2013 Online Reading Challenge Round-up, Part III.1: Geographical challenges

Next up are the geographical challenges. These include country challenges, continent/area challenges and international country-hopping challenges.

I'll start with individual countries.The next post will be about area/continent challenges and international challenges. Please, if you know of more country challenges, let me know (just leave a comment).

First up is the Books on France challenge, hosted on the Words and Peace blog. The challenge is to read books related to France in some way: set in France, written by a French author, written in French or featuring a French theme. Any genre is valid, there are 4 levels, reviewing is expected, and there is a giveaway drawing for the participants at the end of the year. There are 22 participants so far, and you can find out more by following the link.

Then we hop over the Channel to Britain. The British Books Challenge is hosted on the Feeling Fictional blog. It is, quite simply, a challenge to read at least 12 books by British authors in the course of 2013. Monthly reviewing is expected, at least of you want to win some of the prizes. That's right: There are monthly prizes! (Most unfortunately the majority are only available to UK participants, but the host intends to try to do a couple of international giveaways as well). 56 participants so far, and further rules may be found by clicking the link.

Next we cross the Irish Sea to the Emerald Isle (boy, would I have aced this challenge last year with all those Nora Roberts Irish-themed books). Books and Movies is hosting the Ireland Challenge. This is an all-year challenge and, in the host's words, covers "Any book written by an Irish author, set in Ireland, or involving Irish history or Irish characters". Crossovers are allowed, levels range from 4 books (Shamrock) to 10+ books (Ceilith). 22 participants so far. More rules can be found by clicking through the link.

The there is the 50 States challenge hosted on the Book obsessed blog. The challenge is simple enough: Read books that are set in each of the 50 states of the USA. This does not appear to mean that you have to read fifty books - after all, the same book can be set in more than one state. Re-reads and cross-overs are acceptable and reviewing is a must. More rules can be found over on the hosting blog. So far 21 people have joined.

The Indian Quills challenge is hosted on The Tales Pensive blog. Books read for the challenge must be authored or co-authored by authors of Indian extraction. It runs all year and I did not see a sign-up date. You must commit to the number of books you read beforehand, and reviewing is expected. More rules and information after the link. 26 participants so far.

The final country challenge is the Aussie Author challenge. Hosted by Booklover Book Reviews, it has two levels: 3 books by at least 2 different authors, and 12 books by at least 4 male and 4 female authors, of which at least 2 are non-fiction and 4 different fiction genres are represented.

Reviews seem to be expected, I did not see a sign-up deadline, and further rules and a sign-up post can be found by clicking through the link.

Book 40: The Martian by Andy Weir, audiobook read by Wil Wheaton

Note : This will be a general scattershot discussion about my thoughts on the book and the movie, and not a cohesive review. When movies are based on books I am interested in reading but haven't yet read, I generally wait to read the book until I have seen the movie, but when a movie is made based on a book I have already read, I try to abstain from rereading the book until I have seen the movie. The reason is simple: I am one of those people who can be reduced to near-incoherent rage when a movie severely alters the perfectly good story line of a beloved book, changes the ending beyond recognition or adds unnecessarily to the story ( The Hobbit , anyone?) without any apparent reason. I don't mind omissions of unnecessary parts so much (I did not, for example, become enraged to find Tom Bombadil missing from The Lord of the Rings ), because one expects that - movies based on books would be TV-series long if they tried to include everything, so the material must be pared down ...

Icelandic folk-tale: The Devil Takes a Wife

Stories of people who have made a deal with and then beaten the devil exist all over Christendom and even in literature. Here is a typical one: O nce upon a time there were a mother and daughter who lived together. They were rich and the daughter was considered a great catch and had many suitors, but she accepted no-one and it was the opinion of many that she intended to stay celebrate and serve God, being a very devout woman. The devil didn’t like this at all and took on the form of a young man and proposed to the girl, intending to seduce her over to his side little by little. He insinuated himself into her good graces and charmed her so thoroughly that she accepted his suit and they were betrothed and eventually married. But when the time came for him to enter the marriage bed the girl was so pure and innocent that he couldn’t go near her. He excused himself by saying that he couldn’t sleep and needed a bath in order to go to sleep. A bath was prepared for him and in he went...

List love: 10 recommended stories with cross-dressing characters

This trope is almost as old as literature, what with Achilles, Hercules and Athena all cross-dressing in the Greek myths, Thor and Odin disguising themselves as women in the Norse myths, and Arjuna doing the same in the Mahabaratha. In modern times it is most common in romance novels, especially historicals in which a heroine often spends part of the book disguised as a boy, the hero sometimes falling for her while thinking she is a boy. Occasionally a hero will cross-dress, using a female disguise to avoid recognition or to gain access to someplace where he would never be able to go as a man. However, the trope isn’t just found in romances, as may be seen in the list below, in which I recommend stories with a variety of cross-dressing characters. Unfortunately I was only able to dredge up from the depths of my memory two book-length stories I had read in which men cross-dress, so this is mostly a list of women dressed as men. Ghost Riders by Sharyn McCrumb. One of the interwove...

Reading in Reykjavík

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