This is my list of books for each ongoing challenge; a strike means I’ve read it. You can either just scroll and browse (the challenges are arranged first chronologically by end date, then alphabetically) or jump to a specific one: 9 for ‘09 Challenge, 100 Shots of Short Challenge, The Art History Challenge, The Canada Challenge, The Caribbean Challenge, The Challenge That Dare Not Speak Its Name (GLBT), The China Challenge, The Chunkster Challenge, The Dewey’s Books Challenge, The Dream King Challenge, The Getting to Know You Challenge, The Graphic Novels Challenge, The Japanese Lit II Challenge, The Lost in Translation Challenge, My Year of Reading Dangerously, The November Novella Challenge, The Orbis Terrarum Challenge, The Really Old Classics Challenge, The Science Book Challenge ‘09, The Spice of Life Challenge, What’s in a Name? 2, Women Unbound Challenge, World Citizen Challenge

November

Chunkster Challenge (at least six over 450 pages or three over 750 pages)The Challenge Blog
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, trans. Robin Buss (1,312)
• Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, trans. Tiina Nunnally (1,144)
• A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (1,488)

November Novella Challenge (at least eight from this pool)
The Rules
• Disquiet by Julia Leigh
• Little Star of Bela Lua by Luana Monteiro
• Hardboiled and Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimoto
• The Girl with the Golden Shoes by Colin Channer
• Hush by Jacqueline Woodson

December

9 for ‘09 Challenge
The Challenge Blog
• The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough (long)
• The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Delby (free)
• The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fiztgerald(dusty)
• The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (letter)
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (strange)
• Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz (distance)
• Watership Down by Richard Adams (alive or not)
• Lord Hornblower by C.S. Forester (used)
• The Painted Drum by Louise Erdich (cover)

100 Shots of Short Stories (at least 100 stories)
The Rules
see my pool here
Individual Story Count: 65
Collections/Anthologies:
• My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead, ed. Jeffrey Eugenides (27 stories)
• American Girls About Town (17 stories)
• The Virago Book of Ghost Stories (34 stories)

The Art History Challenge
The Challenge Blog
• Chagall: A Biography by Jackie Wullschlager
• The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich
• The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears
• Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World by Sharon Wexman
• My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
• Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King
• Antoine’s Alphabet by Jed Perl

The Caribbean Challenge (at least six)
The Challenge Hub Page
• Miguel Street by V.S. Naipul
• The Dragon Can’t Dance by Earl Lovelace
• The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
• The Farming of the Bones and/or The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat
• The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
• The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
• Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo
• The New Moons Arms by Nalo Hopkinson

The Challenge That Dare Not Speak Its Name (GLBT) (at least six)
The Challenge Hub Page
Chosen from the huge list I put together.
• Normal by Amy Bloom
• Affinity by Sarah Waters
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger
• I’m Looking Through You by Jennifer Finney Boylan
• The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson
• Claudine at School by Colette

The Dewey’s Books Challenge (at least five)
The Challenge Blog
• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
• We Are On Our Own by Miriam Katin
• Freddie & Me by Mike Dawson
• Body Drama by Nancy Amanda Redd
• Freak Show by James St. James
• Gifted by Nikita Lalwani
• What I Was by Meg Rosoff
• The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
• Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Acolytes by Nikki Giovanni
• Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman
• The Echo Maker by Richard Powers
• Red, White, and Drunk All Over by Natalie Maclean
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

The Dream King Challenge
The Challenge Blog
• The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection by Neil Gaiman
• The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch by Neil Gaiman
• Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

The Getting to Know You Challenge
The Rules
• Shakespeare: the World as Stage by Bill Bryson
• at least three of Shakespeare’s plays: one comedy, one tragedy, one drama

The Graphic Novels Challenge (at least six)
The Challenge Blog
• Alice in Sunderland by Brian Talbott
• Legends in Exile (Fables Vol. 1) by Bill Willingham
• The United States Constitution: a Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell
• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
• Aya by Marguerite Abouet
• Kampung Boy by Lat
• Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1 by Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
• Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

The Lost in Translation Challenge (at least six)
The Challenge Hub Page
• Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto (Mozambique), trans. from Portugese by David Brookshaw
• The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski, transl. from Polish by Klara Glowczewska
• The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag (Mongolia), trans. from German by Katharina Route
• The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa (Angola), trans. from Portuguese by Daniel Hahn
• The Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt), trans. from Arabic by translated William M. Hutchins, Lorne M. Kenny and Olive E. Kenny
• Paradise of the Blind by Thu Huong Duong (Vietnam), trans. from Vietnamese by Nina McPherson
• Trap for Cinderella by Sebastian Japrisot (France), trans. from the French by Helen Weaver
• Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia), trans. from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa

My Year of Reading Dangerously Challenge
The Challenge Blog
• The Discovery of Poetry by Francis Mayes
• A Grain of Poetry by Herbert Kohl
• Go Your Own Way ed. by Faith Collin, Ingrid Emerick, and Christina Henry de Tessan
• The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fischer
• The London Scene by Virginia Woolf
• At Large and at Small by Anne Fadiman
• Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind by Philip Done
• I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
• Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
• Grace, Eventually by Anne Lamott
• Complications by Atul Gawande
• Better by Atul Gawande

The Orbis Terrarum Challenge
The Challenge Blog
• The Noodle Maker by Ma Jian
• This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
• The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
• The White Earth by Andrew McGahan
• A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn
• The Book of Secrets by M.G. Vassanji
• Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury
• I’m Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti
• The Maias by Jose Maria Eca de Quieros
• Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay

The Science Book Challenge ‘09 (at least three)
The Challenge Hub Page
I have a huge pool for this one (42 books), so rather than type it all out again, I’ll just link to it.
• Napoleon’s Buttons by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson
• Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer
• The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
• Dark Banquet by Bill Schutt
• The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mladinow
• Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation by Olivia Judson
• Tree: a Life Story by David Suzuki and Wayne Grady
• Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks
• Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran
• Spell of the Tiger by Sy Montgomery
• Miss Leavitt’s Stars by George Johnson

The Spice of Life (6-8)
Challenge Blog
• A Time of Angels by Patricia Schonstein
• Hunger: an Unnatural History by Sharman Apt Russell
• Chocolate: a Bittersweet Saga of Light and Dark by Mort Rosenblum
• Red, White, and Drunk All Over by Natalie MacLean
• The Spice Box: a Vegetarian Indian Cookbook by Manju Singh
• Clean Food by Terry Walters
• My Life in France by Julia Child

What’s in a Name? 2
The Challenge Blog
• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishamel Beah (profession)
• Song for Night: a Novella by Chris Abani(time of day)
• Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire (relative)
• Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog (body part)
• The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany (building)
• Your Madness Not Mine by Makuchi (medical condition)

World Citizen Challenge (at least seven)
The Challenge Blog
I have a big pool (about 25), so I’ll just link to it.
• City of Oranges by Adam LeBor (history)
• China: Fragile Superpower by Susan Shirk (politics)
• Belfast Diary: War as a Way of Life by John Conroy (culture)
• Bad Samaritans by Ha-Joon Chang (economics)
• Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (world issues: health)
• River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler (memoir)
• Javatrekker by Dean Cycon (culture)
• Human Cargo by Carolien Moorehead (world issues: refugees)
• Dreams and Shadows by Robin Wright (politics)
• Life along the Silk Road by Susan Whitfield (history)
• My Invented Country by Isabel Allende (memoir)
• Deep Economy by Bill McKibben (economics)
• In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz by Michela Wrong (politics)
• Notes From the Hyena’s Belly by Nega Mezlekia (memoir)
• Across the Wire by Luis Alberto Urrea (world issues: poverty)
• Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (world issues: women)
• Creating a World Without Poverty by Muhammad Yunus (economics)
• Natasha’s Dance by Orlando Figes (culture)
• White Mughals by William Dalrymple (history)
• Adventure Divas by Holly Morris (culture)
• Connected by Daniel Altman (economics)

January 2010

Japanese Lit III Challenge (at least one)
Challenge Review Site
• The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
• Beyond the Blossoming Fields by Jun’ichi Watanabe
• A Pale View of the Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
• A Year in Japan by Kate T. Williamson

February 2010

Really Old Classics Challenge (at least one; four for classicist cert.)
Challenge Site
• Arabian Nights trans. by Hussain Haddawy
• The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
• The Romances of Chrétien de Troyes
• Silence
• If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho translated by Anne Carson
• The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon trans. by Meredith McKinney
• The Travels of Ibn Battutah trans. by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
• Bhagavad Gita trans. by Stephen Mitchell
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight trans. by Simon Armitage
• The Sagas of Icelanders: a Selection by Ornolfur Thorsson
• The Book of My Life or Interior Castle by Saint Teresa of Avila

July 2010

Canada Challenge
At least thirteen from this pool.
The Rules
• Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint
• “The Rez Sisters” by Tomson Highway
• The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland
• The Devil’s Picnic by Taras Grescoe
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
• The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defeede
• Still Life by Louise Penny

September 2010

China Challenge (at least ten)
The Rules
• Night of Many Dreams by Gail Tsukiyama
• Sky Burial by Xinran
• Great Call of China by Cynthea Liu
• Love in a Fallen City or Lust, Caution by Ailing Zhang
• The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa
• Spring Moon by Bette Bao Lord
• Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
• The Last Days of Old Beijing by Michael Meyer
• Serve the People by Jen Lin-Liu
• The Good Women of China by Xinran Xinran
• The Long March: The True History of Communist China’s Founding Myth by Sun Shuyun
• Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman

November 2010

Women Unbound Challenge (at least ten)
The Challenge Blog
At least eight from this pool.
• Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
• Women: an Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier
• The Skin Between Us by Kym Ragusa