Saturday, March 31, 2012

My 2012 Reading Challenges

At the beginning of the month I said I wanted to join some more reading challenges. Now it’s the end of the month and I haven’t joined any officially but I’ve certainly been looking at the many ones out there and have enjoyed reading how other bloggers are progressing in the challenges.

So here are all the challenges I’m joining:


There are four levels to this challenge: Lady In Waiting 1-3 Books, Earl 4-6 Books, Prince 7-10 Books, Queen 12+ Books. I’m definitely going for Queen and beyond. Since I love historical fiction I’m bound to read way more than 12. :-)

  1. The Colonel's Lady by Laura Frantz
  2. Serendipity by Cathy Marie Hake
  3. The Guardian Duke by Jamie Carie
  4. The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck by Kathleen Y'Barbo
  5. Cassidy by Lori Wick
  6. Maire: Fires of Gleannmarra by Linda Winsor


There are three levels to this challenge: Level 1 (Gold): Read a book from every country that won a medal. (A total of 26 countries) Level 2 (Silver): Read a book from every country that won a Gold medal. (A total 19 countries) Level 3 (Bronze): Read a book from every country that won Gold, Silver AND Bronze medals. (15 countries)

I love the Olympics and this challenge caught my eye because it is so unique plus you have four years to finish it…well if you started back in 2010 you’d have four years. I’m not sure if I’ll go back in time very far to see what I can cross off. We’ll see. And I’m definitely going to try for gold.

Here’s the list of the 26 countries that won medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics (* means the country got gold, silver and bronze medals):
  • Australia - Gold & Silver (no Bronze)
  • Austria *
  • Belarus *
  • Canada *
  • China *
  • Croatia - Silver & Bronze (no Gold)
  • Czech Republic - Gold & Bronze (no Silver)
  • Estonia - Silver (no Gold or Bronze)
  • Finland - Silver & Bronze (no Gold)
  • France *
  • Germany *
  • Great Britain - Gold (no Silver or Bronze) - Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden
  • Italy *
  • Japan - Silver & Bronze (no Gold)
  • Kazakhstan - Silver (no Gold or Bronze)
  • Latvia - Silver (no Gold or Bronze)
  • Netherlands *
  • Norway *
  • Poland *
  • Russia *
  • Slovakia *
  • Slovenia - Silver & Bronze (no Gold)
  • South Korea *
  • Sweden *
  • Switzerland - Gold & Bronze (no Silver)
  • United States *


This is simply a fun way to see where the stories take place that you read by pinpointing them on Google Maps. I actually started this last week and started putting a few books on there. It’s kinda hard to figure out where a fiction story takes place.


View My book travels in a larger map


I wonder how many geography based challenges I should join. Because the Around the World in 52 Books sounds fun but I don’t know if I can manage that many books from around the world. Most of my books thus far have taken place in America. Which is certainly helpful in completing the 50 States Challenge.


The goal of this one is simple – read a book that takes place in each of the 50 States. And I've thrown in the territories and DC.

Alabama
Alaska
American Samoa
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Guam
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky - A Colonel's Lady by Laura Frantz
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota - Finding Our Way Home by Charlene Ann Baumbich 
Mississippi - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Missouri - Forever After by Deborah Raney
Montana - Sabrina by Lori Wick
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico - Mercy Come Morning by Lisa Tawn Bergen
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Northern Marianas Islands
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas - A Texan's Honor by Shelley Gray
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Virgin Islands
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming


Can you tell I like geography and traveling? To add a bit of variety here is a challenge with two parts that Abbi over at Christian Novels is doing.

A-Z Challenge
Read a book and a author for each letter of the alphabet

Books:
A-
B- Blue Moon Promise by Colleen Coble
C- The Colonel's Lady by Laura Frantz
D-
E-
F- Finding Our Way Home by Charlene Ann Baumbich
G- The Guardian Duke by Jamie Carie
H-
I-
J-
K-
L-
M-
N-
O-
P-
Q-
R-
S- Sabrina by Lori Wick
T- A Texan's Honor by Shelley Gray
U-
V-
W- Word's Spoken True by Ann H. Gabhart
X-
Y-
Z-

Authors
A-
B- Charlene Ann Baumbich
C- Jamie Carie
D-
E-
F- Laura Frantz
G- Shelley Gray
H-
I-
J-
K-
L-
M-
N-
O-
P-
Q-
R-
S-
T-
U-
V-
W- Lori Wick
X-
Y- Kathleen Y'Barbo
Z-



5 comments:

  1. Woohoo! We are doing 3 of the same challenges-good luck! btw I loved Serendipity (and all of Cathy Marie Hake's other novels!)

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  2. Thanks Melanie and Abbi! Abbi, I was reminded/inspired by your recent quarterly update to go join several of them. So thanks for posting that! (For anyone who wants to read that: http://writingchristiannovels.blogspot.com/2012/03/2012-reading-challenges-first-quarter.html It's quite impressive how far she's gotten in all her challenges - and there are still 9 months left in the year!)

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  3. Thanks for joing the 2014 Olympics challenge - you are definitely not too late - you still have an entire year+ left :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for hosting it Tanya! I love the idea and am looking forward to finding books for many of those countries.

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