Challenge: The Wind-Up BOOK Chronicle

I hadn’t intended on starting another challenge. Really! But, as I looked over my list of books that I wanted to read for the rest of 2008, I realized there were several that I had started lately (and in the past) but had never finished. So, why not make a challenge of it?

Why the name The Wind-Up Book Chronicle? Well, I looked up ‘complete’ in the thesaurus, and ‘wind-up’ was one of the synonyms, so I thought of the title as a play on the Murakami book title The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I don’t even know what that book is about, and I’m sure it’s not about reading challenges, but I couldn’t resist that title. Basically, the challenge is designed for us to wind-up the books we’ve begun but not completed.

After reading all that nonsense are you ready for the rules? Okay, here goes:

1. To participate, you must use books that you’ve read more than 50 pages of BEFORE MAY 1 but never finished.
2. The challenge will run from May 15 through November 15, 2008.
3. Books can overlap with other challenges.
4. Your list can be changed at any time, BUT you must use the 50 page rule to books read BEFORE May 1, 2008.
5. I’d like to set a minimum of three books, but I’m going to allow even 1 or 2 because most of you probably don’t have as many started as I do. (I’m going to go for 6 because I have that many and because the challenge lasts 6 months.)
6. You must sign up for this challenge by June 1, 2008. Sign up using Mr. Linky HERE — the Linky will be closed on June 1.
7. Read your selections and feel great about finishing what you started!

These are the books that I’m choosing. YES! I have read more than 50 pages of each one before May 1 but have not finished them:

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
2. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore
3. Blessings by Anna Quindlen
4. The Wife by Sigrid Undset
5. Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
6. The Collected Stories of Carol Shields