Spice of Life Reading Challenge

July 1-December 31, 2009

This challenge is hosted by Rebecca Reid. Here is how she explains the challenge:

I like to read and I also like to cook. I’m quite the amateur when it comes to cooking, but I certainly appreciate a good meal. Nevertheless, I wanted to put my two hobbies together.

The Spice of Life Challenge, then, deals with something we all like, at least to some extent: food. Although it crosses over with some challenges that happened in the past, it is a new chance to read some of those books that you love to get to and to share them with others.

Here are the categories:

Cookbooks share recipes so we can recreate delicious meals. To count a cookbook for the challenge, please share a little bit about what types of recipes it contains, any of the favorites that you may have cooked, and what you liked or not about it. You obviously don’t have to read every page of a cook book or cook every recipe.

Nonfiction books are about food in general, including history of any food, cooking and diet guides, and reference books. For reference books, as for cookbooks, you may not need to read every word.

Memoirs, autobiographies, or essays are written by cooks or the everyday eater and are about learning to cook or about cooking or eating in general.

Fiction captures the significance of food in our lives by making food a main part of the story. Define this as you will: if food is important to the story, it counts!

Participants may choose from several levels of participation:

• A Taste: Joining the Spice of Life Challenge for “a taste” means that, although you love food and you love books about food, just a taste of food books will satisfy you right now. You’ll read and review just read two books from any of two of the above categories (different categories).
• A Sampler: Joining the Spice of Life Challenge for “a sampler” means that you want to balance your food book diet with variety, for variety is the spice of life. You will read and review a book from each category for a total of four books.
• A Feast: Joining the Spice of Life Challenge for “a feast” means that you want to fill yourself with good food books of all kinds this year! You will read and review six to eight books from at least three of the above categories.

To find out more or to participate go to, Spice of Life Reading Challenge.

Everything Austen Challenge

July 1, 2009 - January 1, 2010

Stephanie at Stephanie's Written Word is hosting the Everything Austen Challenge. All you need to do is pick out what six Austen-themed things you want to finish to complete the challenge.

Stephanie writes:

[...]you know I have a fondness for all things Austen. There are plenty of books and movies available to satisfy any Austen fan. Whether it’s a novel about the Bennet sisters fighting zombies, a TV mini-series in which a modern day British girl swaps places with Elizabeth Bennet or Colin Firth’s unforgettable portrayal of Darcy, Austen is all around us. Even if you haven’t read any of Jane Austen’s novels, mostly likely you’ve seen some of the movies or heard about all the Austen-themed books available today.

Grab one of the challenge buttons on the post about the challenge, and write a post detailing what six Austen-themed things you are going to do over the next six months.

If you post about the Everything Austen Challenge on your blog and sign up with Mr. Linky by July 15th you will be eligible to win a great prize (details on the challenge post!!)

Want to learn more and sign up? Visit the post about the challenge.

What an Animal II Challenge

July 1, 2009 - February 28, 2010

Kristy at Passion for the Page is hosting part II of the What An Animal Challenge.

The rules for the What an Animal II Challenge are the same as the original What an Animal Challenge:

1. Read at least 6 books that have any of the following requirements:


a. there is an animal in the title of the book

b. there is an animal on the cover of the book

c. an animal plays a major role
d. a main character is (or turns into) an animal (define that however you'd like

2. The animal can be any type of animal (real or fictitious)--dog, cat, monkey, wolf, snake, insect, hedgehog, aardvark...dragon, mermaid, centaur, vampire, werewolf...you get the idea...


3. Challenge runs from July 1, 2009 to February 28, 2010. That’s 8 months to read at least 6 books (you can read more if you’d like). You can still sign up after July 1st as long as you can get 6 books read by February 28th

4. Books can be fiction or nonfiction.


5. You may make a list of books at the beginning of the challenge or you can just list them as you find them.


6. Book titles may be swapped out at anytime (assuming you made a list to begin with).


7. Crossovers with other challenges are permitted and encouraged.


8. You don't have to have a blog or write a review, but you can if you want to.


To sign up and learn more, visit the post about the challenge.

Christmas in July

July 1 - August 31, 2009

Book Dragon's Lair is hosting the Christmas in July challenge.

The guidelines:

1. Read as many books as you can. A list would be nice but not necessary and is not written in stone (or even pen).
2. Overlaps with other challenges are acceptable.
3. Blog about the challenge (with a link back to the post about the challenge) then sign up. When you sign up, link to your challenge post, not your blog, unless we can easily find the link on your site.
4. You do not need your own blog to join the challenge, just comment on the post about the challenge.
5. You do not need to review your books but it would be nice. You could just post what book you read and a bit about it.
6. Visit Book Dragon's Lair the first week of September when you can comment with your wrap up post.

There may be prizes...

To sign up and learn more, visit the post about the challenge.

Cat Sleuth Challenge

July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010

Hosted by the Book Dragon's Lair, the Cat Sleuth Challenge encourages participants to read 12 cat sleuth books from four different authors.

Here are the guidelines:

1. Read 12 Cat Sleuth books from at least 4 different authors. A list would be nice but not necessary and is not written in stone (or even pen).
2. Overlaps with other challenges are purrfectly acceptable.
3. Blog about the challenge (with a link back to the post about the challenge) then sign up. When you sign up, link to your challenge post, not your blog, unless we can easily find the link on your site.
4. You do not need your own blog to join the challenge, you can do all your challenge related posts at the dedicated blog. Email me Book Dragons Lair (details on site) after you've sign-up to be added to the challenge blog.
5. You do not need to review your books but it would be nice. You could just post what book you read and a bit about it.

There may be prizes...

To sign up with Mr. Linky and learn more, visit the post about the challenge.

Another Award...

A belated thank you to the lovely Molly at My Cozy Book Nook for awarding A Novel Challenge blog with the Enchanted Blog Award.

The blog has to show only one characteristic, caring.

Molly writes:

I would like to share this award with the following bloggers because their dedication to the blogging community is clearly evident [...]

And in the comments here, she added:

I just can't tell you how much of a resource this blog has been to me. That is why I wanted to give you the "enchanted" award -- for all the hard work you do and the valuable service you provide.

Molly - it is my pleasure and also now Teddy's, to share reading challenges with our fellow bloggers...and we value your patronage here!! Thank you so much for this recognition.

For those of you who have not yet visited Molly's blog, I hope you'll stop by soon and say hello to her!

"Read Em' Yet?" Wednesday EVENT

Weekly Event hosted by True Harbor

Veronika at True Harbor is hosting a new weekly event on Wednesdays. "Read 'Em Yet?" Wednesday will:

[...]feature an author, classic or modern, traditional or experimental, that you may or may not have read yet. There will be plenty of links, samples, prizes (oop! Did I say prizes?), and challenges for everyone [...]

Stop by Veronika's blog each Wednesday to play!

Infinite Summer Reading Challenge

June 21 - September 22, 2009

The Morning News is hosting the Infinite Summer Reading Challenge - a challenge to read the 1000 page book Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace over the summer months. Four writers who have never before read Infinite Jest will do so for the duration of Infinite Summer. And each will be posting at the challenge site weekly to report on their thoughts and progress, and promote and facilitate discussion. There is a tentative reading schedule to keep readers on track.

The Morning News has set up forums, a Facebook page, and more - visit THIS PAGE on their site for all the links.

Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge

July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010

Beth at Beth Fish Reads is hosting the Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge - a challenge designed to encourage readers to read all of the Sookie Stackhouse books. Beth writes:

Here's your chance to catch up on Sookie and all her friends -- living and undead, fully human and not.

It's easy, it's fun, it's for you! And you have an entire year to complete the challenge.

The rules:

• Between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010, catch up on Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series. No matter if you're starting with book 1 or book 8, you have a year to read all about Sookie. Read Sookie in print, listen to the audio, read an eBook -- format is not an issue.
• Sign up using Mr. Linky on the post about the challenge.
• After July 4, Beth will create a post with another Mr. Linky where you can link your reviews so everyone can read them track your progress.
• If you don't have a blog and want to join in, sign up in the comments on the post about the challenge. Later, let us know about your progress by leaving comments on the review link page.

Want to learn more? Beth has a list of the books on the post about the challenge.

Summer Lovin' Challenge

June 21 - September 21, 2009

Jules from Jules' Book Reviews is hosting the Summer Lovin' Challenge which encourages readers to re-read their favorite books over the summer months. Jules writes:

If you are like me, then you have a lot of book sitting on your shelves that you absolutely loved, and keep telling your self, you should read it again. But that ever growing TBR list keeps getting in your way.

NOW, here's your chance, this challenge is made just for that! Go to your bookshelves or library and pick some of your most loved books you've already read and grab your favourite cold drink, and dive into those great stories!

The rules are simple:

• Pick a number of your favourite books to read over the summer.
• Create a list and blog post, then use Mr. Linky on the post about the challenge to link your post to the challenge.
• Book choices do not have to be set in stone, you can change your choices at any time.
• Books can be in any format and can be used with other challenges.
• Books can also be any reading level, from children's books, young adults to dictionaries. If it was one of your favourite books then read it!
• Read (or listen) to your books and write a review about it. If you already reviewed it on your blog in the past, write a quick post about why you chose to re-read it. Link to your original review.
• Choose three blogger friends to recommend your reads to. You can do this for all of them or just a few. It's up to you. But make sure to let them know!
• Books started or read before the beginning of the challenge don't count.

To learn more and to sign up, visit the post about the challenge.

Mystery Read-A-Thon - EVENT

Bi-Annual Event hosted on a dedicated blog

Second edition of this event: August 8-9, 2009
The goal is to once again read mysteries and thrillers for 12 hours...although now you will get TWO days to reach your goal. It is your decision whether you're going to fill part of those 12 hours with audio books or whether you're sticking to the paper kind altogether.

Once again, to sign up, visit the dedicated blog and leave a comment on the post about the second edition.

***********************

First edition of this event: June 7, 2009

Inspired by Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon, Kathrin and Marleen have decided to host a bi-annual Mystery Read-A-Thon event. They write:

Since we originally met through our mutual love for mystery series, a mystery read-a-thon was what first came to mind. And since we both figured 24 hours is soooo long, far too long in fact to do it more that twice a year, if that, we figured punishing our families for 12 hours of complete ignorance of them (sorry guys, we still love you!) would be enough.

But 12 hours left us with a problem. If people from other countries would want to join us, and we would set the read-a-thon for 12 hours and those who live at the other side of the world would have to read during the night. Sounds unfair, right? So we figured if we make it a longer challenge and everyone can pick the 12 hours that fits best into the schedule.

To sign up and learn more, visit the dedicated blog and use Mr. Linky on the announcement post.

Bloggiesta! - EVENT

Event sponsored by Maw Books
June 19-21, 2009

Natasha at Maw Books is hosting a brand new event. She writes:

Are you ready to party again?! So, we’ve had the 24 Hour Read-a-thon, 48 Hour Book Challenge and the Mystery Read-a-thon recently and if you’re like me then you still have piles of books laying around and blog posts to be written. My official count of unreviewed books is sitting at around 25. That’s not counting the 5+ author interviews and let’s not even mention that I haven’t done my weekly reader spotlight for almost two months now. What’s worse is that I’m writing my posts on a day to day basis when ideally I’d love to have a lot of posts finished as rainy day backups.

AND

The Bloggiesta will focus on blog content, improving/cleaning up your blog or working on your social network profiles. I’m pretty open on what you can do during the bloggiesta but reading actually won’t count!

How to play:

1. The date is Friday, June 19th beginning at 8am, Saturday the 20th and ending Sunday the 21st at 8am (8am your time, wherever you are). That is a total of 48 hours, of which you should aim high for a total of 18-24 hours spent on the challenge. The hours spent on the challenge do NOT need to be in a row. Use the entire 48 hour time frame and see what you can do with it. I say aim for 24 hours but really if you can only do six, twelve or eighteen that’s fine too. I just like to have something to aim for.
2. It’s your call as to how much you want to put into it. But you have to put something into it or it’s not a challenge. So stay up all night or sleep and take care of kids when you need to.
3. When you start the challenge, come back to the “starting line” post and link to your specific post about beginning the challenge which is posted on your blog. That way Natasha will be able to track participants and know who’s really playing the game.
4. How many updates (if any) you want to do is up to you. Make it work for you.
   
5. If you are on Twitter, use the hashtag #bloggiesta to join the chatter.
6. Your final summary post needs to be posted no later than noon on Sunday, June 21st. Come back to the finish line and link to your specific summary post. Your summary should include the number of hours spent on the challenge, what you accomplished and any other experiences you’d like to add.

Who can play?

• Anybody! While obviously hosted by a book blogger, I’d love to welcome anybody who has a blog who would like to write content or improve their blog to join in. In addition to adult, kidlit, YA, romance, mystery, historical fiction, non-fiction, and publishing book blogs any other bloggers are welcome. Movie blog? TV blog? Mommy blog? Gardening blog? Photography blog? All are welcome!

Will there be prizes?

• I certainly hope so! I’ll see what I can come up with.

What can you do to help?

• Spread the word! I put this together so fast that I imagine many won’t know about it until it’s to late. The more we have join the challenge, the more moral support we’ll have during the challenge!

Want to play? Visit the post about the Event and sign up using Mr. Linky!!!

Read Aloud Thursday

Amy of Hope is the Word is hosting this weekly event.

This is a place that you can share your favorite family read-alouds and read about others.

To find out more or to take part, visit Amy's Hope is the Word on Thursdays.

Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge

June 19, 2009 - July 17, 2009

Carrie of Reading To Know is hosting this challenge.

Here is what she invites you to do:

I leave the Narnia Challenge rules fairly wide open.In short, spend as much or as little time in Narnia as you would like!

There are seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. (I'm listing them in the order that Lewis numbered them and the links lead to my reviews of December 2008.)

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Horse and His Boy

The Magician's Nephew

The Last Battle

You are perfectly welcome to read one book or the whole series! Perhaps you'd just like to make family nights movie nights for a month and watch various adaptations of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which have been translated to film. That's your call. I merely extend the invitation into Narnia to you and you may explore it to whatever your heart's content. The only thing I ask is that you write up a blog post sharing what you have learned while in Narnia to share with the group at large.

To find out more or to join go to the Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge

Summer is Short: Read a Story

Harper Collins Canada is is hosting this challenge.

Here's how they explain it:

HarperPerennial celebrates the short story this summer. Buy some. Read some. Talk some. All season long we’ve got piles of great content lined up, fun contests, great books and something exceptionally special — some of our favourite short stories by some of our favourite Perennial authors here on the site for you to read.

Steven Millhauser said in an essay that appeared in the New York Times: “The short story apologizes for nothing. It exults in its shortness. It wants to be shorter still. It wants to be a single word. If it could find that word, if it could utter that syllable, the entire universe would blaze up out of it with a roar. That is the outrageous ambition of the short story, that is its deepest faith, that is the greatness of its smallness.”

What’s your favourite short story? Do you even read short stories? Have you ever written a short story? What’s your best argument in terms of why people should read more short stories? Let us know what you think in the comments. I’ve got a copy of one of the new Classic Shorts for the best comment.

Looking to read a great short story? We’ll be featuring a new short story every couple of weeks throughout the summer.

There will be prizes and it is open to U.S. readers as well.

To find more go to The Savvy Reader.

The 4Rs Challenge

This is a new challenge hosted by Fyrefly of Fyrefly's Book Blog and Literate Housewife of The Literate Housewife Review. It is on-going and the cycle will repeat every 3 months.

Here is how they explain it:

Welcome to The 4 Rs Challenge! We created this challenge because we love getting recommendations for new books… almost as much as we like recommending our favorites to others! It’s minimal-commitment – only one book every three months, and if you’re busy, you don’t have to participate every round (although we hope you do!)

It’s based on LibraryThing’s SantaThing program – you tell people what you’re interested in, and they recommend books for you. Only, for this challenge, you get to pick which of your recommendations you most want to read!

To find out more or to sign up go to The 4Rs Challenge.