Leave your links to Guardian Challenge reviews for August below!
Even though I didn't finish it, I had a lot of fun with my Guardian Challenge last year, so I'm doing it again. I hope you'll join me! There are also a few changes...
So, for those who didn't play along last year, the British newspaper, The Guardian, came up with a list of 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read Before They Die. (In case they take that link down, I've also posted the list here.)
There are 3 levels:
1. (This is the same as last year's challenge)
Read 10 books. You must read one book from each of the 7 categories. If possible, at least 1 title should be a book you hadn't heard of before seeing it on the list.
2.
Read 7 books, one from each category.
3.
Read any 5 books from the list.
Every month I'll have a round-up post for you to leave your links. There will probably be prizes of some sort, but I don't have any trips scheduled to England this year (I don't go for 6 years and then went back twice in a year! It was crazy. CRAZY AWESOME.) So they might not be British.
ALSO I STILL OWE PEOPLE PRIZES FROM LAST YEAR'S CHALLENGE. I haven't forgotten, I'm just still thinking.
Anyway, grab a button if you want, spread the word, sign up below and have fun!
0 Comments on Guardian Challenge 2.0 as of 1/1/1900
Oh, this is hard to admit, but I think I failed at my own challenge. Ah well.
I came really close and read a lot of books I wouldn't have otherwise read, so not all is lost. I'm excited to try again next month!
Here's what I did get done:
Comedy Books:
Bottle Factory Outing
Cold Comfort Farm
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Crime:
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Family and Self:
Ballet Shoes
Love:
The End of the Affair
Scifi/Fantasy
Wintersmith (for Discworld)
The Golden Compass (for His Dark Materials)
I'm half way through Cranford, which is one of the books for State of the Nation. I didn't do anything for War and Travel, but I have a lot of Tintin checked out from the library.
Overall, 8.5 books. Not too shabby. Not like I was eligible for any of the prizes anyway!
Well, it's February 1st, and then end of the Guardian Challenge (you have until midnight your time) so, leave your link to your wrap-up post below! If you've already given your wrap-up post because you finished early, don't worry about it, but feel free to add it again.
There will be prizes drawn for those who finished!
Also, I had a lot of fun with this challenge and WILL be doing it again, but it won't start up again until March. There will be a few changes, but stay tuned! I hope you'll join me for Guardian 2.0.
I apologize for the lateness of this roundup post. We're coming to the end of the challenge. Many of you have already linked to your wrap-up posts, and if you haven't, I'll have a final post in February for the finish line. (If you've already given me yours, no worries!) There will be more prizes, but not straight from England this time.
I had a great time with this challenge and am thinking about doing it again (with a few tweaks) next year? Is anyone else up for another round? Please let me know! In the meantime, leave your January links below!
So, for my China Challenge, if you're doing the Silk Road Trek level, you have to do 3 out of 10 China-related tasks. I've done 2!
One involves making a Chinese recipe that you've never made before. Done and Done. I highly recommend the Green Tea Steamed Shrimp Dumplings from Ying Chang Compestine's new book, A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts: A Collection of Deliciously Frightening Tales.
Another one is to listen to some lessons on Chinese Pod and learn some Mandarin. I actually spent my birthday money this year to buy a subscription to this site because I haven't kept my Mandarin up at all and that makes me sad. When I signed up, they had a sale, so I was upgraded to the guided level, which means I have a teacher who tells me which lessons to study and the calls me once a week from Shanghai! This level is so great because that means I HAVE to study.
It's funny though, because one thing I've realized is that I remember weird idiomatic things, but not how to say the days of the week. It's interesting what sticks and what doesn't...
And look! I actually read a book for my Guardian Challenge!
Get your October links in down below!
*ALSO! THERE WILL BE A PRIZE DRAWING AT THE BEGINNING OF NOVEMBER!*
I picked up some prizes when I was in London last month, so I'll be drawing for those! There will be 4 prizes, two of which will be drawn from all reviews since the challenge opened, and two of which will be drawn from reviews posted since the last prize draw (so May-October). Every review you post gets you an entry, so get reading!
Leave your links for your August reviews below.
As a sweetener, I'll be headed back to England in September and will pick up some more goodies for all reviews posted May-September. Every review gets you an entry, so get to it! I'll also be in Paris on my way to London, so there might be French stuff involved. YOU NEVER KNOW!
There's news on the Mr. Linky front, but I don't have time to wade through it to get it to work. So, I haven't updated July's review post yet, because I'm hoping that me and Mr. Linky will be friends again by tomorrow night. Just leave your comments and I'll Linky you up when I figure it out!
How's your Guardian Challenge Reading going?
Leave a link too all of your reviews of the books you read in July down in the comments. I'll add them to the post probably when I do the August review-links post.
And, just for your enjoyment, I've made some more buttons for y'all to use.
Happy reading!
Hey folks! Time to update your June reviews!
BUT! Mr. Linky is having some issues and disabled my favorite widget, so... leave me a comment and I'll update this post with your reviews. Or add them to Mr. Linky when they get their issues resolved.
Finally! Here's your place for your May Reviews! Sorry for the delay! Also, below are the prizes and winners for February-April reviews...
It looks like Mr. Linky isn't behaving at the moment. Hopefully that's a temporary thing.
And... for the prizes that come all the way from England, we have...
First up, two magnets of London, both from the Tower of London. One is of some phone boxes and the other is of the a London Underground sign. goes to Semi Professional Muse for Hire's review in March of Tales of the City.
Next up are two book marks, also from the Tower of London. One is Lace and the other is a Warhol-ized version of Henry VIII. These are off to FleurFisher for the April review of South Riding.
And finally, we have a lined notebook with an image of classic Penguin spines, from Foley's Bookshop in London. It goes to A Hazra's April review of Catcher in the Rye.
If everyone who won could email me mailing addresses in the next week, that'd be great!
Keep reading, more prizes will be coming at some point!
Hi all! Well, the Guardian Novels Challenge has started!
If you read and review something this month, leave your link below!
Well, here I am, hosting my very first challenge!
The British paper, The Guardian, has come up with a list of 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read Before They Die. (In case they take that link down, I've also posted the list here.)
So, the challenge is to read 10 and review read and review 10 books off the list (that's 1%) between February 1st of 2009 and February 1st of 2010.
Of these 10, you must read 1 from each category and, if possible, 1 should be a book you have never heard of until you saw it on this list.
Feel free to complain about certain books being included or not included.
Also, they have broken the list into smaller sections, with annotations, so you can see what a book is about before you check it out.
I'll have a post every month rounding up your reviews and it'll be lots of fun, so sign up below!
UPDATE There will be prizes! I'm not sure what yet, but at the end, there will be a prize drawing for everyone who finishes, and probably a drawing or two along the way...
Also, feel free to use these buttons!
Glad to see that you liked The Golden Compass; I did too. But I didn't really like the rest of the Dark Materials trilogy; I guess you wouldn't regret stopping at this book.