chasing bawa

Hokay, I did vow to myself that I’d cut down the number of challenges I participate in this year because I really missed reading on a whim. I know, it’s crazy considering all the books I chose for the challenges were books I actually owned and wanted to read. Sometimes I baffle even myself. So, whittling down the challenges to those I know I will be participating in because of the books I’m planning to read anyway, I came up with the following:

S. Krishna’s Books’ South Asian Challenge where I will be a South Asian Explorer and attempt to read 5 books. This is such a great challenge and will also tie in with my trip home to Sri Lanka at the end of this month (where I will naturally gravitate towards South Asian literature).

Although I didn’t manage to complete the TBR Challenge for 2010 (I only read 9/12) I really enjoyed trying to read from my TBR and will be doing the TBR Challenge again this year. Yes, I’m a masochist and like to torture my mind. I will be putting my list up shortly.

And In Spring It Is The Dawn is hosting the first ever Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge! I have to join, right? I’m putting my name down for the Hajime level where I only need to read one book. That’s right, I’m looking at you 1Q84 which should be coming out later in the year. SO excited!

And of course I will be continuing with her Hello Japan! Challenge. So much fun!

Amy, Ana, Emily and Iris are hosting The Year of Feminist Classics which I’m hoping to join in on certain months.

This year I participated in Women Unbound which was an AMAZING challenge but I quickly found myself edging towards easy reads even though I wanted to read more about feminism and its history and collected some rather wonderful titles. I guess I need my reading to be a bit more structured but this in turn may be suffocating. Not sure what the right balance is just yet. However, A Year of Feminist Reading gives a list of books but you can pick and choose what to read and if you want to join in the discussion each month. They are kickstarting the year with Mary Wollestonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women and Mariama Ba’s So Long A Journey.

Last year I read Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own which has increased my admiration of Woolf. She writes with humour and such understanding that I felt she was here with me having a discussion of issues that I am currently gnawing over. I already have The Doll’s House, The Women’s Room and The Beauty Myth on my TBR shelf and I’ve also been dying to read Beauvoir’s The Second Sex for years although I’m a little frightened to do so as it’s a hefty tome.

And later in the year I will be joining:

Stainless Steel Droppings‘ Once Upon A Time V and R.I.P. VI Challenges.

Dolce Bellezza‘s Japanese Literature Challenge 5.

That’s enough, isn’t it? Stop me now.