Did you succeed with all you were doing?
Not all, but pretty close.
The Not-So-Dirty Half Dozen Challenge.
The Tasks:
1. Read a work of Classic literature - one you've never read before.
The Tasks:
1. Read a work of Classic literature - one you've never read before.
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
2. Read a book by an author from a country you've not read a book from before.
A Journey Round My Skull by Karinthy Frigyes of Hungary
3. Read one Scifi, one Fantasy and one Spec Fic book (i.e. three separate books, and they can be books you've read before, if you like).
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Obsessed by Ted Dekker
4. Read a graphic novel, a play or a collection of poetry you've not read before.
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
The School for Wives by Molière
5. Read a book and then watch a film of that book (again, you can have read the book before).
It's Superman by Tom De Haven
6. Read a non-fiction book you've not read before.
Exploring Reality by John Polkinghorne
Genre Challenge
Quite simply, just read one book from each of the genres below before the year is out. Rereads are allowed; it's up to you whether you choose all new books or not. I probably won't.
- Historical Fiction/Alternative History
Quite simply, just read one book from each of the genres below before the year is out. Rereads are allowed; it's up to you whether you choose all new books or not. I probably won't.
- Historical Fiction/Alternative History
Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas by Morgan Llywelyn
The Son of Laughter by Frederick Buechner
- Western
The Pecos Kid: A Western Duo by Dan Cushman
- Horror
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
- Mystery
Trouble in Triplicate by Rex Stout
Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston
Death on Deadline by Robert Goldsborough
- (Auto-) Biography
Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte
The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne
A Journey Round My Skull by Karinthy Frigyes
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
- History
Turning Points in World History: The Scientific Revolution edited by Mitchell Young
American Uprising by Daniel Rasmussen
- Family chronicle
Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas by Morgan Llywelyn
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Son of Laughter by Frederick Buechner
- Allegory/parody/satire
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
- Surrealist novel
Milk, Sulphate, and Alby Starvation by Martin Millar
The Wrestler's Cruel Study by Stephen Dobyns
- Extra option for those who can: a novel in a foreign language
This is the one I didn't do. All year I had intended to read something in Spanish, but I just never got around to it.
Old Favourite:
The 50 Book Challenge. Says it all, really.
If you're an extra-speedy reader then make it 100 books. List 'em all, starting from January.
If you're an extra-speedy reader then make it 100 books. List 'em all, starting from January.
I almost got this one, and I would have easily hit 50 if I counted rereads, but I don't. As it was, I read 45 books last year:
January
Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, translated by Natasha Randall
Milk, Sulphate, and Alby Starvation by Martin Millar
February
Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
March
Trouble in Triplicate by Rex Stout
The Pecos Kid: A Western Duo by Dan Cushman
Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas by Morgan Llywelyn
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
April
Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston
A Journey Round My Skull by Karinthy Frigyes
Turning Points in World History: The Scientific Revolution edited by Mitchell Young
May
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Expanded Universe by Robert A. Heinlein
Chosen by Ted Dekker
June
Obsessed by Ted Dekker
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
The Food of the Gods by H.G. Wells
July
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
Shadow Zone by Iris and Roy Johansen
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
August
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
The School for Wives by Molière
American Uprising by Daniel Rasmussen
September
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
Dune by Frank Herbert
The High Crusade by Poul Anderson
October
BoneMan's Daughters by Ted Dekker
It's Superman by Tom De Haven
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
November
Exploring Reality by John Polkinghorne
Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
The Wrestler's Cruel Study by Stephen Dobyns
December
The Domino Pattern by Timothy Zahn
Tales from Watership Down by Richard Adams
Novel Voices by Kevin Rabelais and Jennifer Levasseur
Immanuel's Veins by Ted Dekker
Death on Deadline by Robert Goldsborough
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
The Son of Laughter by Frederick Buechner
Mystic Michiganders by Mark Jager
And one more thing:
It's a good time for you to pick up a book you've been meaning to read for ages. Just tell us which book it is in the post that will be made on 1 January and then read it sometime in 2011.
It's a good time for you to pick up a book you've been meaning to read for ages. Just tell us which book it is in the post that will be made on 1 January and then read it sometime in 2011.
Dune by Frank Herbert
The 2011 RAFO Challenges: how did you get on?
- 01/01/2012 11:05:22 AM
899 Views
I achieved some and failed at others.
- 01/01/2012 11:32:00 AM
974 Views
Some interesting things in your list... a few that I really need to read.
- 01/01/2012 01:58:34 PM
657 Views
I really couldn't get into The Dervish House when i tried to read it.
- 01/01/2012 02:06:31 PM
596 Views
Re: Some interesting things in your list... a few that I really need to read.
- 01/01/2012 04:02:41 PM
761 Views
As the year progressed I didn't follow it as much, but I got most of them one way or another.
- 01/01/2012 01:43:29 PM
800 Views
I did most of them.
- 03/01/2012 02:42:27 AM
1134 Views