The Gingerbread Cookie Test

You Are Kind and Caring

You're the type of person who just naturally appreciates and respects others. You think ill of very few people. You are naturally open minded and nonjudgmental. You're a good listener, and you end up hearing many secrets. You reach out to everyone during the holidays, and your acts of kindness and generosity are remembered throughout the year. You are easily touched this time of year. Even the right holiday card or little gift can move you.

The Gingerbread Cookie Test

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

Reading Outside the Box Challenge

And this one now too.  Again the categories in this one are similar to and overlap with those of the two previously mentioned challenges.  To sign up for this one, click here.

Please feel free to use the chart on your posts. Just link back here!

Participating is pretty easy.

1. You have all of 2014 to read a book for each square.
2. A book can only count for 1 square. There will be 25 books for this challenge.
3. The books read for this project can come from other projects you’re participating in: school, review books, other challenge or events, books for fun.
4. If you blog, keep a post/page for the challenge. Update the post/page when you read a book for the challenge with a link to your thoughts/review of the book. Make sure to state which square the book counts for!
5. If you feel like it, write check in posts every few months. Update us on how you feel about the ‘new’ books you’re reading.
6. I’ll keep a page here for people to add review links to. It would be nice to see how others are feeling about the challenge.

That’s it! Hopefully by the end of the year we will be more adventurous in our reading.


Here are my choices:

1.  Read a Chunkster:  Through a Glass Darkly--Karleen Koen

2.  Graphic Novel:  Fullmetal Alchemist (Vol 1-3)--Hirou Arakawa

3.  Mystery:  Takedown Twenty--Janet Evanovich

4.  Middle Grade Fiction: The Gospel According to Larry--Janet Tashjian

5.  Self-Published:  Miracles and Grace in an Unlikely Place--Charisse Tyson

6.  Reading By Ear:   Water For Elephants--Sara Gruen

7.  Poetry or Novel-in-Verse:  Love Bites: Poetry in Celebration of Dogs and Cats--Floyd Salas

8.  Accidentally Watched the Movie First:  The Devil Wears Prada--Lauren Weisberger

9.  Fantasy:  The Maze Runner--James Dashner

10. Relive the Magic:  A Wrinkle in Time--Madeleine L'Engle

11. Gathering Dust:  And Then You Die--Iris Johansen

12. Young Adult Fiction:  Divergent--Veronica Roth

13. Try a Classic:  The Professor--Charlotte Bronte

14. Award Winner:  No Laughter Here--Rita Williams-Garcia

15. Biography or Memoir:  A Stolen Life--Jaycee Dugard

16.  Science Fiction:  Messenger--Lois Lowry

17. Loved By Others:  Gods in Alabama--Joshilyn Jackson

18. Historical Fiction:  The Postmistress--Sarah Blake

19. Lost in Translation:  First Snow on Fuji--Yasunari Kawabata

20. Romance:  He Loves Lucy--Susan Donovan

21. Picture Book:  The Day the Crayons Quit--Drew Daywalt

22. Second Chance:  High Noon--Nora Roberts

23. Contemporary Fiction:  Gone Girl--Gillian Flynn

24. Non-Fiction:  He's Just Not That Into You--Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo

25. Adult Fiction:  Tangled--Emma Chase

Full House Reading Challenge

To sign up for this one, visit this link.  Some of the categories in this one overlap with those in the challenge listed in the previous post.

Challenge Guidelines:

• Challenge will run from Jan 1st to December 31st 2014
• Write and publish a post stating your intention to participate. In the post please include the Challenge graphic and a link back to this post. Then link your intention post at the bottom of this post.  Make sure it is the actual post and not just a generic link to your blog.
• Entries will be accepted up until the end of November 2014.
• Add your reviews here. At the end of every two months there will be a U.S. $10 prize with a book of your choice from the Book Depository or Amazon voucher, (International) for the entries. There will be a new list then for every two months until the end of November.

                           Link your reviews here

• Each review can only be linked up once in the year.
• Books may cross over from other challenges that you are doing. 
• On the 22nd of November a post will go up to link a summary post for the challenge for those who have completed a full house. This will close on the 31st of December and a winner will be chosen using random.org for a U.S. $50 prize which again can be used at the Book Depository or go as an Amazon voucher.

                            Link Full House post here

• If someone completes a full house and would like to complete another, that is fine too, and would mean two entries at the end of the year.

The Challenge:

• Complete the card below.  You can do it in any order you wish.  You are allowed "one free exchange", if there is something on the square you really dislike you may change it to something of your choice. Once you have played this free card that is it. Mention the exchange in the final summary post.

My books for this challenge:

1. From the local library:  The Early Stories of Louisa May Alcott

2. Best Read So Far in 2014:  Miracles and Grace in an Unlikely Place--Charisse Tyson

3. From Your Wish List:  Will Grayson, Will Grayson--John Green and David Levithan

4. Set in a Country Different From You:  Number the Stars--Lois Lowry

5. Published in 2014:  Lost Lake--Sarah Addison Allen

6. Theme/Issue You Think is Important:  Selfish and Perverse--Bob Smith  (Theme is LGBT)

7. Setting You'd Like to Visit:  Just One Day--Gayle Forman (set in Paris)

8. Suspense or Crime:  A Stolen Life-- Jaycee Dugard

9. Contemporary:  Gone Girl--Gillian Flynn

10.  More Than 400 Pages:  Through a Glass Darkly--Karleen Koen

11. Reread:  High Noon--Nora Roberts

12.  Review Persuaded You To Read It:  Gods in Alabama--Joshilyn Jackson

13. Free Choice:  The Professor--Charlotte Bronte (Book received free)

14. Published Before 2013:  The Fault in Our Stars--John Green

15. Book With an Animal in It:  Water For Elephants--Sara Gruen

16. Won or Borrowed:  The Red Tent--Anita Diamant

17. Historical Fiction:   The Paris Wife--Paula McLain

18. Less Than 200 Pages: No Laughter Here--Rita Williams-Garcia

19. Non-Fiction: He's Just Not That Into You--Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo

20. Author New To You:  The Lemon Orchard--Luanne Rice

21. Book From a Series:  Awakened--P.C. Cast

22. Free or bought Very Cheaply: Fair Play--Dierdre Martin

23. Published in 2013: Takedown Twenty--Janet Evanovich

24. Paranormal or SF or Dystopian:  Divergent--Veronica Roth

25.  You Love the Cover:  Dream Tide--Robin Lee Hatcher

Lucky 14 Reading Challenge

Yes, here I go yet again!  But I'm sure I'll have fun.  This one and some others I found have overlapping categories, so I'll be signing up for those ones  too.  When will I stop, I don't know.  But since books can cross over challenges, I will find ones that can fit as many challenges as possible.

First up, the Lucky 14, hosted by Books to Share.  Sign up here.   Details below, copied from the blog:

Period of the Challenge: January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2014

Yep, we almost welcome 2014, the year of anticipation. There will be the World Cup in Brazil, Presidential Election in Indonesia – and tons of great books to be published (and read) for sure!

This challenge will require you to read 14 books (or more) from 14 categoriesbelow. You can combine the books you read with other challenges, but can not use the same book for different categories in this challenge.

Try to match the categories from your TBR piles  But if you don’t have any suitable books in your TBR – and want to find an excuse to buy a book for this challenge, that’s totally fine too!

Here are the 14 categories:

1. Visit The Country: Read a book that has setting in a country that you really want to visit in real life. Make sure the setting has a big role in the book and it can make you know a little bit more about your dream destination.

2. Cover Lust: Pick a book from your shelf that you bought because you fell in love with the cover. Is the content as good as the cover?

3. Blame it on Bloggers: Read a book because you’ve read the sparkling reviews from other bloggers. Don’t forget to mention the blogger’s names too!

4. Bargain All The Way: Ever buying a book because it’s so cheap you don’t really care about the content? Now it’s time to open the book and find out whether it’s really worth your cents.

5. (Not So) Fresh From the Oven: Do you remember you bought/got a new released book last year but never had a chance to read it? Dig it from your pile and bring back the 2013.

6. First Letter’s Rule: Read a book which title begins with the same letter as your name (for me, Astrid means A, and I can read anything that started with the letter A). Remember: Articles like “a”, “an” or “the” doesn’t count 

7. Once Upon a Time: Choose a book that’s been published for the first time before you were born (not necessarily has to be a classic book, just something a little bit older than you is okay. You can read the most recent edition if you want to)

8. Chunky Brick: Take a deep breath, and read a book that has more than 500 pages. Yep, the one that you’ve always been afraid of!

9.  Favorite Author: You like their books, but there are too many titles. This is your chance, choose a book that’s been written by your fave author but you haven’t got time to read it before.

10. It’s Been There Forever: Pick up a book that has been there on your shelf for more than a year, clean up the dust and start to read it now 

11. Movies vs Books: You’ve seen the movie adaptation (or planned to see it soon) but never had time to read the book. It’s time to read it now, so you can compare the book vs the movie.

12. Freebies Time: What’s the LAST free book you’ve got? Whether it’s from giveaway, a birthday gift or a surprise from someone special, don’t hold back any longer. Open the book and start reading it now 

13. Not My Cup of Tea: Reach out to a genre that you’ve never tried (or probably just disliked) before. Whether it’s a romance, horror or non fiction, maybe you will find a hidden gem!

14. Walking Down The Memory Lane: Ever had a book that you loved so much as a kid? Or a book that you wish you could read when you were just a child? Grab it now and prepare for a wonderful journey to the past  Comic books or graphic novels are allowed!

RULES:

1. To complete the challenge, you have to read at least one book for each category, or total of 14 books during the challenge period. You can set your own pace and do not need to follow the categories in particular order. You can also read more than one book for each category. You have to write your reviews in your blog/FB note/Goodreads page/tumblr/etc.

2. Please write a master post about this challenge in your blog/Goodreads/FB notes/etc, and submit your link below for signing up. You can use this master post to sort down the book(s) that you’ll read for each category, and edit them later if necessary. The sign-up linky will be opened from November 12, 2013 throughout the year until December 1, 2014.

3. There are also linkies for each category of the challenge. Please submit your link of review posts for each category in their respective linkies. These linkies will be opened in January 1, 2014 until December 31, 2014.

4. At the end of the challenge, write down a wrap-up post and submit the link in the linky too. The linky for wrap-up posts will be opened until January 10, 2015 to give you more time for wrapping things up. It’s okay if you don’t finish the challenge but you are not eligible to be selected as the winner.

5. After the wrap up post linky is closed, I will pick two lucky winners who had completed the challenge for winning great bookish prizes (including book vouchers, novels, and other exclusive bookish gimmicks/goodies  ) The prizes will be revealed soon, so please stay tuned. You must have delivery address in Indonesia to be eligible for the two grand prizes.

6. If you are an international participant who doesn’t have Indonesian mailing address, don’t worry, I’ll also choose two winners, each winner can pick any book from The Book Depository for maximum of $ 10.

7. I’ll try to write a round-up post every month and pick some of the most interesting reviews. And who knows? Probably there will be some surprise gifts and giveaways throughout the year 

Now, let’s start this wonderful 2014 and get ready to tackle some great books!

My books for this challenge:

Visit the Country:   Just One Day--Gayle Forman (set in Paris)

Cover Lust:  Dream Tide--Robin Lee Hatcher

Blame It On the Bloggers:  Gods in Alabama--Joshilyn Jackson  (The blogger is JoAnn at Litlequeen Rules)

Bargain All the Way:  Fair Play--Dierdre Martin

(Not So) Fresh From the Oven:  Miracles and Grace in an Unlikely Place--Charisse Tyson

First Letters Rule:   Jacob Have I Loved--Katherine Paterson

Once Upon a Time:  Their Eyes Were Watching God--Zora Neale Hurston

Chunky Brick:  Insurgent--Veronica Roth

Favorite Author:   Love the One You're With--Emily Giffin

It's Been There Forever: And Then You Die--Iris Johansen

Movies vs. Books:  The Devil Wears Prada--Lauren Weisberger

Freebies Time:   The Professor--Charlotte Bronte

Not My Cup of Tea:  Full Metal Alchemist (Vol 1-3)--Hiromu Arakawa

Walk Down Memory Lane:  A Wrinkle In Time--Madeleine L'Engle