Reading Challenges and More Shoulder Woes

It's official. I've completely lost my mind. Not only am I signing up for another challenge.....I'm signing up for 3!! Nuts, I tell you. My name is Stephanie and I'm a Challenge Addict! I seem to be struggling to keep up with the challenges I've already committed to. Man. I need my head examined. But they just seemed to fun to pass up! So....in no particular order, here they are:

The 1% Well-Read Challenge is hosted by the lovely Michelle from 1 More Chapter. I LOVE the concept of this one. "The goal of this challenge is to read 10 books in 10 months from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. For you non-math people, 10 out of 1001 is approximately 1%, hence the title. The challenge will run from May 1, 2008 through February 28, 2009." Go Here to sign up! I actually thought I WAS fairly well-read until I read this list. Apparently, I'm not!! Out of 1001, I have only read 38. Wow. That is not a big number at all!! Most of the ones I've read are Classics too. So....trying to get a big variety, I opted for books in all the centuries (except the pre-1700's!) And, as always, I reserve the right to change this list!

The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coehlo

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Choke by Chuck Pahlanuik

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

Less Than Zero by Brett Easton Ellis

The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

Far From the Maddening Crowd by Thomas Hardy

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Monk by M. G. Lewis

That's 10. I could have listed, like, 100 more!! But we'll take some baby steps here.

Maggie, from Maggie Reads, is once again hosting the Southern Reading Challenge. I participated last year, but didn't finish. I'd love to actually complete my list this year!!

The rules are easy. 3 Southern Setting Books by 3 Southern authors in 3 Months (May 15 - August 15). Sound like fun?? But, of course!!

You would think that only picking 3 books would be easy. But it's not. Southern Literature encompasses a lot of books, and it was horrible trying to narrow down the list.

The Little Friend by Donna Tart

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Dead Sleep by Greg Iles

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  And finally, The Chick Lit Challenge. I don't read much "Chick Lit" any more. I used to bury myself in it. Truthfully, I usually like my books with a little more meat in them. Most Chick Lit is light and fluffy. But I have shelves of it taking up space in my house. And it really is a great way to relax. With the summer months coming up, I can always use a light read, so I thought I would join. Hosted by Journey to the End of my TBR (love the name!) it's only 3 books. Figured this challenge would motivate me to purge some things from my books shelves!! Here are my selections:
  
  The Pact by Jennifer Sturman
• Tall Poppies by Louise Bagshawe
• The Givenchy Code by Julie Kenner

OK....enough with the challenges! In other random thoughts, I went to my Dr's appointment yesterday. He gave me the results of my MRI. I have a "frayed" rotator cuff. Not as bad as a complete hole in the cuff, but still kind of nasty. The worst part of it is that I have tons of fluid in the bursa, and a bit of arthritis near the collar bone. His recommendation is surgery. Ack. I did NOT want to hear that. He said I could try the steroid injections, but with an injury this bad, the chances of it working are only about 30%. I don't really like those odds. But the recovery time for surgery is about 3 months. At least 6 weeks off work. Right now, I can't really afford to be off that long. And we are so short-staffed, it would kill them to have me gone for that long. So.....I think I might see if the injections will give me a bit of relief, and worry about the surgery after summer is over. But that's how I feel today....who knows tomorrow!! I have decided I really am too young to be feeling this much pain all the time. Decisions, decisions. What's a girl to do??