shootingstarr7's 888 Challenge

I just stumbled onto this group, and this seems like a really interesting challenge. So I'm going to try for this, too (Guess that means I'm going for more than 50 books this year)

888 Categories
1. 1001 Books
2. Books from my TBR Pile
3. British Classics
4. Books Released in 2008
5. Austen Addiction
6. Young Adult Novels
7. Historical Fiction
8. Re-Reads

As of now, I have no idea which books I'm going to use to complete this challenge, so I'll fill those in as I go.




(edited to add ticker)

1001 Books
1. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
2. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
3. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
5. Silk by Alessandro Baricco
6. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
7. Possession by AS Byatt
8. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Books from my TBR Pile
1. Forget About It by Caprice Crane
2. The Alcestiad by Thornton Wilder
3. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
4. The Hanged Man by Robert Bartlett
5. After Dark by Haruki Murakami
6. Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
7.
8.

(edited to change category)

Classics
1. A Room With a View by E.M. Forster
2. Middlemarch by George Eliot
3. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
4. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
5. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
6. Cecilia by Fanny Burney
7. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
8. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Most of these could also fall in the category of 1001 Books, but again, these are all books that have been sitting on my bookshelves for a long time.

Books Released in 2008
1. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
2. The Dark Lantern by Gerri Brightwell
3. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
4. Rites of Spring (Break) by Diana Peterfreund
5. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
6. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
7. The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
8.

This category is TBD as the year goes on

Austen Addiction
1. Austenland by Shannon Hale
2. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Edited to change category

Young Adult Novels
1. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
2. Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen
3. If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince by Melissa Kantor
4. Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott
5. Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott
6. Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty
7. Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty
8. Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys by Kate Brian

Historical Fiction
1. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
2. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
3. Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

The rest of this category is TBD

Re-Reads
1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
3. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
4. Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund
5. Under the Rose by Diana Peterfreund
6.
7.
8.

(Edited to change category; these books cannot count toward any other category)

I started off the year with Amsterdam and The Memory Keeper's Daughter. Between the two, I was so depressed I had to jump to a category that would be easy to read: young adult. It only took me a few hours each to read the Sarah Dessen books. I'm currently reading Fingersmith, but progress is a little slow on that one.


04 / 64 books. 6% done!

I just recently started reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter, but stopped because I didn't like it that much. What did you think of it?

Honestly, I thought it was pretty depressing. None of the characters was particularly sympathetic, and there was no relief from the misery. I don't mind depressing books, so long as there is an occasional break in the melancholy.

Of course, the ending did seem to give the characters a little bit of hope, but not much. I'd read it on the recommendation of my best friend, who really liked it, but in the future, I'm going to try to remember that she and I have different taste in most things, and that should probably extend to books as well.

--> 12

LOL! I'm glad I didn't force myself to finish that book then. I also have a friend who has completely different reading tastes than I do. It's so hard because I know she'll probably hate the books I like. My daughter, however, has reading tastes more similar to mine.

If you're up for a suggestion for your #8 novel for your Young Adult category, read Looking for Alaska. It's a great book and one that was written by LibraryThing author John Green. (...or read The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.

Good luck with the rest of the challenge!

re: 13

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll definitely look into them!

Good luck with your challenge as well!

I finished my first book from the history section of the challenge in the form of The Hanged Man by Robert Bartlett. I found it to be an interesting read. My knowledge of medieval history is sketchy at best, and my knowledge of Wales or of the Roman Catholic church during that time is borderline non-existent. So this book, which I was assigned for school, gave me a glimpse of the relationship between the British and the Welsh during this time, as well as providing a good deal of information about the canonization process within the church, and what was required for sainthood.


5 / 64 books. 8% done!

I finished another of the books from the young adult novels: Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys by Kate Brian. This was a fun novel about the only child of career military parents going to stay with family friends, and gaining seven brothers in the process. This is particularly problematic for Megan, who has never spoken with boys, and is certainly not prepared to live with them. She spends the rest of the novel learning how to be part of the McGowan family, and what makes them tick. I thought it was a sweet book (very quick and easy to read), and it simultaneously made me both thankful and regretful that I only have one brother.


6 / 64 books. 9% done!

Still chipping away at Dragonfly in Amber, which is taking me a small eternity to read (I've been working on it since November). I also got three new books from the library today: Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (John Banville), The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig, and Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski. Christine Falls and Fieldwork will probably go in the "Books by Authors I've Never Read Before" category, and The Seduction of the Crimson Rose will either go into the "Historical Fiction" category or the "Books Released in 2008" category (or maybe both).

I have to say that aside from your YA Fiction category, I think your list is one of the most challenging of most I've seen. Mostly because if the Authors are some I've not read, unless they are writing in a genre I'm really happy with and always read, there's maybe a reason I haven't read their work? So they will probably be a challenge. And I never read historical Fiction (well, never say never... but yeah.) There are some British classics that I've loved, but *sigh* again, not my favorite category. Anyway, for ME, this is a challenging list!

Best of luck to you...

As for Memory Keeper's Daughter, I always feel better to hear of others who have had some struggle with this book. I keep hearing from a dear friend that she keeps coming back to this book again and again because it was so special and meaningful and wonderful. It was the best book ever to her. I did not find the redeeming qualities she did. And over and over I'm hearing positive and happy things about it. But to me? A bummer of a book. So thank you for your words about it.

I just finished King Lear, and I'm reading The Tempest and Winter's Tale over the next month for a class I'm taking. If you want to chat about them, drop me a note on my profile page.

Great to see you have John Green on your list. He is made of a thousand awesomes. Are you aware of the vlogbrothers on youtube? He and his brother do videos, and they've got quite a fanbase happening.

> 18:

It's funny; to me, my list seems less challenging than some of the others. Most of them are books I already own and just need to read already. As far as the authors who are new to me goes, I always feel like there are more authors out there that I just haven't been exposed to yet. Just the other day, a coworker saw an Ann Rinaldi book on the shelves waiting to go upstairs (I work in a public library), and mentioned how much she loves her. Since my knowledge of children's lit is a bit thin, I'm probably going to add her to my list. So that's basically what I had in mind for that category.

As far as The Memory Keeper's Daughter goes, I'm finding more and more people on this site that hated it than I'd imagined. It was just so depressing, and I don't think I'd ever be able to get anything comforting out of it.

> 19:

I haven't started any of the Shakespeare at all yet, but I will definitely get into contact with you when I do.

I should really work on those...

>20 trinah::

I added him to my list after a recommendation from SqueakyChu. I'm actually really looking forward to his book, but unfortunately I haven't gotten around to it yet. I hadn't heard of the videos, but I will check them out for sure.

I feel as though I am making zero progress with this challenge right now. I gave up on trying to include Christine Falls and Fieldwork into the challenge at this point. There is just too much going on with school and the books I own, that I don't have time to read those right now (and I have too much out from the library as it is).

I'm slowly getting further in Dragonfly in Amber (and I really am enjoying it, but I haven't had time to sit down and read it like I would like to). I've just about finished The Ghost Map, as well as Strange Revelations, both of which were required for school. I wasn't terribly impressed with The Ghost Map; Steven Johnson's style is pretty disorganized. On the surface, it seems as though Strange Revelations would be a bit more dry, but I have really enjoyed it. Lynn Wood Mollenauer's take on magic and The Affair of the Poison's in Louis XIV's court is quite fascinating. It's clear that this is a serious academic study, but it's also engaging. I still have a bit more to go on both of these before I can officially cross them off, but the end is in sight.

I just happened upon your 888 thread by accident while searching for Anne Brontë. It has been an eternity since I've read Agnes Grey, but Tenant is one of my favorite books.

I've been planning to do the 888 challenge but haven't made much progress yet. I have 11 categories that I'd like to do in the next 2 years: New Lifetime Reading Plan, Nero Wolfe mysteries of the 1940s, Nero Wolfe mysteries of the 1950s, Australian novels, new American women authors, Shakespeare's early comedies, Shakespeare's late comedies, Shakespeare's tragedies, Shakespeare's histories, Buddhism, and Edwardian novels. I haven't decided which 8 I'll choose eventually. At the moment, I haven't read more than 2 books from any one category (and most are at zero) in 2008.

I hope things are a little less crazy for you with school now!

You know, I made the choices about which books I was going to put in each category, but I'm not necessarily sticking to them. My YA category has changed a few times. And I've *mostly* finished a couple of the non-fiction books, but I'm one or two chapters away and feel bad about crossing them off before I finish in actuality. I anticipate that more of the categories will change as the year goes on.

I like some of your categories, though. I've never read any of the Nero Wolfe books, which is a bit odd since I do enjoy a good mystery.

Re: Anne Bronte: I put Agnes Grey on the list because 1. I own it, and 2. It appears to be on the shorter side. I've got some pretty long books on the list this year, and I'll need to read some short books to break it up a bit.

I haven't made as much progress as I would like on the challenge, but I fully plan to remedy that once I've completed my major papers and finished this semester (and with it, my undergraduate career).

I picked up some old paperbacks of Nero Wolfe mysteries at a thrift store last year and both my husband and I went through them like popcorn. I enjoyed them all.

Here's the link to LT's Nero Wolfe series page: http://www.librarything.com/series/Nero%20Wolfe

Although they stand alone, I've been reading them in the order in which they were written. I read through the 1930s last year. After I read (and loved) the first, it was such a treat knowing there were so many Nero Wolfe books waiting for me. Stout's mysteries are part Agatha Christie whodunnit, part hard-boiled detective, always intelligent, with a sprinkle of humor. :)

I took advantage of the 40% off coupon from Borders and picked up Fer-de-Lance, among a few other books, today.

Have finally completed two more books: The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig, and Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (touchstones evil). I enjoyed both rather a lot. I've posted a review for Lock and Key, but haven't yet completed one for Crimson Rose. Both are in my 2008 releases category.

That puts me at having finished a grand total of 8 books for this challenge- only 56 books to go.

Up next: I am still faithfully plowing through Dragonfly in Amber- I'm finally down to the last 150 pages or so. I've also made significant progress on Fingersmith. I've been trying to read several pages of that a day, and I've got about 250 pages left in that book. Crossing either or both of those books off will be a huge accomplishment, since I've been working on them both since the beginning of the year (I actually started Dragonfly last November, so it's really time for me to finish that one). I'm also going to work on Imagine Me and You, which was the Early Reviewer's book I received for March.

I've made the decision to cut the Shakespeare category. I am not going to do any of that reading. I know I'm not. I'd like to, but at this point, it's just not going to happen. So in the place of the Shakespeare category, I'm just going to focus on knocking books off my to-be-read pile (which grows every month). I'd like for it to be based on books I own as of today, but we'll see how it goes.

I feel better already.

I've been tempted to cut out a Shakespeare category as well - I'm just 1/8 through it, and it's May already.

I haven't read any of my Shakespeare category, and my bookshelves are haphazardly piled with books that are waiting to be read. I really think this change is going to be a benefit.

Shootingstarr--ditching Shakespeare seems like a wise move. Don't give it a second thought. And reading your TBR mountain is a rational move (I know, I had to adjust my mountain range today, and realized--yet again--that I need to read MORE than I buy)

I know what you mean. I impulsively bought five books today, and realized that I really don't have any room for them, since my shelves are completely full, half of my books are in boxes, and I can't see a good portion of the rest because they're buried behind some rather precarious piles of more recent purchases. I've read 11 books this year, and purchased more than 70. That's a bit too much disparity...

I only have one of my Shakespeare read, and have also been tempted to drop it. I am going to hang on for a bit longer. At least I will feel a little better knowing someone else ditched this category. I think that the problem, for me, is not having anyone to discuss the plays with. I didn't have a problem reading Shakespeare in college when I got to participate in interesting discussions about the plays, but to just sit down and read them somehow isn't very enticing.

I think that's part of what it was for me, too. Plus, I'd decided to start with The Winter's Tale, which is pretty dry at first. I tried reading it and got nowhere, so then I bought an audiobook version of it off iTunes with John Gielgud. But again, I didn't really get anywhere, even though audiobooks are a little more stimulating than reading them dry. I might try to come back to it later in the year, but discussion is an important part of Shakespeare.

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck with the category.

I finished the second book in my 1001 Books category. It took me forever to get into Fingersmith, but once I did, I was completely sucked in. One of the blurbs on the back says that Waters makes the book feel "less like reading, more like living," and I agree. I won't give anything away, but I feel like I experienced everything Sue and Maud were experiencing. It's a beautifully written, engaging book, and I highly recommend it.

I recently finished Fingersmith and had pretty much the same reaction. It took my forever to finish it, but I thought it was really, really good. Had you read any of her other books?

>39 BKieras::

No, this is the first of her books I've read, but I own Tipping the Velvet and Affinity. I'd like to read them soon, but I want to take a little break from Waters, too, because I think Fingersmith needs more time to be mulled over. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those books that sticks with me. I'm really glad I saw it through to the end; it was very worth it. What about you? Have you read any of her other works?

I've read Affinity and really liked that as well. I think it was a little easier to get into, but both had really great plots. I will definitely read more of her work.

Just finished the first book from the category "From my TBR pile" (which is a slightly misleading category because most of the books in this challenge are in my TBR pile; this is more of a catch-all category). Forget About It by Caprice Crane is unapologetically chick lit, but it was a light, fun read about getting the chance to start over. I think it was definitely the kind of fluff I needed to follow Fingersmith, so as not to get too bogged down (much as I did early this year with the depressing one-two combo of Amsterdam and The Memory Keeper's Daughter).

Up next: I think I'm finally going to finish Dragonfly in Amber before this month is out.

Hm, never mind finishing Dragonfly in Amber before the month was out- I finished it before the day was out. It was nice to finally be able to cross a book out of the Historical fiction category off. I'll be starting Voyager, also by Diana Gabaldon, so I can see what happens next with Claire and Jamie.

Just finished the third book in my 1001 category- The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. It was an interesting read, though I sometimes tired of the constant questioning of faith and the insistence that faith did not exist for some of the characters.

I finished the second book in my Historical Fiction Category, which was Voyager by Diana Gabaldon. It was nice to finish it in just two weeks, considering the prior book in the series took me six months to read.

Next, I'll be starting Drums of Autumn to continue this series. I'm also working on Unaccustomed Earth for my 2008 releases category and A Room with a View for my British classics category.

I've been thinking about some of the categories and my complete and total lack of progress on them. So I looked at the books in my TBR pile and decided it was time to plan for another category change. I haven't decided yet which category I'm going to cut: either the British classics one or the "Books by Authors I've Never Read Before" category. Most of the books in the former can be placed in the 1001 category; most of the latter can go in the Books from my TBR Pile category. My new category is going to probably be Austen Addiction. I have several books that are in some way based on Jane Austen (she's big business right now), and I think I could easily complete that category. I want to get a little further in to the challenge before I decide which of the two to cut, though.

#46 - My new category is going to probably be Austen Addiction. I have several books that are in some way based on Jane Austen (she's big business right now),

----------------

Ain't that the truth! The other day I counted 21 books on Amazon that were sequels or novels using Jane's characters. There's a thread about this over at the I Love Jane Austen group--I may post the list there.

I finished the third book in my "released in 2008" category, Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. It was a beautiful collection of short stories, and I absolutely loved it. I'll definitely be moving her other works up my TBR list.

Just finished The Alcestiad, which is the second book in my "Books from my TBR pile" category. This is one of those books that had been languishing on my shelf for years, and it probably would have stayed there forever if I hadn't been asked to review it over in the Go Review That Book group. But it's all read, and my review is the only review of it posted here.

I finished the fourth book in my 1001 Books category, Never Let Me Go. I wasn't planning to read it, but after hearing several times what a great book it was, I decided to give it a shot. And I wasn't disappointed. It's one of those books that I'm glad I knew nothing about going in (much like Fingersmith was for me a few months ago). And I'm looking forward to reading more by Ishiguro in the future.

I'm now halfway done with my YA category with the completion of If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince? by Melissa Kantor. I thought it was a good read for the afternoon, if a little predictable.

I could probably finish this category with very little difficulty in just a few short days, but I'm trying to spread the books out a bit so I can have light, fluffy brain-breaks throughout the year.

I've made some more category changes. I finally made the choice to dump my "Books by Authors I've Never Read Before" in favor of the "Austen Addiction" category. I also decided to dump the "Non-fiction" category in favor of a "Re-Reads" category. The "Re-reads" category will fill itself, and none of the books there will be allowed into other categories. I also won't be counting them in my 50 book challenge or my page count for the year.

I think the re-reads category will be the first to fill, and will fill itself. I've already re-read the first three books in the Twilight series, and I've been inspired by thekoolaidmom's Jane-a-thon to re-read my Austens. And I kind of want to do that before I dive into the Austen addiction category. That category will probably be read quickly as well, since a lot of the books I'm planning to read for it are technically chick lit.

I've just completed my fourth book in the Released in 2008 category. I found The Dark Lantern by Gerri Brightwell after reading a recommendation on Salon. I'm still mulling it over, trying to decide if I enjoyed it or not. I may reassign it to the Historical Fiction category if it doesn't start to fill a little more, since I will easily complete my Books Released in 2008 category.

I have, for the first time, been able to cross a book off the British classics list, and that book is A Room With a View. I've been reading it forever, it seems like (which is ridiculous because it's only 200 pages). But I've completed it, and I can move on to other things and other books within the category.

Just finished the first book from my recently added category, Austen Addiction. Austenland by Shannon Hale was an entertaining look at what would happen if a twenty-first century woman was given a chance to vacation in a setting designed to give the experience of Regency England.

Glad to hear you found it entertaining. I got Austenland a month ago but haven't gotten around to it yet. I was just thinking last week that I should add an Austen category (and take out another that probably won't fill) since I've read Northanger Abbey plus a number of Austen-inspired sequels and such already this year.

You should read it. You'll fly through it. The plot is obviously ripped from Austen's works, and Hale does it shamelessly. The dedication alone made me laugh. She dedicated the novel to Colin Firth, telling him she thought he was a great guy, but she was married, so they should just be friends. It's fun, and it really is a quick read. I read it in less than a day (granted, I wasn't working when I read it, and I had little else in the way of obligations, so that gave me a little extra time to read it).

I've been re-reading P&P, and I've been eyeballing some of the other books that were in some way influenced by Jane Austen, too. It's nice to go back to old favorite stories.

I laughed at the dedication page, too! :) I think I'll start Austenland once my book deadline passes (my local book club discusses Three Cups of Tea on Friday, and I'm procrastinating as usual - reading everything else in the world but what I'm supposed to be reading).

Which other books are you considering?

I'm going to (re)read Pride and Prejudice this year. I was going to use Mansfield Park as my second Austen, but my online book club just announced the 2009 reading list, and MP and Persuasion are on it.

(I don't mean to hijack your thread - it's just that I'm such a Janeite.)

Rites of Spring (Break) is the fifth book in my 2008 releases category, and I finished it late last night. It was a very quick, very fun read (for the most part; the heroine, Amy, did some things I didn't much like early on in the book, but other than that, it was a blast).

>58 suzecate:,

I've got a fair few books lined up for the Austen Addiction category. I've got The Jane Austen Book Club, Jane Fairfax, Me and Mr. Darcy, An Assembly Such as This, and North by Northanger. I've also had Sanditon sitting on my shelf since 2003, and I recently purchased Catharine, which will probably round it all out.

Of course, the fourth book in the Carrie Bebris series, The Matters at Mansfield, comes out in September, and that could easily replace one of the others.

The TBR category seems to be turning into something of a catch-all for books that I'm unsure of where to place. It's not really living up to its name, as most of the books there are books that I've purchased quite recently. Also, I'm not making very good progress on my British classics category. I'll need to either work on it or find another use for it.

In the meantime, I've just finished After Dark by Haruki Murakami, and for now, I've placed it in the TBR category. However, I purchased it earlier this month, so it doesn't really fit there.

Finished Breaking Dawn very early this morning to complete my 6th book in the 2008 category. I was pleased with some of the plot twists, disappointed with some things I felt were omitted, and disbelieving of other things. It was a suitable ending for the series, though, and overall, I really enjoyed it.

I've read the fifth book for my YA category, Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott. Scott reminds me in many ways of Sarah Dessen (who is my favorite young adult author) in that both write about real teenage experiences and emotions, without the trappings of materialism that plague other YA works.

I've completed two more books: The Jane Austen Book Club for the Austen Addiction category, and Silk by Alessandro Baricco for the 1001 Books category. I've reviewed both books, and the reviews can be found on my blog, Reading and Ruminations.

I've also added two books I re-read last month to the Re-Reads category: Secret Society Girl and Under the Rose, both by Diana Peterfreund.

Finished another book: Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott. My review is at my blog, Reading and Ruminations.

I've also decided to change my British Classics category to a plain old Classics category. I was getting nowhere with it limited to purely British books. I've got several planned for the end of the year, so we'll see how it goes.

I've decided to give up the 888 challenge for 2008. I just don't have the interest in filling in some of these categories that I thought I would, and the books I'm planning to read through the end of the year won't accomplish it. But I wish you all the best of luck with the final two months of your challenge.

I will be participating in the 999 Challenge next year, so look for my thread there!