Belladonna1975's 11 in 11 Challenge

OK, I kind of pooped out on the 1010 Challenge so we will see if I can do better this year. I certainly do not have a shortage of books on my TBR wall. (yes, some people have a bookcase or a stack. I have an entire wall)

Now that both of the girls go to bed at a decent hour, I am all caught up on Doctor Who, Being Human and Glee; there are no more excuses. Time to READ!

Here are my categories (they are subject to change and already have!):

1) Horror
2) Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic
3) Historical Fiction
4) Young Adult
5) Steampunk
6) General Fantasy
7) Urban Fantasy
8) Science Fiction
9) Magical Realism
10) Books about Books
11) Graphic Novels

I plan on reading 11 from each category. In 2010, I only ended up reading 91 books. Hopefully, I can do better than that in 2011.

1) Horror

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11.

Possibilities:

The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer - Lucy Weston
Horns - Joe Hill
Lady Lazarus - Michele Lang
The Red Tree - Caitlin R. Kiernan
Sumner Island - Michael Cormier
The Thief of Always - Clive Barker
No Doors, No Windows - Joe Schreiber
The Tale of Halcyon Crane - Wendy Webb
The Good House - Tananarive Due
Frostbite - David Wellington
Little Vampire Women - Louisa May Alcott
Mister B. Gone - Clive Barker

2) Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic (including Zombies)

1. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
3. Feed - Mira Grant
4. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
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11.

Possibilities:

The Reapers are the Angels - Alden Bell
Autumn - David Moody
Veracity - Laura Bynum
The Kindling - Jennifer Armstrong
The Things that Keep us Here - Carla Buckley
The Physiognomy - Jeffrey Ford
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
The Brief History of the Dead - Kevin Brockmeier
The Passage - Justin Cronin
Into the Forest - Jean Hegland
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
Skinned - Robin Wasserman
Strain 2: The Fall - Guillermo Del Toro
Blindness - Jose Saramago
The Scorch Trials - James Dashner
The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde
Nomansland - Lesley Hauge

3) Historical Fiction

1. Mistress of Midnight - Nicola Cornick
2. The Poison Diaries - Maryrose Wood
3.
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9.
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11.

Possibilities:

The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey
The Distant Hours - Kate Morton
And Only to Deceive - Tasha Alexander
A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Alan Bradley
The Silver Blade - Sally Gardner
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette - Carolly Erickson
Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys
The Gods are Thirsty - Tanith Lee
The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
The Aviary Gate - Katie Hickman
The Fiend in Human - John MacLachlan Gray
The Book of Unholy Mischief - Elle Newmark
In the Company of the Courtesan - Sarah Dunant
The Meaning of Night - Michael Cox
The Observations - Jane Harris
Silent in the Grave - Deanna Raybourn

4) Young Adult

1. Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
2. Zombies Vs Unicorns - Holly Black
3. Kat, Incorrigible - Stephanie Burgis
4. Mirror, Mirror - Nancy Butcher
5. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride
6. Haunted Waters - Mary Pope Osborne
7. Enchanted Glass - Diana Wynne Jones
8. Incarceron - Catherine Fisher
9. Sapphique - Catherine Fisher
10. Dark Mirror - M.J. Putney
11.

Possibilities:

Girl in the Arena - Lise Haines
Past Midnight - Mara Purnhagen
Blood Sinister - Celia Rees
Pegasus - Robin McKinley
Indigara - Tanith Lee
The Swan Maiden - Heather Tomlinson
The Poison Apples - Lily Archer
An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
Murkmere - Patricia Elliot
Darkborn - Alison Sinclair
Tanglewreck - Jeanette Winterson
City of Bones - Cassandra Clare

5) Steampunk

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11.

Possibilities:

The Gaslight Dogs - Karin Lowachee
Heart's Blood - Gail Dayton
Airborn - Kenneth Oppel
The Difference Engine - William Gibson
Dreadnought - Cherie Priest
The Court of the Air - Stephen Hunt
Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld
The Affinity Bridge - George Mann
Extraordinary Engines - Nick Gevers
The Glass Book of the Dream Eaters - Gordon Dahlquist
Whitechapel Gods - S.M. Peters
Steamed - Katie MacAlister
New Amsterdam - Elizabeth Bear
The Iron Duke - Meljean Brook
Scar Night - Alan Campbel
The Windup Girl - Paulo Bacigalupi
Steampunk Prime - Mike Ashley

6) General Fantasy

1.The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold
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11.

Possibilities:

The Summoner - Gail Martin
Scarlet and the White Wolf - Kirby Crow
Fantastic Alice - Margaret Weiss
To Ride Hell's Chasm - Janny Wurts
Summers at Castle Auburn - Sharon Shinn
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
The Death of the Necromancer - Martha Wells
Riddle Master - Patricia A. McKillip
Wildwood Dancing - Juliet Marillier
The Elder Scrolls - Greg Keyes
The Adamantine Palace - Stephen Deas

7) Urban Fantasy

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11.

Possibilities:

Full Moon City - Darrell Schweitzer
Moonshine - Alaya Johnson
Except the Queen - Jane Yolen
Spellbinder - Melanie Rawn
Gil's All Fright Diner - A. Lee Martinez
Naked Brunch - Sparkle Hayter
Death's Daughter - Amber Benson
The Law of Nines - Terry Goodkind
Blood and Iron - Elizabeth Bear
Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews
Nightwatch - Sergei Lukyanenko
A Local Habitation - Seanan McGuire
Prospero Lost - L. Jagi Lamplighter
Unclean Spirits - M.L.N. Hanover

8) Science Fiction

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Possibilities:

Across the Universe -Beth Revis
Echo City - Tim Lebbon
Hull Zero Three - Greg Bear
Eggheads - Emily Devenport
Fledgling - Octavia E. Butler
Vanishing Acts - Ellen Datlow
Nightfall - Isaac Asimov
Sassinak - Anne McCaffrey
Partners in Necessity - Sharon Lee
The Quantum Thief - Hannu Rajaniemi
Grimspace - Ann Aguirre

9) Magical Realism

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11.

Possibilities:

Bloodroot - Amy Greene
Casting Spells - Barbara Bretton
The Little Girl Who was Too Fond of Matches - Gaetan Soucy
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town - Cory Doctorow
Veronica - Nicholas Christopher
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County - Tiffany Baker
The Story Sisters - Alice Hoffman
Sleep, Pale Sister - Joanne Harris
Angels of Destruction - Keith Donohue
The Heroines - Eileen Favorite
Chronicle of a Death Foretold - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Winters Tale - Mark Helprin
Little, Big - John Crowley
Probable Future - ALice Hoffman
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender
The Kingdom of Ohio - Matthew Flaming

10) Books about Books

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11.

Possibilities:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer
The Children's Book - A.S. Byatt
The Book of Air and Shadows - Michael Gruber
The Geographer's Library - Jon Fasman
Ex Libris - Anne Fadiman
One of Our Thursday's is Missing - Jasper Fforde
The Library at Night - Alberto Manguel
Sixpence House - Paul Collins
The City of Dreaming Books - Walter Moers
The Secret of Lost Things - Sheridan Hay
The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Howard's End is on the Landing - Susan Hill
The House of Paper - Carlos Maria Dominguez
Ex-Libris - Ross King
Possession - A.S. Byatt

11) Graphic Novels

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Possibilities:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Stuff of Legend
Heroes
Aria
Fables
Angel
Books of Magic
Elfquest
Grimm Fairy Tales
Irredeemable
Pride and Prejudice
Scott Pilgrim
The Last Unicorn
The Song of the Vampires
The Unwritten
American Vampire

Overall List of Books Read

1.) Geography Club - Brent Hartinger
2.) The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold
3.) The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
4.) Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
5.) Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
6.) Feed - Mira Grant
7.) Zombies Vs Unicorns - Holly Black
8.) Kat, Incorrigible - Stephanie Burgis
9.) Mistress of Midnight - Nicola Cornick
10.) Mirror, Mirror - Nancy Butcher
11.) The Poison Diaries - Maryrose Wood
12.) Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride
13.) Haunted Waters - Mary Pope Osborne
14.) Enchanted Glass - Diana Wynne Jones
15.) Incarceron - Catherine Fisher
16.) Sapphique - Catherine Fisher
17.) Dark Mirror - M.J. Putney

Oh! Wonderful!

Now, may I please say, don't be too hard on yourself this year; no one minds (I am told repeatedly) what the actual number is - I am sure there will be lots of books fitting your wonderful categories, and that you would read any way - and if they don't you could always mark them as NOT in a certain category. :)

It will be fun! If I manage to read only a few of my books which have languished in my TBR pile for too long, then I will be happy. I don't think our respective TBR piles will decrease from this group though.

Yay! So glad you're joining us this year!

14> I think that is part of why I quit the 1010 Challenge. I found I was spending MORE time playing with my list, reading other's lists and adding MORE books to my TBR pile then I did actually reading. There were several people who had such similar reading taste as me that I added everything they liked to my BM wishlist! I have got to get through some of the books I have laying around here this year. If not, next year I may be spending some of my prime reading time at a marriage councilor. :)

I was thinking about changing one of my categories to a catch-all category for those books that don't fit elsewhere so that I don't feel "pressured" to only read things that do fit.

15> Thanks! I have missed chatting with you. You are one of the culprits I am referring to above. ;)

I find that there are mentions of books I already have in my TBR, which pushes them to the top of the pile.

I'll be interested to see what you think of The Anatomy of Ghosts, which I'll drop off at the post office soon.

Welcome, Bella!
Good luck this year- I can't wait to see what you will be reading. (I'm sure many will end up on my wishlists...) :)

17> Yay! Can't wait to add it to the mountain! (and to see what you will be reading this year)

18> Good luck to you too. I am sure we will have lots of overlap as well as be responsible for the inflation of each other's wishlists!

I also want to note that after looking at my library here on LT, I reserve the right to place (cram) any book into any category I see fit! I will however, not put a book into 2 categories if there is an genre overlap. ;)

Wolfy (AHS-Wolfy) suggests an open (overflow) category too - which is an excellent idea (though not sure of the image he brings to mind - heh). But yours will work too.
That is exactly the right attitude! :)

I'm probably going to cheat and add a book into more than one - but it will be noted as such. More to see how I'm balancing my numbers in each category than to fill up numbers. (That's a good argument; if I say so myself). :P

ETA Wolfy's link.

Wow! That as quite a visual. Ahem, well ...OK then. Carry on.

;)

Good bunch of categories here. Will be looking forward to how they all get filled (with perhaps teh exception of the Romance category).

After more examination of my library, I have replaced Fairy tales with Horror and Romance with Steampunk. I am sure there will be more juggling as the year continues.

I also have added lists of possible suspects for each category.

Now, I am off to find pretty pictures for each one.

Hi Jenn - Happy to see another Steampunk reader in our midst. The only book in your Steampunk list that I have read so far is New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear. I loved it because I found it to be a nice blend of Victorian mystery - one of my weaknesses from the 1010 Challenge - with the Steampunk elements.

I am now off the examine your list of Steampunk books further.

A good YA fantasy book would be Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston. I thought about you when I read this book but I'm keeping my copy, lol :) Book two of the series is on my 'to buy' list.

Great categories! I think some of your reads will be added to my TBR pile. I am finding this challenge very dangerous to my already over-loaded bookshelves and to my wallet :-)

24> Ooo do you have a steampunk category? I must go look!

25> I have been meaning to read Wondrous Strange. I was able to mooch a HB of Book 2 but I still haven't gotten the first one.

26> You and me both! Very dangerous but I always did love the bad boys so it only makes sense that living dangerously book-wise would appeal also. ;)

Have you seen the movie version of Howl's Moving Castle? It's a lovely animated steampunk tale and my children adore it.

Hi Jenn, I have been practically drooling over your categories. Please just read books I already own?

28> I have seen Howl's moving Castle. Miyazaki could animate the phone book and I am sure it would be lovely. I haven't read the book. I angel mooched a copy for Helen. Maybe I should read it before I send it to Australia!

29> Sorry Heather, I can't promise that. It looks like your wishlist is going to get inflated. Be afraid..be very afraid! On the up side. I may be offering some of the books I read up in my moochable collection so watch for that! ;)

Hello. I really like your lists and am interested to hear what you pick and what you think of them. I can enthusiastically recommend:

Never Let Me Go & The Remains of the Day; Wide Sargasso Sea; The Meaning of Night; Nightwatch; Neverwhere. I also enjoyed Ex Libris (Fadiman) and The Book of Air and Shadows. I started reading the Buffy graphics and I just love them, love the pictures. The dialogue is still funny.

Got you starred. Have fun this year!

31> Thanks for the welcome!

Well, I have my thread all set up complete with pretty pictures for each category. Now, 4 days into the new year, it is time to get to reading!!

First up, The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold which was a Christmas present from my lovely friend Jess (Macsbrains).

Great categories and FANTASTIC lists of possibilities: favourites of mine that I can't wait to get your take on, books already looming on my TBR and some stuff I've never even heard of in categories that interest me. This will be one of my haunts in 2011, no doubt.

To just push for a single title: The physiognomy by Jeffrey Ford was sooo good: surrealism, allegory and fantasy all wrapped up into one. And the other two parts of the trilogy really hold up.

Wohoo! Another person with a Dystopian category! I am definitely going to be reading The Road at some point this year.

Hunger Games is an excellent choice. Read the first and I know you will read them all. Sweetness by Bradley is also excellent. His heroine is a wonderful character. You have such a great variety here. I will def be seeking out some of your potential reads!

Books about books: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks would be my recommendation.

Great categories! We have similar tastes, so I did star you... although your warning about spending time playing around with the categories and the other threads while mount TBR grows sounds quite possible... although I have to say, a TBR wall? That's nothing. ;)

My first book of the year was Geography Club by Brent Hartinger. I needed a palate cleanser and it was a quick read.

Geography Club is a YA book about several gay kids at a high school who form a club as a cover to meet and hang out. It wasn't an earth shattering read. It was just super quick and was just what I needed to get the ball rolling.

✰✰✰ Meh

My second book of the year was The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. It had everything I love in a book. There was fantasy, magic, court intrigue and a flawed hero. I should be flogged for having never read Bujold before! This was the first in the series. I will definitely be reading the next book!

✰✰✰✰✰ Damn Near Perfection

I've never read any of Bujold's works either and that one looks like a good place to start. Thanks for your review and onto the wishlist it goes.

*happy dance*

Glad you enjoyed The Curse of Chalion - on my TBR and I hear so many positive opinions (like yours) about this book that I must get to it. I mean, you can't get better than 'damn near perfection' - huh? I have read a couple of her Vorkosigan books and really enjoyed them - I think she writes really well.

add: BTW, I don't think you should be that hard on yourself - there are so many authors and books out there; at least we get to them eventually. It is kind of funny how we omit some for a while and then when read, wonder why it took so long - but that's what I find so good (or bad) about this site. I have felt positively mortified at my ignorance about so many authors and books - but glad to have become acquainted in the end. :)

39> Lyn, I really think you would enjoy The Curse of Chalion. Her writing is so great. I haven't read any of the Miles books but they are now on my wishlist!

I am not really being hard on myself. I just like to point out when people have repeatedly told me to read someone and I resisted. I have a feeling that this year is going to be full of Ah Hah! moments like that for me. If I thought of all of the authors I HAVEN'T read, my brain would probably explode. :)

Up next...Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. (yet another author I have been told I HAVE to read)

Cor; if "I should be flogged" is being easy on yourself, I don't want to know what you'd do to yourself when being hard. Ouch! *evil cackle*

Ahhh...Hunger Games - another I actually listed in my categories.
I agree, I think I will really enjoy The Curse of Chalion - I think it should also go on my list for this challenge. :)

LOL well I don't mean ACTUALLY flogged! I'm just not into that sort of thing! ;)

Would you like me to send you The Curse of Chalion?

Awww..so sweet! Thank you but I have it. It really is on my TBR!!
Like so many others... *sigh*

I'm a huge Bujold fangirl and while I'm surprised it took you so long to read anything by her, I'm not surprised that you loved it. ;-) I was a bit daunted by the number of books in her Vorkosigan series (the only series she had when I started reading her), but I dove right in and didn't come up for air until I finished reading the entire thing!