2014 Chunkster Reading Challenge

**Challenge completed (well, almost)**

See my wrap-up post HERE

Dates: January 1 - December 31, 2014
Hosted by: Vassily (of Thoughts of an Eclectic Reader)

Guidelines:

• A chunkster is any book (adult or YA) with 450 or more pages.
• Both fiction and nonfiction are allowed.
• Audio books and e-books are allowed. Graphic novels are not.
• Essay, short story, and poetry collections are allowed but must be read in their entirety to count. 
• Books may crossover with other challenges. 
• Anyone can join. 
• You don’t have to list your books ahead of time. 
• There are no set levels; participants can determine their own level to aim for. 

✵ I'm setting myself a goal of two books for the challenge.

● See my original post about the challenge HERE.
● See my wrap-up post HERE.
● See the challenge announcement/sign-up page HERE.
~ See the challenge review link page HERE.


MY READING LIST (books I've read, with links to reviews):

1. Ten Lords A-Leaping. C.C. Benison (490 pages)
2. 
   

POSSIBILITIES:

• The Book of the Dead. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (454 pages) 
• The Children's Book. A.S. Byatt (675 pages)  
• A Gentle Madness. Nicholas A. Basbanes (638 pages) 
• The Girl Who Played With Fire. Stieg Larsson (503 pages) 
• Inkheart. Cornelia Funke (500+ pages) 
• Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë (450+ pages)
  
• The Land of Painted Caves. Jean M. Auel (757 pages) 
  
• The Map of Time. Felix J. Palma (613 pages) 
• The Peabody Sisters. Megan Marshall (602 pages) 
• The Secret History. Donna Tartt (522 pages) 
• The Secret Keeper. Kate Morton (496 pages) 
• Ten Lords A-Leaping. C.C. Benison (490 pages)

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2014

**See my wrap-up post HERE**

Dates: January 1 - December 31, 2014
Hosted by: Bev @ MY READER'S BLOCK

Guidelines (quoted from the challenge announcement page):

• Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2014. 
• You may sign up anytime from now until November 30th, 2014. 
• Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. If you find that you're on a mountain-climbing roll and want to tackle a taller mountain, then you are certainly welcome to upgrade. All books counted for lower mountains may carry over towards the new peak.
• Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 2014. 
• No ARCs (none), no library books. 
• No rereads. 
• Audiobooks and E-books may count if they are yours and they are one of your primary sources of backlogged books. 
• Books may be used to count for other challenges as well. 
• Feel free to submit your list in advance (as incentive to really get those books taken care of) or to tally them as you climb. 
• There will be quarterly check-ins and prize drawings! A blog and reviews are not necessary to participate. 
• There will be a GoodReads group for the challenge, and a site for reviews. 

Levels:

1. Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
2. Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile/s
3. Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books from your TBR pile/s
4. Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR piles/s
5. Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile/s
6. El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
7. Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s
8. Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile/s

❋ I'm signing up at the "Pike's Peak" level, so I'll be trying for twelve books.  

● See my original post about the challenge HERE.
● See my wrap-up post HERE.
● See the challenge announcement/sign-up page HERE.

~ See the Mount TBR Challenge Review Headquarters HERE.
~ See the March Checkpoint Page HERE.
~ See Checkpoint Number Two HERE.
~ See Checkpoint Number Three HERE. 

MY READING LIST (books I've read, with links to reviews):

1. The Only Problem. Muriel Spark 
2. The Lady in the Lake. Raymond Chandler
3. The High Window. Raymond Chandler
4. The Quilter's Apprentice. Jennifer Chiaverini
5. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
6. 
   

POSSIBILITIES:

1. Afternoon Men. Anthony Powell 
2. The Art of Mending. Elizabeth Berg  
3. The Cabinet of Curiosities. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
4. The Children's Book. A.S. Byatt 
5. The Chrysalids. John Wyndham 
6. The Conjurer's Bird. Martin Davies 
7. The Crystal Cave. Mary Stewart 
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick 
9. Appointment in Samara. John O'Hara 
10. The Dud Avocado. Elaine Dundy 
11. The Family Man. Elinor Lipman
12. Flaubert's Parrot. Julian Barnes 
13. Framed in Lace. Monica Ferris
14. The Ghost Writer. Philip Roth
15. The Glass Room. Simon Mawer
16. Invitation to the Waltz. Rosamond Lehmann 
17. July and August. Nancy Clark 
18. Just Kids. Patti Smith 
19. Labyrinth. Kate Mosse 
20. Los Alamos. Joseph Kanon 
21. The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot. Angus Wilson 
22. The Mists of Avalon. Marion Zimmer Bradley 
23. The Nautical Chart. Arturo Pérez-Reverte
24. Patterns in the Carpet. Margaret Drabble
25. The Public Image. Muriel Spark
26. The Rector of Justin. Louis Auchincloss
27. The Road to Lichfield. Penelope Lively
28. The Sea. John Banville
29. The Sign of the Book. John Dunning 
30. Silver on the Tree. Susan Cooper 
31. The Wapshot Chronicle. John Cheever
32. The Winthrop Covenant. Louis Auchincloss

Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2014

Dates: 1 January - 31 December, 2014
Hosted by: The Introverted Reader

Guidelines: (quoted from challenge announcement page) "Read any non-fiction book(s), adult or young adult. That's it. You can choose anything. Memoirs? Yes. History? Yes. Travel? Yes. You get the idea? Absolutely anything that is classified as non-fiction counts for this challenge."

• Crossovers with other challenges are allowed.
• You don't need a blog to participate.
• There will be a link for reviews.
• Sign up anytime during the year.

Levels:

1. Dilettante -- Read 1-5 non-fiction books
2. Explorer -- Read 6-10
3. Seeker -- Read 11-15
4. Master -- Read 16-20 

 ** I'm signing up at the "Dilettante" level, so I'll be reading 1-5 books.

● See my original post about the challenge HERE.
● See the challenge announcement/sign-up page HERE.
~ See the review link-up page HERE.


MY READING LIST (books I've read, with links to reviews):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

POSSIBILITIES: 

• 1959: The Year Everything Changed. Fred Kaplan (history)
• Books: A Memoir. Larry McMurtry (autobiography) 
• The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. Erik Larson (history/true crime)
• A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books. Nicholas A. Basbanes (reading/book collecting)
• In Cold Blood. Truman Capote (true crime) 
• Just Kids. Patti Smith (memoir)
• The Library at Night. Alberto Manguel (reading and books)
• Manhattan '45. Jan Morris (history) 
• Old Books, Rare Friends: Two Literary Sleuths and Their Shared Passion. Madeleine B. Stern and Leona Rostenberg (book collecting) 
• The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws. Margaret Drabble (family history) 
• The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm. Juliet Nicolson (history) 
• The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels. Janet Martin Soskice (history)