Twenty-10 Challenge Results

At the end of the year, it's time to report on my progress toward the goals I set for Bart's Twenty-ten Challenge. Earlier posts with reviews and status can be found on May 8th's post and September 19th's post. Since September, these are the additional books which I'm counting toward this challenge:

In October, I read Defending Angels by Mary Stanton, which I'm counting in the Who Are You Again? category. I discovered this author and her series of books when I picked this book from a virtual book box based solely on the first page. The owner sent not only this book, but the next two in the series and I read them back-to-back in a reading frenzy known as Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-Thon

After taking over her uncle’s law practice in Savannah, Georgia, Brianna Winston-Beaufort (Bree for short) is looking forward to her first case. She's barely moved into her office when she finds a message from a businessman asking for her help. But when she returns his call, she discovers that he was already dead—murdered—at the time that the call was placed. Bree is soon to learn that in addition to solving his murder she's been appointed his advocate in the Celestial Court where her client's afterlife will be determined

This was a fascinating start to an excellent series, and when I went to the author's web site tonight, I discovered that the fourth in the series will be released in February 2011. You can bet that it will be very high on my To Be Purchased list.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen, was the first of two memoirs which I read for the Up to You! category. I picked the book up on a whim while browsing at Barnes & Noble. The blurb on the back cover looked interesting—“A hilarious and moving memoir in the spirit of Anne Lamott and Nora Ephron about a woman who returns home to her close-knit Mennonite family after a personal crisis.”—and I was on the lookout for a memoir to read for this challenge and to share in a Non-Fiction swap at BookObsessed.

Unfortunately, it was not as good as had been promised. Halfway through this book I wondered if I was reading a memoir or the author's stand-up comedy routine. She may have intended to use humor to tell a painful story, but at times it came across as mean-spirited and poking fun at others—in this case her parents' Mennonite community and her mother in particular.

I discovered Not Now, Voyager when browsing online back in May, which I detailed in my Friday Finds post on May 14. The publisher describes the book saying, “Not Now, Voyager takes us on a voyage of self-discovery as the author traces how travel has shaped her sensibilities from childhood through adulthood.”

Reading the book, I decided that it was definitely more of a memoir than a travelogue. (Which is a shame since I was offering it in an Armchair Travel Swap at BookObsessed.) Schwartz introduces herself stating that she hates to travel and then proceeds to illustrate that with scenes from various trips. It was an interesting read, but not quite what I expected for a book about travel. I guess you'd say this was a book about not traveling. So, I've included Not Now, Voyager by Lynne Sharon Schwartz as my second book in the Up to You! category.

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And here's my final status: 12 out of 20 books; 6 out of 10 categories.

The Categories

1. Young Adult
   1. What was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
   2. The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley
   Category completed. See May 8th's post for short reviews of these two books.
2. T.B.R.
   1. She's No Faerie Princess by Christine Warren
   2. Mystery Loves Company by Kate Morgan
   Category completed, and I posted a quick description of each of these books on May 8th.
3. Shiny & New
   1. Swimming Without a Net by MaryJanice Davidson
   2. Vampire Sunrise by Carole Nelson Douglas
   Another category completed and some information about the books posted in the May 8th post.
4. Bad Bloggers***
   This category was to include books that I had read about on another Blogger's site and was so motivated to read that I just had to go out and get the book. But, I was so busy trying to keep up with my book swapping at BookObsessed that I didn't find time to pursue this category.
5. Charity
   I bought a lot of books at local used book stores—Half-Priced Books and Records (several locations in the DFW Metroplex) and Recycled Books, Records, and CDs in Denton. But, I didn't buy any books at charity shops. I did browse through the books at Goodwill in Denton, but they had very few books, unlike the charity shops I have previously visited in England and Ireland. So, I bought and read no books from charity shops in 2010.
6. New in 2010
   1. The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells
   2. Hell Fire by Ann Aguirre
   This category is now completed. I reviewed The Mage in Black in May 8th's post and my review of Hell Fire is on September 19th's.
7. Older Than You
   Oh my! I started this challenge with every intention of reading several classics—most of which were published before I was born—and I didn't read a single one.
8. Win! Win!
   I had intended to read two novels by Anthony Trollope to meet this category since I had signed up for the Trollope challenge. Unfortunately, I did not finish reading these books. In fact, I'm only 1/4 of the way into The Warden, first in Trollope's Barsetshire Chronicles.
9. Who Are You Again?
   1. Enchanted, Inc. Shanna Swendson
   2. Defending Angels by Mary Stanton
   See my review of Enchanted, Inc. in the September 19th entry and a quick review of Defending Angels at the top of this post.
10. Up to You!
    1. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
    2. Not Now, Voyager by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
    This category—in which I chose to read two memoirs— is completed. See reviews of both books at the top of this post.