Monday, September 5, 2011

~ Monday Musings: Labor Day, Giveaway Winners & the RIP Peril Challenge!!

Monday "Stuff'!

It's Labor Day Monday. Happy Labor Day!! Considering that Labor Day "celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers" (thank you Wikipedia!) I want to say a big Thank you to everyone who goes to work everyday and makes the USA a great place to live! I also hope and wish that this years Labor Day marks increased employment for many of the people who've been looking for work for too long. It would be wonderful to end this year of 2011 knowing that many people don't have to worry as much about being able to support their families.


GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!
I want to announce the Winners of my August Book Giveaway before many more days of September pass!! I hosted a giveaway for 3 books:

Faith
Winner: Mary


Portrait in Sepia
Winner: Julie @ Knitting and Sundries


The Lost Girls
Winner: Nancye

CONGRATULATIONS!!


It's a Perilous time....
Halloween is just around the corner which means it's the time of year for the wonderful R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VI Challenge hosted by the fantastic Carl at his blog, Stainless Steel Droppings. In his post Carl writes:
The purpose of the R.I.P. Challenge is to enjoy books that could be classified as:
Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

The emphasis is never on the word challenge, instead it is about coming together as a community and embracing the autumnal mood, whether the weather is cooperative where you live or not.


There are two simple goals for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VI Challenge:
1. Have fun reading.
2. Share that fun with others.
As I do each and every year, there are multiple levels of participation (Perils) that allow you to be a part of R.I.P. VI without adding the burden of another commitment to your already busy lives. There is even a one book only option for those who feel that this sort of reading is not their cup of tea (or who have many other commitments) but want to participate all the same. There is also a new Peril this year, the Group Read! Carl has all the info you need in his blog.
R.I.P. VI officially runs from September 1st through October 31st.
Multiple perils await you. You can participate in just one, or participate in them all.


Carl emphasizes: My one demand: enjoy yourself!


The two images I've included here to introduce the challenge and to highlight the level I hope to achieve are from Carl's post along with several others which can be found on Stainless Steel Droppings. You really should make sure to visit Carl's blog, read his post for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VI Challenge and view the artwork which Carl attributes to Melissa Nucero and is fabulous and beautiful.


My goal is the first level: Peril the First:
Read four books, any length, that you feel fit (my very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature. It could be Stephen King or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Fleming or Edgar Allan Poe…or anyone in between.


I'm hoping I can read at least 4 books. I'm not sure which ones yet. I already have several that fit this challenge well:


*the first 2 by Tana French In the Woods and The Likeness
*Nicola Upson's 1st Josephine Tey, An Expert in Murder.
*The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (this is a biiiig book!)
*Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, vol. 1
*The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Sue Meyers
*Kate Atkinson's book Started Early, Took My Dog and
the audio of When Will There Be Good News?


I'd love to read some or all of these:
*The House on the Strand or Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
*any of Elizabeth Gaskell's books.


I'm getting so excited for this challenge!

13 comments:

  1. Happy Labor Day to you too! And congratulations to your winners! I hope they enjoy the books! I am also thinking about joining the challenge as well, but haven't yet decided. It seems like it might be a fun thing to do though!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oooh, whoever gets Faith on audio is in for an adventure! I love RIP...it is always the first sign of fall. I have no idea what I'll be reading for it yet, but suffice it to say, I've got a huge stack. I would definitely read Tana French...she is incredible.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've just decided to do the RIP challenge too -- will post it tomorrow morning. I do love a good Gothic!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations to the winners! I hope you have fun with the challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Moonstone is a big book indeed, with lots of unnecessary digressions that made me very impatient. But the bottom line: I enjoyed reading it.

    In the Woods was a good read too! Have fun with the challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Moonstone is really good! I read it last year and loved it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks so much for the Allende win! I also have The Moonstone in my reading list this year; maybe I'll use it for one of the books for the RIP challenge (which I'm going to sign up for now that you introduced me to it!). Right now, I'm reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. After reading Drood by Dan Simmons, I became interested in Wilkie's work, and decided that I would take up a book or two of his. (and, yes, Woman in White is VERY Victorian, with 50 words in places where 5 would suffice, but still, I am enjoying it!)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I hope you are enjoying your Labor Day! I love seeing what people choose for the "spooky" challenges every year, even though I'm always too much of a chicken to participate. I like the idea of scary lit...but not the reality! Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes to Tana French!! Those books were FANTASTIC! And yay for Kate Atkinson!! I love her.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hurray for RIP - I'll get a post up soon... loved The Moonstone!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy Labor Day - hope your weekend was a good one. I LOVE the RIP Challenge - Have fun Amy. (Listening to Duma Key, Stephen King and reading The Night Strangers, Bohjalian - right now for the challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love Tana French's books! Enjoy the challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love this challenge.
    It's the first thing I did when I started blogging last year. I met great poeple and found loads of good books.
    You have a nice list. I like Kate Atkinson a lot but haven't read this one yet.

    ReplyDelete