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?