I'm challenge crazy

 I think I'm challenge crazy. Seriously. That's the only thing I can come up with. Why else would I join two more challenges? I figure that if I'm smart the books I read can intertwine with different challenges, so it's not as many books as what it seems like it will be. :) Thanks for bearing with me while I do these challenge posts! I'll get back to reviewing soon-I'm in the middle of three different series (Fever by Karen Marie Moning, Demonica by Larissa Ione and The Christmas Box Collection by Richard Paul Evans) and instead of posting each book separately, I'm going to be doing one post featuring each of the series. That's why things have been quiet around here lately!

One of the challenges I'm joining is Pearl's Contemporary Romance Challenge. I have so many Contemporary Romances sitting on my shelf that have been passed over time and time again for Urban Fantasy books that I figured this would be a great way to tackle MT.TBR! What I liked best about this challenge is that it's flexible. No lists required!

Here are the rules:

1. Read at least 10 contemporaries between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010 (They must be pure contemporary. No shapeshifting, time travel or demons allowed!)

2. You don't have to pre-select your books, you can just add them as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed. Nothing is set in stone! Also, the books you choose can crossover into or from other challenges you are participating in.

Sounds pretty easy, right? That's good because my next challenge isn't so easy! The first challenge that I ever took part in was the Take A Chance Challenge hosted by Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here. When I saw that she was  hosting a Take Another Chance Challenge this year I knew I had to take part in it. It's harder and cooler then last year's challenge. :) There are different levels that you can sign up for, but I want to do them all. So here are the basics of the challenge:
  
 






The challenge will run from January 1, 2010 until December 31, 2010.Here are the participation levels. Feel free to do whatever level you want. You can also switch up or down midway through the challenge.A Small Gamble: Complete any 3 of the 12 challenges described below. I'm doing this one!A Moderate Gamble: Complete any 6 of the 12 challenges described below.

Gambling It All: Complete all 12 of the challenges described below.

Here are the 12 challenges: 
Challenge 1: Read Your Doppelganger-Find an author with the same name as you. As an aside: Why do authors with the name Colette who write fiction seem to only write erotica?)
Challenge 2: Blogroll Roulette- Find a blogroll at either your book blog or a book blog you like that has at least 15 book blogs on it. Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1 for the min. and 15 for the max. and then hit generate. Then find the blog that is that number on the blogroll you selected. (For example, if you get 10 at Random.org, then count down the list of blogs until you get to the tenth one). Go to that blog and pick a book to read from the books that they have reviewed on their blog. Read it and write a post about it. Be sure to link to the blog post you picked the book from!

Challenge 3: 100 Best Book Choose one of the lists below and go to the link provided. Choose a book to read from the list that you haven't read before. Read the book and write about it.
Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List
Top 100 Sci-Fi Books
100 Best Romance Novels of the 20th Century
100 Best Mystery Novels
100 Best Non-Fiction Books (pick from either Board List or Reader List)
2009 Best Books for Young Adults

Challenge 4: Prize Winner Book: Pick one of the major literary awards from the list below. Click on the link for the award you picked. You will find a brief description of the award and links to past winners. Pick one of the past winners, read the book and write about it.

Challenge 5: Title Word Count-Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the numbers 1 for the min. and 5 for the max. and then hit generate. Find a book to read that has that number of words in the title. Read the book and write about it.

Challenge 6: Genre Switch-Up-Go to this list of book genres and pick a genre that you have NEVER read before. Find a book from that genre, read it, and write about it. Note: If you seriously cannot find a genre that you have never read, then pick the genre that is as far away from what you normally read.

Challenge 7: Break A Prejudice: We all have reading prejudices--authors we don't like, genres we don't like, or even publishers we don't like. For this challenge, think of a reading prejudice you have and then find a book that is an example of this type of book. Read the book and then write about the reading prejudice you had BEFORE you read the book and how reading the book either changed your prejudice or reinforced it. (I'm choosing either Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil or a Danielle Steele book. The former I'm choosing b/c I worked in a bookstore when this book came out and we all hated looking at it b/c it was so popular. The later b/c while working in the bookstore we grew to dislike D.S. b/c her books were always there! )

Challenge 8: Real and Inspired- Many authors or books inspire others to pay homage to them by writing another book inspired by the original work. For this challenge, read both an original work and a book inspired by that original work. Write about both books in one post.

Challenge 9: Same Word, Different Book: Find two books that have the same word in the title. Read both books and write about them.

Challenge 10: Become A Character: For this challenge, you can read any book you want. However, you have to write about the book as one of the characters from the book. The character can comment on his/her treatment by the author, other characters, the "untold story," what happened next, and so forth. You could even have two characters interviewing each other! Your imagination is the only limit.

Challenge 11: All in the Family: Choose a book by authors who are related.I was going to choose the father/son team of Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler, but it turns out they only co-write together. Dirk doesn't have any books out of his own. (Though I have a feeling his dad is retired, and he's the one who wrote them.)

Challenge 12: Author Anthology Pick: Find an anthology of your choice. Read at least 5 entries in the anthology. Of the 5 entries you've read, pick your favorite one and then find a book by that writer and read it. (If your first choice doesn't have a book, then pick your next favorite until you find a writer that has a book.) Write about the anthology, your favorite pick from the anthology, and the book you read by your favorite pick. Because of having to obtain and read two books, this challenge is worth two entries.

Don't these challenges sound like fun? :)