Kelley Armstrong YA Reading Challenge

April 27, 2012 – April 26, 2013

Here are the challenge details:

1. This challenge will run from April 27, 2012 to April 28, 2013. As challenge host, I reserve the right to extend the challenge period if The Rising has not been released before the challenge is supposed to end!
2. You can join the challenge at any time. All books read during the challenge period count for the challenge, regardless of when you sign up.
3. This challenge can cross-over to your other reading challenges.
4. You do not need a blog to participate! If you are not a blogger, you can post your reviews at Goodreads, Shelfari, or LibraryThing and link them up here.
5. All formats of books are acceptable: Bound copies, e-books, and audiobooks (unabridged only).
6. There are three levels for the challenge:
   a. Just A Taste: Read 1-3 Armstrong YA books.
   b. Halfway There: Read 4-7 Armstrong YA books.
   c. All The Way: Read 8-10 Armstrong YA books.
7. When you write your sign-up post, you must choose your level. You can go up, but you cannot go down!
8. There will be a link-up for your reviews, which will be posted on THIS page.
9. There will be a link for your wrap-up post at the end of the challenge, which will be posted on THIS page.
10. Create a sign-up post and link back to this post. Sign up with Mister Linky below! Be sure to use the direct url to your sign-up post and not the url to your blog.
11. Grab the challenge button and post it in your sidebar. Copy and paste this HTML code into an HTML gadget for your sidebar.

This reading challenge is hosted by Darlene's Book Nook. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Semi-Charmed Summer 2012 Book Challenge

5/1/2012 - 9/1/2012

How to keep track: I’ll post a check-in every Sunday on which you can comment with your progress. I will also include the scoreboard from the previous week on each check-in post. (Sorry if that doesn’t make sense; just check back on Sunday, May 6, for the first check-in.)
Rules:

• The challenge will run from May 1, 2012, to September 1, 2012. No books that are started before May 1 or finished after September 1 will count. (That's why I'm posting this early, so you can plan your next books!)
• No re-reads! I want you to experience new books with this challenge.
• Each book must be at least 200 pages long, unless otherwise noted.
• A book can only be used for one category. If you want to switch the category later, that's fine, just be sure to account for that in your point total.
• Each category may only be completed once, so the highest possible total is 200 points.
• The first three people who finish the challenge will win a featured/guest post on my blog. If less than three people finish, the participants with the three highest scores will "win." Good luck!

The Challenge:
5 points: Read a book chosen for the 2012 World Book Night.
10: Read a book you were supposed to read in school, but either bailed on or Cliff-Noted. (If you were super studious and never did this, then read a book most people were assigned to read in high school but you weren’t.)
10: Read a memoir or narrative nonfiction book. (Examples: Friday Night Lights, When the Game Stands Tall, The Devil in the White City, etc.)
15: Read a book in one day. (Must be at least 150 pages long.)
15: Read a book that you've always wanted to read but haven't gotten around to yet.
20: Read a pair of books that have antonyms in the titles. (For example: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Boy in the Suitcase, or The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Heart of Darkness, etc..)
20: Read a book that is set in a place you've never been but want to visit.
25: Find a book written the year you were born that was later made into a movie. Read the book and watch the movie; compare. Or find a movie released the year you were born that was based on a book. Do the same thing.
25: Go into a bookstore or library. Pick any bookshelf. Read the third book from the left on the fourth shelf from the top. (If it's not at least 200 pages, pick the next book to the right.)
25: Read a book about which you’ve heard bad things. (Hey, you can’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it, right? And I’m upping the points to make it worth your while.)
30: Read a trilogy. Total page count for all three books together must be at least 500 pages. (Remember, you can’t have read any of the books before! Suggestions: The Robert Langdon series, The Hunger Games, Twilight...)
Thanks so much for participating! I can't wait to see what everyone decides to read.
For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

2012 Teen Top Ten Reading Challenge

4/15/2012-9/30/2012

I'm challenging myself to read all 24 of the nominations and I hope you'll join me! I'll be reviewing each book.
After you read each book, you may add a review or a comment on the appropriate post.

• Grab the button above
• Make sure to Link back to "What I Read Yesterday" and/or The 2012 Teen Top Ten Challenge
• Add your link below
• Start reading.....

~Not required...but would Love for you to follow my blog~
Oh....and you must complete the challenge before October 2012. During the first 2 weeks in October, I will hold an informal vote. If you are a teen, you'll be able to vote in the formal vote through YALSA.
Happy Reading!!
For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

2012 National Poetry Month Blog Tour

4/1/2012 - 4/30/2012

National Poetry Month 2012 is in April and I’m looking for guest posts from poetry readers and tour hosts for these guest posts. I want to fill out all of April early and be able to direct readers across the blogosphere for some great poetry discussion and celebration.
Not only will you be part of a tour involving poetry collections, poet interviews, guest posts from poetry readers, and maybe even just some great poems and discussion, you also get my new snazzy button — and I can’t believe I made it myself from a photo my hubby took at the National Arboretum.   OK, that’s a lame reason to join the blog tour.
I’m hoping to put together some great giveaways for everyone who participates either as a commenter or as a blog tour host/guest blogger.
I hope that even if you don’t want to participate you’ll spread the word.  I want to fill up every day in April.  Dates will be a first come, first serve basis, and I’ll be posting the participating blogs on the schedule below as I hear from people.
Won’t you join me in celebrating poetry?
Sunday, April 1 — Savvy Verse & Wit’s Kickoff of the blog tour
Monday, April 2 — Sara from Wordy Evidence of the Fact
Tuesday, April 3 — Jill from Rhapsody in Books will talk about Cole Porter
Wednesday, April 4 — Anna from Diary of an Eccentric, WWI Poetry Anthology
Thursday, April 5 — Audra from Unabridged Chick
Friday, April 6 — Michael Meyerhofer from Trouble With Hammers
and My Friend Amy hosts Sweta Vikram’s Guest Post
Saturday, April 7 — Dar from Peeking Between the Pages
Sunday, April 8 — Patty from Books, Thoughts and A Few Adventures…
Monday, April 9 — Naida from the Bookworm
Tuesday, April 10 — Kathy from Bermudaonion, tentatively THE WATCH THAT ENDS THE NIGHT by Allan Wolf
Wednesday, April 11 — Jeanne from Necromancy Never Pays, who will discuss litany poems and then show and discuss Richard Siken’s “Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out”
Thursday, April 12 — Julie from Read Handed will talk about 2010 Cider Press Book Award winning collection Play Button by Liz Robbins
Friday, April 13 – Melanie from The Indextrious Reader on superstitions and poetry
Saturday, April 14 — Cecelia from Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia
Sunday, April 15 — Ana from Things Mean a Lot
Monday, April 16 — Cassandra from Indie Reader Houston
Tuesday, April 17 — Ti from Book Chatter
Wednesday, April 18 — The Girl from Diary of an Eccentric will focus on Robert Frost
Thursday, April 19 — Pam from Bookalicious
Friday, April 20 — Tabatha of Tabatha Yeatts: The Opposite of Indifference
Saturday, April 21 — Megan from Solid Quarter
Sunday, April 22 — Nicole Luongo from Bare Your Naked Truth
Monday, April 23 –  Adrienne Odasso from Seer of Ghosts and Weaver of Stories
Tuesday, April 24 — Arisa White from Arisa White
Wednesday, April 25 — Craig from Mr. Watson
Thursday, April 26 — Wallace from Unputdownables will focus on Edna St. Vincent Millay and Dorothy Parker
Friday, April 27 — Wendy from Caribousmom will host Poet Michael Meyerhofer and his guest post on self-publishing
Saturday, April 28 — David from Wordcoaster who will showcase bird poetry.
Sunday, April 29 — Sidne from Sidne, The Reading Socialite who will discuss Love and/or Life
Monday, April 30 — Travis Laurence Naught on how Jack Kerouac and Jim Morrison (maybe even Allen Ginsberg) formed his writing style
The blog tour has already started, but anyone can jump in and blog about poetry this month, grab the tour button, and drop their permanent post URL in the Mr. Linky here: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2012/04/welcome-to-the-2012-national-poetry-month-blog-tour.html
If anyone wants to donate prizes or poetry books for participants and commenters, feel free to contact savvyverseandwit at gmail dot com
Anyone interested in providing a poem for showcasing during the NPM tour at the Virtual Poetry Circle, also email me.
For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

2012 Patricia Briggs Werewolf Challenge

April 10, 2012 to April 9, 2013

2012 Patricia Briggs Werewolf Challenge
Here are the challenge details:

1. This challenge will run from April 10, 2012 to April 9, 2013.
2. You can join the challenge at any time. All books read during the challenge period count for the challenge, regardless of when you sign up.
3. This challenge can cross-over to your other reading challenges.
4. You do not need a blog to participate! If you are not a blogger, you can post your reviews at Goodreads, Shelfari, or LibraryThing and link them up here.
5. All formats of books are acceptable: Bound copies, e-books, and audiobooks (unabridged only). 
6. There are three levels for the challenge:
1. One Paw In: Read 1-3 werewolf books.
2. Running With The Pack: Read 4-7 werewolf books.
3. Alpha: Read 8-11 werewolf books.
7. When you write your sign-up post, you must choose your level. You can go up, but you cannot go down!
8. There will be a link-up for your reviews, which will be posted on THIS page.
9. There will be a link for your wrap-up post at the end of the challenge, which will be posted on THIS page.
10. Create a sign-up post and link back to this post. Sign up with Mister Linky below! Be sure to use the direct url to your sign-up post and not the url to your blog.
11. Grab the challenge button and post it in your sidebar. Copy and paste this HTML code into an HTML gadget for your sidebar: <a href="http://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.com/2012/04/2012-patricia-briggs-werewolf-challenge.html"><img alt="2012 Patricia Briggs Werewolf Challenge" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CctFmbutrFA/T4RlUhq5JSI/AAAAAAAAC-Q/bhgCNcuZHoY/s400/2012+Patricia+Briggs+Werewolf+Challenge.jpg" width="190" /></a>

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

Girl Power Reading Challenge 2012

  

Ever get tired of reading about damsels in distress? Wish you could find some stories featuring strong, independent women? Then look no further!

This challenge is to discover and read books written by or featuring heroines. What constitutes being a heroine? Perhaps it's being able to swashbuckle, cast spells, mix poisons, control minds, joust, spy, or protect just as well as (or better than!) her guy friends. Perhaps it's having a won't-back-down attitude, a penchant for getting into and out of sticky situations, or a desire to change the world. Or perhaps it's simply the courage to tell her story. It's up to you to decide.

The Rules

• Books must contain a heroine of some sort. Could be the narrator, the main character, the villain, a prominent side character, or the author. I won't be quizzing you on why you picked each and every book. But please, use a little discretion and don't count damsels in distress.
• Challenge will run January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012. Participants can join at any time throughout the challenge.
• Create an intro post, linking back to this post.
• Sign up with the Mister Linky below with your intro post, not your blog home page.
• All forms of books are acceptable (audiobooks, eBooks, etc.).
• Counting books read before joining the challenge (but still in 2012) is allowed.
• You don't need a blog to participate.
• Reviews, while always appreciated, are not mandatory.

The Levels

Dame ~ Read 5 books

Lady Knight ~ Read 10 books

Baroness    ~    Read 15 books

Countess    ~   Read 20 books

Duchess     ~    Read 35 books

Queen      ~       Read 50 books

Empress   ~   Read 50+ books

The Spring Reading Challenge is hosted by The Wolf's Den. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.

Spring Reading Challenge

April showers bring May flowers – and lots of rainy days for reading! My daughter and I decided to help feed our love of books and reading challenges by creating our own. So here it is without further delay:

When? March 20th – June 19th

What? Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, will be to read the word SPRING plus we’ve added three bonus mini challenges. How do you read the word Spring? Good question. You have three options:
a. Read books whose titles begin with each letter in the word SPRING.
b. Read books where the authors’ first names begin with each letter in the word SPRING.
c. Read books where the authors’ last names begin with each letter in the word SPRING.

Bonus:
1. Read a book with the name of a flower in the title.
2. Read a book with a flower(s) on the cover.
3. Read a book where the main character’s name is the name of a flower.

Example:
S ~ Sheriff’s Surrender, The by Susan Page Davis or Susan Page Davis, The Sheriff’s Surrender or Stevenson, Robert Louis – Treasure Island
P ~
R ~
I ~
N ~
G ~

Nifty Details:
~ Write a blog post sharing which option you choose. Please include the banner above with a link back to this post.
~ Link your blog post (not your blog, but the actual post) so we can visit.
~ Crossovers are fine, rereads are fine, but please only include books read during the dates posted.
~ Fiction, non-fiction, ebooks, electronic readers, audio – any book format is fine. You can even read books to your kids for this challenge if you’d like.
~ Have fun reading! There are nine books in total when you shoot for the bonus ones, too.
~ Optional: if you’d like to review any or all of the books you read for this challenge, I will have a link up for reviews sometime soon. Keep an eye out for it.
~ You may sign up at any time, but only include books read during the time frame posted.

The Spring Reading Challenge is hosted by Hosted by Audra @ Audra Marie. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.