Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Yep. Another book challenge...


I shall not tell a lie:  It's a little weird for me calling this challenge a "Summer Book Challenge" as I enter winter in the southern hemisphere.  But, whatevs. 

The challenge begins in June.  Dani and I are hosting a challenge (Read My Books) that begins in June too.  So, my real challenge was selecting books for these categories, based on the books sitting in my bookshelf at home.  I'm off to a good start...
June reading plan

Here's the categories, and here's my preliminary list:

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that is at least 150 pages long. -
10 points: Read a collection of short stories or essays. -
Beneath the Bonfire: Stories by Nickolas Butler
10 points: Read an adult fiction book written by an author who normally writes books for children. Examples: J. K. Rowling, Judy Blume, Suzanne Collins, Rick Riordan, etc. - Submitted by SCWBC15 finisher Kelly E. - I gave up on Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) after The Silkworm; still open to suggestions for this category. 
Tentatively selected: Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
15 points: Read a book set in Appalachia. - Submitted by SCWBC15 finisher Ericka B. (Try this list or this one for inspiration. And here’s a map if you have a book in mind and want to know if it fits the setting.) -
The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows
15 points: Don’t judge a book by its cover! Read a book with a cover you personally find unappealing. -
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
The book I own ~ this is the cover ~ unappealing enough that I've avoided reading it
20 points: Read a book that you have previously only seen the film (movie) of. - Submitted by SCWBC15 finisher Bevchen. - This was one of the more difficult categories for me to select.  Often, I choose to read a book before the movie.  Or, if I've seen the movie without reading the book, I rarely go back to the book...because the images of the movie are strong in my mind:  
25 points: Read a book with a punny title. The title can be a play on another book title, movie title or a common expression. Examples of such titles include Southern Discomfort, We'll Always Have Parrots or Bonefire of the Vanities. - Submitted by SCWBC15 finisher Jamie G. -
The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
30 points: Read a microhistory. (Try this list or this one for ideas.) -
Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas by Dale Carpenter
30 points: Read one book with a good word in the title, and one with a bad word. Note: This category is reeeeeeeally open-ended! Maybe you like turtles, so The Pearl that Broke Its Shell is a title with a "good" word. Similarly, the "bad" word could be a swear word or a literally negative word like “not” or “none,” or it could just be something you don’t like. Have fun with it! (Remember, you must read both books to get 30 points; this category is not worth 15 points per book.)
LOVE/HATE
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I've had many unsuccessful intentions to read this author; this book has been sitting on my shelf for over a year; now's a good time to finally open it...and Hate List by Jennifer Brown
40 points: Read two books that contain the same word in the title, but once in the singular and once in the plural. For example: Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter and The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer, or Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. (Remember, you must read both books to get 40 points; this category is not worth 20 points per book.)
Not Without My Sister: The True Story of Three Girls Violated and Betrayed by Those They Trusted by Kristina Jones, Celeste Jones, and Juliana Buhring  and  The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

What do you think of my list?  Are you participating in this challenge?

12 comments:

  1. I really want to read Dumplin' too, but I've tried reading Love in the Time of Cholera and it didn't go well, so I wish you luck!
    While I'm feeling brave, I'm going to join your challenge too, especially since that was what I was attempting to do with my list anyway!

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  2. I've picked a few books I already own for some of the categories so I can include those in your challenge as well.

    By the way, for your challenge do we have to submit a list of the books we intend to read in advance, or can I just read books I own and tell you at the end how many/which ones I managed to get through?

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  3. I'm so peeved that you haven't released your list yet for your challenge! Haha! I want some of my dang books to match up so I don't fail TOO miserably. Hahaha!

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  4. I am giddy with happiness to see The Sisters Brothers on your shelf. I'm not expecting you to love it like I did but I love that you're reading it anyway. Same with Dumplin'. And Beneath the Bonfire.

    Hate List is a hard book to get through at times, and for various reasons. I'm currently finishing up Sue Klebold's book and I don't know that I'll be able to read school shooting books the same way ever again.

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  5. That is one very odd cover... but it has the word "RUN" in it so that appeals to me :)

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  6. You have such a great list going! I was going back and forth about whether or not I wanted to try and do the challenge this time around, and I think that I'm just going to wait until your challenge starts in January. Hopefully it'll give me a chance to read some more books that have been sitting on my shelf for a while in June too!

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  7. Okay, I'm in! I'm excited to participate and little nervous because I had no books automatically come to mind in any of the categories. To be fair, I just woke-up and haven't had any coffee. :) So beyond picking my books in each category, all I need to is sign-up for your Facebook group - is that correct?

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  8. Dumplin and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas are both on my TBR and I cant wait to hear what you think of them.

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  9. I am still narrowing down my picks for this challenge - like you, I am trying to incorporate books from my own shelf to coincide with your own challenge!

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  10. I am still narrowing down my picks for this challenge - like you, I am trying to incorporate books from my own shelf to coincide with your own challenge!

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  11. hahaha it's still weird for me to think of it as summer as well, and i'm on the right side of the world lol. i am the same with movies, i rarely read the book afterwards. that boy in the striped pajamas though - holy moly that book ripped me to shreds. i didn't know it was a movie.

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  12. I still need to post my picks for this challenge! I think I pretty much have it narrowed down, but I've been pretty indecisive about the movie/book thing. I'm actually MORE interested in reading a book after I've seen the movie (especially if I didn't realize the screenplay was adapted from a novel) ... Well, assuming I liked the movie! I love to see how they differ. I do prefer to read the book first if I can, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way (because, like I said, half the time I didn't even realize the book existed). I could easily list at least 10 books I'd like to read that would work for this category!

    A bunch of these are on my "To Read" list, so I'm excited to see what you think of them! I'm also really trying to incorporate some books I own because I'm obviously participating in your Read My Books challenge. :-) Unfortunately, I think there are only like 4 I could use for Megan's challenge. Whomp whomp.

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