Beastmomma

While I did not do so well on this challenge last year, I am hoping for a better outcome in 2011.

I am choosing the easy level in the hopes that I can complete the challenge this year!

Read one novel from each of these continents in the course of 2011:

Africa: (1) The Chess Garden or the Twilight Letters of Gustav Uyterhoeven by Brooks Hansen. Part of the book takes place in South Africa.  You can find my review here. (2) Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese Much of the book takes place in Ethiopia. You can find my review here.
Asia: (1) The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli. Most of the book takes place in Vietnam. You can find my review here. 
Australasia
Europe: (1) Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières. You can find my review here. It is sent in Greece. (2) My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. You can find my review here. It is set in Turkey.
North America: (1) The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls; it is set in the United States. I finished the book on March 18th. You can find my review here. (2) One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni; it is set in the United States. You can find my review here. (3) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. It takes place in the United States. You can find my review here.
South America (please include Central America where it is most convenient for you)

The Seventh Continent (here you can either choose Antarctica or your own ´seventh´ setting, eg the sea, the space, a supernatural/paranormal world, history, the future – you name it). (1) The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee The book takes place all over the world, so I am counting it in this category. You can read my review here. 

From your own continent: try to find a country, state or author that is new to you

**Unfortunately, I did not make my goal for 2011 of this challenge.  I read up to the explorer level. Hopefully, I will have better luck next year**

I failed miserably at this challenge last year, but I am determined to do better in 2011.  I have more than enough books on my shelves to qualify for this challenge, so maybe I can look at this as a reducing my TBR pile.

From Swapna's site, here are some basics:

There are two ways for a book to qualify for the South Asian Challenge

(1) A book must be by a South Asian author.  For these purposes, South Asia includes the following countries: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and the Maldives. 

2) A book must be about South Asia.  In this case, it can be set in a South Asian country or be about South Asians living abroad.  It can also be a biography or memoir of a South Asian, or of a non-South Asian traveling or working in South Asia.  In this case, the author does not need to be South Asian, as long as the subject matter focuses on the region, peoples, or cultures in some way.

Any type book qualifies, as long as it meets one of the two guidelines above - a cookbook, short story or essay collection, travel guide - I’m not picky!

What dates does the challenge run?

January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011

What are the levels?

South Asian Encounter - 1 book

South Asian Wanderer - 3 books

South Asian Explorer - 5 books

South Asian Adventurer - 7 books

South Asian Hero/Heroine - 10 books

South Asian Guru - Over 10 books (you can set your own goal)

I am going to be ambitious and aim for the South Asian Explorer level. Here are the books I completed for the challenge:

1. One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The author is South Asian. My review here.
2. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. The author is South Asian. My review is here. 
3. The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee The author is South Asian. My review is here.

**I missed the goal by ONE book. Ugh. Better luck next time, I suppose** 

I really enjoyed this challenge last year and I actually completed it, so I am excited to try again!

February 1, 2011 through January 31, 2012

Below are the details and sign ups for 2011 ... I've made a few changes which I hope you will like...ie: I've added another level of participation AND I've changed the number of books you need to read for each level.

Definition of a Chunkster:

• A chunkster is 450 pages or more of ADULT literature (fiction or nonfiction) ... A chunkster should be a challenge.
• If you read large type books your book will need to be 525 pages or more ... The average large type book is 10-15% longer or more so I think that was a fair estimate.

The Rules:

• No Audio books in the chunkster. It just doesn't seem right. Words on paper for this one folks. (**Please view THIS POST FOR EXCEPTIONS to this rule)
• No e-Books allowed - we are reading traditional, fat books for this challenge (please see this post to understand the rationale behind this rule; please see this post for exceptions to this rule)
• Short Stories and Essay collections will not be counted.
• Books may crossover with other challenges
• Anyone may join. If you don't have a blog, just leave me a comment on this post with your progress (and to let me know you are playing)
• You don't need to list your books ahead of time.
• Once you pick a level, that's it...you're committed to that level!

You must pick a level of participation:

1. The Chubby Chunkster - this option is for the reader who wants to dabble in large tomes, but really doesn't want to commit to much more than that. FOUR Chunksters is all you need to finish this challenge.
2. The Plump Primer - this option is for the slightly heavier reader who wants to commit to SIX Chunksters over the next twelve months.
3. Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big? - this option is for the reader who can't resist bigger and bigger books and wants to commit to SIX Chunksters from the following categories: 2 books which are between 450 - 550 pages in length; 2 books which are 551 - 750 pages in length; 2 books which are GREATER than 750 pages in length (for ideas, please refer to the book suggestions page for some books which fit into these categories).
4. Mor-book-ly Obese - This is for the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to EIGHT or more Chunksters of which three tomes MUST be 750 pages or more. You know you want to.....go on and give in to your cravings.

I am going to commit to the Chubby Chunkster level. The books I read for the challenge are:

1. The Chess Garden or the Twilight Letters of Gustav Uyterhoeven by Brooks Hansen: 481 pages. You can find my review here.

2. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese: 688 pages. You can find my review here. 

3. The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee: 570 pages. You can find my review here. 

Hello Orbis Terrarum Readers; I hope that you are enjoying your reading around the world. (If you do not know about Orbis Terrarum; click here for the main challenge blog) For the next six weeks, we are going to combine two of my favorite things: international reading and food.  Each week, I will be writing a post that is a tribute to either food, writing, or food and writing from a particular region.  In the comments, you are invited to share your tribute to any of the above from a particular region as well.  You can either link to your own post or just leave a comment with the information. At the end of each week, I will draw a winner from the comments. I will be doing separate posts for each region, but will have links to my entries below for easy reference.

Here is the travel itinerary; I will post about the first region soon.

1. North America: I wrote a tribute to one of my favorite dishes. Please comment on that entry to be eligible for a prize. 
2. Europe: I wrote about various versions of pesto I have created.  Please comment on that entry to be eligible for a prize. 
3. Asia: I wrote about my favorite Pad Thaid recipe.  Please comment on that entry to be eligible for a prize.
4. Oceana: I need some book suggestions. Here is the post
5. South America: I created a list of South American food staples. Here is the post.
6. Africa: I wrote about enjoying Ethopian food with a dear friend. Here is the post.

Last year, I enjoyed participating in the Everything Austen Challenge. It was so much fun that I decided to have another go this year.

The details! The Everything Austen Challenge will run for six months (July 1, 2010 – January 1, 2011)! All you need to do is pick out six Austen-themed things you want to finish to complete the challenge. You have until Thursday, July 15th 2010 to officially sign up.

What is considered Austen-themed? Obviously, any of the books Jane wrote herself count, so if you’ve been contemplating reading one of her novels, now is the time! Or, maybe watch the different movie versions of Pride and Prejudice. You could even try reading one of the many sequels written by various authors or listen to the audio book version in your car on your way to work. There were even a few people during last year’s challenge who worked on cross-stitch patterns inspired by Austen.  Truly, the list can be endless! All you need to do is pick six Austen-themed items to read, watch or craft to participate. Note that you can mix it up a bit – maybe commit to watching three movies and reading three books – or if your TBR pile is huge, pick out six movies you would like to watch – YOU DECIDE! Also, you can combine this with another challenge.

Since I am feeling VERY stressed and worried about my upcoming bar exam, I know that I will want to relax either as part of a study break or when I can take breaks from studying. I decided to revisit some comic movies as a way to infuse some much needed laughter in my life.

Here are my preliminary (subject to change) selections:

Bridget Jones’s Diary
Bride & Prejudice
Clueless

1. Jane Austen Fight Club: I saw this AWESOME and HILARIOUS video which I decided to count for the challenge. You can find my review here.
2. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender  The main character, Rose, reminds me of Emma. She is curious about the world around her and concerned with helping others while not developing much herself. You can find my review here.