Okay, I’m trying to be realistic this time around. I want to complete two books I’m currently reading, and I’ve only chosen nine new books for the Fall Into Reading 2009 challenge — to leave room for flexibility (blog tours, mood changes, etc.), but also to give myself a fair chance at finishing them. If the reading slump I was in this summer is any indication, it’ll take a tremendous amount of effort just to get through these eleven books. But I’m hoping that cooler weather, a consistent routine, and the draw of coffee and baked goods will lull me back to a life of more reading and less slumping. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even read more than is on my list!

Books I need to finish:

Fatally Flaky by Diane Mott Davidson
A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller

These two books have been in my sidebar and on my nightstand for forever a long time. I’ve been reading — and enjoying — them…just not very quickly. I need to be better about setting aside time for reading, and then reading the books on my nightstand and list, rather than the half-hearted, sporadic dabbling I’ve been doing lately.

Now for the new books I’ve picked…

Non-fiction

Always a bit of a challenge for me, but I’m looking forward to each of these books.

Finding An Unseen God: Reflections of a Former Athiest by Alicia Britt Chole. I was first intrigued by this book when Bethany House offered it as a giveaway during Spring Reading Thing 2009. Since then, I’ve heard lots of good things about it from a number of people, including my friend, Lisa.
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose. I have been incredibly curious about this book since the day I heard an interview with the author on NPR. The premise: a non-Christian goes “undercover” at the overtly Christian Liberty University (founded by the well-known and often-controversial Jerry Falwell). Why am I so curious? I attended Liberty University and, in fact, met my husband there. Though I did my fair share of complaining about certain rules, I had a fantastic college experience, and am looking forward to reading about Roose’s experience and reactions.
Experiencing God Around the Kitchen Table by Marilynn Blackaby. This is a book that has been on my bookshelf for a long time, but I’ve just never read it. It looks like it’s part memoir, part encouragement, written to Christian women, by the wife of Experiencing God author Henry Blackaby.
Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper. I’ve read (and enjoyed) a number of books by John Piper, and I’m eager to read this book by his wife. In it, Noel examines how we can weave a love for and celebration of God into our everyday family traditions. Amazon reviewers have good things to say, and I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.
Number Freak by Derrick Niederman. Okay, here is where I confess to you that I am a geek. A total geek. There is no other explanation as to why I would choose this book. I mean, just look at the subtitle: From 1 to 200 — The Hidden Language of Numbers Revealed. That’s right. This is a book about the first 200 numbers. Each chapter tackles a number. And talks about it. Yep. And I think it looks interesting. Go ahead — you can laugh now.

Fiction

In no particular order

Boneman’s Daughters by Ted Dekker. For me, Ted Dekker’s novels are either, “Awesome! Amazing! Page-turner!” or occasionally, “Man, that was just too weird.” We’ll see what this one ends up being… but it looks really good!
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. I had no interest in reading The Hunger Games. It just didn’t appeal to me. Until both Jennifer and Lisa told me it was incredible. So I tried it…and was completely and utterly hooked. Catching Fire is the sequel to The Hunger Games and I can’t wait to see what happens next!
A Slow Burn by Mary DeMuth. Though I, admittedly, am drawn more to thrillers and mysteries than literary novels, I really liked Daisy Chain by Mary DeMuth (check out my review of it). There’s definitely some mystery, but the way Mary writes just drew me completely in. A Slow Burn is the second book in the Defiance Texas Trilogy, and looks like a fantastic follow-up to Daisy Chain.
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. A hold-over from my Spring Reading Thing list. I really want to get to it this time, especially since I read these posts by Jeanne Damoff over at The Master’s Artist, after she recently re-visited Lewis’s Space Trilogy.

That’s it. Nine new books. More non-fiction than fiction, though I wonder if my actual reading will follow that pattern.

Don’t forget to visit the official launch post for Fall Into Reading 2009 to check out all the other participants!

Giveaways

As in previous challenges, Bethany House has graciously offered to sponsor Fall Into Reading 2009 with weekly giveaways, for which I am very grateful!

Here are some details about the giveaways:

• For the most part, I’ll be posting the giveaways every Thursday.
• Book giveaways are open to everyone, even if you are not participating in Fall Into Reading 2009. The only restriction I have is shipping; I can only ship to U.S. & Canada mailing addresses.

Prizes

In addition to the weekly book giveaways, there will be a couple prizes awarded at the end of Fall Into Reading 2009.

1. A $15 gift certificate to Amazon.com
2. A $5 gift certificate to Amazon.com

To be eligible for these prizes, you must:

• Post your intitial Fall Into Reading 2009 post (and enter it on the linky list on my blog) by midnight on September 24th.
• AND post a wrap-up post on your blog at the end of the challenge (and enter it on the linky list I’ll have up then) by midnight on December 23nd.

That’s it. I’ll randomly draw the winners after December 23rd.

Note: Fall Into Reading 2009 has begun. If you’d like to join the challenge, or just want to check out the participants, please visit the official launch post. Thanks!

Planning to join Fall Into Reading 2009? I hope you’ve been working on your list, because the challenge starts on Tuesday! In the meantime, here are a few posting guidelines/rules. I’m not too picky, but there are a few things I need you to do.

1. Write your post before you sign up on the linky list that goes live on September 22nd. I know that it can be tempting to try to get your name near the top of a reading challenge participant list, but please, please have your post written and published on your blog before you add your name to the linky list.  If I click on your name/link and do not see your post and reading list, or if it takes me to a post that says, “I’m going to join Fall Into Reading, but I don’t have my list yet. But I’ll do it soon.” or something like that… I’m sorry, but I will have to delete your entry from the list. Not because I’m mean, but because it’s simply not fair to the other participants who have already prepared their lists and blog posts. Of course, once you have your post/list up, you are more than welcome to come back and submit your name again.

2. Use a permalink when you sign up. In other words, use the linky list to link directly to your Fall Into Reading post, not just the main address (front page) of your blog. When you see the linky list here on September 22nd, you’ll find the words “Click Here to Enter Your Link.” When you click, you’ll see a space marked “Title” where you can type your name (or the name of your blog, or whatever you’d like) and a space under it for your link URL, or website address. In that space, you’ll need to put a “permalink” to your Fall Into Reading post.

For example, instead of something like:

http://myniftyblog.blogspot.com

You’d want something like this:

http://myniftyblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/fall-into-reading.html

I completely made those addresses up, but you get the idea. Blogging Basics 101 has an article on how to find the “permalink” to a particular post HERE.

Once again, your link will be deleted if it does not go to a specific post (the one with your reading list). And again, I’m not being picky about this to be mean, but rather as a courtesy to all involved. People will be checking out everyone’s lists throughout the fall challenge, and we want to make it as easy as possible for them to find your list. That means submitting a link to your specific post, rather than a general link to your blog.

If you have tried and tried, and read the post at Blogging Basics 101, and are still having trouble figuring out your permalink, please feel free to contact me (just click the “contact me” tab in my navigation menu above). I would be glad to help you and to get you signed up on the linky list with the correct link. Depending on the volume of email, it might take me a little while to get back to you, but I definitely will. I want you to be part of Fall Into Reading!

3. Keep your post family-friendly. I realize that, with potentially hundreds of challenge participants, Fall Into Reading is going to represent readers of various reading interests. However, I do request that you keep your “official” Fall Into Reading post (the one you add to the linky list) family-friendly and “clean.” In other words, please make sure that any book titles or book covers you include would be safe for little eyes to see. I’ve had kids participate in my reading challenges in the past, and I just want to make sure the links presented on the official Fall Into Reading list are safe for them. Links to posts with explicit titles or covers may be deleted. Please feel free to check with me ahead of time if you’re not sure about a particular book.

4. Get ready to read! Personally, I plan to abandon all housework, bill-paying, and cat-puke-cleaning during the fall season, so I can focus exclusively on reading. Okay, maybe I won’t go that far, but I do hope to rearrange my schedule a bit to fit in some more reading. I also plan to visit as many Fall Into Reading participants next week as I can, to find out what they’ll be reading this fall and to share our mutual love of books and reading. I encourage you to visit other participants as well. It’s fun to be in the challenge; but it’s even more fun to enjoy the challenge with others.

Linky Note: Due to a number of factors, I’ll most likely be using a MckLinky this time around, instead of a Mr. Linky (for the linky list). I realize this creates one extra step for you (clicking to another page to enter your information), but I believe the benefits will outweigh that little inconvenience. We’ll see how it goes!

A few other things:

My plan right now is to put up the official Fall Into Reading 2009 launch post at 9:00 a.m. (EST) on Tuesday, September 22nd. If for any reason that time will change, I’ll let you know.

I will also be putting up a post where you can link to any reviews you write of your Fall Into Reading 2009 books (remember: reviews are completely optional!), but probably won’t post it until September 24th or so.

Note: Fall Into Reading 2009 has begun. If you’d like to join the challenge, or just want to check out the participants, please visit the official launch post. Thanks!