Announcing the 2010 EW Summer Books Challenge

I am a huge fan of the magazine Entertainment Weekly, and I especially enjoy their write-ups on books. When I receive my copy every Friday, the first thing I do flip to their book recommendations and see what they have to say about the new releases. I won't say that I agree with them 100% of the time, but I definitely find myself agreeing more often than not.

So a few days ago (thanks to a few fellow book bloggers), I saw their on-line slide show of EW's 18 Books We Can't Wait to Read This Summer. Of course, I immediately wanted to read many (if not most) of them. And then I thought "why not see who else wants to read some of them over the summer?" One thing led to another, and I decided to set up a very informal challenge!

I'm probably one of the worst people to be starting another challenge because I'm not doing a great job with the ones I've currently signed up for. And, I pretty much know that I'm not going to read all 18 of the books, but.....I just couldn't help myself.

Here's EW's list of the summer's must-reads:

THIS BODY OF DEATH by Elizabeth George (April 20)

HALF LIFE by Roopa Farooki (April 27)

GIRL IN TRANSLATION by Jean Kwok (April 29)

THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE by Julie Orringer (May 4)

THE LAST STAND by Nathaniel Philbrick (May 4)

SLOW LOVE: HOW I LOST MY JOB, PUT ON MY PAJAMAS AND FOUND HAPPINESS by Dominique Browning (May 9)

WAR by Sebastian Junger (May 11)

THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST by Stieg Larsson (May 25)

THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE by Aimee Bender (June 1)

THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER by Stephenie Meyer (June 5)

THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin (June 8)

SO COLD THE RIVER by Michael Koryta (June 9)

THE COOKBOOK COLLECTOR by Allegra Goodman (July 6)

LUCY by Laurence Gonzales (July 13)

RED HOOK ROAD by Ayelet Waldman (July 13)

I CURSE THE RIVER OF TIME by Per Pettersson (August 3)

YOU LOST ME THERE by Rosecrans Baldwin (August 12)

MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins (August 24)

Since I want this to be fun and stress-free (just like a summer vacation!), I've decided to include lots of levels, and the first one only challenges you to read one book -- how easy is that? (And I know almost every one of you will be reading MOCKINGJAY before the summer ends.) The names of levels might look familiar to you. Remember those swimming lessons you took at the YMCA when you were a kid?

Levels:

1-3 Books: Polliwog
4-6 Books: Guppy
7-9 Books: Minnow
10-12 Books: Fish
13-15 Books: Flying Fish
16-18 Books: Shark

Details:

The 2010 EW Summer Books Challenge will run from May 1, 2010 through September 6, 2010 (Labor Day). I know summer doesn't officially start until June, but I figure it's always a good idea to get a jump-start on the fun! To join me in this challenge, all you need to do pick your level of participation (you can always go up levels, but not down.) Then after you read a book, just write a review to share your thoughts with others!

Sign Up:

You can join this challenge at any time during this summer. All you have to do is grab the challenge button at the top of this page and write a post announcing your participation in the challenge -- remember you don't need to pick the specific books, just your level. Once you have posted your 2010 EW Summer Books challenge post, come back to this post and click on Mr. Linky. Please leave your name and link directly to your introductory post (not just to your blog’s home page.) If you don’t have a blog, no worries -- you can just leave a comment on this post telling me you want to participate.

On May 1st, 2010 I will place a 2010 EW Summer Books Challenge button in the upper right hand corner of my blog. When you click on this button, you will see a post where all the participants are listed as well as the links to the reviews.

I haven't worked out all of the prize details yet, but I promise that there will be some prizes. I do know that your chances of winning will increase with each review you write. In other words, your name will be thrown in the hat each time you post a review.

I'm asking you to check out the list of books and see if a few don't interest you. Then, I'm really hoping that you'll decide to join me for some fun summer reading!

And remember how I said that I'm not doing so well on a lot of my challenges? I'm only going to sign up for the Guppy Level -- 4-6 books -- I'd hate to not complete my own challenge!