Challenge Completed: 2nds Challenge 2009

This is another challenge I completed in 2009, but have yet to write a wrap-up for. Another challenge hosted by J. Kaye (of J. Kaye's Book Blog), the 2nds Challenge ran throughout 2009, and ended on December 31. The idea was to read at least twelve books by authors you'd only read once before.

This one was a lot of fun since it encouraged me to revisit authors I had enjoyed in the past, and allowed me to dive into some of those books that had been on my TBR list for many years.

Here's my list of books read (with links to reviews where reviews exist):

1. A.S. Byatt: Angels & Insects
2. Dan Brown: Angels & Demons
3. Eudora Welty: The Optimist's Daughter
4. Douglas Preston: Brimstone (with Lincoln Child) [review to come]
   
5. Penelope Lively: Moon Tiger [review to come]
6. Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Angel's Game [review to come]
7. John Updike: Rabbit Is Rich
   
8. Ellen Gilchrist: Victory Over Japan
   
9. Lincoln Child: Dance of Death (with Douglas Preston) [review to come]
   
10. Susan Hill: The Woman in Black
    
11. Bram Stoker: The Lair of the White Worm
    
12. E.L. Doctorow: Homer & Langley [review to come]
    

It would be really hard to choose a favorite from this bunch, but if forced I'd probably have to settle on Updike's Rabbit Is Rich. It's really a beautifully written book.

I want to thank J. Kaye for hosting the challenge, and all the other participants for so many great reviews. My TBR list has been dangerously expanded once again!

2nds Challenge, 2009

J. Kaye at J. Kaye's Book Blog is hosting the 2009 2nds Challenge, which runs from January 1st to December 31st, 2009. These are the rules:

• Anyone can join. You don't need to have a blog to participate.
• Read 12 books by authors that you have only read once. It doesn't have to be a series.
• You can join anytime between now and December 31, 2009. Don't start reading until January.
• You may list your chosen books any time during the year. Change the list if needed.

I'm joining this one. It should tie in nicely with several other challenges I'm planning to work on next year, including my personal "Reading the '90s" challenge.

At first glance, I thought this would be a tough one for me. Generally, if I like an author, I tend to read another book by him/her right away. So I wasn't sure I could come up with twelve likely writers. But after I thought about it for a while, I ended up with a fairly substantial list of authors to choose from. So my final twelve will probably include some of these names:

Margaret Atwood
John Bellairs
Saul Bellow
A.S. Byatt
Nancy Clark
Pat Conroy
Michael Crichton
Amanda Cross (Carolyn Heilbrun)
Penelope Fitzgerald
Michael Frayn
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Graham Greene
Alice Hoffman
Garrison Keillor
Stephen King
Allen Kurzweil
Elinor Lipman
David Lodge
Jay McInerney
Steven Millhauser
Iris Murdoch
Walker Percy
Philip Roth
Susan Sontag
Josephine Tey
Scott Turow
John Updike
Carols Ruiz Zafon

To read more about the challenge, and to sign up, visit the challenge announcement page.