Current Reading Challenges

This is a sticky post to hold all my current reading challenges.
When challenge is completed, I'll remove it from this list and copy the wrap up post below this Current Challenges post

The Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge

1. Dead Until Dark
2. Living Dead in Dallas
3. Club Dead
4. Dead to the World
5. Dead as a Doornail
6. Definitely Dead
7. All Together Dead
8. From Dead to Worse
9. Dead and Gone

The Harry Potter Reading Challenge

1. Sorcerer’s Stone
2. Chamber of Secrets
3. Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Goblet of Fire
5. Order of the Phoenix
6. Half-Blood Prince finished after end of challenge
7. Deathly Hallows

The 2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge

1. Faces of the Gone by Brad Parks
2. The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
3. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
4. Genesis
5. Twenty Wishes
6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
7. The Queen's Secret
8. The Woman in Black
9. The Maze Runner
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
11. Beautiful Creatures
12. Chile Death
13. Blood Orange Brewing
14. Pretties
15. We Have Always Lived in the Castle
16. Secondhand Smoke
17. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
18. Splintered Bones
19. The Sinner
20. Lake of Sorrows
21. Messenger of Truth
22. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
23. Twelve Sharp
24. The Wife's Tale
25. A Touch of Dead
26. Ghosts of Everest
27. Sorrow's Anthem
28. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
29. Pray for Silence
30. Lavender Lies
31. Body Double
32. Death of Riley
33. 92 Pacific Boulevard
34. Summer on Blossom Street
35. 31 Bond Street
36. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
37. 5th Horseman
38. Harm's Way
39. Still Missing
40. The House on Tradd Street
41. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives
42. The Report
43. Darkness Be My Friend
44. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
45. Last Night in Montreal
46. Chains
47. Sleepyhead
48. The Double Comfort Safari Club
49. A Welcome Grave
50.

The What's in a Name? 3 Challenge

1. A book with a food in the title - Blood Orange Brewing

2. A book with a body of water in the title Lake of Sorrows

3. A book with a title in the title - The Queen's Secret by Jean Plaidy

4. A book with a plant in the title - Chile Death

5. A book with a place name in the title - Ghosts of Everest

6. A book with a music term in the title - Lullaby Town by Robert Crais

2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge Wrap-Up

I technically completed this challenge last week, but I’m going to continue to add books to my list so I’m calling this one "completed but still tracking".

J-Kaye created the perfect challenge for me in 2009 - The Support Your Local Library Challenge. I love my libraries and use them extensively. Hardly a week goes by without a stop at one of them. I’m lucky enough to live in one county and work in another and both counties have wonderful library systems.

When I signed up for this challenge last year, I hesitated about what level of participation to set as a goal. I decided to try for 50 and see how it went. Well I easily met the 50 books goal without even counting my audiobooks. This was after taking off a couple of months from the library for the Clear Your Shelves Challenge. This challenge worked well with my goal to try to rein in a bit of my spending on books. I still bought plenty of books this year. I don’t even want to start counting those up. I did focus my book buying on the books that I knew I wanted to keep or those that I knew The Hubster would also read. That left plenty of books at the library just waiting to jump off the shelves and come home with me for a visit.

These are the books I read this year from the library (alphabetical order by author). As I said, this does not include my audiobooks which are all from the library). I will continue to update this list until the end of the year just to continue tracking my library books for 2009. Links are to my reviews.

Love Lies Bleeding by Susan Wittig Albert
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Aunt Dimity Digs In by Nancy Atherton
Aunt Dimity's Christmas by Nancy Atherton
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
Coyote by Linda Barnes
Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
The Cross-Country Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini
Chamomile Mourning by Laura Childs
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers by Troy Cook
Stalking the Angel by Robert Crais
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick
Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow
Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
The Bookman's Wake by John Dunning
Delusion by G.H. Ephron
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Murder on a Girls' Night Out by Anne George
The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
Buried Bones by Carolyn Haines
The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris
Haunted Ground by Erin Hart
Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer
The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand
Eli the Good by Silas House
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson
The Lost Boy by Brent Jeffs
A World I Never Made by James LePore
Susannah's Garden by Debbie Macomber
Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden
The Dead of Night by John Marsden
A Killing Frost by John Marsden
Benny & Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti
Ruined by Paula Morris
Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs
Cold is the Grave by Peter Robinson
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR's Polio Haven by Susan Richards Shreve
To Darkness and to Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Higher Authority by Stephen White
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian


I was actually surprised that I met the goal of 50 without counting my audiobooks. I’m planning on joining the 2010 version of this challenge. It’s an easy one for me since I have such great libraries and can easily take advantage of them.

Thanks again to J-Kaye for a useful and fun challenge.

The Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge Wrap-Up

My Goal: 70%
Actually read: 73%

Yesterday was the last day for the Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge hosted at S.Krishna’s Books

The point of the challenge was to read books that were already on my bookshelves. Participants had to set a goal of a percentage of books that they’d read between October 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009.

This challenge was perfect for me because I’d been neglecting the books on my bookshelves in favor of library books. Part of the reason for that has been the Support Your Local Library Challenge but with that nearing completion I was glad to have an incentive to read books I already owned.

I set a pretty ambitious goal of 70% for myself for this challenge. I didn’t have any pending review commitments so I really just needed to browse on my bookshelves instead of the library for a few weeks. Of the 15 books and audiobooks I read in October and November, 11 of them were books I owned so I met my goal with 73%

These are the books I read for this challenge:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Honeymoon by James Patterson

The Ruins by Scott Smith

Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay

The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey

Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben

The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston

Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

The list is heavy on mysteries and thrillers because those are the books I tend to buy. I’m more likely to buy books that are something both The Hubster and I will both read. Books I know he’d have no interest in; I’m more likely to get from the library.

The trade off for my success in this challenge is that for the past two months I’ve been adding books like crazy to my wishlist at the library to start reading once this challenge was over. Looks like December will be library catch up month for me. Look for lots of YA and Dystopian stuff, one Christmas book, and a couple of other books I want to read but will not likely pass along to The Hubster.

Big thanks to Swapna for hosting this challenge. It was a lot of fun.

2009 TBR Challenge Completed

This was my third year in a row of doing this challenge. This year I went into the 2009 TBR Challenge with some specific goals in mind.

These were the rules:

* the challenge is to read 12 TBR books in 12 months -- you can read those all in one month if you want, or one a month, or however you wanna do it.
* you need to have a list posted somewhere for others to see
* you CANNOT change your list after January 1st, 2009!!!
* you can create an Alternates list of MAXIMUM 12 books, if you want, in order to have options to choose from (you can read these in place of books on your original list).
* audiobooks and e-books ARE allowed
* re-reads are NOT allowed, as they aren't TRUE "TBRs"
* you CAN overlap with other challenges

I decided several months ahead of time that for the 2009 version of this challenge I was only going to list books that are ‘the next book’ in the many many series that I’m in the process of reading. So all 24 of the books that I listed were part of some series I’ve started but not completed or caught up to the current release.

I’m listed 12 primary and 12 alternates. My not so secret plan was to read all 24 and I’ve now officially completed that. The lists are here with links to my reviews.


Primary List

Love Lies Bleeding by Susan Wittig Albert
Aunt Dimity Digs In by Nancy Atherton
Coyote by Linda Barnes
Cross Country Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini
Chamomile Mourning by Laura Childs
Hammerhead Ranch Motel by Tim Dorsey
The Bookman’s Wake by John Dunning
Delusion by G.H. Ephron
4th of July by James Patterson
Buried Bones by Carolyn Haines
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear


Alternate List
Stalking the Angel by Robert Crais
The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
Lost City by Clive Cussler
Mary, Mary by James Patterson
Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs
Reunion in Death by J.D. Robb
Cold is the Grave by Peter Robinson
Play Dead by David Rosenfelt
Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter
To Darkness and Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming
A Body to Die For by Kate White
Higher Authority by Stephen White


Thanks to Jenn for hosting this one again. I was very glad to have a reason to focus on some of my in-progress series.

Southern Reading Challenge Completed

I’d been holding off on calling this challenge complete just in case I managed to read another qualifying book before the end date. It looks like that’s not going to happen. I’ve read the 3 books required by the challenge so I’m moving this one to the completed column.

I look forward to The Southern Reading Challenge every year and I’m very happy that Maggie brought it back for round 3 this year.

The rules were simple – 3 Southern books between May 15th and August 15th. I had listed five possibilities and I’ve read these three:

1. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson – I thought it was good, but I think I prefer the author’s first two books.

2. Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR’s Polio Haven by Susan Richards Shreve – this was a fascinating story about growing up in extremely unique circumstances.

3. Chamomile Mourning by Laura Childs – another in the Tea Shop cozy mystery series that I return to on a regular basis for a chance to slow down a bit and revisit Charleston, SC.

Thanks again to Maggie. The two possibilities I haven’t read yet are already on my list for next years challenge!!

What's in a Name? 2 Challenge Completed

I’m only participating in a few challenges this year and I’ve completed the first of them. It’s the What’s in a Name 2 Challenge, hosted by Annie.

Last year Annie came up with a clever idea for a challenge that ended up being a lot of fun for me. This year she tweaked it just a bit to keep the same format, but different categories.

For this year’s challenge readers were required to read 6 books. The books had to be chosen based on words their titles matching up wth the six categories. I easily found books that fit the challenge from my TBR list.

The books I read for each category were:

A book with a "profession" in its title: The Bookman’s Wake by John Dunning – in the second in the series Cliff Janeway takes a job that leads him to rainy Seattle and lots of mystery in a story that reads like an old black and white movie.

A book with a "time of day" in its title: Murder on a Girls’ Night Out by Anne George - The first in a cozy series featuring Alabama sisters who find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation .

A book with a "relative" in its title: Aunt Dimity Digs In by Nancy Atherton – the fourth book in a charming cozy mystery series featuring a helpful ghost.

A book with a "body part" in its title: Buried Bones by Carolyn Haines – another cozy series with a ghost, but this one has an attitude along with a bunch of southern charm.

A book with a "building" in its title: Hammerhead Ranch Motel by Tim Dorsey – the second in the Serge Storms series has Serge off his meds and as insane as ever.

A book with a "medical condition" in its title: Delusion by G.H. Ephron – second book featuring forensic psychologist Dr. Peter Zaks.

This is a great challenge because the books end up being such a variety. Annie – if you’re reading this, I hope you do this again next year!!

2nds Challenge Completed

This was one of my favorite challenges last year, so I was happy to see Joy hosting this again for 2008 and didn’t hesitate to join again.

WHO: Anybody
WHAT: Read 4 books by authors that you have only read one other
WHERE: "Thoughts of Joy..."
WHEN: September, October, November and December, 2008WHY: Because we love to read...why else?

When scanning my TBR list for books for this challenge I found the same thing as last year – it took me all of about 3 minutes to find plenty of authors with book #1 marked as read and book #2 as not read.

These are the books I read for this year’s challenge:

• The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel – her first novel is quite different from her memoir A Girl Named Zippy, but I really enjoyed it.
• Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs – an interesting medical mystery series that can be a bit detail heavy at times, but the mystery is interesting.
• The Treatment by Mo Hayder – Hayder’s books are not for the faint of heart, but if you survived Birdman, read this.
• Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George – I’m wishing I started reading this series years ago, but it gives me lots to look forward to.

I had fun with this challenge and enjoyed all of the books I read. Thanks for hosting this one again, Joy.