Rebecca's 999 challenge

Here we go again. :)

Hopefully to have more success success than with my 888 challenge (although I read 80 books in 2008, only half counted towards my 888 categories), I'm going to be more broad and forgiving with my categories. Again this year, I am not going to prescribe books for myself to read through the year - any unfinished books listed will be suggestions only. No need to be hard on myself!

1. Graphic novels - I enjoy the genre and would like to become more familiar with it.
2. Canadian authors - I should read more in this category.
3. Books I own - I own far too many books that I've never read and I very much need to whittle down the pile.
4. Middle-grade fiction - I'm a school librarian so I read a lot of this genre as it is.
5. YA fiction - see previous category.
6. Nonfiction - because I should read more.
7. Book club/recommended - I'm in a book club but we may not read 9 books this year (we try for monthly but it doesn't always work out, haha), but I'm often getting recommendations so I'll combine the two into one category.
8. Genre collage - I got this idea from BritAnnia's challenge and love it so I'm stealing it. :)
9. Just because - books that I read just because I want to. Books in this category may not be overlapped with other categories.

Graphic Novels

1. Watchmen by Alan Moore
2. Jellaby: monster in the city by Kean Soo
3. Gon volume 1 by Masashi Tanaka
4. Skim by Mariko Tamaki
5. Battle Royale by Koushun Tamaki
6. Amelia Rules: the whole world's crazy by Jimmy Gownley
7. Stitches: a memoir by David Small
8. Gon volume 2 by Masashi Tanaka
9. Gon volume 3 by Masashi Tanaka

Canadian Authors

1. Dog lost by Ingrid Lee
2. Skim by Mariko Tamaki
3. Inferno by Robin Stevenson
4. The book of Negroes by Laurence Hill
5. The outlander by Gil Adamson
6. The cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
7. Wondrous strange by Lesley Livingston
8. Jellaby: monster in the city by Kean Soo
9.

Books I own

1. The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
2. Silent in the sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn
3. The time traveler's wife by Audrey Niffenegger
4. Under the Tuscan sun by Frances Mayes
5. In defense of food: an eater's manifesto by Michael Pollan
6. Pain killers by Jerry Stahl
7. What was lost by Catherine O'Flynn
8.
9.

Middle-grade Fiction

1. Sisters Grimm: fairy tale detectives by Michael Buckley
2. The graveyard book by Neil Gaiman
3. The homework machine by Dan Gutman
4. Whales on stilts by M.T. Anderson
5. Alvin Ho: allergic to girls, school, and other scary things by Lenore Look
6. Dreamdark: Silksinger by Laini Taylor
7. The thief by Megan Whalen Turner
8. Amelia Rules: the whole world's crazy by Jimmy Gownley
9. Dog lost by Ingrid Lee

YA Fiction

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Soulless by Christopher Golden
3. Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
4. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
5. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
6. The adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
7. Living dead girl by Elizabeth Scott
8. What I saw and how I lied by Judy Blundell
9. Need by Carrie Jones

Nonfiction

1. I can't keep my own secrets edited by Smith Magazine
2. A long way gone by Ishmael Beah
3. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
4. Swords: an artist's devotion by Ben Boos
5. Sway: the irresistible pull of irrational behavior by Ori Brafman
6. The omnivore's dilemma by Michael Pollan
7. Under the Tuscan sun by Frances Mayes
8. Columbine by Dave Cullen
9. Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

Book Club/Recommended

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (recommended by my sister-in-law)
2. An instance of the fingerpost by Iain Pears (book club)
3. Nineteen minutes by Jodi Picoult (book club)
4. The book of Negroes by Laurence Hill (book club)
5. The Prehistory of the Far Side by Gary Larson (recommended by Caitilin)
6. Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston (recommended by Norma)
7. The hour I first believed by Wally Lamb (book club)
8. The chosen one by Carol Lynch Williams (recommended by Norma)
9. Sacred hearts by Sarah Dunant (book club)

Genre Collage

1. Mystery - Silhouette in scarlet: a Vicky Bliss mystery by Elizabeth Peters
2. Dystopian - The hunger games by Suzanne Collins
3. Fantasy - Graceling by Kristin Cashore
4. Science fiction - Bad monkeys by Matt Ruff
5. Memoir - A long way gone by Ishmael Beah
6. Humour - The uncommon reader by Alan Bennett
7. Coming of age - The story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
8. Historical fiction - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
9. Anthology - At the mountains of madness and other tales of terror by H. P. Lovecraft

Just Because

1. The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
2. Testimony by Anita Shreve
3. Silent in the grave by Deanna Raybourn
4. Master of the Delta by Thomas H. Cook
5. Grifter's game by Lawrence Block
6. The long walk by Stephen King
7. Audrey, wait! by Robin Benway
8. Fire by Kristin Cashore
9. Catching fire by Suzanne Collins

I finished the first book of my 999 challenge - The uncommon reader by Alan Bennett which I rated 3 stars. While I enjoyed it and found it amusing, it isn't a book I would bother to read again or one that will probably stay with me. The character of the Queen was lovely and I found her inner thoughts charming - in fact, the best word I can come up with to describe the book is "charming." I was actually surprised to discover how many people gave it 4 stars and above - did I miss something?

I'm about 150 pages from the end of The story of Edgar Sawtelle, which I am thoroughly enjoying but am finding it long to get through. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have it completed (especially since it was due back at the library on December 27th!).

I have decided to add The Uncommon Reader to my 999 challenge. I put it on hold at the library today.

Hi Rebecca,
I have Graphic Novels as a category (a genre new to me) and just finished Watchmen this week, which I recommend. It'll be neat to see what you read in this category, as well as the Genre Collage and others.

12 cmbohn - It's a nice quick read - I hope you enjoy it!

13 LisaMorr - I haven't read Watchmen yet so it's great to get your recommendation, and I read one of Gaiman's Sandman series but I'm going to try to read the first (at least) in the series as well. I noticed that you have Persepolis on your list, which I highly recommend.

As for Harry Potter, I still haven't read book 7 so perhaps I'll have to add that to my middle grade list.

I completed #2 and #3 of my 999 challenge in the past couple of days: The story of Edgar Sawtelle and The hunger games.

The story of Edgar Sawtelle was great, and I gave it 4.5 stars. It took me almost 3 weeks to get through, which isn't an indication of the quality of the writing or the story but rather that I never felt pulled back to the book. While I was reading it was captivating, but I rarely thought about it when I wasn't reading it. Nonetheless, while it was definitely a slow-moving book, the pace was steady and there was always something new to catch my attention (even as I'm not a "dog person").

The hunger games, on the other hand, I whipped through in less than 24 hours. It caught me in its grip from the beginning with intriguing characters, constantly increasing tension, and unexpected plot developments. It has to be said that I love dystopian fiction so I'm biased in that regard, but a full 5 stars to this action-packed novel that is deserving of the heaps of praise it has been receiving.

I really liked the hunger games as well just read it a couple of weeks ago, like you it was all over in less than a day! Have a look at The Knife of Never Letting Go - it has just won the Carnegie Medal and is also a great dystopian YA that you can't put down.

edit - I think I'm wrong about the Carnegie, it must be some other award

@16 avatiakh - Thanks for the recommendation! I've read some other good reviews of The knife of never letting go as well so I'll definitely have to get my hands on a copy. Hooray for new (and good) dystopian YA fiction! :)

I finished Silhouette in scarlet last week and I'm afraid it didn't live up to my expectations. I *loved* Street of the Five Moons by the same author (and about the same lead character) and I found that Silhouette had a too-similar plot line. It was entertaining enough, but has also made me reconsider reading any more in the series.

I am currently in the middle of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and am absolutely riveted. I'm a sucker for both epistolaries and WW2 fiction so it's a dream come true. The characters are wonderful! I can hardly keep away from it at work.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was wonderful. I absolutely adored it! The characters were just fantastic, and I did not want the book to end. Fantastic.

I finished The Spellman files by Lisa Lutz last night and enjoyed it as well. The chapter titles were difficult to keep track of so I largely ignored them, and I found it odd that it took so long to get to Rae's disappearance (that's no spoiler - it's in the first few pages). Other than those minor quibbles, the book was funny and the protagonist amusingly quirky. Nice light read.

Soulless by Christopher Golden was quite good as well, although it's unfair of me to hold up every zombie novel I read to the exquisite World War Z. Nonetheless, it creeped me out and kept me awake for a night or two, although it wrapped up a bit tidily in the end. It's aimed at teens and I'm sure they'll eat it up (no pun intended, ha!).

I'm currently reading The graveyard book by Neil Gaiman which was awarded the Newbery Medal just last week. I'm 3 chapters in and it's suitably creepy and clever. I have high hopes so I hope it lives up to them!

Right. I'm a bit behind. Oops.

So...I completed Neil Gaiman's The graveyard book and enjoyed it, but not as much as Coraline. I followed it up with Graceling by Kristin Cashore which was fantastic! I've read some great books this year and Graceling is definitely one of them.

I followed that up with Ink exchange and The adoration of Jenna Fox, both YA novels which were both good but not great. Then came two graphic novels: Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Watchmen in anticipation of the film. Watchmen was wonderful and dark, but not as dark as A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier which I read last night. Memorable book.

I'm currently reading Generation dead and am enjoying it quite a lot, more than I thought I might. It's more about bullying and stereotypes than zombies and has some good substance. I'm liking it so far.