Autumn Book Challenge Plan

I first started following the Semi-Charmed Kind of Life blog when I saw the button for her Winter Book Challenge on someone's blog. The challenge had already started, but I knew I wanted to stick around so that I could catch the next one. 

Finally, summer came around and I was excited to see her post on the Summer Book Challenge. I guess I'm more competitive than I thought because I set my mind to the fact that I was going to be one of the first people to finish this challenge. When I had the chance, I was reading. I became a little obsessive with it. At some points, I was reading more than one book at a time which is something I never do. Anyway, it paid off. I finished the challenge within 2 months and was one of the first 5 to finish. I was proud of myself because I did this while working a full time job and trying to not neglect my duties at home and spending time with my husband.

This year Megan (not me Megan, but Megan from Semi-Charmed Kind of Life blog) is doing an Autumn Book Challenge. One thing I got to do as one of the first finishers of the summer challenge was submit a category for the autumn one. I decided to participate in this one as well, but I'm not in it to win it this time. I just want to complete the challenge. It's too easy for me to become obsessive with it and there are other things I want to read that don't fit into a category.

I do want to share the challenge with you and share my plan. 

Semi-Charmed Autumn 2013 Book Challenge

This challenge comes from Semi-Charmed Kind of Life's blog. You can read the full list of rules for the challenge over there. It runs from October 1-December 31. One change is that you can reread up to 3 books, but I'm going to try not to.

 

The Challenge:
5: Read a book that does not have "the," "a" or "an" in the title.
10: Read a book that has been featured in Oprah's Book Club. This list includes all the books up until 2010. (Submitted by SCSBC13 winner Erin.)
10: Read a book that takes place in the state where you currently live. If you do not live in the U.S., read a book that takes place in the country where you live. (Submitted by SCSBC13 winner Megan.)
15: Read an epistolary novel, which is a book written in letters, emails, diary entries or other documents. See this Goodreads list if you need an idea, but make sure it's actually an epistolary novel first! Goodreads lists aren't verified, so non-epistolary books could have snuck their way on there.
15: Read a book first published in 2013.
15: Read a book with something spooky in the title. (Submitted by SCSBC13 winner Bev.)
20: Read a book with "air," "water," "earth" or "fire" in the title. (Submitted by SCSBC13 winner Gypsi.)
20: Read a book on which a television series has been based (e.g. Orange is the New Black, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Friday Night Lights, etc.).
25: Read a fiction book that has someone’s first and last name in the title (e.g. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Bridget Jones's Diary, etc.).
30: Read two books by the same author. They can be in the same series, but do not have to be. Co-authors do not count (i.e. the author must be the sole author of each book).
35: Read a fiction and nonfiction book about the same topic. (Example: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Woman Who Wasn't There are both about 9/11. I'm planning on doing a whole post with a list of ideas soon, if you care to submit any!)

My Plan:
5 no articles in title: Fly Away by Kristen Hannah
I already have this book in my queue at the library and it fits into this category. 

10 Oprah Book Club: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
I had a hard time picking a book for this category. There are a lot of classics on this list or books that just didn't interest me. (I have a hard time getting through classics!) I finally settled on this Steinbeck book because I liked Of Mice and Men in high school. 

10 State Where I Live:
This was my category idea, but I haven't settled on a book for it yet. Nicholas Sparks' books take place in NC, but I've read all but his new one. I really want to read a new book. Any recommendations for a book set in North Carolina? 
  
15 Epistolary: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
I wasn't happy about this category. I'm not a big fan of reading this type of book and I read 2 in the last challenge- The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Color Purple. I decided on this one because it seemed interesting. Although, I also want to read We Need to Talk about Kevin.

15 Published in 2013: Allegiant by Veronica Roth
I'm excited about this book's release! I've already preordered it, so it's perfect for this category. 

15 Spooky Title:
I'm having a hard time with this one too. I've looked at a lot of lists, but any list I can find for Spooky Titles is full of Spooky Books. I don't want to read a scary book. I thought about rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm going to look at other people's plans and see if I can find something.
 
20 Air, Water, Earth, or Fire: Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts
I also had a hard time with this category. I've already read a lot of books with fire in the title like Catching Fire, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Then, I couldn't find many with the other words in the title. I found this Nora Roberts book for now (I can always depend on NR to have some random title that fits with what I need for a challenge.)

20 TV Series: Under the Dome by Stephen King
I could have made it easy on myself and read something light and fun like Pretty Little Liars. Instead I'm going to give the 1000 page book a try. I really enjoyed the TV series this summer and I know the book will be different, but I think I'll enjoy it.

25 First and Last Name: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
I'm not 100% sure about reading this one, but I found it when I was looking up information on Under the Dome. 

30 2 Books 1 Author: Looking for Alaska by John Greene and Paper Towns by John Greene
I've already read The Fault in Our Stars or I would have paired it with Looking for Alaska since I want to read LFA anyway.

35 Fiction and Nonfiction on 1 topic:
I've had a few ideas on this, but I think I'm going to wait because Megan says she's putting together a post with a list of books that would fall in this category.  

Do you have any suggestions or thoughts on these books/categories? Are you participating in the challenge?