Really Old Classics Challenge

Considering that I'm by now a lot more comfortable with "regular" classics, why not Really Old Classics?

The Rules

1. Choose how many Really Old Classics you’d like to read by the end of July 2009, from 1 to 100.
2. Read that number of Really Old Classics by the end of July 2009. If you finish, pat yourself on the back.

So, I will try to read 2 of the following classics from the pre-1600s:
1) Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy
2) Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales
3) The Niebelungenlied
4) ???
5) ???

Rescue Challenge

Katrina hit it dead on with her Rescue Challenge! I have so many unread books on my shelves that have been "living" there for years - or rather they have been vegetating there.

There would be two parts to the challenge, the first would be to get rid of any books you know deep down you will never read, so whether you bookmooch, bookcross, give them away to a charity shop these books will take up less of your space and have the opportunity to be read.
The second part of the challenge, will be to set up a pool of those unloved books and read between 3-6 of them between Nov 1st 2008 - Dec 31st 2009.

The books I have had for years are:
1) Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes 1
2) Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes 2
3) A.S. Byatt: Possession
4) Laurell K. Hamilton: The Laughing Corpse
5) Tess Gerritsen: Harvest
6) Nora Roberts: Red Lilies
7) Josef Haslinger: Opernball
8) Robert Ludlum: The Bourne Identity
9) Nora Roberts: Northern Lights
10) Nora Roberts: Immortal In Death
11) Sue Grafton: D Is For Deadbeat
12) Nora Roberts: Jewels Of The Sun
13) Nora Roberts: Tears Of The Moon
14) J.W. Goethe: Iphigenie auf Tauris
15) J.W. Goethe: Die Leiden des Jungen Werther
16) Agatha Christie: The Secret Of Chimneys
17) Chaim Potok: The Chosen
18) Madeleine E. Roberts: Point Of Honor
plus many, many more that are at my second "book storing place"

New Authors Challenge 2009

Since I'm already doing the 2nds Challenge, why not try the New Authors Challenge as well?

1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.
2. Since this is an author challenge, there is no restriction on choosing your novels. They can definitely be from other challenges. However, the authors must be new to you and, preferably from novels, but anthologies are also a great way to try someone new.
3. I want this to be an easy challenge, so you state how many new authors you want to try this year and then that’s your challenge. For me, I’m trying another 50 new authors. If you want a number given to you, try for either 25 or 50.
4. Add your name to the Mr. Linky below. If you do not have your own blog, you can join the group blog here.
5. Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike are welcome
6. When you read a new author, write your review (either at your site or the group blog) and then come back here and post a link to your review.

If you’re looking for some ideas, check out the Author page.

My list will probably be:
1) Vicki Myron
2) Jill Shalvis
3) Nalini Singh
4) Naomi Alderman
5) Patricia Davids
6) Suzanne Brockmann
7) Marjane Satrapi
8) Merline Lovelace
9) Marie Ferrarella
10) Rutu Modan
11) Maki Minami
12) Lawrence Kaplan
13) Jong Eun Lee
14) Kristan Higgins
15) Karen Tei Yamashita
16) Cormac McCarthy
17) Sam Savage
18) Janice Kay Johnson
19) Carly Phillips
20) Julie James
21) Donna Kauffman
22) Nick Sagan
23) Rachel Caine
24) D.D. Barrant
25) Sara Orwig
26) Jay Asher
27) WIll Eisner
28) Alan Bennett
29) Cassandra Clare
30) Gareth P. Jones


EDIT:
I'll leave it at 30 as my original goal was only 10 new authors. I'm sure if I kept looking I would find a few more, though.

Countdown Challenge

It might be an insane task, but why not: I'll try to complete 3M's Countdown Challenge!

1. The goal of this challenge is to read the number of books first published in a given year that corresponds to the last digit of each year in the 2000s — 9 books from 2009, 8 books from 2008, etc. The total number of books required, therefore, is 45.
2. This challenge lasts from 8/8/08 through 9/9/09. Yes, it is retroactive to August 8th!
3. Crossovers with other challenges are allowed and your lists may change at any time.
4. Sign up using Mr. Linky below.
5. Have fun reading!

As it is retroactive, I will have to check my past reads. Once I'm done, I will post the list.

2001
1) Eiki Eiki: Prime Minister 4

2002
1)
2)

2003
1)
2)
3)

2004
1) Judith Park: Dystopia
2) Tanya Huff: Blood Price (German pub date)
3) Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo: He's Just Not That Into You
4)

2005
1) Judith Park: Y Square
2) Meg Cabot: Ready Or Not
3) MaryJanice Davidson: Undead and Unappreciated
4) Elaine Viets: Dying In Style
5) Nalini Singh: Slave To Sensation

2006
1) Susan Mallery: Delicious
2) Eiki Eiki: Dear Myself 1 (German pub date)
3) Naomi Alderman: Disobedience
4) Robert Fate: Baby Shark
5) Tachibana Higuchi: Alice Academy 1 (German pub date)
6) Merline Lovelace: Devlin and the Deep Blue Sea

2007
1) Susan Mallery: Suche Köchin, Biete Liebe (German pub date)
2) Susan Andersen: Gefährliche Liebe (German pub date)
3) Tachibana Higuchi: Alice Academy 2 (German pub date)
4) Arina Tanemura: Shinshi Doumei Cross 6 (German pub date)
5) Arina Tanemura: Shinshi Doumei Cross 7 (German pub date)
6) Eiki Eiki: Prime Minister 2 (German pub date)
7) Eiki Eiki: Prime Minister 3 (German pub date)

2008
1) Arina Tanemura: Shinshi Doumei Cross 8 (German pub date)
2) Arina Tanemura: Shinshi Doumei Cross 9 (German pub date)
3) Ai Morinaga: Bitte Sehr, Bitte Gleich 1 (German pub date)
4) Ai Morinaga: Bitte Sehr, Bitte Gleich 2 (German pub date)
5) Patricia Davids: Military Daddy
6) Marie Ferrarella: Protecting His Witness
7) Vicki Myron: Dewey
8) Nathalie Anderson: Bought – One Night, One Marriage

2009
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)

Harlequin/Silhouette Romance Reading Challenge

Let's see whether I can get a hold of those books for the Harlequin/Silhouette Romance Reading Challenge.

This challenge will begin on January 1, 2009 and run through December 31, 2009. The rules are a bit different this year, but not by much. Here are the rules...

All of the books have to be from either the Harlequin or Silhouette imprint. It doesn't matter which one. The challenge is...

1) Read 1 book with a holiday theme.

2) Read 1 book by an author you never read before.

3) Read 1 book with one of these words in the title - wedding, marriage, husband or wife

4) Read 1 book set in a place you've never been before.

5) Read 1 book with a body of water in the title (i.e. water, lake, river, island, etc.)

That's a total of 5 books for the year.

A few additional things...

1) You can change books in the middle of the year, nothing is written in stone!

2) Books used in this challenge may be used in other challenges.

3) Books can be in any format - paper, audio, ebook.

4) Please sign up by commenting to this post.

5) Please come back and post your reviews as you read the books for the challenge.

I have not yet made up a complete list as I don't have all the books yet, but I will add the books as I go:
1) Jill Shalvis, Jacquie D'Alessandro & Jamie Sobrato: Heating Up The Holidays: All He Wants For Christmas/His Grown-Up Christmas List/Up On The Housetop
2) Marie Ferrarella: Protecting His Witness
3) Natalie Anderson: Bought: One Night, One Marriage
4) Marie Ferrarella: The Bride With No Name
5) Merline Lovelace: Devlin And The Deep Blue Sea

Numbers Challenge

I'll try to do the Numbers Challenge this year.

The challenge is to read 5 books whose titles have a number in them from Jan 1, 2009 to August 1, 2009. This includes written numbers like 'one' and numbers like 10th or first.

My books will be:
1) Meg Cabot: The Princess Diaries 09 - To The Nines
2) Cameron West: First Person Plural
3) Janet Evanovich: Seven Up
4) Natalie Anderson: Bought: One Night, One Marriage
5)

Read Your Name Challenge

I'll at least give the Read Your Name Challenge a shot. What can happen, other than that I won't make it, anyway?



The Rules
1. Using your first name, or blogger name, or your pets name, or even your favorite literary character's name; whichever you like, choose books with first title letters that spell out your name. (Audio books and eBooks are also okay.) Such as my name: Victoria. the first book's title would start with the letter V, then the next book title begins with I, etc. Make sense? (I hope so!) :p
2. Bloggers and non-bloggers alike are free to join. If you do not have a blog and would like to post your reviews/titles that spelled your name somewhere, you may do so here at the group blog. Just send me an e-mail (phantombibliophile [at] gmail [dot] com), or leave a comment letting me know you'd like to use this blog.
3. If you have your own blog, come back here every month and leave a comment containing the link to your challenge page containing the books you've read or each review you've written for books that count for this challenge. (Crossovers with other challenges are okay.) I will make a new post for this on the first of every month.
4. The challenge runs from Jan. 1st 2009, to Dec. 31st 2009. You may join at any time.
5. Last but not least, be sure to sign up using Mister Linky Below! & Leave a comment with what name you're going to use, and the name itself of course! Oh, and don't forget to link back to the challenge from your blog (if you have one of course) to show you're participating!

My list will appear here:
Kleine House-Apotheke, Die: M. Reufsteck/J. Stoeckle
American Born Chinese: Gene Luen Yang
Thornthwaite Inheritance, The: Gareth P. Jones
Heating Up The Holidays: Jill Shalvis/Jacquie D’Alessandro/Jamie Sobrato
Road, The: Cormac McCarthy
Idlewild: Nick Sagan
Not-So-Perfect Past, A: Beth Andrews