Life Books Challenge: My Challenge Books

I've picked out the two books that I want to read for the challenge! They are John Taylor Gatto's Dumbing Us Down (as suggested by SmallWorld) and Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover (as suggested by both SmallWorld and The Sleepy Reader). I'm also going to be reading Ender's Game, which was on Becky's list, for another challenge - there are only four of us participating so far, so I figured I'd read one from everyone else!

Weekly Geeks #9: Challenges

This is actually my first WG post! It's a good thing Dewey gave us two weeks for it, because it took me a while to get organized.

This week’s theme is Challenges.

1. If you participate in any challenges, get organized! Update your lists, post about any you haven’t mentioned, add links of reviews to your lists if you do that, go to the challenge blog if there is one and post there, etc.

2. If you don’t participate in any challenges, then join one! There’s a good selection of possibilities over on my right hand sidebar (scroll down) where I list those I participate in. There’s also A Novel Challenge, a blog that keeps track of all sorts of reading challenges.

3. Towards the end of the week, write a wrap-up post about getting your challenges organized OR if you’re joining your first challenge, post about that any time during the week. Once you have your post up, come back and sign Mr Linky with the link to the specific post, not just to your blog.

Here are the challenges I am currently participating in:

1% Well-Read Challenge - I finished my second book for this challenge (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) on the last day of June; the review is here.
Book Awards II Challenge - This one doesn't actually start until August, but I got a head start by updating my list; I found a bunch of books I wanted to read for the challenge at a library book sale.

A Midsummer Night's Challenge - This one ended last month. I finished both the books I read for it (Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Pratchett's Lords and Ladies) and wrote reviews for them (posted here). It feels really good to have one challenge completed and out of the way!

July Book Blowout - This challenge is a bit of a catch-all for the month of July. I like it because the goal is just to read books; you don't actually have to post a review. I've already finished three YA novels (Just Ella and two BSC books), and I'm currently reading Stitch 'N Bitch and The Yiddish Policemen's Union.

Life Books Challenge - I just joined this challenge this week! I've already chosen and posted about my Life Books; now I just need to visit other participants and choose two books to read for the challenge.

For all of these, I linked the books I'm using either to BookCrossing or Powell's Books. I also made a sort of "challenge template" so that all of my challenge main pages look pretty much the same - after I read a book, I strike it out and post a link to the review of it, along with the date I completed it (except for the JBB Challenge - I'm not reviewing all of those, although I may change my mind and do it later, or on the BookCrossing page for the book).

Happy reading!

Life Books Challenge: My Life Books

I finally narrowed my "life books" down to ten. These are the ten books that I think help define me as a person. Don't judge me too harshly, okay? :)

1. Dune, by Frank Herbert
This was my dad's favorite book; he named me after one of the characters. He died when I was four, so I never really knew him. I read the entire Dune series when I was in high school (and believe me, that was quite a feat!) and it made me feel a little closer to him. It became one of my favorites, too, and introduced me to the wonderful world of sci-fi.

2. Emma, by Jane Austen
My other favorite book is Austen's Pride and Prejudice, but I've always related to Emma Woodhouse more than Elizabeth Bennett. I love playing matchmaker (I've even had a few successes!) but I have no desire to get married. Unlike Emma, however, I enjoy reading and learning new things. I also like to think that I'm not quite as spoiled as she is. :) Emma is available for free here.

3. Like Water For Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
I love reading, and I love cooking; I also spent eight years studying Spanish. So this book is pretty much the epitome of everything awesome: it includes recipes and the original Spanish en face. I read it for a class in college and loved it. The movie is pretty good, too.

4. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
If you have ever tried to support yourself (or your family) by working at a dead-end, minimum-wage job, you will not be surprised by what Ehrenreich experiences. After I graduated from college (the first time, with my B.A.) I worked at a retail clothing store for three years before getting fed up, quitting, moving back in with my parents, and going back for my Master's. Reading this book reminded me of what I left behind, and why.
This is the only one of Ehrenreich's books that I've read, but she was on The Colbert Report last week to plug her new one:

She didn't get to talk about it much, but it sounds interesting.

5. The Gospel of Judas
One of my undergrad minors was in Religious Studies. My family has never been "religious," exactly; we mostly lived by the Golden Rule. I started church-hopping in high school - I've been to quite a few Christian churches (Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Charismatic) and Temple Mickve Israel in Savannah a few times. I've read the majority of the Bible, Tanakh, and Qur'an. It's hard finding a book that expresses my interest in religion, but I think this one comes pretty close. I find the character of Judas fascinating, and I love the way he is portrayed in this gospel.

6. How to Get Suspended and Influence People, by Adam Selzer
I'll admit: when it comes to this book, I'm horribly biased. I went to high school with Adam, so of course I'm going to love anything he writes. But the thing is, he pretty much captured what it was like to be a gifted middle school student in a small town. I never had quite as many adventures as the kids in his books, but I remember that feeling of being a smart kid and not having anyone take me seriously, that desire to do something that would make a difference and get people's attention. I still feel that way sometimes. I liked this book so much, I bought an extra copy and sent it to my second cousin in Florida. Her parents were thinking of putting her in a gifted class, and I wanted to her to know that it wouldn't be that bad. In fact, it's pretty fun!

7. America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, by Jon Stewart
I also really like politics and history (to an extent). This book is great because it's full of interesting, funny, and true information about America. I especially like that it's made to look like a textbook.

8. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
Reading this book in high school did two things: it cemented my stance on vegetarianism (and converted quite a few of my classmates, at least for a little while) and it got me interested in socialism. For years, I was convinced that socialism was the greatest political movement in the world, and that it was going to solve all of our economic problems. And then I realized that pure socialism is just not possible. Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward is good for this, too, but more depressing because it's actually a Utopian novel set in the year 2000.

9. Teacher Man, by Frank McCourt
A friend of mine in my Master's program had this book on CD; I used to listen to it while driving to my education classes. It's a great memoir about being a teacher and making a difference, something I hope I'll be able to do with my students.

10. Grrl Scouts, by Jim Mafood
This one is actually a graphic novel. Grrl Scouts was one of the first comic books I really got into. I picked it up because I was a Girl Scout for 12 years, and I was intrigued by the title. The "Scouts" in the book are actually a group of three urban girls who deal drugs, go clubbing, and graffiti public property...not your typical badge-earning cookie-pushers. But the story is fun and exciting (although probably not appropriate for all ages), and I loved the art.

So, there you have it. My Life Books. Visit SmallWorld Reads to get more information about the challenge and to sign up. Happy reading!

Life Books Challenge

Click here to go to the main page
Rules:

Part I: Choose Your Life Books
What are the books that, in some aspect, define you? Think about who you are in terms of spirituality, love, economics, values, worldview--the list could go on and on. These might be nonfiction, self-help, fiction, picture books, children's books, etc. Give us your life in books. To see SmallWorld's example, click here. After you've picked your life books, write a post and leave the link on Mr. Linky. Be sure to copy and paste the button above on your blog somewhere!

Part II: Discover Something New
Check out the blogs of other participants and find at least two titles to add to your TBR list. Let us know what books you are adding by linking a second time to Mr. Linky with (Something New) by your name.

Part III: Read the Books
When you've read the new books, write a review and leave a link to your post in the comments here.

I'm still thinking about my Life Books, but this sounded like an interesting challenge and I wanted to get a post up.
UPDATE: My Life Books are here.