Book Challenges

I've had the joy this year of doing my first ever Book Challenge (for a year's time). It's been such fun, and sometimes tricky as I do my hardest to work every non-children's book (all right, I OKed children's books as long as they over 100 pages) into the varying categories. A couple of weeks ago, I managed to complete every category. Amazing! And I'm still going, as categories can have more than one book. My point total is over 700 I think.

These are the categories if you are interested. I know it's a little late in the year to get started. But if you use the ever-wonderful website GoodReads, it shouldn't be too hard to fill in.

5 points
1)For Valentines Day: read a book with the word heart or love in it.
2)For Saint Patty’s day: read a book set in Ireland, is by an Irish author, or whose main character is Irish.
3)read a classic
4)Read a book by an author you've never read before
5)Read a memoir
6)March is National Women's History Month so read a book where a woman is the main character
7)Read a book set during a time of conflict
8)read a book with any kind of food/drink in the title
9) read a book written in the last 5 years
10) Read a book that you already own
10 points
1)read a book with the name of a month in it.
2) read a book with an author that has same birthday month as you
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art10953.asp
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/authordate.html
3)read a book with either the word “school”,“class”, "college", "university" or "teacher" in it.
4)read a book and then watch the movie adaptation
5) read a book that involves a medical condition (physical, mental, emotional)
6)read a book with a one word title
7)read a book with the name of a country, state, or city in it.
8) read a banned/challenged book
9) read a book set in a place you've always wanted to visit/live
10)read a book written by someone of your same heritage (i.e. Belgian, Swiss, whatever)
15 points
1) read a book that has a college student as the main character or is a person that is near your age
2) read a book from an author that was born/or had lived in your state/geographical area
3) read a book about/relating to the particular field of study you are in/were in
4) Read a book written by a GoodReads author
5) Read a book about a person you admire
6) Read a book about a subject you wish you could have studied in school
7) read a book by an author you hate (Maybe you just got turned off by one book and he/she is actually a good author... you might have just read the one bad book? Or maybe your hatred is warranted.. either way you'll know for sure)
8) read that book you were supposed to read in high school but instead used SparkNotes(I never used SparkNotes—or Cliff Notes! But here’s a book I should have read and didn’t)
25 points
1)book with over 700 pages
2) read a book with your name in the title or is by an author with your same name.
3)read a book about a different religion than you are
4) read a book that you would normally never consider picking up (something daunting, something that is a genre you hate. Etc.)

The other day, I noticed someone was doing an A to Z Challenge. So I looked up and there were a couple of different kinds. Thus, I made up my own! (Title of each book for each letter in alphabet, and title of author's last name for each letter of alphabet.) It was fun to see what books I've read so far this year that fit the Title and Author categories. But then I figured it would be more fun to see the points I racked up, considering there were some letters well read, some very much not, and a disadvantage at reading multiple works by one author. For the scoring system, I decided to use the point value that Scrabble assigns to letters. And then, just for randomness, add an additional point for each book and author that begins with the letters of your first and last names. Confused?

OK. Make a title list of A through Z, and put your corresponding books to their corresponding first letters. Then make an author list of A through Z, and put your corresponding books to their corresponding first letters of authors' last names.

Here is your scoring system:

1 point: A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T, U
2 points: D, G
3 points: B, C, M, P
4 points: F, H, V, W, Y
5 points: K
8 points: J, X
10 points: Q, Z

And for Bonus:
Take the first letters of your first and last name. Add one point each for each book under the title list and each book under the author list that corresponds to those 2 letters.

Tally your points!

Still confused? Yeah. It probably is. The only reason I made all this up was because I was trying to pass half an hour without falling asleep, and I felt it should be book related. :-) Plus, I learned a lot about common letters in the English language. More than I'd ever want to know.

Anywho. Here are my results (points in bold)...so far. After all--I'm still reading!

TITLE LIST
A: Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox – Eoin Colfer; The Adoration of Jenna Fox – Mary E. Pearson; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll; All-American Girl – Meg Cabot; Al Capone Does my Shirts – Jennifer Choldenko
5
B: Bloody Jack – Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy – L.A. Meyer; Before We Were Free – Julia Alvarez; The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – John Boyne; The Bad Beginning – Lemony Snicket; The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
15
C: Cream Puff Murder – Joanne Fluke; Carrot Cake Murder – Joanne Fluke; Counting on Grace – Elizabeth Winthrop; Chocolate Fever – Robert Kimmel Smith; Cold Sassy Tree – Olive Ann Burns; Charles & Emma – Deborah Heiligman; Call It Courage – Armstrong Sperry; A Curse Dark as Gold – Elizabeth C. Bunce; Catherine, Called Birdy – Karen Cushman; Cheaper by the Dozen – Frank M. Gilbreth, Jr.
30
D: Dragon Rider – Cornelia Funke; Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World – Vicki Myron
4
E: Enna Burning – Shannon Hale; Everything on a Waffle – Polly Horvath; Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine; Elijah of Buxton – Christopher Paul Curtis
4
F: The Five Love Languages: Singles Edition – Gary Chapman; The Fire-Eaters – David Almond; For One More Day – Mitch Albom; Frindle – Andrew Clements
16
G: The Goose Girl – Shannon Hale; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows; The Giver – Lois Lowry
6
H: Hope Was Here – Joan Bauer; Here Lies the Librarian – Richard Peck; Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Jamie Ford; Heidi – Johanna Spyri
16 + 4
I: I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You – Ally Carter; If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn’t Be Hard – Sheri Dew; Inkheart – Cornelia Funke; Ida B – Katherine Hannigan; Impossible ­– Nancy Werlin; Incantation – Alice Hoffman
6
J:
0
K: Key Lime Pie Murder – Joanne Fluke
5
L: The Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan; The Little White Horse – Elizabeth Goudge; London Calling – Edward Bloor; Looking for Anne of Green Gables – Irene Gammel; Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy – Gary D. Schmidt; The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch; The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen ­– Syrie James
7
M: Maggie’s Door – Patricia Reilly Giff; Marley & Me – John Grogan; Matilda – Roald Dahl; Meet Me in St. Louis – Sally Benson; Misty of Chincoteague – Marguerite Henry; My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult; The Man in the Picture – Susan Hill; Marie, Dancing – Carolyn Meyer; Mao: The Unknown Story – Jung Chung
27
N: Nory Ryan’s Song ­– Patricia Reilly Giff; North of Beautiful –by Justina Chen Headley; Newes from the Dead – Mary Hooper
3
O: One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and His Brave Black Regiment – Peter Burchard; Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
2
P: Peter Pan – J.M. Barrie; Peace like a River – Leif Enger; Personal Revelation: How to Recognize Promptings of the Spirit – JoAnn Hibbert Hamilton; Poppy – Avi
12
Q:
0
R: River Secrets ­­– Shannon Hale; Remember this Titan: The Bill Yoast Story: Lessons Learned from a Celebrated Coach's Journey – Bill Yoast, Jr.; The Redemption of Sarah Cain – Beverly Lewis
3
S: September Sisters – Jillian Cantor; Snow Falling in Spring: Coming of Age in China during the Cultural Revolution – Moying Li-Marcus; Shakespeare’s Secret – Elise Broach; Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie – David Lubar
4
T: Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says about Us) – Tom Vanderbilt; Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher; The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts – Richard Peck; The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield; Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll
5 + 5
U:
0
V:
0
W: Who Moved My Cheese? – Spencer Johnson; Where Death and Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry – Russell Duncan; Wings – Aprilynne Pike
12
X:
0
Y:
0
Z:
0

Total: 191

AUTHOR LIST
A: David Almond; Julia Alvarez; Mitch Albom; Jay Asher; Avi
5
B: J.M. Barrie; Joan Bauer; John Boyne; Olive Ann Burns; Sally Benson; Edward Bloor; Elise Broach; Elizabeth C. Bunce; Peter Burchard
27
C: Ally Carter; Gary Chapman; Jillian Cantor; Eoin Colfer; Andrew Clements; Christopher Paul Curtis; Lewis Carroll; Jung Chung; Karen Cushman; Meg Cabot; Jennifer Choldenko
33
D: Sheri Dew; Roald Dahl; Russell Duncan; Charles Dickens
8
E: Leif Enger
1
F: Joanne Fluke; Cornelia Funke; Jamie Ford
12
G: Patricia Reilly Giff; John Grogan; Elizabeth Goudge; Irene Gammel; Frank M. Gilbreth, Jr.
10
H: Shannon Hale; Polly Horvath; JoAnn Hibbert Hamilton; Katherine Hannigan; Alice Hoffman; Marguerite Henry; Deborah Heiligman; Justina Chen Headley; Mary Hooper; Susan Hill
40 + 10
I:
0
J: Spencer Johnson; Syrie James
16
K:
0
L: Gail Carson Levine; Lois Lowry; Moying Li-Marcus; Beverly Lewis; David Lubar
5
M: L.A. Meyer; Vicki Myron; Carolyn Meyer
9
N:
0
O:
0
P: Richard Peck; Jodi Picoult; Randy Pausch; Mary E. Pearson; Aprilynne Pike
15
Q:
0
R: Rick Riordan
1
S: Mary Ann Shaffer; Robert Kimmel Smith; Lemony Snicket; Armstrong Sperry; Gary D. Schmidt; Diane Setterfield; Johanna Spyri
7
T:
0 + 0
U:
0
V: Tom Vanderbilt
4
W: Elizabeth Winthrop; Nancy Werlin
8
X:

0
Y: Bill Yoast, Jr.
4
Z: Marcus Zusak
10

Total: 225

Grand Total: 416