January 3, 2010 • reading •

Sunday Salon: Bookkeeping and Challenging in 2010

The Sunday Salon.com

 I have an idea for a personal mini-challenge that would help make a dent in the ol’ TBR, count toward a couple of other reading challenges, and contribute favorably to blogger karma. Gotta love multitasking!

One of the folders I use for feeds in Google Reader is called “author blogs,” which should be self-explanatory. In some cases, I read one of the author’s books first and then learned he or she had a blog, which I checked out and liked enough to follow; I’ve come to know others as bloggers first, and then sought out their books…which I haven’t (yet) gotten around to reading. Hence, the challenge.

I have books by several of these blogging authors in TBR Purgatory at the moment, and I think I might make a project out of reading them – perhaps within this year. I’ve already publicly committed to reading Janeology by Karen Harrington, which is what got me started thinking about this. Here are the other books that would be part of this challenge, should I choose to undertake it (listed in alphabetical order by author):

The Bright Side of Disaster and Get Lucky#, both by Katherine Center
Notes from the Underwire: Adventures from My Awkward and Lovely Life, by Quinn Cummings
Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo? And Other Question I Wish I Never Had to Ask, by Jancee Dunn
Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (on Kindle)
Nothing but Ghosts and Undercover, both by Beth Kephart
Bitter Is the New Black; Bright Lights, Big Ass; and Such a Pretty Fat, all by Jen Lancaster
Outtakes from a Marriage, by Ann Leary
Zoe’s Tale, by John Scalzi
Best Friends Forever, by Jennifer Weiner
#I’m scheduled to review this one for a blog tour in the spring, so it WILL be read this year!

All of these would count for the Read Your Own Books Challenge, and I could meet the four-book commitment for the Memorable Memoir Challenge* just from this list as well (thanks to Jen Lancaster, mostly).

So…the “Blogging Authors Reading Challenge.” What do y’all think – a project worth tackling? Would you consider joining in – do you have any books by authors whose blogs you read hanging around your own TBR stacks?

I’m starting to think I should have kept ignoring reading challenges…coming up with these lists of books to read makes me really want to read them! And wanting to read them makes me think I’ll need to cut back on blogging in order to make time to hit the books. Such a dilemma…

BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report

Reviews posted since the last report:
My last book reviews of 2009 were a Maud Hart Lovelace/Betsy-Tacy extravaganza:
Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself and Betsy Was a Junior/Betsy and Joe
Betsy and the Great World/Betsy’s Wedding

Currently reading/next in line:
On the Kindle: When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, by Gail Collins (for the Women Unbound Reading Challenge and RYOB Challenge)
On the Kindle: Shanghai Girls: A Novel, by Lisa See (for TLC Book Tours)
Something to get me started on the Shelf Discovery Challenge, but I haven’t decided which book it will be yet!

New to my LibraryThing “To Read” collection
For review:

The Wives of Henry Oades: A Novel, by Johanna Moran (galley for upcoming blog tour)
For me:
Alice I Have Been: A Novel, by Melanie Benjamin (ARC, won from Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea)
One of these three books (purchased on New Year’s Day) will be counted for the Buy One Book and Read It Challenge:
Let the Great World Spin: A Novel, by Colum McCann  
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia, by Laura Miller

New additions to the Wishlist:
Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, by Zadie Smith
Chemistry for Beginners, by Anthony Strong
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, by David Grann
The Declaration, by Gemma Malley
Requiem, Mass., by John Dufresne
How I Became a Famous Novelist, by Steve Hely
Blame, by Michelle Huneven

BOOKMARKS: Reading-related Reading

Book Blogger Quote of the Week, from Nicole at Linus’s Blanket:

“I just have to learn not to commit to anything (readalongs, challenges, etc) before I look at my book calendar. The whole thing is probably more easily accomplished if I stay off  Twitter and don’t read any blogs!”

Be who you are, read what you like – and if that makes you a book snob, so what?

Why she (and I, for that matter) will never stop buying books

One writer’s reading resolutions for 2010

What happens when a reader has no time to read? Borderline insanity, that’s what!

She’s contemplating a series of one-night stands…; she’s contemplating getting her focus back to reading and blogging, and off the social-media merry-go-round

This will only make sense to Hunger Games fans: A few weeks ago, I publicly declared for #teamgale. The case in favor is well-defined here. (My 15-year-old tells me her two best friends are #teampeeta, while she herself is #teamletsjustbefriends.)

Challenges and Events

I don’t mention it much here, but I’ve been part of the Weekly Geeks team for the past year – I do the wrap-up posts  every six weeks or so. We’re looking for more volunteers to join us in 2010, and we’d love to have you join us! Interested? Find out more about what’s involved, and how you can get involved!

Wendy of Caribousmom has launched a project that combines reading and fundraising for a cause – a cure for childhood cancer. Living in Memphis, home of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, made me more aware of children and families affected by cancer. Wendy has chosen the Pediatric Cancer Foundation as beneficiary for the Reading For a Cure project; you can find out how to participate on her announcement post.


Melissa of The Betty and Boo Chronicles is hosting her very first reading challenge: the Memorable Memoir Challenge for 2010 (*as mentioned above.  Since I tend to read a lot of memoirs anyway, I’m in for this one!

Did you have the chance to get much reading done during the holidays? I didn’t do as much as I’d hoped to, sadly (but I did some other fun things instead, so I’m OK with it). Between reading challenges and review responsibilities, I think my reading for the next few months is pretty well mapped out, though. I’m waiting to see if and when I’ll rebel against all that planning! Does that happen to you, too?

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19 comments

  2. Book Dilettante – Compared to some other lists I've seen, mine's not much…and it's just a tiny sample of what lives in TBR Purgatory.

  3. Yay for Anansi Boys!!! 😀

    I have this weird thing where I don't like to know anything about an author outside of their books…so I won't be joining. But I bet a lot of bloggers will love this idea! 🙂

  4. Thanks for posting about Reading for a Cure, Florinda!

    I should mention that although I would love it if people donated to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, if someone feels strongly about donating elsewhere for an organization that is also helping to find a cure for childhood cancer, that is okay…they can still join the challenge 🙂

    I like the idea of your challenge idea…I enjoy author blogs 🙂

  5. Well, you know I would be in for the Blogging Author Challenge. Janeology is among my reads, soon, because I promised Karen a review and guest post; I have adored Quinn Cummings since "The Goodbye Girl" so I really must read her book; and of course, there's the Beth Kephart challenge so I could combine this challenge and Amy's for that.

    I might be able to think of some others … I'm sure there are a few in my TBR piles, too.

    Thanks so much for mentioning the Memorable Memoir Challenge in your roundup!

  6. Eva – I hope some other bloggers like it; if they do, I'll launch it as my first official hosted challenge. But I think it's a project I'll tackle anyway, even if no one else joins me.

    Wendy – I hope you're getting a lot of participants! I'm glad you're giving the option of benefiting another charity, because I'm pretty sure that I'd pick St. Jude.

    Melissa – I join your challenge, you join mine? Works for me :-D!

    And thanks for letting me make the button for the Memorable Memoirs Challenge :-).

  7. I like your idea of reading books by the authors whose blogs you follow. I have quite a few myself that I need to get to.

    I'll be kicking off my One Night Stand feature when I get back from my break and I'm worried that listing the books I would have read for the challenges if I actually signed up for them will be too tempting. I wish I was a more prolific reader sometimes. I just can't read all the books I want to read fast enough.

    Wendy's project is such a good one. Definitely worth supporting.

    I hope you have a great week, Florinda!

  8. I love the idea of the blogging author's challenge, but I've sworn I'm not going to sign up for any more challenges. I love Nicole's quote too.

  11. I usually don't know enough about authors outside of their books to know that they blog. With the exception of Karen Harrington, the other were a big surprise to me.

    I pretty much set myself up with that quote since that it just not going to happen. But I will try to have my calendar handy when I'm on twitter so I can start looking up dates as I run my mouth about all the thing I am going to do.

  12. Wendy (Literary Feline) – I completely understand about wanting to be a more prolific reader – same here. I used to think I WAS one before I started blogging :-).

    Hope you have a good week, too :-).

    Kathy (Bermudaonion) – I thought a lot of us could relate to Nicole's observation.

    I may cal the blogging-authors thing a "project" rather than a "challenge." Perhaps that will lure more people… 🙂

    Sheri (Menagerie) – I only LOOK organized. It's a method of defending against utter chaos. I also try not to get involved in TOO many reading challenges :-).

    Happy New Year to you, too!

    Lenore – Katie came up with #teamletsjustbefriends herself. Alternatively, she's #teamkatnissisjustfineonherown – basically, she considers all the love-triangle stuff a distraction :-).

  13. Nicole – It's definitely easy to get caught up in the moment and become an over-committed book blogger!

    I try to link to the author's website in my book review posts, and that's how I find a lot of the author blogs. The other way I find them is – go figure – mentions by other bloggers :-D.

  14. We have a lot of overlap (and wanna be overlap). JANEOLOGY is on my wish list, but I haven't picked it up yet.

    I'm in the middle of SHANGHAI GIRLS (also for TLC). I loved SNOWFLOWER, but didn't read PEONY.

    And WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED speaks to me so loudly/clearly … I'm looking foward to that one.

    I've signed on for many more challenges than I thought I would (including Memorable Memoirs); this will be a busy and fun year!

  15. I love the idea of the Blogging Authors Reading Challenge, although I'm wary of joining too many challenges (again) this year. But thank you for pointing me towards Katherine Center's blog. I love it and I MUST read at least one of her books this year!

  16. Dawn – I've had Snow Flower and the Secret Fan in TBR for at least a couple of years. I saw Lisa See on a panel at the LA Times Festival of Books last year, so it's about time I read something of hers :-).

    Can't wait for your take on When Everything Changed – I'm really enjoying it!

    And yes, it will be a busy year!

    Avis – Glad to help you find a new blog :-). And I do think I'll call the blogging-authors thing a "project" instead of a "challenge."

  17. I love your idea of the blogging authors reading challenge. I've been working on reading books by all the authors at Murderati and Running with Quills. It's been slow going with one or two a year. I've also been thinking about reading Karen's book as well. The idea of making a list is great. I'll get to work on that. If you start a challenge, I will join in.