Bibliofreakblog

Random Challenge

 
 Of the four challenges I’m currently participating in, I actually signed up for this one first.  However, I’ve only just finalized my list of books, and though that’s not required of this one, it is something I like to do before posting.

And let me tell you, it’s an ecclectic mix.  But that is only fitting for something called the random challenge. 

Instead of posting the rules and then my choices, as per usual, I’m going to combine the two, because each bares a little explaining.

1. Random Book Selection. Go to the library. Position yourself in a section such as Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Children (whatever section you want). Then write down random directions for yourself (for example, third row, second shelf, fifth book from right). Follow your directions and see what book you find. Check that book out of the library, read it and then write about it. (If you prefer, you can do the same at a bookstore and buy the book!)
   I haven’t been to the bookstore in a while, so that’s one of the reasons it’s taken me around to weeks to finalize my list.  I decided I would go to the oh-so-wonderful Elliott Bay Books in Seattle, head to the clearance table, and get whatever book was on the bottom right corner.  The result was Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter, which cost me a mere $5.99.
2. Random Word. Go to this random word generator and generate a random word. Find a book with this word in the title. Read the book and write about it.
   I’m going to fess up here.  The first word I got was “integer”.  So I did it again.  I got “pride”, which is awesome because I’ve actually never read Pride and Prejudice.
3. Birth Year Book. Find a book that was published or copyrighted in the year of your birth. Read the book and write about it.
   I was born in 1983, so I decided on Poland by James Michener for this one.  I know it’s thick, but it will also count for my Summer Reading Challenge.
4. Judge A Book By Its Cover. Pick out a book based SOLELY on the cover. First, write about what you expect the book to be about based on the cover art. Then read the book and write about how the book was different from and/or similar to what the cover art led you to expect.
   My husband goes with me to Costco about once a year, whereas I go once or twice a month.  He went with me last weekend only because we were going to Home Depot also.  I told him I HAD to look at the books section because I needed some books for my challenges.  He was pestering me to hurry up (poor guy, it was a very crowded Sunday afternoon), so I looked at a couple of them and picked out The Third Jesus by Deepak Chopra.  The cover is all greens and golds, and depicts the tree of knowledge.  I knew that Chopra writes both fiction and nonfiction, and I wasn’t sure which this was, though I’ve been meaning to read both for a while.
5. Phoning An Author. Pick a random last name out of the phone book. Find an author with the same last name and read a book by them. Write about it. (I’m flexible … if the first random name you pick is Xprxyrsss, you can pick again!)
   I opened the phone book at random, closed my eyes, and pointed to…Loftus.  I’ll be reading Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity by John Loftus.  This one, as well as the Chopra book, will count for my Nonfiction reading challenge as well.
6. Public Spying. Find someone who is reading a book in public. Find out what book they are reading and then read the same book. Write about it.
   It took me ages to find someone reading in public.  I guess I just hadn’t been around libraries/coffee shops/etc lately.  I finally saw the person sitting next to me on an airplane yesterday reading Team of Rivals.  I’m not gonna lie; my heart sank a little.  It’s really long.  But that’s what challenges are all about right?  I mean, that’s why they’re called challenges.
7. Random Bestseller. Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1950 for the min. and 2008 for the max. and then hit generate. Then go to this site and find the year that Random.org generated for you and click on it. Then find the bestseller list for the week that would contain your birthday for that year. Choose one of the bestsellers from the list that comes up, read it and write about it.
   I got 2008 for my number.  My birthday falls in February and I picked up People of the Book at a used book shop.
8. Lit Riff (inspired by the book Lit Riffs by Matthew Miele.) Choose a song and then write a brief story that is inspired by or further explains the lyrics of the song.
   A funny discussion on Facebook recently led me to pick Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”.  That’s all I’ll say for now.
9. Poetic Review. Write a book review in three different forms of verse: haiku, limerick and free verse. (You can pick any book you want to write about.)
   Once I finally start reviewing poetry on my blog (it will happen), I’ll review Storms Beneath the Skin by Reggie Gibson in this way.
10. Movie/Book Comparison. Find a book that you haven’t read that has a movie based on it that you haven’t seen. Read the book and watch the movie within a few days of each other. Write about your reactions to both the book and the movie and compare the two.
    I’ve neither read nor seen The Reader, so that’ll be my pick.  I already got a copy of the book, and will probably download (legally!) the movie once I read the book.

If you want to join in this crazy-ass challenge, it’s not too late!  It goes until the end of November.

Here’s the pertinant info:

Complete as many or a few of the 10 challenges as you want. However, the more you complete, the more chances you’ll get to win the grand prize. Here are the details:

• The challenge will run from June 1, 2009 through November 30, 2009 (6 months)
• One winner will be drawn on December 1, 2009 and will receive a grand prize of $25 worth of books from Amazon (any books you choose!)
• Each completed task earns you one entry into the drawing for the grand prize.
• To earn an extra entry, blog or Tweet about this challenge and let me know in the comment section.
• To earn 5 extra entries, complete all 10 challenges.
• The total number of entries that can be earned is 16 (10 for each challenge, 5 for completing all tasks and 1 for blogging/tweeting about the challenge).
  
• You can join the challenge anytime before the November 30 deadline but only tasks completed by November 30, 2009 will be counted as entries.
• To have your entries count, you must publish them on your blog and link up that post in the appropriate challenge page found here.
  
• All participants must sign up in Mr. Linky below so I can keep track of everyone who is participating.