What's in a name? A Reading Challenge

Jacquie and I have been talking about trying something new here at Books @ LP Reviews and we've found the perfect opportunity in a new reading challenge for 2008. Annie of words by Annie recently announced the launch of What's in a name? It's a new reading challenge that starts on New Year's Day and goes all year long. From Annie's blog, here are her instructions:

Dates: January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008

The Challenge: Choose one book from each of the following categories.

1. A book with a color in its title. Examples might include: The Amber Spyglass, The Red Pony, Blue Blood

2. A book with an animal in its title. Examples might include: The Hound of the Baskervilles, To Kill a Mockingbird, Julie of the Wolves

3. A book with a first name in its title. Examples might include: Jane Eyre, the Harry Potter books, Anne of Green Gables

4. A book with a place in its title. Examples might include: From Russia with Love, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Out of Africa

5. A book with a weather event in its title. Examples might include: The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Red Storm Rising, Tornado Alley

6. A book with a plant in its title. Examples might include: Where the Red Fern Grows, The Name of the Rose, Flowers for Algernon

--You may overlap books with other challenges, but please don't use the same book for more than one category. (For example, you can use The Red Pony for either a "color" book or an "animal" book, but not for both.) ...

To meet the challenge, Jacquie and I will read and review the following titles in 2008:

1. A book with a color in its title: The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman (2000)

2. A book with an animal in its title: Good Dog. Stay, by Anna Quindlen (2007)

3. A book with a first name in its title: I Am Charlotte Simmons, by Tom Wolfe (2004)

4. A book with a place in its title: Night Train to Lisbon, by Pascal Mercier (2007)

5. A book with a weather event in its title: My God!! It’s a Cyclone, by Jackson Lewis Latham, Jr. (2005)

6. A book with a plant in its title: The Rose that Grew from Concrete, by Tupac Amaru Shakur (1999)

We're looking forward to the challenge, and to reading everyone else's thoughts.

Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year from Books @ LP Reviews!

Meeting a Fellow Book Blogger

I had the good fortune of attending the Mississippi State University Library 2.0 Summit a couple of weeks ago, where I was co-presenting on what our library has done with our library's blog and other Library/Web 2.0 technologies.

After the keynote and morning sessions I ran into Maggie Moran, who writes one of my favorite book blogs, Maggie Reads. Her mission, "not impossible," she writes on her blog, is "to make Mississippi read."

For those who love books, Moran's blog is frequently updated with reviews, reading challenges, and more. Unlike myself - - sorry, folks! - - she doesn't use her busy schedule as an excuse to slack on her posting. In fact, she was recently at the American Library Association's annual conference in Washington, D.C., from where she posted a number of blogs.

When I started this project nearly a year ago I knew it would be one of many that would have to vie for my scarce attention. Still, I'm grateful to have the readership that I do have. Thanks goes out to Maggie for rekindling my interest in blogging about books!