Karen Kingsbury Reading Challenge

 

January 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012

 

I love Karen Kingsbury and the inspiring books she writes. I searched for a reading challenge about her and I couldn't find one. So I decided to host one myself.

Rules:

• -Sign up by making a comment to this post.
• -Read at least 1 Karen Kingsbury book in the year of 2012.
• -If you have a blog, make a review post and link the post to this blog in a comment.

Or:

-If you don't have a blog, tell what you think about the book in a comment on this blog.

I will make a post every month for you to add comments to with the links to your reviews or with what you think about the book.

Note: Books you have already read, as long as you started them after the first day of 2012, do count.

For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

The Stephen King Challenge!

 

February 1, 2012 – No End Date

 

As far as I could determine, there are no other Stephen King challenges (yearly or perpetual) going on now. I know that Book Geek blog was hosting a perpetual challenge at one time, but I checked her blog and she has not been active since January of 2011 (hope everything is okay with her). I'm assuming that the challenge is no longer active. If I'm mistaken, feel free to let me know.

So...my friend Kate and I (Read 2 Review) were talking about doing a project together and we decided to host a Stephen King reading challenge! Since Stephen King has such a huge list of books, we decided to make this a perpetual challenge. I know, I know...you're thinking "perpetual? I never get motivated to complete perpetual challenges." Well, don't worry. We are going to have mini-challenges throughout the year with prizes and we will also have read-a-longs during the year as well. Kate had the idea for our first read-a-long...to read Carrie during prom season. Clever, right?! As far as the mini-challenges go, the first one will begin at the official start of this challenge, which is February 1, 2012, and the prize will be a brand new hard cover copy of Stephen King's newest novel, 11/22/63! The mini-challenge schedule will work as follows:

Feb | March | April -- mini-challenge
May | June | July -- mini-challenge
Aug | Sept | Oct -- mini-challenge
Nov | Dec -- free months

*November and December are free/non-mini-challenge months due to most of us being so busy during the holiday season.

The first mini-challenge will be to read books within certain themes. You will choose three themes and read three books that will fit each of the themes during the three month mini-challenge period. If you complete the three themed reads, you will be entered in the giveaway for the book, 11/22/63. A bonus entry will be given to any person who reads a fourth book that fits within the fourth left over theme.

Examples:
Fantasy/Post-Apocalyptic
i.e. The Stand, any book from the Gunslinger series, Under the Dome, The Eyes of the Dragon, The Talisman (with Peter Straub), Black House (with Peter Straub), 11/22/63
Ghosts/Hauntings
i.e. The Shining, Bag of Bones, Duma Key, It, Insomnia
Creatures--supernatural (werewolves, vampires, demons/devils, zombies, etc.) or other type (animals, aliens, etc.)
i.e. Salem's Lot, Needful Things, Cycle of the Werewolf, The Eyes of the Dragon, Dreamcatcher, Pet Sematary, Cell, Cujo, It, The Tommyknockers
the mind--psychic, psychological, possession, abuse, etc.
i.e. Misery, The Green Mile, Dolores Claiborne, Rose Madder, Carrie, Gerald's Game, The Dark Half, The Dead Zone, Desperation, The Regulators

You can also earn a bonus entry if you read a book of King short stories. The books of short stories are clearly marked in the list of King works listed below in the footer of the blog.

To summarize:

• Official start date is February 1, 2012 and lasts...forever! LOL! Stop when you've read all of King's books, could be two years from now, could be five years. Take a break any time or stop when you've had enough (although I'll never have enough of SK).
• Choose three themes from the list and read one book within each theme during the three month mini-challenge period (Feb., March, April) to receive one entry in the giveaway.
• For a bonus entry, choose one book in the left over theme and read it during the three month period.
• You can also receive a bonus entry if you read a book of SK short stories (you do not have to read the fourth themed book to get this entry).
• There will be a mini-challenge review page for you to link up your reviews. This will be the method we use to keep track of who completes the mini-challenge (and who earns the bonus entries). If you don't have a blog that you review books on, you can link to your reviews on Goodreads or leave your thoughts about the books in the comments (I will allow comments on the review page).

Giveaway rules: The winner will be chosen via random.org and must be a resident of the U.S. If the winner is not a U.S. resident, we will purchase the Stephen King book of your choice (under $10) from Better World Books (they ship free internationally) and have it shipped to you. This book will quite possibly be a gently used book.

The goal of this challenge is to, ultimately, read all of Stephen King's books. I have posted the complete list of his works in the footer section below. If you would like to embark on this journey with us, please sign-up in the linky below. If you have any questions, feel free to contact myself or Kate. Contact information can be found in the 'About' page.

For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Read & Resist Tucson

 

 

January 1, 2012 – January 31, 2013

Read! Resist!

By now, most people have heard about the 80+ (mostly Chicana/o) books and speeches that are forbidden from being taught in Tuscon, Arizona. The Mexican-American studies program has been effectively shut down after an ugly, racist, classist battle.

The list contains works by civil rights leaders, noted historians, Pulitzer Prize winners, National Book Award winners...even Shakespeare!

It's outrageous, and it's completely out of touch with the makeup of the Tucson student population, where minority students comprise up to 95% of the student body in some schools.

We can't just turn a blind eye to what's happening in Tucson.

Read & Resist Tucson is a yearlong reading challenge taking place from now until the end of January 2013. It's very informal: the only rule is that you read and review at least one book from the banned list, then add your link to the review database. You can read as many or as few as you want.
We need to get people talking about and celebrating these banned books.

Interested in reading/resisting? You can officially sign up for the reading challenge here. If you don't have a website to link back to, feel free to link to Twitter, Facebook, etc.

For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Read-A-Phrase Challenge

 

 

 

January 1, 2012 – December 1, 2012

Rules (such as they are):

--As the name of the challenge implies, your choice must be a phrase.(Phrase=A sequence of words intended to have meaning.)

I’m going to use the title of this challenge as my phrase this time. That makes 20 books for me to read.

--Any genre of fiction is allowed. Either print or ebooks. Any release date. The only two conditions are that you haven’t read the book before(this will help that TBR mountain I know you all have), and it should be at least 100 pages.

--You don’t have to select your books ahead of time. Even if you do, you can change your books as you go. Your books can crossover with other challenges.

--To join in, sign up with Mr. Linky below. (still trying to figure out how to do that one). For bloggers, please use a link to the post where you will be keeping track of the challenge. If you aren't a blogger, just add a comment with the phrase you plan to use.(finally figured out how to enable comments on this page)
--Reviews are not required, but if you want to do one and share the link with us, go for it.

--Challenge runs from January 1, 2012 - December 1, 2012

The reason I’m ending the challenge on Dec. 1^st is so that I have time to send out the prize in time for the winner to receive it by Christmas.

Yes, I said prize. Anyone who signs up for the challenge by June 25, 2012(my birthday), chooses a phrase that is at least 10 letters long(not counting any spaces), and completes the challenge by Dec. 1^st, will go into a drawing. The winner will be allowed to pick five books off a list I will be providing. I will get them shipped in time for the winner to have them as a Christmas gift. Sorry, US addresses only for this prize. I’m also thinking about a prize for the longest phrase completed.

For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Africa Reading Challenge

January 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012

Welcome to the Africa Reading Challenge.

I have absolutely no reason for hosting nor urging you to participate in this challenge save for the joy of discovering and reading African literature!
Here are the details:

Challenge Period

January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012

Region

The entire African continent, including its island-states, which are often overlooked. Please refer to this Wikipedia “list of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa”. Pre-colonial empires and regions are also included.

Reading Goal

5 books.  That’s it.  There will be no other levels.  Of course, participants are encouraged to read more than 5 books.  Eligible books include those which are written by African writers, or take place in Africa, or are concerned with Africans and with historical and contemporary African issues. Note that at least 3 books must be written by African writers.

Genres

• Fiction – novels, short stories, poetry, drama, children’s books.  Note: You can choose to read a number of individual and uncollected short stories.  In this case, 12 such stories would constitute 1 book.  Individual poems do not count but books of poetry do.
• Non-fiction – memoirs, autobiographies, history and current events

Reading Suggestions

• Cover at least two regions, pick from North Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa and Central Africa
• Include translated fiction from Arabic, Francophone and Lusophone literature
• You can mix classic and contemporary fiction
• If you are intend to read mostly non-fiction, then please include at least one book (out of the five) of fiction

I’m not inclined to push any reading philosophy, I would however like to encourage participants to broaden their knowledge of African literature. Broadly then:
For the novice, if you have not read any African lit or if you’ve read one book (E.g. Achebe’sThings Fall Apart):  I would advise a mix of at least two regions, two languages, classic and contemporary, with both male and female writers.  A sample reading list could be:

• Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (North Africa, Arabic, classic)
• Maps by Nuruddin Farah (East Africa)
• Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Southern Africa, contemporary)
• So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba (West Africa, classic, Francophone)
• Zoo City by Lauren Beukes (Southern Africa, contemporary, modern fantasy)

For the advanced reader of African literature:  perhaps there is some gap (country, region, language, theme, gender)  you want to fill or author(s) whose works you want to explore further?
You could also, for example:

• Read only collection/anthologies of short stories
• Stick to the literary tradition of one country
• Read only Lusophone literature
• Explore the literature of contemporary South Africa
• Read the books of North African countries of the Arab Spring
• Read wherever the urge takes you!

My suggestions notwithstanding, the most important thing is to have fun and to explore Africa through books.

Other Details

1. Overlap with other challenges is allowed.
2. E-books and audio books are allowed.
3. There is no need to make a list beforehand.  Although most of us love lists, don’t we?

To Sign up:

For those with blogs:  write a post on your blog about the challenge (with or without your list) and sign-up with the Mr Linky below using the direct URL of your sign-up post.
For those without blogs:  you can sign-up with your social media profile (Twitter, YouTube, Goodreads, Facebook or Shelfari).  Please make sure to use the URL of your profile page.  Alternatively, you can leave a comment  indicating  your intention to participate.

Reviews and Completion of Challenge

Reviews of books read are not required but are encouraged especially for those with blogs.  Please share your reviews with the rest of community the on Reviews Page.  If you do not have a blog and would like to guest review on this blog, then please feel free to contact me.
Likewise, completion posts are encouraged and you can share those on the Completion Page.

On Books and Reading Lists

Some classic African literature can be hard to find.  Please check your libraries and use inter-library loans if you have access to such services.  You will be able to do this challenge with the books currently available on the market.
I will publish lists of reading materials under various themes every Friday until I tire of the process.  Please contact me at kinnareadsATgmailDOTcom if you need any help.

Events

1. Ghanaian Literature Week – I have hosted this event for the past two years.  This year, I will move it up from November to probably August (pending an announcement). So you could save your GhanaLit reads for then.
2. Nigerian Literature Event – Amy will host this even again this year.  She will provide more details in due course
3. A new reading event – I’m toying with the idea of a South African Lit week or month.  I will decide soonest and let everyone know.  Or if anyone is interested in hosting this or any event, please do!

You can subscribe to this blog (see top of the right sidebar) to stay updated on this challenge.
That’s it.  Let’s enjoy reading for the 2012 Africa Reading Challenge.


For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.