Monday 29 November 2010

Sign In & Challenge Rules



The Easy Challenge

Read one novel from each of these continents in the course of 2011:

Africa
Asia
Australasia
Europe
North America
South America (please include Central America where it is most convenient for you)

The Seventh Continent (here you can either choose Antarctica or your own ´seventh´ setting, eg the sea, the space, a supernatural/paranormal world, history, the future – you name it).

From your own continent: try to find a country, state or author that is new to you.


The Medium Challenge
Read two novels from each of these continents in the course of 2011:

Africa
Asia
Australasia
Europe
North America
South America (please include Central America where it is most convenient for you)

The Seventh Continent

Try to find novels from fourteen different countries or states.


The Expert Challenge
Read three novels from each of these continents in the course of 2010:

Africa
Asia
Australasia
Europe
North America
South America (please include Central America where it is most convenient for you)
The Seventh Continent

Select novels from twenty-one different countries or states if possible. (For Australasia, selecting a different state for your last book will be acceptable)

Please use Mr Linky to sign in with your name and blog address if you want to participate, and tell me in a comment which level you choose (you can always upgrade later).

Spam and commercials are not wanted - only information and blogs about books.

135 comments:

  1. I'm going to go for Medium as I think I can probably manage that from my TBR, if I manage to get that under control next year then maybe I'll upgrade towards the end of the year :)

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  2. I'm also in for Medium since can always upgrade at a later stage, I think.

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  3. Medium for me too.

    Glad to see you join again.

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  4. Please put me in for the Medium, with my Seventh Continent as History.

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  5. I'm such a ditz, I forgot to remove the Caribou Island bit when I did the Linky. Ignore that!

    Signing up again, going for Expert this time! I can't wait :)

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  6. Norman: with pleasure.

    1girl2many..: no problem as long as we can see who you are. Glad there are some brave experts also.

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  7. Just a thought but I think that the Spanish speaking countries such as Mexico and Cuba should be in with the rest of Latin America, and not North America. ;o)

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  8. Norman: I have tried to come up with a Salomonic solution.

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  9. OK, this year I'm in. Since I'm new to it, I'll try for Medium. Thanks, Dorte!

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  10. I'm in for this year! I'm going to aim high and go for the Expert level. :-)

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  11. Karen: you´re welcome.

    Carina: yay! And you have 12 months :D

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  12. This is my first time doing this challenge and I'm going for the Easy Challenge to start off with. I've found that it's best not to plan too far ahead with my reading. But I really hope that I'll get through to the Expert Level.

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  13. I've decided on the Medium. Looking forward to participating.

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  14. If I am going to jump in I am going to jump in at the deep end and try to complete the expert level. I have always enjoyed reading books from all parts of the world. As you have pointed out there are twelve months in which to take this journey,which begins with reading one page.

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  15. Margaret, April and Condorena: it is great to see new people participate!

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  16. Dorte H - I look forward to joining the Reading Challenge. Although I have never done anything like this, I will try to complete the requirements of the expert level.

    On the other hand, I can't master the task of signing in to join. I am completely confused about signing in with the URL.

    Beth

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  17. Hi Beth.

    In the first field you write your name, e.g. Beth - murderbytype.

    In the second you put your ´blog address´ which is http://murderbytype.wordpress.com/

    And if you are in doubt how to link to your reviews, just come back and ask me when you have written the first one. You are not the only one who is confused the first time.

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  18. Like Condorena, I am also going to jump in and go for the expert level. My seventh continent will be history.

    I am looking forward to this.

    Beth

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  19. I'm in Dorte and looking back at my reading habits over the past six months, I think it is ok for me to aim for the Expert Challenge. Sorry, I forgot to write my name when I added to Mr. Linky. My name is Robbie.

    Also, I just wanted to clarify...do the stories have to be SET on a particular continent or is the aim for the author to be FROM that continent?

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  20. Hi Robbie.

    Well, I am not going to run after you and tell you off no matter what you read, but personally I´d go for novels set on the continent so I can get an impression of the country in question via my book.

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  21. Dorte, this Mr Linky is still not using the 2011 one? I think if you put the code in for the 2011 one, I can probably work out how to add everybody who has already subscribed into it (before there are too many)

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  22. Kerrie, this is the only one - because I made it before I could find the new one. Now I have added the 2011 Mr Linky but kept the old one just in case.
    Thank you for your assistance.

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  23. I think I messed up by linking to the wrong year the first time. 2011 will be my first time for the challenge and I'm setting out to accomplish the "medium" level.

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  24. All fixed Dorte - you can remove the old one now

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  25. Ooh, I love a new challenge! I'm committing to the Easy level.

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  26. I'm joining in! Look for my post about the challenge on Sunday. I'll link up then.

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  27. Jupiter: fine beginning.
    Beth: see you on Sunday.
    Kerrie: I thought you would ;D

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  28. Hi Dorte,

    This is my first time doing this challenge. It looks like fun! I think I'll start with the Easy level and hopefully upgrade to Medium later. I'll link up when I finish the post about it.

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  29. Hi,

    I'll go for the easy level first.

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  30. Hi Sharon and Amey.

    I hope you´re going to enjoy your books.

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  31. I'm really looking forward to this, esp. with the new fantasy world category.

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  32. I am doing the expert challenge. My seventh continent will be paranormal.

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  33. Hi Dorte -
    We are all signed up in Mr Linky with a perma linked post. I am getting better at this. :)

    Starting at the beginner level, and may move up as the year continues since there are two of us.
    Thanks!

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  34. Hi!
    This is my first challenge and I am very excited!
    I`m going to go for medium for now, but will hopefully be able to upgrade to medium.

    Christa
    Christashookedonbooks.blogspot.com

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  35. Beth, Hillary, Shellie & Christa:

    great to have you on board!

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  36. Hello! I'm new to this whole 'reading challenge' thing; this is the first one I am officially planning in participating in. It sounds really interesting and should help me find some new books I wouldn't read otherwise. I'll be aiming for medium =)

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  37. Dorte....this looks great. I plan to join and will do my post in a week or two; thanks so much

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  38. Hi, Dorte. Chanced upon your blog, and have signed up at the Easy level. Can I upgrade later if I can read more? Thank you for hosting such a great challenge.

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  39. I would love to join this challenge...the easy level. I have one concern though...does it have to be a novel?

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  40. Reno: I am glad I have tempted you.
    Diane: you´re welcome.
    Sandhya: oh yes, you are always welcome to upgrade.
    Seongyosa: no, it can also be memoirs or non-fiction. Or e.g. an anthology of short stories from the continent in question.

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  41. great challenge. i am not a big one for these, but something about this is striking me...my reading has occasionally veered off to other countries, but for the past couple years has been heavily british & american. it'll be a lot of fun to look for some books from other continents, and to read everyone else's reviews!

    i'm going to start off at the easy challenge...i live in macedonia (that is, not near any english-language bookstores) and i don't want to assume that i'll be able to get ahold of more than one book from each continent. hopefully i'll be able to move up!

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  42. Ellen: I know what it is like; I buy most of my books from abroad!

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  43. Easy level for me but at least i hope I'll get to complete it :). Thanks for this challenge, Dorte.

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  44. Lilly: it´s a pleasure to have you and all the new participants!

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  45. I will try for the Expert Challenge, which might offer a structured way to tackle my To Be Read pile. Haven't quite decided on a Seventh Continent, but it may be Utopia or Imaginary Countries. Thanks for the idea - hopefully it might give some impetus to my To Be Read blog, http://publicsphere.typepad.com/toberead blog.
    I would like to start with something that is very clearly set in Copenhagen - can you help?

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  46. Hi Meditations.

    I take it you want a novel which is GOOD and also translated into English?

    In that case the only one that springs to my mind immediately is Peter Høgh´s excellent "Miss Smilla´s Feeling for Snow" (1992). It begins in Copenhagen, and though the ending is set in Greenland, I´d say it gives you an interesting view of the Danish society.

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  47. Please count me in, it sounds like fun!

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  48. Since we are so close to the beginning of the challenge, I need some direction.

    Are two or more people allowed to read the same book?

    Do we have to submit a list of what we are going to read before we do so?

    Where do we post the reviews?

    I realize that the answer to my questions may be right here, but I haven't managed to find my way to them.

    Thanks.

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  49. Hi,

    I'm really looking forward to this challenge and have my books picked out.

    Sign me up for Medium and my Seventh Continent is: Outer Space.

    Regards,

    Dana

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  50. Dana & Sharon: welcome!

    Murderbytype:
    1.Everybody can read the same books - I hope you´ll get inspiration by reading other participants´ reviews.
    2.No. You may, but even if you do, you are free to change your opinion as often as you like.
    3.You´ll have to have a blog so you can come here and link to your reviews.

    Hope this clears it up. If not, just ask again.

    Cheers, Dorte.

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  51. This challenge sounds like lots of fun, count me in!

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  52. Medium for me please! I didn't pull it off for 2010 but this time I have the whole year!! Oh and for those of you who don't have a blog but want to participate.. set up an account with goodreads.com. It creates a personal page for you that acts as a sort of blog. You can even post links that go directly to your reviews! Oh! And friend me if you do join, just let me know you found me through this site!

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  53. Good idea, Paz. Of course you can post your reviews anywhere you like :D

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  54. I'm going to start with the Easy Challenge, but we'll see! Thanks for hosting.

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  55. I’ve joined this one as well at the medium level (14 novels). Between these two, this will leave me space for other reading as well (like the self-imposed Booker Long List Challenge that I do every year.

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  56. Thank you for the challenge!

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  57. Carrie, Chazz & Scribacchina: you are welcome!

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  58. Great idea for a challenge! I'm in for the easy challenge. I only blog about books about books, but I will have a page of updates for my reading challenges.

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  59. This is a great opportunity for me to read from all over the world. I am participating in the Easy Challenge.

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  60. I'm going to try this for the first time. I like to read a lot of books in translation, so I'm going to try for the Expert level.

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  61. I'm going to try the easy level, but expect I'll move up to another level later.

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  62. Hi! I'm going to start with the easy level because I don't know how much time I'll be able to devote to reading for the next few months. I guess we'll see. I hope to upgrade.

    Cassandra

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  63. This is my first time doing this challenge and I'm going for the Easy Challenge to start off with. I already have one Challenges I have to complete and I have my book club. And that makes a total of 31 books I have to read, and even know I am going to read more I would like to descide some of the books myself :D

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  64. Wow! 50 participants already!

    Welcome to all of you!

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  65. I'm going to attempt the Expert Level...lol. I'm too competitive even with myself, but hopefully I can pull this off! I will definitely have a blast trying. :D

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  66. Yikes I almost forgot to actually sign up! I must remember to post reviews this year, not just to the reading bit.

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  67. I'm excited! This is a great idea. I love the idea of getting suggestions and recommendations from everyone. I'm in for the expert level... Happy Travels!

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  68. Hi, am looking forward to finding a whole lot of good books here, I'm entering at medium, hopefully retaining the option to upgrade if all goes well.
    Thanks
    Parrish.

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  69. Welcome everybody, and Iasa, there is plenty of time.

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  70. Dorte, I want to post about the reading challenge on my blog, www.murderbytype.wordpress.com, Sunday or Monday.

    I understand the challenge levels well enough, I think, to be able to present that information, but how best do I direct anyone who is interested to this site?

    For my part in the challenge, I am eager to take part.

    Happy New Year.

    Beth

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  71. I tried to do this challenge last year and fell off the wagon about halfway through the year. (Life was just too busy!)

    With a much lighter load this year, I'm in again, and just to make things difficult I'm going for expert. My seventh continent is the future. :)

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  72. Beth: I would think a link is sufficient, and of course you can use the new button, if you like (I think it is a cool map I found). And happy New Year to you!

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  73. This will be my first Reading Challenge (unless you count those grade school challenges for pizza rewards ;)

    I'll start with the easy challenge, and hopefully work my way up.

    Good luck everyone!

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  74. Dorte, my blog post (www.murderbytype.wordpress.com)on January 3, suggests to anyone reading it that they sign on to your reading challenge.

    I haven't mastered links but I copied and pasted information from this site and the web address so this blog should be easy to find (I hope).

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  75. I don't have a blog, so I'm hoping I can just post to Comment. I'm in--at Easy. Looking forward to it!

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  76. I am aiming for the Medium challenge.

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  77. I've read my first book for the challenge. I would assume that Afghanistan counts as Asia - here's my review of Atiq Rahimi's A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear: http://bit.ly/fOn914

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  78. Katie: of course you can, but as Blogger blogs (like this one) are free of charge, you could also set up one and try it. No pressure, though, it is your choice.

    IndieReader: yes, Afghanistan must be Asia.

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  79. Easy level for now!

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  80. Thanks for hosting this challenge.

    I am in !

    Looking forward to reading with you :)

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  81. I'm going for easy, for now. If it goes well, I may upgrade. :) Thanks for the interesting challenge!

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  82. I'm participating in several challenges, but all are included on one page on my blog. I can't wait to get started on this one.

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  83. Im gonna go for the easy but probably upgrade to medium and my seventh continent will probably be sea :-) and I really must stop signing up for challenges!

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  84. I am very excited to have accidently found this web-site. Am a lover of mysteries, but not too bloody, had to steel myself to read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but am glad I read all three. Especially like mysteries set in different countries. Like to write myself and have an idea for a mystery using music titles.

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  85. I've got a lot of goals for this year, so I'm only going to be able to do the Easy Challenge this year. Maybe next year I can do the Expert level.

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  86. Welcome to a new handful of participants. I hope you are going to enjoy this!

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  87. Dorte, and everyone else who is participating in the Global Challenge, my apologies for the posts from my blog that keep showing up here.

    I do not know how to fix it. I took down the link from by blog to this one but those posts keep comhttp://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/central/ing.

    If anyone has a suggestion about how to remedy this, please let me know.

    I have learned an important lesson - I should never do anything with the blog without specific instructions from my son.

    Beth

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  88. Hello Dorte et al,

    I'm going to try for the Expert level, since I've been working my way through novels in exotic settings for a while.

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  89. Beth: I am not quite sure which ones you want me to remove.

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  90. Dorte, the only two that qualify for the reading challenge are THE HUNTER (Japan) and THE STRANGE CASE OF THE COMPOSER AND HIS JUDGE (France).

    The rest are books I read before the first of the year or guest posts, or opinion.

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  91. Great challenge. This is my first year, so I'll go for easy.

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  92. Dorte, my name is in two spots on the list of participants. Can you erase me from spot #16 and #74?

    If I can be removed as a participant, I can set up another blog just for the challenge. That should end the annoying flood of posts from my blog that have nothing to do with your blog.

    Thanks.

    Beth



















    3

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  93. Beth - I've removed oyur links as requested. Kerrie

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  94. What a great idea! I may be shooting myself in the foot here, but I'm going for the expert level. Looking forward to it :)

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  95. Thank you, Kerrie.

    Welcome, Jessie and Melissa.

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  96. Fun! I'm going to try for the easy level for now...

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  97. I'm coming in at the Easy level...hopefully I will surpass that!

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  98. Just like Keesh, put me down for the Easy Level. Hopefully I too will surpass it !

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  99. I have created a blog just for this challenge. Everything I posted to www.murderbytype.wordpress.com was posting on this challenge so I am only posting reviews for this blog on www.bcreadingchallenge.wordpress.com.

    Beth

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  100. I'm going to go for the easy challenge at the moment. Thanks for organizing this!

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  101. What a great way to bring all of these authors and readers together. One of my patients told me about this Challenge last week. I'll go for the EASY level for 2011 and see how I fair.
    Thanks,
    Jen

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  102. Hi Dorte,

    I'm going for the easy challenge and hoping to upgrading that later. Here is the link to my page: http://katha-collage.blogspot.com/p/2011-global-reading-challenge.html

    Thanks a lot for this initiative!

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  103. Michelle, Jen and Rutuja:

    Welcome - nice to have you here :D

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  104. Sorry I thought I'd signed in already. I'm curious...what qualifies? Are we looking for authors from that country, or books that take place in that country? Fiction? Non-fiction?

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  105. Oh sorry...more questions. Do they need to be adult literature? Or is YA acceptable?

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  106. SpitFire: I´d say authors from (or living in) that country, and of course you learn more about the place if it also takes place there.

    And a book is a book, so fiction, non-fiction (that tells you something about the place), YA etc are all fine. And with nearly 100 participants I am not going to come and police you anyway ;)

    Have fun reading & learning something about new places; that is what it is about :D

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  107. Hi, I'm a bit late... but better late than never. I'm signing up for the Medium Challenge!

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  108. Right. I'm upgrading to Medium, as the Easy has already been surpassed!!

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  109. Hi there. I'm going for the easy challenge. I'm such a chicken, but if I get enthusiastic I might upgrade it!

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  110. Hi I have just found this and will try the Easy one to begin with. I may well upgrade depending on how long it takes me to complete this stage.

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  111. Welcome anyone, also the chickens (no discrimination here ;D)

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  112. I am back and going for easy. Here's hoping I can "easily" complete the challenge-- ha ha!

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  113. I'm already doing a Global Reading Challenge, though mine is a long term - reading one book by an author from every country in the world - challenge, but just wanted to wish everyone good luck & I think I may have found a place for some inspirations!

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  114. beastmomma: I´m sure you can :)

    Ceinwenn: a fine idea - good luck to you, and I hope you will find plenty of inspiration.

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  115. THE OCTOBER KILLINGS is an interesting look at apartheid. A brutal murder takes place when white militia men invade a meeting of the African Congress and kill the people there. A young militia man saves the life of the daughter on two of the leaders. Years later, he comes to Abigail for help. Someone is killing the men who participated in the attack.

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  116. I'll be upgrading to the medium challenge, I think. I'm having an easier time than I expected finding books.

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  117. Hi, Dorte,

    Earlier this morning I dropped by to thank you for your lovely comment and to say, yes, Heath knew he kissed Haley. :) When I hit "post comment", my screen locked. Twenty minutes later, I had to go to the grocery and closed my screen manually. I've just returned home and opened your blog...I didn't see my avatar so hit To Follow You. I had problems posting links yesterday as Internet Explorer would quit working. Some links I thought I'd put in the post didn't show up when I published. Last year I had an odd day or two of blogging only to learn Google had re-formated some things. I know too little about computers to know, but I do apologize.

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  118. Kittie: but you do follow my ´own´ blog, DJ´s krimiblog.

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  119. Better late than never? I'm in at the Easy level. Off we go!

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  120. Deb: plenty of time & good luck.

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  121. Hi Dorte,
    I chanced upon your blog via Sandhya's. And loved the challenge. I am joining for the 1st time and will be starting off with the Easy level hoping to upgrade to the next levels soon :) Thanks for hosting this challenge and providing us more inspiration to read!!
    Simran

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  122. Hi Simran. Thank you, & you are welcome on board.

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  123. I just found this site from another blog and am really excited to start this... i going to aim for the easy challenge at this stage.... with the plan to upgrade if i manage to finish it..

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  124. I completed the challenge! Wasn't sure if you had a place to link a wrap-up post, so I'll just put it here. Thanks for hosting, Dorte! I really enjoyed doing it! -Kelly
    http://ksrgmck.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/2011-global-reading-challenge-completed/

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  125. E: nice to have you on board.

    Kelly: I am glad you have had some good reading experiences :)

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  126. Had already kind of started this so wanted to keep going! :) Thanks!

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  127. Hope it's not too late to sign up for this! I'm gonna try to complete the easy challenge!

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  128. Here's my wrap-up post, Dorte.
    http://arightowrite.blogspot.com/2012/01/2011-reading-challenges-wrap-up.html

    I didn't finish the challenge, but had fun!

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  129. Very nice article, I enjoyed reading your post, very nice share, I want to twit this to my followers. Thanks!. performer lis

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