Ex Libris Bitsy » Challenges In Progress http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com A Book Blog Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:20:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 100 ‘Shots of Short’ Reading Challenge http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/100-shots-of-short-reading-challenge/ http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/100-shots-of-short-reading-challenge/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:22:28 +0000 Bitsy http://fabula.exlibrisbitsy.com/?p=823 The Years Best Fantasy and Horror for Christmas and to really do it justice I wanted to review the stories individually instead of all as one lump. Reviewing it all together like that is hardly fair considering how many different editors and authors contributed to the book. They should each be judged on their own merits, I think. This doesn't get me all the way to 100, but it gets me nearly half way there, and I have an older Years Best Fantasy and Horror that I bet will make up the difference. ]]>

This is an ongoing challenge that involves reading 100 short stories in whatever order or time frame you want to do them in. A fairly safe challenge to go for, I thought! Plus I got The Years Best Fantasy and Horror for Christmas and to really do it justice I wanted to review the stories individually instead of all as one lump. Reviewing it all together like that is hardly fair considering how many different editors and authors contributed to the book. They should each be judged on their own merits, I think. This doesn’t get me all the way to 100, but it gets me nearly half way there, and I have an older Years Best Fantasy and Horror that I bet will make up the difference.

Here is my list of the 100 ‘shots of short’ that I have chosen:

  1. The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics by Daniel Abraham
  2. Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell
  3. Holiday by M. Rickert
  4. Hum Drum by Gary McMahon
  5. Splitfoot by Paul Walther
  6. The House of Mechanical Pain by Chaz Brenchley
  7. The Last Worders by Karen Joy Fowler
  8. The Monsters of Heaven by Nathan Ballingrud
  9. The Fiddler of Bayou Teche by Delia Sherman
  10. Mr. Poo-Poo by Reggie Oliver
  11. Winter’s Wife by Elizabeth Hand
  12. The Tenth Muse by William Browning Spencer
  13. The Drowned Life by Jeffrey Ford
  14. The Swing by Don Tumasonis
  15. The Forest by Laird Barron
  16. Fragrant Goddess by Paul Park
  17. Up the Fire Road by Eileen Gunn
  18. The Gray Boy’s Work by M. T. Anderson
  19. The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate by Ted Chiang
  20. Valentine, July Heat Wave by Joyce Carol Oates
  21. A Thing Forbidden by Donald Mead
  22. A Reversal of Fortune by Holly Black
  23. Rats by Veronica Schanoes
  24. A Perfect and Unmappable Grace by Jack M. Haringa
  25. The Boulder by Lucy Kemnitzer
  26. The Hill by Tanith Lee
  27. The Ape Man by Alexander MacBride
  28. The Hide by Liz Williams
  29. England and Nowhere by Tim Nickels
  30. Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Go to War Again by Garth Nix
  31. Toother by Terry Dowling
  32. Closet Dreams by Lisa Tuttle
  33. The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change by Kij Johnson
]]> http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/100-shots-of-short-reading-challenge/feed/ 0 Chunkster Reading Challenge http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/chunkster-reading-challenge/ http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/chunkster-reading-challenge/#comments Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:23:09 +0000 Bitsy http://fabula.exlibrisbitsy.com/?p=816 adult literature). And, boy, do I have just the books that can fill those shoes. You see, years ago I started reading a series and finished the first three and then waited for the fourth to come out. When the fourth finally did I started it only to realize I needed to reread the first three to really get number four. That was a depressing seven years ago now. My husband has since read through all four books and has been pestering me to read the series, so here is my promise to him. I will get it read this year, or fail this challenge! ]]>

I promised myself I would only sign up for two more challenges this year and here is one of them. The Chunkster Reading Challenge asks that you read a certain number of book with 450+ pages (of adult literature). And, boy, do I have just the books that can fill those shoes. You see, years ago I started reading a series and finished the first three and then waited for the fourth to come out. When the fourth finally did I started it only to realize I needed to reread the first three to really get number four. That was a depressing seven years ago now. My husband has since read through all four books and has been pestering me to read the series, so here is my promise to him. I will get it read this year, or fail this challenge!

Here are the different levels you can go for:

  • The Chubby Chunkster – this option is for the reader who has a couple of large tomes on their TBR list, but really doesn’t want to commit to much more than that. 3 books is all you need to finish this challenge.
  • Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big? – this option is for the slightly heavier reader who wants to commit to 4 Chunksters over the next twelve months.
  • Mor-book-ly Obese – This is for the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to 6 or more chunksters OR three tomes of 750 pages or more. You know you want to…..go on and give in to your cravings.

I am going for Mor-book-ly Obese because of the series I committed to reading. It qualifies because three of the four books are either at 750 pages long (749! come on, give me a break!) or more (doesn’t the 922 more than make up for it?!). And now, on to my reading list:

  • Otherland: City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams (780 pages)
  • Otherland: River of Blue Fire by Tad Williams (675 pages)
  • Otherland: Mountain of Black Glass by Tad Williams (749 pages)
  • Otherland: Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams (922 pages)

I also made a button, when don’t I make a button for these things?

]]> http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/chunkster-reading-challenge/feed/ 0 Reading Through The Seasons http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/reading-through-the-seasons/ http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/reading-through-the-seasons/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:01:46 +0000 Bitsy http://fabula.exlibrisbitsy.com/?p=653 Book Dragon's Lair caught my eye because I've always wanted to do something special to mark the changing of the seasons and this seems to be a great way to do it. You commit to reading four books, one for each season, and each book must have the name of one of the four seasons in its title. I thought I would take it a step further and actually read four books for each season, one each month of the season (thing is, winter starts late in December, four days before Christmas late, yuck). But, I give myself freedom to change my mind later if I'm not turning up enough winter books to taste, since that's what I'm starting with. Three more months of winter, how depressing! At least I will have books to cheer me up with. ]]>

Reading Through The Seasons over at Book Dragon’s Lair caught my eye because I’ve always wanted to do something special to mark the changing of the seasons and this seems to be a great way to do it. You commit to reading four books, one for each season, and each book must have the name of one of the four seasons in its title.

I thought I would take it a step further and actually read four books for each season, one each month of the season (thing is, winter starts late in December, four days before Christmas late, yuck). But, I give myself freedom to change my mind later if I’m not turning up enough winter books to taste, since that’s what I’m starting with. Three more months of winter, how depressing! At least I will have books to cheer me up with.

  • None yet!
  • None yet!
  • None yet!
  • None yet!
  • None yet!
  • None yet!
  • None yet!
  • Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares
  • None yet!
  • None yet!
  • None yet!
  • None yet!
]]> http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/reading-through-the-seasons/feed/ 4 Year of the Historical http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/year-of-the-historical/ http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/year-of-the-historical/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:32:01 +0000 Bitsy http://fabula.exlibrisbitsy.com/?p=618 Year of the Historical challenge, is going to be a great excuse to continue in my new found love of historical novels, romance and otherwise. Aside from my fiction tag, historical is my next largest! I was a little worried about how many I would have to buy for the challenge, because I have honestly read all the ones I own, but I recently came into possession of a small smattering that will get me through the first few months so I feel confident signing up for this challenge. For me historical fiction takes the need to escape into a well written story to the next level. Because the background and setting, the dialog and characters, are all just so foreign and are all at the same time temptingly true. This really was, at least in a way making liberal use of literary license, how people lived during this time, what was happening to them, how they felt about it. It's like reading a history book and novel all in one and that dual nature is something I really enjoy. ]]>

My first challenge for the new year, the Year of the Historical challenge, is going to be a great excuse to continue in my new found love of historical novels, romance and otherwise. Aside from my fiction tag, historical is my next largest! I was a little worried about how many I would have to buy for the challenge, because I have honestly read all the ones I own, but I recently came into possession of a small smattering that will get me through the first few months so I feel confident signing up for this challenge.

For me historical fiction takes the need to escape into a well written story to the next level. Because the background and setting, the dialog and characters, are all just so foreign and are all at the same time temptingly true. This really was, at least in a way making liberal use of literary license, how people lived during this time, what was happening to them, how they felt about it. It’s like reading a history book and novel all in one and that dual nature is something I really enjoy.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

And, of course, there are the buttons. I love the button for this challenge! I also really, really LOVE making buttons myself, so I made a few that I will probably use, and others are free to as well.

]]> http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/year-of-the-historical/feed/ 0 A-Z Reading Challenge http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/a-z-reading-challenge/ http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/challenges/a-z-reading-challenge/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:09:29 +0000 Bitsy http://fabula.exlibrisbitsy.com/?p=306

The A-Z Reading Challenge seems like a pretty simple way to start my first dive into reading challenges. I wanted a way to be able to cut down on my extensive TBR back log and to have someone else tell me what to start next for a change. This challenge seems like it can do all of that for me!

The premise is pretty simple: Read authors A to Z. Commit to reading 26 books theoretically speaking.

So here is my list of books I am committing to reading for the challenge, I will link each of these to the review when it’s done and strike it off my list.

A-Z by author’s last name:

For some of these it’s looking like I might have to use first names in a pinch! For the ones where I haven’t filled in the book, my own collection did not suffice and I’m going to have to journey to the library and checkout a book when I reach that letter.

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