The Sunday Salon - Life for the Challenged.....

Since this is a Sunday Salon post, I'm going to fore go what I was actually going to post about today....life's challenges....and just stick with reading challenges. It's less depressing, you know?? I mean....when did life get so hard?? I can remember being little and wanting to be grown up so badly. I couldn't wait to be an adult. Now....all I can think about is why?? Life was so much easier when all I had to worry about was homework, friends, and boys. I know it was dramatic at the time, but it pales in comparison to jobs, kids, mortgages and layoffs!!


Enough with the depressing stuff. Let's talk about books!! I have a couple more challenges that I am going to sign up for.



I didn't join this challenge last year, but I just couldn't help myself this year. Some things are just too good to pass up. The 2009 Orbis Terrarum Challenge hosted by Bethany at B & b Libris is set to start on March 1. It runs until the end of the year (10 months), and this year has it's own blog. Besides the main challenge, there are going to be a few mini-challenges and even a bookswap of favorite reads!! The rules are:

1. Each reader chooses 10 books (for the ten months).
2. Each book must be from a different country (country of author)
3. You don't have to have a list.

Basically, 10 books from 10 different authors from 10 different countries.

I have a tentative list (but I always reserve the right to change my mind!)

• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
• A Dry White Season by Andre Brink (South Africa)
• War Trash by Ha Jin (China)
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami OR Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (Japan)
• The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar (India)
• The Secret River by Kate Grenville (Australia)
• The Bone People by Keri Hulme (New Zealand)
• The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara (Argentina)
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)
• Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (Norway)
• Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko (Russia)
• Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)

Some challenges are just too easy. I read a lot of Young Adult Fiction. And there are a lot of books I'd like to read this year. So, I joined the 2009 YA challenge last month. I just never created a list. Hosted by J. Kaye of J. Kaye's Book Blog , this challenge runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 of 2009. Basically, it's a book a month. 12 books will complete the challenge.

My (tentative) List:

• Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
• Hunted: A House of Night Novel (Book 5) by PC Cast and Kristin Cast
• Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
• Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
• The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle by L. J. Smith
• Midnight Alley: Morganville Vampires (Book 3) by Rachel Caine
• A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Paper Towns by John Green
• The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Finally, I love lists. I love to read lists. I love to make lists. (I don't always FINISH my lists, but so be it!) For that reason, I'm joining the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels perpetual Challenge. Every time I see the Modern Library "Lists", I always say, "I have to read all those books someday". So I thought I'd join in the challenge. It's perpetual. No time limit. The Challenge is hosted by Sharon from Ex Libris.

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In reading news, I am just finishing up Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. Not sure I liked it as well as some other reviews I've read....but I'm not done yet!! I also just started an ARC of Lisa Jackson's newest book, Wicked Game. Who knows where I will go after that!

Happy Sunday (a little late) and Happy Reading!!