Wendy's PART II Challenge List and Wrap Up Post

UPDATE: JANUARY 6, 2009 - CHALLENGE COMPLETED!

Many thanks to Ariel for hosting this fun challenge. I ended up reading a total of 9 books from 6 different authors. By far, my favorite authors from this challenge are Per Petterson, Kate Grenville, Rose Tremain, and Daphne du Maurier…all authors I will visit again in my reading!

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Here are the authors I read:

1. Per Petterson (COMPLETED Out Stealing Horses January 6, 2009; rated 5/5; read my review)
2. Pat Barker (COMPLETED the WWI Trilogy consisting of Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, and The Ghost Road - December 25, 2008. Click on the titles to read my reviews and see my ratings)
3. Kate Grenville (COMPLETED The Secret River October 13, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
4. Rose Tremain (COMPLETED The Colour August 25, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review; COMPLETED Music and Silence October 10, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
5. Daphne Du Maurier (COMPLETED Rebecca November 7, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
6. Alice Munro (COMPLETED The View From Castle Rock September 26, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)

Wendy's Challenge List and Wrap Up Post

I completed this challenge today! I read five (5) books from my original list and one (1) book from my alternates list.

I enjoyed all the new authors I read, rating 4 of the 6 a high 4.5/5 (highly recommended), and 2 of the 6 a 4/5 rating (recommended).

My favorite part of the challenge was adding to my "new to me" author list. For a long time I was stuck in a rut of only reading those authors I was familiar with...in 2007, I decided to branch out and try to read more new authors. This has really expanded my reading, and added to my favorite authors to choose from.

I would definitely participate in this challenge were it to be offered again. Thank you Ariel for hosting a fabulous reading challenge!!

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I'm very excited to participate in this challenge. All six books I chose are already on my TBR pile...this is the perfect excuse to knock a few book off the mountainous heap of literature spread out across my bedroom!

My six challenge books are:

1. Alentejo Blue, by Monica Ali (finished February 22, 2008; read my review)
2. The Blackwater Lightship, by Colm Toibin (finished November 9, 2007; read my review)
3. Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak (finished November 24, 2007; read my review)
4. What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman
5. The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck (finished November 28, 2007; read my review)
6. The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters (finished February 12, 2008; read my review)

Alternates and Extras:

Stones From the River, by Ursela Hegi
A Woman in Jeruselum, by AB Yehoshua
The Lizard Cage, by Karen Connelly
All Aunt Hager's Children, by Edward P. Jones
The Emperor's Child, by Claire Messud (finished December 12, 2007; read my review)
A Bend in the River, by V.S. Naipal

Laura's Challenge Wrap-up

Thanks to Ariel at for sponsoring the Unread Authors Challenge! For this challenge -- the first one I've completed in 2008 -- I read 7 books by new-to-me authors:

1. The Yacoubian Building, by Alaa Al-Aswany (completed 9/19/2007 - review)
2. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, by Ann Fadiman (completed 9/19/2007 - review)
3. When the Emperor was Divine, by Julie Otsuka (completed 10/12/2007 - review)
4. Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys (completed 11/16/2007 - review)
5. The Art of Mending, by Elizabeth Berg (completed 12/14/2007 - review)
6. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe (completed 1/17/2008 - review)
7. The Secret River, by Kate Grenville (completed 2/3/2008 - review)

Favorite book: Oh, this is a close one. I loved Ex Libris, but as a collection of essays it's really quite different from my other selections. So I will cheat and choose The Secret River as another favorite.

Least favorite book: The Art of Mending. I found this book to be a bit trite and cliche.

What I learned: I read more "unread authors" than familiar ones. When I started the challenge, I thought I might list other new authors in my challenge post. However, it quickly became apparent that I'd be listing almost every book I read. While I do read multiple works by certain authors -- Jane Austen & John Steinbeck, for example -- I usually don't read series, and I don't tend to get on a "kick" reading a certain author's entire oevre.

This was a fun challenge that helped clear out my TBR stack a bit. Thanks Ariel!

Laura's List

I recently vowed not to sign up for another challenge unless it supported my efforts to work off my TBR pile. This one fits the bill, since I have several TBRs written by new-to-me authors. And, none of these books overlaps another challenge. Here's my list:

1. The Yacoubian Building, by Alaa Al-Aswany (completed 9/19/2007 - review)
2. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, by Ann Fadiman (completed 9/19/2007 - review)
3. When the Emperor was Divine, by Julie Otsuka (completed 10/12/2007 - review)
4. Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys (completed 11/16/2007 - review)
5. The Art of Mending, by Elizabeth Berg (completed 12/14/2007 - review)
6. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe (completed 1/17/2008 - review)
7. The Secret River, by Kate Grenville

As "extra credit," I will also list any other new authors I read during the challenge period.

Update

I've been slacking off, but here's the update:

Finished:
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
The Guardians - Ana Castillo (review is here)
The Plague Year - Jeff Carlson



To read by February:
Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

unless I come up with two alternates :-)

Booklogged's List

Hello fellow challangees! As I look over the names in the sidebar I feel like I'm in very good company. I do know that you are going to review books that I'll be anxious to add to my every growing and incredibly, already long, TBR list. That's the risk with doing a challenge, isn't it?

I was on vacation when Sycorax Pine announced her Unread Authors Challenge. There are so many books on my shelves by authors I haven't read yet, so I should be able to do this and read some of the books glaring at me. I've decided to read books by 6 different authors.

1. Lily Dale: Awakening by Wendy Corsi Staub
2. Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia McKillip
3. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
4. Random PassageBy Bernice Morgan
5. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Morrell by Susanna Clarke
6. Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston

I'm looking forward to reading these books. Thanks to Pour of Tour for the much needed kick in the rear.

Eva's Reading List

I decided to use the Unread Author challenge to get around to some books I mooched awhile ago. :)

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
This was one of my very first mooches, since I think I'm the only one in the blogging community that hasn't read it yet! It keeps calling me from the bookshelf, but I've been distracted by challenge reads. It's time to make time to see what all the fuss is about. :)
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
I mooched this, because it sounded like a great mystery! I'm always ready to discover another good series.
That Night by Alice McDermott
I mooched this after a good review by litlove (I think it was litlove). It's a skinny read, but I'm looking forward to it.
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
I recently realised that the last Kipling I read was that mongoose story in 7th grade. Shame on me. Plus, I have to include at least one classic in the list!
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The heft of this one makes up for the slimness of the McDermott. A friend recommended this to me, and I'm very excited to actually get around to it. My bookmooched copy is just gorgeous!
The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue
I didn't mooch this one; instead, I bought it when I saw it in paperback, because I was so excited. For some reason I thought it was still in hardcover!

Well, that sums up the plans. This month, I'm hoping to read A Morbid Taste for Bones-I'll post the review when I'm done!

Alisia's List

Here is my list, although I may add in a few more alternates depending on my mood. The first one I plan on reading is Girl in a Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland.

Books Chosen:
1. Independent People - Haldor Laxness
2. Sarah, Plain and Tall - Patricia MacLachlan
3. A Woman in Jerusalem - A.B. Yehoshua
4. The Giver - Lois Lowry
5. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
6. Girl in a Hyacinth Blue - Susan Vreeland

Alternates:
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Eragon - Christopher Paolini
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Climbing the Mango Trees - Jaffrey Madhur
The Road - Cormac McCarthy

Janiejane's list

Hi everyone! I'm very excited about this challenge!
My preliminary list is:

Angel's Town - Ralph Cintron
Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
Wicked - Gregory Maguire
Switchcraft - Mary Castillo
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (this one is a two-fer; I haven't read either author)
The Guardians - Ana Castillo
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

Alternates/Additions:
We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
The Plague Year - Jeff Carlson

Sarah's (Loose Baggy Monster) List

I thought I would try to pull from my shelves as much as possible for this challenge. As a result, most of the books on these lists are ones that I already own and have shamefully neglected. These lists are subject to my admittedly capricious nature, however, so there's a good chance they will change at some point:

Initial Choices:

• Naguib Mahfouz ~ either Palace Walk or Children of the Alley
• Ernest Hemingway ~ A Farewell to Arms
• Jean Rhys ~ Wide Sargasso Sea
• Amos Oz ~ Tale of Love and Darkness
• Saul Bellow ~ The Adventures of Augie March
• Ellen Wood ~ East Lynne

Possible alternates:

• Penelope Fitzgerald ~ either The Bookshop or The Blue Flower
• E.M. Forster ~ A Passage to India, Where Angels Fear to Tread, or Howard’s End
• Julian Barnes ~ Flaubert’s Parrot or Arthur and George
• W.G. Sebald ~ Austerlitz
• Paula Fox ~ Desperate Characters
• Katherine Mansfield ~ Stories
• Thomas Hardy ~ Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Return of the Native, or Jude the Obscure
• William T. Vollmann ~ Europe Central
• Rebecca West ~ Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
• Vladimir Nabokov ~ Speak, Memory
• Joseph Heller ~ Catch-22
• D.H. Lawrence ~ Lady Chatterley’s Lover
• Matthew Kneale ~ English Passengers

I'm already tempted to change things around, but I'll resist for the time being. I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone is reading!

Pour of Tor / Sycorax Pine's List

Here are my initial thoughts on my own list (I may have to add to this as I go on):

• Laurence Sterne - Tristram Shandy
• Friedrich Durrenmatt - The Physicians and The Visit
• Orhan Pamuk - My Name is Red
• Richard Powers - The Gold Bug Variations
• China Mieville - Perdido Street Station
• Doris Lessing - The Golden Notebook

And a few alternates or "extra credit" options:

• John Fowles - The Magus
• Joyce Carol Oates - Bellefleur
  
• Stendhal - The Red and the Black
• Diana Wynne Jones - A Sudden, Wild Magic
• Iris Murdoch - The Black Prince
• Edward P. Jones - All Aunt Hagar's Children
• Nadine Gordimer - Burger's Children
• Tim Winton - Cloudstreet or Dirt Music
• Peter Carey - Oscar and Lucinda or True History of the Kelly Gang
• Cynthia Ozick - The Puttermesser Papers
• Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon
• Elizabeth Bowen - A World of Love
• Jorge Luis Borges - Labyrinths
• Swimming Lessons -Rohinton Mistry
• Sandor Marai - Embers