Challenges | Fizzy Thoughts

The Party’s Over

22 June 2010

It’s time to say sayonara to Sensei Globe sipping the saki. Adios to my amigo in the alcohol. Ciao, buh-bye and toodle-loo to the drinking dude.

Sorry Charlies, but I’m quitting my own challenge. The World Party Reading Challenge is over. Of course, if any of you all would like to adopt it, you’re more than welcome to it…the buttons, the idea, the intro post. However, I’m not going to post anymore about it…I realized I’m just not cut out for sustaining a challenge over an entire year.

So…apologies to bailing on those of you who were participating, but you certainly don’t need my challenge to keep on reading world literature!

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June’s party

28 May 2010

We’re coming up on June, and that means it’s time to start thinking about the next round of the World Party Reading Challenge. For June, our challenge is to read a book either set in Liberia, or by a Liberian author.

Why Liberia? Well, because Juneteenth (celebrated on June 19th) originally commemorated the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation and therefore, the end of slavery, in the state of Texas. The holiday is now considered a celebration of both African-American freedom and achievement.

Before the abolition of slavery, freed slaves were given the chance to immigrate to the west coast of Africa, to an American colony established in 1821. In 1847, the colony declared independence from the US, thereby establishing the country of Liberia. There is debate over the intentions of sending freed slaves to Liberia. It can be seen as an opportunity for the former slaves to live truly free lives, and as a way for white Americans to get rid of free African-Americans that 1) could instigate rebellion amongst the slaves and 2) they didn’t want integrating into society.

Whatever the true motive, Liberia is still a country, and we are going to celebrate Juneteenth by reading about it. Even if Liberia came before Juneteenth. Because both exist due to the end of slavery for a group of individuals.

However, having said all of that, I do realize the choices for reading may be limited. A few intriguing sounding books that I found are:

The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood, by Helene Cooper
This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President, by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Bai T. Moore’s Murder in the Cassava Patch, which is a novelette that you can read here
And, although it hasn’t been released yet, Bound to Secrecy, which is by a Liberian born author, Vamba Sherif

Once you’ve read your June book, don’t forget to come back here and live a link to your post with Mr Linky:

Happy reading!

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NY Reading List

27 May 2010

Today, I offer you the list of books that were read for the New York Challenge. If you’re looking for a book set in New York, check out these reviews:

Amanda – Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist
Kathy – Harriet the Spy
Care – Typhoid Mary
Dawn – her daughter’s book
Lynne – Brooklyn
Lynne – The Last Illusion
Taryn – Forever
Seredipity – Brooklyn
Julie – Size 12 Is Not Fat
Heather – Teacher Man
Jenna – The Spare Wife
Literate Housewife – Let the Great World Spin
Rob – Tea and Sympathy: The Life of an English Tea Shop in New York
Wendy – Brooklyn
Diane – The Girl Next Door
Mee - The Contract with God Trilogy
Books in the City – Brooklyn
Softdrink – New York and New York Sawed in Half

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New York ditties

25 May 2010

ny apple

Okay, so I totally stole that title from Care, who was one of the few brave bloggers to complete the April mini-challenge, in which I asked people to write a poem about New York. Despite the fact that it was National Poetry Month, I had a whopping five submissions (note to self: evidently, you have many, many friends who don’t care for poetry, either).

Care wrote an awesome ditty about going to New York. Please go read it. And Billy is a bit jealous that Copley is in a poem.

Heather chose to write a limerick, and I’m just envisioning her laughing the whole time.

Taryn‘s haiku features truck tacos, and she deserves a huge round of applause for that.

Kathy also wrote a haiku, and despite her claims, she has nothing to be embarrassed about! Go show her haiku some love.

And Jenna wrote a cinquain. Bonus points for writing in a form that I had to Google.

Despite that fact that the rest of you all are cowards , I think this was my favorite of the mini-challenges. I just loved all the poems that these five brave souls wrote.

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New York women

24 May 2010

liberty New York women

Yesterday I highlighted the submissions for the February mini-challenge, to give you all a glimpse into things to do and see in NY. Today, I’m going to focus on the posts written for the March mini-challenge, which were about women from New York:

Taryn wrote a lovely creative non-fiction piece about her mother’s teenage years.

Heather also wrote about her mom, who was born and raised in Brooklyn.

Kathy featured a new author, Alexandra Lebenthal.

And Books in the City wrote about Jackie O.

When you think of New York, what women pop into your head?

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150 things about New York

23 May 2010

ny subway

Back when I first conceived the idea of the New York Challenge, I thought that the mini-challenges and the reviews would give me some fodder for blog posts while I was in New York.

And I was right (for once)! Over the next few days, while Billy and my mom and I are gallivanting around NY and BEA, I’ll be sharing links to all of those people who played along with the NY Challenge. In other words, I’m offering a little glimpse of New York for those of you who can’t be here.

Today, let’s start with the February mini-challenge, which asked for a list of ten things about New York. This is what people came up with:

Lynne wrote about 10 things she likes in/about/from New York
Jenny offered 10 things she loves about New York, including the subway
Heather‘s 10 things she loves includes some delicious looking food
Colleen wrote about 10 Great Places to Read in NYC
Kathy‘s list of 10 includes things she wants to do while in NY
Molly also discussed 10 places she would like to go to while in NY
Jenna‘s list features her top 10 city experiences over the years
Topping Sharla‘s list of 10 places she would go in NY is BEA
Amanda‘s list of 10 things she loves in NY includes pictures
Taryn provides 10 Places to Visit (Off the Beaten Path)
Care‘s list is really a justification of why she needs to return to NY
Rob offers up some deals
Molly listed 10 independent bookstores in NY. And now that you have something to read, go to these tea houses and settle in with your books.
Dawn suggests 10 books set in NY

So if you’re jonesing for a taste of NY, be sure to visit these fabulous posts!

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NY Challenge – a winner and a final reminder

5 May 2010

I’ve been remiss in announcing the winner of the April mini-challenge. There were very few souls brave enough to write a poem for this mini-challenge, but I did get a couple of entries. And the winner is…

Jenna P. aka Little Bird

Woo-hoo! (And please email me with your address so I can send you your prize!) And thanks to everyone for participating!

Don’t forget, there’s still time to post your link to your review of a New York book. You have until May 15th to complete the challenge. I will draw one last winner from all of the contributed reviews on May 16th. After that, the NY Challenge will be done. Finis. No more.

liberty cartoon

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May’s party

27 April 2010

maypole 249x300 Mays party

Hello, World Partiers! We’re moving into our second month of the World Party Reading Challenge. Now that our April celebration of French authors/books/books set in France is coming to an end (although you can certainly keep posting links to those books throughout the year…I’ll confess, I still have to read my choices!), it’s time for a new holiday and country. This time, the country is your choice, as long as it’s a communist country.

For May, we are going to celebrate May Day with communism (hi Homeland Security!). When I was a kid living in rural Oregon, we used to celebrate May Day with May Baskets. Did anyone else do that? When I was in college and spent a quarter in London, I spent May Day on the lawn at Westminster Abbey, watching children dance around a May Pole. That was pretty cool. However, this year, in honor of May Day, I’m challenging you to read a book set in a communist country. The country doesn’t have to still be communist, but for the sake of this challenge, the setting of the book has to be in a time when the country was communist. Make sense?

So why communism, you ask? Well, because May Day is also International Workers’ Day (aka Labor Day) for most of the world. But most of the world isn’t communist, you argue. And you’re correct. But the US has traditionally been a bit ummm, what’s the word I’m looking for here…scared? rabid? appalled?…when it comes to both socialism and communism. Since the late 1800s May Day has been an important day for celebrating (and demonstrating for) workers’ rights. It has also been a huge holiday for communist countries. Of course, the US wanted to distance itself from anything that smacked of socialism (and that shared a date with the Haymarket Massacre), which is why us US folks have a holiday in September. So, in my perverse mind, it makes perfect sense to celebrate May Day by reading about life in a communist state.

Current Communist countries:

China
Vietnam
North Korea
Cuba
Laos

Some former Communist countries:

USSR
Albania
East Germany
Poland
Angola
Yugoslavia
Ethiopia
Hungary
Romania

I’m not going to post a reading list, but if you have suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments. (Oh! And be sure to check out Eva’s fabulous reading list!) I just finished reading Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, which is a fabulous novel set in Ethiopia in the early 1970′s, and would totally work for this challenge.

And finally, you can post your links to your reviews here:

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April NY mini-challenge

1 April 2010

liberty cartoon

Apples are red
Curse words are blue
I just wrote a poem about New York
Now…how about you?

Dude, I never claimed to be a poet. And you don’t have to be either to participate in the April mini-challenge! This is part of the larger NY Challenge that I’m hosting (and if you’ve read your book, don’t forget to post the link here). In February we made lists. In March, we celebrated National Women’s History Month, NY-style. This month, we’ll be writing poetry. The good news is, it doesn’t matter how bad it is (hello, did you notice my lack of skill?), you’ll still get an A for effort. Well, you’ll get an entry into the giveaway, at least (this month it’s a Strand mug).

You can write a haiku, a limerick, or heck, even a sonnet (overachiever). Your poem can rhyme, or not. You could even parody a song (and heck, if you do that, I’ll give you two entries!). It just has to be about New York. Because, you know, this is a NY Challenge.

Once you’ve composed and posted your masterpiece, come back here and sign Mr Linky. Then check back on May 1st to see who’s the lucky winner.

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It’s time to party!

26 March 2010

worldpartybutton Its time to party!

Bonjour mes amis, and welcome to the World Party Reading Challenge. Even though the challenge doesn’t start until April 1st, I said that I would post about the April holiday and country ahead of time.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about (which is probably a very common occurrence), the details for the reading challenge can be found at this post.

For April, we will be celebrating April Fool’s Day with a visit to France. Why France? Because in France they celebrate April Fool’s Day by attempting to pin a fish to someone’s back. Don’t worry, the fish is paper. Once the person discovers the fish taped to his or her back, they are called a poisson d’avril (April’s fish).

So, nous allons, it’s off to France. You can either read a book set in France, or you can read a book by a French author. It’s your choice. Here a few of the many choices out there:

French authors: