Challenges

I'm working on figuring out my A to Z Challenge and I decided I'd allow myself crossovers for that one (otherwise, I wouldn't have the opportunity to participate in any of the other amazing challenges out there. However, I'm only allowing crossovers with that challenge. I'm also trying really hard to stick to books that are already on my TBR list and available at the library. This means that I have had to do a bit of work to figure out what I want to read and how to make it all work.

I'm going to do the African Diaspora Challenge 2010 at the Novice level. It runs 1/1/10-12/31/10 and the site has a list of suggestions which I found pretty helpful. :) Here are my choices:
Chimamanda Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun
Sylvaine Dioux, Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotida and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Yvonne Vera, Butterfly Burning

Next up is the 2010 Colorful Reading Challenge. Nine books with a color in the title. This also runs from 1/1/10-12/31/10. My choices:
Ji-li Jiang, Red Scarf Girl
Joanne Harrison, Five Quarters of the Orange
Anthony Eglin, The Blue Rose
Majusi Ibuse, Black Rain
Emmuska Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel
Lauren Willig, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
Kathleen Turner, Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles
Naomi Novik, Throne of Jade (book 2 in the Temeraire series)
Mort Rosenblum, Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light

And then there's the Graphic Novel Challenge. There are a few levels. I'm going to choose intermediate which as me reading 3-10. There are so many that I want to read, so I'm just going to list some of the ideas I've had:
Girl Genius
The Sandman vol. 6: Fables and Reflections
Fables vol. 2: Animal Farm
Persepolis 2
American Born Chinese

What's in a Name 3 Challenge sounds like fun too. I don't have all my choices finalized, so for those I have a pool. It runs from 1/1/10-12/31/10 and the title needs to contain a word that fits that category:
Food: Sue Monk Kidd, Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story
Place Name: Tom Avery, To the Ends of the Earth: Our Epic Journey to the North Pole and the Legend of Peary and Henson
Music Term: Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera
Body of Water:
   John Burnett, Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas
   Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
   Edward Dreyer, Zheng He: China and Oceans in Early Ming
   Shusaku Endo, Deep River
   Leif Enger, Peace Like a River
   Elizabeth Enright, Gone Away Lake
   Kate Grenville, The Secret River
   Ursula K. LeGuin, A Wizard of Earthsea
   Candice Millard, River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
   Lalita Tademy, Cane River
   Mike Tougias, The Finest Hours: The True Story of the US Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue
Person's Title:
   Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: The Bankers who Broke the World
   Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire book 1)
   Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ
   Madeleine Albright, Madam Secretary
   Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
   Simon Armitage (translator), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Plant:
   Sarah Addison Allen, Garden Spells
   John Berendt, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
   Janet Fitch, White Oleander
   Patti Hill, Like a Watered Garden
   Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon
   Sujata Massey, The Flower Master
   Barbara Michaels, Vanish with the Rose
   Joseph Moninger, The Viper Tree
   Katherine Paterson, Bread and Roses, Too
   Michele Slung (editor), The Garden of Reading
   Peggy Orenstein, Waiting for Daisy


And it doesn't start until February but I've been hoping for the Chunkster Challenge for the past month. I have so many books that are 450+ pages.I'm choosing the lowest level, which is three books. I haven't chosen my third book yet, but the first two will be:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Richard Zacks, The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805

That's likely going to keep me busy for at least half of 2010. So I should probably stop signing up for challenges after this until I have a better feel for how well I'm doing staying caught up with these.