Take Another Chance Challenge Book List

Jenners has just announced the Take Another Chance Challenge for next year! There are twelve challenges this time and they are all new. I will update this post with links to all of the challenges that I complete.

Challenge 1: Read Your Doppelganger
Find an author who has either the same initials, the same first name, the same last name, or the exact same name as you. Read a book by this author and write a post about it. (If you try to keep your identity anonymous on your blog, you don't have to reveal what part of the author's name is the same as your name.)

It's hard to search for the same initials but I finally came up with Karen MacInerney and the first in her Gray Whale Inn Mysteries series, Murder on the Rocks.

review - 5/18/10


Challenge 2: Blogroll Roulette
Find a blogroll at either your book blog or a book blog you like that has at least 15 book blogs on it. Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1 for the min. and 15 for the max. and then hit generate. Then find the blog that is that number on the blogroll you selected. (For example, if you get 10 at Random.org, then count down the list of blogs until you get to the tenth one). Go to that blog and pick a book to read from the books that they have reviewed on their blog. Read it and write a post about it. Be sure to link to the blog post you picked the book from!

I chose to use Lenore's blog because her blogroll is for YA blogs which I don't read many of. I got number 9 which is the author Beth Kephart's blog. I'm sure that she mentions books that she has read on her blog but since I've never read anything by her, I'm choosing one of her own books -- Nothing But Ghosts.

review 2/17/10


Challenge 3: 100 Best Book
Choose one of the lists below and go to the link provided. Choose a book to read from the list that you haven't read before. Read the book and write about it.
Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List
Top 100 Sci-Fi Books
100 Best Romance Novels of the 20th Century
100 Best Mystery Novels
100 Best Non-Fiction Books (pick from either Board List or Reader List)
2009 Best Books for Young Adults

I'm going to really take a chance on this one and choose from the Romance list. In fact, I have a copy of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon here at home that I have been avoiding for quite a while now. But seeing as how it's number one on the list, I guess I will take this chance!

review 2/3/10


Challenge 4: Prize Winner Book
Pick one of the major literary awards from the list below. Click on the link for the award you picked. You will find a brief description of the award and links to past winners. Pick one of the past winners, read the book and write about it.
Booker Prize
Caldecott Medal
National Book Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
Newbery Medal
Nobel Prize for Literature
PEN/Faulkner Award
Pulitzer Prize
Commonwealth Writers' Prize
EMMA Awards

I am choosing another book that I have around the house but will probably put off reading forever unless I challenge myself to read it -- 2005 Booker Prize winner The Sea by John Banville.

Challenge 5: Title Word Count
Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the numbers 1 for the min. and 5 for the max. and then hit generate. Find a book to read that has that number of words in the title. Read the book and write about it.

My number is 2! I'm going to read Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones which I keep hearing about but again will probably put off reading forever.

Challenge 6: Genre Switch-Up
Go to this list of book genres and pick a genre that you have NEVER read before. Find a book from that genre, read it, and write about it. Note: If you seriously cannot find a genre that you have never read, then pick the genre that is as far away from what you normally read.

I was not sure what to do with this one but eventually went for Etgar Keret's flash fiction anthology The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God and Other Stories.

review 7/19/10


Challenge 7: Break A Prejudice
We all have reading prejudices--authors we don't like, genres we don't like, or even publishers we don't like. For this challenge, think of a reading prejudice you have and then find a book that is an example of this type of book. Read the book and then write about the reading prejudice you had BEFORE you read the book and how reading the book either changed your prejudice or reinforced it.

I have always shied away from chick lit but will take a chance with the highly praised Bridget Jones's Diary even though it has discussions about weight and dieting!

review 5/10/10


Challenge 8: Real and Inspired
Many authors or books inspire others to pay homage to them by writing another book inspired by the original work. For this challenge, read both an original work and a book inspired by that original work. Write about both books in one post. Note: This might require some research on your part and requires reading two books so it worth 2 entries.
Examples: Christopher Moore's Fool is based on Shakespeare's play King Lear so I plan on reading both King Lear and Fool. Another example is Jane Austen, who inspired the book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. For this challenge, you might read both Pride and Prejudice and the zombie version. (There are tons of other Austen-inspired books out there too.) Another idea would be a graphic novel version of a "standard" novel. The only real requirement is that the "inspired by" book must clearly state what original work inspired it.

I am slowly reading through all of Jane Austen's work and I will have to make my next Austen novel Sense and Sensibility because I actually do want to read Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters!

review 4/5/10


Challenge 9: Same Word, Different Book
Find two books that have the same word in the title. Read both books and write about them. (Worth 2 entries because you have to read two books).
Example: If you pick the word "Love," you could read any two books that both have Love in the title. To help you find books that have the same word, you could go to Amazon.com, type a word into the Search box and see what books come up with that word.

I am going to read A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.  They have almost identical titles!

Challenge 10: Become A Character
For this challenge, you can read any book you want. However, you have to write about the book as one of the characters from the book. The character can comment on his/her treatment by the author, other characters, the "untold story," what happened next, and so forth. You could even have two characters interviewing each other! Your imagination is the only limit. Because of the difficulty level of this challenge, it is worth two entries.

I'm going to keep this one as an open option and when the right book comes by for this review, I'll do it then.

Challenge 11: All in the Family
The writing gene often runs in the family. For this challenge, you need to find two authors from the same family (either by blood or by marriage) and read a book by each of the authors and then write about both books. Because of the research involved and having to read two books, this challenge is worth two entries.

I've changed plans and now am planning on reading Boy, Roald Dahl's first childhood memoir, and Playing With the Grown-ups, his granddaughter Sophie Dahl's fictionalized childhood memoir.

review 6/14/10


Challenge 12: Author Anthology Pick
Find an anthology of your choice. Read at least 5 entries in the anthology. Of the 5 entries you've read, pick your favorite one and then find a book by that writer and read it. (If your first choice doesn't have a book, then pick your next favorite until you find a writer that has a book.) Write about the anthology, your favorite pick from the anthology, and the book you read by your favorite pick. Because of having to obtain and read two books, this challenge is worth two entries. Thanks to J.T. Oldfield at Bibliofreak who partially inspired this challenge.

I have The Mammoth Book of Dickensian Whodunnits that I bought this past summer so I will read it and hopefully find a great new author in there!

I'm excited about this challenge! I'm definitely going to have to space out the tasks through the year to keep up with it but I think it will make a nice break in my reading and I'm going to aim for completing all twelve tasks. Thanks for the challenge, Jenners!

Preparing for another year of risky reading,
K