1010 Challenge

The 1010 Challenge is a group challenge on LibraryThing (challenge link). The challenge is to read books from 10 categories in 2010. I am going to read 10 books in each category.

This is a fantastic way for me to make sure I get through most of the books I have wanted to read for a while as well as make sure I have diversity throughout the year. I will probably switch some books up throughout the year but I have most of my categories filled already(okay some are overfilled-I'll figure that out as I go). As I read and review the books I will leave links.


Memoirs
1. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
2. True Compass: A Memoir by Edward M. Kennedy
3. Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival by Norman Ollestad
4. A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice by Malalia Joya
5. I’ll Scream Later by Marlee Matlin
6. The Girl from Foreign: A Memoir by Sadia Shepard
7. Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD by Beth Alison Maloney
8. Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir
9.
10.

Historical Fiction
1. Avalon: A Novel by Anya Seton and Philippa Gregory
2. The Lady Elizabeth: A Novel by Alison Weir
3. Sarah's Daughter by Ruth Bass
4. The Virgin's Daughters by Jeane Westin
5. Cleopatra's Daughter: A Novel by Michelle Moran
6. The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick
7. Mary Boleyn by Josephine Wilkinson
8. Privilege and Scandal by Gleeson
9. Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
10.

Nonfiction
1. Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
2. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
3. The Mom’s Guide To Growing Your Family Green: Saving The Earth Begins At Home by Terra Wellington
4. Smart Mama’s Green Guide: Simple Steps to Reduce Your Child’s Toxic Exposure by Jennifer Taggart
5. The Duchess by Amanda Foreman
6. Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson
7. Princess Sultana's Daughters by Jean Sasson
8. Princess Sultana's Circle (Princess Trilogy) by Jean Sasson
9. First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria by Eve Waite-Brown
10. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
11. Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson
12. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Classics
1. The Federalist by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay
2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
3. The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
4. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
5. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
6. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
7. Middlemarch by George Eliot
8. My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
9. Narrative of Sojourner Truth
10. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
11. Utopia by Thomas More
12. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Young Adult
1. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
2. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
3. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black
4. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
5. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
6. What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
7. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
8. The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
9. Go Ask Alice by Unknown
10.

Books I Missed in School (I have no idea how)
1. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
2. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
3. The Giver by Lois Lowry
4. The Pearl by John Steinbeck
5. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
6. Tangerine by Edward Bloor
7. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
8.
9.
10.

A School Refresher Course (the ones I did read)
1. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
2. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
3. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
5. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
6. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
7. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
8. The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
9. The Witches by Roald Dahl
10. Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls

Banned Books
1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
2. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
3. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
4. Maurice: A Novel by E. M. Forster
5. The Education of Harriet Hatfield by Sarton May
6. Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
7. Forever… by Judy Blume
8. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
9. Lysistrata by Aristophanes
10. The Last Mission by Harry Mazer
11. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
12. Women on Top by Nancy Friday
13. The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence by Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks

Books to Set the Halloween Mood
1. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
2. The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
3. Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice
4. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
5. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
6. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
7. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
8. Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Agarwal
9.
10.

Books I Loved the First Time Around
1. Animal Farm by George Orwell
2. Garden Spells By Sarah Addison Allen
3. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
4. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
5. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
6. Moths and Other by Stories by Helena Maria Viramontes
7. Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
8. The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Challenges

Original Post
November 1, 2009 - April 30, 2010

1. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
2. Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan
3. Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
4. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
5. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
6. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

Original Post
January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. Beloved by Toni Morrison
3. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
4. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
5. Utopia by Thomas More
6. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
7. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
8. Atonement by Ian McEwan
9. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
10. The Giver by Lois Lowry

Original Post
January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010

1. Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (this would be a reread for me but I loved it the first time)
3. Virginia Woolf: A Biography by Quentin Bell
4. The Hours: A Novel by Michael Cunningham
5. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe: A Novel by Fannie Flagg
6. The Persian Boy by Mary Renault
7. The Bostonians by Henry James
8.

Original Post
January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010

1. The Girl from Foreign: A Memoir by Sadia Shepard
2. Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Agarwal
3. The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal
4. Saffron Dreams by Shaila Abdullah
5. A Disobedient Girl: A Novel by Ru Freeman
6.
7.
8.

Original Post
November 2009 - November 2010

Nonfiction:

1. Circle of Women: An Anthology of Contemporary Western Women Writers by Kim Barnes and Mary Clearman Blew
2. To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism by Rebecca Walker
3. The Bone Woman: A Forensic Anthropologist'​s Search for Truth in the Mass Graves of Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo by Clea Koff

Fiction or Nonfiction:

4. My Antonia by Willa Cather
5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
6. Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife by Peggy Vincent
7. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
8. Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier

When Autumn Leaves - Amy S. Foster

I initially picked up When Autumn Leaves: A Novel by Amy S. Foster because I thought the cover was so beautiful. I admit it…I judged a book by its cover. When I read that it was a book laced with some magic, I knew I had to read it.

I am very confused by the whole book. It wasn’t the story that was confusing but my feelings about the book that I can’t sort out. Part of me fought the story almost the whole way through and I have no idea why. I had unwarranted high expectations and I was quickly disappointed that the writing didn’t flow as well as I was hoping. I was constantly being pulled out of the story because of some comment that didn’t seem to fit or some phrasing that just felt off.

The story is set in the town of Avening and each chapter reads like a short story. Each is about a different person. The common link between them all being Avening and magic, as well as Autumn, a woman who appears throughout the whole book.

Autumn puts an ad out in the paper which causes each of these women to become more open to the magic in their lives and encourages them to think about what that means.

Although this is not the best book I have read this year, it is a nice quick read if you are looking for some magic. The way Foster’s stories unfold began to grow on me and by the end of the book I was surprisingly pleased with how the story wrapped up. However, in general, the stories are left fairly open and I can see Foster writing a sequel to the book.

Even though I had my issues with the book, I did enjoy it. If she does write a sequel, I can definitely see myself buying it. I think I would enjoy it more now that I know what to expect from her writing. What can I say…I am a sucker for books with a little magic.


I am an Amazon Associate.

GLBT Challenge 2010 - The Challenge That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Okay, I found another great challenge that I just can't pass up. I recently came across the GLBT 2009 Challenge and I was so sad that it was about to be finished. When I came across the came challenge for 2010 I knew I was signing up.

Thanks to Amanda at The Zen Leaf for hosting the The Challenge That Dare Not Speak Its Name 2010 which will run January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010.

I am signing up at the Pink Triangle Level, meaning I will read 8 books. I don't have a list put together yet but I have a few ideas so far:

Middlesex: A Novel
by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky (this would be a reread for me but I loved it the first time)

Virginia Woolf: A Biography
by Quentin Bell

The Hours: A Novel
by Michael Cunningham

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe: A Novel
by Fannie Flagg

The Persian Boy
by Mary Renault

The Bostonians (Modern Library Classics)
by Henry James

Check out this website with a great list of GLBT Literature.

South Asian Author Challenge

There is a great new challenge being hosted by Swapna at S. Krishna's Books. The South Asian Author Challenge is a great challenge to get people reading books buy South Asian authors (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka). There were a few books that I knew I would put on a list if I participated, so I'm signing up.

I am going to read 7 books. With the books I have in mind right now I will have a few spots for extras I find along the way. The challenge is going to run January 1, 2010 – December 31, 2010 so I am going to just strew them throughout the year.

Possible books for my list so far:

Saffron Dreams by Shaila Abdullah
Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Agarwal
The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal
A Disobedient Girl: A Novel by Ru Freeman
The Girl from Foreign: A Memoir by Sadia Shepard

Check it out and sign up.

Innocent Traitor - Allison Weir

Before reading Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey by Allison Weir, I didn’t know much about Jane Grey. I knew that she was beheaded but I had only read bits and pieces about her when she happened to pop up in other stories. I didn’t know anything about her childhood until now. Innocent Traitor was a fantastic book to bring her story to life for me.

Weir does a remarkable job of bringing back to life people from such a different time. The story is written in the first person (in the Reader’s Guide Weir states that she did this to differentiate this story from her nonfiction works) from the point-of-view of multiple people. Usually it bothers me to jump between various views of extremely different people but Weir wrote this wonderfully and the diverse voices easily flowed.

It always fascinates me how hope manages to overtake me even if I know the ending to a story. It doesn’t matter that I know Romeo and Juliet die at the end; there is always that little part of me that hopes somehow they will manage to run off together. The same was true with this story. I knew the fate of Jane Grey, even if I didn’t already know it the story opens with her in the Tower of London after she receives her death sentence, but throughout the whole book I continuously wonder if she might change the ending of her story. I rode a rollercoaster of hope, wondering how she got from various chapters to the Tower, always thinking that maybe the next decision would be the one that actually saves her life. It is a fascinating story, wonderfully told by Weir and I recommend it to anyone interested in how Jane Grey’s story ended the way it did.

I am an Amazon Associate.

Focus Jess...focus!

I have a confession. I have a HUGE pile of books just sitting and waiting to be read. No, not that little pile to the left, that is the pile I am currently reading. Okay that pile is actually my confession. Now you might wonder what the real problem is...it is just an innocent pile of 7 books. That's about the average number of books I always have going. I'm someone who always has multiple books going, which I am constantly going back and forth from. The real problem is this pile has been been the same for way too long.

I started these books over a month ago and they are still here staring me down as if they were forgotten. Okay that's a lie! It hasn't been a month it's been 2...and a half...OKAY FINE, one of them I started over 3 months ago! I'm so ashamed!!

Ever since I got sucked into the blogging world I have found all kinds of amazing books that I have to read RIGHT NOW! So I bought those and started a new "currently reading" pile. I'll sometimes find my way back to my old pile and read a few chapters in one of the books but they seem to just hang around forever.

Now, don't get me wrong, I was enjoying these books (the small parts of them I had read ) that isn't the issue, but I just can't seem to get into them because I constantly have a new book creeping into the corner of my vision. Something is wrong with me. I need help...I need a plan.

So I'm not buying a new book, I'm not even starting a new book, until I finish at least 3 of these. I figure by the time I finish 3 of the 7 I will have come a long way with the other 4 as well and I will be able to set my conscience at ease when I rush to the bookstore once again.