonderland was first published in 1865 and Through the Looking Glass was first published in 1871. However I read a 2006 edition by Parragon Publishing in the UK. It’s a part of the Children’s Classic Collection. (not the cover pictured)

This was the first time I’d ever read these books, which I thought were one book, but I did know the storyline from the movie. Although I liked the movie, I wasn’t as fond of the book. Since the majority of what happens in the story is nonsense, it can be hard to follow so the movie made it a little easier. I’m not real fond of either though. They are well written and very creative, but just a little too strange for me.

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.

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:

Now here's an interesting challenge! In 2008 I'll be reading some books about planet earth. See the challenge page for more information. List to come.

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

For this challenge I'll be reading 3 books that were recommended to me by November 30/08. The rules didn't say if they had to be personally recommended to me or recommended to all readers in general but I'll be doing books personally recommended to me. Or at least I'll try.

1. A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (recommended to me after I read Midwives by Chris Bohjalian but I can't remember from who and can't find the recommendation! If it was you, let me know!)
2.
3.

Stars: *****

I read this book for the Bibliography challenge.

I'm glad I found and read this book. Dunning is a great author and I thoroughly enjoyed his writing. Reading about buying and reselling books was very interesting and makes me want to learn more about it so I can make some money finding good deals. There is some really good information on the hobby too, not just a passing mention. The way the book is written, it could almost pass as a memoir. It all sounds so real, I kept having to remind myself it wasn't.

The story was very intriguing. The plot was well thought out. I had trouble stopping reading for the night

Nov 1/07 - Jan. 30/08
For this challenge I'll be reading three books from my TBR pile.
Looking for Juliette by Janet Taylor LisleThe Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (also for Newbery)Death in Kingsport by Curtis Parkinson

Stars: ****1/2I read this book for the Celebrate the Author challenge and the Reading My Name challenge.

Celebrate the Author Note:
Dr. Seuss is one of my favourite children’s authors so I didn’t want to cheat and just re-read some of his books that I’ve read a million times. So I decided I’d read a few of this books I haven’t read yet as well as a book about his life.

This book is a Children’s Non-Fiction book about he early life of Dr. Seuss, before he was known as that. It explains who he was as a boy and how he came to be an author and artist. The story itself is written like a picture book and ends when he is 22 and his writing life is taking off. After that is an explanation of how he came up with the idea for some of his books as well as information on his life after 22 such as when he was married and how The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham were the result of bets by his publisher.

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

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

Once again Katrina at Callapidder Days is hosting a reading challenge. Come join the Spring Reading Thing 2008.

The challenge is for all of Spring: March 20 - June 19.

Here's what I will be reading:
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (also for Shakespeare)
The Girls by Lori Lansens (Also for Themed Reading)
Hatching Magic by Ann Downer (Also for Here Be Dragons)
Jackfish, The Vanishing Village by Sarah Felix Burns (Also for Canadian Book)
Yellowknife by Steve Zipp (Also for Canadian Book)

Becky from Becky's Book Reviews is hosting the Inklings Mini-Challenge. The Challenge involves reading either 2 books by C.S. Lewis and 2 by J.R.R. Tolkein or 4 by either author. I have 3 books by Lewis slated for reading in 2008 anyway and I only need to add 1 more to be eligible for this challenge.

I have owned these books for several years and they have been highly recommended by several people close to me but for some reason, I haven't gotten around to them. Here are my choices:

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

Stars ***

This book was read for the Reading the Author challenge and the Fall Into Reading 2007 Challenge.

Strays Like Us is the story of Molly who is temporarily living with her great-aunt until her mother gets out of the hospital. She’s moved all over; all her life. Molly meets Will who’s staying next door with his grandparents. The town seems to be fully of strays.

It was a cute book with an interesting storyline but there was one part in it that played to a stereotype that doesn’t need any fueling. If it weren’t for that this book would have gotten 4 stars.

This is a new challenge from me. From February to May 2008, read at least two books by authors who share the same name as you. More info here.

My list:
Don't Call them Ghosts: the spirit children of Fontaine Manse: a true story by Kathleen McConnell
The Sky is Falling by Kit Pearson (Also 888 and Young Adult)
Looking at the Moon by Kit Pearson (Also 888 and Young Adult)
Awake and Dreaming by Kit Pearson

I'm reading lots of Katherine's and Kathy's already too but I only need to read two so this list is enough.

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)

Stars: *****

I read this book for the bibliography challenge.

This one was even better than the first! Great follow up to Booked to Die.

I love the way the books are written and the information about book dealing is awesome. It makes me want to take it up but don’t have the money to start. Loved trying to figure things out as the mystery unfolded and was wrong the whole time. I love not being able to guess what’s going on. I look forward to reading The Bookman's Promise.

Stars: ****

I re-read this for the Christmas Theme Challenge only because I wasn't able to get to the library to get a new-to-me book. It was also for the Read It Again challenge.

I read this book every year in the week of Christmas (although it only takes me a day to read it.)

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