2010 Countdown Challenge

Well!

So far I have completed three sections of the 2010 Countdown Challenge.

for the year 2010, I've read 10 books

for the year 2009, I've read 9 books

for the year 2001, I've read the 1 book required. :)

Now, to finish the other 7 sections (years) of this challenge; only 3 months and a week to accomplish this - I might not make it, but I'm going to try. I might have to STOP reading anymore books published in 2010 or 2009. That will be hard. :(

Hunter's Prayer

I did it! (finished a book). I've read and reviewed Hunter's Prayer by Lilith Saintcrow over here. This book falls under the 2010 countdown challenge for 2008. Six books down, 49 to go!

Update on Countdown 2010

I've edited my original Countdown 2010 challenge post here. I have one question thought that I couldn't find the answer to on the countdown 2010 challenge website. When we read the books, are we suppose to link our reviews? I couldn't find any info on that aspect so I'm just going to list them here. If anyone knows more, please let me know.

Review - On the Edge

I just finished this book last night. It's great! I'll be writing about it soon.
On The Edge

Ilona Andrews ******

counts for the 2010 countdown challenge - year 2009

EditedToAdd- it's later, now I'm writing about this book. There are three dimensions or worlds that intersect- The Weird (magical, with parallels to the real world), the Edge (partially magical, with strange animals and different levels of magical ability in the residents) and the Broken (which could be where we live, this is the mundane world).

Even though the residents of the Edge know the Weird and the Broken exist, and the residents of the Weird know about the other two worlds, the residents of the Broken have no idea about the Edge, or the Weird.

The main character, Rose lives with her family and zombie grandfather in the Edge. She has some serious issues with the "bluebloods" of the weird (with good reason) and works in the broken to make ends meet. Declan and William are two new men who suddenly come into her life. Both make and attempt to date/start a relationship with her, but she only feels something for one of them.

Any more would be spoilers. I enjoyed this book very much. There's a little bit of romance, lot's of suspense, some mystery and a lot of cranky, obstinate side characters-as well as a couple of very interesting little brothers of Rose.

The romance angle of the book was not too mushy-(hate mushy, a side effect of turning 49 and being married for 30 years!). It was entertaining to read how one of the characters grew on Rose. It was also entertaining to read all the different character's interactions with each other. There's a couple hateful people in this book, the type of people who exploit others' misfortune.

All in all, this was a very satisfying read and I just found out that the second Edge novel will be featuring one of the characters from On the Edge. I can't wait to read it.

Count Down Challenge 2009/2010

I might have already posted about this, in one of my blogs, but here it is again. I signed up to do the 2010 Countdown Challenge. That means from September 9th, 2009 to October 10, 2010 I will be attempting to read and review (for me reviewing is really just writing how I feel about a book) 55 books. BTW, I love how the challenge begins 9/9/09 and ends 10/10/10. Since 9/09/09 I have read only one book that was written in 2009, Unfinished Desires and I have already reviewed it. I am currently reading On The Edge by Ilona Andrews, which will be my second 2010 Countdown book. I am now halfway through it. It's good. I need 7 more books for 2009, and have planned to read these: (I love lists!)

2010

1. Bitter Seed of Magic - Suzanne McLeod - coming September 2010 :)
2. KillBox - Ann Aguirre - coming in October 2010 :) unless it comes out too late :(
3. Magic Bleeds - Ilona Andrews - coming in May 2010 :)
4. Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs - coming in March 2010 :)
5. Death's Mistress - Karen Chance - coming in January 2010 :)
6. Untitled Sookie Stackhouse - Charlaine Harris - coming in May 2010 :)
7. Blood Cross - Faith Hunter - coming in January 2010 :)
8. Shades of Grey - Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge - coming July 2010 :)
9. Kitty's House of Horrors - Carrie Vaughn - January 2010 :)
10. Hell Fire - Ann Aguirre - releasing April 2010 :)

I am very excited about the books coming out in 2010. All of those listed are on my Auto-Buy list. Lots of good reading material on it's way.

2009

1. Unfinished Desires by Gail Godwin - read and reviewed 9/29/09 ******
2. On the Edge by Ilona Andrews - read and reviewd 10/05/09 ******
3. Rosemary and Rue - Seanan McGuire (currently reading)
4. Soulless - Gail Carriger (currently reading)
5. Betrayals - Lili St.Crow - coming soon (YEAY!)
6. Darkness Calls - Marjorie M. Liu (bought before summer-why haven't I read it yet?)
7. Doubleblind - Ann Aguirre - (YEAY! again) read and reviewed 11/08/09 ******
8. Magic in the Shadows - Devon Monk (currently reading)
9. Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett (once again...YEAY!) (and also currently reading)

2008

1. Servant: The Acceptance - L.L. Foster
2. Any Given Doomsday - Lori Handeland
3. The Man With The Golden Torc - Simon R. Green (also for the Colorful Reading Challenge)
4. Undecided
5. Undecided
6. Undecided
7. Undecided
8. Undecided

2007

1. The Silver Ship and the Sea - Brenda Cooper (also for the Colorful Reading Challenge)
2. Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead
3. Steelflower - Lilith Saintcrow
4. Undecided
5. Undecided
6. Undecided
7. Undecided

2006

1. Vicious Circle - Mike Carey
2. Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett
3. A Dirty Job - Christopher Moore
4. Undecided
5. Undecided
6. Undecided

2005

1. Undecided
2. Undecided
3. Undecided
4. Undecided
5. Undecided

2004

1. A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett
2. Blackbird House - Alice Hoffman
3. Forever Crossed - A.Leigh Jones
4. Undecided

2003

1. Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett
2. Faerie Wars - Herbie Brennan
3. Undecided

2002

1. Night Watch - Terry Pratchett
2. Undecided

2001

1. The Last Hero - Terry Pratchett

I am going by Copyright dates on the inside pages of the books-that's the best way I can figure out how to date the books. This is also a good way to take care of reading some of the books on my TBR shelves. And when it's a more sane hour of the day, I'm going to search my shelves for books I haven't read yet that were released between 2002 and 2008. I'm sure I have quite a few.

I have three more books to read for the Colorful Reading Challenge, two of them mentioned above - but I still need to find a book for a "my-choice" color. I've been keeping my eye open but so far, the only thing that keeps coming back to me is The Color Purple, which I already read. I liked it a lot, but it was intense, and I'm not sure if I want to read it again. I tried to read another of Alice Walker's books but it was extremely depressing for me. She's a good writer, so it's a shame I couldn't take reading her other book. Of course, now I can't even remember the name of it.

Well, I have plenty of reading, very good reading material also, to look forward to in the next year. This challenge looks to be a fun challenge also.

Unfinished Desires

This will be my 37th book read for the year. I'm almost to me second (or revised) reading goal for the year. Unfinished Desires was sent to me by GoodReads. I'm very glad that I was able to get this book. I'm halfway finished with it, and I am enjoying it very much. It comes out for sale in December.
I believe that I have only three more books to read and review for the Colorful Reading Challenge also, though I did change one of my planned books. I am going to satisfy my inner list-lover and list the books I've read for the challenge. Maybe I'll be inspired to start the next color.

The Colorful Reading Challenge Update;

Six Required Colors:

1. Blue Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre (May '09)
2. Red Red by Jordan Summers (April '09)
3. White Black and White by Jackie Kessler/Caitlin Kittredge (July '09)
4. Black White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison (April'09)
5. Silver planned: Silver Ship and the Sea by Brenda Cooper
6. Gold planned: The Man With the Golden Torc by Simon R Greene

Three Optional Colors

1. Green Green Angel by Alice Hoffman (June '09)
2. Yellow Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley (September '09)
3. undecided so far - I'll be on the look out, and open to suggestions (hint-hint)

There is another challenge I'm tempted to try, except I can't remember where I read about it, or what the name of the challenge is. I remember what to do though, and it requires reading a total of 55 books in the space of a year. The breakdown is like this

• read 10 books published in 2010
• read 9 books published in 2009
• read 8 books published in 2008
• read 7 books published in 2007 (see a trend?)
• 6 books from 2006
• 5 from 2005
• 4 from 2004
• 3 from 2003
• 2 from 2002
• 1 from 2001

I think this would be fun. (I might have read about it on Lost in Books-maybe) I'm pretty sure that I have at least 9 books from 2009 in my TBR pile. I might have some from 2008 also. I'm wondering if re-reading books count, since it's been a very long time since I've read some of my books from 2007 and before. If so, then I have plenty of books "in stock"; some of them I would love a reason to re-read. Unfortunately I do not remember the deadline, only that it is sometime in the year 2010.

Update--> after searching this thing (browser searches are great aren't they? I used yahoo search and ended up on a google page.) I found the Countdown 2010 Challenge. there is a sign up form. I'm contemplating this, (actually signing up, because it looks intimidating. the sign up, not the challenge) I'm going to read the rules and decide whether to do it officially or on my own. either way it's a good challenge. I still don't remember the first place I read about this challenge though.

I've read the rules. Nothing stated about re-reads, so I'm going to use my older books. It'll be like reading them for the first time, since I don't remember lots of details from books I've read a long time ago.