Tag: Challenge

Challenge….. Accepted.

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

I love a good challenge…. the competitive edge in me is sharpened and in most cases I am only competing with myself.  So lets look at what Challenges I have accepted this year as well as the ones that are still in play.


The Gilmore Girl reading Challenge

(Jan 1 – Dec 31 2010)

Ok – I seriously love all things Gilmore.  This is my favorite show of all time… and well, dont even get me started…. just read my post if you want to know more.

This one is a challenge to read books that are mentioned in this popular show and there is A LOT.

Levels:

Emily: Read 5 books from at least two different categories.
Lorelai: Read 10 books from at least three different categories.
Rory: Read 20 books from at least four different categories

(I am trying for the Rory)

The Historical Fiction Challenge

(Jan 1 – Dec 31 2010)

Ooh I love historical fiction!  This one has several levels as well:

– Curious – Read 3 Historical Fiction novels.

— Fascinated – Read 6 Historical Fiction novels.
— Addicted – Read 12 Historical Fiction novels.
— Obsessed – Read 20 Historical Fiction novels.

It’s not to late to join!  🙂

YA Reading Challenge

Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2010
Oh yes!  YA was a huge hit for me in 2009 and this challenge really has my excited to be involved!
Levels are:

–The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels.

–Just My Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 25 Young Adult novels.

–Stepping It Up YA Reading Challenge – Read 50 Young Adult novels.

–Super Size Me YA Reading Challenge – Read 75 Young Adult novels.

I am going for the Just My Size.  🙂

These challenges can still be signed up for.  Click on their title under the post and it will take you there!  You can also mix and match in the categories so say that you read a YA book that also happens to fall into the GilMore Girl Category – you can count that book in both spots.  🙂

The Christy Awards Challenge

This one is for all the great Christian Fiction Reads that won the Christy award in 2009.  As in the other challenges you choose the level you want to commit to.  This is a good challenge for me as I enjoy good Christian Fiction reads and am probably missing out on some authors I have never experienced before.

The Social Justice Challenge

I am super excited to take part in this one!  This challenge will focus each month on a different social injustice in the world.  Reading will be suggested and encouragement to get involved when you fill called to is also a part of the challenge.  This one is near and dear to my heart!

Support Your Local Library Challenge

This challenge will be my cryptonite…. my mount everest…. my…. well you get the point.  Would you belive that I am not a library frequenter?   Dont even have a library card?  It is true… I will go to their book sales but a book borrower I am not….  or wasn’t…

J Kayes challenge here reminds me that I need to support my local library and so – I am…. I will.  🙂

100+ reading Challenge

Uhhhh… lets just say I dont think this one will be a problem…..


Harry Potter Reading Challenge

Aug 1 2009 – July 31 2010

This one as you can see, is already in progress and I have really “muggled” it up so far by producing… nada.  BUT- I have not given up and as two of these books also cross into the Gilmore Challenge… count on seeing an amazing some back int the 2nd half of this challenge.  🙂

So that is what I have currently committed to.  In the next few days I plan to have these all on my sidebar so you can click on them anytime and see where I am at on each challenge.  **These challenges are all still available to sign on to.  Simply click on the link I provided under each challenge picture and learn more about the challenge itself.

Challenges are fun – a great way to push yourself into new areas of reading and meeting other book bloggers with like minded goals.  🙂


Life On The Mississippi by Mark Twain

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments

As part of Newsweek’s 50 Books For Our Times… I agreed to read and review this book as part of a Challenge hosted by Amy of My Friend Amy’s Blog.  I have always had a fascination with Mark Twain and this was the perfect excuse to lock myself into a read I wanted on my list anyway.  I hope you enjoy what I have learned through a little book on a big adventure on a body of water I know well…. the Mississippi.  ~ Sheila

For four of his Seventy-five years, Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) worked at the wheel of a Mississippi Steam boat, first as an apprentice, training for his pilot license.  For Twain, this was a long time dream that never lost it’s hold.  Years later, a mature Mark Twain (already famous at that time in Europe and at home) looked back over this time as an apprentice and said this, “The Steamboat Pilot was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived on the earth.”

This book is his story…

Reading about Twain’s life on the Mississippi was a treat for my mind.  I enjoy reading about the great people that I would have loved to have known and Mark Twain would make my list for just such a person.  A witty and occasionally humorous writer, Twain’s book read like a diary of his day to day life.  A format taken from the first edition of the book in 1883 and one I really enjoyed.

Mark Twain works hard to reach his dream of becoming a pilot of a Steamboat.  Outlined in great detail of not only his hard won triumphs but also his humiliating moments this was a delight to read.

When Twain returns to the Mississippi to gather material to write this book many years later, I enjoyed the descriptions of the changes that were noted.  It did not matter that at one time  he knew every corner and curve.  It was much like starting over and the land that had now been developed changed the look of the river as well.

While the book is truly a lot of information on the Mississippi and the day to day life of an apprentice and then as a Pilot, I still found it interesting.  Reading about Twain’s own brother dieing on a steamboat that Twain himself had arranged the job, was not only painful for the writer, but also as the reader.  There is information on the Civil War and Twain shares his thoughts in this book on how he feels it affected America afterward.  In a word?  Fascinating.

I purchased my copy of this book at our local bookstore, Bookworld

Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Now here is a challenge for me.  Why?  Because as of right now I am not a card carrying Library user.  I know…. shameful right?  I just never get there…..  easier for me to pick up a book I want to read through Amazon or a local book store and not worry about it being due back….

2010 is going to change that.  With J Kaye introducing this challenge I have thought more and more about the importance of supporting our local libraries.  SO this is the year!

There are four levels:

–The Mini – Check out and read 25 library books.

–Just My Size – Check out and read 50 library books.

–Stepping It Up – Check out and read 75 library books.

–Super Size Me – Check out and read 100 library books.

I am going for the Mini…. 25 library books this year.  This is huge for me.  I dont think I have checked out 25 library books in the past 20 years combined.

Join me by signing up at J Kayes Blog!

1.  The Fruit Of My Lipstick by Shelley Adina

2.  War Child by Emmanuel Jal

3.  The Mercy Seller by Brenda Rickman Vantrease

4.  Wounded by Claudia Mair Burney

5.  I Hadn’t Meant to tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson

6.  Forbidden Fruit by Pearce Carefoote

7.  Born Under A Million Shadows by Andrea Busfield

8.  Not Without Hope by Nick  Schuyler

9.  I am Nujood, 10 Years old and Divorced by Nujood Ali

10.  The Face On The Milk Carton by Caroline B Cooney

11.  The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society

12.  The Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

13.  The LORAX by Dr. Suess

14.  Left To Tell by Immaculee Llibagiza

15.  Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling

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Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

If you are ever in a radio contest and you have a chance to win big bucks if you can answer the question, “What is Sheila’s all time favorite tv series”?  You will win the bucks if you answer Gilmore Girls.  I am a total Gilmore Girl addict….. to the point that:

  1. I own all seven seasons and have watched them at least three times all the way through
  2. I have often wished like Loreli that I could run a bed and Breakfast
  3. Have paused the DVD’s to look closely at the screen to see what book Rory is reading
  4. Would pack up tomorrow if I could live in Stars Hollow

Ok…. so now you know.  Gilmore Girls is my comfort show…. it plays this time of year in the background on evening that I am downstairs curled up with a blanket and my lap top…. I root for Dean…. I get angry at Jess….

ANYWAY… when I seen that Lisa from Lit and Life was hosting a Gilmore Girl Reading Challenge…. lets just say that being lab partners with Paris for three years would not have kept me from joining.  🙂

Before you think that you could not do this challenge know that the list of options (all nicely displayed at the Gilmore Girl Reading Challenge blog) are in all categories and are books you know and if you have not read – there are many you should.  You can enter the challenge at different levels….

Emily: Read 5 books from at least two different categories.
Lorelai: Read 10 books from at least three different categories.
Rory: Read 20 books from at least four different categories.

I personally am going to go for the Rory!  With choices from childrens to YA reads, to classics, to modern fiction…. these are the books we read anyway!  Go check out the post and join…. it would be great to share reviews with you!

1. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling (Children/YA Category)

2.  To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

3.  The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

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Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

I know, I know… like I need another challenge.  But it’s Historical Fiction!  I love Historical Fiction! AND I can plead again that it fits into my 100 Book Challenge and I would read these books anyway so really it is so big deal.  🙂

Care to join?

Challenge Guidelines:
1. Anyone can join. You don’t need a blog to participate.
–Non-Bloggers: Include your information in the comment section.

2. There are four levels:

— Curious – Read 3 Historical Fiction novels.

— Fascinated – Read 6 Historical Fiction novels.

— Addicted – Read 12 Historical Fiction novels.

— Obsessed – Read 20 Historical Fiction novels.

3. Any book format counts.

4. You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.

5. Challenge begins January 1st thru December, 2010. Only books started on January 1st count towards this challenge.

Head over to Royal Reviews and sign up under the Linky!

1.  The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kent

2.  The Mercy Seller by Brenda Rickman Vantrease

3.  Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet by Jamie Ford

4.  Songbirds Under A German Moon by Tricia Goyer

5.  Born Under A Million Shadows by Andrea Busfield

6.  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

7.  A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini


Donate A YA Review for the Holidays and Win!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

This giveaway is now closed!

Have you had the pleasure of meeting Reagan at Miss Remmers’ Reviews?  I hope you have!  Reagan is going to school to be an English Teacher and her blog has a wonderful theme, it is all about finding great reads to draw Young Adults into the pleasure of reading.  When Reagan told me about her plan to find YA reviews throughout the blogesphere I knew I wanted to help her promote this.  🙂

All you need to do to participate in this is go over to Miss Remmers Reviews blog and connect your great YA review to her Mr Linky.  Check first to make sure she does not already have the review and that she doesnt have it on the schedule… but if you are the first one to offer her a review of a YA book, this would be a great help to her to continue her encouragement to get Young Adults to find books they enjoy and start planting that “need to read” seed in their hearts.

I am so excited about Reagan is doing that I would like to add to her challenge.  Anyone that connects over at Miss Remmers Reviews with a YA review (or two, or three…) let me know here (in the comments) what book review you linked her to on your blog.  For each review you link her to, let me know on a separate comment here and I will choose a winner using random.org on December 24.  If I have 20 comments here with book reviews you have offered Reagan to use I will give away a $10 gift card to Amazon.  If I have over 30 separate comments of reviews given to Reagan, I will make it a $20 gift card.  *Remember – each comment is to let me know that you did sent her a book review link and what that book title is for me to count your comment in the giveaway.

Because I can send the gift card by email to you, this giveaway is open world wide!

I hope many of you will do this!  Most of us have read a YA that we have enjoyed, by allowing it be posted at Miss Remmers Reviews she is linking it back to your blog as well as letting YA’s that may not be big readers yet know about the real enjoyment you can get out of reading.

Thank you everyone for helping out a fellow blogger and making great reads available to others!

** You must connect over at Miss Remmers Reviews first with your YA link..then come back here and let me know what YA book review you gave her.

2010 Reading From My Shelves Project

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

I love this idea that Bibliophile By The Sea is hosting and I think it will fit nicely into the other challenges I have signed up for 2010.  Yes, you can combine challenges – meaning that if you are signed up for a Suspense Mystery Challenge for 2010 and 5 of those books are off your personal book shelves, those books can be used for both challenges. I have shelves full of books i have purchased and found at Library sales.  Books that are wonderful, but sit waiting patiently on me.  This will intentionally give me purpose to pull some of these treasures off the shelf throughout the year.

Here is the info:

So with 2010 just around the corner, we are encouraged to lesson the weight on our bookshelves, by reading books from our shelves, and then passing the books on to someone else: a friend, relative, the library, used book store, swap them, just as long as the book leaves our homes once it has been read.

My personal goal is going to be the minimum of 20.  I will try to read the book and set it free if I can…. I really hang on to a lot of my books, especially the ones I love.

Does this sound like something you’d like to do as well?  If so, head over to Bibliophile By The Sea and get the instructions to sign up from there!  🙂

 

2010 100+ Reading Challenge

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Having started my serious blogging journey this past June, this was a challenge that I was curious about but was unsure if was a reachable goal at at that time.  I still have not sat down and organized my reviews of this year to see where I have landed, but I hope to do that soon.  I also need to really organize my Challenges for 2010.  🙂

This one is really an ideal Challenge for me, and really for anyone who reads a lot.  You can use this with any other challenge, so for instance, I also signed up for the challenge to read 25 YA reads in 2010.  I can include those 25 in this challenge.  Interested on knowing more?  Stop over at J Kayes Blog and find the official sign up post.


1.Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling

2. The Mayo Clinic Diet and Journal

3. Mass Casualties by Michael Anthony

4. hush hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

5. Monique And The Mango Rains by Kris Holloway

6. What To Do When The Roof Caves In by Marilyn Meberg

7. The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kent

8. Denise’s Daily Dozen by Denise Austin

9. The Fruit Of My Lipstick by Shelley Adina

10.  The Mercy Seller by Brenda Rickman Vantrease

11.  War Child by Emmanuel Jal

12.  Rene Has Two Last Names by Rene Calato Lainez

13.  The Mother Daughter Book Club by Shireen Dodson

14.  I, Alex Cross by James Patterson

15.  Home Is Where The Wine Is by Laurie Perry

16.  The Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter and Sweet By Jamie Ford

17.  Swoon At Your Own Risk by Sydney Salter

18.  Hear No Evil by Matthew Paul Turner

19.  The Pastors Wife By Jennifer AILee

20.  Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

21.  Always My Brother by Jean Reagan

22.  Wounded by Claudia Mair Burney

23.  STILL A Winters Journey by Greg Budig

24.  The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

25.  The Next Thing On My List by Jill Smolinski

26.  I Hadn’t meant To Tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson

27.  My Shoes and I by Rene Colato Lainez

28.  The Thirteenth Hour by Richard Doetsch

29.  The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

30.  Girlfriends From Campfires to Crows Feet by Monica Sheehan

31.  Balancing Acts by Zoe Fishman

32.  Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

33.  The Fiddler’s Gun by A.S. Peterson

34. Songbirds Under A German Moon by Tricia Goyer

35.  Little Bee by Chris Cleave

36.  Sand In My Bra From Funny Women From The Road

37.  Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

38.  Hold Still by Nina LaCour

39.  100 Cupboards by N D Wilson

40.  Read, Remember, Recommend by Rachel Rogers Knight

41.  Worst Case by James Patterson

42.  Deadly Deals by Fern Michaels

43.  Titanic 2012 by Bill Walker

44.  Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden

45.  The Arrival by Shaun Tan

46.  The Girl She Used To Be by David Cristofano

47.  Forbidden Fruit by Pearce Carefoote

48.  Life In Spite Of Me by Tricia Goyer

49.The Opposite Of Me by Sarah Pekkanen

50.  The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow

51.  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

52.  Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish

53.  Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban by J K Rowling

54.  Eyes Of Darkness by Dean Koontz

55.  Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

56.  Dreaming Of Dior by Charlotte Smith

57.  Dovey Coe by Frances O Roark Dowell

58.  The Short Second Life On Bree tanner by Stephanie Meyer

59. Guest House by Barbara Richardson

60.  The Missing Element by John Betcher

61.  At Witt’s End by Beth Solheim

62.  Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

63.  born under a million shadows by Andrea Busfield

64.  Seven Year Switch by Claire Cook

65.  The Accidental Adult by Colin Sokolowski

66.  The Icing On The Cupcake by Jennifer Ross

67.  Not Without Hope by Nick Schuyler

68.  The Game On Diet by Krista Vernoff and A Z Ferguson

69.  The Color Purple by Alice Walker

70.  The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook

71.  Thumbing Through Thoreau by Kenny Luck

72.  auf weidersehen by Christa Holder Ocker

73.  The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malot

74.  Summer At Tiffany’s by Marjorie Hart

75.  Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

76.  Masquerade by Nancy Moser

77.  To Kill A  Mockingbird by Harper Lee

78.  I Am Nujood Age 10 and Divorced by Nojood Ali

79.  What The YUCK by the Editors of Health

80.  The I Hate To Cook Book by Peg Bracken

81.  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

82.  ROOM by Emma Donoghue

83.  The Face On The Milk Carton by Caroline B Cooney

84.  SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson

85.  The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel and Pie Society by Mary Ann Schafer

86.  The Wife’s Tale by Lori Lansens

87.  The Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

88.  Noah’s Castle by John Rowe Townsend

89.  The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

90.  Alice’s tea Cup by Haley Fox and Lauren Fox

91.  The LORAX by Dr. Suess

92.  The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

93.  Left To Tell by Immaculee IIibagiza

94.  The Boticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato

95.  Cake Boss by Buddy Valastro

96.  The Snow Globe by Sheila Roberts

97.  Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

98.  Dont Sing At The Table… Life Lessons From My Grandmothers by Adraina Trigiani

99.  The Games Bible by Leigh Anderson

100.  Coffee and Fate by R J Erbacher

101.  The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck

102.  The Secret Society Of The Pink Crystal Ball by Risa Green

103.  Shiver by Maggie Steifvater

104.  Chosen – House Of Night by P.C. Cast

105.  Step On A Crack by James Patterson

106.  Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling

107.  Men and Dogs by Katie Crouch

108.  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

109.  The Postcard Killers by James Patterson

110.  The Island by Elin Hilderbrand

111.  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

112.  Life Sentences by Laura Lippman

113.  Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

114.  A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

115.  House Rules by Jodi Piccoult

116.  The Passage by Justin Cronin

 


2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

 

This is the challenge that I have been waiting for.  For 2010 I am joing this YA Challenge hosted by J Kayes Blog.  I am excited about this because I just started reading YA in 2009 and LOVE it!!!  So this is where I will post my reviews as I have them in the YA category.  Feel free to join by linking on over at J Kayes Blog.

Here is what you need to know:

1. Anyone can join. You don’t need a blog to participate.

2. There are four levels:

–The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels.

–Just My Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 25 Young Adult novels.

–Stepping It Up YA Reading Challenge – Read 50 Young Adult novels.

–Super Size Me YA Reading Challenge – Read 75 Young Adult novels.

3. Audio, eBooks, paper all count.

4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

5. Challenge begins January 1st thru December, 2010.

My goal is going to be “just My Size”  25

1.  Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling

2. hush hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

3.  The Fruit Of My Lipstick by Shelley Adina

4.  Thirteen Reasons Why

5.  The Lighting Thief

6.  I Hadnt meant To Tell You This

7.  Hex Hall

8.  Hold Still

9. 100 Cupboards

10.  The Opposite Of Me

11.  Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban

12.  Harry Potter and The deathly Hallows

13.  Before I Fall

14.  Twenty Boy Summer

15.  Dovey Coe

16.  The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner

17.  The Icing On The Cupcake

18.  Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

19.  The Face On The Milk Carton

20.  SPEAK

21.  The Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian

22.  The DUFF

23.  The Secret Society Of The Pink Crystal Ball

24.  The Passage

25.  Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt

2009 Holiday Reading Challenge!!!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)7 Comments

aaJust yesterday I was saying over at J Kaye’s Blog that I was going to limit myself on Challenges.  Doh!  I am so easily distracted (“Oh look!  Something shiny!”) I love challenges and  here I am again signing up for this wonderful little challenge that is being hosted by All About (N).

Ok – before you point and laugh at my weakness, let me defend myself!  Check out the requirements:

1- Challenge will start Friday, November 20 and will end Thursday, December 31.

2- You can read anywhere from 1 to 5 books for the challenge and, of course, if you’re like me, you are more than welcome to surpass that number.

3- And now, here’s the clincher… they must be holiday related books. That’s right, the holiday doesn’t really matter, but it would be more “jolly” if your choices were Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.

4- The size of the book does not matter, nor does the genre. It is also okay for the book to overlap with other challenges. The only thing I ask is that they are not children’s books. YA is okay. And so are re-reads. I for one tend to read the same books every Christmas – they are tradition.

5- To sign up – leave a link back to your challenge post. There will also be a post for review links as well as one for challenge wrap-ups.

6- And…. there will be goodies. That’s right, we’ll call them presents. At the end of every week that the challenge is running I will choose one winner from the review links and I will allow them to pick a book of their choosing (of course, I will provide a list). Meaning the more books you read, review and link up, the more chances you have at winning a “present”.


See?  Not so bad… you can read 1 – 5 books….  I am already in with my Book Club’s read of Home For The Holidays by Rebecca Kelly.  AND I can go up from there….  🙂  If you want to join, hop on over to All About (N) and sign up!