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It's Back! The Second Incarnation of the Award Winning Reads Challenge is here! Who else is totally excited for this?! I know it can't just be me!!:)
Last year, Jacinda and I hosted this reading challenge from May through September. And it rocked. I have personally been meaning to read all the Newbery and Printz books for years. And I've found some absolutely phenomenal books because of it. (Umm hello and thank you — Jellicoe Road, my absolute most favorite book ever.) And last years challenge gave me the motivation I needed to pick my list back up and get reading. (I think I read 16).
Because it was so awesome last year, Jacinda and I decided that this year, it would be a year long challenge of awesome (with extra awesome during the months of the original challenge).
My goal for this year is even bigger. I am so close to finishing both award lists. (Just the winners, not the honors). I only have 4 Printz winners and 13 Newbery winners left to read (including the 2012 winners to-be-announced). I would love to finish these lists next year.
So that is my goal. But I would like to read more than only 17 of the books on the list, so my official goal is going to be 24. That's only 2 a month, totally do-able.:)
To see the books on either list that I've already reviewed on the blog, you can click the corresponding tags below
Newbery Award
Newbery Honor
Printz Award
Printz Honor

And now — Onto the rules!:)

I just found out about this challenge today. I love essay collections so this is really a good challenges for me. I'm hoping to read 30 essays total. I will list them as I read them. This challenge is hosted by Books and Movies.

Here are the basics:

~ Join anytime, but don’t start reading until January 1, 2010. The challenge ends November 30, 2010.
~ If you read a book of essays, that book can also apply to any other challenges you are working on.
~ Choose a goal of reading 10, 20, or 30 essays, and then write a challenge post, linking back to this post. Feel free to copy and paste the above image into your challenge post.
~ Copy your challenge post’s link into Mr. Linky on the challenge post.
~ You don’t have to list your essays ahead of time – just have fun reading throughout the year.
~ I will put up a page for the challenge in my left sidebar, and add a Mr. Linky for essay reviews and wrap-up posts as the year goes on.
~ Everyone who completes the challenge and writes at least one review will be eligible for the giveaway prize: A copy of Best American Essays 2010.
~ New for 2010: You can earn extra credit – and an extra entry in the giveaway – by writing an essay of your own and leaving the link at the challenge page.
~ I will put up a wrap-up and giveaway post sometime early in December – that’s why the challenge only runs through November.

Okay, so I know I said no more challenges, but this isn't an actual challenge really. It's more of a personal goal and growth challenge. The Reading Resolutions Challenge is hosted by Jenny Loves to Read. I was going to wait to post this until it was closer to new years, but since I have finished signing up for challenges now seems like a good time. I am a new blogger, English Major's Junk Food has only been around for three months, but I have been a reader for a long time and every year I say I'm going to do certain things and stuff (friends, school, life) gets in the way. Hopefully publishing it for all of you to read will help keep me on track.

In the short amount of time that I've been blogging I have really seen a change in how I read. I read a lot more for one thing, mostly because I feel like I have a reason to read. I want to thank everyone who has helped me learn the ropes and get involved in the community. It's been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the upcoming year!

My first resolution is to keep reading often and posting often. I have started a few blogs in the past and usually they only last a week or two and I quit. I don't want that to happen to this blog because I am loving it.

My second resolution is to get out of my historical fiction and classics box even more. I posted about the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and mentioned that I want to read different kinds of historical fiction that I haven't read before. I would like to do that in general all year. I'm okay with staying inside my preferred genres but I really want to try some new things out. Specifically I would like to try out some more YA novels. There are some great ones out there but I never really pay attention to them.

My third resolution is to post more about the children's books I've been reading. On average I read about four-five children's books per week. I probably won't post about the meh ones, but ones that I really do not like or do like will be spotlighted on this blog.

My final reading resolution is not exactly a reading resolution, but we'll go with it. I want to start keeping a journal again. I used to be an avid journal writer but when I came to college I quit. I'd like to keep a journal to write about what I am reading and my life in a way that I really can't on my blog.

Finally, here are a list of all the challenges I am signed up for:
Shelf Discovery hosted by Booking Mama.
Reading Western Europe hosted by Samantha's Reading Challenge.
18th and 19th Century Women Writers hosted by Becky's Book Reviews.
All About the Brontes Challenge hosted by Laura's Reviews.
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge hosted by Royal Reviews.
First in a Series Challenge hosted by Royal Reviews.
Second in a Series Challenge hosted by Royal Reviews.

EDIT
I couldn't resist this one: You've Got Mail Challenge.

Hey everyone! This is an update post for everyone participating in the Award Winning Reads Challenge hosted by me and Jacinda at The Reading Housewives. If you are not yet participating, we are still taking sign ups! You can sign up as late and anything that you've read since May 30 counts toward the challenge!

Personally, I've been very productive. I've read a lot that fits with this challenge, because it's been a personal goal for years and when I get motivated to do something, I get motivated.: P

Personally — I've read 10 books for the challenge, some of which I have reviewed, some I have not and some of these will be future Award Winning Wednesday reviews. I've linked the ones I've already reviewed on the blog-

1 — Fat Kid Rules the World — K.L. Going (Printz Honor)
2 — Stolen — Lucy Christopher (Printz Honor)
3 — King of the Wind — Marguerite Henry (Newbery Award)
4 — Shadow of a Bull — Maia Wojciechowska (Newbery Award)
5 — Daniel Boone — James Daugherty (Newbery Award)
6 — Please Ignore Vera Dietz — A.S. King (Printz Honor)
7 — Rules — Cynthia Lord (Newbery Honor, reread)
8 — Fog Magic — Julia L. Sauer (Newbery Honor)
9 — Monster — Walter Dean Meyers (Printz Award, reread)
10 — Repossessed — A.M. Jenkins (Printz Honor)

I had originally planned to read 12 books for the challenge, but since I'm so close and this is the time in the challenge we are opening it up to everyone to adjust their goals, I'm now aiming for 24. I know it's not an actual level, but I'm the host, so I'm running with it.: P

I would like to encourage all the participants to offer a check-in post of their own! I really want to see how everyone is doing! I want to see what you have gotten read, what you plan to read, whether you think you are going to be able to meet your goal, etc. Use your check-in post to link up your reviews and then come link it up to us!

If you do not have a blog, but would still like to post an update, email me at basicallyamazingbooks [at] gmail [dot] com (or Jacinda at readinghousewivesofindiana(at)gmail(dot)com) and we would be more than happy to post something for you so that you have a place to share your updates as well.

As mentioned above, this is also your chance to update your challenge level. If you don't have as much time as you'd hoped and think that a lower level would be less stressful/more attainable, or if you are reading at a faster pace than you thought you would and would like a chance at a slightly larger prize pack, this is the month to make that happen! Just fill out the form below (that is also the giveaway form) and select your new level. If you don't remember which level you signed up for, contact me or Jacinda and we can get that information to you. To refresh, the levels are:

Level 1 — Underachiever: Read 3 books Level 2 — Nerd: Read 6 books Level 3 — Brainiac: Read 9 books Level 4 — Teacher's Pet: Read 12 books
For the giveaway, one participant will have a chance to win the book of their choice from the prize pool. To win this, you MUST be a participant of the challenge, and you MUST have completed at least one book that fits in with the challenge.
The prize pool is below. I promise I will update this soon with a picture, but things were a little crazy today, so I don't have it right now. The books I have available are
Jellicoe Road- Melina Marchetta Fat Kid Rules the World — K.L. Going The Summer of the Swans — Betsy Byers (used, very good condition) Adam of the Road — Elizabeth Janet Gray (used, good/okay condition) Postcards from No Man's Land — Aidan Chambers
Hope was Here — Joan Bauer When You Reach Me — Rebecca Stead The Watson's Go to Burmingham — Christopher Paul Curtis Dear Mr. Henshaw — Beverly Cleary
This giveaway will end in one week, last day to enter is July 5th! So, don't put this one off! You also only have a week to change your reading level! There will also be an email sent out to all participants, just in case you somehow missed this post.
in my blog TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY AND/OR CHANGE YOUR LEVEL!!
Best of luck to you all!

Don't forget to link you reviewsposts!!

Today's Topic post is about what I'd like to see more of in Contemporary YA. And, to be perfectly honest, my answer to that question is simply — More. I'd like to see more of all of it. But even if Contemporary doesn't get as much publicity as some of the other genres right now, there is still a lot of it being written, and a lot of it being published. So rather than talking about what I'd like to see writers do that they aren't doing (because they are) or what publishers should be doing (because they try) I'm going to talk a little about what I want to see readers doing. But more than that — I'm going to put my metaphorical money where my mouth is and do something about it. But, I am only one person, so I need your help!

What I really want to see more of in regards to Contemporary YA is readers well, reading it. I've been amazed and gladdened and thrilled by the response to Just Contemporary month. It's blown my mind. So many bloggers and authors and readers have gotten behind this event and participated and it's fabulous. But there are still people that I see saying, I don't think Contemporary is for me, or I've tried reading a Contemporary and couldn't get into it, or (I see this a lot) I read to escape, why would I want to read about real life?! But to be honest, I think there is something within the Contemporary genre for everyone.

SO — I am hosting a reading challenge to encourage and promote Contemporary/Realistic YA!

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Rules/Guidelines/Important Info:

This is a challenge to get people reading more Contemporary/Realistic Fiction.

There are two possible ways to participate:

The first is simple — Read Contemporary YA. Every single Contemporary counts. Challenge yourself to read more Contemporary YA than normal. If you never read it, add a few next year. If you are new to it, try for one a month. Or two a month. Or even more!

The second is the same basic idea (read more) but it adds variety to what you pick. Instead of reading any Contemporary, this gets you to mix-it up. There are so many sub-genres within Contemporary that I want to encourage people to try more of them. This is a good place for those who already read a lot of Contemporary.

If you want to participate in option 2, you can make it as strict or as flexible as you'd like. If you only read YA Romantic Comedies, reading one book about grief or even a romantic drama can qualify you for the second group. Reading to me is very personal, and Contemporary more so, IMO, than any other genre, so I'm letting that carry over into how you set your goals for this challenge.

There will be monthly updates and mini-challenges and giveaways going up around the first of each month. Each month will be something different and (hopefully) fun. Participation in mini-challenges is optional. Some of the monthly challenges and 'games' will be the same between challenge group 1 & 2 and other months they will be different.

Books must be read between January 1, 2012 and December 31st 2012.

Any Contemporary YA book will count toward this challenge regardless of publication date.

There will be a weekly link up for reviews. Reviews are not mandatory, but are strongly encouraged (spread the word!!) and extra entries into all relevant giveaways will be given for each review.
Reviews can be posted to a blog, goodreads or, for those who don't use either, guest review options will be available as well.

Extra entries for giveaways during any future Contemporary Event will also be awarded to participants of the challenge.

You do not need to be a blogger to participate. International participants are completely welcome and although every giveaway will not be available to you, I will make sure that there are some open to you too.

To sign up use the Linky below and tell me which of the two options you are signing up for and how many Contemporary books you would like to read next year. (So I would sign up as — Basically Amazing Ashley — 2; 52)

And please share in more detail! I would absolutely love to see sign up posts where you declare your goals for the Challenge and let others know why you are participating, or leave me a comment with what you think of the challenge and what you hope to see from it! And, as always, if you need or want any Contemporary YA recommendations in any category or sub-category, let me know! If I can't find the perfect book for you, odds are pretty good I know someone else who might!

1. Anyone can join.

2. Read 12 middle grade novels (Challenge 1) or read 25 MG books (Challenge 2). You can read comics too, or listen to audio books. These can be in any language. You don't have to make a reading list now; you may select them as you go and you're free to make changes to your list.

3. The challenge begins September 1st, 2009 through August 31st, 2010.

4. You can join anytime between now and August 31st, 2010.

Sounds like a great challenge, doesn't it!? I read a good deal of Middle-Grade books with my ten- year-old son, so this is the perfect challenge for us to do together!

I'm aiming for Challenge 2 (25 MG books). Here are the books we'll start off with:

• 39 Clues series (currently 5 books in this series)
  
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
  
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  
• Savvy by Ingrid Law
  
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
  
• Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation
  
• Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman
• Ghost in the Machine (Skeleton Creek, Book Two) by Patrick Carman
  

This past week Becky wanted to know what reading challenges you are participating in or hosting this coming year. She also wanted to know how you plan ahead for the next year. Do you make lists? Or do you just read whatever catches your attention?

Kerry wrote a great post taking about why she does challenges, lists the ones she is interested in, and give ideas for other challenges she would think about joining. Overall, her goal consists of 3 challenges and 43 books.

Gautami also signed up for 3 challenges which she says is her max amount. She prefers to read whatever takes her fancy than planning everything out.

Rikki isn't fond of sticking to lists, but also signed up for 2 challenges and is hosting a Steampunk Challenge of her own.

Becky is hosting three challenges (42 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Young Readers) and one mini challenge (Connie Willis). She's also signed up for quite a few challenges hosted by other blogs and lists a few that have caught her attention, but she isn't sure if she'll sign up or not.

Melanie is signed up for 4 challenges, but has also set a personal goal of reading some of the Russian books off her TBR list. (If anyone knows of a Russian challenge, please let her know!)

Zee hosts the Nordic Challenge and has signed up for at least 9 others. She planning on getting a post up with book lists for all of these within the next couple days.

Chelsea is a new Weekly Geek who hasn't done any reading challenges in the past and isn't sure that she'll sign up for any this year (unless she can find one that gets her to read a wider variety of books).

Katherine hasn't thought about which ones she wants to do this coming year, but lists her favorites from past years and a few that she'll be looking for in 2011.

Carina has signed up for 9 challenges and has 2 that are on-going from this year. She's looking for imput as to what your favorite reading challenge and if there are any you would recommend.

Hannah has signed up for more posts that she originally thought she would. She's up to 5 starting in 2011 and 2 carrying over. She likes the structure and setting goals for herself. She's still looking for more suggestions!

Margaret has only signed up for 3 challenges and has mixed feelings about them. While part of her likes the structure, the other part stops wanting to read a book as soon as "should" read it.

Lifetime Reading Plan has reading goals that she has set for herself based on the book The Lifetime Reading Plan. She has them broken into 6 categories and hopes to read them chronologically.

Amat Libris loves reading challenges! She has signed up for 2 and is thinking about a few more. Her goal for next year can be summed up in three words "Read. More. Books."

Alex wants to sign up for them all. The problem is making sure it is manageable, which should be too hard to this list-maker.

Florinda tries not to sign up for too many due to her mixed experiences with them in the past. She is signed up for at least 2 and is going to continue working on her own Blogging Authors Reading Project.

Suey is going for more general goals after seeing how spontaneous of a reader she really is this past year. However, she's still keeping an eye open for a good challenge.

Jacqueline didn't even realize there were reading challenges prior to this week's post. She isn't sure that she would like being over structured with her reading, but she's ruling out the possibility of doing one if she comes across something great.

Have you posted about your reading challenges yet?
Link up here!

I have surpassed my goals for today! So it seems like a good time to go to bed, especially since I'm getting over a cold and I have to work tomorrow afternoon as well as finish two history papers. Oh tomorrow will be a fun day. Coming into this Readathon I was hoping to finish the Shelf Discovery Challenge, which I did! I only had three books finished for the challenge, which ends April 30, and now I have finished all 6. Easy YA books are greats reads for Readathons, although they weren't my favorite books I read today. My stats are pretty similar to my last reading challenge, but for some reason I feel more accomplished. Probably because I actually finished more books. Another reason might be that when I took a look at how this Readathon has fit into my overall 2010 reading I was amazed! At the beginning of this Readathon I had read 29 books in 2010, and now I've finished 34 and I'm well on my way to getting to 35. So look at that, completed a challenge, read some good books, almost to 35 books in 2010 which puts me well on my way to my unadvertised goal of 100 books this year. Overall, a great day.

Title of book(s) read since last update: Go Ask Alice by Anonymous, Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi, Blubber by Judy Blume, and I'm Sorry You Feel That Way by Diana Joseph
Number of books read since you started: Finished 5, Read 6 (I'm more than halfway!)
Pages read since last update: 372
Running total of pages read since you started: 897
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 5
Running total of time spent reading since you started:12
Mini-challenges completed: Miss Remmers' Kick-off Challenge, I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read's Soundtrack Challenge, and 'Til We Read Again's And The Nominees Are challenge.

Thanks to all of the great co-hosts for the Readathon, the cheerleaders, and the mini-challenge hosts! You guys all helped make this day a lot of fun!

In case you don't know me, I like to make up medical sounding names for my book obsessions. For example: P.A.B.D.. I'd now like to introduce Shiny Book Syndrome. This is usually accompanied by a book hording problem yet to be named.

So what is Shiny Book Syndrome? It is when a person only wants to read their newest book and leave piles of poor unread books on their shelves to collect dust.

What can you do to alleviate the symptoms?

My first suggestion would be to make a list of all the books you own. I use GoogleDocs. I start by creating a form and then can organize the spreadsheet to see what I have and if I've read it yet or not. (For more info on how to do this, go here).

After you know what you have, I'd suggest jumping in on some reading challenges to motivate you to read the books you already own. Here are some challenges designed just for that!

• Bottoms Up Reading Challenge hosted by Ellz Readz
  • read books from the bottom of your TBR pile
• A-Buck-A-Book Challenge hosted by DelGal’s Book Reviews
  • save a $1 for every book your read
• Buy One Book and Read It Challenge hosted by My Friend Amy
  • this seems backwards… me telling you to buy a book… the catch is you HAVE to read the book you buy

    

• Finish That Series Challenge in 2010 hosted by Royal Reviews
  • “This is an opportunity for you to finish all of those series that have been sitting on your book shelf looking at you.”
• Read It Again Challenge hosted by Twiga’s Books
  • re-reading old books can help with not purchasing new ones

    

• Read Your Own Books Challenge for 2010 hosted by MizB’s Reading Challenges
  • simple enough… read the books you own! (no rereads allowed)
• Reading From My Shelves Project in 2010 hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea
  • min of 20 books and you are asked to pass the books along when you’re done
• 2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog
  • participants are encouraged to read from their libraries
• TBR Challenge for 2010 hosted by MizB’s Reading Challenges
  • “Pick 12 books – one for each month of the year – that you’ve been wanting to read (that have been on your “To Be Read” list) for 6 months or longer, but haven’t gotten around to.)”
  • also offered in a “lite” version : TBR Lite for 2010

Beginning today, I'm joining three teams of bloggers in The Game On Diet Challenge. We learned about this Challenge from Jennifer (aka Book Club Girl) when she embarked upon this challenge a few weeks ago. I haven't received my copy of the book yet, so I'm pulling information from Jennifer's blog:

The Game On! Diet is the brainchild of Krista Vernoff, head writer and executive producer of tv's Grey's Anatomy and Az Ferguson, winner of the Body-for-Life Challenge. When Krista returned to work after having her baby, she called on Az to help her lose the baby weight. He made her a workout regimen and eating plan that she, well, didn't follow at all. So Az went back to the drawing board. Knowing that Krista had a VERY competitive nature, he decided to present her with a healthy lifestyle plan in the form of a game, that she could play with a team, and that she could play to win. This appealed to her very much. Rather than the focus being on losing weight, the focus is on winning points, a far more tantalizing prospect.

So how do you earn points? You can earn a maximum of 100 points a day for doing the following:

1) Eating 5 balanced meals a day, every 2-4 hours -- 6 points per meal
2) Exercising for at least 20 minutes a day -- 20 points
3) Sleeping for a minimum of 7 hours per night -- 15 points
4) Drinking 3 liters of water a day -- 10 points
5) Adopting a healthy new habit that you practice every day -- 10 points
6) Dropping one unhealthy habit -- 10 points
7) Communicating with your team members every day -- 5 points

You earn penalties (points lost!) for:

1) stepping on the scale more than once a day
2) unsanctioned snacking (you can have as much celery and cucumber as you want throughout the day, plus 100 free calories of whatever once a day, no other snacking)
3) Colluding with the opposing team to get them to break a rule
4) Drinking alcohol (see exception below)
5) changing the healthy or unhealthy habit during the course of the game (you have to pick those and stick to them).

It's not about total deprivation as you get:

1) One day off a week, when you don't have to follow any of the rules
2) One meal off a week when you can eat what you want and have one unit of alcohol
3) each day you can have 100 calories of anything as a bonus treat

My habit I'm going to break is logging on to email/twitter as soon as I get home from work, even before we've had dinner. I will now wait until we've had dinner and enjoyed some time with my family before getting on my computer.

My new habit will be...gasp...reducing the size of my library. It really has become quite overwhelming. In addition to the 4 overflowing bookshelves I have, I have stacks of books all over the house. So, my new habit--with every new book that comes in, I have to get rid of one. By getting rid of, I mean giving away, swapping, etc. A manageable goal that will make my dear husband happy!

Ok, back to the challenge. Here is the line up of the three teams:

The Ding-Dongs:
Julie from Booking Mama
softdrink from Fizzy Thoughts
Amy from My Friend Amy
Jill from Rhapsody in Books
Ti from Book Chatter and Other Stuff

The Twinkies:
Beth F from Beth Fish Reads
Jenners from Find Your Next Book Here
ME!
Denise from M. Denise C.
Dawn from She is Too Fond of Books

The HoHos:
Kathy from The Brain Lair
two of Kathy’s IRL friends who will be updating their progress on Facebook

I will be posting a few times a week about this challenge. I don't want to inundate those that aren't interesting in this challenge, so after I post my first update, all you will need to do is click on the "Game On" button on my sidebar to view my progress.

Thanks for all the support...and wish me good luck!

Hey all! Today is the official end of the Award Winning Reads Challenge. I've had a lot of fun hosting the challenge and I'm so glad that Jacinda from The Reading Housewives agreed to co-host!

I do want to encourage people to continue reading from the lists, whether it's a goal to read every book on the lists, just one list, only winners, or even just to pay especial attention to winners for possible reading choices. Honestly, there have been some books I picked up only because they were on the list and I didn't enjoy them. But, there have also been some that I wouldn't have picked up without the list that I have absolutely loved. And you know what, Jellicoe Road, which is one of my all time absolute favorite books is a book I picked up because of it's Printz Award. I might have read it anyway, but it was on my radar because of the Printz and it is such an amazing book. I can list so many others that are like that for me, and I love these two lists.

I strongly encourage participants of the challenge to keep going, and non-participants to maybe pick up some of the list books (I'm more than happy to recommend good starting places, if you'd like!:) ) and let's keep giving these two lists some love!:)

Anyway, at the last check in, I mentioned that I had read 16 award winners, and was hoping to finish off the Printz list. But... alas. I didn't get any new reading done, but I'm still very satisfied with the progress that I've made! I think I'll have to reform my goal for the end of the year, and we'll see where that gets me.:)

So now — We have the final check-in/accounting and giveaways! If you'd like to write up a finish line blog post, we'd love to see it! Love to hop over and check out your progress. If you don't have a blog, or don't want to write a post, just go ahead and fill out the form below. Jacinda and I will be contacting the winners of the giveaways this Saturday, the 10th, which gives you a week to fill out the form.

If you completed your challenge level, you are entered to win a giveaway for your level. If you signed up for the challenge, but didn't complete it, you are still entered to win a randomly drawn prize.

AND, if you read any of the award winners from the list I posted in the initial sign up post, you are entered to win a special giveaway, just from me! So make sure you list all the books read in the form or your completion post and show us links to your reviews, no matter where they got posted so we can tally it all up!:)

Also, please let me know if you have any questions! Thank you all for participating! Let me know if this is something you'd like to see happen again next year!:)

Make sure you don't forget to link up! Link your finish line posts, and/or any reviews!!:)

First of all I'd like to clear up some confusion. I think some people thought my birthday was last Sunday, but it is not. It is today! Yes my friends, today I turn twenty. Thanks to everyone who has wished me a happy birthday already! As promised I went to The Lion King on Friday for my birthday which was AMAZING. For my actual birthday I am going to my Grandma's birthday party. Yepp, we were born on the same day! And she's the person who taught me how to read, how cool is that?

Well if you can't tell I have been participating in Maw Books Blog's Bloggiesta this weekend. Today is the last day, so I'll save my wrap-up post for tomorrow morning. I have another wrap-up post coming up this week. Yesterday I finished my 19 Going on 20 Challenge so I will be posting a wrap-up this week for that. My final review for this challenge was Sorcery and Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot. I had so much fun with this self-challenge that I'm considering doing another self-challenge in the near future. I have never been interested in all of the vampire hype right now, but then I started to see Blue Bloods everywhere and it sounds more interesting to me than Twilight. I am thinking about doing a Vampire Self-Challenge in February and reading Blue Bloods and a few other vampire books. I will talk about this more in the future.

I also posted a review of The Swan Thieves (which comes out on Monday) this week. I got the Honest Scrap award this week from Sasha and the Silverfish. This is my first award so I was super excited! I also joined the Jane Austen Challenge this week.

So this week might end up as a wrap-up week which means I won't be posting any reviews. I'd like to have a few reviews to post under my belt before school starts and I get behind on everything again. I have some longer books coming up as well, so if I take this week off from reviews I will be in a good place.

It's here!! Today marks the official start of the Award Winning Reads Challenge hosted by myself along with Jacinda from The Reading Housewives! Thank you for joining us!:)

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I think this challenge is going to be a lot of fun, and I cannot wait to see what everyone ends up reading and how they feel about the books they select!

For a recap of the rules, see this post here: Award Winning Reads Challenge

For additional information about the giveaways, (that also includes the list of my personal favorites you can read for a special giveaway) go here: Award Winning Reads Challenge Giveaway/Prize Information

I am going to try and get as many books from the two lists read as possible this summer. My personal owned TBR is getting completely out of control, and many of those books come from these two lists. So, while not all of the books I'm aiming to read are books I own, a great many of them are.

This is also a very tentative list for me. I can already guarantee that I will not read every book on this list and I will read some books that didn't make it onto this list. That's just how I seem to do things. But, it's nice to have a little guideline to give me an idea of where I'm going. I'll update as I go as well, either here, in additional posts, or on the Challenge page (that will soon be created).

Newbery:

After the Rain by Norma Fox Mazer
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (reread)
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (reread)
King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska
Dobry by Monica Shannon
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan

Printz:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (reread)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (reread)
Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
Postcards from No Man's Land by Aiden Chambers
Monster by Walter Dean Meyers (reread)
Stolen by Lucy Christopher

So, leave us a comment with a link to your starting line post (if you have one) or just let us know in the comments some of the books you are hoping to get read this summer!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, or just need some great book recommendations, let me know! I'm always happy to help!:)

Ok, I love everything Jane Austen, so when Stephanie at Stephanie's Written Word announced that she was starting an Austen Challenge, I had to sign up!

Here are the rules:

The Everything Austen Challenge will run for six months (July 1, 2009 – January 1, 2010)! All you need to do is pick out what six Austen-themed things you want to finish to complete the challenge.

I LOVE the flexibility of this challenge! You can read Austen's books, Austen-themed books, or watch Austen movies! How easy is this!?

Since I've read all of Austen's books, and viewed most of the movies, I'm picking Austen-ish books to read, and more recent Austen-ish movies.

Here's my list:

Books
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!

by Sean Grahame-Smith
Mr. Darcy, Vampyre

by Amanda Grange
The Jane Austen Book Club

by Karen Joy Fowler

Movies
Pride & Prejudice

The Jane Austen Book Club

Becoming Jane

I'm really excited about this one! Talk about easy-peasy! Interested, head over to Stephanie's Written Word and sign up...go on...do it!

Yesterday was a very successful Bloggiesta day. I found some good ideas by perusing other people's blogs, but I would like to do more of that today. Basically today is going to be my mini-challenge day. One thing I didn't figure out yesterday though is why my image uploader is being stupid, so maybe I will find time to figure that one out today. Here is a list of some mini-challenges I plan on completing today:

1. Write some back-up opinion and list posts for Beth Fish Reads' Challenge.
2. Set up Google alerts for Emily's Reading Room's Challenge.
3. Add my blog to a few directories for Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile's Challenge.
4. Get a Favicon and Gravatar for Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?'s Challenge.
5. I also need to redo the post I lost yesterday. *Argh*

And now I have a question for all of you. Does it frustrate you when link text is the same color as normal text like mine is right now? After changing my font color yesterday I realize they are now the same, which means you have to hover if you want to see if something is a link. Please let me know so I can change it if it's annoying!

Happy blogging!

EDIT: Thanks so much to everyone who helped me with my links! I've decided to leave them as is for now as the general consensus seems to be that they are okay. You guys are awesome!

I know I already did a post at the end of my one hour, but I didn't include any stats so I figured I'd just include them here.

But first, mini challenges! I couldn't resist I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read's mini-challenge to make a soundtrack for a chapter of the book you are reading. I just finished Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and I wanted to pick a song to be playing during the scenes where Guy Montag and Clarisse McClellan are talking and Montag starts to realize that something is really wrong with the world. The song I chose is Something to Talk About by Badly Drawn Boy, which was actually mad for the soundtrack of the movie About A Boy which is a great book by British author Nick Hornby. So I got very literary on this one.

This song might sound a little too peppy to be on a soundtrack for Fahrenheit 451, but can imagine it being really cool in a movie for the scene, especially since I see Clarisse as being a soft but strong character.

And I'm also going to do 'Til We Read Again's And The Nominees Are challenge.

Favorite Female Character in a book: Marian Halcombe from the Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Favorite Male Character in a book: Henry DeTamble from The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Favorite Side Kick in a book: I really like Dick in High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, is he a sidekick?
Favorite Couple in a Book: Jane and Rochester in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Favorite Book Series: Right now probably The Luxe series by Anna Godbersen
Favorite Author: As far as authors I have read multiple books by... I'd probably have to say Virginia Woolf
Favorite Book Cover: I really like the cover of The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
Favorite Book of 2009: Middlemarch by George Eliot, which is a book I read in 2009

And lastly, I'll do a kick rundown:
Title of book(s) read since last update: Fahrentheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Number of books read since you started: 1
Pages read since last update: 179
Running total of pages read since you started: 179
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 3.5
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 3.5
Mini-challenges completed: Miss Remmers' Kick-off Challenge, I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read's Soundtrack Challenge, and 'Til We Read Again's And The Nominees Are challenge.

A few years ago, I made the goal to read every book that has been, or will be, awarded the Newbery Award and as many of the honors as possible. Every year, beginning in 1922, the Medal is awarded to the book considered to be the most distinguished contribution to children's literature of that year. A year or so after I decided to read all of the books on the Newbery list, I decided to add the winners of the Printz Award as well, which is the YA equivalent of the Newbery.

I've never been quite about this goal, and it's actually been, for the most part, an amazing and rewarding experience for me. Although I've read some winners that I feel less than favorable towards, for the most part I've loved the experience, and I've discovered some very, very favorite books through these two lists. I mentioned something about these lists on Twitter and Jacinda from The Reading Housewives mentioned that it would make a great challenge idea. And so, here we are.

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For a long time, this has been an individual and personal goal for me. My sister mocks me regularly for being stuck to a list, citing The Story of Mankind, Gay-Neck and Hitty for reasons I should stop, overlooking the absolute love I now have for The House of the Scorpion, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and Jellicoe Road, all books I would have either overlooked, ignored or never heard of without these lists.
So now, along with The Reading Housewives, I am extending an invitation to all of you to join me in my quest to read these two amazing book lists. I want to share the love I have for these lists, and I've gotten Jacinda all excited about it too!
So — onto the *Rules *Details *Guidelines *General Information
The challenge will run from Memorial Day to Labor Day — May 30th until September 5th.
There will be 4 levels of participation-
Level 1 — Underachiever: Read 3 books
Level 2 — Nerd: Read 6 books
Level 3 — Brainiac: Read 9 books
Level 4 — Teacher's Pet: Read 12 books

No matter which level you chose to participate in, you must read at least one book from each of the award lists. You can focus primarily on one or the other, but there must be at least one Printz honor/award and one Newbery honor/award.
There will be giveaways throughout the challenge as well. There are a lot of giveaway details, so there will be separate post specifically for the giveaway information. But, I will tell you now, that there is a guaranteed winner from each of the 4 levels, as well as a few other winners, including a super special giveaway that you can enter only by reading some of my very favorite titles from the list.:) Ya, I'm a book pimp. So what?!
Anyway — We would LOVE to have a lot of participants in this challenge. We have decided to keep it pretty low key — You can sign up for whatever level you think you can make (everyone should be able to handle one book a month!) and reviews are completely optional — although they will gain you an extra entry into the giveaways!
So what are you waiting for?! I'm staring a lovely pile that constitutes less than half of the books I'm going to be giving away, my lovely friends at The Reading Housewives have books to offer as well, and if no one enters, we are just going to have to keep all these lovelies for ourselves! Each of the following links will take you to a Goodreads page listing each of the winners of both the award and honor for the Newbery and Printz. Makes it really easy to just pop over and add it to your tbr!
Newbery Winners Newbery Honors Printz Winners Printz Honors
Come on and fill out the form, grab a button and start prepping those lists!

Hey everyone! It's now August, which means month two of the AWR Challenge has just ended. I hope you all are doing well and on track to meet your goals!:)

I would love to hear about how well everyone is doing with their challenges! Feel free to link any reviews after this post, and link up your July check-in as well! I want to know how everyone is doing!

Since the beginning of the challenge, I have read 16 award winners. 8 of those have been from the Printz list, 8 have been from the Newbery list and 3 have been rereads. I know that I have met my goal of 12 books in three months, but I'd like to do even more. I'm only three books away from having read each of the Printz Award winners (although I've still got about 25 of the honors to read) and I'd love to finish the list by the end of the challenge. I own two of the winning books that I've yet to read, and my library has a copy of the third.

As for the Newbery list, it's significantly larger, but I've also been working on it longer. But, I'm really close. At least, I feel close. I only need to read 13 books to finish that list (and I haven't even counted the Honors I'm missing). I'd like to get closer to finishing this list as well by the end of the challenge and think I'll set my goal for this list to 2, maybe 3 additional books my Labor Day.

Wish me luck!: P

Don't forget to write your own post, link up and let me know if you have any questions! I'm always good for a recommendation or a book push!:)

This week, I'm going back to a classic Dewey topic--#12 to be exact. I chose this for several reasons--one, it's one of my favorite weekly geeks topics--but more importantly I saw it would work well with two very important bloggy events going on this week.

1. In your blog, list any books you’ve read but haven’t reviewed yet. If you’re all caught up on reviews, maybe you could try this with whatever book(s) you hope to finish this week. (Be sure to leave a link to this post either in the comments of this post, or in the Mister Linky below.)

2. Ask your readers to ask you questions about any of the books they want. In your comments, not in their blogs. (Most likely, people who will ask you questions will be people who have read one of the books or know something about it because they want to read it.)

3. Later, take whichever questions you like from your comments and use them in a post about each book. Link to each blogger next to that blogger’s question(s).

4. Visit other Weekly Geeks and ask them some questions!

What are these other bloggy events? One is the June Mini-Challenge for Dewey's Reading Challenge. Kailana is asking folks to list the books they've completed (but not reviewed) for either the Dewey Reading Challenge or Carl's Once Upon A Time III challenge. Her due date is Saturday, June 20th. All the details are on the post about the challenge. The second is Natasha's
Bloggiesta. On June 19th and 20th, Natasha is encouraging bloggers to catch up on their blogs. Included in this is reviewing!

Leave a link to your weekly geeks post in the comments or in Mister Linky, if it happens to be working.

I just signed up for two great book challenges for next year. The first is Becky's Book Reviews 18th and 19th Century Women Writers Reading Challenge. It is a pretty light challenge, only two books required over the course of the year, and since it's my favorite genre I have a feeling that I will completely obliterate that in a month. I'm just excited to find a reading challenge that fits with what I like already, even though it's really not challenging. I'm challenging myself to read two authors I have not heard of before, so hopefully that will shake things up.

The second challenge I signed up for is also for all of 2010. It is called Reading Western Europe which is another one of my interests. It's a heftier challenge, twelve books over the course of the year. You are required to read one book that is set in each of the twelve countries listed on the site. Some of them are easy, like Ireland, England, and France, while others are more challenging, like Monaco. Luckily there is a cheat sheet on the sign up page to give you ideas.

Both of these are great and creative challenges that I'm very excited for!