Challenge Progress

I may revise my ways come 2nd Quarter of the month, but since I still feel new to book blogging, I’m trying out different ways of sharing my information. And while I keep my challenge progress on my blog already, sometimes we don’t have time to check everywhere to find out. This way, it’s all in one nice and easy spot. I’ve seen some other bloggers do this as well, and there are a handful of challenges ending in June, so this should help me prioritize my reading.

Total Challenges Attempting – 30

Challenges Finished – Five (5)

• Winter Reading Challenge (8/8)
• Support Your Local Library Challenge (12/12)
• Steinbeck Mini-Challenge (2/2)
• Shakespeare Challenge (6/6)
• Casual Classics (4/4)

Current Challenges –

1. 2009 Pub Challenge (1/9)
2. Daniel Defoe Mini-Challenge (1/2)
3. Scott Westerfeld Mini-Challenge (0/2)
4. 09 Decades Challenge (9/20)
5. Chunkster Challenge (2/4) ends 11.15
6. Book Into Movie Challenge (12/20)
7. A-Z Challenge – Titles (17/26) Authors (14/26)
8. 999 Challenge (43/81)
9. 50/100+ Book Challenge (45/100)
10. Countdown Challenge (29/45) ends 9.9
11. New Authors Challenge (21/50)
12. RYOB Challenge (14/50)
13. Romance Reading Challenge (0/5)
14. 2nds Challenge (6/12)
15. YA Challenge (4/12)
16. Series Challenge Season 3 (7/15) ends 11.30
17. What’s in a Name Challenge (2/6)
18. 1st in Series Challenge (7/12)
19. 2009 TBR Challenge (5/12) Original – (1/12) Alternatives
20. Vampire Challenge (1/2)
21. Book vs. Movie Challenge (5/20)
22. Banned Book Challenge (1/3) ends 6.30
23. 1% Well Read Challenge (0/10)
24. Spring Reading Thing (3/10) ends 6.20

Starts After March 31 –

1. Classics Challenge (0/5) ends 10.31
2. A Visit to Oz Challenge (0/5)
3. Non-Fiction Five Challenge (0/5) ends 9.30
4. Love Bites Challenge (0/3) ends 6.30

Perpetual Challenges –

• 1,001 Books you Must Read (59/1001)
• EW’s New Classic Books (10/100)

1st Quarter – March

I figured after looking at my notes, I would definitely need to do two separate posts for March, one only for March stats, and one for the first quarter of the year. I see other bloggers keeping track of how many books in genres, categories, authors, etc. they read, so this is the perfect time for me to keep track of those myself.

Total Books Read – 45
Plays – 6

New Authors – 21
Female – 13
Male – 21

Fiction – 20
NonFiction – 10
Children – 11
YA – 4

I’m also going to post a challenge status separate since that will be even more information. Isn’t this fun?

This Month is Movies – March

Trying to keep in tune with last month and Pop Culture Junkie’s great idea of listing movies viewed as well as book, here’s this month’s list. It was a successful TV viewing month.

I watched 27 movies and 5 TV shows.

Top Movie Viewings:

• Rachel Getting Married – a very moving and emotional story about family tragedy
• Taken – a suspense thriller, must see for anyone looking for lots of action
• Duplicity – a quirky film about two spies trying their own con against big business

Top TV Show:

• True Blood: Season 1

All others:

• Ray
• Gosford Park
• Big Fish
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Kramer vs. Kramer
• Sopranos: Season 5
• W.
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall
• Rome: Season 1
• American Gangster
• All the King’s Men
• Norma Rae
• Awakenings
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Capote
• Spiderwick Chronicles
• Into the Wild
• The Savages
• Blood Diamond
• Cimarron
• The Pianist
• Tudors: Season 1
• Master and Commander
• Munich
• Sopranos: Season 6 Part 1
• I’ve Loved You So Long

I’m extremely behind on my reviewing, but here’s the site. Hopefully I’ll get somewhat caught up soon.

March 2009 Review

It was a successful month. I accomplished my goal of reading at least 6 books off my shelves, so I think I’m going to keep this goal to hopefully achieve the yearly one of bringing down the number in the TBR pile.

Books Read:

1. The Host by Stephenie Meyer (TBR)
2. Stop in the Name of Pants by Louise Rennison
3. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich (TBR)
4. Maus by Art Spiegelman
5. The 1996 What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles
6. Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson (TBR)
7. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
8. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
9. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane (TBR)
10. Maus II by Art Speigelman
11. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
12. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
13. Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
14. The Writer’s Idea Book by Jack Heffron (TBR)
15. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
16. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (TBR)
17. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye (Vol. 1) by Frank Miller
18. Fool by Christopher Moore (TBR)
19. Roses are Red by James Patterson (TBR)

Books Added to Shelves:

• Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates
• Life With my Sister Madonna by Christopher Ciccone
• Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
• Pretty Little Mistaks by Heather McElhatton
• Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
• High Five by Janet Evanovich

Challenges Finished: (4) John Steinbeck Mini-Challenge, Shakespeare Challenge, Winter Reading Challenge, Casual Classics Challenge.