The Off The Shelf Challenge: October/The End

Well, I've decided to stop participating in The Off The Shelf Challenge. This is very unlike me - I will usually stick out a challenge or whatever until I'm curled up in a ball at the end of it, sobbing and exhausted and (supposedly) victorious.

But the older I get, the more I realize that sometimes, it's okay to quit. It's okay to stop doing something that no longer makes me happy. (See The Year of Yes post.)

And that's what happened with the OTS Challenge. Don't get me wrong - I think it's a great idea and I'm happy - as are my bookshelves and TBR list - that I did as much of it as I did. The problem was that over the last couple of months, it started to feel like homework. I started choosing books based on how long they were, could I knock it out in a week, add to my count, etc. instead of choosing books I wanted to read, ones that I was in the mood for. I let the Challenge suck the joy out of one of my most favorite things - reading.

So, while this will be the last Progress Report post, I'll still do a monthly Recommendations post, mostly because I love to talk up books I enjoy.

Did you all enjoy the mini reviews? Would you like to see something a little different in those kinds of posts? Have you all read anything that blew you away this past month?

[And just because I can't quite let myself off the hook, I did a count and realized that although I read 33 Challenge books start to finish, I actually started - then put down - 20 others. So, technically, 53 Challenge books were involved and since my goal was 50 books . . . hmm, no I guess not. Sigh. Let it go . . . ] 

October - 

Challenge Books Read: 4

Non-Challenge Books Read:  3

Year to Date - 

Challenge Books Read:  33

Non-Challenge Books Read:  28

Total Books Read:  61

Standouts in October:

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti - this is another of those books that I wish I'd read earlier.  Regular readers of this blog know I lean toward dark fiction. This book isn't exactly "light," -  Ren, an orphan who is missing one hand, is adopted by Benjamin Nab. Ren thinks he's found a family. And he has . . . but not quite in the way he thinks. But there's a depth here of heart and love and even humor, all delivered in an oddball cast of characters not easily forgotten. (I still can't get giant, murderer-for-hire Dolly out of my mind!) I also enjoyed the writing style - Tinti has a way of showing who these characters are in such small subtle ways and that are so much more telling than big grand actions.

The Floor of the Sky by Pamela Carter Joern - in the Nebraska Sandhills, Toby - a tough old widow - struggles to hold onto not only her land but also her secrets. When her pregnant teenage granddaughter, Lila, visits, the past and the present collide, taking down more than one person whom Toby loves. One of the things I enjoyed about this novel was the writing style - you would think the clean sharp prose would somehow minimize the complex emotions at the heart of this story when, in fact, it does the opposite - it heightens them, brings them out, shines a light on all the angles and edges and in all the dark corners, and makes the reader feel them even more. 

The Off The Shelf Challenge: September Recommendations and Progress Report

I've got 21 books left to go to reach my goal of 50 in The Off The Shelf Challenge. I'm considering dropping the number/level from "On a Roll" to "Making a Dint" but the competitive part of me says "Hell no!" so, for now, I'll keep "rolling" along.

As I look at the standouts below, it appears I'm on somewhat of an historical fiction kick. How about you - do you enjoy historical fiction? Any particular time period? Did you read anything amazing over the summer? 

September - 

Challenge Books Read:  6

Non-Challenge Books Read:  1

Year to Date - 

Challenge Books Read:  29

Non-Challenge Books Read:  25

Total Books Read:  54

Standouts in September:
The Sea Captain's Wife by Beth Powning - in the 1860s, women sometimes joined their sea captain husbands on year long journeys around the world. When Azuba Galloway joins her husband, Nathaniel, one safe, constant life ends and another - exciting, adventurous, terrifying - begins. I lost count of how many times my heart rose into my throat as I read this novel. Not only during the scenes on the high seas but also during the quieter moments - as Azuba tries to decide between a landlocked life and one at sea, as she contemplates her future and that of her family, as she struggles to keep her marriage alive and strong. At its heart, this novel is a love story - the love that exists between husband and wife, among a family, and for one's home - whether house or ship - and his or her place in it.

When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt - twenty-year-old Irma Vitale leaves her Italian mountain village behind for a new life in 1880s America. From the very first page I rooted for Irma. Throughout the novel, I cheered for her, wept with her, feared for her, and triumphed with her. When I finished the novel, the book was done but Irma's journey and her impression on me continued in my mind. She is an unforgettable heroine. If you enjoy historical fiction, and in particular the female European immigrant experience in America, pick up this novel. 

The Off The Shelf Challenge: August Recommendations and Progress Report

We were preparing for the arrival of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Isaac this past weekend - putting outside furniture in the garage, buying bottled water, checking on batteries, etc. And, of course, one of my biggest priorities - the book light. I don't care if the power goes out, if the wind howls, if the rain lashes against the windows, as long as I can read, I'm okay. Fortunately, our area received little damage, and I put my book light away unused. Oh, but I still read!

I'm almost halfway to my goal in the Off the Shelf Challenge! How is your summer reading going? Anything you'd like to recommend? Read either of the standouts below? Please share your thoughts in the comments. Happy Reading!

August - 
Challenge Books Read:  3
Non Challenge Books Read:  4

Year to Date - 
Challenge Books Read:  23
Non Challenge Books Read:  24
Total Books Read:  47

Standouts in August include:

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison - have you ever read a book that just blew you away, that made you want to weep because you're pretty damn sure you are never going to be able to write something that good, ever? Yeah, well, for me this is that book. It's a dark, disturbing story about a girl named Bone and her family, all of whom still haunt me weeks after I turned the final page. Here's just one example of the sharp, stunning writing:

Greenville, South Carolina, in 1955 was the most beautiful place in the world. Black walnut trees dropped their green-black fuzzy bulbs on Aunt Ruth's matted lawn, past where their knotty roots rose up out of the ground like the elbows and knees of dirty children suntanned dark and covered with scars.

The Secret River by Kate Grenville - this is historical fiction at its best. In 1806, London, William Thornhill is about to be hanged when luck intervenes, and he and his small family are instead sent to New South Wales (Australia.) Although his life has been spared, he must now learn what to do with it, how to survive, in this rough and rugged place. When Thornhill decides owning land is the answer, he doesn't give the Aboriginal people a second thought. He will pay any price for what he wants but the cost, in the end, will be extremely high and everyone involved, including the reader, will be left wondering if it was all worth it.

The Off The Shelf Challenge: July Recommendations and Progress Report

I fizzled out a bit this month in The Off The Shelf Challenge. Part of the problem was I bought a couple of books that I'd been wanting to read (see The Age of Miracles and One Breath Away below) and then, of course, I just couldn't wait to read them. Plus, books I requested from the library - ones I thought would take a while to get to me - came in all at once and, since I have to return those...

I hope you enjoy my recommendations below and please share in the comments if you've read them or tell us about what you're reading and loving (or even not loving so much.)

July -
Challenge Books Read:  3
Non-Challenge Books Read:  4

Year to Date -
Challenge Books Read:  20
Non-Challenge Books Read:  20
Total Books Read:  40

*****

Standouts in July include:

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker - you know how people say "I wish there were more hours in the day" or "What I wouldn't give for one more hour in my day to get things done" etc.? Well, please stop that! Read this book and you'll see why I am pleading for us all to just be happy and grateful with our lovely 24 hour days. One of the best ways to describe this novel is a coming-of-age meets impending apocalypse. But (and this will be a surprise to those of you who know how much I love "The Walking Dead") there are no zombies. Instead, we have "the slowing." But - and this might be one of my favorite lines in the whole book - "...no force on earth could slow the forward march of sixth grade. And so, in spite of everything, that year was also the year of the dance party."

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf - I couldn't catch my breath until I finished this book. But don't let the breathless suspense and the short chapters with their cliff-hanger endings make you think it's all flash with no substance. The reader experiences the story - a gunman goes into a school and takes a class hostage - through five different points of view, all of whom are complex characters with their own troubles and regrets and fears. If you pick this up, clear your day or else plan on nothing else getting done until you've finished.

Gold by Chis Cleave - you don't have to be an Olympic athlete to appreciate the strength and the stamina - physical, mental, emotional - of the two women bicyclists at the center of Cleave's newest book. Anyone who has ever had a dream, has been consumed by a passion and has struggled with life-defining and life-destroying decisions related to that dream, that goal, will recognize themselves in the pages of this novel. Don't miss this one.

The Off The Shelf Challenge: June Progress and Recommendations

Well, here we are, moving right along with The Off The Shelf Challenge. I've buckled down - somewhat - and I'm tackling the piles of books waiting patiently to be read. Since summer seems to be the season of reading for so many, here's a question for you - how's your summer reading going? Tackling any big reading projects? Waiting anxiously for a new title to come out?

Challenge Books read in: 
January:  4
February:  5
March:  1
April:  2
May: 2

*****

Challenge Books read in June:  3
Non Challenge Books read in June: 3
Total Books read in June: 6 

*****

Total Challenge Books read so far in 2012:  17
Total Non-Challenge Books read so far in 2012:  16
Total Books read so far in 2012:  33


Standouts in June include:


Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - I've already raved about it in this post but I just wanted to add a side note here. One of the things I liked about this book was the fact that the protagonists were not the, um, most likable people in the world. And yet I still wanted to know what happened in the end. My husband, on the other hand, couldn't get past his distaste for the characters and couldn't care less what happened to them. (They didn't pass his "elevator shaft test" = would he care if the characters fell down an elevator shaft? In this case, no, he would not.) He did agree with me regarding the writing and the plotting (though he missed out on some great twists!)


The Last Bridge by Teri Coyne - this dark novel has a rawness to it, and a desperate, ragged edge to the protagonist that makes you want to shake her and save her at the same time. I'm not giving you a spoiler here when I say there's hope in this novel - I'm offering you a lifeline; hold onto it as you wind your way through this heartbreaking, complex, layered story. Believe me, you'll need it.


Left Neglected by Lisa Genova - I wish I knew what took me so long to read this book. It's a wake-up call, a how-to on survival and being positive and forgiveness, with a few laugh out loud lessons about living and thriving when everything, and I mean, everything, changes. I've already put this author's other book, Still Alice, on my TBR list.

The Off The Shelf Challenge: May Progress and Recommendations

I never thought it'd be this hard to make headway in this Off The Shelf Challenge. I mean, come on! It's reading! I love reading!

But I'm kinda like that dog from the movie "Up." He's talking, having a nice conversation, and then all of a sudden he's distracted - "Squirrel!" Only for me it's not squirrels, it's new books. Oh, that sounds like a good story! Oh, that's from one of my favorite authors! Oh, the Hold list at the library will be sooooo long so I'll buy it but I won't read it now because I already have all those other books waiting patiently on the shelf . . . well, maybe I'll just a peek at the first page or two . . . or three . . . 

Squirrel!

*****

Challenge Books read in January:  4
Challenge Books read in February:  5
Challenge Books read in March:  1
Challenge Books read in April:  2

*****

Challenge Books read in May:  2
Non Challenge Books read in May:  2
Total Books read in May:  4

*****

Total Challenge Books read so far in 2012:  14
Total Non-Challenge Books read so far in 2012:  13
Total Books read so far in 2012:  27

*****

Standouts from May include:

The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian - Bohjalian takes a traumatized pilot and his family, an old house in New Hampshire, greenhouses, twins, and ghosts and creates this creepy, gothic kind of ghost story. [Side Note: I met Mr. Bohjalian many years ago when he was touring for his book, The Buffalo Soldier, and to this day, I remember how kind and encouraging he was to me when he signed my book and we spoke a bit about writing.] 

The Blue Orchard by Jackson Taylor - an excellent example of historical fiction, it starts right before the Great Depression and spans the first fifty years of the twentieth century. It's based on the life of the author's grandmother. Verna Krone is a heroine to be recognized. She's tough and imperfect, and she's someone you can't help rooting for even as you shake your head at another of her bad decisions. The novel covers so many big topics - race relations, politics, medical issues - and yet at its core, it's a story of a woman doing the best she can, the best way she can, the only way she knows how.

The Off The Shelf Challenge: April

Some of you might recall how I blogged last month about my abysmal progress in The Off The Shelf Challenge. Yeah, well, April wasn't much better. I started a handful of books . . . that I ended up putting down. I did actually read a number of books . . . but most of them weren't from my shelf or already on my TBR list so they don't count for the Challenge. I really need to get cracking. Watch out, May!

Challenge Books read in January:  4
Challenge Books read in February:  5
Challenge Books read in March:  1 (Still hanging my head in shame...)

*****

Challenge Books read in April:  2
Non Challenge Books read in April:  4 
Total Books read in April:  6

*****

Total Challenge Books read so far in 2012:  12
Total Non Challenge Books read so far in 2012:  11
Total Books read in 2012:  23

*****

Standouts from April include:

Chomp by Carl Hiassen - this wasn't on my OTS Challenge list but I couldn't resist this middle grade/young adult romp through the Everglades that includes an animal wrangler, a reality TV show "survivalist," air boats, and enough interesting and funky animals and information to fill the Everglades themselves. And Carl Hiassen is one of the few writers who can get away with calling two of the characters "Wahoo" and "Tuna." This is a fun read for all ages but if you know a boy who likes to read - or one who isn't all that crazy about it - give them Chomp. But if they end up wanting to wrestle alligators or handle snakes or become a TV reality show star, don't blame me.

The Off The Shelf Challenge: March

Progress? Um...not so much. I can't help myself. When I hear about new books coming out, I want to read them right away. Needless to say, this is not helping with The Off the Shelf Challenge. Sigh. Well, April is a new month...

Challenge Books read in January: 4
Challenge Books read in February: 5

*****

Challenge Books read in March: 1 (Hangs head in shame)
Non Challenge Books read in March: 4

*****

Total Challenge Books read so far in 2012: 10
Total Non Challenge Books read so far 2012: 7
Total Books read so far in 2012: 17

*****

Standouts from March include:

The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder by Erin Blakemore - It's been sitting on my own shelf for awhile and I wish I had picked it up sooner. It was so much fun to go back and revisit my old friends from those books that meant so much to me when I was a kid. And I loved learning a bit more about the amazing women who created those long-lasting heroines.  

All Woman and Springtime by Brandon Jones - I was lucky enough to receive an advanced reader's copy of this, so you can see why I bumped it up above the poor, patiently waiting Challenge books. This is a dark story and, at times, disturbing to read but it is so well-written and so compelling. It comes out in May, but please don't wait until then to add it to your TBR list or to put your name on your library's "hold"/"reserve" list. (If you liked Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, you'll love this!)

The Off the Shelf Challenge: February

Here it is, the end of February, and I think I'm progressing nicely with The Off The Shelf Challenge 2012. 

Books read for the challenge in January:  4
Books read for the challenge in February: 5
Books read that were not part of the challenge: 3

I have a loose plan where I alternate reading books for the Challenge and books not for the Challenge. There are way too many new books coming out every month that I can't/won't wait to read. So far, so good.   

Standouts from the Challenge for February include:

Night Road by Kristin Hannah - this is the first Kristin Hannah book I read but it will definitely not be my last.

The Widow's War by Sally Gunning - historical fiction at its best.

Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace - it's like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, only with baseball. Loved it!

I also usually mention a title or two from the Challenge over on the sidebar in case you're interested to see what I've read recently.

How about you all? What have you read this past month? What are you reading now?

The Off The Shelf Challenge: January

Well, here we are, closing in on the end of January...and I have already stalled on the Off The Shelf Challenge.

For the challenge, I've read three books so far - two I own and one from my To Be Read list. 

However.

I started reading six other books that did not make me want to keep reading. So, I began nine books total but only three hooked me and held me until the end.

Two of the three that I read - The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen and A Killer's Essence by Dave Zeltserman - were gripping, peppered with humor and sarcasm, and peopled with great characters. (But this is no surprise to me as I'm already fans of both authors.) I won't name the third book because even though I finished it, I didn't really enjoy it. Why keep reading? Because I liked the writing style and the story just enough, I cared just enough, to see how it all turned out.

As for the other six? I just wasn't all that interested in the characters and/or invested in the story and I think the biggest reason for that was the writing itself didn't pull me in. Sometimes it was too literary and descriptive, other times it was too abrupt and clunky. I read about 100 slow going pages in one book, then stopped when I realized the book was over 400 pages long! No way was I going to drag myself through another 300 plus pages.

If I have to dig deep to find the story buried beneath the writing, it better be worth it. If I have to overlook "head hopping" and stiff dialogue, the story better be strong enough to pull me over that hump. If the story is long and meandering, that's fine but it better show me - sooner rather than later - some great scenery and introduce me to compelling characters along the way.

Now, of course, this is just my opinion. Someone else might read those same books and love them. That's what's so wonderful about books and reading and stories - there truly is something for everyone.

(I actually read four books this month. One wasn't on my shelf/list but I don't care because there was no way I was going to wait to read the new Joshilyn Jackson novel. But that's a post for another day.)

The Off The Shelf Challenge 2012

Regular readers of this blog know that I love to read but that I don't do nearly enough of it. Every year, one of my goals/resolutions is to read more books. Even though I already have stacks of books waiting to be read. Even though I asked for more books for Christmas (that was pretty much all I asked for, to be honest.) Even though my To-Be-Read (TBR) list is - literally! - pages long. So, you can imagine how thrilled I was to find out about this challenge on my pal Jillian's blog. (Jillian, by the way, is rocking the 2011 challenge.)

 
You can find all the official details here or by clicking on the badge on the sidebar, but here's a quick summary: Challenge yourself to read a designated number of books that you already own or that are already on your TBR list. I am going for the On A Roll Challenge Level, which means I need to read 50 books that I already own and/or whose titles are already on my list. Jillian had a predetermined list on her blog that she crossed off as she went along but that's optional. My plan is to write up a list for myself, include books I already own and titles on my TBR list, and then write occasional blog posts with updates on my progress. I might even get one of those snazzy counter things for the sidebar.

So, what do you say? Want to read some great books, achieve a sense of accomplishment, and have some fun along the way? It sounds like a win-win-win (as Michael Scott once said on "The Office") to me.

(Oh, and if the On The Roll Level=50 Books makes you nervous, the levels actual start at Tempted=5 Books and go up to Buried=136-200 Books, with lots of flexibility, so there's definitely a level that's right for you.)