Sunday, June 15, 2008

The ARC Challenge

Teddy from So Many Precious Books So Little Time is taking the plunge in hosting her first challenge, The ARC Challenge. She thought it might be helpful for those of us who seem to have growing piles of ARCs we need to read and review.

I know, I know. What about my moratorium on challenges? This one actually fits in quite nicely with what I already am planning on reading. It almost feels like cheating to sign up for it. Still. Why not? I may succeed at this one even if not with the others I have stalled on (for the time being--there's always hope).

The challenge will run from June 21, 2008-September 21, 2008.

The rules:

1. Make a list of all of the ARC’s that you currently have and/or are on their way to you.

2. If you have:

  • 1-3 ARC’s then pick at least one to read and review for this challenge.
  • 4-6 ARC’s then pick at least two to read and review for this challenge.
  • 7-9 ARC’s then pick at least three to read and review for this challenge.
  • 10 or more ARC’s then pick at least 4 to read and review for this challenge.

3. Crossovers with other challenges are allowed.

4. List the books that you plan to read for this challenge (you can change it at any time, as long as the books you change are also ARC's). You can read the books on your list in any order.

5. Read the books and review them on your blog. If you don’t have a blog, you can post your review on sites like Amazon. Leave a comment on the post about the challenge with a link to each of your reviews.


I decided against singling out four books for the challenge but will definitely be pulling from the below list. My goal is to actually read more than just the four required books. This time I am confident I will succeed. The books are currently in no specific order.

Now for my embarrassingly long list . . .
Rabbit in the Moon by Deborah and Joel Shlian
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
The House of Midnight by Lucie Whitehouse
The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert
The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper
Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
Devil's Cape by Rob Rogers
The Island of Eternal Love by Daina Chaviano
The Sister by Poppy Adams
Tigerheart by Peter David
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
Brida by Paulo Coelho
The Likeness by Tana French
The Glimmer Palace by Beatrice Colin
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
The White Mary by Kira Salak
Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
Far World: Water Keep by J. Scott Savage
Songs for the Missing by Stewart O'Nan
*Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake [read review]
*The Servants by Michael Marshall Smith

22 comments:

  1. That's an impressive list of ARCs! Good luck making a dent in this pile. I highly recommend The Cellist of Sarajevo...

    =) Jill

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for joining the challenge! Boy, I think you are the clear leader in the total number of ARCs you have!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Jill! I am especially am looking forward to reading The Cellist of Sarajevo. :-)

    Teddy - Thanks for hosting the challenge! I do hope someone will join in who has more ARCs than I do. I don't want to be the leader in that category. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  4. Literary Feline and Teddy:

    I'm not joining in (at least not yet) because I'm embarrassed by the number of ARCs I have. But my list would probably make you feel better...here is a glimpse of my 2007 ARCs that I hadn't gotten too as of January 2008. I've since crossed off about five or six. And that's just for 2007. My 2008 list is probably twice as long.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You don't want your other challenges to get lonely, do you?

    Easy peasy to knock off 4 of those! What's the 19th Wife about?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I loved Tigerheart - it was very good. The House at Midnight was well-written, but I wasn't crazy about the ending. You have a lot of great titles to choose from!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Becky - That does make me feel a little better. We certainly are ARC crazy, aren't we? :-)

    Carrie (Patience) - They were feeling a little bit lonely. ;-)

    The 19th Wife is a nice thick book. It would make a good contender for the Chunkster Challenge. Now there's an idea . . . It is a historical novel about the 19th wife of Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. I've heard it's pretty good. I guess I'll find out!

    Carrie (Mommy Brain) - Tigerheart does look like a delightful read. I'm looking forward to it.

    That's too bad about the ending for The House and Midnight. I'm curious to know what my impression will be. It sounds like a good book overall.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Aw, come on Becky Join us! Pretty please. We are all bookaholics here, so theres nothing you have to hide from us!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, Wendy! Happy reading!

    The 19th Wife sounds intriguing. I wonder what it's about?...

    ReplyDelete
  10. I keep coming across "Zoe's Tale" lately. Maybe it's a sign to read it! I actually have a couple of other Scalzi books on my book tower that I need to read before this one, but I will be interested to hear what you think.

    So ... did you ever "break down" and get the Sister Pelagia book??

    ReplyDelete
  11. Glad you're joining :) I think you'll def make a dent in that pile! Since I posted about the challenge I've already read of my books and posted one review (the second is coming shortly!). I just needed some motivation I think!

    ReplyDelete
  12. edit-*two* of my books

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow, that's quite a list Wendy. The only one I had from your list was 'The Lace Reader' which I liked. Good luck on the challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a great list - there are some books on there I want :)
    This is really a cool challenge. I will have to think on it because you can't have enough challenges to join right? :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. A most timely coincidence. I just got Cellist of Sarajevo as a cold buy. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm embarrassed by the number of ARCs I have, so I'm definitely doing this challenge. I commented over at the challenge blog, too!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yes, Becky! Do join in! :-)

    Alice - I've heard good things so far about the 19th Wife. I'm looking forward to reading it. :-)

    Terri - I have never read a book by Scalzi before, but Carl V. keeps singing his praises so I thought I'd give him a try. It helps that the book was free. :-)

    And yes, I did break down and get the Sister Pelagia book--and the second one in the series too because I heard there's a cliff hanger at the end of the first. Don't want to be left in the dark too long! Haha

    Kathleen - I sure hope so! Sometimes I need a little motivation from the outside too. :-)

    Susan - I'm glad to hear you liked The Lace Reader. I'm looking forward to reading that one. Hopefully very soon!

    Iliana - I do hope you'll join! It's a worthy challenge. :-)

    Matt - I've heard wonderful things about Cellist in Sarajevo. Hopefully we will both find that to be true too.

    Janiejane - I'm so glad you're going to do the challenge too! We can help motivate each other. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Ya gotta love Shelf awareness:) They keep us busy. Great list. I'm in the challenge too and just saying hi! I loved The Glimmer Palace

    ReplyDelete
  19. Tracy - I'm still amazed at how many different ways there are to obtain ARE's.

    I am glad to hear you liked The Glimmer Palace. I'm looking forward to reading it!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow, you do have a long list of ARCs! Good luck in reading them all! :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Josette - Thank you for the good luck wish. My list is a little too long, I'm afraid! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  22. For those who love to read, their reading lists are always long! :D Have fun!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to visit Musings of a Bookish Kitty. Don't be shy! I would love to hear from you. Due to a recent increase in spam, I will be moderating all comments for the foreseeable future. Please be patient with me as it may take a few hours before I am able to approve your comment.