Announcing the O.A.T.E.S. Challenge
This is kind of a silly challenge, but I can’t get it out of my head so I’m going ahead and announcing it. I’m not sure if anyone else will want to participate because it’s kind of loosey goosey, but if you do want to participate, I’d love to have you!
This challenge started in my head because I was thinking back in November 2009 about what I wanted to read in 2010. I knew I wanted to be more deliberate in what I read, and part of that would include making sure I read more Joyce Carol Oates. That also included reading Margaret Atwood, specifically The Blind Assassin, because I’ve tried three times to read that book, and three times I’ve given up. However, I think I can do it!
So then I was thinking, Oates…O-A-T-E-S.
O for Joyce Carol Oates, A for Margaret Atwood…maybe I could come up with other authors to fit T, E, and S!
Immediately Ernest Hemingway came to mind, and even though he doesn’t fit the rule that it’s the author’s last name that has to fit the acronym, he can slide since it’s ERNEST HEMINGWAY. Then Twitter came to my aid and it was decided that T could be Leo Tolstoy (yes, even *I* am cringing as I write that), and S can be for John Steinbeck.
I’ll lay it out easier for you to see:
O – Joyce Carol Oates
A – Margaret Atwood
T – Leo Tolstoy
E – Ernest Hemingway
S – John Steinbeck
I’m nothing if not a fan of changing things up, so if there’s a literary author on par with any author already on this list, and their last name begins with A, T, E, or S (come on, this is the O.A.T.E.S. challenge, you can’t substitute anything for Joyce!), then you can substitute that author in. For example, if you wanted to substitute George Eliot for Ernest Hemingway, you could. Or if you wanted to substitute Mark Twain for Leo Tolstoy, you could and I would probably even encourage you in that! Because I think Tolstoy’s shortest book (not including short stories, because duh, those are short) is a million pages.
Here’s the rules/details:
- The challenge goes from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010.
- Anyone can participate! You do not need a blog!
- Challenge books can overlap with other challenges.
- You do not need to pick your books in advance.
- You can change levels mid-challenge!
- Levels:
- Instant OATES – 1 book
- Old Fashioned OATES – 2 books
- Rolled OATES – 3 books
- Steel Cut OATES – 4 books
- Whole OATES – 5+ books
Woohoo! Some really nice bloggers made some buttons!
Heidenkind made this one, which I love. Thank you so much!!
McVane tweaked heidenkind’s button…pretty cool, huh? McVane, you’ll never know how much I appreciate this!
Caribousmom made this one, which I love. Totally goes with the theme!
Thanks for helping me out you guys! If anyone else ends up making their own button, let me know so I can add it in. 
Have fun with me! Sign up using the Mr. Linky below.
This second Mr. Linky? This is where we can put the links to our reviews, so there’ll all in one spot. And that way we can see which books people totally loved. 
| Tags: book challenge, ernest hemingway, john steinbeck, joyce carol oates, leo tolstoy, margaret atwood 42 comments »
January 5th, 2010 at 12:17 am
Good Luck with the challenge! Sounds fun and very doable.
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January 5th, 2010 at 3:31 am
This is officially the first challenge I’ve ever entered. But I have 3 Oates books on my 2010 reading resolution, and 1 or 2 by Tolstoy. (And 1 or 2 by Eliot…sigh.)
So this will be yet another kick in my pants to get these books read!
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January 5th, 2010 at 5:49 am
I LOVE the creative nature and originality of this challenge. And, like you, I’m all about choosing the books I read deliberately. Looking forward to following your progress.
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January 5th, 2010 at 8:54 am
You’re so going to love me for this one. Tolstoy wrote a novella: The Kreutzer Sonata, 128 pages
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/141077.The_Kreutzer_Sonata
Have fun
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January 5th, 2010 at 9:25 am
I might do this challenge, but I have to see if I have any books {I’m on a book buying ban} or if I can mooch any. Also – Anna Karenina isn’t that bad!!!! I have actually read it twice, but I don’t count the first time cause I was in high school and I don’t know if I paid attention!
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January 5th, 2010 at 9:33 am
Nevermind…I signed up. I know I have at least 3 books I could read!
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January 5th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Haha, you’ve tried to get through The Blind Assassin three times? I’d say just give up! It’s not that great!
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January 5th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
I’m in! I’ve got A and E already on the reading plan so to push myself, and because I have an Oates book on Mt. TBR, I’m shooting for Rolled OATES!
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January 5th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Oh, I love this! What a fun challenge! I’m not committing myself to much of anything right now, though. Maybe once I’ve pondered …
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January 5th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I’ve never done a challenge before, but this one is definitely doable and fits in with whats already on the to-read list! Definitely Oates and Atwood, I think I’ll substitute Eliot for good ol’ Ernest though – so for now it’s Rolled Oates for me
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January 5th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
I love your categories!!! Too funny. Good luck to everyone!
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January 5th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
I’m in – I’ve recently become more interested in Atwood’s work (how can I be a Canadian and yet have never read ANY?) and J.C.O. has been a favorite author of mine for years – I think I have every book she has ever written (or close) in my TBR pile. But I can’t figure out what the url is that I have to put in on Mister Linky and whether or not I have to sign up at that website to be able to do it?
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January 5th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
i’m reading ‘of mice and men’ right now with my juniors. does that count?!?!
i LOVE this challenge. so literary…
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January 5th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
The challenge levels crack me up! I have everything on my shelf except for an Oates, so I might just have to join in.
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January 5th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
This challenge rocks. It’s just too funny and excellently original. I definitely think I’m going to have to join. BTW, I read Tolstoy for the first time just a few months ago, and while at 800+ “Anna Karenina” was kind of a beast, I also found it to be incredible and extremely readable.
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January 5th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
I just joined. I also posted about it on A Novel Challenge.
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January 5th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Well this is quite the wackadoo challenge, isn’t it?? Very creative and full of fiber, LOL. I’m not very successful at completing challenges but I just wanted to wish everyone else much luck with your OATES!
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January 6th, 2010 at 6:06 am
FYI, Trish – Leo Tolstoy’s got a pretty short not so bad book called The Death if Ivan Ilyach. I hated Anna Karenina when I read it back in 2001, but this last summer I gave Tolstoy another chance and actually enjoyed Ivan Ilyach. It helps that it was only like 100 pages long.
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January 6th, 2010 at 8:31 am
For me it is
O O’Nan, Stewart; Oates, Joyce Carol
A Adler, Elizabeth; Albom, Mitch; Anand, Valerie; Anderson, Joan; Andrews, Donna
T Tapply, William G;
E Ellis, Julie; Evanovitch, Janet; Evans, Richard Paul
S Saul, John; Sandford, John; Small, Beatrice; Shreve, Anita; Santlofer,Jonathan; Straub, Wendy Corsi
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January 6th, 2010 at 9:30 am
I swore off challenges for this year, but this one seems so easy and fun…I think I may have to sign up for it.
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January 6th, 2010 at 9:32 am
I love the levels! Fantastic. I’ll have to give this some thought since I planned on reading at least one oates book anyway
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January 6th, 2010 at 9:42 am
[...] in my 2009 recap post about not joining anymore challenges. I came across the OATES challenge on Trish’s blog, and figured I could at least do this one…it is only 5 books, and goes from January 1st to [...]
January 6th, 2010 at 9:54 am
If you don’t have any button-maker volunteers yet… shoot me an email! I’m your gal
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January 6th, 2010 at 9:54 am
If you don’t have any button-maker volunteers yet… shoot me an email! I’m your gal
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January 6th, 2010 at 10:45 am
[...] at Hey Lady! Watcha Readin’ is hosting the O.A.T.E.S. Challenge and I couldn’t resist. Here are the details: O for Joyce Carol Oates, A for Margaret [...]
January 6th, 2010 at 10:46 am
I love this challenge – thanks for hosting. I also made a button (it is pretty simple!) You can check out my post about the challenge to see it…
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January 6th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
I have to do this one. I’ve got We Were the Mulvaneys on my shelves, and her latest, Fair Maiden, on reserve at the library. The other should be easy. I’m a Whole Oates girl. I’ll link after I’ve posted.
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January 6th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Oh, this sounds good! I actually have some Margaret Atwood and Joyce Carol Oates on my TBR stacks, so I’d be “killing two birds with one stone,” to pull out a tired cliche!
I signed up on my Obsessions and Compulsions blog…appropriate, don’t you think, for STILL another challenge!
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January 6th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Very clever, Trish! I’m working on the feasibility of doing this challenge, but I’m also trying to be more sporadic in my reading selections. We shall see.
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January 7th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Well, I’m already reading Steinbeck and Atwood for our classic reads book club, so I might as well join at least at the Old Fashioned OATES stage. I’ve actually never read any Joyce Carol Oates, so maybe I’ll try to pick one up this year.
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January 8th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
[...] The third and final (hopefully): The O.A.T.E.S Challenge [...]
January 8th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
I always try to stay away from challenges because i know myself well enough lol but this one seems easy, easy.
Let’s do it… my blog is in Portuguese but I will stop by here once in a while to check yours
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January 10th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
[...] second challenge to catch my eye was O.A.T.E.S., hosted by Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?. She encourages readers to devour a hearty helping of O.A.T.E.S. throughout the [...]
January 12th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
[...] a while, unsure of whether I want to join one or just read whatever comes my way. When I saw the O.A.T.E.S Challenge over at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’? I decided to go for it and join my first challenge. It [...]
January 16th, 2010 at 12:40 am
I’m assuming that level one means one book from each author? That’s what I’ll be doing. I’m signed up above.
Great challenge!
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January 29th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
What is it about “The Blind Assassin?” I’ve tried to read that before too and I always fail. Good luck with the challenge!
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January 30th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
[...] is the first book I’ve read as part of the O.A.T.E.S. challenge and also the first I’ve ever read by Joyce Carol Oates. I have no idea why it took me so long [...]
January 31st, 2010 at 5:28 am
[...] and The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao have been on The List for quite some time, and Trish is hosting a challenge encouraging others (and herself) to read Ernest Hemingway. While I’m not joining that [...]
June 13th, 2010 at 12:09 am
[...] book was read for the OATES Challenge as well as the Read, Remember, Recommend Challenge. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton The [...]
June 27th, 2010 at 5:30 am
[...] second challenge to catch my eye was O.A.T.E.S., hosted by Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?. She encourages readers to devour a hearty helping of O.A.T.E.S. throughout the [...]
June 27th, 2010 at 5:31 am
[...] Moral Disorder is a fine character study. It is the second book I’ve completed for the O.A.T.E.S. reading challenge, which encourages participants to read works by Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret [...]
June 27th, 2010 at 5:32 am
[...] is the first book I’ve read as part of the O.A.T.E.S. challenge and also the first I’ve ever read by Joyce Carol Oates. I have no idea why it took me so long [...]