My first blog hop is over and it was a blast. Thanks for all the lovely comments and for taking the time to travel the web in search of why we love heroes. My winner for the $5 Amazon Gift Certificate and a copy of The Storytellers’ Bouquet was:

Jan D.

Go Canada!

We all know unless you live under a rock the London 2012 Olympics Games are underway in Great Britain. So exciting to watch and cheer on your country. But I can’t help thinking about those parents in the stands. I mean good luck to all the athletes and everything, but seriously? How hard it must be to sit in those seats and wait for your son or daughter’s turn to be the focus of the entire world. OMGosh, if you’re a parent of a gymnast you have my sympathies. They are in the spotlight and they love to show the parents whether things have gone their way or it wasn’t their day. And you really have to love pink!

I’m not what you’d call an athlete (how’s that for understated sarcasm) but in honor of The Games I’m creating my own event – Book Reading. I’m combining this with love of country and an unreasonable desire (because I have absolutely no free time) to participate in a some type of book reading challenge. See? Three birds with one stone. Kind of. Maybe.

Okay, not really. But here it is anyway. I know there are challenges out there that encourage you to read a 100 books or some crazy number. If you’ve tried this and succeeded I applaud you. You deserve a medal. I’m going to try and read – wait for it – 7 books. I know, crazy ambitious right? Let me explain. I had some criteria. They had to be Canadian authors. The stories had to be set in Canada. Mostly. They had to genre fiction (because my book club reads mostly ‘literary fiction’). They had to be new-to-me authors. I love it because now I know what I’m going to be reading for the rest of the year. Or at least along side my book club’s picks and my go-to authors releases.

Hopefully, I’ll be more organized with this challenge than with Jane Eyre which I planned to read while away on holiday for our Summer Reading Challenge. Which was family reunion fun than camping capers. With kids. Two of whom belonged to my sister and who are aged one and four. And adorable. But exhausting. If they were a TV channel I would watch it all day. I’m back on track though and making my way through Jane’s time at Lowood. The plague (or whatever they’re calling it has arrived) and children are dying. Something terrible is going to happen to Helen and I’m dreading this next part.

Anyhoo…The List for my 2012/2013 Personal Reading Challenge:

September – Anthony Bidluka – Dos Equis – Mystery – Saskatchewan

October – Pamela Callow – Damaged – Crime – Nova Scotia

November – Janet Gurtler – If I Tell – Young Adult – Alberta

January – Louise Penny – Still Life – Mystery – Quebec

February – Maureen Jennings – Murdoch Mysteries: Except the Dying – Mystery – Ontario

March – Barbara Dunlop – A Cowboy Comes Home – Romance – Yukon

April – Nadine LaPierre – The Slayer – Mystery/Thriller – Nova Scotia

Wish me luck. Or better yet join me! It’ll be fun. Do you participate in reading challenges? Book clubs? Read-offs?