Book lists for challenges
I fully get that this is interesting for no one but me. :) But if you've read any of these, please say how you liked them. :)
The Genre Challenge (read 10 books from 10 genres), runs 11/1/08 to 11/1/09, 5/10
The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry (action-adventure fiction)
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (science fiction)
Angels Flight by Michael Connelly (detective fiction)
The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns (crime fiction)
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue (fantasy fiction)
The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory (historic fiction)
Just After Sunset by Stephen King (horror fiction)
Cross Country by James Patterson (thriller fiction)
Time of My Life by Allison Winn Scotch (romance fiction)
Testimony by Anita Shreve (realistic fiction)
The Rescue Challenge (3-6 books you have had for over three years), runs 11/1/08 to 12/31/09, 1/6:
Folly by Laurie R. King
Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
Just4TheHelluvIt (whatever), runs 11/9/08-12/31/09, 12/18
Honest Conversations by Lindsey Kay
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
March by Geraldine Brooks
Plea of Insanity by Jiliane Hoffman
Fortune's Rocks by Anita Shreve
Body Surfing by Anita Shreve
Where or When by Anita Shreve
The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve
Resistance by Anita Shreve
The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
Strange Fits of Passion by Anita Shreve
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken
A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read
The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King
We're All in This Together by Owen King
TBR Reading Challenge (9 books in 9 categories), runs 12/27/08 to 12/27/09, 0/9:
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (cover)
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (letter)
Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (strange)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (Alive or Not)
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (long)
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (used)
The Cider House Rules by John Irving (dusty)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (free)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (distance)
The Numbers Challenge (5 books with a number in the title), runs 1/1/09 to 8/1/08, 0/5
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Nine Months in August by Adriana Bourgoin
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
24-Karat Kids by Dr. Judy Goldstein and Sebastain Stuart
The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer
Chunkster Challenge (4 books over 450 pages), runs 1/7/09 to 12/20/09
Straight into Darkness by Faye Kellerman
The Loop by Nicholas Evans
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
The Smoke Jumper by Nicholas Evans
The Pub (9 books first published in 2009), runs 1/1/09 to 12/31/09, 0/9:
Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg (April 28)
Long Lost by Harlan Coben (March 31)
Blind Man's Bluff by Faye Kellerman (August 11)
Life Sentences by Laura Lippman (March 10)
Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty (April 14)
Hardball by Sara Paretsky (January 1)
The 8th Confession by James Patterson (April 30)
Run For Your Life by James Patterson (February 2)
Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult (March 3)
Casual Classics Challenge (4 classics), runs 1/1/09 to 12/31/09, 0/4:
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
1984 by George Orwell
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
A-Z Challenge (read one book per letter for author and title), runs 1/1/09 -12/31/09, 0/52:
A:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
B:
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
C:
City of Bones by Michael Connelly
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan
D:
The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III
Do Not Go Gentle: My Search for Miracles in a Cynical Time by Ann Hood
E:
American Tabloid by James Ellroy
Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
F:
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Flirt by Kathleen Tessaro
G:
The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
Goldengrove by Francine Prose
H:
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine by Ann Hood
I:
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
J:
The Dead Beat by Marilyn Johnson
Jane Austen in Boca by Paula Marantz Cohen
K:
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
The Kid: What Happened When My Boyfriend And I Decided To Get Pregnant by Dan Savage
L:
Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
Homeland by Sam Lipsyte
M:
Love in the Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Mystery of Breathing by Perri Klaas
N:
North River by Pete Hamill
The Eight by Katherine Nevill
O:
Songs For the Missing by Stewart O'Nan
Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons
P:
A Mighty Heart by Marianne Pearl
Peony in Love by Lisa See
Q:
Never Tear Us Apart by Quinn Brockton
Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot
R:
Crossworld: One Man's Journey Into America's Crossword Obsession by Marc Romano
Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas
S:
Say When by Elizabeth Berg
The Secret Circle part 2 by L.J. Smith
T:
Trunk Music by Michael Connelly
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
U:
The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits
Until I Find You by John Irving
V:
Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith
W:
The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer
The 3 Willows by Ann Brashares
X:
Love and Other Ruins by Karen X. Tulchinsky
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
Y:
You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon
Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry
Z:
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Prize Winner Of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan
Celebrate the Author (read one book per month based on author's birthday), runs 1/1/09 to 12/31/09, 0/12:
January:
World's Fair by E. L. Doctorow
February:
Hell House by Richard Matheson
March:
Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman
April:
The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer
May:
The Reapers by John Connolly
June:
Along For the Ride by Sarah Dessen
July:
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
August:
The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
September:
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
October:
Digging to America by Anne Tyler
November:
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
December:
Shining Through by Susan Isaacs
The What's in a Name Challenge, 1/1/09 to 12/31/09, 0/6:
1) The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
2) The Night Country by Stewart O'Nan
3) Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble
4) Soldier's Heart by Elizabeth Samet
5) Ape House by Sara Gruen
6) Blinded By the Right by David Brock
New Author Challenge. 1/1/09-12/31/09, 0/24
The Summer of Naked Swim Parties by Jessica Anya Blau
Not Much, Just Chillin': The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers by Linda Perlstein
Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek
Foreskin's Lament by Shalom Auslander
Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss
Confessions of Georgia Nicholson by Louise Rennison
Broken For You by Stephanie Kallos
Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley
The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz
Beginner's Greek by James Collins
What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson
The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Marley and Me by Josh Grogan
Teen Dreams: Reading Teen Film and Television from Heathers to Veronica Mars by Roz Kaveney
The Society of S by Susan Hubbard
Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
Priest by Ken Bruen
Standing Still by Kelly Simmons
School's Out by Christophe Dufosse
Schooled by Anisha Lakhani
Acceptance by Susan Coll
Dewey by Vicki Myron
Song Yet Sung by James McBride
Read Your Name, runs 1/1/08 to 12/31/09, 0/5
Knit Two by Kate Jacobs
Elements of Style by Wendy Wasserstein
Little Pink Slips by Sally Koslow
Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
Dewey's Books Reading Challenge (read five books reviewed by Dewey), runs 1/1/08 to 12/31/09, 0/5
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles
Gifted by Nikita Lalwani
The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hays
I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle
From the Stacks Challenge (read 5 books you haven't read before), runs 11/1/08-1/30/09, 5/5
The Department of Lost & Found by Allison Winn Scotch
The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz
A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve
The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky
Comments
The Art of Detection is good, but you should read the first few in the series first. They are really good, and the progression of relationships between the main characters is really good in to read in order.
I love your list. Memoirs of a Geisha is most excellent. Tell me how you like Bel Canto, I've been intrigued by it.
Heh. Let's put it this way: I bought Folly when it first came out. In hardback. I haven't read the Sherlock Holmes series--and that was on purpose; I started the first one but didn't like it--but I read the Kate Martinelli ones. (It's got both characters, right?)
I'm liking Bel Canto. I'm glad I listened to Jeannine to read that. Geisha is probably next (and then Ragtime and Accidental Tourist, but I don't know the order yet).
I've read exactly six of these -- Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Catcher in the Rye, The Secret Garden, Dicey's Song, and Rat Saw God.
Liked them all.
I'm still annoyed that had my parents moved one year earlier, Rob Thomas would've been my high school journalism teacher.
I don't blame you. I'd be bitter about that for the rest of my life.
You could've been the inspiration for Veronica Mars.
Because I'm now a little nervous, have you read Libba Bray? I have a ton of other ideas, but she's my first choice.
Oh, Jeannine read Twilight and she said (among other, less nice things) that it's Danielle Steel with vampires.
No I haven't read Libba Bray. Have you read Dana Stabenow?
Good. Don't read any of hers.
I have not.
Little Women and Anne of Green Gables = Nicole loved :)