Challenge Update!

OK! Guardian and China Challenge posts for November will go up this weekend.

Now comes the monthly post where I list all the reading challenges I'm participating in and how I'm doing...

TBR challenge, where I make a list of 12 books (and 12 backup) and read at least 12 by the end of the year. I've done 6.2:

Octavian Nothing II, Kingdom on the Waves
Frog Princess
High Fidelity
The Ballet Family
Hard Boiled and Hard Luck
Ballet Family
Ballet Family Again

The .2 is part of Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out

For the 1% challenge, I need to read 13 books by March 31. I've done 2:

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

For the Buy Books Challenge, I need to buy and read 12 books by the end of the year.

I've purchased 43, read 13, and reviewed 7!

Turning Pages
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Forever Princess
Frog Princess
Gold
Dead is So Last Year
Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover
Living Dead Girl
Diamond Secret
Harry Potter Should Have Died
Fables: Dark Ages
Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?
Jack of Fables: Jack's Big Book of War

Also, I purchased a copy of Mao's Last Revolution but I read and reviewed that last year, so does it count? Does it not? I'm going to say no, just because I've purchased so many other things...

Along the same lines, I purchased Lonely Planet: Paris but I'm not going to review that.

For the Chunkster Challenge, I have to read 6 adult books of 450+ pages by November 15, 2009. I've done 1.4

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

That .4 is part of Atlas Shrugged and part of Life and Death are Wearing Me Out

Let's just say right now: THIS ONE IS GOING TO GO IN THE FAIL COLUMN!

There's the Fill in the Gaps challenge, where I came up with a list of 100 books and commit to finishing 75 of them within 5 years. 4.5 years in, I've done 8.2!

Speak
Julie of the Wolves
Whale Talk
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
The Dark is Rising
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The Golden Compass
Betsy-Tacy

Once again, that .2 is Atlas Shrugged.

And then there's my own Guardian Challenge, which has me reading 10 books by February 1. I've done 3.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (which is filed under "comedy")
The Golden Compass (which is filed under "scifi/fantasy")
The Bottle Factory Outing (which is filed under "comedy" AND is a book I had never heard of before coming across it on this list.)

There's also my goal to read at least 50 of the books I owned but hadn't read as of January 1 by next January 1. I've done 20.4

Octavian Nothing II
Crazy Lady
Frog Princess
A Girl, A Boy, and a Monster Cat
A Girl, A Boy, and Three Robbers
Glass Castle
High Fidelity
North of Beautiful
Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies
Rapunzel's Revenge
Revolution is Not a Dinner Party
Rouge of the North
Story of Sushi
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Whale Talk
Hard Boiled and Hardluck
Betsy-Tacy
Ballet Family
Vogelein: Clockwork Faerie
Ballet Family Again

Once again, .4 is part of Atlas Shrugged and part of Life and Death are Wearing Me Out.

Then there is me trying to finish Anita Silvey's 100 Best Books for Children, of which I had 26 left. I've read 5!

Millions of Cats
Julie of the Wolves
The Dark is Rising
Snowflake Bentley
Betsy-Tacy

There's the

Japanese Literature Challenge so I have to read one book of Japanese literature by January 30. Which I've done! Complete! Huzzah!

Hard Boiled and Hard Luck

The Random Reading Challenge has me taking my TBR pile (or a segment thereof) assigning a number to each book, and then using a random number generator to pick my next book. I have to read 12 this way by July 31. I've read 2! Both were chosen from a list that had all by TBR books that were ON HAND (so books that I own, review copies, and books that were currently checked out from the library.)

A Girl, a Boy, and Three Robbers
Rouge of the North

And there is my own China Challenge. I'm going to read 12 books and do 3 China-related activities between now and September 1, 2010.

Also, I've been furiously studying my ChinesePod.com lessons
AND! Made a new recipe!

Well... there's that .2 of Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out.

New since last month are Callapidder Day's Fall Into Reading Challenge, where I make a list of books I want to read before the end of the year. I've read 17.4!

I'm not listing them all here, but we all know what that .4 is by now, right?

And, S. Krishna's Clear off Your Shelves Challenge, which sees me reading 38 books I own by the end of November. Cross your fingers for me.

I've done 6!