Change In The Rory Goal

Round about November I began to think that setting the Rory goal at 20 books was just plan crazy.  Maybe, I thought, that's just me because I'm having such a hard time reaching it.  But when I asked for any of you who had reached 20 books to let me know, I only heard crickets chirping.  Hooray, I'm not alone!

So my Christmas present to you is that the Rory level goal is now only 15 books.  If you were shooting for the Rory level and you've gotten that far, give yourself a pat on the back! 

Next year, we're starting off with more realistic goals!

Anyone Going To Reach The Rory Level?

The more I think about it, the more I realize I was crazy to expect anyone to read 20 books for one challenge.  So I'm wondering if any of you have actually done that?  If any of you have, then we'll stick with it for this year.  If not, then I'm going to make a change for this year which will maybe make it possible for more of us to reach that level.

If you've reached 20 books for the challenge for this year, will you please shoot me an email at litandlifeATgmailDOTcom?

The End Is Near - Of This Year Anyway!

The girls are all dolled up - for the holidays, I'm sure!  As we reach what seems to be the busiest time of the year, I've had to admit that I'm not going to read nearly all of the books that I had hoped to read for this challenge.  I'm going to have to load up on easy reads to reach my goal of 20 books.  Luckily, there are a lot of fairy tales on the list which fits right in with my new passion for them.  But...I still want to read all of those other books I had hoped to read when I started the challenge.

So I've decided to host the challenge for another year.  There will be a couple of changes regarding the number of books you need to read to reach each level. 

Emily: Read a total of four books from at least two different categories.

Lorelei: Read a total of six books from at least three different categories.

Rory: Read a total of ten books from at least three different categories.

For the list of books, click here.

Here's another twist for this year: for the Emily level, you can substitute one movie adaptation of any book.  For the Lorelei level, you can substitute two movies and for the Rory level you can substitute four movies.  

Hope you'll all decide to continue with the challenge again next year!

How's Everyone Doing?

With fewer than two months left in the challenge, I've got a couple of questions for everyone.  How are you doing toward making your goal?  And would you be interested in doing this again next year?

I'm having to make some drastic changes in my reading plans for the challenge.  I had hoped to load on heavy with the classics for this challenge but that's clearly not going to happen.  I've  only read 7 books that qualify but I have nothing more I have to read for review for the rest of the year and will really concentrate on hitting my 20 for this challenge which was my goal.  But...that means that there are a lot of great books on the list that I'm still wanting to read.  So I'm pondering whether or not to continue the challenge for next year and need your feed back. 

I know it's a busy time of year, but don't forget to make time to read.  We all need that done time to balance out the chaos that is the holiday season!

And The Winner Is....

The winner of an $80 gift certificate from CSN Stores is Kathmeista!  I'll be sending your name off to the company and you'll be hearing fromthem shortly about how to redeem your gift certificate.  Congratulations!

Attention Gilmore Girl fans! CSN giveaway!

I'm very excited to announce your chance to win an $80 gift certificate for CSN stores.  I'm sure you've seen them around the blogosphere; they've been terrific about offering giveaways at many sites.  In fact, I had never heard of CNS stores until the first time I say a review for one of their products on a blog. I'm always hesitant to order things online from a company I'm not familiar with but I've read nothing but great reviews about the CSN products and service.

When they approached me about doing a giveaway on one of my blogs, I decided that you, my fellow Gilmore Girls lovers, should have top shot at this for sticking with it. Here's the scoop:  CSN Stores is actually over 200 stores that sell everything from bed sets to fire pits to school room furniture.  I've got my eye on a new bookcase...or two.  Or perhaps a nice big reading chair for my bedroom.  The sites are easy to navigate and you can even get quotes.

To enter the giveaway, just leave me a comment with your email address.  If you are participating in the challenge, please be sure to remind me to earn an extra chance to win!  I will announce the winner on November 1st.

Almost Half Way There!

How's everybody doing? Theoretically, we should be through half of the books we planned to read - I'm 1/10th. I definitely took on too many books for review in May and that graduate in the picture? I had one of those at my house. Even though the party was planned for outdoors, this is Nebraska and anything can happen at any given hour, weatherwise, so the entire house had to be cleaned, top to bottom. Whew--very proud of the kid but just as happy as he was to be done hitting the books, I was anxious to start hitting the books!

Do you summer plans involve more reading or do you find yourself having less time to read in the summer?

Three Months Down--How's Everybody Doing?

Well this is embarrassing--we're a quarter of the way through the year, through the challenge, and I have yet to read a single book for it. I promised myself, back in December that I wasn't going to accept so many review books. But Trish and Lisa at TLC Book Tours keep dangling great books in front of my face like they're some drug I'm desperately addicted to (well, honestly, they are). And, I'm not reading nearly as much as I did last year and as I had anticipated reading this year. I may just have to read "Eloise" soon just to get something on the board!

How are you all doing? I'm enjoying reading your reviews and hope that everyone takes a minute to stop by and say hello when people post new reviews. I'm loving that Mr. Linky in the sidebar--I can see immediately when there's a new review. I have no idea how I got it to work like that so I will never be able to do it again. That's pretty much how most of the things I do on the computer work!

Just for fun, let's say that you're Rory and you're packing for a weekend trip. It's only two days, but you know that Rory would pack far more books than you could reasonably read in that time period. What's sitting in your TBR pile that you'd have to pack to take along?

How's Everybody Doing?

I see that some of you are really hitting the books--you must have been the "A" students! I'm still working on my first book; if I'm going to reach Rory level, I've got to get reading. I raided my daughter's bookshelf and am now working on The Perks of Being a Wallflower, having given up on A Christmas Carol for the time being. I also found Alice in Wonderland and can't wait to read that before the movie comes out.

Speaking of movies, have you signed up for the movie mini-challenge yet? I've watching a couple now but have yet to get reviews written. There are so many movies to choose from; click on the link in the right column.

Leaving Your Reviews

I've added a Mr. Linky in the side bar for you to add your reviews. Also, I've added an "About The Challenge" on the sidebar which has a link back to the list of books for easier reference. Can't wait to see what you're all reading!

Movie Mini-Challenge

I told you there'd be big news this week from Sheila at One Person's Journey Through The World Of Books. And here it is: Sheila is hosting a movie mini-challenge starting today and running through March 8, 2010. There are as many movies referred to in The Gilmore Girls as there are books so the challenge is to fire up that DVD player, grab a cup of coffee (if you're like Sheila) or tea (if you're like me) , prop up your feet and feast your eyes on some of the great and not so great movies on the list. To sign up, head on over to Sheila's blog. Psst--there's a prize involved! Just for watching movies! How great is that?

One More Thing and Something to Look Forward To!

Thanks, Kath, for pointing out to me that I had forgotten to mention that audiobooks can be counted. I love to listen to audiobooks while I work; no way I wouldn't count them!

Also, be sure to check back later this week. We've got a movie mini-challenge coming up, thanks to Sheila from One Person's Journey Through A World of Books.

And We're Off And Reading!

Today is the official kick-off the The Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge! Anybody already reading? I started Charles Dickens' The Christmas Books in December by reading from A Christmas Carol to my family when we were snowed in on Christmas Eve but never got further than the first chapter. So, first up for me is to finish that book.

I'm still trying to work out how we'll post our reviews. For the time being, if you have a review to post, use the Mr. Linky at the bottom of the first post. Put your name and URL in the first box and the name of the book in the second box. If you don't have a blog, just leave a comment in the most recent post with a way to contact you, and I'll get hold of you to get a review we'll post right to the blog.