The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

25.9 - Donna Jo's Task - It's Time For The Swim Suit Edition.
Pick one of the following swim suit styles to fit your reading type.

A. Tank Suit - Read 1 book of at least 850 pages.
B. Bikini - Read 2 books totaling at least 850 pages and first published in 1946 (date of first named bikini) or later.
C. Tankini - Read 850 pages of book(s) published in last 5 years.
D. Victorian (The kind with sleeves, skirt & bloomers.) - Read 850 pages of book(s) published between 1834 and 1901.

If you need suggestions OR have suggestions for books to read for this task post them here.

Freaking awesome Donna Jo!

I agree! Wouldn't you know that The Quincunx is "only" 800 pages?! Back to the drawing board......

I am totally going for C. I have so many books I want to use for this challenge with no homes!!!

850+

The First Man in Rome
Under the Dome
The Pillars of the Earth

Its an extremely short list but some good books.

I loved Under the Dome!

Me too!!

I just finished Anna K. for this season's challenge and really enjoyed it. I didn't make it through Jonathan, although several of my friends loved it.

I'm so glad to have an excuse to fit the Outlander series into the challenge. I'm reading Voyager for A.

Nicole wrote: "I am totally going for C. I have so many books I want to use for this challenge with no homes!!!"

Me too! I want to clear some more books off of my "to read" list! YAY!

Louise wrote: "Donna Jo wrote: "I just finished Anna K. for this season's challenge and really enjoyed it. I didn't make it through Jonathan, although several of my friends loved it."

Oh no - why didn't you lik..."

I may just have been in the wrong mood. All my friends that had read it said it was my kind of book, so maybe I was just expecting too much of it. Once in awhile I'll hit a book like that--for me it's been The Thorn Birds and Redwall and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Don't let me keep you from reading it. Lots of others have really enjoyed them.

Deana wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I am totally going for C. I have so many books I want to use for this challenge with no homes!!!"

Me too! I want to clear some more books off of my "to read" list! YAY!"

Me too. I have 3 books designated. At first I thought, "a 3-book task? No way!" But then I realized it's the same as two 10-pointers and a 5, so why not?

Elizabeth wrote: "Deana wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I am totally going for C. I have so many books I want to use for this challenge with no homes!!!"

Me too! I want to clear some more books off of my "to read" list! Y..."

Thank you Elizabeth. I worried around about page totals/book numbers on this--about as much as trying to chose a bathing suit to buy.

Donna Jo, it's a marvelous task. I 'tried' on all the suits, and I actually have a tankini, so it's perfect!

Well, I still don't have books chosen for this task, but I'm strongly leaning toward a Victorian suit in real life. I figure the less of the real me the fish see, the smaller the fish kill.

I agree with Donna Jo, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell did nothing for me and it's the first book I've ever abandoned with no interest in going back to. People LOVE that book, but I was bored to tears and made it through about 400 pages before I gave up.

I think I am going with A for this task. So I went trolling through the library and came up with Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles. The copy I took out of the library weighs in at 866 pages. I will probably start this one early as I don't think I will finish even 1/2 of it before the end of the month. I hope it is a well written story and keeps my interest. If not I may switch to Victorian.

Stephanie wrote: "I think I am going with A for this task. So I went trolling through the library and came up with Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles. The copy I took out of the library weighs in at 8..."

Looks like a good choice. I haven't read this one, but did read the author's The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers back when it came out.

I'm going to try and do one of these.
The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough
The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation - I-II by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

Kiri, I thoroughly enjoyed First Man - but not until I decided that I didn't have to understand all the Latin. Further, there is a good glossary and she provides other interesting help too.

Elizabeth wrote: "Kiri, I thoroughly enjoyed First Man - but not until I decided that I didn't have to understand all the Latin. Further, there is a good glossary and she provides other interesting help too."

Thanks for the recommendation!! The Latin won't bug me - I've had 3 years of it and found it invaluable for so many things as the years pass. =)

I am doing Under the Dome. Finally pushing myself to read SK.

Okay...this is really neither here nor there, but I have to say that every time I read the types of swimsuits for this task: "Tank, Bikini, Tankini..." all I here is Vince and his slap-chop continuing the sentence: "...bikini, tankini, linguine, fettuccine".

I know...so silly but I laugh every time. Thanks Donna Jo! :D

Nicole wrote: "I am totally going for C. I have so many books I want to use for this challenge with no homes!!!"

Me too!

Jennifer wrote: "Okay...this is really neither here nor there, but I have to say that every time I read the types of swimsuits for this task: "Tank, Bikini, Tankini..." all I here is Vince and his slap-chop continu..."

Well, I am so out of it I don't know about Vince, but I love the continuation with the pasta. My life seems to be more pasta than swimsuit anyway. Thanks.

Donna Jo wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Okay...this is really neither here nor there, but I have to say that every time I read the types of swimsuits for this task: "Tank, Bikini, Tankini..." all I here is Vince and his ..."

I'm out of it, too, so googled this ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Offer

pjreads wrote: "I'm out of it, too, so googled this..."

Whoa! Slap-Chop Vince needs to keep his hands to himself, I'd say. Still, if you ever see the commercial...it worms its way into your brain. Okay, that and the fact my step-son (who is old enough to know better) is in film & media studies at university, imitates Vince rather "convincingly" in a mockumentary way. My brain is a strange, strange place!

Here's the commercial.

:D

She wore an itsy, bitsy, teeney, weeney, yellow polka dot bikini...I'd say the extra bonus is reading a book with a yellow polka dot bikini on the cover :P

Jennifer wrote: "pjreads wrote: "I'm out of it, too, so googled this..."

Whoa! Slap-Chop Vince needs to keep his hands to himself, I'd say. Still, if you ever see the commercial...it worms its way into your brain...."

Well, my life has been enriched today!

Donna Jo wrote: "Well, my life has been enriched today!"

LOL! I don't know about enriched...but, yeah, there you have it!

:D

Ashley (angelashly) wrote: "I am doing Under the Dome. Finally pushing myself to read SK."

You won't regret it. King is amazing and Under the Dome is one of my favorites by him. Happy reading!!

Felina wrote: "Ashley (angelashly) wrote: "I am doing Under the Dome. Finally pushing myself to read SK."

You won't regret it. King is amazing and Under the Dome is one of my favorites by him. Happy reading!!"

I'm reading this one too, but for another task. I've really been looking forward to it!

Donna Jo, Can I read The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1 for part A. Its 1088 pages BUT it is a graphic novel. Will you allow it?

If you won't allow that can I read 3 Sookie Stackhouse books for Part C? It doesn't matter if its by the same author right?

But say yes to The Walking Dead cause I'm dying to read it!!

Felina wrote: "Ashley (angelashly) wrote: "I am doing Under the Dome. Finally pushing myself to read SK."

You won't regret it. King is amazing and Under the Dome is one of my favorites by him. Happy reading!!"

Seriously, he floors it right from the beginning and doesn't let up. It's fantastic.

Felina wrote: "Donna Jo, Can I read The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1 for part A. Its 1088 pages BUT it is a graphic novel. Will you allow it?"

Sure. I love graphic novels, but I'm not sure I'm up to holding on to such a fat one.

Yay!!! It is huge. Also works well as a weapon against the undead.

Felina wrote: "Yay!!! It is huge. Also works well as a weapon against the undead."

I love dual purpose reading. What could be better than completing a Challenge task AND self-defense.

Where can I find books published in the last 5 years?? Are there any lists out there?

Sarah, try searching the lists. There must be some "released in ...." lists. Then just search each year.
I looked at the books on my TBR list and checked out when they were first released.

Sarah wrote: "Where can I find books published in the last 5 years?? Are there any lists out there?"

If you look at task 5.5 for the spring challenge, that has a link to lists of popular books published in each year. That could at least get you started.

This may be helpful for the bikini option:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946_in_...

I'm thinking of reading Dr. Spock and someone else. The Bridge on the River Drina by Ivo Andric is a wonderful, terrible book. Glad I read it, but would never read it again.

ohhh, so many books, so little time! will give me a change to get rid of some of my "Chubby Chunksters" from one of the other groups I'm a part of..

i'm aiming to get my bikini option done with
The Potato Factory
Tommo and Hawk...but I have plenty of fall backs as well!

Hopefully I will be getting The Passage from the library soon (it's released on the 8th). I had forgotten to save a spot for it in my task list, so this works out perfectly. I also have Point Omega: A Novel sitting here, so with the two of those I'm set with the tankini option. :o)

Rachel wrote: "This may be helpful for the bikini option:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946_in_...

I'm thinking of reading Dr. Spock and someone else. The Bridge on the River Drina by Ivo Andric is a..."

BTW, for bikini the books can be published in any year after 1945, you don't need to limit yourself to 1946.

I am leaving this task open so that I can fit in the books I find and really want to read but can't fit elsewhere. In all likelihood, I will probably end up doing the tankini.

For the tankini part... are we saying 2005-present, or do you want us to be more picky... like if I read a book TODAY (6/8/10), it would have to have been published after 6/8/05?

Sara<3, just the year is fine. No sense in making yourself crazy over the day and month.

All right. Just making sure. :)

Kiri wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "Kiri, I thoroughly enjoyed First Man - but not until I decided that I didn't have to understand all the Latin. Further, there is a good glossary and she provides other interesting..."

I loved all the books and found it easiest if I read all of the glossary first and then read the story. that way I had a good idea of what she was referring to and did not have to stop mid sentence. I could actually finish a chapter and then go back to refresh on the concepts that were new to me. Worked best for the political appointments!