Sunday Salon: Reading, Read, To Read #11

Happy Sunday everyone! This week has found me challenge-happy! Are you a reading challenge addict? Do you want to be? What makes you more likely to sign up for a challenge? Is there anything a challenge host should or shouldn't do that might persuade you to join?

I've created SIX challenges this past week. And I'd love to tell you about them. First off, there is the It's The End of the World II Challenge. The link will tell you all about the challenge--how to sign up, what to read, and where to leave your links with reviews. (Reviews aren't required. (Blogs aren't required either). But it's nice to hear back which titles you've read...even if you don't talk about the books.) To read reviews from fellow participants, visit this link. You'll notice--if you're on the blog itself and not the feed--that I've dedicated some space on the sidebar (left side) for the challenge. Find lists of participants. Find links on sharing/reading reviews. So if you've signed up for the challenge. You should be able to always find where to go. Now, I haven't mentioned the other five challenges on this blog yet--probably one very good reason why no one has signed up...yet. (Okay, one other person has signed up, but I did a personal email invite there.)

These five challenges are being hosted at Mini-Challenges Hosted by Becky. The authors this go round are as follows: Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Anthony Trollope, Leo Tolstoy, Elizabeth Scott. The challenges vary in length--but some extend on into 2010. And these are "mini" challenges which means the magic number is two. Either two books, two movies, or one book and one movie. Of course, you can always go above and beyond. But two is all it takes to play along. Now, four, I'm sure you've noticed are classic authors. But one, Elizabeth Scott, is contemporary. I just love her YA books, and I think YOU will too.

Reading. Let's talk about favorites. I have had one of the BEST weeks ever. In the past ten days, I've read so many books that I'd classify as best-best-best. I have NO IDEA how I'm ever going to make a top five for the month of March. Seriously. So if you haven't caught every post, please check the archives (and links below). You might find your next read here! I certainly hope so!

What I read in a previous week, but reviewed this week:

Joe and Sparky Get New Wheels by Jamie Michalak. 2009. Candlewick Press. (Early Reader)
Zelda and Ivy: Keeping Secrets by Laura McGee Kvasnosky. 2009. Candlewick Press. (Early Reader)
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. 2009. Viking. 278 pages. (YA Realistic Fiction)
Fade by Lisa McMann. 2009. Simon & Schuster. 248 pages. (YA Fantasy)
TROPICAL SECRETS: HOLOCAUST REFUGEES IN CUBA. by Margarita Engle. 2009. (March 31, 2009 Pub.)Henry Holt. 198 pages.
The Passion of Mary-Margaret by Lisa Samson. Thomas Nelson Publishers. 313 pages.
Journey to the Well by Diana Wallis Taylor. Revell. 329 pages.
Classic Bible Storybook by Kenneth N. Taylor. Tyndale. 270 pages. (children's book)
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. 224 pages. (Adult/Classic)

What I read this past week and reviewed:

The Night Before St. Patrick's Day by Natasha Wing. Penguin. 2009.
Pajama Mamas by Kate Spohn. Random House. 2009. Random House.
Jacob Lawrence In the City by Susan Goldman Rubin. 2009. Chronicle Books.
Magritte's Imagination. By Susan Goldman Rubin. 2009. Chronicle Books.
In My Pond by Sara Gillingham. Chronicle Books. 2009.
The Forest of Hands and Feet by Carrie Ryan. 2009. Random House. (YA Fantasy/Dystopia/YA Romance/YA Suspense/YA Thriller) 310 pages.
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry. 2009. Bloomsbury 308 pages. (YA Fantasy/YA Romance)
The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck. 272 pages. (Adult/Classic)
Burning Bright by John Steinbeck. 128 pages. (Adult/Classic)
The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck. 304 pages. (Adult/Classic)
The Morgesons. Elizabeth Stoddard. 1862. 260 pages.

What I read this past week and haven't reviewed yet:

Chicken Soup by Jean Van Leeuwen. Illustrated by David Gavril. Harry N. Abrams. 2009. (May)
Scaredy Squirrel at Night by Melanie Watt. Kids Can Press. 2009. (February)
No Kisses, Please! by Hans Wilhelm. 2004. (Paperback release 2009) (Early Reader) Scholastic
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. 2004. Random House. (YA Fiction/YA Romance/Dystopia/War) 194 pages.
Graceling by Kristin Cashore. 2008. Harcourt. 471 pages. (YA Fantasy/YA Romance)
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams. St. Martin's Griffin. 224 pages. (YA Realistic Fiction)
Mansfield Park Revisited by Joan Aiken. Sourcebooks. 201.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame Smith.

What I've read and really really need to review:

None!

What I'm currently reading:

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (8 chapters in, or is it nine?)
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

What I'm semi-reading:

Riding by H.S. Cross (It's lost momentum.)
Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

What I've abandoned:

I'm considering abandoning Riding, but I'm not to that point yet. It's been four days since I last picked it up. It started off strong, I was hooked from the beginning. It had a good pace there for a while. It seemed to be moving along, going towards something. But I've got several hundred pages at least (maybe even four hundred) and it's just dragging--for me. The plot has been on a plateau for at least a hundred or two hundred pages. I can't tell that it's building to a climax at all. I hate to have gone this far and not finish, after all, it could turn around and finish off just as strong as it started. But I don't know if my patience is more or less than the average reader. Would an average reader give up on a book at this point?

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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