2010 Reading Challenges

I’m copying what I’ve seen done on many a blog and keeping track of my challenges here. It isn’t all that extensive so far, just the two three four in total, but you never know what I might add to so best to be prepared.

>




I also have my own personal reading challenge this year, and that to read more non-fiction is 2010. So far I’ve read:

  • A primate’s memoir by Robert M. Sapolsky ; 10 star memoir of a biologist researching baboons in Kenya, and along the way discovering himself & so many African cultures.
  • Marley & Me by John Grogan ; well-written, if not great, story of one family & their irrepressible labrador.
  • A good dog by Jon Katz ; the very honest story of one man’s attempt to rehabilitate a “crazy” border collie.
  • Columbine by Dave Cullen ; well told investigation into the Columbine high school shooting. Occasionally graphic, but never overly sentimental.
  • Wedlock by Wendy Moore ; a book to make me so glad I live in modern Ireland where Georgian ideas about the status(or lack thereof) of women are long gone.

1920s Mini challenge

1920's Mini challenge

And I’ve just signed up for Nymeth’s 1930’s Mini Challenge. I don’t have any books in mind at the moment, but I’m sure something will show up.

The rules are:
* Three months (April 18th – July 18th);
* You’d only need to read a minimum of one book, though you’d of course be welcome to read more than one;
* No need for a sign-up post or a reading list;
* Just enter your name, read your book(s), and then come back and leave me a link to your post about what you’ve read.
You can check out the list of books read/reviewed here

I’ve finally read my first book for this challenge:

5 Responses

  1. Fence says:

    <spoiler>testung the spoilers</spoiler>

  2. weenie says:

    Hmm…never really thought of a reading challenge before, although I personally try to read at least 25 books a year, that's a good innings for me! I too try to read more non-fiction but one a year is enough!

  3. P Segal says:

    I thought that this would be as good a place as any to post my thanks for your link to my blog, Femme Noir. I've only been doing this blog thing for a year, and I'm still not sure how to do anything in the world of online connectivity, but I'm going to put in a link to your page, which is wonderfully amusing. I did read to the bottom of the new facts about you, and congratulations on your upcoming marriage! As for my own reading challenge, I spent a few weeks this month finally reading Tolstoy's amazing War and Peace. I read a lot, close to 100 books a year– but I also don't have a TV, and spend a lot of time on public transit, so it's not that hard. I used to have a rule of thumb: read three mysteries, and one piece of actual literature, in which no one gets bumped off, before I get another mystery. Ever since I started this blog thing, it's become more like 10 mysteries to every serious literary work, and lately I've decided to finally read all the "great books" I never got around to before to make up for this indulgence. War and Peace was so compelling that I got behind in everything else in my life to finish it. It takes 200 pages to figure out who all these characters are, without looking back at the character list in the front; the last 50 pages are in essay form, about the nature of power and history, and getting through those took me almost as long as the other 1400 pages, where, of course, lots of people get bumped off, but there is no mystery there.

    Anyway, thanks for your link!

    P Segal

    Femme Noir dot org

    • Fence says:

      I tried to read War & Peace years ago, I think I was 16 or 17, did not have the patience for it. But I do hope to return to it some day.

      And you are very welcome :) I always like to link to at least on other review when I talk about a book, often the other reviewer will disagree with me, or at least have a different point of view, or sometimes just because I liked the review. Plus it is a great way of meeting more book bloggers.

      I don't read a whole lot of mysteries, or at least, I didn't used to. This year I think I'm way up on my mystery average, and I'm really enjoying them.

Leave a Reply to P Segal Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.