Challenge Your Reading
Over the past couple of months I’ve become completely obsessed with Goodreads, mainly because I’m a huge nerd who loves lists. Being able to organize my reading and have it all separated into neat little lists makes me very happy. But the one thing that has gotten me utterly hooked is the Seasonal Reading Challenge. Not only does it help me decide what to read from my enormous stack of to-read books (more on that coming soon!) but it lets me get competative about reading! What more could I possibly want?
I’ve already completed three tasks:
An Apple (Book) A Day Keeps The Librarians Away – September Is National Apple Month So Let’s… Read A Book That Has A Picture Of An Apple On The Cover OR A Book With The Word Apple(s) In The Title. (5 points)
Apples are From Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared by Christopher Robbins
A complete stranger on a plane tells the author that “apples are from Kazakhstan,” leading him to research and finally visit (numerous times) this country he can’t even place on the map. It ends up being a fascinating exploration of the people, history, and culture of Kazakhstan. I’m a sucker for any book that teaches me stuff I don’t already know, plus I got to see the stuff I studied in my Soviet history class from a very different angle.
This Year Thanksgiving Falls On November 26th – Famous Children’s Author Stanley “Stan” Berenstain (The Berenstain Bears) Died On That Day In 2005 (He Was Born September 29, 1923) – In Memory Of Him… Read A Book With The Word Bear Or Bears In The Title OR Several Children’s Books. (10 points)
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Farley Follows His Nose by Lynn Johnston, illustrated by Beth Cruikshank
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, illustrated by Ron Barrett
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Some were re-reads of old favourites, some were new to me. I found that I liked Where the Wild Things Are much less this time around, but absolutely loved Farley Follows His Nose and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. I just adored the illustrations in both.
Discover The Equation For Good Books: Addition – Add Up The Number Of Letters Found In Your First and Last Names Then Read A Book Written By An Author Whose Name Contains The Same Number Of Letters AND Division – Divide The Year You Were Born By Your Age (Round That Number To The Nearest Whole Number) And Then Read A Book That Is That Number In A Series. (15 points)
Secrets From the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean (addition) and Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings (division)
Despite having listened to a lot of the Vinyl Cafe stories, this is my first time reading the books and I’m loving them so much. It helps that I tend to hear them in Stuart’s voice in my head as I read, but I think people would probably find them funny even if they’d never heard him. Though, really, given that they’re available on the web as a podcast I can’t understand why there is anyone out there who hasn’t heard them. Some of the best Canadian comedy out there — and we’re fabulous at comedy, trust me!
Castle of Wizardry, on the other hand, is a re-read. I first read the Belgariad way back in high school and absolutely loved it. I was talking about it with someone at the store about a month ago and all of a sudden had this strong urge to re-read them and see if they stood up to the test of time. My verdict? Kind of. Fantasy writing has come a long way in the last 25 years (they were already 10 years old when I read them!) and these definitely are old-school fantasy. Think Tolkien, if his characters were more whiny and his editor had done a better job. But they’re excellent, nostalgia-wise. They take me back to a time when my Saturday nights were spent playing Magic or MERP… wait, hold on, that’s still my life. Possibly I’m enjoying them because I never really got past high school and have absolutely no problem with that.
