Tomato Girl

I saw this book today and I just remembered the title. I will buy it later...I have a big stack for right now.

The Rules

Here's what I found after much searching...It is from 2006, but I assume the rules are the same...

For newcomers to the contest, the rules are fairly simple:
(1) There are three awards, one for most pages read, another for most pages read by a student under the age of 18, and a third for the best description of the year's reading odyssey.
(2) In terms of pages read, graphic novels count. So do books on tape, as long as you can translate the audio into the correct number of pages (Amazon will help you make sure nothing gets lost in translation). You can also count the pages of books you re-read in 2006 because you take so much pleasure in the text.
(3) There is a maximum of 15 books by any one author.
(4) You are not penalized for reading anything by John Grisham. You should be ... but you aren't.
(5) By Jan. 10, 2007, I'll need a list of your books and pages read, arranged -- if possible -- alphabetically by the author's last name. You can send that to either of my e-mail addresses, steveduin@news.oregonian.com or steveduin@aol.com. Or you can mail it to me c/o The Oregonian, 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201.
(6) Please include your favorite book(s) of the year and an elegy/rant on the year's adventure in reading.
(7) Winners will get copies of several books by staff writers at The Oregonian and a $75 gift certificate to a great bookstore near you. Of course, they may not get them until the following Thanksgiving (the 2006 awards have yet to go out).
(8) Please direct questions to me here at the blog or at one of the e-mail addresses.

Reading Renaissance - Day 1 (2008)

I was reading the newspaper (The Oregonian) and noticed a slew of articles about declining reading rates and the like. As I picked up the Metro section, I caught Steve Duin's piece about his 2007 Reading Contest. It was basically telling the results of the 2007 contest. I looked for the rules or a link to the 2008 contest because I need something like that to motivate me and to validate that reading is a valid life-choice, but NADA. Bupkis. Nothing.

I looked up The Oregonian and Steve Duin on the internet, but still only found the results from last year and years past...no rules or information for this year.

What I could see was that people counted the number of books they read, the number of pages and then wrote some kind of essay.

I decided to do it. Regardless of whether or not I find the rules for the one in the Oregonian, I am going to take on this challenge. I miss reading so much and I have been trying to do more of it. I'm very excited by the prospect, so I'm just gonna go for it. It may help with my Blog365 thing that I am doing on www.wildrumpusing.blogspot.com.

So my first book is: "Prayers for the Assassin" by Robert Ferrigno.

My list for 2008 includes the following books:

Inkheart
The Golden Compass (all The Dark Materials)
P.S. I Love You
Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille (wrote "The General's Daughter")
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (second read-through)
All Harry Potter books
The Diary of Anne Frank