The Sunday Salon - Reading Challenges 2009

I stuck my toe in the reading challenge waters this year with the Orange Prize and Booker Prize challenges. These are open-ended challenges (no end date) which appealed to me for several reasons. But now that I'm retired (I say that so much now, I probably won't have time to do anything extra!) I've decided to take on two more challenges for 2009. One of the main reasons is that I already have many of the qualifying books on my TBR shelves, which is not a minor consideration! A couple of them are reads for my book group, too, so I'm already there.

The Challenges:

What's In a Name? caught my fancy last year. This one comes with a list of categories that you match with a title and read one book from each. For this year the six categories are:

1. A book with a profession in its title.
I'm considering: The Translator; Dr. Zhivago; The Bonesetter's Daughter; The Beekeeper's Apprentice; The Bookseller of Kabul

2. A book with a time of day in its title.
I'll choose from: The Dazzle of Day; Midnight’s Children; Night; On a Day Like This; The Night Watch

3. A book with a relative in its title.
My choices might be: The Bonesetter’s Daughter; Wives and Daughters; The Aguero Sisters; The Rice Mother; Midnight’s Children (we're not permitted to double up in categories though)

4. A book with a body part in its title
I can choose from: The Bone People; Heart Songs and Other Stories; The Bonesetter's Daughter (I'll be reading this one for sure!); Autobiography of a Face; The Good Body; Fall on Your Knees

5. A book with a building in its title.
Several choices here: Palace Walk; The Palace of Desire; Open House; The Glass Castle; Bleak House; Sandcastle

6. A book with a medical condition in its title.
None of these are on my shelf but all are on my wishlist: Consumption; Ship Fever; The Great Influenza

Sounds like fun, eh? Which ones would you choose? Do you have more suggestions?

I also ran across The Decades challenge. The idea here is to read one title from each of the decades in the 20th century. I also have a lot of these on my shelves, and this is a good incentive to read some more classics. I can cross-post some of these with other challenges, so some of these titles repeat from above:

• 1900s – A Room With a View
• 1910s – O Pioneers; Winesburg Ohio; Of Human Bondage
• 1920s-- Kristin Lavransdatter
• 1930s—The Good Earth; Tortilla Flat; How Green was My Valley; The Big Sleep
• 1940s—Cry the Beloved Country; The Screwtape Letters; The Razor’s Edge; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; 1984
• 1950s - The Martian Chronicles; The Catcher in the Rye; East of Eden; Fahrenheit 451; The Cairo Trilogy; Doctor Zhivago; Night
• 1960s - Franny and Zooey; Cat’s Cradle; Slaughterhouse-Five
• 1970s - Princess Bride
• 1980s -- Midnight’s Children; Life & Times of Michael K; The Bone People; Oscar and Lucinda
• 1990s – The English Patient; Fall on Your Knees; Queen of the Tambourine; Regeneration; Ship Fever; The Translator

What would you pick from these? Do you have suggestions for the 1970s?

Of course, I'm continuing with the Orange and Booker prize challenges (some of which are on these lists too) and my 100 books/year - which I may bump up to 125, now that I'm retired!

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Be sure to check out the book giveaway in honor of my 200th blog post! Deadline to enter is Friday.

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