THE "RITA 2011 FINALIST" CHALLENGE

April 26 - July 1, 2011

Reading Romances is hosting her very first challenge, THE "RITA 2011 FINALIST" CHALLENGE.  She writes:

Wow, this is my first challenge here!

For those who don’t know what the RITA is:

“The RITA Award is the most prominent award given throughout the genre of romance novel and some other romantic fiction.   It is presented by Romance Writers of America (RWA). It is named for the RWA’s first president, Rita Clay Estrada. It signifies excellence in one of 13 categories of romantic fiction.”- Wikipedia:

The challenge is to read some of the finalists books!You have to finish it till july 1st (that’s when the winners will be announced)! Choose your level to play!

RITA FOLLOWER: Choose 4 books from the list!

RITA LOVER : Choose one category and read all the books nominated or read 8 books from the list!

RITA OBCESSED: Choose one book from each category or read 12 books from the list!

RITA STALKER: Choose 16 books or more from the list!

To join, go to THE "RITA 2011 FINALIST" CHALLENGE.

WoW Weekly 100 Words

Ruthi Reads is hosting a weekly meme, WOW Weekly 100 Words.  She writes:

Although this is a Wednesday blog hop hosted here at Ruthi Reads!, you are welcome to hop in at any time. Just grab the button and link for you blog post where you share exactly 100 words from your current read(s) and add your post URL to the linky list provided at the end of this post. Feel free to share anything else you'd like on your post, especially book-related items. And be sure to visit and/or introduce yourself to others on the WoW list during week.

I use The Word Count Tool to count my book excerpts. I type in the box provided, then once I have 100 words, I copy and paste it right into my blog post.

To participate, go to WOW Weekly 100 Words.

Tuesday’s Chats

Reading Romance is hosting Tuesday Chats, a weekly event.  She writes:

I had the idea to continue the work of this blog: http://bettysbookchats.blogspot.com, where basicaly, you could choose one of the books available and could sign up for chatting in a scheduled time.
So what I’m doing is: If you wanna read with me, you can sign up and we’ll chat about it! Or you can participate by leaving a comment if you can’t make it to the chat!

You can comment on the book of the week by reviewing it, talking about what you liked and/or didn’t like, discussing the characters, a scene you liked, talking about the author, quoting a few lines etc.  And if you haven’t read the book, you can talk about if you’d like to read or not, your opinion of the book based on the blurb, or something like that. As long as it relates to the book, it’s very welcomed!

• Chats will be tuesdays at the time is most convenient for most readers!
• Sign-ups will be open until the day before the book chat.
• On the day before the chat, I will email all participants with the chat room link, password and time, so please remember to let me have your email address one way or another. You will not be able to receive the link and password if I don’t have your email address!!
• When you’ve gotten the link and the password, sign into the chat room on the designated time, and chat away!

Rules:

1. Please play nice. Be respectful to each other, and no personal insults to others or to their opinions.
2. No SHOUTING. Using all CAPITAL LETTERS is considered shouting and is rude.
3. Please stay on topic at all times. There’s plenty of time for you to socialize outside of the book chats. Don’t even talk about other books unless they relate to the current book being discussed.
4. It will be helpful and make your discussions more satisfying if you prepared a short list of things that stood out to you in the book and that you want to talk about.
5. Don’t be afraid to share. This is what the book chat is for, we want to know how the book affected you and what you got out of it.
6. Have fun! Enjoy the chats!

 To sign up, go to Tuesday Chats.

World Book Day

April 23, 2011

Reading Romances is hosting the World Book Day Event.  She writes:

“World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) is a yearly event on 23 April, organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright. The Day was first celebrated in 1995.” – Wikipedia

This event will feature a “pick it for me” challenge*, a live chat and activities you can complete by writing a comment or a post (if you have a blog) to keep you enternained!

The Pick it for me challenge is when another member will select a book from your TBR list that they’d like to read too, and suggest you one that you might like to add to that list. You need to be willing to share your TBR list!

There are no rules and no prizes; we’ll be happily devoting some good time to reading, meeting new blog. bloggers and reader, finding something new to read, and perhaps meeting some of your reading challenges and goals for 2011.  We’ll be here cheering for each other!
Read as much or as little as you want. You can participate for half an hour,  two hours or the whole 5!

To sign up, go to the World Book Day Event.

Holocaust Remembrance Week - EVENT

May 1 - 8, 2011

The Introverted Reader is hosting a week of remembrance in May. She writes:

Here in the US, our Holocaust Memorial Museum leads the nation in observing the National Days of Remembrance around the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

I have long been fascinated by Holocaust Literature, so I've decided to host a Holocaust Remembrance Week here on my blog May 1-8.

During the event, The Introverted Reader is planning to post some reviews of Holocaust-related books and some other things as well.

To join in the remembrance:

• Post one day or all eight.
• You can review a book--fiction, non-fiction, adult, young adult, graphic novel.
• Or you could review a movie, write a post about the importance of remembering the Holocaust, or tell about a trip to the Holocaust Museum.
• In short, anything you want to write about that pertains to the theme of Holocaust remembrance.

To get book and movie recommendations, or to leave a comment with your own recommendations, visit the post about the event.

Learn more and sign up by visiting the post about the event.

Book Reading Challenge 2011

April 1- May 31, 2011

In My Bookshelves and Book Readers Lounge are hosting the Book Reading Challenge 2011.  They write:

What is the aim of this challenge? 
The aim of this challenge is quite simple. We want to promote reading - and we specifically want to promote reading of a genre you might not have read before.

What do you mean by a reading challenge?
By a reading challenge, we mean a challenge to yourself - challenge to read a certain number of books in a particular period of time. Here, we also give you a fixed theme.

What is your theme this year? 
For 2011, our theme is India - thus, we include books by Indians, about Indians, and about India.

Can anyone participate? 
Yes, people of all age groups, bloggers and non-bloggers may participate. We have a number of different levels to make it easier for readers of all types to enter.


To find out more and to join, go to the Book Reading Challenge 2011.

Autism Awareness Reading Challenge

April 1-31, 2011

Cynni of Uniflame Creates is hosting the Autism Awareness Reading Challenge.   She writes:

Since April is Autism Awareness month and both me and my boyfriend are autistic ourselves, I wanted to participate in making people more aware of autism. I decided to do this by hosting a reading challenge on autism.


The Rules:
- You only have to read one book that has something to do with autism.
- Sharing this post is appreciated because I would like to reach as many people as possible and hope that they will participate :)

Some recommendations:
- A Friend Like Henry by Nuala Gardner. About how a Golden Retriever changed a boy with autism.
- With the Light by Keiko Tobe. This is a very thick manga for adults that covers the challenges a family faces when their son is autistic. It also tells a bit about how this is handled in Japanese society.
- The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon. An enjoyable novel with an autistic boy as narrator.

Of course there are plenty more books on the subject but these are some books that I read and enjoyed.

Mid April there will also be an autism related giveaway.

To join, go to the Autism Awareness Reading Challenge.