All Things Dystopian (YA-D2 Challenge)

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Lately I realized that I have been avoiding the shelves I frequent in the bookstore when I started reading more. By these shelves, I mean the shelves that contain paranormal romance, and even plain contemporary young adult romance. I don’t really know when or why it started, but I find myself not getting interested in any of the new stuff under those sub-genre. More often than not, I feel relieved when I decide not to pick up the book especially after I find some of the reviewers I follow say that they didn’t like the book or it’s a Twilight derivative. I mean, who wants that, right? (No offense to anyone, of course)

After some time, I realized again that I seemed to have found a new pattern to the books I have been reading lately, and I can only blame some of the guys I got to know recently for this new sub-genre fascination.

Friends, I think I fell in love with dystopia.

Aaron posted about this last week, and he managed to convince me to try out this challenge on top of the other challenges I’m doing. I figure, what the heck, right? It’s not like it’s going to be a hard challenge, anyway, what with all the dystopia books waiting on my TBR shelf.

So, yeah, here’s another one for my challenges for this year. I’m joining Bart’s Bookshelf‘s YA-D2: The YA Dystopian Reading Challenge. You want something crazier? I’m going for the die-hard’s choice:

Welcome to Level 3.

Oooh, how ominous. According to the challenge:

Level 3: Is for the dystopian die-hards! Minimum requirement for this level is five young adult dystopian novels, between the 1st October and 19th December. There is, however no maximum cap, you can keep reading for as many books as you like!

Just five, huh. I could do that. I mean, I set to read 20 fantasy books this year, and I lost count at how many I read this year. So, unless the world ends or the zombie apocalypse comes, I don’t think there would be a reason why I won’t be able to finish this challenge. :)

And now the books I will read for this challenge. Much thanks to Aaron for pointing them out of my shelf. :D

  1. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
  2. Gone by Michael Grant
  3. Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
  4. The Dead of the Night by John Marsden
  5. Z by Michael Thomas Ford

Wait, just five? I think I still have some I can add to this list! Some reserves/alternates, in case I don’t get to read the others for some reason, or in case I feel like going on and on and on and on until the challenge ends.

And that should be enough. I guess I’ll take today up until the end of September to read the other “normal” books I have before I plunge into all the end-of-the-world/post-apocalyptic dystopia goodness. :)

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OMP 2010 Halfway Checkpoint

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What do you know, it’s July! It’s the second half of 2010 — I echo everyone with what they’re saying: where did time go?

I thought I’d take a break from the scheduled Sample Fridays and instead, do the (obligatory) halfway checkpoint for my 2010 challenges, things that happened (as far as my reading habits and books are concerned) and plans for the next half of the year. I originally planned to post this Wednesday, but alas, I have no access to Internet or even a linksys router anywhere.

BUT FIRST! Time to announce the winner of my Feed book giveaway! Thanks to everyone who joined this first giveaway — I had so much fun reading your answers! I was kind of worried that I wouldn’t be able to get people to join this (but come on, who doesn’t want a free book?), and I even got…well, questioned with my choice of a giveaway. :o But nevertheless, I’m just happy to be able to share one of my favorite books to someone.

So, using Random.org List Randomizer, I put the names, and the extra entries, and the winner of Feed is…*drumroll*

HONEY

Congratulations! She did not only leave a comment, but she tweeted this contest too — so multiple entries do count. :D Her weapon of choice in case of a zombie apocalypse: shotgun with unlimited ammo. That’s a good choice — just make sure to aim for the head to kill them fast!

I’ll be sending you an email about shipping and stuff I make this post. :D

* * *

Now onto the 2010 halfway checkpoint. Here are my 2010 statistics as of June 30:

  • 50 out of 100 books in 2010
  • 26 out of 20 (!) fantasy books
  • 2 out of 10 classic novel
  • 7 out of 20 for Project 20:10
  • 2 out of 12 in TBR challenge
  • 43 books reviewed

Continue Reading →

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Project 20:10

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Just when you thought there are no more challenges to join for 2010, yes?

Of course not. It’s still January, there’s still room for challenges! :)

Introducing another challenge that I will be crazy enough to join this year — and this will probably be the last, because if I join one more I think I’ll really go crazy. :P

Where was I? Oh yeah, introducing the project.

An interesting graphic, I know. Here’s what Project 20:10 is about:

PROJECT 20:10 is a campaign to get people to support more local content, as well as create more local content.

By joining the project, you pledge to read/watch/play the works of twenty (20) local authors/ creators/ developers who you haven’t supported before, before the year 2010 is up.

Also, by joining, you pledge to create an original piece of high quality fiction/ comic/ animation/ game worth at least ten (10) pages/ minutes/ levels before the year 2010 is up.

The premise here is to solve the deadlock: the main problem for our lack of local content is there is no support, and there is no support because there is lack of local content. It’s an endless loop that will never end unless something is done to break it — and to break it, both sides should be addressed.

So this year, on top of my other reading challenges, I’m also joining Project 20:10:

SUPPORT 20: I pledge to read the works of 20 local authors who I haven’t supported before, before 2010 is up.

CREATE 10: I also pledge to create an original piece of high quality fiction at least 10 pages before the year 2010 is up.

I’m not sure if what I will write for this year’s NaNoWriMo will be considered “high quality”, but the Create 10 thing is almost done, at least by November. ;) The Support 20 might be hard, though, and probably way beyond my comfort zone. The only local fiction I pick up are the local chick lit — at least the ones that catch my eye. What else could I read? Do graphic novels count?

But a challenge is not a challenge unless I get to challenge myself, right? Okay, that probably only made sense to me. But if you’re a Filipino, you like reading and you’re interested in challenging yourself, join Project 20:10! This might be your chance to start seeing more quality Filipino works on the shelves of our bookstores! We have to start somewhere, right?

Oh, and Project 20:10 is having its launch on January 30, 2010 at the Ateneo High School Fair, 1:00PM. As part of the launch, there will be a talk on character creation by Yvette Tan, Elbert Or and more! :) More details in their Facebook group page (where you can join too!).

Okay, now where to get those 20 local works now…any suggestions?

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2010 TBR Challenge

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January is the best time to set goals and join challenges, so even if I already have a personal reading challenge for 2010, I thought of joining another one. I figure it’s got no harm to join a reading challenge on top of what I have because it just adds to the books on the first one.

So here is my list for the 2010 To Be Read (TBR) Challenge. Here are the instructions for this challenge, taken from the link above:

** Pick 12 books – one for each month of the year – that you’ve been wanting to read (that have been on your “To Be Read” list) for 6 months or longer, but haven’t gotten around to.

** OPTIONAL: Create a list of 12 “Alternates” (books you could substitute for your challenge books, given that a particular one doesn’t grab you at the time)

** Then, starting January 1, read one of these books from your list each month, ending December 31. )

(Click the link above for more details and an FAQ)

This should put some structure in my picking of books, kind of like how using a posguys barcode scanner has specific instructions. :) Here’s my list:

  1. Persuasion by Jane Austen
  2. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
  3. The Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
  4. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
  5. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
  6. Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light by Mother Teresa, edited by Brian Kolodjiechuk
  7. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
  8. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  9. Peter Pan by JM Barrie
  10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  11. A Room With a View by EM Forster
  12. Where Angels Fear to Tread by EM Forster

If you’ll notice, most of them are classics — how else would I get myself to read classics if I don’t put them in a challenge like this, right? ;) I haven’t got an alternate list for this one yet, but I have a feeling I’ll do the same — put classics in, if only to force myself to read them. :P

Let’s see how this will go, shall we? I’ve just started on Persuasion — I should start reading a couple of pages a day to really get into the story. :P

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A Fantasy Filled 2010

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If I would look through my bookshelf right now, one can’t help but notice the abundance of pinks, purples and greens on them, with titles that are, more often than not, very girly.

Yes, this is the part where I admit: I am a fluffy reader.

I don’t know how it started, but I fell in love with chick literature as I was discovering books beyond my Sweet Valley and Animorphs collection. I was enamored with empowered women who get into various scrapes and situations and emerge triumphant in the end. It came to a point that whenever I go to the bookstore, I always look for these brightly colored books, and ignore everything else.

Because of this love for “fluffy” literature, I end up writing more fluff than the usual. My three works in progress for NaNoWriMo (2006, 2008 and 2009) are all of the chick lit genre, and my fellow writers know about my love for all things fluff. I even have chick lit writing manuals at home, to help me write.

However, sometime in 2009, I suddenly felt tired of writing my story. I read through some of the synopsis of my other friends who were writing fantasy and felt a certain kind of envy for those with stories that are, quite literally, out of this world.

But that was the thing: I don’t read fantasy novels as much as other people do. The Lord of the Rings? Just watched the movie, no interest in reading the books. The Chronicles of Narnia? I have the books but haven’t started reading it. I read Harry Potter, but it was easy reading despite its fantasy genre. Give me other fantasy stories and I’ll just give you a blank look. Sorry, I don’t read it.

So in 2010, I decided to change my writing habits and venture into a new genre, to spice up my writing life. I decided (and declared, so I’m accountable to it) that I will be writing a fantasy novel for NaNoWriMo 2010.

Now here comes the big but: I don’t know how to write one.

Sure, it’s pretty much imagination and anyone can write a fantasy story…but I don’t know how fantasy novels usually go. If I try to write my story now, I’d probably end up writing it like how I write my chick lit ones. So how to prepare?

Read fantasy novels.

So as a part of my 2010 reading goals, I decided to read at least 20 fantasy novels for the year. 20 should be a good number, nothing too overwhelming, and I’ll be able to get a few ideas on how these stories are written so I could write mine. I can read more, of course, but I don’t want to burden myself…plus I still need my fluffy book fix. ;)

I already finished two fantasy novels (review to follow soon!), and I’ve got…about three more in my list. I look forward to adding more to my to be read pile, and discover new worlds in pages that I have yet to crack.

Care to recommend a fantasy novel my way? :)

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