2013 Challenges

Back to the Classics 2013
COMPLETED!


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013.

The Required Categories:
  1. A 19th Century Classic: The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
  2. A 20th Century Classic: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
  3. A Pre-18th or 18th Century Classic: Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 
  4. A Classic that relates to the African-American Experience: Light in August by William Faulkner
  5. A Classic Adventure: Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Bernard Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
  6. A Classic that prominently features an Animal: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Optional Categories:
  1. Re-read a Classic: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  2. A Russian Classic: The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
  3. A Classic Non-Fiction title: Philosophical works by Kant and Rousseau
  4. A Classic Children's/Young Adult title: The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame
  5. Classic Short Stories: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle



2013 TBR Pile Challenge


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Books are chosen from my Goodreads to-read shelf.

Books I plan to read:
  1. Kerouac, Jack: On the Road
  2. Kundera, Milan: The Unbearable Lightness of Being
  3. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia: One Hundred Years of Solitude
  4. Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury Tales
  5. Hardy, Thomas: Tess of the D'Urbervilles
  6. Eco, Umberto: The Name of the Rose
  7. Du Maurier, Daphne: Rebecca
  8. Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Lost World
  9. Fitzgerald, F. Scott: The Great Gatsby
  10. Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women
  11. Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations
  12. Hugo, Victor: Les Miserables

Alternates:
  1. Maugham, W. Somerset: Of Human Bondage
  2. Woolf, Virginia: Mrs. Dalloway


What's in a Name Challenge 2013


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013

Categories:
  1. A book with up or down (or equivalent) in the title: Deep down True, The Girl Below, The Diva Digs up the Dirt
  2. A book with something you'd find in your kitchen in the title: Loose Lips Sink Ships, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Breadcrumbs
  3. A book with a party or celebration in the title: A Feast for Crows, A Wedding in Haiti, Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness
  4. A book with fire (or equivalent) in the title: Burning for Revenge, Fireworks over Toccoa, Catching Fire
  5. A book with an emotion in the title: Baltimore Blues, Say You're Sorry, Dreams of Joy
  6. A book with lost or found (or equivalent) in the title: The Book of Lost Fragrances, The World We Found, A Discovery of Witches

Books read:

  1. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson


  2. The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens



The Colorful Reading Challenge 2013



January 1, 2013 to December 1, 2013

Books read:
  1. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
  2. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
  3. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
  4. The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius
  5. Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
  6.  
  7.  
  8.  


Narrative Poem Reading Challenge 2013



January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Orpheus level (5 – 8 narrative poems)

Books I plan to read:
  1. Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury Tales
  2. Ovid: Metamorphoses
  3. Milton, John: Paradise Lost
  4. Scott, Sir Walter: The Lady of the Lake
  5. Virgil: Aeneid
  6. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
  7. Turold: The Song of Roland
  8. Re-read some Scandinavian mythology or Tolkien (?)


Around the World in 12 Books Challenge


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013.

List of countries: 
JANUARY = France: The Story of My Misfortunes by Peter Abelard
FEBRUARY = Sudan: My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl
MARCH = Wales: Mabinogion
APRIL = South Pacific Islands: Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Bernard Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
MAY = Belgium: The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
JUNE = South Korea
JULY = Israel
AUGUST = Palestine
SEPTEMBER = Brazil
OCTOBER = China
NOVEMBER = Egypt
DECEMBER = Argentina


Books On France 2013 Reading Challenge


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Level 2, “beaucoup”= 6 books


Books read:
  1. The Story of My Misfortunes by Peter Abelard 
  2. Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos
  3. Germinal by Émile Zola
  4. Manon Lescaut by Antoine François Prévost
  5. Paris Spleen by Charles Baudelaire



TEA & BOOKS Reading Challenge
COMPLETED!


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. 650+ pages. 8 or more Books - Sencha Connoisseur.

Books read:
  1. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (774 pages)
  2. Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos (653 pages)
  3. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens (720 pages)
  4. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin (1074 pages)
  5. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (851 pages)
  6. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (713 pages)
  7. The Thousand and One Nights (3624 pages, around 1500 of them read this year)
  8. Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman (704 pages)


2013 Genre Variety Reading Challenge
COMPLETED!


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Careful: 6 different genres, 6 books

Genres:
  1. Children's fantasy: The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame
  2. Autobiography: The Story of My Misfortunes by Peter Abelard
  3. Coming of age: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
  4. Southern gothic: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
  5. Sea story: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
  6. Detective: A Study in Scarlet & The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
  7. Science fiction: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick
  8. Epistolary: Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos
  9. Social criticism: The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
  10. Speculative fiction: My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl
  11. ...


7 Continents, 7 Billion People, 7 Books - Reading Challenge 2013


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013.

Books read:
  1. From the 7 countries with the most population: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (USA)
  2. From the 7 highest countries in the world: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (Pakistan)
  3. From the 7 oldest countries of the world: Aesop's Fables by Aesop (Greece)
  4. From one of the 7 megacities of the world (Tokyo, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Seoul, Shanghai, Mexico City, Delhi)
  5. From the 7 countries with the most immigrants (USA, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, France, Saudi Arabia, Canada)
  6. From the 7 richest (or poorest) countries (Richest: Luxembourg, Qatar, Macau, Norway, Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong; Poorest: Congo, Liberia, Eritrea, Burundi, Niger, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone)
  7. From the 7 most rainy (or dry) countries (Rainy: Guinea, Solomon Islands, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Burma, Malaysia, Guyana; Dry: Peru, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Erimates, Kuwait, Syria, Djibouti)


The European Reading Challenge
COMPLETED!


January 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014. Five Star (Deluxe Entourage): five books

Books read:
  1. The Story of My Misfortunes by Peter Abelard - France
  2. A Study in Scarlet & The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle - United Kingdom
  3. Oedipus the King by Sophocles - Greece
  4. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco - Italy
  5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - Germany
  6. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier - Belgium
  7. The Seagull by Anton Chekhov - Russia
  8. The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas - Norway
  9. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson - Sweden
  10. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - Switzerland
  11. Chess Story by Stefan Zweig - Austria


2013 Books in Translation Reading Challenge
COMPLETED!


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. I'm a linguist, so I can't sign up for anything else than a Linguist level: 10-12 books!

Books read:
  1. The Story of My Misfortunes by Peter Abelard (French -> Russian)
  2. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (Japanese -> Russian)
  3. Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos (French -> Russian)
  4. Oedipus the King by Sophocles (Classical Greek -> Russian)
  5. Germinal by Émile Zola (French -> Russian)
  6. The Mabinogion by Anonymous (Medieval Welsh -> Russian) 
  7. Harry Potter y la cámara secreta by J. K. Rowling (English -> Spanish)
  8. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (Italian -> Russian)
  9. Manon Lescaut by Antoine François Prévost (French -> Russian)
  10. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier (English -> Russian)
  11. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (English -> Russian)
  12. Radost pro duši by Margaret Silf (English -> Czech)
  13. Aesop's Fables by Aesop (Classical Greek -> Russian) 
  14. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (Spanish -> Russian)
  15. The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas (Norwegian -> Russian)
  16. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Swedish -> Russian)
  17. Paris Spleen by Charles Baudelaire (French -> Russian)
  18. The Thousand and One Nights (Arabic -> Russian)
  19. The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius (Latin -> Russian)
  20. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino (Italian -> Russian)
  21. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (German -> Russian)
  22. Chess Story by Stefan Zweig (German -> Russian)

2013 Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. 10 books = Sergeant

Books read:
  1. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
  2. The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
  3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  4. Murder in Two Flats by Roy Vickers
  5. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
  6. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle



  Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge 2013


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. All mystery novels written before 1960.

Scattergories:
  1. Colorful Crime: a book with a color or reference to color in the title
  2. Murder by the Numbers: a book with a number, quantity in the title
  3. Amateur Night: a book with a "detective" who is not a P.I.; Police Officer; Official Investigator (Nurse Keate, Father Brown, Miss Marple, etc.)
  4. Leave It to the Professionals: a book featuring cops, private eyes, secret service, professional spies, etc.
  5. Jolly Old England: one mystery set in Britain
  6. Yankee Doodle Dandy: one mystery set in the United States
  7. World Traveler: one mystery set in any country except the US or Britain
  8. Dangerous Beasts: a book with an animal in the title (The Case of the Grinning Gorilla; The Canary Murder Case; etc.)
  9. A Calendar of Crime: a mystery with a date/holiday/year/month/etc. in the title (Hercule Poirot's Christmas, Holiday Homicide, etc.)
  10. Wicked Women: a book with a woman in the title--either by name (Mrs. McGinty's Dead) or by reference (The Case of the Vagabound Virgin)
  11. Malicious Men: a book with a man in the title--either by name (Maigret & the Yellow Dog) or by reference (The Case of the Haunted Husband)
  12. Murderous Methods: a book with a means of death in the title (The Noose, 5 Bullets, Deadly Nightshade, etc).
  13. Staging the Crime: a mystery set in the entertainment world (the theater, musical event, a pageant, Hollywood, featuring a magician, etc)
  14. Scene of the Crime: a book with the location of the crime in the title (The Body in the Library, Murder at the Vicarage, etc.)
  15. Cops & Robbers: a book that features a theft rather than murder
  16. Locked Rooms: a locked-room mystery
  17. Country House Criminals: a standard (or not-so-standard) Golden Age country house murder
  18. Murder on the High Seas: a mystery involving water
  19. Planes, Trains & Automobiles: a mystery that involves a mode of transportation in a vital way--explicitly in the title (Murder on the Orient Express) or by implication (Death in the Air; Death Under Sail) or perhaps the victim was shoved under a bus....
  20. Murder Is Academic: a mystery involving a scholar, teacher, librarian, etc. OR set at a school, university, library, etc.
  21. Things That Go Bump in the Night: a mystery with something spooky, creepy, gothic in the title (The Skeleton in the Clock, Haunted Lady, The Bat, etc.)
  22. Repeat Offenders: a mystery featuring your favorite series detective or by your favorite author (the books/authors you'd read over and over again) OR reread an old favorite
  23. The Butler Did It...Or Not: a mystery where the butler is the victim, the sleuth....(gasp) the criminal....or is just downright memorable for whatever reason.
  24. A Mystery By Any Other Name: any book that has been published under more than one title (Murder Is Easy--aka Easy to Kill [Christie];Fog of Doubt--aka London Particular [Christianna Brand], etc.)
  25. Dynamic Duos: a mystery featuring a detective team--Holmes & Watson, Pam & Jerry North, Wolfe & Goodwin, or....a little-known team that you introduce to us.
  26. Size Matters: a book with a size or measurement in the title (Death Has a Small Voice, The Big Four, The Weight of the Evidence, etc.)
  27. Psychic Phenomena: a mystery featuring a seance, medium, hypnotism, or other psychic or "supernatural" characters/events
  28. Book to Movie: one vintage mystery that has appeared on screen (feature film or TV movie).
  29. The Old Bailey: a courtroom drama mystery (Perry Mason, anyone?Witness for the Prosecution...etc.) 
  30. Get Out of Jail Free: This is a freebie category. One per customer. You tell me what special category the book fits ("It's got an awesome cover!"..."First book I grabbed off my shelf") and it counts. Only thing I won't take is "It's a Vintage Mystery!"--that's a given. :-)

Books read:
  1. Colorful Crime: A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
  2. Murder by the Numbers: The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
  3. Repeat Offenders: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  4. Scene of the Crime: Murder in Two Flats by Roy Vickers
  5. Dynamic Duos: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle


Game of Thrones Reading Challenge 2013


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. I have already read A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings, so I'm planning to read the rest of them.

Books read:
  1. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
  2.  
  3.  


2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
COMPLETED!

2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge hosted by The Book Vixen

January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. "Out of breath" level: 6-10 more books

Number of books read in 2012: 61
Number of books I plan to read in 2013: 70
  

New Authors Challenge 2013
COMPLETED!


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. 25 new authors.

Books read:
  1. The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame 
  2. The Story of My Misfortunes by Peter Abelard 
  3. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami 
  4. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
  5. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
  6. Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos
  7. My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl
  8. Wool and Proper Gauge by Hugh Howey
  9. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
  10. Oedipus the King by Sophocles
  11. Germinal by Émile Zola
  12. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
  13. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
  14. Murder in Two Flats by Roy Vickers
  15. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
  16. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  17. Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Bernard Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
  18. Manon Lescaut by Antoine François Prévost
  19. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
  20. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
  21. Radost pro duši by Margaret Silf
  22. Aesop's Fables by Aesop
  23. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
  24. Light in August by William Faulkner
  25. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
  26. The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
  27. Beloved by Toni Morrison
  28. ...


2013 Ebook Challenge
DROPPED


January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Level 4 - Memory stick – 50 ebooks.

Books read:
  1. The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame 
  2. The Story of My Misfortunes by Peter Abelard 
  3. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami 
  4. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams 
  5. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville 
  6. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick 
  7. Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos
  8. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
  9. My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl
  10. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  11. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
  12. Wool and Proper Gauge by Hugh Howey
  13. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
  14. Oedipus the King by Sophocles
I'm dropping this challenge, because really most of the books I read are ebooks, and linking all of the reviews is kind of tiring....

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for joining the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge!

    Nice list! The Great Gatsby grew on me -read it for my 3rd time this year and now love it. Les Miserables might be my favorite book of all time. It's definitely up there in the Top 5. Of Human Bondage is also amazing... wasn't such a fan of On the Road or Unbearable Lightness of Being BUT both are definitely worth reading. I'm looking foward to your reviews, especially of Rebecca and Tess ofthe D'Ubervilles, as I've had those on my shelves for so long!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Yes, I'm also looking forward to most of the books, and even more because they are the ones that have been on my TBR list the longest =)

      Delete
  2. Wow, what an impressive set of challenges!

    I;ve also joined the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge -- I'm with Adam on Les Miserables -- such a memorable book that I never tire of. It's been years since I read Unbearable Lightness. And I am quite a fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I do hope you enjoy 100 years of solitude!

    I am a bit of a mystery fan and will have to think about this challenge, I do hope you have an Agatha Christie title in there somewhere :)

    Pop over when you get a chance! I look forward to reading more form you!

    http://guiltlessreading.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi! Nice to meet you! Thanks, I'm a novice, so I sign up for nearly everything I can find, and I'm really excited about all this! =) You've mentioned all the books I'm looking forward too, so I guess I'm going to enjoy the challenge! Lady Agatha - how can you imagine me leaving her out?? ;)

      Delete
  3. Oh wow! These are some great challenges you are doing. I wish you tons of luck!

    Vonnie's Reading Corner

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for joining the Back to the Classics Challenge! I like the other Challenges you're doing as well... Adam's has definitely made me feel productive in the past, and I like the creativity of the Monthly Key Word Challenge. Good Luck with them all!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Arenel,
    I am so glad you will be joining us at The Crafty Book Nerd for the Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge, looking forward to reading with you in 2013!
    Amy Yingling
    The Crafty Book Nerd

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for signing up for the Books in Translation! Good luck with all of them!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for signing up for the European Reading Challenge! Sorry it took me a while to get here to visit. You've already read two books!

    Rose City Reader

    ReplyDelete

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