Updates: Contests, Challenges, Reading

I’ve decided that today is the day for updates , since I DO have lots going on but DON’T have any reviews to post.

Contests:

I know that most readers want to know about contests, right? So here’s a list of the ones I know about:

• My first giveaway is going on now! You can win two of my favorite books from this past year, The Avengers and Ciao America. Links to my review are in the contest post.

• Dewey is giving away a copy of We Are On Our Own, and also The Maternal is Political.

• Valentina is giving you a choice of which book you’d like to win.

If you have a contest going on, please let me know and I’ll add it here.

What I’m Reading:

• Cane River, by Lalita Tademy – I read about 200 pages of this over the weekend, staying up way too late as night because I couldn’t put it down. I’ll finish within the next few days (depending on how much reading time I have) and post a review asap. This book will be my 5^th for the Historical Reading Challenge.

• Some Experiences of an Irish RM, by E. Somerville – This one’s going to take a long while to complete. It’s for the 1% Well Read Challenge.

• King Solomon’s Mines, by H. Rider Haggard – I’ve misplaced this one somewhere and it’s driving me crazy that I can’t find it. This one counts for the 1% Well Read Challenge, the Irresistible Review Challenge, and maybe even for the Historical Fiction Challenge. I can’t decide about that last one, considering that this book was written as a contemporary adventure novel when it was published in the late 1800’s; so does that count or not?

Challenge Update:

• Irresistible Review – 2 down, 1 in progress, 5 more to go – challenge ends on Sept. 1

• Historical Fiction – 4 down, 1 in progress, one more to go (maybe; see above section) – challenge ends on Sept. 30

• 1% Well Read – 2 in progress, 8 more to go – challenge ends in Feb. ‘09

What I’m Planning to Read Soon:

• Matters of Faith, by Kristy Kiernan (ARC) – Kristy was kind enough to send me her very last ARC and I’m really looking forward to reading it. One of the main characters has severe food allergies and I’m interested to see how the author incorporates that into the plot line (if you don't know why this is important to me, click here). Plus Kristy has agreed to do an interview on my blog once I finish the book – yeah!

• Matrimony, by Joshua Henkin – I received this book from the author after emailing him to say how much I’d like to read it. It’s not my usual fare, but it deals with characters who marry young and the changes they experience as their lives progress. I married my husband when I was just 20 years old, fresh out of college (I graduated early) and we’ll celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary this year; this book seemed appropriate for me. Joshua will also be sending me a signed copy of the paperback version later this summer so I can give it away here.

• Delta of Venus, by Anais Nin – I got this from PBS for the express purpose of reading something different for the 1% Well Read Challenge. From what I understand, it’s a collection of short, erotic stories. Hmm, we’ll see how it goes …

SO … that turned out a lot longer than I intended … oops. Oh well, thanks for hanging in there. What are your reading plans? I'd love to hear updates from all of you lurkers out there. ;)