Sunday, January 1, 2012

Week one - The sky's the limit

Josephine Wall - Doorway to the Stars
Happy New Year!  I am so thrilled to have you all joining in on our quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Welcome back to those who are diving in for another round and welcome to those who are joining in for the first time.  The picture above says it all. Books are a doorway to the universe - a mind voyage.  You'll never quite know where they will take you.  They can enlighten you, thrill you, teach you, make you laugh or make you cry.  They offer a temporary escape from your day to day or enhance your day to day.  Reading to me is as necessary as breathing. All I know is that if I don't read every day, I get really cranky.  Seriously!  


The goal of the challenge is to read 52 books.  Ordinarily you'd think, okay I'll read at least one book a week and reach the goal. However, there are books that take longer than a week to read. And there are some books that can be read in two or three hours.    I'd hate to see anyone sacrifice quality for quantity by reading a short book just to make the goal for the week.  Read what you want, explore and dive into those longer books, engage your mind and soul and don't worry.  Do your best and challenge yourself and see what happens. How you get there is up to you. 

There are a few mini challenges that are available and all the information about them are in the tabs above: 12 in 2012, A to Z Challenge, Jane Austen, Mind Voyages and Well Educated Mind.  Also, throughout the year, I will be posting some mini weekly challenges such as pick a book based on its cover, with a certain word, with a number or color.  Challenge you to read a certain genre or author.   Your choice if you want to participate or not. The goal is to have fun. I also be borrowing from various challenges around the blogosphere presenting you with ideas for books to read throughout the challenge. 

Speaking of challenging:  I have a mission for you which will start mid January. Your first mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read "Ahab's Wife" by Sena Jeter Naslund and then tackle.....Moby Dick


 

  








A few folks from the Well Trained Mind boards have decided to tackle the stories and since I've haven't read either one yet, am jumping on the band wagon.  You are welcome to join in. More information will be provided once we figure out the plan *grin*

I'm excited. 2012 is going to be an awesome new year and I'm looking forward to hearing all about your reads, which will inevitably lead to my wishlist growing larger!  Happy Reading!  


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Link to your most current read. Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you have multiple reviews, then type in (multi) after your name and link to your general blog url.

If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.

Please note: keep in mind that we have all ages involved in the challenge, so please keep your reviews clean. If I come across any link that is not appropriate (vulgar language, x-rated, that type of thing) it will be deleted.

42 comments:

  1. I'm actually reading Moby-Doick w/the blue bookcase in January! :)

    PS - I saw you have my War & Peace challenge in your sidebar. Just to let you know, the challenge has been moved to my new blog and has been extended through June 30, 2012.

    Cheers and Happy New Year! :-)

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  2. I read Ahab's Wife last year and then tackled Moby Dick. I LOVED Ahab's Wife - the author did a magnificent job of telling the story from a woman's point of view. Moby Dick was another thing... it was a very tough read. I am glad I stuck it out, but man, be ready for some tedious reading!

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  3. Happy New Year to you! I'm so excited to be joining you for the challenge this year! I just linked my first book and will be sharing about the challenge itself with my readers in a separate post...

    Am also looking forward to meeting lots of other book lovers this year! :-)

    Ramona
    http://create-with-joy.com

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  4. Love the idea of 52 books ... but I decided to be realistic and do your 12 in 2012 challenge. Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics is my first goal. Thanks for getting me motivated!

    LibertyHillHouse

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  5. Happy New Year! Looking forward to reading with you!

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  6. @Jillian - thanks, fixed it.

    @cheree - I know md won't be an easy read but sometimes you just gotta do it. :)

    @Ramona - Awesome. Look forward to it.

    @Sheryl - Great! Enjoy.

    @susan w. No email address to respond to. What's wrong?

    @Michelle - Same to you.

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  7. I'm going to try again this year. I lurked on many of the WTM threads last year but didn't post much.

    I'll try Ahab's Wife but I've read Moby Dick once and I'm in the never again camp. :)

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  8. This is my first time with this challenge and I'm very excited to be joining everyone. Starting off the year with Tolkein's "Fellowship of the Ring." Also - could you comment on "no children's books?" Obviously picture books don't count, but there are some longer children's books (I'm thinking classic stories here - i.e. Alice in Wonderland, some books by E. Nesbitt, etc.) that I never read as a child and might try to do now. If it is a book of a certain length - but obviously meant for children - do we count it or not? Thank you!

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  9. @Alice - Totally understand about Moby Dick. :)

    @Monica - as long as its at least 100 pages and has some complexity to it. Not like Magic Tree house stories. Nesbit is perfectly acceptable.

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  10. Giving it another go. I didn't really finish last year and I'm really looking forward to Ahab's Wife.

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  11. I am totally excited about this challenge! I just started Jodi Picoult's Sing You Home last night!

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  12. @Amy, Kylee and Marida - Awesome!

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  13. Hey! Found out about this challenge from Kylee. I'm starting with The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Happy reading!

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  14. Looking forward to reading and hearing about what everyone else is reading this year.

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  15. I just finished my first book and can't wait to keep reading. My goal is to read what is already on my bookshelves or books from the local library so I can keep my expenses down.

    @Monica - I loved reading Tolkien's stories. I hope you do too!

    @Emily - The Help is sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read. I've heard good things so far!

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  16. As a future librarian, I feel it is my duty to read and be knowledgeable...fun jazz like that. So to start the year off, I read "Legend" by Marie Lu. :)

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  17. Happy New Year!
    This is my first time in the Big 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge. I'm starting with a book that was a Christmas gift from my son for the first read of the year. It's Mr. Monk Goes to Germany by Lee Goldberg.

    Now I just have to decide which mini challenges to try! :)

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  18. I'm happy to be doing this again! Thanks so much for hosting and arranging this challenge.

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  19. I am looking forward to joining this challenge in 2012...just found you via google after a remark my daughter made...and thought that it would get my middle aged stagnating brain back into full swing.I used to read so much but the past few years I seem to have got out of the habit due to one thing and another.
    Don't expect anything too challenging from me to start with though!
    Belated Happy new Year!!

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  20. I see your challenge....and close my eyes! Moby Dick is on my TBR list but,{shaking head}, don't think so for this year. We'll see.

    I'm just excited I've got a review up for you ;)

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  21. I'll play along again--but I'm backing off and committing myself to 42 weeks, that way if I miss one or two I won't feel bad. I really do think your challenge is very challenging.

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  22. First time doing the 52 in 52! Looking forward to it - finished and reviewed my first one today and starting on the next. :)

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  23. I am reading the Artemis Fowl Series.

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  24. Thanks for stopping by my blog! I want to do a better job this year of reviewing the books I read.

    Good luck with Moby Dick. I would definitely choose that over Les Miz. I read Moby Dick a few years ago and really really enjoyed it. It was hard, but so epic - made up for it.

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  25. So far all is going as planned :). I pulled Jacob Have I Loved from my bookshelf and dug in. It was a fantastic book! Moby Dick is on my list for another reading challenge so maybe I'll try to tackle it. Good luck everyone!

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  26. oh dear, that was the name of the book I'm reading! Where do I give my email?

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  27. @Susan Chortle, chuckle, blush! Totally missed that. :)

    What identity are you doing? If you have a google account and signed in, it should automatically put in your email address. Don't know about OpenId. Hmm!

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  28. One down! Since I'm doing 12 in 2012 as well, I think I'll count this (Kiffe-Kiffe Tomorrow) in the "Current fiction" category.

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  29. Finished Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code today. I enjoyed reading it.

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  30. Shawn H - I will be reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks".

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  31. Finally got a review up! I accidentally forgot my book title in the mr. linky. Well, it wouldn't have fit anyway: it's The Everything Guide to Cooking for Children With Autism. Hopefully I will make it all the way through January w/o quitting like last time! :)

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  32. Got my review up for The Light Horseman's Daughter. Just finished reading it last night! Thanks for setting up this blog for us to share our reviews.

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  33. I actually finished two this week. Both are on the blog linked above.

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  34. Loving this challenge. I've taken advantage of the holiday break and I'm already on book 6. I won't be able to keep that up now that real life has resumed, but it sure has been fun. I've started the SciFi challenge, read my first steampunk book, and am currently working on 'The G-Free Diet' by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' which is a reread for me.

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  35. I missed the deadline for the widget linky but my first read of 2012 was Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson. You can find my review here: http://literarytangent.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/shakespeare-the-world-as-a-stage-by-bill-bryson/

    Happy reading!

    Katie

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  36. @Katherine If I close the links, just link on the new week's link. I usually close it Saturday afternoon when I put up the new post for the week.

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  37. I missed the deadline, too, but will do what you said, Robin, and link on your new post. Thank you for inspiring me with this challenge!

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  38. I reviewed my first book yesterday but forgot to put it into Mr Linky and now it tells me I am 8.5 hours too late. Oops! Book 1 was At Home by Bill Bryson.

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  39. Week One: Carolfoasia (Animal Farm) http://carolhomeschool2.blogspot.com/2012/01/52-in-52-week-1-animal-farm.html

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Thank you for your kind comments.