2011 South Asian Challenge

I've been wanting to get more "worldly" with my reading and planned on reading some books by South Asian authors next year anyway, so why not sign up for one more challenge..  For more info on it, or to sign up yourself, please visit S. Krishna's Books.  It's a wonderful blog that I read daily, and Swapna reviews a ton of different books, many of which I've never heard about until reading her reviews!
I will be doing the South Asian Explorer Level, reading 5 books by South Asian writers.  I haven't chosen my books yet but I'm really excited to start reading for this challenge!

My Book Picks for 2011 Challenges

I like to have a definite list of my challenges before they start.  If I have a list of exactly what I want to read, it's harder to stray.  Plus, if I don't make a list, I end up forgetting about the challenge and not reading anything for it.  So here is what I've come up with:

2011 TBR Challenge:
1. The Bride of Pendorric by Victoria Holt
2. Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt
3. The Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
4. The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
5.Seizing the Enigma by David Kahn
6. The Pope's Daughter by Caroline P. Murphy
7. Biographie de la faim by Amelie Nothomb
8. Reves amers by Maryse Conde
9. Les Combustibles by Amelie Nothomb
10. La traversee by Philippe Labro
11. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
12. What Is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman

2011 First in a Series Challenge:
1. The House on Tradd Street by Karen White (Tradd Street Series)
2. The Book of Illumination by Mary Ann Winkowski (The Ghost Files)
3. Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn (Lady Julia Grey Series)

2011 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge:
1. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
2. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
3. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
4. A Study in Scarlett by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5. Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer
6. Murder in Hospital by Josephine Bell

Have you decided on any 2011 challenges and made your book lists yet?? 

Weekend Reads: Shopping and Reading Challenges

Yay for Thanksgiving and awesome online sales :) I hope you all had a great holiday (if you're American, otherwise I hope you still had a great week!). I enjoyed Thanksgiving at my uncle's house in Rochester. He is obsessed with French wine, and he just kept pulling out bottles of the stuff! I probably had 6 glasses throughout the day. And I usually only drink one or two..
Today, I decided to head over to a website I hadn't yet bought anything from, but which I was already loving because of it's low book prices, bookcloseouts.com. Until Tuesday, they have an extra 50% off a ton of their books, and those books are already insanely discounted! I got 8 books for $20, people. It was beautiful. 4 of those books were for family members for Christmas. Boyfriend got a book on beer, Mom got a book on coffee and tea, and Twin, well, I can't say what Twin got because she reads my blog.

I never head to the stores on Black Friday because it's insane, and I feel bad for the workers. Unless, like Twin, they make commission. Twin is in France right now, but usually in the Sears Shoe Department, she gets a shit load of money in commission after working Black Friday.

Now onto the next topic: Challenges

I really like challenges, as long as I don't overdo it and I read books I like and want to read anyway. And since it's almost the end of the year, I figure I'll decide what challenges to do for next year now. I'm going to do the TBR Challenge again, where you pick 12 books you haven't gotten around to reading and read those in the course of a year. I don't remember the site that was doing it because I never actually signed up (I made my list of books to read when I was in France, before I converted my blog to a book blog), so if you know, let me know ;) I also just signed up for the First in a Series Challenge. I like to be reading at least one or two series at all times because if I really like the series, I can fall back on a book in it when life gets stressful, and I'll know that I'll like the book. I've already finished 1 of my favorite series this year, and I'm right on track to finish 2 more. So I think I need to find me some new series to start loving. You can sign up here. I'll post later on what I want to read for both the challenges.  Lastly, I decided to do the 2011 Vintage Mystery Challenge, because I have a lot of Agatha Christies and The Hound of the Baskervilles sitting on my shelves, and it'll be an excuse to finally read them :)  You can sign up for that one here.

Oh, and just so you can all bawl your eyes out and sigh like I did, here is a link to what some are calling the most touching love letter of the American Civil War. You might want some tissues at your side.