Category: Challenges

What's In a Name? 7

Published on by Margaret7 Comments

Whats in a name 7The What’s In A Name challenge, which has been hosted for the last few years by Beth Fish Reads, has now been taken over by Charlie at The Worm Hole for its seventh outing. It’s a challenge I’ve taken part in since it was started by Annie.

The challenge runs from January to December 2014. During this time you choose a book to read from each of the following categories (my choices are in brackets). In some of the categories I’m spoilt for choice from my stock of unread books and for some I have just a couple of books to choose from – I could, of course, read more than one book for each category!

  • A reference to time (The Sands of Time, In Our Time)
  • A position of royalty (King’s Evil, I’m the King of the Castle)
  • A number written in letters (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Eight Black Horses, Nineteen Eighty Four)
  • A forename or names (Helen of Troy, Martin Chuzzlewit plus many more)
  • A type or element of weather (Snow, The Year of the Flood, The Snow Geese)

For full details and the sign up post go to The Worm Hole.

Color Coded Challenge

Published on by Margaret7 Comments

Well, I did say a few weeks ago that I was thinking of making this blog a mainly challenge-free zone, but I’ve changed my mind. I am determined that next year I will reduce the number of my unread books by a significant amount.

So I will be taking part in those challenges that encourage me to concentrate on reading books I’ve owned before 1 January 2014 and one of them is Bev’s Color Coded Challenge 2014.

Color Coded Challenge

Here are the rules:

*Read nine books in the following categories (in some categories I have more than one book to choose from, but have just included one for the time being).

1. A book with “Blue” or any shade of Blue (Turquoise, Aquamarine, Navy, etc) in the title – Blue Heaven by C J Box

2. A book with “Red” or any shade of Red (Scarlet, Crimson, Burgundy, etc) in the title – The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

3. A book with “Yellow” or any shade of Yellow (Gold, Lemon, Maize, etc.)in the title – The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O’Brian

4. A book with “Green” or any shade of Green (Emerald, Lime, Jade, etc) in the title – The Olive Readers by Christine Aziz

5. A book with “Brown” or any shade of Brown (Tan, Chocolate, Beige, etc) in the title – Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende

6. A book with “Black” or any shade of Black (Jet, Ebony, Charcoal, etc) in the title – On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin

7. A book with “White” or any shade of White (Ivory, Eggshell, Cream, etc)in the title – The White Queen by Philipa Gregory

8. A book with any other color in the title (Purple, Orange, Silver, Pink, Magneta, etc.) – Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi  Adichie

9. A book with a word that implies color (Rainbow, Polka-dot, Plaid, Paisley, Stripe, etc.) – Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody

* Any book read from January 1 through December 31, 2014 will count.

*Crossovers with other challenges are fine.

Read Scotland 2014

Published on by Margaret3 Comments

Read ScotlandIt had to happen. As soon as I think I’ll cut down on taking part in challenges one crops up that interests me. It’s Peggy Ann’s Challenge, Read Scotland 2014.

The title says it all really, read and review Scottish books -any genre, any form- written by a Scottish author (by birth or immigration) or about or set in Scotland. There are 4 levels:

Just A Keek (a little look): 1-4 books read
The Highlander: 5-8 books
The Hebridean: 9-12 books
Ben Nevis: 13+ books

I have more than enough books by Scottish authors sitting waiting to be read to go for the Hebridean level, if not the Ben Nevis level – and this will fit in very well with the 2014 Mount TBR Reading Challenge too. Actually I’m thinking of this as a sub-challenge within the TBR Challenge, so I’m not adding to the number of challenges for next year :)

To sign up go to Peggy Ann’s blog, Peggy Ann’s Post.

Mount TBR Challenge 2014

Published on by Margaret6 Comments

Mount TBR 2014The Mount TBR challenge, 2014 is being hosted by Bev at My Reader’s Block. It’s the most simple challenge – read your own books – that is, books you’ve owned prior to January 1, 2014, but at the same time it is a difficult one for me, at any rate. Difficult because I’m always being sidetracked by new books – see yesterday’s post for example. And no matter how hard I try the number of my to-be-reads never seems to go down each year.

Out of the 83 books I’ve read so far this year only 28 were books I’ve owned before January 1, 2013, although some of the 55 books were new books. My target this year is 48, so it’s looking very doubtful that I shall reach it by the end of December.

Next year I’ll be making a more determined effort to read from my own shelves. My target for 2014 is to reach Mt Ararat, although I’d really like to make it up Mt Kilimanjaro (60 books), or even higher (most unlikely).

These are the challenge levels:

Pike’s Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile/s

And the rules:

*Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. If you find that you’re on a mountain-climbing roll and want to tackle a taller mountain, then you are certainly welcome to upgrade. All books counted for lower mountains may carry over towards the new peak.

*Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2014.

*You may sign up anytime from now until November 30th, 2014.

*Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 2014. No ARCs (none), no library books. No rereads. [To clarify–based on a question raised last year–the intention is to reduce the stack of books that you have bought for yourself or received as presents {birthday, Christmas, “just because,” etc.}. Audiobooks and E-books may count if they are yours and they are one of your primary sources of backlogged books.]

*You may count any “currently reading” book that you begin prior to January 1–provided that you had 50% or more of the book left to finish in 2014. I will trust you all on that.

*Books may be used to count for other challenges as well.

*Feel free to submit your list in advance (as incentive to really get those books taken care of) or to tally them as you climb.

*There will be quarterly check-ins and prize drawings!

R.I.P.VIII wrap-up

Published on by Margaret7 Comments

We’re into November now and Carl’s R.I.P. book challenge is over. This year I completed the course. I did Peril the First, to read four books of mysteries, detective stories, horror stories, dark fantasies, and everything in between. I read 6!

  1. Waiting for Mr Right and other Sinister Stories by Andrew Taylor
  2. The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin
  3. Relics of the Dead by Ariana Franklin
  4. Not the End of the World by Christopher Brookmyre
  5. The Shining by Stephen King
  6. Ten Little Niggers/And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Well, some of them were very good and some were just OK, and some were scarier than others. Three of the six were books from my to-be-read shelves, books I’d been meaning to read for ages.

The scariest of all was The Shining!

The Shining by Stephen King

But I don’t know if I’m up to reading its sequel, Dr Sleep! It sounds even more scary, because according to the description it’s about quasi-immortals, living off the ‘steam’ that children with the ‘shining’ produce when they are slowly tortured to death.  That is most definitely not my cup of tea, but I have reserved a copy from the library …. just to have a look. The cover is enough to give me nightmares – that demonic looking cat has a resemblance to our cat! Oh no!

Reading Challenges Update

Published on by Margaret3 Comments

This year I’ve been taking part in several reading challenges and as there are just over 10 weeks of the year left I thought it was time to see how I’ve been doing. I’m seriously thinking about making this blog a Challenge Free Zone next year! I always like the idea of taking part and then later in the year (like now) wonder why, because I do like to read spontaneously and not to a plan!

Actually, I’m doing OK with 5 challenges completed so far. The ones that I’m struggling with are the Mount TBR Reading Challenge and the This Isn’t Fiction Challenge, but that doesn’t surprise me at all.

My Progress:

The Agatha Christie Reading Challenge – ongoing. I don’t really count this as a challenge because it’s just reading Agatha Christie’s books. This year I’ve read 7 of her books so far. I’ll be carrying on with this next year.

Tea and Books Challenge – completed. This is a challenge to read books of 650 pages and over. My target was to read 4 books, and so far I’ve read 5 and hope to finish 6 by the end of the year. I may do this again next year.

What’s in a Name 6 – completed. I do like this challenge, which is to read books in set categories relating solely to the title – it reminds me of books I’ve owned for a while and I like making the list. Next year? It depends on the categories and if Beth carries on with it.

Historical Fiction Challenge 2013 – completed. My target was to read 15 books and I’ve got to 25 so far – there will be more by the end of the year.

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2013 – no where nearly completed. I’m attempting Mount Ararat, that is, to read 48 books from my own bookshelves. So far I’ve read 27. This will have to be done next year too!

This Isn’t Fiction Reading Challenge – ie read non-fiction. I’m not doing too well here either with just 9 books read, when my target is 20 or more books. I think I set my sights too high!

Once Upon a Time VII – completed. I chose Quest the First: To read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time categories, which I did. 

R.I.P.Challenge VIII Challenge – completed. This ends on 31 October and I’ve already met my target for Peril the First: which is to read four books, any length, that you feel fit (the very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature. I’ve read 6 books.