One of the most interesting things I have found recently found in the blogosphere are book challenges. Now in the old days a book challenge meant that someone was trying to have book taken off the shelves of a library. Today the term has taken on a new meaning: it is a challenge to read a specified number of books over a limited period of time. They can also include restrictions such as a certain genre, or author. Some of the challenges I have seen in the past year are the Notable Book Challenge to read 20 books from the NY Times Notable book list; the 48 hours Challenge to read and blog about your reading for 48 hours straight; The Young Adult 2008 challenge to read 12 YA novels during 2008; and the Expanding Horizons Challenge to read books by authors of other ethnicities. The challenge I decided to take up is the 888 Challenge. This challenge required the reader to read 8 books from each of 8 categories (the readers choice) during 2008. This will be a total of 64 books but the reader may have up to 8 books in more than one category for a total of 56 books. I chose this challenge because it will require me to stretch beyond my usual reading habits. Choosing my categories was difficult, I wanted to expand beyond my usual mysteries and historical novels but I still want to enjoy all of the books. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to reread some books from my past and to read some books I would not usually choose. After I determined the categories, I had to find books I thought I would like in each of them. Here is my list as it stands today. I still need to add a few titles to three lists and some others may change later.
Favorites from my youth
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley- The Matchlock gun by Walter D. Edmonds
- The guns of Bull Run by Joseph A. Altsheler
- The catcher in the rye by J. D. Salinger
- Betsy Zane by Zane Gray
- Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare
- Little women by Louisa May Alcott
Drums along the Mohawk by Walter D. Edmonds
Global Reading
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
- Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
- Certainty: A Novel by Madeleine Thien
- Autonauts of the Cosmoroute: A Timeless Voyage from Paris to Marseille, by Julio Cortazar and Carol Dunlop
- Wash This Blood from My Hands by Fred Vargas
- The kitchen god’s wife by Amy Tan
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Cold War Thrillers
- Manchurian candidate by Richard Condon
- The spy who came in from the cold by John Le Carre
- Year of the tiger by Jack Higgins
- Saving the queen by William F. Buckley
- The Tristan betrayal by Robert Ludlum
- The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy
- Eye of the needle by Ken Follett
- The Honorable Schoolboy by John Le Carre
NPR Books
- Autonauts of the Cosmoroute: A Timeless Voyage from Paris to Marseille, by Julio Cortazar and Carol Dunlop
- The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved by Judith Freeman
Tenth Muse by Judith Jones- This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust
- Wash This Blood from My Hands by Fred Vargas
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan’s- Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly-fishing, and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska by Lou Ureneck
- Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O’nan
Historical Mysteries
- The Janissary Tree: A Novel (Edgar) by Jason Goodwin
- A murder on the Appian Way by Steven Saylor
- Dragon’s Lair by Sharon Kay Penman
Bone Rattler by Eliot Pattison
Young Adult
The Absolutely True diary of a part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie- The White Darkness (Printz) by Geraldine McCaughrean
I am the messenger by Markus Zusak- The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga
- Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
- Born to rock by Korman, Gordon
2007 Award Books
The Absolutely True diary of a part-time Indian (National Book Award) by Sherman Alexie- The Gathering (Man Booker Prize) by Anne Enright
- Certainty: A Novel (Canada First Novel Award) by Madeleine Thien
- The Janissary Tree: A Novel (Edgar) by Jason Goodwin
- The Road (Pulitzer) by Cormac McCarthy
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Caldecott) by Brian Selznick
- The White Darkness (Printz) by Geraldine McCaughrean
- Sacred Games (National Book Critics Circle) by Vikram Chandra
Non-fiction
- This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust
- Three Cups of Tea Mortenson
- Tenth Muse by Judith Jones
- Autonauts of the Cosmoroute: A Timeless Voyage from Paris to Marseille, by Julio Cortazar and Carol Dunlop
- The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved by Judith Freeman
- The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan
Strike through indicates books I have finished.
If you would like to join the challenge go to 888 Challenge to read the complete rules and submit you list.
