2014 Challenges

Here's how I'm faring with the challenges I've signed up for this year :)

Aussie Author Challenge - January 1st, 2014 - December 31st, 2014
- Wallaby Level (read three books by Australian writers, one male, one female, one new)
1) The Plains by Gerald Murnane


Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2014 Longlist
1) The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke
2) Strange Weather in Tokyo (The Briefcase) by Hiromi Kawakami
3) A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard
4) The Infatuations by Javier Marías
5) Brief Loves that Live Forever by Andeï Makine
6) The Sorrow of Angels by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
7) The Iraqi Christ by Hassan Blasim
8) Butterflies in November by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
9) The Dark Road by Ma Jian
10) The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon
11) Exposure by Sayed Kashua
12) Revenge by Yoko Ogawa
13) Rücken an Rücken (Back to Back) by Julia Franck
14) Ten by Andrej Longo
15) A Meal in Winter by Hubert Mingarelli

Japanese Literature Challenge 8 - June 1st, 2014 - January 31st, 2015
- Read a work of Japanese Literature!
1) Granta 127: Japan by Yuka Igarashi (ed.)
2) The Tilted Cup: Noh Stories by Paul Griffiths
3) The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon
4) Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
5) I am a Cat by Natsume Soseki (link is to 2010 review)
6) Rivers by Teru Miyamoto
7) Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami
8) The Kojiki by Ō no Yasumaro
9) Manazuru by Hiromi Kawakami
10) The Hunting Gun by Yasushi Inoue
11) Masks by Fumiko Enchi
12) Grass on the Wayside by Natsume Soseki
13) The Tale of the Heike, translated by Royall Tyler
14) The Whale that Fell in Love with a Submarine by Akiyuki Nosaka
15) The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe (link is to 2011 review)
16) N.P. by Banana Yoshimoto
17) The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami

Women in Translation Month - August 2014
- Read a work in translation written by a woman!
1) Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli
2) My Son's Girlfriend by Jung Mi-kyung
3) The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon
4) The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price
5) The Blue Room by Hanne Ørstavik
6) Spirit on the Wind (and other Stories) by O Chong-hui
7) Sworn Virgin by Elvira Dones
8) Numéro Six by Véronique Olmi
9) There a Petal Silently Falls by Ch'oe Yun
10) Aller Tage Abend (The End of Days) by Jenny Erpenbeck
11) Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
12) Sidewalks by Valeria Luiselli

German Literature Month IV - November 2014
- Read works of German-language literature!
1) Agnes by Peter Stamm
2) Transit by Anna Seghers
3) The Parent Trap by Erich Kästner
4) Eine Halligfahrt (Journey to a Hallig) by Theodor Storm
5) Alte Meister (The Old Masters) by Thomas Bernhard
6) Blumenberg by Sibylle Lewitscharoff
7) Mario und der Zauberer (Mario and the Magician) by Thomas Mann
8) Blood Brothers by Ernst Haffner
9) Irrungen, Wirrungen (Trials and Tribulations) by Theodor Fontane
10) Die Ausgewanderten (The Emigrants) by W.G. Sebald 

2013 Challenges

Here's how I'm faring with the challenges I've signed up for this year :)

Aussie Author Challenge - January 1st, 2013 - December 31st, 2013
- Tourist Level (read three books by two different Australian writers)
1) Seven Types of Amiguity by Elliot Perlman
2) The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark
3) The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally
4) Happy Valley by Patrick White
5) My Blood's Country by Fiona Capp

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2013 Longlist
1) Traveller of the Century by Andres Neuman
2) The Murder of Halland by Pia Juul 
3) Cold Sea Stories by Paweł Huelle
4) Dublinesque by Enrique Vila-Matas
5) The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
6) A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgård
7) The Detour by Gerbrand Bakker
8) HHhH by Laurent Binet
9) Silent House by Orhan Pamuk
10) Trieste by Daša Drndić
11) Black Bazar by Alain Mabanckou
12) Bundu by Chris Barnard
13) In Praise of Hatred by Khaled Khalifa
14) The Fall of the Stone City by Ismail Kadare
15) The Last of the Vostyachs by Diego Marani
16) Satantango by László Krasznahorkai 

Japanese Literature Challenge 7 - June 1st, 2013 - January 31st, 2014
- Read a work of Japanese literature!
1) American Stories by Nagai Kafu
2) Sixty-Nine by Ryu Murakami
3) We, the Children of Cats by Tomoyuki Hoshino
4) Milky Way Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa
5) Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara
6) The Name of the Flower by Kuniko Mukoda 
7) Lonely Hearts Killer by Tomoyuki Hoshino
8) From the Fatherland, with Love by Ryu Murakami 
9) The Nihon-ryōiki by Kyōkai
10) Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (link is to 2009 review) 
11) Bullfight by Yasushi Inoue
12) Kusamakura by Natsume Soseki (link is to 2010 review)
13) Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata (link is to 2011 review)
14) Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura
15) The Frontier Within by Kobo Abe
16) Modern Japanese Stories - An Anthology by Ivan Morris (ed.)
17) The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa
18) Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe
19) hardboiled \ hard luck by Banana Yoshimoto
20) Deep River by Shusaku Endo
21) A True Novel by Minae Mizumura
22) Light and Dark by Natsume Soseki
23) Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

German Literature Month - November 2013
- Read a work of German-language literature!
1) Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
2) Nichts als Gespenster (Nothing but Ghosts) by Judith Hermann
3) Holzfällen (Woodcutters) by Thomas Bernhard
4) Was bleibt (What Remains) by Christa Wolf
5) Wellen (Waves) by Eduard von Keyserling
6) Božena by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
7) Wir Fliegen (We're Flying) by Peter Stamm
8) Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter (The Goalie's Fear at the Penalty Kick ) by Peter Handke
9) Professor Unrat (The Blue Angel) by Heinrich Mann
  - Part One, Part Two, Part Three
10) Leonardos Hände (Leonardo's Hands) by Alois Hotschnig

2012 Challenges

Here's how I'm faring with the challenges I've signed up for this year :)

Murakami Challenge - January 1st, 2012 - December 31st, 2012
-Toru Level (read any three Haruki Murakami books)
1) Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words by Jay Rubin
2) The Sheep Man's Christmas by Haruki Murakami

Japanese Literature Challenge 6 - June 1st, 2012 - January 31st, 2013
- Read any work of Japanese literature
1) The Wild Geese by Ogai Mori
2) Modern Japanese Literature edited by Donald Keene
3) Flowers of Grass by Takehiko Fukunaga
4) The Gate by Natsume Soseki
5) When I Whistle by Shusaku Endo
6) Coin Locker Babies by Ryu Murakami
7) Frozen Dreams by Wahei Tatematsu
8) Lizard by Banana Yoshimoto
9) Ukigumo (Drifting Cloud) by Shimei Futabatei
10) Japan's First Modern Novel - Ukigumo by Marleigh Ryan
11) Some Prefer Nettles by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
12) Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words by Jay Rubin
13) The Sheep Man's Christmas by Haruki Murakami
14) Volcano by Shusaku Endo
15) The 210th Day by Natsume Soseki
16) Rivalry - A Geisha's Tale by Nagai Kafu 
17) The Old Capital by Yasunari Kawabata
18) The Briefcase by Hiromi Kawakami

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 Longlist
- Read the fifteen books on the longlist as part of the Shadow Panel!
1) Jenseitsnovelle (Next World Novella) by Matthias Politycki
2) 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
- Book One, Book Two & Book Three
- Aferthoughts: Part One, Part Two & Part Three
3) Please Look After Mother by Kyung-sook Shin
4) Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke
5) From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón
6) The Prague Cemetry by Umberto Eco
7) Professor Andersen's Night by Dag Solstad
8) Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz
9) Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld
10) Hate - A Romance by Tristan Garcia
11) Alice by Judith Hermann
12) Parallel Stories by Péter Nádas (Part One & Part Two)
13) The Emperor of Lies by Steve Sem-Sandberg
14) Seven Houses in France by Bernardo Atxaga
15) New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani

Aussie Author Challenge - January 1st, 2012 - December 31st, 2012
- Dinky-Di Level (read twelve books by six different Australian writers) 

Australian Women Writers Challenge - January 1st, 2012 - December 31st, 2012
- Franklin-Fantastic Level (read and review ten books by female Australian writers)
1) Carpentaria by Alexis Wright***
2) Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living by Carrie Tiffany***
3) Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany***
4) Mr. Scobie's Riddle by Elizabeth Jolley***
5) Legacy by Larissa Behrendt***
6) The Promise of Iceland by Kári Gíslason
7) My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin***

*** - Eligible for both Aussie challenges

2011 Challenges

Here's how I'm faring with the challenges I've signed up for this year :)

Murakami Challenge - January 1st, 2011 - December 31st, 2011
-Toru Level (read any three Haruki Murakami books)
1) Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World
2) The Elephant Vanishes
3) Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
4) 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Book One, Book Two, Book Three)

Aussie Author Challenge - January 1st, 2011 - December 31st, 2011
- True Blue Level (read twelve books by nine different Australian writers)

1) The Art of the Engine Driver by Steven Carroll
2) An Open Swimmer by Tim Winton 
3) Monkey Grip by Helen Garner
4) The Gift of Speed by Steven Carroll
5) 1988 by Andrew McGahan
6) The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow by Thea Astley
7) The Spare Room by Helen Garner
8) The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll
9) Praise by Andrew McGahan
10) Indelible Ink by Fiona McGregor
11) The Reasons I Won't Be Coming by Elliot Perlman
12) The Children's Bach by Helen Garner
12a) The Lost Life by Steven Carrol

14) Scraps of Heaven by Arnold Zable

15) Spirit of Progress by Steven Carroll
16) Violin Lessons by Arnold Zable
17) The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman
18) That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott
19) All That I Am by Anna Funder
20) The Fix by Nick Earls

Victorian Literature Challenge - January 1st, 2011 - December 31st, 2011
- Desperate Remedies Level (read fifteen works from the Victorian era)
1) An Autobiography by Anthony Trollope
2) The Three Clerks by Anthony Trollope

3) Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

4) Plays and Petersburg Tales by Nikolai Gogol

5) Salem Chapel by Margaret Oliphant

6) Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome

7) The Rector and The Doctor's Family by Margaret Oliphant

8) Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow by Jerome K. Jerome

9) Rudin by Igor Turgenev

10) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

11) Storm's Short Stories and Novellas by Theodor Storm

12) Unwiederbringlich by Theodor Fontane
12a) Felix Holt: The Radical by George Eliot
14) Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
15) Adam Bede by George Eliot
16) Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
17) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
18) North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
19) Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
20) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
21) Der Schimmelreiter by Theodor Storm
22) Die Leute von Seldwyla (Band 1) by Gottfried Keller
23) Die Judenbuche by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff
24) Frau Jenny Treibel by Theodor Fontane
25) Leutnant Gustl by Arthur Schitzler
26) Die Glücksritter by Joseph von Eichendorff
27) Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope
28) Bahnwärter Thiel & Der Apostel by Gerhart Hauptman
29) Der Schuß von der Kanzel by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
30) Die schwarze Spinne by Jeremias Gotthelf
31) Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
32) The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope

Japanese Literature Challenge 5 - June 1st, 2011 - January 31st, 2012

- Read one work of Japanese literature

1) The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata

2) Silence by Shusaku Endo 
3) Sorekara (And Then) by Natsume Soseki
4) Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami 
5) Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata
6) A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe 
7) 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Book One, Book Two, Book Three) 
8) Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
9) The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto
10) Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa

***Mission Completion*** ;) 

2010 Challenges

Here's how I'm faring with the challenges I've signed up for this year :)

Japanese Literature Challenge 4 - June 1st, 2010 - January 31st, 2011
- Read at least one Japanese book!
1) Sanshiro by Natsume Soseki
2) Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto
3) South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
4) Quicksand by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
5) Botchan by Natsume Soseki
6) The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories by Various Writers
7) The Key by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
8) Diary of a Mad Old Man by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
9) Kusamakura by Natsume Soseki
10) Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World by Haruki Murakami
11) The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe
12) Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata

Aussie Author Challenge - January 1st, 2010 - December 31st, 2010
- Eight books by at least five different Australian authors.
1) The True Story of Butterfish by Nick Earls
2) His Illegal Self by Peter Carey
3) Dead Europe by Christos Tsiolkas
4) Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas
5) The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
6) Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
7) The People's Train by Tom Keneally
8) The Jesus Man by Christos Tsiolkas
9) Café Scheherazade by Arnold Zable

Chunkster Challenge - January 1st, 2010 - December 31st, 2010
- Read six books of 450 pages or more.
1) The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki (530)
2) Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope (499)
3) A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul (564)
4) Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope (557)
5) Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (529)
6) The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope (663)
7) The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (496)
8) The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope (712)
9) Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (528)
10) The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (469)
11) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (614)
12) Devils by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (694)
13) An Equal Music by Vikram Seth (484)
14) American Gods by Neil Gaiman (635)
15) He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope (823)
16) Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann (759)

2009 Challenges

Japanese Literature Challenge 3 - July 31st, 2009 - January 31st, 2010
- Read at least one Japanese book!
1) Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
2) Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami
3) The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
4) Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto
5) Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima
6) Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami
7) The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima
8) A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
9) The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
10) Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
11) The Decay of the Angel by Yukio Mishima
12) The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

Mission well and truly completed :)