Unfinished Symphonies of Reading Challenges

I admit defeat. As long as I am a book blogger, I will be lured to take up reading challenges, no matter how hard I try to resist.

That was then…

This year I signed up for 10 challenges,  and have completed all of them except two.

1. Typically British

Timeline: 1st Jan 2010~ 31st Dec 2010. I started with “Gordon Bennett” – Read 4 Typically British novels, I am moving up 2 notches and try out for “Cream Crackered” to read 8 Typically British novels.

1. The End of the Affair By Graham Greene
2. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
3. One Day by David Nicholls
4. The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters
5. Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier

TOURIST – Read and review 3 books by 3 different Australian authors
FAIR DINKUM – Read and review 8 books by Australian authors (a minimum of 5 different Australian authors)

I’m going as a tourist for now and then upgrade myself to Fair Dinkum when I feel up to it.

1. Every Move You Make, David Malouf
2. The Secret River, Kate Grenville
3. Ransom, David Malouf

I didn’t feel I could take the leap from 3 to 8 books from Aussie authors. I had a great time discovering new Aussie Author this year though.

3. World Religion Challenge 2010

I am doing this challenge because I love the beautiful button! No seriously, reading religious books is one of my guilty pleasure, so what better way of doing this then to follow the:

The Penthouse Path (Also Known As: The Five Biggies Path): Read something about the five major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Duration from 1 Jan 2010 – 31 Dec 2010.

1. The Islamist, Ed Husain (Islam)
2. Understanding Judaism by Carl S. Ehrlich (Judaism)
3. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse (Hinduism)
4. Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott (Christianity)
5. …. short of one for Buddhism, trying to read Dharma Bum by Jack Kerouc now. We will see how it goes.

Unfortunately I am short of one book to reach the penthouse.

4. Arabic Summer Reading Challenge

To participate: select what you will read this summer from the recommendation list. If you prefer a more challenging challenge, read one each month. * I will select a reading-challenge winner on August 20, 2010** and will ship her (or him) a bundle of Arabic fiction new to English in 2010.***

1. The Map of Love, Ahdaf Souief
2. Yalo by Elias Khoury (read after the closing of the summer challenge)

The challenge ask to read two books, I did, but didn’t read it in time for the closing.

My 2010 Reading Challenges Page

This is now…

2011 Reading Challenges

Next year, Learning from some of the unfinished symphonies of reading challenges experience, I will refrain from signing up to too many reading challenges in 2011. Besides the Read A Myth Reading Challenge that I will be hosting with Bina, I aim to read at Athena level at 2 books to qualify, but felt I might get caught with the series bug and read a few more on the myth series. I am still aiming to finish the Animal challenge that will be due this February 2011.

I have also sign up with the Nordic Challenge 2011, with 2 books to qualify. I think it was that snow covered chalet and the Book draw every quarter that entices me. So Scandinavia, here I come!

I am keeping an eye on the reading challenges that pops up on book blogosphere every day, and boy, were there many! The ones which requires only 1 book to qualify particularly entices me, while 3 to 6 books and above is a bit hard for me to commit, but some days when my resolve is weaken I could feel myself teeter between signing and not signing up.

My strategy for next year will be this: I am going to read whatever I want (with these reading challenges in mind) and then take a look at my “have read” list, sign-up to the relevant challenge and simultaneously post my reviews on the challenge that I have chosen to participate and finish them. This is called “post-reading challenges sign-up” exercise. 😉

I really like the Global Challenge, but felt that I might flounder in some continents. I think I would score on the British Books challenge too, having book publishers on the list giving away freebies is a plus, but at 6 books minimum I felt my conviction falters. Man-booker and 1001 books list are always at the back of my mind, and I am going to keep watch on Dolce Bellezza’s J-Lit 5 towards the second half of the year too. 😉

But whichever ways it may go next year, I resolve to complete half of the 110 TBR books I have on my shelf.

So here are my sign-ups and contenders for next year’s reading challenges (for details, you may click on the images / buttons and it will send you to the relevant sign-up pages):

Sign-ups

August 1, 2010 through July 31, 2011 – qualifying level 1 book

February 3rd 2011 to January 23rd 2012 – Lets start at Merchant level 1-3 books

1 January to 31 December 2011

These two TBR challenges are similar, which I thought just as well as I could kill two birds with one stone. Clearing up my TBR is a priority in 2011, so what better way than signing up for these to give me the big push I needed!

I have no idea there are so many TBR Challenge out there. I’ll sign up for the first two, but keep a watch for the other two.

The TBR challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader impose more stringent rules, which is good for me, it says:

1. Each of these 12 books must have been on your bookshelf or “To Be Read” list forAT LEAST one full year. This means the book cannot have a publication date of 1/1/2010 or later (any book published in the year 2009 or earlier qualifies, as long as it has been on your TBR pile – I WILL be checking publication dates). Caveat: Two (2) alternates are allowed, just in case one or two of the books end up in the “can’t get through” pile.

So here’s my list for the 12 next year:

1. Flowers of Algernon – Daniel Keyes
2. Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
3. Lord of the Flies – William Goldings
4. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
5. East of Eden – John Steinbeck
6. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
7. Winter in Madrid – C.J. Sansom (read and pass on)
8. Crime in the Neighbourhood –  (read and pass on)
9. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres (read and pass on)
10. Love in the time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
11. Revolutionary Road – Richard Yates
12. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides

Two alternates:

1. Iliad – Homer
2. Italian Shoes – Henning Mankell

The next twelve would be:

1. Night Train to Lisbon – Pascal Mercier
2. My Name is Red – Orhan Pamuk
3. Saturday – Ian McEwan
4. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
5. South of the Border, West of the Sun – Haruki Murakami
6. Small Island – Andrea Levy
7. Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi
8. Orlando – Virginia Woolf (To read and pass on)
9. Crime and Punishment – Doyestoysky
10. Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
11. The End of Mr. Y – Scarlett Thomas
12. Chocolat – Joanne Harris

and other notable alternatives:

1. White teeth – Zadie Smith
2. Empress – Shan Sa
3. Brideshead Revisted – Evelyn Waugh
4. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
5. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver

The Other two TBR challenges:

Qualifying level: 3 books – Master of Trivial Pursuit

Qualifying level: 2 books

Last but not least, the Nordic Challenge. Signed up at Freya level – 3 – 5 books, I will upgrade as I go along.

There will be 5 levels. The levels are
Huginn and Muninn: Read 2 books
Freya: Read 3-5 books
Tor: Read 6-10 books
Odin: Read 11-20 books
Valhalla: Read 20+ books

Qualifying level: 1 book

Just when I thought I won’t sign up for any challenge, I just can’t resist this one!! Such beautiful buttons!

Contenders

The above is the reading challenges that I have sign-up to. I will keep a look out for the following challenges throughout the year, if I feel I’m up to it, I will register and post reviews at the same time. You can click following images and it will lead you to the sign up page. The contenders are:

Qualifying level: 1 book

Qualifying level: 3 books or more

Qualifying level : 6 or more books

Well, that’s all from me. What about you? Are you signing up to any reading challenges next year?