May Sunshine Light Your Day... (an ongoing personal challenge)

A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.

-- St. Francis of Assisi

When November arrives in the Pacific Northwest, it brings deep darkness and rain. Most of us living here actually like the rain and understand Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's advice: "The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain." But that doesn't mean we don't long for sunshine on those long, dark, wintery days. One of my favorite things to do in winter, on a dark and dreary day, is to read a book that takes place in sunnier climates. I love to immerse myself in the written sunlight, and then look up to be startled by the dark contrast outside my window.

As I was looking through the books on my bookshelves this weekend, I was amazed at how many fit that sunshine description. I decided to put a list together of books I can read on very gray days...my own little journey south in search for sunshine.

My Sunshine choices:
The Old Patagonian Express, by Paul Theroux
The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder
Malinche, by Laura Esquivel

Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather
Mexico, A Traveler's Literary Companion, edited by C.M. Mayo
The General in His Labyrinth, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Green Mansions, by W. H. Hudson
Martin Fierro, by José Hernández
The Alchemist, by Paul Coehlo
The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende

People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.

-- Anton Chekhov

Readers Imbibing Peril 3, 2008 (COMPLETED)

1. A Murder of Quality, John le Carré
2. The Unstrung Harp, Edward Gorey
3. The Eye of Jade: A Mei Wang Mystery, by Diane Wei Liang
4. Varjak Paw, S.F. Said
5. Gossamer, Lois Lowry
6. Our Man in Havana, Graham Greene
7. Tales of Moonlight and Rain, by Ueda Akinari
8. The Outlaw Varjak Paw, by S.F. Said

Book-to-Movie Challenge, 2008 (COMPLETED)

1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, by Jean-Dominique Bauby
2. Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene
3. Tales of Moonlight and Rain, by Ueda Akinari

Japanese Literature Challenge2, 2008 (COMPLETED)

After the Quake, Haruki Murakami
Twenty-Four Eyes, by Sakae Tsuboi
Tales of Moonlight and Rain, by Akinari Ueda

Knit Kimono, by Vicki Square

Book Awards Challenge II, 2008-09 (COMPLETED)

1. PULITZER: The Optimist's Daughter, Eudora Welty
2. SASQUATCH: The Ghost's Grave, Peg Kehret
3. PULITZER Special Award: Maus I: A Survivor's Tale, by Art Spiegelman
4. PURA BELPRÉ: Esperanza Rising, Pam Muñoz Ryan
5. NESTLÉ SMARTIES BOOK PRIZE: Varjak Paw, by S.F. Said
6. MASSACHUSETTS CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD: Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White
7. PULITZER: The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder
8. THE ALA'S SCHNEIDER FAMILY BOOK AWARD: Becoming Naomi León, by Pam Muñoz Ryan
9. THE MAUD HART LOVELACE BOOK AWARD: The Devil's Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen
   
10. THE ROBERT F. SIEBERT HONOR AWARD: To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel, by Siena Cherson Siegel and Mark Siegel

Southern Reading Challenge, 2008 (COMPLETED)

1. The Watermelon King, by Daniel Wallace
2. Remembering, by Wendell Berry
3. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt

Maggie's Name Your Homeplace contest
Maggie's Sense of Place contest

The Non-Fiction Five Challenge, 2008 (COMPLETED)

1. Looking Back: A Book of Memories, by Lois Lowry
2. Renoir's Garden, by Derek Fell
3. Old Friend from Far Away, by Natalie Goldberg
4. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt
5. Maus I: A Survivor's Tale, by Art Spiegelman

Once Upon a Time II, 2008 (COMPLETED)

• The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
• Four wonderful authors each wrote an "ecologically-minded story" based on a Brian Froud painting they chose from his Faerieland project. I’m going to read The Wild Wood, by Charles de Lint; The Wood Wife, by Terri Windling; Something Rich and Strange, by Patricia McKillip; and Hannah's Garden, by Midori Snyder
• Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale
• Briar Rose, by Jane Yolen
• The Young Merlin Trilogy, by Jane Yolen
• Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, by May Gibbs
• Seven Wild Sisters, by Charles de Lint
  
• Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham, by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Solstice Wood, by Patricia A. McKillip

B's Reading Challenge, 2008 (ongoing)

No Rules...just books my husband really likes and would like me to read sometime.

1. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera
3. Immortality, by Milan Kundera
4. Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, by Jose Saramago
5. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, by Jose Saramago
6. The Curtain, by Milan Kundera
   

The Sci Fi Experience, 2008 (COMPLETED)

1. First Meetings in Ender's Universe, by Orson Scott Card
2. The Green Book, by Jill Paton Walsh
3. Wolf of Shadows, by Whitley Streiber

Expanding Horizons Challenge, 2008 (COMPLETED)

1. Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection, by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy
2. Far Away and Long Ago: A Childhood in Argentina, by W. H. Hudson (ARGENTINA)
   
3. My Invented Country: A Memoir, by Isabel Allende (CHILE)
4. Short Stories by Latin American Women: The Magic and the Real, edited by Celia Correas Zapata
   
5. Where the Flame Trees Bloom, by Alma Flor Ada (CUBA)
   
6. Under the Royal Palms, by Alma Flor Ada (CUBA)
   

Japanese Literature Challenge, 2007 (COMPLETED)

1. The Big Wave, by Pearl S. Buck
2. Thousand Cranes, by Yasunari Kawabata
3. The Bells of Nagasaki, by Takashi Nagai

Hometown Challenge, 2007 (COMPLETED)

1. The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale (SALT LAKE CITY)
   
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, by Sherman Alexie (SEATTLE)
   

Book-To-Movie Challenge, 2007 (COMPLETED)

1. The African Queen, by C. S. Forester
2. The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
3. The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo

R.I.P., II Challenge, 2007 (COMPLETED)

1. A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle
2. The Red House Mystery, by A. A. Milne
   
3. The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill
4. Strange Happenings, by Avi
5. The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy, by Tim Burton

Southern Reading Challenge, 2007 (COMPLETED)

1. Big Fish, by Daniel Wallace
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (audiobook version, read by Sissy Spacek)
3. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston (audiobook version, read of Ruby Dee)
4. Miss Julia Strikes Back, by Ann B. Ross

Once Upon a Time Challenge, 2007 (COMPLETED)

1. The Moorchild, by Eloise McGraw
2. The Arthurian Trilogy written by Rosemary Sutcliff: The Sword and The Circle, The Light Beyond the Forest, The Road to Camlann
3. Warriors, Gods & Spirits from Central and South American Mythology, text by Douglas Gifford, illustrations by John Sibbick
4. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
   
5. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
6. A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare