January 1 - December 31, 2010
Trish of Hey Lady!WhatcaReadin? is hosting the O.A.T.E.S. Reading Challenge. Here's what she says:
This is kind of a silly challenge, but I can’t get it out of my head so I’m going ahead and announcing it. I’m not sure if anyone else will want to participate because it’s kind of loosey goosey, but if you do want to participate, I’d love to have you!
This challenge started in my head because I was thinking back in November 2009 about what I wanted to read in 2010. I knew I wanted to be more deliberate in what I read, and part of that would include making sure I read more Joyce Carol Oates. That also included reading Margaret Atwood, specifically The Blind Assassin, because I’ve tried three times to read that book, and three times I’ve given up. However, I think I can do it!
So then I was thinking, Oates…O-A-T-E-S.
O for Joyce Carol Oates, A for Margaret Atwood…maybe I could come up with other authors to fit T, E, and S!
Immediately Ernest Hemingway came to mind, and even though he doesn’t fit the rule that it’s the author’s last name that has to fit the acronym, he can slide since it’s ERNEST HEMINGWAY. Then Twitter came to my aid and it was decided that T could be Leo Tolstoy (yes, even *I* am cringing as I write that), and S can be for John Steinbeck.
I’ll lay it out easier for you to see:
O – Joyce Carol Oates
A – Margaret Atwood
T – Leo Tolstoy
E – Ernest Hemingway
S – John Steinbeck
A – Margaret Atwood
T – Leo Tolstoy
E – Ernest Hemingway
S – John Steinbeck
I’m nothing if not a fan of changing things up, so if there’s a literary author on par with any author already on this list, and their last name begins with A, T, E, or S (come on, this is the O.A.T.E.S. challenge, you can’t substitute anything for Joyce!), then you can substitute that author in. For example, if you wanted to substitute George Eliot for Ernest Hemingway, you could. Or if you wanted to substitute Mark Twain for Leo Tolstoy, you could and I would probably even encourage you in that! Because I think Tolstoy’s shortest book (not including short stories, because duh, those are short) is a million pages.
Here’s the rules/details:
- The challenge goes from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010.
- Anyone can participate! You do not need a blog!
- Challenge books can overlap with other challenges.
- You do not need to pick your books in advance.
- You can change levels mid-challenge!
- Levels:
- Instant OATES – 1 book
- Old Fashioned OATES – 2 books
- Rolled OATES – 3 books
- Steel Cut OATES – 4 books
- Whole OATES – 5+ books
