ThrillerFan's 1010 Challenge

Being as that I don't get a whole lot of time to read, and also with our first child on the way in late April or early May, I'm going to set my goal fairly low at 3 per category (even this may be a stretch). Some books I read may fit more than 1 category, but my rule will be that I can only place a book in ONE of the categories it fits under, hence 30 books must be read to meet my goal. My 10 items are:

1) Books by 3 different authors that I've never read
- Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
- The Camel Club by David Baldacci
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2) One Word Titles
- Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
- Dispatch by Bentley Little
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3) It's a War Out There!
- Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
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4) Thriller Novels
- Map of Bones by James Rollins
- Black Order by James Rollins
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5) Political Intrigue/Espionage Novels
- Executive Power by Vince Flynn
- Act of Treason by Vince Flynn
- Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn

6) Some Like it Hard! (Hard Sci-Fi)
- Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
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7) Standalones - Books that are NOT part of a series
- Personal Foul by Tim Donaghy
- Diary of a Chess Queen by Alexandra Kosteniuk (Currently Reading)
- Dead Sea by Brian Keene (Currently Reading)

8) The "ThrillerFan 500" - Books over 500 pages
- Memorial Day by Vince Flynn
- Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn
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9) Overflow - Extra books fitting a previous category (1-8)
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10) Wild Card - Odd Balls, Extra Overflow, etc.
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That overflow category is a really good idea. I already can see having a need for one like that.

I can't wait to see what you put in your "Thriller" and "True Crime" categories, as those are two genres that I love but have a hard time finding recommendations for. I'll be watching your list for intriguing picks :)

I actually got quite a bit of reading done in the first few months after my first child was born. I read aloud while she ate and read while I cuddled her, etc...at the beginning what you say is not that important. Note that paperbacks are much easier to hold in the inevitably awkward positions you will end up in.

And congratulations!

(3) - I can already tell you what will be going under True Crime - it will be whatever the first 3 books I happen to read in the 2010 calendar year by M. William Phelps. I have already read "Perfect Poison" and "Lethal Guardian" (back in June/July), and am reading "Every Move You Make" (his third book) right now.

His next 3 are "Sleep In Heavenly Peace", "Murder In The Heartland", and "Because You Loved Me". These will "likely" be the 3 books. If I happen to read the first one listed this year instead, then it would be the last 2 plus "If Looks Could Kill"

The thriller category is a little more difficult to determine as I read more thriller authors than true crime, and many of the books also fit in other categories, so I have to be careful to make sure one category gets their 3 before I end up filling up the "Overflow" category.

The other book you might find in the true crime genre, which would likely end up in the "New Author" category (#1) would be Ann Rule's "The Stranger Beside Me". I have a copy of it collecting dust...just never got around to it. It's about Ted Bundy.

(4) Thanks for the comment.

So, based on what you're saying about it being easy to read in the awkward positions, when you had to burp her, did you slap her in the back with the book?

Of course, when my wife is closer to her 30th week rather than her 13th, I'll be with her taking the parenting classes since it's our first, but I'm just trying to get that mental image of reading a book while spending the hour trying to burp him or her (won't know which until December).

Aside from burping (I suggest putting the book down), you will spend a lot of time holding her and crooning. That soft, gentle voice might as well be reading aloud from your latest true crime title as from Squirrel Nutkin. You don't have to show her the pictures! You'll spend enough time, soon enough, deeply immersed in children's literature.

(7)

It will be interesting to see how much children's lit has changed. I can tell you that when I was a kid, there was 1 book I must have read a thousand times, and other than a few cases of "would not" vs "could not" vs "will not" vs "do not" and references to "eat them" vs "like them", and maybe a case or 2 of "Sam" vs "you", I practically still remember the entire book by heart, and we are talking about 25 years later. (Below is "my recollection" of the statement made after the last item before trying).

I would not, could not on a boat.
I could not, would not with a goat.
I will not eat them in the rain.
I will not eat them on a train.
Not in the dark. Not in a tree.
Not in a car. You let me be.
I do not like them in a box.
I do not like them with a fox.
I will not eat them in a house.
I will not eat them with a mouse.
I will not eat them here or there.
I will not eat them ANYWHERE!

My recollection is that this line ends here, but most of the others feature:

I do not like green eggs and ham.
I do not like them Sam I Am.

And those cases, "anywhere" is not all capped.

In the case of the last one, you have to flip the page for "I do not like green eggs and ham", and flip the page again for "I do not like them Sam I Am" with them submerged under water.

Then comes the "Sam, if you will let me be, I will try them. You will see."

Then the wordless page, and then he finds out he likes them.

If someone has the book, let me know how I did!

(3)

moneybeets, you may just get an early jump start on finding out what goes in the Thriller and True Crime categories (and the "Overflow" will likely contain thriller books).

We are having our first child in late April (well, at least that's when it's due). With us being the "visitors" this Christmas, and having a fairly "large" group of guests next year for our child's first Christmas, I won't have much time then, and so when I finish the book I'm reading now, which should be right around the end of the month, I'm going to start up my challenge, take a break Nov/Dec 2010, and be ready for the 2011 challenge at the start of the year.

Therefore, I'll be an "early bird" this year, and do my challenge from 11/09 to 10/10 (how appropriate to end in October anyway for a "1010" challenge).

I am changing one of the categories due to possible confusion and problems. I realized that books come out before or after their scheduled time, and so it's too hard to say what will be published by October of 2010, and so to say the last 3 books published by an author as of that date is really too confusing and difficult to fulfill (especially if the author decides to publish something at the end of October).

Therefore, I have changed my 2nd category to "One Word Titles".

Hi Thrillerfan, I'll be watching your categories as well as I am also a big crime mystery and thriller fan.

(11)

As it turns out, I don't even know all 30 books yet for this year. I will be updating the last in message 1 as I complete books so that the book list matches the counter. However, I can give you a brief list of a few that will definitely fall in this year's list (which are namely the ones that I'm looking at reading in the beginning of this year-long stretch). Those would include:

Event by David Lynn Golemon (New Authors)
Relic by Douglas Preson and Lincoln Child (New Authors)
Dispatch by Bentley Little (One-word Titles)
Dead Sea by Brian Keene (Horror)
Executive Power by Vince Flynn (Political Intrigue)
Map of Bones by James Rollins (ThrillerFan 500)

Well everyone, the time is about here. I'm on the last 100 pages of Every Move You Make by M. William Phelps. Once that book is finished, I'll be starting by 1010 challenge, which will end at the end of October 2010.

Books listed in message number 1 above are books that I have completed.

I will also list the book I'm currently reading (with a note indicating such), but it won't count toward the progress bar until the book is completed.

While I'm here, I'm going to go ahead and enter in the first book I'll be reading, but won't start it until my year-long mission officially begins on Sunday.

Congrats! It's great to start, isn't it?

#14

It's goin to be interesting I must say. Probably also going to be a very tough task to achieve. I looked back at what I've read in the 2009 calendar year, and have a post up but will likely not keep that one up to date as this challenge is about to start for me, and went for 30 as my goal because this year, after 10 months, I'd have read 18 books. That's a pace of about 21 to 22 in a year. Therefore, I figured 30 would be "doable" but not "easy". How some people finish 100 books in a year baffles me.

See Post:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/73852

>15 ThrillerFan:

I'm retired and read several hours a day, so 100 books are probably possible, even including some heavier science and history books. For people with kids and jobs, it would seem pretty tough.

#16

The latter I will continue to have for another 30 years.

The former? Let's just say the first is due in late April.

>17 ThrillerFan: Congrats!

I manage about 110 per year but I don't have television or a yard. Or kids.

#18

Well, this is "Kickoff Weekend". Unlike your 110, I'll be lucky if I can get my 30. Based on the reviews I've seen, Relic ought to be interesting.

With the Cliffhanger that Relic leaves you with in the Epilogue, I am kinda sorta bound to reading Reliquary next. Shouldn't be surprised though...almost all books with a sequel (i.e. The Rising and City of the Dead) leave you hanging like this.

Therefore, Reliquary will be my first book in the One Word Titles category.

Relic was really good, Reliquary, not so much.

Anyway, 2 down, 28 to go.

Next up: Executive Power by Vince Flynn. This will be my first book in Category #5 (Political Intrigue)

Finished Executive Power by Vince Flynn.

3 down, 27 to go.

Next up: Personal Foul by Tim Donaghy. This will be my first book in Category #7 (Standalones)

Finished Personal Foul by Tim Donaghy.

4 down, 26 to go.

Next up: Memorial Day by Vince Flynn. This will be my first book in Category #8 (ThrillerFan 500).

Sorry guys, messages 24 thru 48 are all deleted because when I entered message 49, it submitted every time I hit the space bar (Library Thing bug perhaps???), so after this message, skip down to message 49.

I'm changing one of my categories. For category 3, it's going to be "It's a War Out There" which will basically be fictional about where a war takes place (i.e. Stephen Coonts, Tom Clancy, etc.).

I don't see myself reading more than 2 or 3 horror novels this year, and they can easily fit in the Standalones or Wild Card category.

Finished Memorial Day by Vince Flynn

That puts me at 5 down, 25 to go.

Next up: Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. This will be my first book in Category Number 3 - It's A War Out There!

Finished Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy

Probably won't be reading much tonight. Will know by tomorrow whether my next will be Vince Flynn's Consent to Kill, which will be my 2nd in the ThrillerFan 500 category (#8) or David Baldacci's The Camel Club, which will be my 2nd in the Author's never read before category (#1). Whichever I don't read will "likely" be the one that follows.

My 7th book will be Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn.

Ultimately, the fact that I'm travelling next week is what made me decide on that over The Camel Club. Rather than carrying around multiple books, I'd rather carry just 1 book, and read an author I've previously read when I travel rather than experiment with a new author.

At 675 pages, this will be my 2nd entry in the "ThrillerFan 500" category.

Finished Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn.

My 8th book will be Map of Bones by James Rollins

This will be my first book in the "Thriller Novels" category (Category 4).

Finished Map of Bones by James Rollins

My 9th book will be The Camel Club by David Baldacci

This will be my second book in the "Books by 3 different authors I haven't read" category (Category 1)

Ordinarily, chess books, especially those pertaining to opening theory, are not read "cover to cover", and even those that are, usually not "page 1 to page x" where x is the last page.

That said, biographies or autobiographies of a player, with a selection of their games, is usually a different story, and they are read cover to cover.

Therefore, I have 1 that I started earlier this year (have gone thru the first 11 of 100 games), and one I just picked up.

Chess on the Edge - Volume 1 by Bruce Harper and Yasser Seirawan is the first of a 3-book series on the games of Canadian Grandmaster Duncan Suttles, who was primarily active from the mid-60s to the mid-80s.

Volume 1 features 100 deeply annotated games of his throughout the years. This book focuses more on Suttles' thought process and is not sorted by opening.

Volume 2 (a 2011 project) covers about 300 games of his all with ECO Codes beginning with "A". This book also refers to the 100 games in Volume 1, which each game will be reviewed as I go thru each opening.

Volume 3 (a 2012 project) covers over 300 games of his with ECO Codes beginning with "B" thru "E". This book also refers to the 100 games in Volume 1, which each game will be reviewed as I go thru each opening. Therefore, over the course of Volumes 2 and 3, Volume 1 will have been basically re-read, though not in order as was the case the first time.

Diary of a Chess Queen by Alexandra Kosteniuk is an autobiography of the current Women's world champion, along with 64 of her games from childhood (mainly the 90s) to 2008.

Both of these will take the better part of the year, but both should be done by October.

"Diary of a Chess Queen" will be my 2nd book in books that are not part of a series (Category 7), and "Chess on the Edge: Volume 1" will be in category 10, Wild Card, as it doesn't fit under categories 1 thru 8 since it actually is the first book of a 3-book series.

Adding The Giants of Chess Strategy to my Category 10.

Going to list the Chess on the Edge book as tenative. May replace it with a novel if I see that I can't get thru more than 2 books of games collections.

Changing a category.

Category number 6, True Crime Novels, is now "Some Like it Hard". It's basically hard sci-fi, meaning more along the lines of physics, space, chemistry, math, etc. Not "soft sci-fi", which is often that filled with fantasy, and kingdoms, etc.

Finished The Camel Club by David Baldacci.

With the last 5 books all being books that would Qualify for the ThrillerFan 500, I'm going next with a sub-400 page novel.

My next book will be Dispatch by Bentley Little, and will be my 2nd book in the "One Word Titles" category.

I have removed both books listed in category 10 as I won't be able to get them done this go-round. Diary of a Chess Queen is taking a while, mainly because of the game analysis (64 games in the book, I'm still only on game 13, along with whatever biographical information there is I haven't read yet).

Therefore, those will likely be additional overflow if I can get myself to 30 books by end of October.

Finished Dispatch by Bentley Little.

Next up is Black Order by James Rollins. This will be my 2nd book in the "Thrillers" category (Category #4)

Finished Black Order. Harder to follow than Map of Bones, so it only got 4 stars instead of 5.

Next up is Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. This will be my 1st book in the "Some Like it Hard!" category (Category #6)

Having the baby has taken up a ton of time (even as the role of the father). Only recently have I been able to get back into reading with any form of regularity. No way I'll hit 30 this year.

Finished Red Mars (FINALLY) back last weekend (July 11th).

Still keeping track just to see how far I get, but in no way, shape, or form am I going to hit my 30 by October 31st (probably not even by December 31st, which would be 14 months).

Right now, almost mid-way thru Act of Treason by Vince Flynn, 2nd book for Category 5.

Finished Act of Treason, started Protect and Defend (same author), and is the third item of category 5.

Looks like I will have at least 1 book in Category 9 before my failed 12 months end!

Finished Protect and Defend, started Dead Sea by Brian Keene.

This will be the 3rd book in Category 7 (not that the 2nd one is likely to be finished in time, which for me is End of October)