Take Another Chance Challenge

Alright! Alright! Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here has announced that as a follow-up to the Take A Chance Challenge, she is doing the Take Another Chance Challenge.  This was one of my favorite challenges last year so I'm definitely joining again.  This year there are levels of participation and I'm joining at the high level: Gambling It All: Complete all 12 of the challenges described below. 

The challenge runs from January 1 to December 21, 2009.


List will be keep here.

The 12 Challenges

Challenge 1: Read Your Doppelganger (worth 1 entry) The Kid Table - Andrea Siegel

Find an author who has either the same initials, the same first name, the same last name, or the exact same name as you. Read a book by this author and write a post about it. (If you try to keep your identity anonymous on your blog, you don't have to reveal what part of the author's name is the same as your name.)

Not a lot of authors with the name Andrea and certainly none with my last name so Andrea Kane it is.  She seems to write a lot of historical romance which is not my thing.

Challenge 2: Blogroll Roulette (worth 1 entry) Poison Study - Maria V. Snyder
Find a blogroll at either your book blog or a book blog you like that has at least 15 book blogs on it. Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1 for the min. and 15 for the max. and then hit generate. Then find the blog that is that number on the blogroll you selected. (For example, if you get 10 at Random.org, then count down the list of blogs until you get to the tenth one). Go to that blog and pick a book to read from the books that they have reviewed on their blog. Read it and write a post about it. Be sure to link to the blog post you picked the book from!
  
I went from The O.W.L.'s blogroll to her number 2 (the number from random) blog and ended up on Bookworming in the 21st Century and picked Poison Study from her list.  She gave it 5/5 so I'm optimistic.


Challenge 3: 100 Best Book (worth 1 entry) From the 2009 Best Books for Young Adults: The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
Choose one of the lists below and go to the link provided. Choose a book to read from the list that you haven't read before. Read the book and write about it.

• Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List
• Top 100 Sci-Fi Books
• 100 Best Romance Novels of the 20th Century
• 100 Best Mystery Novels
  
• 100 Best Non-Fiction Books (pick from either Board List or Reader List)
• 2009 Best Books for Young Adults

√ Challenge 4: Prize Winner Book (worth 1 entry) 2001 Newbery Medal winner: A Year Down Yonder - Richard Peck

Pick one of the major literary awards from the list below. Click on the link for the award you picked. You will find a brief description of the award and links to past winners. Pick one of the past winners, read the book and write about it.

• Booker Prize
  
• Caldecott Medal
  
• National Book Award
  
• National Book Critics Circle Award
  
• Newbery Medal
  
• Nobel Prize for Literature
  
• PEN/Faulkner Award
  
• Pulitzer Prize
  
• Commonwealth Writers' Prize
  
• EMMA Awards

Challenge 5: Title Word Count (worth 1 entry) random number was 4: Attack of the Volcano Monkeys - Wiley Miller
Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the numbers 1 for the min. and 5 for the max. and then hit generate. Find a book to read that has that number of words in the title. Read the book and write about it.

Challenge 6: Genre Switch-Up (worth 1 entry) Historical Western Romance: The Education of Madeline - Beth Williamson
Go to this list of book genres and pick a genre that you have NEVER read before. Find a book from that genre, read it, and write about it. Note: If you seriously cannot find a genre that you have never read, then pick the genre that is as far away from what you normally read.

Okay, so I picked western from the list and went to this website and picked an author and that's how I got my pick.

Challenge 7: Break A Prejudice (worth 1 entry) Delores Claiborne - Stephen King
We all have reading prejudices--authors we don't like, genres we don't like, or even publishers we don't like. For this challenge, think of a reading prejudice you have and then find a book that is an example of this type of book. Read the book and then write about the reading prejudice you had BEFORE you read the book and how reading the book either changed your prejudice or reinforced it.

While I was searching for books on the other tasks, I realized I was outright dismissing certain writers.  One of the them was Stephen King and I realized that I always assume that I will be scared or won't like a King book.  Once when I was around 10 or so, I wanted to read The Stand and a neighbor told me that I wouldn't like it because it might be too scary (I can agree now that The Stand might be too much for a 10 year old esp. one prone to nightmares) and so I never read anything by him.

Challenge 8: Real and Inspired (worth 2 entries) The Wizard of Oz - Frank L. Baum and Wicked - Gregory Maguire
Many authors or books inspire others to pay homage to them by writing another book inspired by the original work. For this challenge, read both an original work and a book inspired by that original work. Write about both books in one post. Note: This might require some research on your part and requires reading two books so it worth 2 entries.

Challenge 9: Same Word, Different Book (worth 2 entries) The Mermaid's Madness - Jim C. Hines and The Girl with the Mermaid Hair  - Delia Ephron
Find two books that have the same word in the title. Read both books and write about them. (Worth 2 entries because you have to read two books).

Challenge 10: Become A Character (worth 2 entries) This will be a spontaneous pick. 
Nancy's Mysterious Letter - Carolyn Keene
For this challenge, you can read any book you want. However, you have to write about the book as one of the characters from the book. The character can comment on his/her treatment by the author, other characters, the "untold story," what happened next, and so forth. You could even have two characters interviewing each other! Your imagination is the only limit. Because of the difficulty level of this challenge, it is worth two entries.

Challenge 11: All in the Family (worth 2 entries) Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld (husband) and Liar - Justine Larbalestier (wife)
The writing gene often runs in the family. For this challenge, you need to find two authors from the same family (either by blood or by marriage) and read a book by each of the authors and then write about both books. Because of the research involved and having to read two books, this challenge is worth two entries.

Challenge 12: Author Anthology Pick (worth 2 entries) Up All Night - short stories by Peter Abrahams, Libba Bray, David Levithan, Patricia McCormick, Sarah Weeks, Gene Luen Yang√
Find an anthology of your choice. Read at least 5 entries in the anthology. Of the 5 entries you've read, pick your favorite one and then find a book by that writer and read it. (If your first choice doesn't have a book, then pick your next favorite until you find a writer that has a book.) Write about the anthology, your favorite pick from the anthology, and the book you read by your favorite pick. Because of having to obtain and read two books, this challenge is worth two entries.
Book chosen is Will Grayson, Will Grayson - David Levithan and John Green