Wednesday 26 March 2008

888 Reading Challenge 2008

This is being hosted by 3M
and I'm putting the blog together again now to make it easier for me to find this year and keep track of my books. If anyone is still interested in joining, here are her rules, which are very easy, and for those of us who like to read alot, it's a fun challenge to join! I made sure most of the sections were of books I WANTED to read, and was going to anyway this year. So.....

Challenge Rules

1. Challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2008.

2. Choose 8 categories of your own that you would like to read 8 books EACH in.

3. You will be allowed 8 overlaps, for a total of 56 unique book titles.

4. You may overlap these 56 titles with any other challenge.

5. You may change your list or your categories at any time.

6. Post a comment here that you are participating, and I will add a link to the sidebar. Request an invite including your e-mail address if you want to post your list to this blog. However, we will NOT be writing reviews here! You may update your lists by providing the link to books read. Please use your name as a label, along with the book categories you're reading from.

7. Check back here to see who is participating and cheer others on.

8. Participants who complete all 56 books will be in the running for in-stock books from paperbackswap.com. (I have mucho credits.) Overseas is okay!

9. Have fun reading!


My list is:

Selection One - LATEST BOOKS BY FAVOURITE AUTHORS - COMPLETED

  • By the Time You Read This - Giles Blount * (Canadian Book Challenge) - DONE
  • D.A. - Connie Willis - DONE
  • Exit Music - Ian Rankin *(Mystery) - DONE
  • Kidnapped - Jan Burke - DONE
  • The Remains of an Altar - Phil Rickman * (Mystery) - DONE
  • Piece of My Heart - Peter Robinson * (Canadian Book Challenge) - DONE
  • Widdershins - Charles de Lint ** (Fantasy, Canadian Book Challenge), Chunkster - DONE
  • Ysabel - Guy Gavriel Kay ** (Fantasy, Canadian Book Challenge) - DONE
Selection Two - FAIRY TALES (original, rewritten, short story collections)
  • Fire and Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones (Mythopoeic ) DONE
  • The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter - DONE
  • Kissing the Witch - Emma Donoghue
  • The Classic Fairy Tales - Iona and Peter Opie - DONE
  • The Door in the Hedge - Robin McKinley (Mythopoeic) - DONE
  • Fitcher's Brides - Gregory Frost
  • Enchantment - Orson Scott Card
  • Black Heart, Ivory Bones - eds Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling
Section Three - CLASSIC LITERATURE*** (modified at end of post)
  • Ulysses - James Joyce * (Birthday)
  • Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf * (From the Stacks, Birthday ) - DONE
  • The Iliad - Homer
  • Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
  • Middlemarch - George Eliot
  • Beowulf (penguin ed)- DONE
  • Beowulf - Seamus Heaney new version
  • O Pioneers - Willa Cather
  • Persuasion - Jane Austen


  • ****Alternate***
    -Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen - DONE

    Section Four - SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
    • Northern Frights 2 - ed Don Hutchison * (Canadian Book Challenge)
    • Year's Best Fantasy and Horror - 6th Annual Collection, eds Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
    • Stories of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang
    • Kissing the Witch - Emma Donoghue * (Fairy Tales 888)
    • Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman - DONE
    • The Door in the Hedge - Robin McKinley * (Fairy Tales Section 888) - DONE
    • Harrowing the Dragon - Patricia McKillip
    • Everything's Eventual - Stephen King - DONE
    Section 5 - FANTASY
    • Ysabel - Guy Gavriel Kay * (Latest Books 888, Canadian Book Challenge) - DONE
    • Widdershins - Charles de Lint * (Latest Books 888, Canadian Book Challenge, Chunkster) - DONE
    • The Weirdstone of Brisingamen - Alan Cooper * (First in a Series Challenge)
    • Over Sea, Under Stone - Susan Cooper * (First in a Series Challenge) - DONE
    • The Oracle Queen - Lynn Flewelling
    • Something Rotten - Jasper Fforde * - DONE (Latest Books 888)
    • Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke (Mythopoeic RC) DONE
    • Shaman's Crossing - Robin Hobb DONE *(First in a Series Challenge)
    Section 6 - MYSTERY - COMPLETED
    • The Remains of an Altar - Phil Rickman *(Latest Book 888) - DONE
    • Exit Music - Ian Rankin * (Latest Book 888) - DONE
    • Kidnapped - Jan Burke * (Latest Book 888) - DONE
    • Rituals of the Season - Margaret Maron - DONE
    • Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand - Fred Vargas - DONE
    • Piece of My Heart - Peter Robinson - DONE* (Canadian Book Challenge, Latest Book 888)
    • Still Life - Louise Penny * (Canadian Book Challenge, First in a Series) DONE
    • Fire Sale - Sara Paretsky - DONE
    Section Seven - NON-FICTION ****NOT DOING, AMENDED TO HORROR/GOTHIC BOOKS BELOW
    • Crossing to Avalon - Jean Shinoda Bolen
    • Toast - A Biography - Nigel Slater
    • Journal of a Solitude - May Sarton * (Poetry Reading Challenge)
    • 1599 A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare - James Shapiro * (Shakespeare Reading Challenge)
    • Life of Charlotte Bronte - Mrs Gaskell
    • Canadian Settler's Guide - Catharine Parr Traill * (Canadian Book Challenge) - DONE
    • The Psychic Pathway - Sonia Choquette
    • Tarot for Yourself - Mary K. Greer
    Section 8 - Assorted Fiction I've been Meaning to Read......
  • Obsidian Butterfly - Laurell K. Hamilton
  • The Bookshop - Penelope Fitzgerald - DONE
  • Inkheart - Cornelia Funke - DONE
  • A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby - DONE
  • White Teeth - Zadie Smith
  • She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
  • The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver
  • Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky - DONE
    ****Alternate (added Oct 19 2008)
    - Tamsin - Peter S. Beagle - DONE
    - Birthday Letters - Ted Hughes
    - Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz - DONE

    *****Modified July 7 2008 I am counting each Beowulf as a Classics choice. Not grouping them into one! What was I thinking!!?

    *****MODIFIED AUG 27/08 HORROR/DARK FANTASY replaces NON-FICTION******
    COMPLETED
    1. The Harrowing - Alexandra Sokoloff - DONE (Awards Challenge)
    2.The Terror - Dan Simmons -DONE
    3. The Woman in Black - Susan Hill - DONE
    4.Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz - DONE
    5. The House of Dr. Dee - Peter Ackroyd (1% challenge)
    6. The Night Country - Stewart O'Nan DONE
    7. Lonely Werewolf Girl - Martin Millar DONE
    8. Wolf Moon - Charles de Lint - DONE (Can Challenge 2)
    *Alternates:
    (added Oct 19 2008)
    - Everything's Eventual - Stephen King - DONE
  • 4 comments:

    Bybee said...

    I love the thought of this challenge, but I'm floundering at the ones I've got so far...but your delectable categories and tasty choices made me want to dive in without restraint.

    My husband just asked me what I was typing. I said, "I'm writing to You can never have too many books." He said, "Yes, you can. The limit is 4 million."

    Susan said...

    If you could see me laughing over here!!! thanks a million (or is that 4 million? tee hee)! What are your choices for the challenge? At first I made it filled with book categories I don't read, then I thought, this is stupid. why not fill it with books I am going to read this year? Suddenly it became much less daunting and whole lot more fun :-) I love this idea, now whether I can pull it off is another thing!! At least I'll have fun trying!!!

    And your husband should meet my husband....my husband thinks 5 bookshelves ARE ENOUGH and asked me what i wanted for my birthday. I pointed to the piles of books in front of the bookshelves and said "ANOTHER BOOKSHELF" (I didn't say I have a list of books to buy to go in it, either!!) I like your husband saying 4 million books! that is a healthy attitude my husband needs more of!!! I also like that he brings home books for you. Very romantic gesture, that!
    So he's forgiven for thinking 4 million books is the limit!!! When do we tell our significant others the real secret?.....there is no limit.....endless books....

    Jan Burke said...

    Honored to be on your favorites list!

    Jan Burke

    Anonymous said...

    I don't even begin to know where to comment on your great lists. You have so many books I love and am also really looking forward to reading. I would love to do this challenge but I am so over committed already it wouldn't be possible this year. Hopefully it will run again next year as I hope to do less challenges and this would still keep my reading very focused.