Saturday, August 29, 2009

Challenge Update: Colorful Reading

. We are soon to enter the fourth quarter of 2009. Time to get organized if I am to accomplish a couple of reading goals by the end of the year. One of these goals is to complete the Colorful Reading Challenge. So far, I have read five of the nine books I picked for the challenge. Those books are listed here, with links to my reviews: RED: Red Square by Martin Cruz Smith (review) BLACK: Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke (mini-review) GOLD: Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California by Dinkelspiel, Frances (review) GREEN: Blue Planet in Green Shackles: What Is Endangered: Climate or Freedom? by Vaclav Klaus (review) YELLOW: A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris (review) I have four left, but I am halfway through my SILVER book, The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso. I originally picked the following books for the remaining three colors: BLUE: My Blue Notebooks: The Intimate Journal of Paris's Most Beautiful and Notorious Courtesan by Liane de Pougy WHITE: White Teeth by Zadie Smith BROWN: Bad Boy Brawly Brown by Walter Mosely But I am going to make a couple of changes. For one thing, I am going to read American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham for my "WHITE" book, because that one is languishing on my guilt list. If I read it by the end of the year, I can accomplish two goals at once. Also, I am switching one of my extra colors. Instead of "BROWN" I am going to read a "RUST" book. So, "bye bye" to Bad Boy Brawly Brown, and "hello" to American Rust, which has been on my LibraryThing list even longer than the Andrew Jackson book. Another two-fer. Thanks, again, to Rebecca at Lost in Books for hosting this challenge. .

10 comments :

  1. Good luck finishing the challenge. Good choices so far. I've got four left - black, red, purple and pink.

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  2. Kerri -- I like this challenge because it brings together such a random group of books.

    I am particularly interested to see what your pink choice is!

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  3. ok, count me in. Here's my list (and I haven't read any of them):

    Blue: Blue of Noon - George Bataille
    Red: Red Harvest - Dashiell Hammett
    White: The Once and Future King - TH White
    Black: The Black Dahlia - James Ellroy
    Silver: Playing with Fire (Silver Dragons, Book 1) - Katie MacAlister
    Gold: The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing
    Orange: Oranges are Not The Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson
    Green: The Green Man - Kingsley Amis
    Purple: The Color Purple - Alice Walker

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  4. Oh, but you should read White Teeth! It's one of my favorite books of all time!

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  5. April -- How fun! Red Harvest and Black Dahlia is a great combo. Green Man is an odd book, but I really liked it. I'm a big K. Amis fan.

    Go to the main challenge page (linked in my post) and sign up!

    JT -- don't worry, I'll get to white teeth soon enough. It just isn't grabbing my attention right now. Books have to percolate up to the top of my psyche before I get in the mood to read them.

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  6. Great post!

    I have had to change some of my selections, too, because I couldn't finish a couple of my original choices. This means I have only actually finished 2 of the 9. I hope I finish my own challenge! Good grief!

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  7. Hi Gilion,
    That's a great idea. Makes me think of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels--The Scarlet Ruse, The Turquoise Lament, etc.

    Bob Sanchez
    http://bobsanchez1.blogspot.com

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  8. In The Silver Palate, have you come across a weird lima bean casserole topped with crushed gingersnaps? It was surprisingly good when I tried it, long ago. I think that's where the receipe comes from.

    Meanwhile, returning to topic: I am so enjoying the variety of this challenge!

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  9. Rebecca -- You have plenty of time to finish your challenge. You invented it, you really should finish it!

    Bob -- That Travis McGee series keeps flitting across my radar, but I haven't tried any yet. Thanks for the reminder!

    J.G. -- I forgot to check The Silver palate for that disgusting sounding lima bean recipe. I like lima beans, but maybe not with cookies! I'll check.

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  10. I lost My Blue Notebooks when I left it at the gym. So I had to do a last-minute switch for my "blue" book and read Blue River by Ethan Canin (reviewed here).

    But now I am done! Last day, but done.

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