THE SHORT

Collections of short stories aren’t eligible for a lot of reading challenges so even though I had a large one on my 2012 Bucket List and another in mind for a prize-winners challenge, I couldn’t count them for anything else. When I saw The 2012 Short Story Reading Challenge, hosted by Laura over at Library of Clean Reads, I knew I was in.

I entered at the Tell Me a Story level of 1 – 3 books, and until I counted up my for this list, I thought I had flunked (I read neither of the books that I had intended). But I got in some short story reading after all this year, so count a

SUCCESS!

1. My Financial Career & Other Follies by Stephen Leacock

2. The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

3. African Love Stories edited by Ama Ata Aidoo

4. QBI: Queen’s Bureau of Investigation by Ellery Queen

5. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

6. The Museum of Dr. Moses by Joyce Carol Oates

7. The Beggar’s Garden by Michael Christie

8. Bush Studies by Barbara Baynton

* * * * * * *

Now this can be confusing, so pay attention. The Short Story Challenge above required me to read entire collections of short stories.

But the Short Story Reading Challenge hosted by Dead Book Darling asked me to read 12 individual short stories.

How, you may ask, could I possibly have completed seven collections but have not recorded twelve individual stories, thus chalking up a

FAILURE!

I had intended to read and to blog about my qualifying short stories – and to feature work by twelve different authors. I certainly did read the needed number of authors, but after March, I fell asleep at the keyboard. Here’s what I did do:

1. A Lesson on the Links by Stephen Leacock
2. The Landlady by Roald Dahl
3. The $64 Tomato by William Alexander

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

THE LONG
I had a couple of l-o-n-g books on my bucket list this year so I thought I may as well get credit for them. Oddly enough, I didn’t complete the reading of my bucket list – but I did have success on all of these BIG book challenges.

Birgit at the Book Garden hosted the Tea and Books Reading Challenge for 2012, inspired by C.S. Lewis’ words: “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

To honour the spirit of those words, Birgit threw down the gauntlet: to settle in with a large cup of tea, because in this challenge I had to read … wait for it … books with more than 700 pages. I entered this one at the Chamomile Lover level and committed to reading two such books.

Although I didn’t finish both of the books I had planned to read, I nevertheless had

SUCCESS!

with the following four books:

1. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 1488 pages

2. 11/22/63 by Stephen King 849 pages

3. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 764 pages

4. Mordecai: His Life & Times by Charles Foran 717 pages (in progress)

The Chunkster Reading Challenge intrigued me from the get-go.

A chunkster is 450 pages or more of ADULT literature, whether non-fiction or fiction. No audio or e-books were allowed but this year for the first time, essay, poetry, and short story collections were permitted.

I’m went in at the Chubby Chunkster level, that required me to read four books. I’m claiming

SUCCESS!

with the following five books:

1. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 1488 pages

2. 11/22/63 by Stephen King 849 pages

3. Mordecai: His Life & Times by Charles Foran 717 pages (in progress)

4. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston 608 pages

5. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie 552 pages

* * * * * * *

Darlene. who blogs over at Darlene’s Book Nook loves audio books – they’re the perfect way for her to fit reading in with her active ‘mom’ lifestyle. In 2012 she wanted to listen to some longer books, but couldn’t find a “big book” challenge that allowed her audio books. So she designed The Mammoth Book 2012 Reading Challenge.

This challenge allows books of all formats, including audio books and ebooks. The regular-bound format equivalent of any title must be a minimum of 450 pages.

Since I was already participating in the Chunkster Reading Challenge, I thought this would be a good fit for me. I’m entered at Level 2, and committed to read four mammoth-sized books.

Since I can include the five books listed above in the Chunkster Challenge, I have

SUCCESS!

even before I add these ebooks:

6. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 764 pages

7. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins 626 pages

8. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe 544 pages

And that’s the wrap-up for today.