Rory Gilmore Challenge

You all know I love a good challenge but have a hard time finding some that I want to participate in (key word being "good.") But by participating in my Spring/Summer 2014 challenge, I discovered the Rory Gilmore Challenge.

Now, if you don't know who Rory Gilmore is, I don't know if we can be friends. She's the super smart, Ivy League-going, fast-talking, bookworm daughter or Lorelai Gilmore whom I adore. We are talking about Gilmore Girls, people!

I had heard of the Rory challenge but never really looked at it until one of my tasks for the Summer/Spring challenge was to read a book off of it. Lo and behold, there are some good books on that list. And surprise surprise, I've actually read some of them! So I think I'll keep a running list of the books I have in common with a fictional character from a cancelled TV show. Why not? I also don't have any intention to read 339 of these books. Some of them don't interest me in the slightest so I'm not going to waste my time but I think it will be interesting to see which ones I can check off. Plus it doesn't hurt to build my TBR a little. (Actually, it doesn't need any building and really needs to be smaller but I have a problem. I own it.) You can keep track with me up there on the Challenges tab. 

So here goes: Books I've read are in Bold. 

1. 1984 by George Orwell
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
3. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
4. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
5. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
6. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
7. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
8. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
9. The Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
10. The Art of Fiction by Henry James
11. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
12. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
13. Atonement by Ian McEwan
14. Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
15. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
16. Babe by Dick King-Smith
17. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
18. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
19. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
20. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
21. Beloved by Toni Morrison
22. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney
23. The Bhagava Gita
24. The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy
25. Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel
26. A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy
27. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
28. Brick Lane by Monica Ali
29. Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner
30. Candide by Voltaire
31. The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
32. Carrie by Stephen King
33. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
34. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
35. Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
36. The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman
37. Christine by Stephen King
38. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
39. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
40. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
41. The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty
42. A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
43. Complete Novels by Dawn Powell
44. The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton
45. Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker
46. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
47. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
48. Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac
49. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
50. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
51. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
52. Cujo by Stephen King
53. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
54. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
55. David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D
56. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
57. The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown
58. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
59. Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
60. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
61. Deenie by Judy Blume
62. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
63. The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
64. The Divine Comedy by Dante
65. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
66. Don Quixote by Cervantes
67. Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
68. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
69. Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
70. Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
71. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
72. Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
73. Eloise by Kay Thompson
74. Emily the Strange by Roger Reger
75. Emma by Jane Austen
76. Empire Falls by Richard Russo
77. Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
78. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
79. Ethics by Spinoza
80. Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves
81. Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
82. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
83. Extravagance by Gary Krist
84. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
85. Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore
86. The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan
87. Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser
88. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
89. The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
90. Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein
91. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
92. Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce
93. Fletch by Gregory McDonald
94. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
95. The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
96. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
97. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
98. Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
99. Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
100. Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
101. Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
102. George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg
103. Gidget by Fredrick Kohner
104. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
105. The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
106. The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo
107. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
108. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky
109. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
110. The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
111. The Gospel According to Judy Bloom
112. The Graduate by Charles Webb
113. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
114. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
115. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
116. The Group by Mary McCarthy
117. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
118. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
119. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
120. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
121. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
122. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry
123. Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare
124. Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare
125. Henry V by William Shakespeare
126. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
127. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
128. Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
129. The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton
130. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
131. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
132. How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringe
133. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
134. How the Light Gets In by M. J. Hyland
135. Howl by Allen Ginsberg
136. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
137. The Iliad by Homer
138. I’m With the Band by Pamela des Barres
139. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
140. Inferno by Dante
141. Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
142. Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy
143. It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton
144. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
145. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
146. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
147. The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
148. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
149. Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
150. The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
151. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
152. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
153. Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence
154. The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal
155. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
156. The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield
157. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
158. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
159. Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
160. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
161. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
162. The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway
163. The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
164. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
165. Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
166. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
167. The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
168. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
169. The Love Story by Erich Segal
170. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
171. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
172. The Manticore by Robertson Davies
173. Marathon Man by William Goldman
174. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
175. Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir
176. Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman
177. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
178. The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
179. Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken
180. The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
181. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
182. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
183. The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
184. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
185. The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin
186. Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor
187. A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman
188. Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret
189. A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars
190. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
191. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
192. Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
193. My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh
194. My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken
195. My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest
196. Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo
197. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
198. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
199. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
200. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
201. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
202. Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen
203. New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
204. The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
205. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
206. Night by Elie Wiesel
207. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
208. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan
209. Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
210. Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski
211. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
212. Old School by Tobias Wolff
213. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
214. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
215. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
216. The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
217. Oracle Night by Paul Auster
218. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
219. Othello by Shakespeare
220. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
221. The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
222. Out of Africa by Isac Dineson
223. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
224. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
225. The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan
226. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
227. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
228. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
229. Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington
230. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
231. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
232. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
233. The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
234. The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche
235. The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind
236. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
237. Property by Valerie Martin
238. Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon
239. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
240. Quattrocento by James Mckean
241. A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
242. Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers
243. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
244. The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
245. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
246. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
247. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
248. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
249. Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
250. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
251. R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton
252. Rita Hayworth by Stephen King
253. Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert
254. Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton
255. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
256. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
257. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
258. Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
259. The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition
260. Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
261. Sanctuary by William Faulkner
262. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
263. Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James
264. The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum
265. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
266. Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
267. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
268. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
269. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
270. Selected Hotels of Europe
271. Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell
272. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
273. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
274. Several Biographies of Winston Churchill
275. Sexus by Henry Miller
276. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
277. Shane by Jack Shaefer
278. The Shining by Stephen King
279. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
280. S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton
281. Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut
282. Small Island by Andrea Levy
283. Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
284. Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers
285. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore
286. The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
287. Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos
288. The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
289. Songbook by Nick Hornby
290. The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
291. Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
292. Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
293. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
294. Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
295. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
296. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
297. A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams
298. Stuart Little by E. B. White
299. Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
300. Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
301. Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett
302. Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber
303. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
304. Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
305. Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
306. Time and Again by Jack Finney
307. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
308. To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
309. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
310. The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare
311. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
312. The Trial by Franz Kafka
313. The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
314. Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
315. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
316. Ulysses by James Joyce
317. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath
318. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
319. Unless by Carol Shields
320. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
321. The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers
322. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
323. Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard
324. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
325. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
326. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
327. Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten
328. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
329. We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker
330. What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles
331. What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell
332. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
333. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
334. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
335. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
336. The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
337. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
338. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
339. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

47/339

Spring/Summer 2014 Challenge

via

I've talked about the College Students! challenges before and I'm super excited because a new one has just been posted! As you may remember, I was not enthused by the Fall/Winter Challenge so I have been anxiously awaiting the new tasks and I couldn't be happier with some of the topics. I've added a new tab up yonder to keep you updated on my progress so check in when you feel like it. I would also love to have anyone join in via me or the goodreads group. Let me know if you do!

Here are the rules for the challenge as posted in the group:

1. This challenge will start April 1, 2014 (12:01 am EST) and will end at 11:59 pm on August 31, 2014.

2. All books read during the challenge dates, September through March, can count towards tasks. So, if you join in June, anything you read that FITS a task can count towards the challenge as long as you read it AFTER Apil 1st. If you are less than half way through a book BEFORE the challenge starts, you can use it for the challenge. If you are over the halfway point, you cannot use it for the challenge.

3. Books can only be used for one category.

4. Re-reads are fine, except where stated otherwise.

5. All books should be over 150 pages unless otherwise stated. If you read a book that is not quite 150 pages, please make sure that it for a lower point task and you are only able to read an "under 150 pages book" once. Please get an "ok" from us before you try and count an "under 150 pages book" for a task. The only exception is the Children's Book task (5.8). We will allow that one to be 100 pages.

6. To claim your points, you must post completed tasks in the "Leaderboard & Completed Tasks" thread. Please include the title, author, the task number it was for, and your total number of points to date. You can update your task list but we will not be checking those for your points. That is just for your records only.

7. If you have any doubts as to whether a book fits a particular challenge, please feel free to ask.

8. Above all, remember this challenge is supposed to be FUN, a good way to tackle some of your TBR list, and to expand your horizons.

9. Those that finish/win the challenge will be able to pick a task for the Fall/Winter 2014/2015 Challenge.

10. Most Important: HAVE FUN! 

Easy peasy, right? Usually I make a fancy colorful spreadsheet to keep track of my points but since I'm going to be posting on here, I'm going to forego that option. Some people choose to keep a list on the discussion board but I'm not one of those. Below are the tasks:

5 points:

1. I Still Believe in 398.2: Fairy tales and folklore, read a book that one would find in the library at this call number or book relating to books one would find at this call number.

2. May, June, July & August are all women's names: Read a book either written by someone with one of these names, about a character with one of these names, or one of these words appear in the title.

3. Garden Basics: Read a book with “garden” in the title or a garden on the cover.

4. Get Outdoors: Read a fiction or nonfiction book about being outdoors.

5. Spring Cleaning: Read a book that has been on your to be read list for more than 5 years (or if you don’t have any on there that long, then the book that has been on your list for the longest).

6. Road Trip: Read a book that takes place in a state or country/province/city/etc. you have never visited.

7. These Are a Few of My Favorite Things: Read a book about one of your favorite things, or re-read a favorite book.

8. Children's Book Week-April 12-18: Re-read your favorite childhood chapter book or read one you always wanted to read.

10 points:

1. World War I: July 28th marks the 100 year anniversary since the start of World War I. Read a fiction book set during World War I or read a non-fiction book about World War I.

2. (Hopefully not) Lost in Translation: Read a book that has been translated into your mother tongue.

3. HonoRORY Gilmore Girl: Read a book mentioned by or read by the character Rory from Gilmore Girls. There are a couple of lists on Goodreads and several blogs—just Google it.

4. Study Abroad: Read a book about someone visiting a foreign country.

5. PotterMORE: June 2014 marks 17 years of Harry Potter. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is officially a wizard adult! Time for a re-read? Or read something related to Harry Potter, such as a book about wizards, Merlin, or boarding schools.

6. Like a Virgin: Read a book by an author who is completely new to you.

7. What I Did on My Summer Vacation: Read a book related to something fun you'll be doing during the period of this reading challenge, and tell us what the fun thing was. If you don't have the time to get away, read a book related to something you'd like to have done or a book you think is a fun read.

8. April Fool’s Day: Read a book by an author who is using a pen name. (Like Robert Galbraith = J.K. Rowling.)

15 points:

1. National Karaoke Week: The last week of April is National Karaoke Week. Read a book that has song lyrics in the title or is about a singer.

2. Getting Medieval: Read a book set during the medieval period (476 - 1500), a book (or an anthology of writings) from that era, or a nonfiction work covering that time.

3. Summer Stock: Summer is a season when many theaters start producing shows, so celebrate by reading some plays. Since most full-length play scripts are only c. 50 pages long, read at least three full-length plays or an anthology of plays that is over 150 pages.

4. Trilogy: Start or finish a trilogy.

5. Blockbusters: Read a book that has been adapted into a movie and watch the movie; then say a bit about the adaptation—was it good? bad? faithful to the novel?

6. The Dictionary Challenge: Open a dictionary to a random page, and close your eyes, and put your finger on a word. Google books with that word in the title. If there aren't any, do it again till you find one. You learn new words AND you find new books, it's a win-win challenge.

7. Books about Books: Read a book deemed Metafiction or a book about how to read books or assist in the reading of specific books.

8. Bethany’s Task: Each participant should choose 3 books he/she wants to read, each over 300 pages. They will list the three books in a post on this thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... Then the next person to post on the thread gets to pick which of the three books will be read.

20 points:

1. Allison’s task: Wheel of Fortune: Read a book where the Wheel of Fortune letters RSTLNE all appear in the title and author's name. For example: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger or The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

2. Micklibrarian’s task: Vice or Virtue:
Read 2 books.

Book 1 - Must have the name of a vice, sin, or bad character trait in the title, subtitle or author's name. This could be a traditional sin, like Pride and Prejudice, or something more broad, like The Gambling Man. Note: the vice must be a noun, not an adjective.

Book 2 - Same thing, but with a virtue or something positive about the person. Examples: A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials, Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence, or Alias Grace.

25 points:

1. Research: Read a novel, then read a non-fiction work that connects to the subject matter. For example, read Moby-Dick, then read a book about whales or whaling.

2. Bizarre, Unique, and Special Holidays: Pick 2 holidays that will happen during the challenge from this list (http://holidayinsights.com/moreholida...) and read a book relating to the holiday. (Other bizarre holidays not listed are also ok, since Towel Day isn't actually on this list, and it is clearly the best holiday ever.

3. Art Smart: Read a biography or autobiography about a person who worked or is working in the fine arts (painting, sculpture, music, architecture, and poetry) and a novel set in the art world.

4. First and last: Pick an author who is no-longer alive (and is therefore done writing). Read their first book and their last book.

5. Vive la revolution!: The US and France both began revolutions in July, so read two books about any revolutions of your choice. They can be fiction or non-fiction and cover two revolutions or be two books about the same revolution.

6. Take A Vacation: For this task, we are going to build a vacation. Use this (http://www.random.org/dice/) to roll the die to see what you get. Set the die to roll 2 die at a time. For this first book, you will need to read a book set on that continent. The next roll will decide what kinds of things you will be doing on your vacation. You can only roll once.

Use this to roll the die:

Location:

1. North America
2. South America
3. Africa
4. Asia
5. Australia
6. Europe

1. History & Culture: Your vacation is all about experiencing the culture and history of a foreign land. Read a book that revolves around an important historical event or person or read a non-fiction book about anything history/culture related.
2. Cruise: Your vacation is all about having a nautical adventure. Read a book that mostly takes place on the water.
3. Romantic: Your vacation is all about having a romantic getaway. Read a book that is considered a "love story" or a romance.
4. Thrillseeker/Adventure: Your vacation is all about having an adventure. Read a book where the main character has some sort of planned/unplanned adventure or read an adventure novel.
5. Foodie Vacation: Your vacation is all about immersing yourself in the food and drink of the country you are in. Read a book where food is a central theme to the book –fiction or non-fiction.
6. Volunteer Work: Your vacation is all about experiencing another culture by helping its people. Read a book about somebody who is doing some sort of humanitarian work/missions work in a foreign country.

7. Classics, Old and New: Read a known classic and THEN read a book of Entertainment Weekly's List called "The New Classics:" The 100 Best Books of the Last 25 Years
(http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207...) After reading both write a tiny review in our thread about whether or not you think the "new" classic has the ability to stand the test of time.

8. Two Become One: For this challenge you are going to read two books—whatever you want. The caveat—the two books need to form a proper sentence. For example you might read "This Is Where I Leave You" and "Two Alone" by Sandra Brown as it makes the sentence – "This is where I leave you two alone" or you could read "I Am The Messenger" and "In a Sunburned Country" as it makes the sentence "I am the messenger in a sunburned country." It can be zany and nonsensical but it has to be a proper sentence.

As you can see, the higher the points, the harder the task/more books you have to read. Some of these are repeats of other challenges like 25. 6 but I really like these and they are worthy of being repeated. I find the hardest part of this challenge is determining which books fits best for which task. You'll find a lot of the books you read fit for various tasks but you have to choose the right one so another one can fit perfectly. There's some thinking involved!

I'm planning on predicting some books that I know I will read that will fit into various tasks and since I'm not using my spreadsheet, I will probably document them on the Challenge Page from above. I'll try to differentiate those so you know they aren't my final choice. I'm thinking I may include initial thoughts as well just to keep it interesting. Finally, I tend to "claim points" in big chunks rather than after every book because then I have the freedom to move books around with very little fuss.

I'm looking forward to earning points and would love if you'd join me! Also, let me know if you participate in any similar challenges!

Challenges

Challenges. I love 'em. I've already shared my love of goals with you and my love of challenges goes hand in hand with that. But I should specify, I really only love reading challenges or maybe dorky challenges between my siblings, my husband, and me (like who can do the most what in the shortest amount of time.) Even though it sounds bad, I'm not so big into personal growth challenges. Like weight loss challenges or cleaning challenges or self-improvement challenges. Yes, I need to do those but I'd rather you challenge me to read 100 books in a year or race my brother in flip cup. See what I mean about the type of challenges I enjoy?
*Sidenote: By the end of this paragraph, does the word challenges sound funny to anyone else yet?

Since this is a book blog, I'm obviously going to focus on my book challenges (even though I'm sure a select few of you would like to hear about my weird family challenges. Most of them end inappropriately so let's keep those to ourselves for now.) I discovered various challenges on Goodreads a few years back and have participated in a couple. I'm part of the 50, 75, and 100+ books a year challenges but those have lost some appeal for me because I can do those challenges easy and they only require listing what I've read. Boring.

My all-time favorite challenge that I've participated in is the College Students! reading challenge. In real life, I'm no longer a college student, le sigh. But this was the best challenge that I found so I stuck with it. And I even won the whole she-bang a few seasons ago! (Best part of challenges is #winning in case you didn't know. Don't give me all of that "it's the journey" crap. Winning is where it's at.)

Usually, I get really into the challenge and make a really intense spreadsheet to keep track of everything but not this season. Unfortunately, the most recent College Students! challenge has left me wanting more. I'm not sure whether it's because I didn't like many of the tasks (which I didn't) or if I just couldn't make my books fit into them (which I couldn't) or my overall lack of motivation (common problem) but something has slowed me down when it comes to participating. I have books that I could report for reporting sake and get the points but I don't really care. Not to mention someone already completed the Fall/Winter challenge like a month ago when it doesn't end until the end of March. I know I should keep participating but it kind of takes the competition and the fun out of it. Hmpf.

Buuuuuuuut-- Fall/Winter is almost over which means a new challenge shall begin soon! And I'm already kind of getting excited. I'm hoping for better tasks and that I will particpate more because I've really enjoyed it in the past. I'm also looking for lots of other reading challenges out there. I'm not so big on TBR challenges because the majority of the books I read come straight from there so I'm constantly working on it (how do y'all keep track of what to read if it's not on your TBR?!?!?) But I'm interested in other fun and unique challenges. 

Any suggestions? 

And is anyone interested in joining me in the Spring/Summer challenge? (College student or not :))