Dewey's Knit-Along: step one

I'm doing the knit-along challenge and I'll post about it on my regular blog when I actually have anything interesting to say. My progress so far: I have located the pattern for the Booga Bag I plan to knit:
I have arranged to borrow the right size needles.

I have some yarn I think will work.

Chunkster Challenge

For this challenge I have to commit to reading at least two adult books over 450 pages each. I'm counting David Copperfield as one, hopefully that's not cheating since I already started it. Should be okay since I have more than 450 pages to go. The other one will be A Fine Balance, which will also count for the Diversity Challenge.

Blog goals

I'm really excited about Kim's Blog Improvement Project but I haven't been sure where to post about it. After all, I have three main blogs: Worducopia, my Diversity Rocks! challenge blog, and my personal blog. And this blog, which I started to keep track of my other challenges because I didn't want to clutter up my other blogs with them.

The Blog Improvement Project doesn't feel like clutter to me at all, but because some of it applies to multiple blogs, it feels odd to post it on just one of those. So, I'm posting it here.

The first assignment is to come up with goals for 2009.

1. Posting frequency: I want to remain a little vague about this because this isn't a job, I do it for fun. I don't post if I don't want to. I guess you could call that a goal in itself.
Worducopia: post at least 1-2 book reviews, plus at least one other post, per week.
Diversity Rocks: post book recommendations or relevant links every week or two.
Alirambles (my personal blog): post at least once a week.

2. Broaden my reading: more diverse authors, and add some genre reading. I'll be looking for suggestions.

3. Participate in the blogging community
Leaving comments, hosting a challenge, helping run Weekly geeks (it starts this weekend!), and so on. And yet...

4. Choose memes carefully. I want to be practicing my writing and making a contribution when I blog. "Coke or Pepsi?" doesn't do either, no matter how much I like the person who asked the question. And the whole "tag 6 people" thing is a little too reminiscent of chain letters. That said, I like the awards and am flattered when people pick me. So, I'll do some, but not feel obligated. And I'll be very choosy about the weekly memes, also--only participating if I feel inspired.

5. Learn:
How to post a vlog
How to use tabs to have different "pages" in Blogger
How to get my rss feeds to tweet automatically
How to manage Twitter so it's not a mish mash of overwhelming stuff. Possible?
Maybe even do some giveaways (not a learning thing, but a stretching thing)

6. More:
exploring classic literature, kid reviews, author interviews,

7. Finish my book and send it out. Yes, this is related to blogging. It means I need to prioritize my writing time, and if that occasionally means pausing the blogging for a bit, so be it.

Dewey's Books Challenge

The Dewey's Books Reading Challenge involves reading books that Dewey reviewed on her blog before she passed away in November. It's being done as a tribute to Dewey, and that's my reason for participating--as a way of connecting with other folks who were touched in any way by her presence on the blogosphere.

I'm committing to reading five books:

How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff
Looking for Alaska - John Green
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Vol 1 - M.T.Anderson
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Alternate (am I allowed an alternate? Because I'm a little afraid about the Rosoff book, even though I hear it's wonderful. I'm not a big fan of the futuristic stuff, generally)

The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett

World Citizen Challenge

I signed up for The World Citizen Challenge, which I love because it doesn't require much of a commitment in terms of books. I can read one book, for the World Citizenship 101 Level, or I can move up to a higher level.

After looking at Eva's suggested reading lists, I'm thinking I will read at least one of the following books:

The Soul of Iran: A Nation’s Journey to Freedom by Afshin Molavi. Since Molavi is Iranian, this one would also count for my Diversity Rocks challenge. I also think this would be a good follow-up to My Father's Paradise, a memoir of the son of a Kurdish Iranian which I read in 2008.

Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War by Anthony Shadid. Eva says: Night Draws Near, published in 2005, is reporter Anthony Shadid’s story of the impact of the war on regular Iraqi citizens. Since he is Lebanonese-American and fluent in Arabic, he was able to become quite close to several Iraqis. (see her full review) . So, this would also fit for Diversity Rocks, and would make a nice follow-up to Sunrise in Fallujah, a novel I recently read.

Fault Lines: Journeys into the New South Africa by David Goodman. Publishers Weekly says it "profiles four pairs of people who dramatize the country's current conflicts and contradictions." I haven't paid as much attention to South Africa as I'd like, this past decade or so. So, the appeal of this book is that it would bring me up to speed.

I'm really looking forward to checking out these books! If I read all three of them I'll have completed the Minor level--so I guess I'm sort of unofficially aiming for that.

YA Reading Challenge

I'm joining the YA reading challenge, because what are the chances of me not reading 12 young adult books in a year? Here are J. Kaye's guidelines:

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.

2. Read 12 Young Adult novels. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

3. Challenge begins January thru December, 2009.

4. You can join anytime between now and December 31, 2009

Here's my list, as it stands now. It consists of the YA books on my shelf, plus a few titles that fit the Diversity Rocks! challenge. If you'd like to join me in Diversity Rocks, all you need to do is include at least one author of color in your YA Challenge reading list. YA suggestions will be posted on the Diversity Rocks! site within the next few days.

1. Janes in Love, by Cecil Castelluci (because I loved The Plain Janes!)
2. Beige, by Cecil Castellucci (see above)
3. Boy Proof, by Cecil Castellucci (you're getting the idea now, right?)
4. Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier (because it was recommended for the Diversity Rocks challenge)
5. Thaw, by Monica Roe (because of a review on somebody's blog last week)
6. Bog Child, by Siobhan Dowd (because it's set in Ireland)
7. The Rules of Survival, by Nancy Werlin (I don't remember why, but it's on my shelf)
8. something by Jacqueline Woodson (because she was recommended for the Diversity Rocks challenge)
9. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (overlaps with Dewey's books challenge)
10. Looking for Alaska (also John Green)
11. Cracked up to Be
12. How I Live Now by Meg Rossoff or The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, vol. 1 (overlaps with Dewey's books challenge)

Diversity Rocks! Challenge

This one's my challenge, so I should really do my post about it. Trouble is, until I commit to my other challenges, I'm not quite sure what books I'm reading for this one, so I'll have to update this post as I go along.

I'm addressing this challenge in two ways:

1) I hope to read and review at least two books by authors of color each month in the year 2009.

2) In every challenge I commit to, I'll include books by authors of color.

I'm not committing to a certain number or percentage. Simply by organizing the challenge, I'm finding myself in a whole new section of the (virtual) bookstore, and I know that in itself will have a huge impact on my reading habits for 2009. In my Graphic Novels challenge list, 4 out of 6 titles cross with Diversity Rocks. Two of them are on my shelf, waiting for the challenge to begin. January 1st will be here soon!