COMPLETED

The Awards referred to are the Newbery Medal for children’s literature and the Printz Award for Young Adult lit. I don’t usually pick up YA or children’s literature on purpose but every time I’ve read an award winner on these lists, I’ve been impressed.

So I thought I’d “challenge” myself in 2012 by entering The Awards Winning Reads Challenge hosted by Ashley at Basically Amazing Books and Jacinda at The Reading Housewives. I can choose my own commitment – so I’m pledging to read 4 of these great books.

YEAR-END UPDATE:

All of these are Newbery Medal winners, and three of the four were delightful!

1. Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright 1939 (read in Dec 2012)
2. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George 1973
3. Holes by Louis Sachar 1999
4. Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpoole 2011

NOT COMPLETED

I’m trying to read more non-fiction books and have several on my 2012 reading list. The idea of seeing how these relate to novels is a fun idea, so I was intrigued by The Truth in Fiction Challenge, hosted by Amanda over at The Fig and Thistle.

The goal of the challenge is to read a specified number of book pairs that are comprised of one fiction book and one related non-fiction book. Amanda encourages us to think outside of the box; the non-fiction book could also be journals, letters, memoirs, etc…. The pairs needn’t be exact matches, although there should be an easily detectable common thread.

The catch: Instead of individual reviews, after each book pair I must write a joint review. For example, if I read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and then The Journals of Sylvia Plath then my review post will be focused on both books.

I’m unsure of exactly how many pairs I’ll be able to put together, but I’m committing to the Junior level of 3 pairs. Watch me have fun!

1. The Secret River and Searching for the Secret River, both by Kate Grenville

NOT COMPLETED

Since I’ve entered several Classics challenges for 2012, I thought it wold be fun to try the Classic Double Challenge, hosted by Melissa at One Librarian’s Book Reviews.

Essentially, the challenge will encourage me to read one older book (classic) and a newer book that relates to the older one in some way. (The newer book can be any reading level from Middle Grade to Adult.)

I’m opting in at the Medium level, which requires me to read two sets of related books.

YEAR-END UPDATE: Unless I’ve missed a connection somewhere, I managed to get in only one set of doubles:

JANE EYRE and
THE FLIGHT OF GEMMA HARDY

COMPLETED

There are so many amazing authors out there but sometimes I get caught up in reading all the debut novels – or a continuing series – I forget about the authors that have impressed or excited me with a stand alone book. The I Want More 2012 Reading Challenge, hosted by Tea Time with Marce, is to show all the authors that have pleased me already how thankful I am by reading more of their literary works.

This challenge does not include series – only stand-alones, and is limited to just ‘seconds’. I’m going in at the “Never Too Late” level of 2 – 4 books.

YEAR-END UPDATE
I did better than I anticipated on this one, much as I did in the Seconds Challenge.

1. Grenville, Kate: Searching for the Secret River

2. Norman, Dave: White River Junctions

3. Collins, Wilkie: The Moonstone

4. Richler, Mordecai: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

5. King, Stephen: 11/22/63

6. Johnston, Wayne: The Divine Ryans

7. Montgomery, Lucy Maud: Kilmeny of the Orchard

8. Oates, Joyce Carol: The Museum of Dr. Moses

9. McKay, Ami: The Birth House

COMPLETED

Have you read a book by an author that you really enjoyed and felt moved to read another of the author’s works? So have I – and the Seconds Reading Challenge 2012, hosted by Katy of A Few More Pages is going to encourage me to go back for seconds of authors that I’ve read only once.

The great thing about this challenge is that it’s not just for my second in a series books, but the second time I’ve read an author as well. That is, I can include series and stand-alone novels. But – it is only for seconds, not thirds and so on. For that reason, I’m entering at the Just a Spoonful level and promising to read just 3 books that are 2nd in a series or the second time I’ve read the author.

YEAR-END UPDATE
I did better than I anticipated. Some of these authors are also on the New Authors Challenge.

1. Bantock, Nick: Sabine’s Notebook (2nd in the Griffin & Sabine trilogy)

2. Grenville, Kate: Searching for the Secret River

3. Norman, Dave: White River Junctions

4. Collins, Wilkie: The Moonstone

5. Cameron, W. Bruce: A Dog’s Journey

6. Taylor, Phoebe Atwood: The Mystery of the Cape Cod Tavern

7. Richler, Mordecai: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

8. King, Stephen: 11/22/63

9. Johnston, Wayne: The Divine Ryans

10. Montgomery, Lucy Maud: Kilmeny of the Orchard

11. Oates, Joyce Carol: The Museum of Dr. Moses

12. McKay, Ami: The Birth House

Look how gray the sky is!

But for a few glorious minutes just before noon, the sun burst out from the clouds at the back of the house and made everything glow. You can see the shadow of the roof peak in the bottom right.

I’m so glad I captured this moment – have a wonderful weekend!

Even though I’m going to try this year to complete some series that I’ve already started, I’m always starting new ones (there are just so many out there – especially in the mystery genre). So it doesn’t seem to make sense to ignore the First in a Series Reading Challenge, hosted by Katy at Pages Worth Remembering.

I’m entering at the most basic level and committing to read just 3 books that are first in any series.

1. The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller Completed Mar 2012
Set in post-WWI England and featuring Laurence Bartram, this is the only series I started this year that I will continue.

2. The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe Completed Mar 2012
I was hopeful for this series starring Hazel Micallef, chief of Port Dundas, Ontario police. It was solidly plotted but, ultimately, a little dark for me.

3. Yellowthread Street by William Marshall 1975 Completed Sep 2012

4. The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham 1929 Completed Jun 2012
The first in the famed Albert Campion series.

5. Death at the President’s Lodging by Michael Innes 1936 Completed Nov 2012
Inspector Appleby’s debut

Yvonne over at Socrates’ Book Reviews has the same problem I do: starting a new series and reading the first book, then getting distracted with other books and never getting back to the series. So: she’s hosting the 2012 Finishing the Series Reading Challenge, and I’m entering it.

It doesn’t matter if I have 1 or 10 books in a series to complete it, it qualifies. The goal is to complete a series from wherever I am in it to until the last published book. I’m going in at level 3 and am going to finish the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear, the newest Flavia de Luce mystery by Alan Bradley, and the most recent in the delightful Chet & Bernie series by Spencer Quinn.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
The Mapping of Love and Death Completed Apr 2012
A Lesson in Secrets Completed Aug 2012
Elegy for Eddie Completed Aug 2012

Flavia de Luce by Alan Bradley
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows Completed Jan 2012

Chet & Bernie by Spencer Quinn
The Dog Who Knew Too Much Completed Aug 2012
A Fistful of Collars Completed Oct 2012

And I also completed this series:
Bess Crawford by Charles Todd
An Unmarked Grave Completed Jul 2012

I was out doing some volunteer work yesterday morning and came across what I at first thought was a large dog on the front lawn of a house.

When I realized that it was a cow, I thought for sure it was a lawn ornament – until said bovine raised her head to look at me.

Another “we never saw this in the city” moment!

Note:
TO ADD YOUR WRAP-UP POST, visit this page.

I’ve been trying to incorporate more Canadian writing into my 2012 reading list so I’ve decided to spotlight winners of Canadian literary prizes.

I’ve chosen what I think are the most heralded of Canadian book honours: the Governor-General’s Award for Literature and the Giller Prize. Because the Giller hasn’t been around all that long, I’ve added in the prestigious Canadian Authors’ Association Literary Award. I’ve picked the main fiction category in all of those.

In addition, the Amazon.ca (formerly Books in Canada) First Novel Award is widely-known and, over the years, has brought to the forefront many who have become major players in Canadian literature.

Finally, I can’t host this challenge and not promote my adopted home, Nova Scotia, so I’m also drawing attention to the Atlantic Book Awards’ Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize.

Here’s the scoop on the ways you can enter:
Toe-dipper: one book from the list of award winners of each of “main” prizes: the Governor-General’s Award, the Giller Prize, and the CAA Prize. (Total 3 books)
Chance-taker: one book from each of the “main” lists plus one from the Amazon.ca First Novel Award winners. (Total 4 books)
Bluenoser: One book from each of the “main” lists plus one from the Atlantic Book Award winners. (Total 4 books)
CanLit Lover: one book from each of the five lists. (Total 5 books)

Here’s a list of the prize winners:
Governor-General’s Award for Literature
Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction
Giller Prize
Amazon.ca First Novel Award
Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize

And here’s MY reading list for 2012 (I’m a CANLIT LOVER):
Governor-General’s Award: A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence (1966) Completed Sep 2012
Canadian Authors Association Award:The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston (1999) Completed May 2012
Giller Prize: Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (2011) Completed Mar 2012
First Novel Award: Crow Lake by Mary Lawson (2002) Completed Sep 2012
Atlantic Fiction Prize: The Divine Ryans by Wayne Johnston (1991) Completed Oct 2012

To sign up & get the code for the button, please go to the sign-up page. I’m looking forward to reading with you next year!

TO ADD YOUR WRAP-UP POST, visit this page.

Gilion at Rose City Reader loves to read prize winners, so for the fourth year, she’s hosting The Battle of the Prizes. I took part in these challenges in 2010 and read some really good books, so I’m in again.

The American version requires me to read one book that won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Literature; a book that won the National, and another that has won the Pulitzer. That’s a total of three books.

There is an option for those of us who have already read all six of the double-dippers, or otherwise do not want to read one of those six, to pick two Pulitzer winners and two National winners for a total of four books. Since I’ve read half the double dipper list and none of the others appeals to me at the moment, I’m choosing the option on this challenge.

Pulitzer Prize winners (both of these are already on my reading list for other challenges):

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilde
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

National Book Award winners (both new to my list):

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers
Three Junes by Julia Glass

Gilion of Rose City Reader also hosts the British version of The Battle of the Prizes. This challenge pits winners of the English Man Booker Prize against winners of the Scottish James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

To meet the goal, I need to read one book that won both of those awards; a book that won the Booker Prize, and another that has won the James Tait Black Prize. That’s a total of three books.

There are only three books that have won both prizes, and I have already read one when I participated in 2010. But I’m very interested in India’s history, so I’m going to tackle Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, which was a double winner in 1981.

Man Booker Prize winner:
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

James Tait Black Memorial Prize winner:
Man at Arms by Evelyn Waugh

Julie over at My Book Retreat is hosting a Non-Fiction Non-Memoir Reading Challenge that I thought might actually be a challenge. She excludes memoirs and autobiographies, which seem to be the most read type of nonfiction among the book blogs she follows (and of which I I have several on my 2012 reading list). Julie also has eliminated reference books, cookbooks and instruction manuals that are not meant to be read cover to cover, as well as children’s books and re-reads. How-to, self-help and travel books are permitted, as long as I actually read them cover to cover. (Whew!)

Since I’ve read eight books in 2011 that would have qualified, I’m going to stretch myself and go for a Diploma which requires me to read ten qualifying non-fiction books in 2012. Yes, you can call me crazy, anytime now.

1. Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 by Sally M. Walker

2. Searching for the Secret River by Kate Grenville

3. Seeing Trees by Nancy Ross Hugo & Robert Llewellyn

4. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

5. White River Junctions by Dave Norman

6. Winnie & Gurley by Robert G. Hewitt

7. Manners for Women by Mrs. Humphrey

8. The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard

9. UContent by Nicholas G. Tomaiuolo

10. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

11. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

12. The Canadian Food Guide by Pierre & Janet Berton

13. Mordecai: the Life and Times by Charles Foran

DID NOT COMPLETE

Risa over at Breadcrumb Reads figured that the best way to read the Shakespeare plays that she hadn’t studied in school would be to read the with others, and to have a read-along. Hence Reading Shakespeare: A Play a Month in 2012 was born. A poll held from 01 November 2011 till 01 December 2011 determined the 12 plays we would be reading in 2012.

Since I really enjoy reading Shakespeare (since I have The Complete Pelican Shakespeare, with copious footnotes to explain the old guy), I’m going to join in. I don’t think many of the plays I voted for made it into the final list, but no matter – I want to read all of Shakespeare eventually anyway.

Here’s our schedule:
January — A Midsummer Night’s Dream
February — Macbeth
March — Henry V
April — Much Ado About Nothing
May — Antony and Cleopatra
June — Richard III
July — As You Like It
August — King Lear
September — Cymbeline
October — Twelfth Night
November — Othello
December — Pericles

Gilion at Rose City Reader is broadening our horizons by challenging to take the European Grand Reading Tour in 2012.

The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything—novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry or any other genre. Each book must be a different author and set in a different country – after all, it is a tour!

Gilion has a list of the 50 qualifying sovereign states in Europe on the challenge page, as well as several fun ways to approach things, such as being an Agritourist or a Culture Vulture.

Since I’m planning to read a lot of Canadian literature next year, I think I can only go as a Business Traveler, committing to three books. Maybe next year I’ll make the grand tour. But even so, it’ll be good to travel a little bit away from home.

Germany: Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyen Completed Mar 2012
Spain: Chickens, Mules, & Two Old Fools by Victoria Twead Completed Feb 2012
France: The Absolutist by John Boyne Completed Aug 2012
Iceland: The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesay Completed Jul 2012
United Kingdom (Wales): How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn Completed Oct 2012
United Kingdom (Scotland): Gillespie & I by Jane Harris Completed Apr 2012
United Kingdom (England): The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins Completed May 2012
United Kingdom (England): Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Completed Jul 2012
United Kingdom (England): Oxford Messed Up by Andrea Kayne Kaufman Completed May 2012
United Kingdom (England): The Return of Captain Emmett by Elizabeth Speller >Completed Feb 2012

I’ve only occasionally read literature set in the southern USA, but I have enjoyed it just about every time I did. So I couldn’t resist the chance to improve myself a little by entering The Introverted Reader’s Southern Literature Reading Challenge.

(Isn’t this just the purtiest little button you’ve seen?)

To qualify, books must be non-fiction or fiction of any genre, adult or young adult, written by an author from the South and set mostly in the South. The southern states that Jen will allow to qualify for this challenge are: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia. West Virginia and Florida–as long as I find a book by a Florida author and/or set in Florida that feels Southern.

I’m entering at the “Have a glass of sweet iced tea, honey” level (3 books), just because I can’t commit to much more at this point but I do hope to exceed that goal.

1. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (Kentucky and Louisiana) Completed January 2012

2. The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield (Arkansas) Completed January 2012

3. 11/22/63 by Stephen King (Texas) Completed September 2012

Another TBR Pile Reading Challenge, you say? How can it possibly be a challenge to read what I’m already reading for other TBR events? Well…Evie at Bookish is requiring that I post a review for every book I count – and those who follow my monthly reading summaries know that I am very bad at that.

That encouragement to post reviews (and the fact that Evie and her co-hosts are giving away prizes!) is making this challenge worthwhile to enter. Shall I be brave and go in at the Married with Children level (41-50 books)? Sure, why not – you’re already thinking I’m insane!

1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

2. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

3. My Financial Career and Other Follies by Stephen Leacock

4. A Jest of God by Maragaret Laurence

5. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler

6. Memoirs by Pierre Elliott Trudeau

7. The Canadian Food Guise by Pierre & Janet Berton

8. Heading Home: On Starting a New Life in a Country Place by Laurence Scanlan

9. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

10. How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

11. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

12. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

13. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

14. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

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

16. The Mapping of Love & Death by Jacqueline Winspear

17. Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie

18. At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie

19. Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie

20. Halfway House by Ellery Queen Read December 2012

21. QBI (Queen’s Bureau of Investigation) by Ellery Queen

22. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wolder

23. A Place for Johnny Bill by Ruth Juline Bishop

24. A Prairie Boy’s Winter by Willima Kurelek

25. The Market Square Dog by James Herriott

26. Coyote Sings to the Moon by Thomas King

27. One Winter Night

FAILED TO COMPLETE