Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Triple 8 Challenge Wrap-Up

Wow, what a year of reading it's been! And this challenge accounted for a lot of that reading! Thanks so much to 3M for hosting it.

The final list (it changed a lot over the year, though the categories remained the same). I started out with overlaps but managed in the end not to have a single one, woo!

Vampires
1. Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
2. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
3. Real Vampires Have Curves by Gerry Bartlett
4. Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
5. Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper
6. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
7. Marked by PC Cast
8. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: 8th Grade Bites by Heather Brewer

Titles with Numbers
1. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
2. Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham
3. The Three Miss Margarets by Louise Shaffer
4. The Perfectly True Tales of a Perfect Size 12 by Robin Gold
5. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
6. One of those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones
7. Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress by Tina Ferraro
8. One Dangerous Lady by Jane Stanton Hitchcock

Nonfiction
1. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
2. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell
3. Rat Pack Confidential by Shawn Levy
4. Down the Nile by Rosemary Mahoney
5. Food and Loathing: a life measured out in calories by Betsy Lerner
6. Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank by Celia Rivenbark
7. Dear Sad Goat: a Roundup of Truly Canadian Tales and Letters compiled by Bill Richardson
8. Gastroanomalies by James Lileks

Southern
1. The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square by Rosina Lippi
2. Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews
3. The Sweet Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel by Jill Conner Browne
4. Miss Julia Throws a Wedding by Ann B. Ross
5. Miss Julia Takes Over by Ann B. Ross
6. Bobbie Faye's (kinda, sorta, not really) Family Jewels by Toni McGee Causey
7. My Summer of Southern Discomfort by Stephanie Gayle
8. Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes by Cathy Holton

Historical Fiction
1. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
2. The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
3. The Bad Behaviour of Belle Cantrell by Loraine Despres
5. Star-Crossed by Linda Collison
6. Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
7. Fleur De Leigh's Life of Crime by Diane Leslie
8. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Set in New York
1. The Perfect Manhattan by Leanne Shear and Tracey Toomey
2. The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine
3. Breakfast at Bloomingdale's by Kristen Kemp
4. Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson
5. Ten Things to do Before I Die by Daniel Ehrenhaft
6. The Art of Undressing by Stephanie Lehmann
7. Elements of Style by Wendy Wasserstein
8. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson


Mystery
1. Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris
2. Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Militant Midwives by Michael Bond
3. Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews
4. Over Her Dead Body by Kate White
5. Piece of my Heart by Peter Robinson
6. Uncommon Grounds by Sandra Balzo
7. Strawberry Shortcake Murder by Joanne Fluke
8. Till the Cows Come Home by Judy Clemens


New-to-me Authors
1. Cease to Blush by Billie Livingston
2. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
3. Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
4. The Marriage of True Minds by Stephen Evans
5. Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking by Aoibheann Sweeney
6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
7. Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner
8. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka



I feel like a wrap-up should have some final thoughts, let's see...

My faves in each category are in italics, but that doesn't mean I didn't really enjoy most of the books.


Least favourite book: Food and Loathing by Betsy Lerner

Favourite category: Southern - I knew that going in! :-)

Surprising category: Mysteries - I've always thought I wasn't a mystery person, but it turns out there were a lot I wanted to read and I really enjoyed all but one of them.


Least favourite category: Nonfiction - I also knew that going in. But it was good to branch out. And I'd forgotten how much fun humour nonfiction can be, I'll definitely be seeking out more of it to give me some much-needed laughter.

That's it! It was really fun to undertake such a big challenge this year and I'm proud of myself for finishing it.

4 comments:

raidergirl3 said...

Well done! That was a tough challenge, and I know it was getting close for you at the end.
Are you doing it again? I decided not to.
Great list of books, no suprise I see some books I've read too. I'll use this list as a place to look for good books.

Loraine Despres said...

Congratulations! Well done. I hope you had a wonderful time and found some books that swept you out of the ordinary.

tinylittlelibrarian said...

Loraine - thanks! I did have a great time and found some wonderful books. Yours was one of them! :)

tinylittlelibrarian said...

Raidergirl - It was definitely down to the wire! :) No, I'm not doing the 999 one - that's just too many to commit to. But I am doing a bunch of challenges - I think you're doing most of them, too! And I'll definitely be taking a closer look at your 888 list for good reads, too.