Martel-Harper Challenge - Second Quarter, 2009 - Completed!!

This is the first challenge that I've completed on time in a few months. And I completed it two months early!
The idea of the Martel-Harper Challenge comes from the list of books that Canadian author Yann Martel has sent to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Martel sends him a new book and a letter about his choice every two weeks. The challenge is to read two of the books from the list every quarter. The list is incredibly varied, as you can tell from the books that I have chosen from it. You can find the list, and read more about it at What is Stephen Harper Reading.
The two books that I read for this quarter were The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman and Gilgamesh, a translation by Stephen Mitchell. I had planned on reading Maus for last quarter, and reading the Bhagavad Gita this quarter, but because I didn't get Maus finished in time, the Bhagavad Gita gets pushed back.
These two books were so completely different, I can't really say whether or not I prefer one over the other. They were both books that I have wanted to read for some time, so I am glad that this challenge pushed me to do that finally. And for the next time around I will be sure to read the Bhagavad Gita, and another interesting choice off of this fascinating list.

Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge Wrap-Up

Another challenge finished, but finished late. This challenge ran from January 1st through March 31st. The goal of the Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge was to read three books that:
have a food name in the title
OR
be about cooking/eating
OR
have a place name in the title
OR
be about one (or more) person's travel experience
OR
be about a specific culture
OR
be by an author whose ethnicity is other than your own. I chose to read three books with a place name in the title. The three books I chose were The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmin Khadra, The News From Paraguay by Lily Tuck, and Europe Central by William T Vollmann. My favorite of these three was probably Europe Central. I own The Swallows of Kabul, and had wanted to read it for awhile, but it wasn't the best of the three. The News From Paraguay won a National Book Award for Fiction, as did Europe Central, but it was less obvious why. The book was interesting, but definitely not one of the best that I've read.
I enjoyed this challenge, it's original at least. I may or may not participate in such a challenge in the future.

Unfinished Challenges

Oh the sadness of the unfinished challenge. I swear I'm learning a lesson from this, really.
So the Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge ends today. I have about 200 pages left in the final book for that challenge, so I almost did it! I didn't feel like forcing the issue though, so I'll just do a late wrap-up post when I finish it.
The other challenge that ends today is the first quarter of the Martel-Harper Challenge for 2009. I will be participating for the second quarter, so the book that I would have read for the first quarter will be put off for that challenge. So I will not be doing an official wrap-up for this one, as it basically just carries over.
The good news is that I have no more challenge deadlines until the end of June! Huzzah! There is hope that I will finish at least one of these challenges before the end!

Medieval Challenge Wrap-Up

At last, I have finished this challenge. The official end date was February 8, 2009. I think that I had only read three of my books by then. Which I think qualified for a lower level of the challenge, but not the six books I had signed up to read. The goal of the challenge was to read books related to the Medieval time period. These could be historical fiction set in that time period, non-fiction about the time, or books actually written in the middle ages. I chose to do two books from each category.
For the historical fiction books I read:

• Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks - I enjoyed this one, although not as much as I enjoyed Brooks' other books.
  
• The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. I've recommended it to several people since reading it.

For the non-fiction I read:

• Medieval Britain: The Age of Chivalry by Lloyd and Jennifer Laing - not necessarily recommended, but a good way to learn more about the time period.
  
• Women in Early Medieval Europe 400-1100 by Lisa M Bitel - very highly recommended text on the roles and perceptions of women during early medieval times.

And the texts actually written during medieval times:

• Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory - boy, was this book hard to read; I would recommend not reading the full Middle English version and instead going for a Modern English translation.
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer - I read a Modern English prose version of this, translated by David Wright. Very highly recommended.

Participating in a challenge that covers a specific time period is a great way to learn more about the time. Reading from the non-fiction and the fiction, as well as reading books written during that time really gave me some new ideas, and a greater understanding of the medieval time period.

From the Stacks Challenge Wrap-Up

The From the Stacks Challenge was a great first challenge for me, perfect for forcing myself to pick up those books that I otherwise would not have read. This challenge ran from November 1st 2008 to January 31st of this year. So I finished with a week or two to spare. The goal was to read five books that we have on our shelves at home, that we've been meaning to read but haven't managed to get to, for whatever reason. I have a lot more than five books that qualify, but I the books I chose were mostly gifts that I was given, some more than two years ago. I think it is very necessary to read the books that are given to you as gifts, because somebody obviously went out of their way to choose that book for you.
The first book that I read for this challenge was actually not a gift, but one that I picked up because I had heard so much about it. It was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. This one became one of my favorite reads of 2008 - I just loved it! And I'm so glad that I forced myself to read my copy of it. What a great way to begin this challenge!
The next book I read was also not a gift, but a signed first-edition that I had picked up for myself when I saw it on sale at the book store. It was Dragons of the Dwarven Depths by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I have to say that I do consider myself a Dragonlance fan, although not a huge one. I have enjoyed their books, but there are other series that I have loved more (The Deathgate Cycle is incredible, all fantasy fans should pick that one up at some point). This book was fun, very Dragonlance-y, but not great. Adding it to my collection of signed first editions meant more to me than reading the book itself, even after reading it.
I read Under the Net by Iris Murdoch for this challenge in December. This was a gift, one I received from my brother-in-law and his girlfriend for Christmas last year. They always choose thoughtful and interesting books, so I felt terrible for never getting around to reading their gifts. This was a fun read, very enjoyable both for the writing style and for the story.
I began the new year with another gift from J and A - Life of Pi by Yann Martel. This book is definitely on my list of favorite books now, and is probably the best book I've read so far this year. They actually got this book for me at least two Christmases ago! I can't believe I let it sit on my shelves for so long!
The final book I read for this challenge was a gift from my dad last Christmas - Crimes Against Nature by Robert F Kennedy Jr. I really enjoyed this one, and now when my dad asks me about it, I can actually discuss it with him, rather than making excuses for why I haven't read it yet!
I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for challenges in the future that are like this one. Anything that encourages me to read books that I own, rather than books from the library, is good. I still get tons from the library (just check out my Library Loot posts!) but at least my own bookshelf is not as neglected. Now I just have to figure out a way to encourage myself to read those books that I borrow from friends . . .