2025 Reading Challenge discussion

FOURTH QUARTER CHARACTER CHALLENGE
Duration: October 1 - December 31

Rules:
- Pick your favorite character (or one of your favorite characters) from a book, story, or graphic novel
- Spell out your character's name (first, last, full, middle...you choose) using the first letter of ANY MAIN WORD in a book title (you would avoid, for example, words like "the" or "a") OR the first letter of any of the author's names.
- Each book may only be used for one letter.
- Tell us why (mark spoilers, please) this is your favorite character


Example:
My (unoriginal) book crush is Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice.

D - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick
A - Augusten Burroughs wrote Naked
R - Reamde by Neal Stephenson
C - Cline, Ernest wrote Ready Player One
Y - MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend


Note: because you can use most words in the title, this is going to be a little easier than usual. You also have the whole quarter. You may want to challenge yourself by picking multiple characters or choosing the character's full name (or both!).

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Kelsi will be the leader for this challenge.

4th Quarter Spell Out Challenge--Characters


S:A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
C:The Passage by Justin Cronin
A:Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria by Sigmund Freud
R:A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
L:The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
E:East of Eden by John Steinbeck
T:The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
T Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

O:On Dublin Street by Samantha Young
H:Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
A: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
R
A:The Formation of American Local Governments: Private Values in Public Institutions by Nancy Burns

&

R:The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnely
H: The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts
E:A Wind in the Door by Madeline L'Engle
T:Priceless: My Journey Through a Life of Vice by Charlie Daniels
T:A Swiftly Tilting Planet by madeline l'engle

B: The Last Battle by CS Lewis
U:Dead Until Dark
T:The Roman Triumph by Mary Beard
L: The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
E: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
R:The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riorden
23/24

This will be my first challenge of this group. Really looking forward to it.


FOURTH QUARTER CHARACTER CHALLENGE
Duration: October 1 - December 31

Josephine March Bhaer

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It was a toss up between Jo and Sherlock Holmes but Little Women is my favorite book of all time and when I was growing up, all I wanted to be was Jo.

Oh, you both picked AMAZING characters. Scarlett is so complex, and I wanted to be just like Jo too.

Kelsi: it would be great if you could lead! Thank you for volunteering.

This is a good idea for a challenge, I'm in....

FOURTH QUARTER CHARACTER CHALLENGE

Duration: October 1 - December 31

11/11

WYATT SAVAGE (Character from Risk No Secrets by Cindy Gerard)

W - Whispers in Autumn by Trisha Leigh 10/01/12 ***
Y - Young Bess by Margaret Irwin 10/29/12 ****
A - The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 10/06/12 **
T - Kill the Messenger by Tami Hoag 10/10/12 ****
T - Deadly Road by Tara Neideffer 10/11/12 *****

S In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner 10/02/12 ****
A - Asking For Trouble by Elizabeth Young 10/19/12 ****
V - Violet Miracle by Christina Li 10/15/12 ***
A - Mary Boelyn by Alison Weir 10/27/12 ****
G - Maid to Match by Deeanne Gist 10/16/12 ****
E - Catching Midnight by Emma Holly 10/09/12 **

The Black Ops series is one of my favorite series, and Wyatt Savage is my favorite ALPHA male. His character is honorable, brave, compelling and sexy, that's enough for me to be hooked!

Kara wrote: "Oh, you both picked AMAZING characters. Scarlett is so complex, and I wanted to be just like Jo too.

Kelsi: it would be great if you could lead! Thank you for volunteering."

No problem!

My character: Christian Grey from Fifty Shades Series by E.L. James.



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It´s quite a lot of letters for me, but I can always try! :) I really couldn´t think of anyone else. Or the ones I did had short names and their surnames were never mentioned/just don´t remember them.

I've decided to do a pair of characters for this one.

I can't decide if I should do Poppet & Widget (Night Circus) or Crowley & Aziraphale (Good Omens). Either has a bunch of hard letters, but it would be fun. I'll think it over.

I am in!
I have chosen Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables by L. M . Montgomery.
I read this book about 20 years ago and I could read it over and over. I think Anne is one of the loveliest heroine ever written and you just have to love her. She is so enthusiastic about life, she's got a great imagination, she makes mistakes but always learns from them and moves on, seeks friendship and love and for me it was very easy to connect with this character when I was a teenager. I would definitely love to read it again one day. :)

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Completed: 0/11

Participants

Ashley-0/17
Barb-0/12
Carrie- 0/3
Christina-0/7
Diana S-0/14
Gina-0/14
Johanna- 0/13
Katee-0/15
Kara-0/17
Kattibrie- 0/27
Kelsi-0/24
Kris-0/19
Natalia-0/11
Nathaly-0/10
NayNay-0/11
SilverRaindrops-0/46
Sharon-0/6
Trevor-0/6

I'm very excited to lead this challenge and get my read on. Good luck to all!

Oh this was a tossup between a few. Since it's around Halloween time I wanted to choose between Frankenstein's Creature and The Vampire Lestat. Lestat was the first vampire book I ever read and I'm still a bit in love with him. His full name is Lestat de Lioncourt, but for length considerations, I'm skipping the de .

L Lover Eternal
E Shadow's Edge
S The Way of Shadows
T When True Night Falls
A Lover Awakened
T The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

de

L The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon
I The Crow Road by Iain Banks
O Forever Odd
N Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
C The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
O Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
U Lover Unbound
R Black Sun Rising
T In the Woods by Tana French

Complete 0/15

So: I was going to do ENDER WIGGIN, which is my fave character, but that had a lot of double letters in it, so I figured I'd chose ANDREW MARTIN instead.
Andrew is the robot from The Positronic Man, my favorite novel. I can't say much about the book without spoiling it, but basically Andrew is a robot who wants to be human.

There's 12 letters in ANDREW MARTIN, so I'll be going for 12. :)

Favorite "Character" 4th Quarter Challenge
Duration: 10/1/12 - 12/31/12
Books Read: 11/14
Updated: 12/20/12

Spell-Out: Augustus Waters
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Note: I loved how he would addressed his girlfriend "Hazel Lancaster" by using her first and middle name Hazel Grace, so Cute!

Annette Curtis Klause's Blood and Chocolate (10/4/12)
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Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez (10/31/12)
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Spencer Quinn's Dog On It (11/19/12)
Toni Morrison's Beloved (10/24/12)
Undead and Uneasy by Mary Janice Davidson (10/5/12)
Screwtape Letters (The) by C. S. Lewis (11/22/12)

Wright, Jason F. - Christmas Jars (11/13/12)
Amanda Grange's Pride and Pyramids (11/27/12)
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Elle Newmark's The Book of Unholy Mischief (11/7/12)
Rules for Old Men Waiting by Peter R. Pouncey (10/12/12)
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters (12/12/12)

Augustus Loves Hazel Grace

This looks fun. I've never done a quaterly challenge before!

I've chosen Lisa Nelson from The Girl Who Owned a City. I read this sometime in middle school and read it in two days. I L-O-V-E-D the book and believe this very same novel is what started my love for literature. I haven't read it since because I fear I will not connect with it as I did when was a preteen.

Also, I the book takes place in Glen Ellyn, Ill a Chicago suburb only minutes away from where I grew up and still live. Even a real street from Glen Ellyn is a plot for the story. So how cool is that!

L Laura Lippman's And When She Was Good
I I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
S The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
A The Alienist by Caleb Carr

N The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
E Ernest Cline's Ready Player One
L Liz Adams's Alice's Sexual Discovery in a Wonderful Land
S Shah of Shahs by Ryszard Kapuściński
O The Ninth Orphan by James Morcan
NNight by Elie Wiesel

0/10 completed

I've been trying to choose a favorite character since you first posted the challenge. That's a lot harder than it sounds LOL I've finally settled on Savannah Reid, the main character in G. A. McKevett's cozy mystery series. If I could be a book character for a week or two, Savannah is who I'd like to be :)

FAVORITE BOOK CHARACTER, 10/1 - 12/31
PROGRESS: 12/12

S - What the Cat Saw, by Carolyn Hart, finished 10/7
A - Connie Archer - A Spoonful of Murder (Soup Lovers series #1), finished 10/14
V - The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling, finished 10/23
A - Amelia Earhart--Case Closed!, by Mike Markowski & Marjie Markowski, finished 10/17
N - Noah Boyd - The Bricklayer, finished 10/28
N - author Lydia Netzer - Shine Shine Shine, finished 11/2
A - "A" Is for Apple: More Than 200 Recipes for Eating, Munching and Cooking with America's Favorite Fruit, by Greg Patent and Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, finished 10/20
H - Georgette Heyer - Footsteps in the Dark, finished 10/13

R - Restorations, by Bonnie Blythe, finished 10/8
E - The Emperor's Tomb (Cotton Malone series #6), by Steve Berry, finished 10/27
I - author Inman Majors - Love's Winning Plays, finished 10/8
D -Due or Die (Library Lovers series #2), by Jenn McKinlay, finished 10/12


                       

     


***** COMPLETED 11/2 *****

updated to here :)

Okay, I'm going to go for it and do two characters: Crowley and Aziraphale from Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. Crowley works for the devil and Aziraphale for God, but they've found that they've come to a kind of friendship over the eons. They are, without a doubt, the funniest characters in this extremely funny book.

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Kara wrote: "Okay, I'm going to go for it and do two characters: Crowley and Aziraphale from Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. Crowley works for the devil and Aziraphale for G..."

Wow Kara! That's lots of crazy letters! Good luck!

A Z! wow, Kara, you are brave!!

My favorite books growing up were Little House on the PrairiebyLaura Ingalls Wilderbut her name is sooo long! Maybe I'll have to do my next favorite The Hardy Boys - long but doable? I'll have to decide

"- Spell out your character's name (first, last, full, middle...you choose) using the first letter of ANY MAIN WORD in a book title (you would avoid, for example, words like "the" or "a") OR the first letter of any of the author's names."

Quick question about this. Any of the author's names, so if the middle initial matches a letter, that is fine?

My take would be yes, as long as it is the first initial of the middle name...I think :)

Yes, Kelsi's exactly right. We're getting into Q4 where we really need to push to finish our challenges--we're opening up the rules. :)

Great! I figured that was the case, but better safe than sorry, you know. haha.

I have to do 2 since I can't choose my favorite, lol.

4th Quarter Character Spell Out
Duration: October 1 - December 31
12/17 Complete

To Kill A Mocking Bird
A - Abducted/T.R. Ragan/ 10-28-12
T
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I - I'll Walk Alone/Mary Higgins Clark/ 10-18-12
C - Catherynne Valente/The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making: 10/3/12
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S - (Shelley)Mary Shelley/Frankenstein/ 10-14-12

F - The Flight of Gemma Hardy/Margot Livesey: 10/4/12
I - An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny/Laura Schroff/ 11-2-12
N - Nine Steps to Sara/Lisa Olsen/ 11-5-12
C - Cemetery Girl/David J. Bell/ 11-14-12
H - The Heretic's Daughter/Kathleen Kent/ 10-11-12

The Great Gatsby
D - Delirium/Lauren Oliver: 10/10/12
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S - Suzanne Young/Murder by Yew/ 11-13-12
Y - The Yard/Alex Grecian/ 10-16-12

*I may add her last name "Buchanan" if I have time*

CRC 4TH QUARTER CHARACTER SCAVENGER


Gina's CRC 4th Quarter Character Scavenger
Duration 10/1-12/31
14/14 CHALLENGE COMPLETE

J- Jeffery Deaver - The Sleeping Doll- FINISHED 10/5/12
O- One Pink Line by Dina Silver- FINISHED 11/24/12
N- Christine Nolfi - Second Chance Grill- FINISHED 11/20/12
A- PJ Adams - Freud's Revenge- FINISHED 10/27/12
T- The Trinity Game by Sean Chercover- FINISHED 10/5/12
H- The Hunt by J. Thorn- FINISHED 11/7/12
A- Ania Ahlborn - Seed- FINISHED 10/31/12
N- Neal Baer - Kill Switch- FINISHED 11/25/12

S- Sarah Blake - The Postmistress- FINISHED 10/13/12
T- by Mitch Albom- FINISHED 12/1/12
R- Kimberly Raiser - The Family Bones- FINISHED 10/28/12
I- Immortal Temptress by Aileen Fish- FINISHED 11/5/12
D- Defending Jacob by William Landay- FINISHED 10/17/12
E- Elizabeth Berg - The Last Time I Saw You- FINISHED 10/27/12

Updated to here. I want it to be October already, I don't know about you guys, but I have a ton of books planned for that month that I'm excited for!

You know, I'm thinking I'll just do ANDREW for 6. I forgot about my classes and I don't want to pressure myself to do too much!

And the nice thing is Andrew doubles for Andrew Martin AND Andrew "Ender" Wiggin. :)

Kara wrote: "And the nice thing is Andrew doubles for Andrew Martin AND Andrew "Ender" Wiggin. :)"

Oh. My. GOD! It so does. I love that. haha

Got it!

I'm in!
And since I have to read a lot of books, I'm going to pick three characters :). They make up 46 letters. ... I might leave out the last names, I'll see that when I get to it...

Mortimer Wittgenstein, from Lycidas by Christoph Marzi. He's a grumpy, intelligent, dark-haired alchemist.
Severus Snape, from you-know-what by J.K. Rowling, who is a grumpy, intelligent, dark-haired wizard.
And Gabriel Emerson, from Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard, who is a grumpy, intelligent, dark-haired professor.

I wonder what they have in common...

SilverRaindrops wrote: "I'm in!
And since I have to read a lot of books, I'm going to pick three characters :). They make up 46 letters. ... I might leave out the last names, I'll see that when I get to it...

Mortimer W..."

Oh Severus. Love him. I was going to pick a HP character but couldn't decide. I love them all. Huge Potterhead here! I'll add you to the list!

Kelsi wrote: "Oh Severus. Love him. I was going to pick a HP character but couldn't decide. I love them all. Huge Potterhead here! I'll add you to the list! "

I love him, Hermione and Lupin. But I figured he fit best with my other two :). Plus, he's in MY HOUSE!!! ;)

So many characters that I love- but my current favorite is Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games trilogy.

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I'm in his house too!

Christina wrote: "So many characters that I love- but my current favorite is Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games trilogy."

OH, good choice!

I'm adding another one so that i can complete some more challenges ;)
Also adding Rhett Butler, because what is Scarlett without him!

I'm going to start with a short one, and maybe add another one later in the quarter. I'm going with Cal, the protagonist in Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Eugenides is my favorite contemporary author, and Cal is my favorite of his characters. S/he was drawn so beautifully and thoroughly, that I found myself crying with her and rooting for her as she traveled through decades of family history to understand and accept herself. Love love love this book!

C: The Commitments, Roddy Doyle Finished 9/26/12, 3 stars
A: And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie Finished 11/18/12, 5 stars
L: The Giver, Lois Lowry Finished 12/24/12, 3 stars

That's a fantastic list of books, Carrie. The last two on your list are two of my favorite books ever!

I've wanted to read Middlesex for the longest time. I have to pick it up one of these days!

Carrie wrote: "I'm going to start with a short one, and maybe add another one later in the quarter. I'm going with Cal, the protagonist in Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Eugenides is my favorite contemporary au..."

It is an amazing book! I remember finishing it, and just sitting there for a long amount of time thinking about it. I think it should be a book everyone should read before college and even in high school, because it helps you understand what it feels like to be different. I know the subject matter may be deemed inappropriate by some, but all the more reason to read it. I want to re-read it next year if possible! Trevor, get on it!

Also, Carrie, I will be reading And Then There Were None for this challenge as well if you want to possibly Buddy Read it?

haha, Kelsi. I will get on it! It's right up my book-alley. ;P

Kelsi wrote: "Carrie wrote: "I'm going to start with a short one, and maybe add another one later in the quarter. I'm going with Cal, the protagonist in Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Eugenides is my favorite ..."

If I were in charge of things, it would be required reading, for sure!

A buddy read sounds great. I might be a month or so away from reading it, but I will keep you updated, Kelsi!

Great!

Sounds fun. Count me in! :)

I'll be using Drizzt do'Urden's name (character of R.A. Salvatore) - I really liked him in the first books of his series, plus it gives me an incentive to ork on that "Z" titles I have waiting for me... ;)

D - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - 4.12, 5/5
R - Reflex - 19.11, 2.5/5
I -Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Z - Zoe's Tale
Z - On Beauty by Zadie Smith
T - Trick or Treat Murder - 01.11, 4/5

D - VALIS by Philip K. Dick
O - Old Man's War - ?.10, 3/5
U - Ubik
R - Rabbit, Run
D - Dog on It
E - The Epic of Gilgamesh
N - Neverwhere - 10.12, 3/5

Kattibrie wrote: "Sounds fun. Count me in! :)

I'll be using Drizzt do'Urden's name (character of R.A. Salvatore) - I really liked him in the first books of his series, plus it gives me an incentive to ork on that "..."

That's a lot of Z's! I'm looking forward to seeing your list.

Well, I'm doing and alphabet challenge for another group so I have a Z-title, Z-author's first name and Z-author's last name that I seem to always put off, so using Drizzt here might motivate me! :D

As for the list - it will be up in a few minutes :)

I think I finally picked my favorite character ... for you J.D. Robb fans I have chosen


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**no last name, mention the name Roarke and everyone knows who you are talking about :)

OK, I couldn't resist and added Artemis Entreri - my all-time favourite character from the Drizzt series. What can I say - I have a thing for assassins... :P Post 45 updated!

I hope I'm doing this right...
UPDATE: I've been reading but haven't updated at all!

F
L The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
A Gone Bamboo by Anthony Bourdain
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I Island Beneath the Sea by Isabelle Allende
A Persuasion by Jane Austen

D A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch
E Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
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There were so many characters I have loved over the years. Flavia is a relatively recent find (from the Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie series by Alan Bradley), but I love her because she is independent, resilient, inquisitive, and smart.