Chapter 1: I Challenge Me to Read...

I have decided to join two reading challenges:

1. War Through the Generations
This is a challenge hosted by Anna from Diary of an Eccentric and Serena from Savvy Verse & Vit. The aim of the challenge is to read before the year is over at least five books (fiction or non-fiction) where the second World War is either the primary or secondary theme.

I am planning to read the following 5 books for this challenge:

• Tadeusz Borowski: This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
  A collection of short stories originally written in Polish. 180 pages.
• Günter Grass: Crabwalk
  In 1945 a Soviet submarine sunk the Wilhelm Gustoff, a German ship full of refugees. The novel tells about the the event and its consequences for postwar Germany. Originally written in German. 243 pages.
• Ismail Kadare: Chronicle in Stone
  A novel about a young boy growing up in a small town in Albania during the WW II.
  Originally written in Albanian. 301 pages.
• Tatiana de Rosnay: Sarah's Key
  A novel about a 10-year-old Jewish girl in German occupied Paris, and an American born journalist in present time researching the Velodrome d'Hiver raid of 1942 when French police conducted a large round up of Jews in Paris in order to send them to Auchwitz. 294 pages.
• Angel Wagenstein: Farewell, Shanghai
  A novel about European émigrés and refugees in WWII Shanghai. 400 pages.

2. 9 books for 2009
This challenge is hosted by Isabel from Books and Other Stuff. The aim of the challenge is to shorten one's "to be read" -list with nine books already in one's possession. There are 9 different categories for the books. They are: long, free, dusty, used, letter, strange, distance, alive or not, and cover. I am planning to read the following 9 books for this challenge:

• Long: Peter Rushforth: Pinkerton's Sister. 729 pages.
• Free: Oscar Wilde: Lady Windermere's Fan. A play in IV acts. Given to me by a friend quite a long time ago.
• Dusty: Frank Tallis: Mortal Mischief. Volume One of the Liebermann Papers. I bought this detective story in 2006.
• Used: David Mitchell: Queen Christabel. A biograbhy of militant suffragette Christabel Pankhurst. Bought in an antiquarian bookstore many years ago.
• Letter: Elizabeth Peters: Tomb of the Golden Bird. My name starts with a T, as does the name of this book by my favorite mystery writer. Why an earth have I not yet read this instalment of her Amelia Peabody series???
• Strange: Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Not only is one of the characters in this book called Strange :), but I don't very often read fantasy of this kind. My copy is a Finnish translation.
• Distance: Michael Cunningham: Specimen Days. All three stories in the book take place in New York. Distance between New York and Helsinki is 4118 miles or 6628 kilometers.
• Alive or not: Kim Wilkins: The Autumn Castle. Three time winner and two time finalist of the Aurealis Award, the Australian scifi, fantacy and horror award.
• Cover: Fan Wu: February Flowers. The cover is very beautiful: a flowering tree branch on a brick red background, a small strip of what seems to be Chinese flower painting, and a brick red, shadowy picture of a pot with some branches on gray background, and some calligraphy.