Once Upon a Bookshelf

Okay, after joining this challenge, I won’t join any more for the rest of the year. I hope. Maybe. But the challenge itself was tempting - it spans over a year (starting in January), and I only need to read six books throughout that year, and will hopefully be able to work it in with any other challenges I read. Hosted by Annie, this challenge requires that you read books with certain requirements in regards to the title (see details here. I don’t know exactly what books I’m going to read, but I’ve got a few potential ones. Of course, chances are I will change my mind about a good portion of them. :) Below are listed the requirements with potential books I may read for each of them. I would like to tie in some Canadian authors with this challenge, so if you have any to recommend, please let me know.

1. A book with a color in its title.
The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
That Yellow Bastard by Frank Miller (I would have to read The Big Fat Kill before getting to this one)
Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz

2. A book with an animal in its title.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

3. A book with a first name in its title.
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Betrayal of Arthur by Sara Douglass

4. A book with a place in its title.
London Calling by Edward Bloor

5. A book with a weather event in its title.
The Tempest by Shakespeare
Storm Front by Jim Butcher (Book 1 of the Dresden Files)

6. A book with a plant in its title.
The Masque of the Black Tulip by Laura Willig

I’ve been putting off this post for a while thinking that I would pick up another scaryish book, but as there’s only a few days or so left until Hallowe’en and as I have no cravings for a scary story, I don’t think I will get around to it.

But it’s been a good challenge. I didn’t stick to my list (as per normal), but I did get a bunch of books I had been wanting to read done, and read about so many other books on other blogs that I have added to my TBR list. Next time I’m looking for something gothic or scary, it won’t be a struggle to find something, let me tell you. Anyway, I managed to read the following for this challenge:

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
The Strange Case of Ambrose Small by Fred McClement
Dreamquest by Brent Hartinger
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Among the Shadows by L.M. Montgomery
Mirrormask by Neil Gaiman
Prowlers by Christopher Golden

It was a fun challenge, and I want to thank Carl for hosting it. :)

I swore to myself that I was not going to join any more challenges… but as I had been planning on reading more Canadian stuff in the next little while, I figured it really wouldn’t hurt to join in on The Canadian Book Challenge anyway. I can’t guarantee that I will finish it, but I will try. The goal of this challenge is to read 13 Canadian books (books by Canadians and/or about Canadians) before next Canada Day (That’s July 1st for you non-Canadians in the audience).

I’m not going to limit myself to thirteen specific books to read, but those that I am for certain planning on reading are:

Barbara Haworth-Attard’s A is for Angst
Will Ferguson’s Spanish Fly
Rick Mercer’s Rick Mercer Report: The Book
L.M. Montgomery (at least one of her short story books)
O.R. Melling’s The Hunter’s Moon

There’s a big huge list on the main challenge post recommending books, but there are a couple others that I would recommend to anyone joining in on this as well:

Will & Ian Ferguson’s How to Be A Canadian (Even If You Already Are One)
Will Ferguson’s Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour
Really, anything by Will Ferguson
L.M. Montgomery’s Rilla of Ingleside
Maggie L. Wood’s The Princess Pawn & The Princess Mage

There are pros and cons to reading challenges. On one hand, I get to work my way through my already huge TBR pile while discovering books that other people read for the challenge to replace those books that I read from my TBR pile in the first place. On the other hand, it is sometimes quite difficult to stick with one theme for such a long period of time. That said, I’m quite happy the next challenge I’m going to be participating in doesn’t start until the RIP II challenge finishes. And I’m already looking forward to it! The Seafaring Challenge I focuses on all things nautical. Christina, the organizer, says that these books can include anything relating to:

naval officers, pirates, buried treasure, U-Boats, submarines, sailors, dragons, fairies! There can even be “fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…”!

I haven’t decided yet whether I will be participating at the Second Rank: Captain level or the Fourth Rank: Admiral level. It all depends on whether I get my hands on two more books before the end of the challenge. ;)

At any rate, I plan on reading the following two books:
• Scott Lynch’s Red Seas Under Red Skies. This is the second book in the Gentlemen Bastard Sequence. I’ve heard mixed reviews about it, so I’m not entirely sure what to expect from it. But there are pirates, apparantely.
• Kai Meyer’s The Wave Runners. Picked this up while in Stratford this summer. A couple of kids aboard a pirate ship? Sounds like fun to me.

And, if I decide to go for the Admiral level, I’ll include:
• Patrick O’Brian’s Post Captain. I haven’t read the first one in this series, but Rachel says I ought to start with the second or third book as the first is a little dry, and I trust her judgement when it comes to Aubrey and Maturin.
• Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I’ve never read this book, but have always meant to, so this might be the perfect time to actually get around to it.

Of course, I could change everything but that’s how it’s looking now.

(Also, I think I may kick the challenge off with a Horatio movie marathon on the first weekend of November… Just throwing that out there so everyone knows.)

Midway through Carl V’s R.I.P. challenge last year, I decided that I had wished I had joined it. I didn’t, but it certainly gave me something to look forward to this year. For the past few months, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for books I want to read for the challenge, and huzzah! Now that it has been announced, I’m quite excited for the next two months. Gothic fiction is something I go in spurts with, and this year it seems like I’m getting back into my love for it, so most of what I’m reading for the challenge will be somewhat gothic in nature.

R.I.P. II is a September 1st through October 31st celebration of all tales gothic, eerie, creepy, and dark. Tales that one reads in the dark of night, experiencing delicious shivers of terror and suspense at each creak of the floorboards or each gust of wind.

I’ve decided to go with Peril 1 for the challenge, and I will be reading the following books:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (a re-read)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Prowlers by Christopher Golden

Possible Additions:
Among the Shadows by L.M. Montgomery
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Mirrormask by Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

In all honesty, I want to read all of my possible additions for this challenge, but I doubt I’ll have the time… but if not for the challenge, definitely soon. One of the main reasons that they’re in the additions list, and not one of the books I’m definitely going to read for the challenge is that I already own all of the ones I’m going to read for the challenge, and have to go on a hunt for the rest.