Cataluna's 1010 Challenge

I've been trying to come up with a combination of titles that I'll enjoy reading, stuff I should have read and some I have, but was that long ago I can't remember when I read it.

I'm also sneakily using my categories so that I can buy more books in 2010 :)

Here's my ideas so far, which might change depending on what I can get my hands on easily. There are some titles that fit into more than one category, so I'll see how I go filling each one. Not that I think that will be a problem.

1. I Will Slay Your Monster - Classic Horror Novels

2. Truer Than Fiction - Non Fiction

3. On My Word - All Austen, All the Time

4. Another One Bites The Dust - Books Made into Movies/TV Shows

5. Here's Your Orange Sherbert Sir - Popular Penguins

6. Picture This - Graphic Novels

7. Dearly Departed - Random titles from our discards table

8. Nut Up or Shut Up! - Zombies, Zombies, Zombies!

9. A Loving Heart is the Truest Wisdom - Charles Dickens

10. Heaving Bosoms - Romance Novels Of Various Flavour

Other possible ideas I'm thinking about:

Horses
Vampires
Book Club
Biographies
Like Whatever - YA Fiction
Flattery Becomes You - Parody Novels

1. I Will Slay Your Monster - Classic Horror Novels

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
2. Classic Tales of Horror by Various - I couldn't find the correct touchstone for this.
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Possible choices:

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
Beowulf
The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft
Grimms Fairytales
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
The Vampyre by John William Polidori
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

2. Truer Than Fiction - Non Fiction

1. Dear Me: A Letter To My Sixteen-Year-Old Self edited by Joseph Galliano
2. The Secret lives of men and women: a PostSecret book by Frank Warren
3. The Usborne Book of Famous Paintings by Rosie Dickins
4. At Home With Books Estelle Ellis
5. Love Vintage: A Passion for Collecting Fashion by Nicole Jenkins
6. 856826::The Other 51 Weeks by Lee Welch
7. 149628::Fundamentals of children's services by Michael Sullivan
8. 9352415::Dreaming of Dior by Charlotte Smith
9. Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard
10. Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak by writers famous and obscure

Possible choices:

3. On My Word - All Austen, All the Time

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Possible choices:

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Lady Susan by Jane Austen
The Watsons by Jane Austen (also published as The Younger Sister by Catherine Hubback)
Sanditon by Jane Austen
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown
Mr Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange
At least one Jane Austen biography
Confessions of a Jane Austen addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters

4. Another One Bites The Dust - Books Made Into Movies/TV Shows

1. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
2. The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening by L.J. Smith
3. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
5. Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
6. Call me Mrs. Miracle by Debbie Macomber
7. The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
8. The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
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10.

Possible choices:

Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith
The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
I Am Legend novel by Richard Matheson
Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
Flashforward by Robert Sawyer

5. Here's Your Orange Sherbert Sir - Popular Penguins

1. One Hundred Great Books in Haiku by David Bader
2. Poems of John Keats by John Keats
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Possible choices:

Of a Boy by Sonya Hartnett
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
Junky by William S Burroughs
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

6. Picture This - Graphic Novels

1. Ghost Rider: Vicious Cycle by Daniel Way
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future for You by Brian K. Vaughan and Joss Whedon.
3. Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter Guilty Pleasures Volume One by Laurel K. Hamilton
4. Simon's Cat by Simon Tofield
5. Water Baby by Ross Campbell
6. Burnout Rebecca Donner
7. Lenore: Noogies by Roman Dirge
8. Angel: Autumnal by Christopher Golden
9. Avalon High: Coronation by Meg Cabot
10. Jack Said by Paul Tanter

For some reason touchstones 6 & 10 are incorrect & I can't change them.

Possible choices:

30 days of Night by Steve Niles
Watchmen by Alan Moore
The Darkness by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl.
Buffy & Angel by Various
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan
The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman
Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind by Brett Matthews
Skim by Mariko Tamaki
American Born Chinese

7. Dearly Departed - Random titles from our discards table

1. Came Back To Show You I Could Fly by Robin Klein
2. Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews
3. 13 More Tales of Terror ed. by A Finnis
4. Night Game by Christine Feehan
5. Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud
6. Baby Bonanza by Maureen Child
7. Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais
8. Mackenzie’s Mountain by Linda Howard
9. Spellbound by Nora Roberts
10.

Possible choices:

8. Nut Up or Shut Up! - Zombies, Zombies, Zombies!

1. Zombie Blondes by Brian James
2. Love in a Time of Zombies by Paul Gude
3. The Peculiar Superpowers of Eleanor Armstrong by K. A Schloegel
4. Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow
5. Never slow dance with a zombie by E. Van Lowe
6. The Zombie Chronicles: Escape by James Melzer
7. Trailer Park Zombies by Jason H. Jones
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Possible choices:

Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter by A. E. Moorat
Generation Dead series by Daniel Walters
World War Z
Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

9. A Loving Heart is the Truest Wisdom - Charles Dickens

1. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
2. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
3. The Signal Man by Charles Dickens
4. The Black Veil by Charles Dickens
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Possible choices:

A Tale of Two Cities
Bleak House
The Old Curiosity Shop
David Copperfield
The Cricket on the Hearth (I read this most Christmas', a tradition started long ago).
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
The Pickwick Papers
Great Expectations
A biography of Dickens

10. Heaving Bosoms - Romance Novels Of Various Flavour

1. Nauti Intentions by Lora Leigh
2. Speed Bumps by Ken Casper
3. In the Groove by Pamela Britton
4. Total Control by Pamela Britton
5. Male Call: Hot Zone 1 by Denise A. Agnew
6. In Her Defense by Denise A. Agnew
7. Black Jack by Lora Leigh
8. Ice by Linda Howard
9. No Longer Mine by Shiloh Walker
10. Shoot to Thrill by Nina Bruhns

Possible choices:

Back in Black by Lori Foster
Sweet Surrender by Maya Banks
Here, Kitty Kitty by Shelley Laurenston
Heat Seeker by Lora Leigh
Alpha by Rachel Vincent
Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle

Yay! A whole category of zombie love! Zombies nearly overtook my Monster Mash. I also have quite a few of the Austen knockoffs too. I'm starring your thread!

Hi VictoriaPL,

I quite like your list of categories, I'm having trouble just picking ten, I keep finding more books, which I then try to fit into my categories. I hadn't heard of either war of the worlds or the zombie OZ books, I'll have to check them out.

I like your ideal of a Bonus Category, I may have to use that :)

I love your categories, especially the one devoted to Penguins. I just picked up a few books from Penguin's Great Ideas set.

Another One Bites The Dust - Books Made Into Movies/TV Shows

Best name for a category. Ever.

I will definitely be keeping an eye on your thread :) You have some interesting reads for possibilities and I'm excited to see what you think of them!

I've decided to change my YA section to Dickens, as I'll already have a number of YA titles in other sections. Plus I've been wanting to read Dickens for some time.

I'm also thinking of changing my parody genre and perhaps my 1001 section, as quite a few I'm planning to read are in my other picks. I'm just not 100% sure what to - I have to stop reading everyone elses lists, they're giving me too many good suggestions!

>16 cataluna:: I know what you mean. I actually had a Dickens category but changed it because so many people kept giving me suggestions for really excellent polar nonfiction books (a weird obsession of mine). Besides, I figured most of Charles Dickens's works could fit into my "Big Classics" category :P

#17 My Poppa loved Dickens and I've always wanted to read more of his books. I thought this would be the perfect chance to read more.

I've got quite a few books that overlap too, if I'm lucky I'll get the chance to read them all. I'll have to wait and see how uni treats me, fingers crossed I don't have too much course work/books to read for it.

Is it your first year? I'm on my last and I know the last two and a half months, I got zero pleasure reading done (ok, I may have sneaked in one or two books, but still). It was a lot easier when I was a freshman, though. I hope you get more time to read than I di!

#19 I'm starting my 4th year (via distance), I'm almost done, hopefully I've only got 2 more years. I'm trying to do extra subjects this year to put myself ahead. Not sure if it's a good idea yet, but I'll see how I go. I always find it hard to leave books I really want to read to do school work, but I've got until March next year to read as much as I want, just for me, definately taking advantage of that!

>20 cataluna:: I'm a sixth year right now at my university. I'll graduate with my bachelor's in the spring and then it's on to three years of grad school so I can two masters (possibly three - a school I'm considering doesn't offer graduate assistantships in the masters program I want to I might have to double up with a different masters that does offer an assistantship and work on both at the same time).

For some reason, I always seem to get the most reading done when I have something due. When I have free time, I find it easy to get distracted by TV or something else but as soon as there's a paper due, I'm finishing books like they'll all be gone in a week :P Ah well, that's my form of procrastination.

Speaking of procrastination, I should probably get off of LT and work on my paper that's due in two days :(

#21 I'm a bit the same, I always think, I'll just read a chapter or two, an hour later and I'm still reading. At this stage when I finish my degree, I'm having a break from study, I decide if I want to do anymore after that.

How did you go with your paper?

I've decided to change another category. I've added "Dearly Departed - Random titles from our discards table", instead of 1001, as I'm already tracking my progress in that group. I'm still undecided about my parody section. Although it would be fun, I don't know if it would be 10 books fun. Decisions, decisions...I've got 11 days to make the final picks.

I've changed my parody section to non fiction. I don't have a genre for it, but it will have a bit of everything, there are some bios I want to read and my uni texts can go here too.

I've started my first book for this challenge, beginning with the a book from 'Another One Bites The Dust' category.

I really enjoyed the movie Speak, so I'm looking forward to the book, I know from a couple of conversations that a few things have been changed, (ending at least), but hopefully it's not too different.

I've decided to do my reviews in my 100 book challenge tread, which is here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/79513

I figure that since I'll read more than what is on my 1010 list it would be easier to keep track of reviews if they're all on the one thread.

I've been very lax with adding the books I've read in Jan/Feb, I'll have to get my butt into gear and add them.

I've read my second Dickens', and I'm understanding why it was my poppa enjoyed his works so much. A Tale of Two Cities was fantastic, although I found it challenging at times. I've also read some great graphic novels in the past month.

I've been frantically trying to finish as many books as possible before I start back at uni in March, I finished Nauti Intentions tonight and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The Nauti series has been a favourite since the start, there's a good mix of suspense, hotness and funnies.

I have so many books to read at the moment, I'm in danger of trying to read them all at once!

I finished the first in the Vampire Diaries series last week and I have to say how disappointing it was. I began, trying to keep in mind that the book and TV series would be different, but Elena is such an unlikeable character. She's self-centered, selfish and has no redeeming qualities. Stefan seems even more angsty in the book, which I don't really mind. I'm still going to read the rest of the series, I'm hoping the books improve as the series continues.

I'm now thinking I don't want to reread the Night World series, which I loved when I was in high school. It's funny how there's some books from childhood that I could happily read over and over (Anne of Green Gables or Gypsy from Nowhere), but others (Gulliver's Travels or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), that I could quite happily never read again!

My friend and I discovered the wonderful, wonderful world of NASCAR Mills & Boon - Oh! The Joy!! We've been cracking up ever since. We found about 6 in the series and have read two so far. The first - Speed Bumps was better than In the Groove, but I'm looking forward to reading more. I'll have to add reviews during the week. Highly amusing and easy to read, which is exactly what I need at the moment.

I've been so busy with uni the last couple of weeks, the only reading I've really been doing is text books - at least it helps out in my non fiction section and more NASCAR, they're good at letting me not think of anything for 20 min, starting to wonder if doing two subjects at once wasn't such a good idea!

I've finally finished my first zombie book and sadly it was kinda disappointing. For a zombie book it lacked...bite (scuse the use of a terribly bad pun), it almost had a more vampire than zombie feel to it. This is a typical YA novel about not fitting in, but wanting to, about how hard it is to fit in when all you do is move. I did like the Lukas charcater and was angry at Hannah, when she finally makes it with the cheerleaders and abandons him. I thought the book nailed all the teen angst quite well. I was totally confused by all the 'M' names for the cheerleaders, which doesn't really matter in the long run as technically they're all the same. James has left the ending open for a sequel, but I didn't finish the book and go "Must has more". Overall the book was okay, but as a zombie novel it didn't cut it. I like more braaaains in my stories.

I've finally finished a whole category!! It's only taken me 6 1/2 months. I haven't started other categories yet. I'm not really suprised that I finished the romance one first, as I read a lot of it, hopefully on holiday I can finish a few others. Any suggestions would be welcome - I'm always in for a good read and I'm sure a couple of new titles won't hurt Mount TBR.

>33 cataluna:: Don't feel too bad. I haven't finished any categories. I'm over halfway through 2 and there are three or four (can't remember at the moment) that I haven't even started. o.O

I have a feeling this years 1010 Challenge is going to be an epic fail :P

For recommendations: I'm in the middle of Gaiman's Sandman series and they are FANTASTIC!!! I also read China Mieville's Perdido Street Station and that was an amazing read as well!

I think I've officially decided there will epic fail in my future in regards to the 1010 challenge as well RebeccaAnn. Not to worry - there's always next year!

I've managed to finish another category - 6. Picture This - Graphic Novels - huzzah! This joins the other one I've finished - 10. Heaving Bosoms - Romance Novels Of Various Flavour.

I think I'll manage to finish my non fic, zombie and dearly departed categories as well. Beyond that I don't think I'll get far.

Plus we just got a new lot of YA novels at work and I'm all 'I want!' Will have to try and exercise restraint. Cause that'll be easy peasy. *snort*

Just discovered The Zombie Chronicles: Escape in podcast format on my iPhone. I love it when I find stuff, it's like shiny new presents. I think I've had this on there for bout two years without listening to it - time to dust it off and give it a go.

Fingers crossed it's good, I've not had much luck with the zombie books I've read this year.

Have you read Monster Island by David Wellington? It's currently my favorite zombie book.

I have just started listening to audiobooks myself, out of desperation to fit in more books and finish the 1010 on time. The reader makes all the difference!

No I haven't read Monster Island yet, it sounds good, I just placed a hold for it.

I listen to playaways at work, they're great as they remember your place, are portable and tiny. Makes it easy for me when I'm in manic bunny mode. And audiobooks are great for when I'm in the truck.

I agree about the reader. I started a podcast of Zombie Chronicles last night and I'm struggling with the english accent one character has - it's posh, by way of cockney and hello Steve Irwin. Even the guys American accent changes. It wouldn't be as bad if the book was really good, but it's not very good so far.

I thought I'd do a round up of my Top 10 in '10. Since I haven't finished all the categories yet, I'll start with the ones I've completed and go from there.

6. Picture This - Graphic Novels

Burnout by Rebecca Donner is my number one pick for 2010. Which is kinda weird, as I like my graphic novels in colour, which this isn't. The illustrations were great though. But this was fantastic. A coming of age story about a girl who falls for the wrong boy. I love the Minx series of graphic novels, who also did Token which I loved.

10. Heaving Bosoms - Romance Novels Of Various Flavour

So hard, there were lots of great reads this year, and I found quite a few new authors I hadn't tried yet.

This one is a tie, I can't decide between No Longer Mine by Shiloh Walker and Shoot to Thrill by Nina Bruhns.

No Longer Mine was one of my first ebooks and one of the books that set me on my I love Shiloh Walker bender. It wasn't the easiest book to read, the subject matter deals with some heavy stuff (death of child), but I thought Walker wrote it well, it wasn't too Days of our Lives, which still being gripping. I ended up reading this all in one sitting, (I stayed up til about 5am, and did I pay for it all day at work!).

Shoot to Thrill is the first in the Passion for Danger trilogy and it's kinda got it all. There's romantic suspense, smexy times and laugh out loud dialog, and feisty hero/ines, which I do like, it always makes for a more interesting book. As I've never had to fight for my life in the middle of the desert (unless you count not falling off cardboard box while sliding down sandhills), I don't know how acurate the whole Black Ops details are, but the aim of a good story is to not make you doubt what the authors written, which wasn't a problem. Plus I do like the man candy on the cover - it's scary to note, but I can now recognise the guy on the cover by his pecs, (I've often wondered if they're like fingerprints - if they are I'm totally willing to CSI those babies!) :D

Sadly, even after a last ditch effort, I only finished 62 books in my 1010 category. Better luck this year! I've decided to choose categories that I'm more likely to complete, still with my Mt. TBR in mind (it never seems to get any smaller).