This year, in addition to continuing on with the Book Awards II Challenge, which ends on June 1, 2009, and the 100 Shots of Short Challenge, which ends once I've completed 100 short stories, I decided to sign up for a few more that run for all of 2009. Initially, I had a list of sixteen bookmarked challenges. Sixteen! Needless to say, I had to cut that list down. It is now at five challenges, and there is a possibility I may join a few more since I keep hearing about other intriguing events.

I like the idea of some themed reading and I love interacting with other bloggers on similar subjects of interest. However, I recognize that there is a good possibility I won't complete all of these challenges. Rather than stress myself out or beat myself up for failing to complete challenges, I intend to enjoy the ride and use them as an opportunity to meet new bloggers, discover what they're reading, and inevitably, add to my Neverending Reading List.

Below are the challenges that I've signed up for so far in 2009. I've combed my existing TBR list in search of books I've been wanting to read for awhile that fit into the appropriate categories. However, I reserve the right to change these lists.

If you have any suggestions for possible reading for any of these challenges, please let me know! I'm always interested in recommendations. :)


World Citizen Challenge hosted by A Striped Armchair

I am choosing to participate at The Minor Level (3 books from at least 2 different categories). Books in the politics and history categories count as long as they are not about my native country. More info is here. Possibilities I am considering are:

Politics: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families by Philip Gourevitch
A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet by Pamela Constable
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson
Out of Mao's Shadow by Philip P. Pan
History: White Mughals by William Dalrymple
Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco
Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation by John Carlin
Memoirs/Autobiographies: Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo by Murat Kumaz
The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars by Andrew X. Pham
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari

Lost in Translation Challenge hosted by Nonsuch Book

The challenge is to read 6 books in translation. More info is here. Possibilities I am considering are:

Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (Arabic)
Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury (Arabic)
Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago (Portugese)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (Japanese)
My Name is Red by Orham Pamuk (Turkish)
Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin (Russian)
A Brief Life by Juan Carlos Onetti (Spanish)
Onitsha by J.M. Le Clezio (French)

18th and 19th Century Women Writers Challenge hosted by Becky's Book Reviews

For this challenge, I will try to read four books published by women writers between 1701 and 1900. For more info, see here. Possibilities I am considering are:

Ann Radcliffe - The Mysteries of Udolpho
Elizabeth Gaskell - Cransford or Mary Barton
George Eliot - Middlemarch or The Mill on the Floss
Frances Burney - Evelina
Charlotte Bronte - Shirley

The Diversity Rocks Challenge hosted by Worducopia

I will participate at the Free Thinker level. I'm thinking that the Lost in Translation Challenge and this one will complement each other nicely. But I already tend towards reading works by Arab and South Asian authors as a result of my background, so though I will count any applicable Lost in Translation books here as well, I also will try to read at least three books by non-Arab, non-South Asian authors. For more info on this challenge, see here. The list of authors I currently am considering are:

Edward P. Jones
Junot Diaz
Octavia Butler
Colin Channer
Luis Alberto Urrea
Sandra Cisneros
Aime Cesaire

New Author Challenge hosted by Literary Escapism

This one shouldn't be a problem, particularly if I make some headway on the above challenges. I'd like to read at least 10 books by new-to-me authors this year, though I certainly hope the number is greater than 10. For more info on this challenge, see here.