Archive for the ‘Contests and Challenges’ Category

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This year I am participating in Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon.  I won’t be posting much today.  I’m going to try to just focus on my reading.  Unfortunately, I am getting off to a late start.  It is hour seven and I have really only gotten about half an hour of reading in so far.  But I am ready to focus now.  I got my exercise, got some food, and I’m ready to settle into some great books.  Here is my reading list for today (I’ll be happy if I even get halfway into it–I’m always a little over ambitious when making these things!):

Finish The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg
The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

Happy reading for everyone participating!  I can’t wait to see the reviews to come.

I have had such a wonderful time going from blog to blog reading about resolutions.  There were so many great ones out there that I’m tempted to compile them into a super-duper to do list for myself.  I’m sure the combination of so many wonderful resolutions would create one pretty awesome human being and pretty fantastical blog.  However, I think that it would also drive me absolutely crazy.  I would be reading hundreds of books over the course of the next year while exercising daily and eating better not to mention the fact that I would be posting more frequently in order to review those hundreds of books in a timely manner.  Any of this making you feel completely and utterly exhausted?  You are all incredibly ambitious, but the beginning of the year is definitely the best time to be ambitious.

But after reading several resolutions to read deliberately, I began to wonder, are reading challenges helpful or harmful?  I love to challenge myself so from my very first day of blogging, I started signing up for reading challenges that piqued my interest.  They seemed like a great way to diversify my reading choices.  I have always been ashamed of the fact that I never really delved into the classics, so I signed up for a reading challenge that focused on reading the classics.  I’m incredibly passionate about women’s studies so I signed up for the Women Unbound challenge because it required me to make and read my way through a list of women’s fiction and nonfiction.  These are great ways to delve into a subject or interest area.

The down side is that I never had the discipline or resolve to actually complete a challenge.  In the midst of school, work, and life in general, I would find that the time line for the challenge would near its end and I would have only just started my first of second book.  TBR challenge seemed to be worst for me because I would just get distracted by new books or a reading list for a class.  And the worst part of all is that as I faced one defeat after another, I would feel guilty.

It is the guilt that has led me this year to give up on challenges.  I still love the idea of them and when I come across one that really interests me I might just pick up a book in that genre or subject area, but I have given up on signing up for something that will inevitably lead me to guilt.  I’m still open to trying new things though and a couple bloggers mentioned that I might like read a longs better so I’m going to keep my eye out for one that interests me this year.

What about you, what do you think of challenges?  Do you find them helpful or harmful?  What about read a longs?  Any suggestions for a read a long that I might enjoy?

Title: Life After Yes
Author: Aidan Donnelley Rowley
Genre: Women’s fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Year: 2010
Pages: 368

Acquired through the Apple Ibooks store for my Ipad.

I discovered Aidan Donnelley Rowley’s blog Ivy League Insecurities several months ago and immediately fell in love with her writing.  I highly recommend her blog: it is both thought provoking and beautifully written.  When I started her book, I discovered that even in novel form, her writing is amazing: sharp, witty, and full of wonderful life lessons.

Aidan’s main character, Prudence Quinn O’Malley is at a turning point in her life.  Her long tine boyfriend, Sage, proposes to her and she says yes.  But Quinn (she doesn’t go by Prudence after learning what Prudence actually means as a teenager) is not quite sure she is ready to grow up.  Even more, she is trying to find a way to cope with the death of her father son September 11th.

This book explores career choices (Quinn is a lawyer), friendship, love, family, and grief.  I found myself crying and laughing throughout the book.  At times, this book is incredibly frustrating.  And it is difficult to decide who you are rooting for sometimes.  But if anything, this book is about human imperfection.  It is about accepting said human imperfection.  I loved every page and found myself treasuring every word.  I thought about this book hours after I stopped reading and I believe that it will probably be on my mind for weeks to come.

At the end, this book certainly inspired me.  It inspired me to write more, to read more, to just learn and live more.  One quote in particular jumps out to me – a description of Quinn that I love:

You have a heart as healthy and fragile as life itself–forever pumping, energetic, but vulnerable to forces bigger than yourself–love being one of them.  Love is one of those great mysteries like prudence and forgiveness, a beast more inscrutable than Faulkner’s bear or Melville’s whale.  But we all understand enough of these things, each our own part, to feel their force, to be pulled this way or that, to make grand decisions, in their universal and commingling wake.

Ah, to be vulnerable.  To admit that we are vulnerable.  In love.  In life.  It is so difficult.  Yet if we ever truly want to experience the fullness of life or of love, we have to let ourselves be vulnerable.  Vulnerability opens up those doors to what we truly need in life.

I highly recommend that if you have yet to read the beautiful words of Aidan Donnelley Rowley, that you do so.  Check out her blog if you don’t believe me and then read this book.  Every page is sure to surprise and please.

And a few weeks ago, I hosted a giveaway of 8 paperback copies of Life After Yes.  The winners are:

Kathy @ Bermudaonion’s Weblog
Julie P. @ Booking Mama
Rebecca @ Lost in Books
Sheila @ Book Journey
Jenny @ Take Me Away

As you can probably tell, I still have a few copies left so if you are interested, shoot me an e-mail and I’ll see what I can do.

Today, August 16, 2010 I turn twenty-one years old.  It is insane to think that I’ve been alive that long.  While I am glad for all the amazing things I have done, I can’t help but also think of all the incredible things that I haven’t done.  There are so many adventures I haven’t gone on, so many opportunities I’ve passed up.  Whatever my reasons might have been at the time, I just want to forget about all the excuses and try my best to just do more in the future.  I want to be the kind of girl who jumps head first into things without fear of the consequences.

I guess that is my birthday wish this year.  So instead of drinking way too much at a bar, I’m being responsible tonight.  I have a huge work day ahead of me tomorrow and I want to start off the week on a good note, not a hung over one.  Even better, I’m writing this post in which I get to share some extremely exciting news with all of you.  My blog anniversary was a little over a week ago.  Can you believe it, one whole year of blogging?  It seems like just yesterday that I started this blog and already I’ve discovered so many amazing features of the blogging community.  Still, I haven’t been able to focus on blogging as much as I want to.  I’m getting better about it this summer, but there is still so much I want to do.

So instead of whining about it, I’m going to host my first giveaway ever!

I’m a huge fan of Aidan Donnelley Rowley’s blog, Ivy League Insecurities, and when she wrote up a post about publicity for Life After Yes, I was eager to help.  I recently purchased the book for my iPad and although I haven’t been able to finish it yet because of all the hectic craziness in my life I have really enjoyed the chapters that I have read thus far.  Anyway, she agreed to send me several copies to give away.  So, it is with extreme pleasure that I offer 8 paperback copies of Life After Yes to you my wonderful readers on my birthday!

To enter, please just leave a comment (with your e-mail!) telling me about a memorable birthday of yours (extra props if said memorable birthday happens to be your 21st birthday!).  This giveaway will be open until August 30, 2010 at 12:00AM PST.  I will pick the winners at random after that time and will notify them via e-mail so if you don’t leave your e-mail, you can’t win.

Last year, Everything Austen began right around the time that I started blogging.  I didn’t really have a clue about challenges (in some ways, I still don’t!) but I joined and began a journey into the world of Jane.  Granted, I didn’t have the time or the dedication back then to complete the challenge, but I did really enjoy the two or three books that I did finish for the challenge.  And so, I have been eagerly awaiting another chance to jump into the past to learn more about Jane and her unforgettable characters.  Finally, that chance is here!

The Everything Austen Challenge runs from July 1, 2010 to January 1, 2011.  The goal is to finish six Austen-themed things (books, movies, even crafts like Austen inspired cross-stitches count!).  If you’re interested, head over to Stephanie’s Written Word to find out more.  You have until July 15 to sign up!

My list of six is as follows:

Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo
Jane Austen’s Guide to Dating by Lauren Henderson
Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine’s Guide to Life and Love by Patrice Hannon
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Are you joining in on the Austen fun?  If so, I’d love to hear about what you’re planning on reading!