2011 Book Challenges: Personal challenges, and a few others

The Three R’s Challenge, is one challenge that I forgot to mention on my other book challenge post which went up last evening. This one looks great, easy, and one that 75% of the challenge is already done on a regular basis. The other 25% is to remember to Recognize the blogger that put said book onto my radar. The biggest trouble with the Recognize part of this challenge is keeping track, AND remembering to refer to the list when I write a review post. I am fairly certain that I will use my Goodreads account to keep track of the bloggers who put a certain book onto my radar.

If you are participating in this challenge, how are you going to keep track of blogger recommended books?

The Basics:

1. This challenge will begin on January 1, 2011 and end on December 31, 2011.
2. Write a starting post stating how thankful you plan to be in the upcoming year and link it to the linky we'll have on the starting post.
3. Read a book recommended to you by another blogger. (This book can be a crossover from another challenge.)
4. Review the book & Recognize the blogger who recommended it to you.
5. Recommend the Book in our Recommend linky by linking your review post naming the blogger who recommended the book to you.

How Thankful am I? 1-6 Books (~1 review every 2 months)

For more information and to sign-up, check-out The Three R’s.

Read my Bible in a Year
Last July - October, I read my Bible in 90 Days,and bit more. It was a great experience, and probably the most fulfilling reading that I did all year. However, the 90 Day pace is a lot, and this year I would like to go a bit slower. I plan to chronologically read my Bible in a year. My friend Jody, and daughter EJ (11 years old) will be joining me on this journey. Wish us fortitude because I do believe at some points during the year we will need it.

We will be using:
Chronological Bible Reading -- One Year Plan
OR
The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order

Grrr…I cannot decide between these two plans, and I need to do so within the next 12 hours!

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge
My friend Jody gifted me the book, 1001... and I love looking through it, but would I actually read any of the books listed? Pondering the question of follow through led me to the decision of setting up my own personal challenge.

Details:
1.This challenge will begin on January 1, 2011 and end on December 31, 2011.
2. Choose a commitment level
3. Read book, and review it.

The Levels:
The book is broken down into four sections which lends itself perfectly for challenge areas.
1. Read 1 book out of each time-period section
2. Read 2 books out of each time-period section
3. Read 4 books out of one time-period section of choosing

I have decided to read one book out of each section for a total of 4 books.

1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up Challenge
This book is like my 1001 Must Reads book, but focuses solely on children’s books, and yay, I am a grown-up..so says society…but who cares because children’s books can be great reads at any age. This book belongs to EJ; a Christmas present. She and I are going to take this challenge, but most likely a different levels.

Details:
1.This challenge will begin on January 1, 2011 and end on December 31, 2011.
2. Choose a commitment level
3. Once you know your commitment level, you can decide if you want to choose books from all the section, a couple, or just concentrate one one.
3. Read book, and review it.

The Levels:
The sections of this book are broken down into five age groups vs time-periods. The books can be from one age group, a few age groups, or spread out throughout all the age groups.

1. Read 5 books
2. Read 10 books
3. Read 15 books
4. Read 20 books
5. Read 25 books

I know the levels look huge commitments, but remember that two of the sections contain picture books for ages 0-3 and 3+.

I have decided to read 25 books, and I am going to break down my reading in the following way:
0-3 age group - 5 books
3+ age group - 10 books
5+ age group - 2 books
8+ age group - 6 books (I am going to let EJ choose the books for me)
12+ age group - 2 books

Books-in-a-Series Completion Challenge
I took this tweaking of an idea from Adam at Roof Beam Reader. I thought about his book series that he wants to read, and then promptly realized that I have my own that I need to finish. The following are my series, and if necessary, I will indict my intention of books to be read during 2011. Truly though, this is an ongoing challenge as I am not going to kid myself that these series will be completed during 2011.

Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (last few books)
1. The Eye of the World
2. The Great Hunt
3. The Dragon Reborn
4. The Shadow Rising
5. The Fires of Heaven
6. Lord of Chaos
7. A Crown of Swords
8. The Path of Daggers
9. Winter’s Heart
10. Crossroads of Twilight
11. Knife of Dreams
12. The Gathering Storm
13. Tower’s of Midnight
14. A Memory of Light

My plan: Read 6 books (book 6 -11) , and this would mean one book every other month. I think this will be a good pace, and sets me up nicely to be caught up by early 2012.

Thankfully, I have a huge motivator in the form of fellow blogger, Suey of It’s All About Books. Beyond the investment I feel, reading this book with someone else has been a huge factor for me to not feel overwhelmed by the size of this series.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
1. The Fellowship of the Ring
2. The Two Towers
3. The Return of the King

I would like to finish this series during 2011, and by June would be fantastic.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
1. The Magician's Nephew
2. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
3. The Horse and His Boy
4. Prince Caspian
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
6. The Silver Chair
7. The Last Battle

Carrie at Reading to Know will be hosting the Third Annual Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge, and it will be our third year participating.

This July, I plan on reading The Silver Chair, and maybe I will also read The Last Battle.

The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
1. Over Sea, Under Stone
2. The Dark is Rising
3. Greenwitch
4. The Grey King
5. Silver on the Tree

My daughter, EJ, received this series for Christmas. I would like to read it with her, and I will let her set the reading pace for this series.

My Challenges will be located here: Polishing Mud Balls Challenges

2011 Book Challenges: Fun, and Practical

I cannot believe that I am writing my post for the 2011 book challenges that I a plan on participating in during 2011. It seems like yesterday that I was pondering this for 2010. Which reminds me, I did not do well on my 2010 challenges, and while I hope for the best with those that I have chosen for 2011, I would not be surprised if a few will not be completed by year’s end. Then why sign up? Well, I want to. The following challenges are a good mix between plain out fun, and very practical. I look forward to the commencement…Saturday, January 1st.

Take A Chance Challenge 3 hosted by Jenners at Life…with Books

This challenge looks fun, fun, fun, fun! It really does. I look forward trying the varying ways of choosing a book to read. Fun!

In a nutshell, this is the challenge:

1: Staff Member’s Choice: Go to a bookstore or library that has a “Staff Picks” section. Read one of the picks from that section.

2: Loved One’s Choice: Ask a loved one to pick a book for you to read. (If you can convince them to buy it for you, that is even better!)

3: Blogger’s Choice: Find a “Best Books Read” post from a favorite blogger. Read a book from their list.

4: Critic’s Choice: Find a “Best of the Year” list from a magazine, newspaper or professional critic. Read a book from their Top 10 list.

5: Blurb Book: Find a book that has a blurb on it from another author. Read a book by the author that wrote the blurb.

6: Book Seer Pick: Go to The Book Seer and follow the instructions there. Read a book from the list it generates for you.

7: What Should I Read Next Pick : Go to What Should I Read Next and follow the instructions there. Read a book from the list it generates for you.

8: Which Book Pick: Go to Which Book and use the software to generate a list of books. Read a book from that list.

9: LibraryThing Pick: Go to LibraryThing’s Zeitgeist page. Look at the lists for 25 Most Reviewed Books or Top Books and pick a book you’ve never read. Read the book. (Yes … you can click on MORE if you have to.)

10: Pick A Method: Pick a method for finding a book from the choices listed below (used in previous versions of the challenge).

• Random Book Selection. Go to the library. Position yourself in a section such as Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Children (whatever section you want). Then write down random directions for yourself (for example, third row, second shelf, fifth book from right). Follow your directions and see what book you find. Check that book out of the library, read it and then write about it. (If you prefer, you can do the same at a bookstore and buy the book!)
  
  
• Public Spying. Find someone who is reading a book in public. Find out what book they are reading and then read the same book. Write about it.
  
  
• Random Bestseller. Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1950 for the min. and 2010 for the max. and then hit generate. Then go to this site and find the year that Random.org generated for you and click on it. Then find the bestseller list for the week that would contain your birthday for that year. Choose one of the bestsellers from the list that comes up, read it and write about it.

Want to join in on this fun challenge or need more information? Yes…good. Head on over to Jenner’s blog, here, to sign-up.

2011 Where Are You Reading? Challenge hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. This is another fun, fun challenge.

Here are the basics:

The Challenge consists of reading at least one book that covers each of the 50 states of America and you can add as many other countries as you like.

Set up a map under Google Maps. It is easy to do! Every time you read a book in 2011, upload a cover picture to Picasa Web Albums (there may be other sites to use, feel free to use what works best for you).

So basically, for every book that I read in 2011 I will be mapping the location. It will be interesting to see how many of the 50 states I will cover because I am not going to purposefully choose my books according to location. I am joining this challenge because of the mapping on the whole. I think it will be very neat, and very fun to see where I travel during 2011…via my reading.

My Map will be placed on my blog's sidebar once I get it going.

Sheila spells this challenge out in detail. Take a look at her blog for further information, and to sign-up.

2011 TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader.

Okay…you know that I have huge TBR pile that does not ever seem to decrease. I need help. I need help to focus my attention on those books that have been sitting around for bit whom I was very excited to read when they first arrived into our home. This TBR challenge is the motivation, and the help that I need.

The number 1 specific to this challenge:

The goal is to read 12 books from your "to be read" pile, within 12 months.

Each of these 12 books must have been on your bookshelf or "To Be Read" list for AT LEAST one full year. This means the book cannot have a publication date of 1/1/2010 or later (any book published in the year 2009 or earlier qualifies, as long as it has been on your TBR pile - I WILL be checking publication dates). Caveat: Two (2) alternates are allowed, just in case one or two of the books end up in the "can't get through" pile.

Please take a look at 2011 TBR Pile Challenge for further details, and to sign-up.

My Twelve:

1. The Wildest Heart by Rosemary Rogers

2. Spoon by Robert Greer

3. A Peep Behind the Scenes by Mrs. O.F. Walton

4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

5. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

7. Fire by Kristin Cashore

8. The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran

9. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

10.The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Anne Catherine Emmerich

11. The Fiddler’s Gun by A.S. Peterson

12. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan - retold by Cheryl V. Ford

My Two Alternates:

1. In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant

2. On A Highland Shore by Kathleen Givens

2011 Reading from My Shelves Project hosted by Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea.

Okay, this one is perfect for me as I have recently decided to make room on my bookshelves by keeping those books who meet my new “keeper” guidelines. This means that I have many books to give to others to read, and enjoy. How fun, and practical!! Also, this is a great challenge to couple with the 2011 TBR Pile Challenge.

Details:

• Challenge runs from January 1 - December 31, 2011.
  
• Read books from your own shelves, and then pass the books on to someone else: a friend, relative, the library, used book store, swap them, just as long as the book leaves your house once it has been read.
  
• Decide on your goal (12 is the minimum - no maximum). Cross over books are allowed.
  
• Grab the button and do a post about the challenge.
  
• Keep a running list of the books you've read and passed on.
  
• Leave a comment with a link to your post and you are entered (no Mr. Linky).
  
• Have Fun and GOOD LUCK!

If you avid reader such as myself, you know that you have books hanging around just begging for you to read, and then to pass on to someone else for their reading enjoyment. Have fun, and sign-up here.

Books Read, and passed on to someone else:
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12.

Ireland Reading Challenge 2011 is hosted by Carrie at Books and Movies.

Okay…I have a great interest in Ireland, Scotland, and England amongst a few other countries so when I saw this challenge I thought “fantastic!” I already know of two books that I will be reading in 2011 with the setting in Ireland, and/or the characters are Irish. Bang…two books are already planned.

Details:


~ The challenge runs from January 1, 2011 to November 30, 2011.

~ Any books read for this challenge can also apply to other challenges you are working on.

~ Re-reads are allowed.

~ Any book written by an Irish author, set in Ireland, or involving Irish history or Irish characters, counts for the challenge – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, audiobooks, children’s books – all of these apply.

~ Choose your commitment level:

Shamrock level: 2 books
Luck o’ the Irish level: 4 books
Kiss the Blarney Stone level: 6 books

I am going to participate in the Shamrock Level. I most likely will read more, but why push my luck.

For more details and to sign-up check out the Ireland Reading Challenge.

Books Read:

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Book Clubs

Not only am I going to challenge myself, I am also going to participate in two book clubs.

The Women of Science Fiction hosted by TJ at Dreams and Speculation

To see the list of books, to find out more info, and to sign-up….check outDreams and Speculations: 2011 Book Club Information Page & Sign Ups

The Women of Fantasy hosted by Erika at Jawas Read Too!

To see the list of books, to find out more info, and to sign-up….check out Jawas Read Too! : 2011 Book Club Information Page & Sign Ups

Fa la la la la, la la la la….

Every year, we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Every year, we celebrate Christmas, and this Christmas was simply fantastic!
Seriously, I think this was one of our best Christmas seasons! Our Advent calendar was a hit…a hit in the sense that we read, and did our planned activity on a daily basis, almost. That is huge for our rather large and busy family. Next year, I would like our readings to focus more on God’s word rather than just telling the Christmas story. I do love our Advent Book though, so it will be read next year, but most likely only on Christmas morning..read in its entirety.

Without further ado, let me tell how our family spent Christmas.

Christmas Eve…

We spent Christmas eve with Robert’s family. We had a lovely time. The food was great, and the company was fun. As usual, we gathered, ate, and then opened gifts. After gifts, we do a grab bag that Robert’s sister, Wendy, puts together. This grab bag has become an annual event, and one that we all look forward to. Matter of fact, if Wendy were to stop this grab bag tradition then I am sure that we would all be very disappointed. The items are cheap, and soooo very, very fun! We loved all of our gifts, but I would like to point out a few. Jennifer, my sister-in-law (she is married to Robert’s brother), made beautiful necklaces for all the females of the family. Seriously, her work is amazing, and the quality is nothing to sneeze at. I love my necklace, and I know that my girls (including Randie-Lynn) love theirs as well. She sells these necklaces on etsy, and ebay which is also to say…if you are in the market for a unique necklace for a gift, then give Jennifer a try… A Fan Affair.
The above photo is the gift that Jill made for Robert and I. It is a very lovely decoration made out of a birch tree. I really do love this festive piece, and look forward to placing it in our home every year. The children really did like their gifts, and had fun mingling with the family. My regret is that we did not get the whole family together for a photo, must do this next year.

After we arrived home from Robert’s family, and the younger children fell asleep, we started wrapping gifts. Actually, Robert and I have a Christmas eve tradition where we wrap the gifts for our children while they sleep, and we listen to a Christmas mass on the TV. This year, Robert wanted to alter the tradition. He suggested that we wrap the gifts on the 23rd. That did not happen, and instead, I wound up wrapping many of the gifts during the day of the 24th. Robert made a nice cozy area in our crawl space for wrapping. Yep, you read that right, our crawl space….it is the only out of the way spot in the house that IJ would leave me alone…err…not bother me so much. I must say, it was not that bad in there, and I managed to listen to several chapters of my tome, The Fires of Heaven, that I am trying to finish before the end of the month. However, I could not finish all the gifts so we did manage to maintain our Christmas eve…into the very early hours of Christmas morning our wrapping presents tradition remained alive. I do like this tradition albeit a very tired one. By time we were done, I could not fall asleep until almost 4am, and then the children started waking at 7am. Yawn!!!

Christmas…

As always, the children are allowed to go at their stockings, but must wait until we are all awake to start opening the Christmas presents. This year, that meant that they needed to wait until around 830 am, and I must say, this was terribly difficult for IJ…terribly difficult. Before the opening of presents, we always read the Christmas Story using our Advent Book, and we – the parents- must have coffee on hand. The morning was absolutely wonderful. All of the children loved their presents. GD loved her fairy themed gift…many fairies, horses, unicorn, fairy furniture all encased in a nice container. IJ loved his boxing bag. Oh yeah, we err..Santa…got him a boxing bag. Figured that it would be a good source for him to put out his energy. On Monday, his boxing gloves arrived, and he is in love. They sleep with him. Ben got his bike parts…he builds bicycles, but that sounds too simplistic. Just know, the bikes he builds are nice. He received a few other gifts including jeans, and a Xbox game. The girls got their PS3, but were spoilt beyond the PS3. I think I did rather good with Robert’s gifts: John Mellencamp cd, Kid Rock cd, and several Chicago Blackhawk items. Granted, he did give me a very specific list, but the Blackhawk stuff was my own thinking. Me…ahhh..the family spoiled me. EM gave me a much needed travelling coffee mug. I have a terrible habit of loosing mine throughout the year. Ben gave me a cool ISU coffee mug…love it. The rest of the children gave me two cds – Bruce Springsteen, and Bon Jovi albums. But my big gift is a NOOK…oh yeah, you did indeed read that correctly…I have fallen victim to the e-reading world. Frankly, I am very excited about this gift. Even so, I don’t see it at all replacing the physical books. I have decided that any book that I want to truly have in my personal library, and one that I would like my children to read will be the books that I make a physical print purchase. I also received a nice NOOK cover that actually gives me a fantastic textile feel…a bookish feel. I am in the infant stages with this e-reader, and can not wait to fully understand the device, but so far so…so…very great!

The rest of Christmas day was spent over at my brother’s home, Darin. It was a blast, and the weather was great. A BLAST! Seriously, we had such great fun playing on the ice…skating, snowmobiling, sledding, and three-wheeling. We played outside for a few hours before the festivities of food, and commencement of presents. We then, after food and presents, promptly spent a few evening hours outside too. If you do not know, then know, my brother’s home is on the lake that we all grew up on. Matter of fact, my parents home is still in the same location…across the lake from my brother just not lakefront property, and my sister lives on the direct opposite side of my brother…again, not lakefront property. Us…well…we drive, and then have fun.
The children were wonderful at Darin’s home, but IJ did have a bit of difficulty while indoors. The boy needed the outdoors on this day so we are very thankful that the weather was perfect for our activities.

We were having such a great time that we did not leave my brother’s home to rather late into the evening amidst a snow-storm. What is a usual 30 minute trip to our home from his wound up taking us over an hour. Truly, the roads were treacherous. Thankfully we made it home safe, and sound. By the time we settled in, and the children fell asleep, yet again, I could not go to sleep until early into the next day’s morning… about 1 am. Ahhh… a fantastic day that ended fabulously. All too soon it was over, and all too soon the alarm clock was ringing at 5 AM for me to head off to work.

A fabulous Christmas season we did have. Great family, wonderful food, blessings of presents. Mostly though, the greatest blessing to us was the time with family while keeping in the forefront of our minds the gift of Jesus.

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas holiday, and I wish you a fabulous New Year.

This is my immediate family. My parents, my siblings, my brother-in-law, my brother’s girlfriend, my nieces, my nephew, my children, my husband…me. Sadly, my oldest brother, and his family is not in the photo…they live in Israel.

Side Note: Tons of photos were taken. I uploaded them to my SmugMug account. If you w0uld like to view more photos, you may take a look. December 25, part 1, December 25, part 2

Beyond taking photos, Benji took video. He took short clips and then edited them together which, in the end, created a 7 minute video. If you would like to see our outdoor fun in action, you may do so by viewing our YouTube video. Christmas 2010