Friday, February 29, 2008

The 888 Challenge

Choose 8 categories and read 8 books in each category in 2008. Anyone want to join me?

This is my list for the challenge:

I. Homeschooling / Education / Parenting :
Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Educ. at Home by Susan Bauer and Jessie Wise
When Children Love to Learn by Elaine Cooper
A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion by Oliver DeMille
Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire by Rafe Esquith
Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style by Harvey Bluedorn
II. Running / Training :
Explosive Running by Michael Yessis
Chi Running by Danny Dreyer

III. Cultural Understanding :
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
*July's People by Nadine Gordimer
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
*Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
*Molokai by Alan Brennert
*The World to Come by Dara Horn
*Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat
*The Assassin's Song by MG Vassanji
*Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission ... by Greg Mortenson

IV. History / Historical Fiction :
India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha
Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by BJ Lossing
Wives of the Signers, The Women Behind the Declaration of Independence
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw
The Age of Shiva by Manil Suri
1776 by David McCullough
Story of the World Vol.1 The Ancients by Susan Wise Bauer

V. Classics :
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (I've read it before, but it was years ago.)

VI. Read Alouds with the Kiddos :
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald and Hilary Knight
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Last Dragon by Silvana de Mari
Meet Kristen by Janet Beeler Shaw
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

VII. Biographies :
*Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes
It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong


VIII. Just For Fun / Overflow / Other :
Teaching the Trivium by Harvey & Laurie Bluedorn
There Are No Shortcuts by Rafe Esquith
The Well Educated Mind: A Guide to Classical Educ. You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer
The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne Duprau
The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne Duprau
Zorro by Isabel Allende
The Twilight Saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn) by Stephanie Meyer
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
*Memo to the President Elect by Madeleine Albright
*The Good Liar by Laura Caldwell
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan
Raising Cain; Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys by Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson

Some categories have more than the eight required... to account for availability from the library, etc. Titles that are not read in 2008, will be postponed for 2009. If you have suggestions of titles to fill in the blanks, let me know. :)


What I’ve Finished
* For Book Club
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11 comments:

  1. teacherwomanMarch 1, 2008 at 2:01:00 PM PST

    I would love to join you, but will probably wait to do a lot more reading this summer...

    Children's lit? How about:
    The Giver
    Holes
    Esperanza Rising
    Walk Two Moons
    Bud, Not Buddy

    ReplyDelete
  2. akshayeMarch 2, 2008 at 5:53:00 PM PST

    I'm in.. Ive read a few for the year also.. so I'd to love to join you. Need to give some though to the titles.

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  3. Ms EvaMarch 3, 2008 at 6:54:00 AM PST

    I have read all of those. I love The Giver and even made DH listen to it on CD (he seldom reads anything but technical journals and work related stuff) so we could discuss it. :)

    I'm taking a Children's Lit class this spring (my first!) so I'm kinda waiting to see what is required for that class.... I need 9 credits to renew my teacher's certification.

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  4. JeffMMarch 3, 2008 at 11:32:00 AM PST

    Water For Elephants was incredible! I just finished The Glass Castle, really good, but disturbing in some ways.
    Middlesex was so strange at first, but then once I really got into the story it was great.
    Have to check out some of the others on your list.

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  5. teacherwomanMarch 3, 2008 at 6:37:00 PM PST

    Oh, I enjoyed the Glass Castle as well.

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  6. KabodaMarch 3, 2008 at 10:08:00 PM PST

    Hey a few books you should try probably under the just for fun category:

    Shore Of Women by Pamela Sargent
    Phantom Toolbooth by Norton Juster (but you already know I'd suggest that as I give that out to friends childeren)
    Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
    Postman by David Brin (the movie took the idea from the book but not much else. It takes place in Oregon and travels to both our colleges)
    Sphere by Michael Crichton (if you only read one Crichton book I list here this should be it)
    Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (oh so much better then the movie)
    Jurassic Park: Lost Wold by Michael Crichton (Not sure where they got the movie story line other then a brief section of the book. Again book much better then the movie)
    The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers (Bar lent this to me and I loved it)

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  7. Ms EvaMarch 4, 2008 at 6:15:00 AM PST

    I read The Glass Castle last year and really enjoyed it as well. Love that she rose above her circumstances and didn't let it stop her from succeeding & reaching her dreams.

    B! - I added a few of your suggestions to the list! Thank you!

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  8. KabodaMarch 6, 2008 at 10:34:00 PM PST

    Hey do these have to books you have never read?

    I was trying to think of other books to help fill out your sections but most things I can think of I assume you might have read but I'll list here.

    Narnia series?
    Little House on the Prarie series?
    Oz books?
    Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew?
    Encyclopedia Brown series?

    Newer stuff you might not have read:
    Spiderwick Cronicles (??)
    A series of Unfortunate events

    That list should get you more on the read to kiddos and childrens books section. Hope it's a help.

    ReplyDelete
  9. KabodaMarch 6, 2008 at 10:54:00 PM PST

    Oh forgot to list some classics and others:

    Counte of Monte Cristo
    Three Musketeers
    The Crucible
    The Scarlet Letter
    Moby Dick
    A Christmas Carol
    A Raisin in the Sun
    1984
    Catcher in the Rye
    Alice in Wonderland
    War and Peace
    Of Mice and Men
    Shogun
    Illiad
    As I lay Dying
    The Velveteen Rabit
    The Pearl
    The Divine Comedy
    Bowerman and the Men of Oregon
    High Performance Training For Track and Field

    Ok I know way too much listed oh well you know me!

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  10. Teacher of OneApril 14, 2008 at 12:34:00 PM PDT

    I am doing this too!
    I am trying not to include G's books in my list but I have put in a couple. If I would add in his I would have about 10 more finished.

    ReplyDelete
  11. lJuly 7, 2008 at 6:20:00 PM PDT

    Oh I'd love to do this challenge! But it's already July, lol...maybe I could do half...a 444 challenge? Does that make sense?

    ReplyDelete

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