A Novel Challenge 2008 Mini-Challenge Wrap-Up

Wendy, of Caribousmom and A Novel Challenge, came up with a mini-challenge for the members of the Yahoo! group A Novel Challenge this year. The challenge consisted of 12 reading related tasks that challenge members needed to complete this year.

1. Short story – I read The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy
2. Children's book – I read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
3. Poem – I read Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins
4. Banned book – I read The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
5. Give a book away – I donated the book Write is a Verb to my writer’s group library
6. Two articles from any one magazine – I read 2 articles from the December 2008 issue of National Geographic Magazine
7. Classic – I read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
8. Book event – I attended the Miami International Book Fair in November
9. Essay – I read The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
10. Inspirational – I read Coaching the Artist Within by Eric Maisel
11. "New-to-you" author – I read Red Helmet by Homer Hickam
12. Group read and discussion – I read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell for the St. Pete book club

Favorite book(s) of the challenge: The Handmaid’s Tale, Number the Stars

Least favorite book of the challenge: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Any new authors read in this challenge? Billy Collins, Gabriel García Márquez, Homer Hickam, Malcolm Gladwell

What I learned: I enjoyed all the parts of this challenge, but I will probably never be a huge fan of poetry. Attending a book event was awesome!

Would you do this one again if it were offered next year? Yep. I’m looking forward to it.

Thanks for hosting this challenge, Wendy! I enjoyed all the diverse tasks you set out for us.