January 5, 2013

1

Mental Illness Advocacy Challenge 2013

Challenge Summary: I (Opinions of a Wolf) started the Mental Illness Advocacy (MIA) Reading Challenge in December 2010 in an effort to raise awareness, knowledge, and acceptance of mental illness.  Reading, both fiction and nonfiction, is an excellent way to broaden one’s horizons and expose one to new ideas and ways of thinking and being.  Many reading challenges already exist in the book blogging community to address racism, sexism, and homophobia, but I could not find any to address the stigma faced by those suffering from mental illness.  In spite of mental illnesses being recognized by the scientific community as diseases just like physical ones, many still think those suffering from one are at fault for their own suffering.  I hope reading and reviewing books featuring characters struggling to deal with mental illness, whether their own or another person’s, will help remove the stigma faced on a daily basis by those with a mental illness.  They already have to struggle with an illness; they shouldn't have to face a stigma too.

Challenge Levels:

Acquainted–4 books
Aware–8 books
Advocate–12 books

Hosted by/Link: Opinions of a Wolf. Mental Illness Advocacy Challenge 2013

Challenge Start and Ends Dates: January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013

My Progress: 3/12

My List:

1) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
2) The Age of Hope - David Bergen
3) The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan 

Posted by Jules at 6:48 PM
Labels: ,
2

2013 Read-A-Latte Challenge

Challenge Summary: Are you a book addict?  Well, are you?  Are you that person who is always seen with your nose buried between the pages and never without a book or two nearby?  Perhaps, your looking for the ultimate reading challenge?
 Well then, the 2013 Read-A-Latte Challenge is just for you!  
This is the place where I challenge you to read... -a- latte!
Here are the challenge details: 

 1. This challenge will begin on January 1st, 2013 and end December 31, 2013
. 
 2. Books for this challenge can be from any genre and may include print books as well as e-books and audio books.

Choose a Level:
Latte                         75      books
Cappuccino               100      books
Double-Espresso       150+    books

 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. I will create a new post each month with a linky for your reviews.  Also, I'll be offering quarterly reader gifts to the top three participants. I'll announce the winners on the last day of every three months. And at the end of the challenge I'll have a special bonus for the top three overall participants.

 6. 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.

 7. Grab the challenge button and post it in your sidebar. Paste this HTML code into an HTML gadget for your sidebar

Hosted by/Link: Kimberly's Book Shelf. /  2013 Read-A-Latte Challenge

Challenge Start and Ends Dates: January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013

My Progress: 15/75 (because I love Lattes!)

My List:

1) Whitethorn Woods - Maeve Binchy
2) Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
3) The Beginning of Spring - Penelope Fitzgerald
4) The Sometimes Lake - Sandy Bonny
5) Away - Jane Urquhart
6) February - Lisa Moore
7) The Purchase - Linda Spalding
8) Indian Horse - Richard Wagamese
9) The City and the city - China Mieville
10) On Chesil Beach - China Mieville
11) Between the Acts - Virginia Woolf
12) Out for Blood - Alyxandra Harvey
13) Two Solitudes - Hugh MacLennan
14) Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 
15) The Age of Hope - David Bergen

Posted by Jules at 10:14 AM
Labels: ,

January 2, 2013

0

777 Challenge 2013

Challenge Summary: Also known as the 7 Continents, 7 Billion People, 7 Books - Reading Challenge 2013>

 This challenge was inspired by a global reading challenge in 2012, and the side effect it had: looking at books from a different, geographical angle. And: mapping our world in continents and books, which turned into the most popular blog post in my book blog so far, and lead to this surprise realization: "If you wanted to read around the world in 7 books, you actually would have to go and look for 4 books from Asia and 1 book from Africa - and then for 2 anthologies that cover the rest of the world in their pages." (here's the whole post: The World in 7 Books, or: mapping our world by continents. )

 The idea for 2013 is to continue with the global reading and exploring from 7 new, interesting angles, including some trends of our modern civilization. Why 7? To keep it simple and playful, and leave space for extra reads that might be inspired by the lists. Also, with 7 continents, and the world population reaching 7 billions, the 7 seems to be the best number for this kind of challenge.

 7 Angles and Books to explore the world

 The challenge: to select and read seven books, each belonging to one of the following categories:

    - the 7 countries with the most population
    - the 7 highest countries in the world
    - the 7 oldest countries of the world
    - one of the 7 megacities of the world
    - the 7 countries with the most immigrants
    - the 7 richest (or poorest) countries
    - the 7 most rainy (or dry) countries

    Below are some more details to the country categories, with links to country lists.

    Challenge Guidelines:
  1. This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2013 – Dec 31, 2013.
  2. Books can be any format (novel, non-fiction, poetry or story collection, anthology, as well as any physical format: print, ebook, audio)
  3. You are welcome to count these books towards any other challenges as well
  4. The sorting of the 7 lists is just a suggestion. 
  5. When picking a country, the idea is to also pick an author from that country. If that turns out to be difficult, try to find an expat author who lived in the country for a while.
  6. In the next weeks, I will add some additional resources: links to book and author lists at Goodreads and Wikipedia, etc. 
  7. I also plan to put together an info / introduction blog post to each of the 7 lists, and also update it with the books read during the challenge, and suggested reads and links etc..

    8. Resources, lists, links: 
    Here are the 7 country categories, with links to the global lists, and with the top 7 countries listed already. For each category, pick a country from the top 7 list, and then pick a book from that country. As reference, i mostly linked to the wiki-lists, as those often offer additional search options.

    1) The starting point:
    A book from one of the 7 countries with the most population
  8. Link: List of countries by population
  9. Top 7: China, India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria

    10. 2) From most populated to the mountains:
    A book from one of the 7 highest countries in the world
  10. Link: List of countries by highest point
  11. Top 7: Nepal, China, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan

    12. 3) From high to old:
    A book from one of the 7 oldest countries of the world
  12. It's an own challenge to create a definite ranking of the oldest countries of the world, which makes this question interesting in its own way. Some references:About/Geography and here: Wiki-answers.
  13. Some of the oldest countries: Japan, China, San Marino, Egypt

    14. 4) From old to new:
    A book from one of the megacities of the world
  14. Link: Megacity + list of megacities
  15. Top 7: Tokyo, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Seoul, Shanghai, Mexico City, Delhi

    16. 5) From megacity to migration:
    A book from one of the 7 countries with the most immigrants
  16. Link: List of countries by foreign-born population
  17. Top 7: USA, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, France, Saudi Arabia, Canada

    18. 6) From people to money:
    A book from one of the 7 richest - or poorest - countries 
  18. Link: List of countries by gross domestic product
  19. Rank 1-7: Luxembourg, Qatar, Macau, Norway, Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong
  20. Rank 173-180: Congo, Liberia, Eritrea, Burundi, Niger, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone

    21. 7) From society to environment:
    A book from one of the 7 most rainy or dry countries 
  21. Link: Precipitation by country
  22. The rainy top 7: Guinea, Solomon Islands, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Burma, Malaysia, Guyana
  23. The dry top 7: Peru, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Erimates, Kuwait, Syria, Djibouti

Hosted by/Link: Virtual Notes. 777 Challenge 2013

Challenge Start and Ends Dates: January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013

My Progress: 3/7

My List:

1) The starting point: A book from one of the 7 countries with the most population

2)

3)

4)

5) From megacity to migration: A book from one of the 7 countries with the most immigrants



6)\ From people to money:A book from one of the 7 richest - or poorest - countries



7)
Posted by Jules at 7:59 PM
Labels: ,
0

Alphabet Challenge 2013

Challenge Summary: Welcome in the Alphabet Challenges group!

This group is for anyone that wants to participate in an alphabet challenge. 

You can create your alphabet from the first letters of the books titles or from the first letters of the authors names or from anything else. 

Two possible challenges are:
- The authors alphabet - books written by authors which last name start with every letter of the alphabet
- The books alphabet - books which titles start with every letter of the alphabet

The alphabets can be done in order or without order - up to everyone's preferences. 
Hosted by/Link: LibraryThing Group Challenge. My Challenge Topic Link

Challenge Start and Ends Dates: January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013

My Progress: 25/52

My List:

This year I'm going to try and do two authors for every letter of the alphabet, with their last name corresponding to each letter of the alphabet. Part one does NOT need to be completed in order for me to add authors to part two.

UPDATE: I decided for part two I'm going to try to do exclusively Canadian authors. There may be a few that are not Canadian (like X) but I'm going to try to do as many as I can.


PART ONE - Authors Last Name Starts With

E
G
I
L
O
P
U
V
X
Y
Z

PART TWO Authors Last Name Starts With - Canadian Authors

A
C
D
E
F
I
J
L
N
O
P
R
S
V
X
Y

Posted by Jules at 6:18 AM
Labels: ,

January 1, 2013

0

War Through The Generations - American Revolution

Challenge Summary: War Through the Generation’s 2013 reading challenge will be the American Revolution. The challenge will run from January 1, 2013, through December 31, 2013.

Rules:
This year you have options when reading your fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, etc. with the American Revolution as the primary or secondary theme.
Books can take place before, during, or after the war, so long as the conflicts that led to the war or the war itself are important to the story. Books from other challenges count so long as they meet the above criteria.

Dip: Read 1-3 books in any genre with the American Revolution as a primary or secondary theme.
Wade: Read 4-10 books in any genre with the American Revolution as a primary or secondary theme.
Swim: Read 11 or more books in any genre with the American Revolution as a primary or secondary theme.
Additionally, we’ve decided that since there are so many great movies out there about the American Revolution, you can substitute or add a movie or two to your list this year and have it count toward your totals.

**Note**
*Participants anywhere in the world are eligible for most prizes in the post-challenge drawing!**
*Prize drawings will be for participants finishing the minimum 1-3 books.
*Participants can always read more than their initial goals, and even if you sign up for 11+, but read just 1-3 books, and you’ve officially completed the challenge and are eligible for prizes.
You can decide which books you’d like to read right away, or you can choose them during the course of the challenge. Check out the Recommended Reading: American Revolution page for suggestions.

How to sign up:
Leave a comment on this page with your reading goal. Please spread the word about the challenge on your blogs. Feel free to do a sign up post and leave a link to your post here.
Everyone who signs up will be listed on the American Revolution Reading Challenge Participants page.
Sign-ups will be ongoing.
**Once you’ve signed up, please visit the Buttons page to snag some for your blog for use in your sign up post and book reviews! (New American Revolution Reading Challenge buttons)**

Share your reviews with fellow participants:

If you have a blog and have reviewed a book you’re counting toward the challenge, please e-mail the review links to warthroughgenerations AT gmail DOT com. We’d be happy to post the first paragraph (or the first few sentences, depending on paragraph length) and a link to your blog.

If you don’t have a blog but would like to share your thoughts on a book you’ve read for the challenge, please write up a review and e-mail it to warthroughgenerations AT gmail DOT com. Please include the name you wish to be displayed as author of the review.

If you have any questions, please e-mail us at warthroughgenerations AT gmail DOT com. We hope you will join us for a year filled with great books

Hosted by/Link: Anna and Serena. War Through the Generations Challenge

Challenge Start and Ends Dates: January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013

My Progress: 1/3

My List:

 1) The Fort - Bernard Cornwell
Posted by Jules at 8:23 PM
Labels: ,