A few last minute additions...

Okay, it's official. I've gone insane and am signing up for two more challenges I'll never finish. To be fair, a lot of the books on these two lists are crossovers from other challenges (and one reread), but there are still a fair number of new ones, too. So here goes.

First, as a major lover of the movies, I'm joining the 2011 Page to Screen Challenge. I've decided to attempt the third level, so 15 books. 20 seemed like too many, but 10 was too few. Really, I want to do 12 to fit beautifully into the 12 months of the year, but 15 works, too. I'm also planning to participate by both reading and watching, so I'm going to watch all the movies too. My books will be...

1. Scaramouche - Rafael Sabatini
2. The Holy Thief - Ellis Peters
3. Lady Chatterley's Lover - DH Lawrence
4. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
5. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
6. La Mort d'Arthur - Thomas Malory
7. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
8. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
9. I Will Repay - Baroness Emmuska Orczy
10. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
11. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
12. The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
13. Mystic River - Dennis Lehane
14. Eduring Love - Ian McEwan
15. Harry Potter - JK Rowling

And the other is the Historical Fiction Challenge. What with my love of history and all, this one's kind of obvious for me. And in this instance I decided to just go crazy and choose the highest level "severe bookaholism," or 20 books. I know. Right after I posted above that 20 was too many. My books will be...

1. Scaramouche - Rafael Sabatini
2. The Holy Thief - Ellis Peters
3. Full Dark House - Christopher Fowler
4. Of Love and Other Demons - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5. Brother Cadfael's Penance - Ellis Peters
6. The Glass of Time - Michael Cox
7. I Will Repay - Baroness Emmuska Orczy
8. The Diamond - Julie Baumgold
9. The Revolt of the Eaglets - Jean Plaidy
10. The Blue Star - Tony Early
11. The Heart of the Lion - Jean Plaidy
12. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
13. The Maiden with the White Hands - Rosalind Miles
14. Small Wars - Sadie Jones
15. When Christ and His Saints Slept - Sharon Kay Penman
16. The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
17. Dragonwyck - Anya Seton
18. The White Queen - Philippa Gregory
19. The Day the Falls Stood Still - Cathy Marie Buchanan
20. An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro

Just a little bit more...

I know, I know. I've already said I'm going to end up driving myself bananas by the end of next year with all the challenges I'm not going to finish. But I just can't help myself. So here are two more...

First up will be the annual TBR Challenge. This is always one I like. There are basically no requirements for the books (other than being on your TBR list for at least a year), so I just use it as a way to plug through the next 12 books on my oh-so-many TBR lists. This year my books will be...

1. The Fourth Bear - Jasper Fforde (completed 3/23/2011)
2. An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro (completed 2/26/2011)
3. Slow Man - JM Coetzee (quit 4/30/2011)
4. Bombay Time - Thrity Umrigar (completed 8/14/2011)
5. Against Nature - Jori-Karl Huysmans
6. I Will Repay - Baroness Emmuska Orczy (completed 8/9/2011)
7. The Blue Star - Tony Early
8. Money - Martin Amis
9. The Sea - John Banville
10. Mystic River - Dennis Lehane
11. Agape Agape - William Gaddis
12. The Glass of Time - Michael Cox

And the second challenge, similar to TBR, is the Reading From My Shelves Challenge. This involves reading books that are languishing on your shelves. You're supposed to then give the books away, but I only ever give away books I don't like. I've always been a re-reader of books I like. This is a good challenge for me, too. I get books for Chirstmas or my birthday and I always push back reading them in favor of the books that are part of the challenges that I've joined. And even when the books on my shelf are part of the challenges, I often push them back in favor of library books because there's a time limit on those and ones I own can be read anytime. So, despite how much I want the books I own, it's often a year or two after I get them that I actually get around to reading them. Which is weird, I guess. Anyway, I currently have ten books on my shelf that are unread, so those are the ten that will be in the challenge. Sadly it's not twelve books. I like challenges that can be easily divided into months. But Christmas is coming, so maybe I'll be able to add a few more books to the shelf that need to be read. Anyway, my books are...

1. Full Dark House - Christopher Fowler
2. Against Nature - Jori-Karl Huysmans
3. Mirror Mirror - Gregory Maguire
4. La Mort d'Arthur - Thomas Malory
5. Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
6. The Revolt of the Eaglets - Jean Plaidy
7. The Heart of the Lion - Jean Plaidy
8. The Maiden of the White Hands - Rosalind Miles
9. When Christ and His Saints Slept - Sharon Kay Penman
10. Dragonwyck - Anya Seton

ETA...I was right about Christmas. I'll add two more books to the challenge to have a nice round 12 books in 12 months...

11. The White Queen - Philippa Gregory
12. Enduring Love - Ian McEwan

I'll try to say this is the last of my 2011 challenges, but that's probably a lie...

Super freak...

I recognize that I'm probably setting myself up for an End of 2011 Freak-out, and I just don't care. I'm signing up for more challenges anyway.

Today's post is brought to you by way of South Asia! S. Krishna's Books is once again hosting the South Asian Challenge and I'm signing up this year. As I said, I realize I'm slowly making myself go bananas, so I'm choosing to take it slow and only be a South Asian Wanderer, which means reading three books. S. Krishna has a provided a list of countries that qualify as South Asian countries, but instead of choosing three different countries to visit I am just planning on focusing on India. My books will be...

1. One Amazing Thing - Chitra Banejee Devakaruni
2. Bombay Time - Thrity Umrigar
3. The Marriage Bureau for Rich People - Farahad Zama

More big plans...

The end of the year is such a happy time because I can kind of ignore the fact that I'm so behind on challenges this year and just look towards all the beautiful challenges I probably won't JUST KNOW I'll finish next year. With that in mind, here are two more challenges...

This is the third time I've participated in the What's in a Name Challenge. I finished it this year, though not last year. I enjoy going through my outlandish TBR list and fitting books into the WiaN categories. For this challenge, read 6 books during 2011. Each title must meet a specific requirement. My books will be...

1. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller (number)
2. The Diamond - Julie Baumgold (jewelry or gemstone)
3. Small Wars - Sadie Jones (size)
4. The Walking People - Mary Beth Keane (travel or movement)
5. On Love and Other Demons - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (evil)
6. Child of the Morning - Pauline Gedge (life stage)

The other challenge I'm joining today is the 2011 Global Challenge. Read books in 2011 that are all set on different continents. There are different levels for this challenge, and I'm choosing the easy level: one book set on each of the six inhabited continents and one set on a "seventh continent" which could be Antarctica but could also be space or the sea or a fantasy realm. My books will be...

1. The In-Between World of Vikram Lall - MG Vassanji (Africa - Kenya)
2. An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro (Asia - Japan)
3. Pobby and Dingan - Ben Rice (Australasia - Australia)
4. Small Wars - Sadie Jones (Europe - Cyprus)
5. The Day the Falls Stood Still - Cathy Marie Buchanan (North America - Canada)
6. Red April - Santiago Roncagliolo (South America - Peru)
7. The Fourth Bear - Jasper Fforde (7th Continent - though this is kind of set in England, it's weird alternative nursery land England)

Preparations for what's next...

One of my favorite things about the end of the year is making plans for the next year. I get to do a lot of that when it comes to my book blog since this is the time that people are putting out all their sign-ups for next years challenges. Last year I ended up quitting all my challenges, but I've done better this year (and by that I mean I actually have finished one). I've had my feelers out and I'm gearing up for next year. Here are my first two challenges for 2011...

I Want More Challenge...read books written by authors you've read once before and just need more of. I have an ongoing list of books that I've read that have made me want to read more by a certain author which is great for this challenge. I'm choosing the second level of participation: give me more, in which I need to read 5-8 books. I like round numbers, so I'm planning on reading 6 books (6 being a round number for how well it corresponds to 12 months of reading time). My books will be...

1. On Love and Other Demons - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2. The Improper Life of Bezelia Grove - Susan Gregg Gilmore
3. The Know-it-All - AJ Jacobs
4. The Scent of Rain and Lightning - Nancy Pickard
5. Theft: a Love Story - Peter Carey
6. An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro

Challenge number two is Back to the Classics...read 8 classics. There's a bit of a catch though, as each classic has to fit one certain parameter. But I think that makes things a little more diverse so that's good. My books will be...

1. Lady Chatterly's Lover - DH Lawrence (banned book)
2. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (wartime: Waterloo and the June Rebellion - seeing as I've known all the words to the musical since I was seven, it's surprising that I've never even tried to read this...)
3. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (pulitzer prize winner - also surprising I've never read this considering I wrote my final paper for my 12th grade AP English class on it...)
4. Are You There God, it's Me Margaret? - Judy Blume (childrens/YA classic - maybe this is pushing it a little, but when I think of classic YA lit, Judy Blume is what immediately springs to mind even though I somehow managed to never read anything by her...)
5. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitsgerald (20th century classic)
6. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (19th century classic)
7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz (21st century classic - this is a little hard to predict, but all I've heard of this has made it seem like it could well be on it's way to classic-dom...)
8. Catch-22: Joseph Heller (reread from a highschool or college English class - I didn't actually finish this so only half of it will be a reread...)

I'm looking forward to 2011!!!

The wrap up...

It's been a long time since I completed a challenge, so YEA FOR ME! I did have to make a change from my initial list since I couldn't get my hands on a copy of one of the books I was planning to read, but other than that there were very few problems. I didn't quit on any of the books, which is something of a problem for me this year. I keep trying to read books that are not for me. That's not a good idea. That makes me hate reading and go into reading/blogging hiatuses. But not this challenge! My books were...

1. Sir Percy Leads the Band - Baroness Emmuska Orczy 4/5
2. The Whisky Rebels - David Liss 4/5
3. The Last Queen - CW Gortner 5/5
4. Like Mayflies in the Stream - Shauna Roberts 3/5
5. Peony in Love - Lisa See 4/5
6. Looking for Alaska - John Green 4/5

Wow. Unusually, not only did I finish everything, I more or less liked everything. Way to go, Challenge!

A rose by any other name...

In an attempt to make myself go completely bananas, I am signing up for another challenge for next year: the What's in a Name Challenge! Read six books in 2010, each with a different specific criteria in the title. My books will be...

1. The Whiskey Rebels - David Liss (food)
2. Like Mayflies in a Stream - Shauna Roberts (body of water)
3. The Last Queen - CW Gortner (title)
4. Peony in Love - Lisa See (plant)
5. Looking for Alaksa - John Green (place name)
6. Sir Percy Leads the Band - Baroness Emmuska Orczy (musical term)

I started this challenge last year, but didn't finish (since I quit all my challenges) so I'm excited to try again this year.

It just can't come fast enough...

I think the fact that I am currently not reading ANYTHING that isn't school related is getting to me. So much so that I'm overly obsessed with finding and planning my reading and challenges for 2010. I'm going to end up, just like this year, with far too much on my plate. That being said, I'm signing up for Miz B's TBR Challenge. Read 12 books in 2010 that have been on your TBR list for at least six months. Maybe this time I'll actually finish it. My books will be...

1. The Virgin of Small Plains - Nancy Pickard
2. The Crusader - Michael Alexander Eisner
3. The Gathering - Anne Enwrite
4. Broken Paradise - Celia Samartin
5. Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir
6. Into the Wild - Sarah Beth Durst
7. The Romanov Bride - Robert Alexander
8. Jim the Boy - Tony Early
9. The Known World - Edward P Jones
10. Dragonwyck - Anya Seton
11. The Well and the Mine - Gin Phillips
12. Mudbound - Hillary Jordan

I'm getting so excited!

Two more...

My sister the literature scholar has suggested that maybe I'm getting ahead of myself with challenges since I just announced that I'm signing up for two more. But I just can't help myself. I'm not doing any challenges now which makes me sad. :( First the Reading Western Europe Challenge (which sadly doesn't have a picture). Read one book set in each of the twelve countries of Western Europe (the UK has been split up a bit). I tend to read lots of books set in England, and I always feel I need to branch out, but I find it hard to do so sometimes. So this is good. My books will be...

1. Belgium: Niccolo Rising - Dorothy Dunnett
2. France: Mistress of the Revolution - Catherine Delors
3. Ireland: Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt
4. Luxembourg: Luxembourg and the Jenisch Connection - David Robinson
5. Monaco: Monaco - Eric Robert Morse
6. The Netherlands: The Company - Arabella Edge
7. Switzerland: The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
8. Northern Ireland: Eureka Street - Robert McLiam Wilson
9. England: Innocent Traitor - Allison Weir
10. Wales: Border Country - Raymond Williams
11. Scotland: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark
12. Channel Islands: Island Madness - Tim Binding

And second, the Year of the Historical Challenge. Read at least one historical fiction book per month. I love history! Which is good, seeing as that's what I'm studying in school. I 'm trying to spread it around and read about different places and different time. My books will be...

1. Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir
2. The Romanov Bride - Robert Alexander
3. The Crusader - Michael Alexander Eisner
4. The Last Queen - CW Gortner
5. Mistress of the Revolution - Catherine Delors
6. When Christ and His Saints Slept - Sharon Kay Penman
7. The Queen's Lady - Barbara Kyle
8. Cleopatra's Daughter - Michelle Moran
9. The Whiskey Rebels - David Liss
10. The Heretic's Daughter - Kathleen Kent
11. Dragonwyck - Anya Seton
12. Peony in Love - Lisa See

Woo woo! Come on 2010!

Haste makes waste...

Maybe I'm being a bit hasty (seeing as how things did NOT go so well this year), but I'm signing up for two more 2010 challenge. In my defense...they're both mini challenges. Just two books each. So not too outrageous yet. First off, the French Revolution Mini Challenge. Read two books set during the French Revolution. Mine will be...

1. Sir Percy Leads the Band - Baroness Emmuska Orczy
2. Scaramouche - Rafael Sabatini

And second... The Wilkie Collins Mini Challenge, which is as self explanatory as they come. Read two books written by Wilkie Collins. I loved The Woman in White which I read about a year ago so I'm really excited for this one! My books will be...

1. The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
2. No Name - Wilkie Collins

2010 is looking good!

Read the best books first...

Like I said, I've decided to quit all my challenges for the rest of 2009 and put all my focus on television school. However, I am having fun gearing up for the challenges of 2010, so much so that I have decided to sign up for my first one. So. FIRST CHALLENGE OF 2010 IS...(drum roll please)... BIBLIOPHILE BY THE SEA'S BOOKS TO READ BEFORE I DIE CHALLENGE! WOO WOO!! During 2010, choose between 10-20 books you have just always wanted to read but haven't gotten around to it yet. And then read them! For more rules, click the link above. I am choosing 12 books. One for each month of the year. I don't know why I like to do that. My 12 books are...

1. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting - Milan Kundera
2. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
3. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
4. The Adventures of David Simple - Sarah Fielding
5. Belong to Me - Marisa de los Santos
6. Possession - AS Byatt
7. Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey
8. On Beauty - Zadie Smith
9. Beloved - Toni Morrison
10. Against Nature - Jori-Karl Huysmans
11. Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp - Stephanie Klein
12. When Christ and His Saints Slept - Sharon Kay Penman

Let's hope 2010 goes better than 2009.

Don't worry, I'm not dead...

Okay, it's been over a month since I've posted. I know. In my defense, I started school! And it's been A WHILE since I've been in school. So I've been neglecting some things. Like my blog. Since starting school, I've been a little busy (getting used to the commute and the amount of reading and writing I have do...) so I've decided to just forget about all the reading challenges I'm signed up for. I love reading challenges, but I feel I need to get myself settled into the routine of school and just focus on that, and then I can start again with my challenges is 2010. And I promise to start posting again!

She's going back to her roots...

Maybe this is a bad idea. I'm not sure. But I'm going to try to add a few more books to my plate. We'll see how this goes. I already know I'm way behind on some of my challenges, but I'm going to add just one more. Maggie Reads' Southern Reading Challenge! Between the May 15th and August 15th, read at least three books set in the South written by Southern authors. Visit Maggie's blog for ideas. My books will be...

1. Welcome to the World, Baby Girl - Fannie Flagg
2. Girls in Trucks - Katie Crouch
3. Miscarriage of Justice - Kip Gayden

This was a great challenge last year. I read two books that I just loved (and one not so much). I'm looking forward to my reading plan for this year!

A classic love...

This is a bad deal. I need to STOP joining challenges. Before I go a little cuckoo! Between April 1st and October 31st, Trish is hosting the Classics Challenge! Choose between three options: a classic snack (four classics), a classic entree (five classics), or a classic feast (six classics). I have decided to bite the big one and make myself go completely bananas. My books will be...

1. Agnes Gray - Anne Bronte

2. The Aleph and Other Stories - Jorge Luis Borges

3. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

4. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

5. Lady Audley's Secret - Elizabeth Mary Braddon

6. The Adventures of David Simple - Sarah Fielding

This is good. I'm crossing books off my lists and reading good, enjoyable stories. Despite going bananas.

The wrap up...

I thought I wasn't going to be able to finish this, but thankfully I was able to pull it off. This was a good challenge for me as I some day want to attempt everything on this list. Both original and updated version. I got a little discouraged while reading Blonde, but I got over it and moved on. I read...

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 4/5

Saturday - Ian McEwan 5/5

Blonde - Joyce Carol Oates 1/5

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson 2/5

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins 5/5

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde 3/5

The Poisonwood Bible - Barabara Kingsolver 1/5

Emma - Jane Austen 4/5

The Virgin Suicides - Jeffery Eugenides 4/5

Casino Royale - Ian Flemming 3/5

A good mix. Only three I disliked, although I am slightly ashamed that two of those I couldn't even finish. But I made it through 100 pages and that's good enough for me. I should see what percentage I am really at with this list...

Around the world...

It's possible I'm going a little crazy with the challenges, but in my defense HALF of the books I'm doing for this challenge are already being read for another challenge. So that makes it better...

The Orbis Terrarum Challenge! From March 1 to December 31, read 10 books (one for each month) by 10 authors from 10 different countries. My books will be...

1. The Girl in Saskatoon - Sharon Butala (Canada)

2. Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)

3. The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux (France)

4. To Siberia - Per Petterson (Norway)

5. Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salmon Rushdie (India)

6. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russia)

7. An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro (Japan)

8. The Riddle of the Sands - Erskine Childers (Ireland)

9. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)

10. Billiards at Half Past Nine - Heinrich Boll (Germany)

There is an abundance of Europe, I know, but I tried to diversify into different parts of Europe. And then made sure to get something from most other continents/regions of the globe. And I made sure nothing could be chosen from the US (seeing as that's where I live) or England...so places I don't normally read from so much. I think it's a pretty good mix.

The wrap up...

Two more down...

Fall into Reading ended December 20. I didn't finish quite as much as I planned (13 out of 15 books), but not too bad. Those last two will hopefully be read by either the end of the year or VERY early next year. That's the plan anyway. I read a pretty wide variety of books, trying to fit in all the books from my various challenges. My books were...

1. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott 5/5

2. The Pilgrim of Hate - Ellis Peters 4/5

3. Daisy Miller - Henry James 2/5

4. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson 2/5

5. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins 5/5

6. The Alienist - Caleb Carr

7. The Halloween Tree - Ray Bradbury 3/5

8. Adolphe - Benjamin Constant 2/5

9. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde 3/5

10. Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas - Louise Rennison

11. American Gods - Neil Gaiman 3/5

12. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy 5/5

13. The Third Chimpanzee - Jared Diamond

Like I said, a pretty wide variety. A couple rereads...some I loved, some I didn't like much at all...a good mix. Also completed...

The goal was to read 8 books from consecutive decades in '08. I tried to be ambitious and read 12 books (one for each month) in consecutive decades in '08. I only managed to get through 10, and know I won't be getting to the last two any time soon. So. I fulfilled the requirements, but fell short of my own goal. Not too bad. My books were...

1. Persuasion - Jane Austen 3/5

2. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving 4/5

3. The Red and the Black - Stendhal 4/5

4. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 4/5

5. Madame Bovary - Gustav Flaubert 3/5

6. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott 5/5

7. Daisy Miller - Henry James 2/5

8. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson 2/5

9. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde 3/5

10. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy 5/5

It's funny...I'm looking back at some of the books I read early in the year and I think my ratings are a little high for the impression the books left on me...like The Red and the Black and Wuthering Heights. I was sure I had rated those 3/5. Interesting. An interesting challenge and I am looking forward to participating this coming year.

Control yourself...

My TBR list is rapidly getting more and more out of control. So naturally I would join this next challenge...The 2009 TBR Challenge! During 2009 read 12 books, one for each month, off your personal TBR list. Choose your 12 before January 1, 2009 and once they're set THEY'RE SET! My books will be...

1. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein
2. Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salmon Rushdie
3. God's Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips
4. The Year of Living Biblically - AJ Jacobs
5. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
6. The Big Over Easy - Jasper Fforde
7. The Virgin of Small Plains - Nancy Pickard
8. The Crusade - Michael Alexander Eisner
9. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
10. The Adventure of David Simple - Sarah Fielding
11. Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir
12. The Romanov Bride - Robert Alexander

I keep thinking I should tone down the challenges for next year...

The wrap up...

Go me, I have just finished The Classics Challenge! I read five classics and the one that someone else believes should be considered a "new classic." I really enjoyed this challenge. I am always trying to get myself to read more classics, and it was interesting to see what someone else feels should be a classic. My books were...

1. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott 5/5
2. Daisy Miller - Henry James 2/5
3. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson 2/5
4. Adolphe - Benjamin Constant 2/5
5. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde 3/5
6. American Gods - Neil Gaiman - 3/5

I wasn't wild about all my books but I'm glad to have read them.

That which we call a rose...

Another new challenge for 2009! I thought about participating in this challenge last year, but I didn't get around to it. This year I will. The What's In a Name Challenge...

Read six books in 2009, each title featuring one of the following categories:

1. profession

2. time of day
3. relative
4. body part
5. building
6. medical condition

For most of the challenges this year, I am really trying make them fit my out of control TBR pile, as opposed to searching for random books to fit the challenges. So some of my titles (those for profession, body part, and medical condition) may be considered a bit of a stretch.

My list will be...

1. The Tsarina's Daughter - Carolly Erikson (profession)
2. The Meaning of Night - Michael Cox (time of day)
3. American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld (relative)
4. The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter (body part)

5. The Teahouse on Mulberry Street - Sharon Owens (building)
6. Miscarriage of Justice - Kip Gayden (medical condition)

Like I said, maybe a bit of a stretch. But maybe that's the point...