TO PARTICIPATE OR NOT TO .....

Should I or shouldn't I? I'm very tempted by this challenge that I read about over at MY READERS BLOCK. Started by Hotpot Cafe, the BIRTH YEAR READING CHALLENGE runs until the 31st of December, the idea being:-

What books were published the year you were born? This challenge encourages you to find out, and then read some of them. You might even draw some conclusions about what was going on in the literary world that year.
Wikipedia has lists of books by year published. Literary prize lists are a great source, and Googling “best books of _____” will also give you interesting results. *

Ready to join? Leave a comment (on the above link to the Birth Year Challenge and not here) and a link to your post!  (We promise no one will make any snarky comments about your age.)

The rules?

1. Join anytime between now and November 30, 2010. The challenge ends at midnight EST on December 31, 2010.

2. Books may come from your TBR pile or list, but they don’t have to.
3. Overlaps with other challenges are allowed and encouraged.
4. Change your list at any time.
5. Reviews and reactions are encouraged, but you don’t need to have a blog to participate.
6. All genres and formats are eligible. If it’s a book, you can count it.
7. One candle is awarded for each qualifying book you read. There is no limit on how few or how many candles you can earn.

Anything more?

Yes, there are prizes to be had. When you meet your reading goal, we’ll let you select a book from our library – most likely a gently used trade paperback – and mail it to you. But keep reading because . . .

On January 1, 2011, the three readers who’ve earned the most candles will be entered into a drawing to win a collectible first edition/first printing copy of Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2008.

OK. So was there anything of interest published in (uhum) 1968?

Chariots of the Gods: Was God An Astronaut?  -  Erich Von Däniken.
Although in the years following it's initial release, some of Von Daniken's theories have been proven to be somewhat spurious, much of the material in this book is both fascinating and valid. (And let's be honest, if somebody makes a lot of claims, some are going to be proved wrong at one point or another...)Chariots of the Gods explores the possible relationship of mankind's history with beings from other worlds. Was Jesus an astronaut? You may find the concept a little (or extremely) wacky, but read this book, and by the end, you'll be wondering. Absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in offbeat ideas, and almost as important to anyone else who needs to broaden their ideas of the world a little. However strange those ideas may be... (Amazon)

Forfeit - Dick Francis.
Bert Checkov was a Fleet Street racing correspondent with a talent for tipping non-starters. But the advice he gave to James Tyrone a few minutes before he fell to his death, was of a completely different nature. James investigates, and soon finds his own life, and that of his wife, at risk. (Amazon)

Star Quest - Dean R Koontz.
"In a universe that had been ravaged by a thousand years of interplanetary warfare between the star-shattering Romaghins and the equally voracious Setessins, there seemed now but one thing that might bring the destruction to an end..." (Powerset Wikapedia Articles)

Colonel Sun (A James Bond novel) - Robert Markham.
When Secret Service chief, M, is violently kidnapped from his house, "Quarterdeck", James Bond follows the clues to Vrakonisi, a Greek Aegean island, where he, and Ariadne Alexandrou, a Greek Communist agent, plan to rescue M. Meanwhile they must thwart the complex military-political plans of People's Liberation Army Colonel Sun. Sun is sent to sabotage a Middle East détente conference (of which the Soviets are hosts) and blame Great Britain. (Powerset Wikapedia Articles)

By The Pricking Of My Thumbs - Agatha Christie.
In the nursing home where Tommy Beresford's aunt Ada now lives, fellow resident Mrs. Lancaster stirs up worry among those in charge with her bizarre, disjointed ramblings about 'your poor child' and 'something behind the fireplace'. Intrigued, Tommy and his wife Tuppence, who are now in their sixties, conduct an investigation that leads them down some dark and dangerous paths, and possibly into a confrontation with a child killer... (Powerset Wikapedia Articles)

2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke.
When an enigmatic monolith is found buried on the moon, scientists are amazed to discover that it's at least 3 million years old. Even more amazing, after it's unearthed the artifact releases a powerful signal aimed at Saturn. What sort of alarm has been triggered? To find out, a manned spacecraft, the Discovery, is sent to investigate. Its crew is highly trained--the best--and they are assisted by a self- aware computer, the ultra-capable HAL 9000. But HAL's programming has been patterned after the human mind a little too well. He is capable of guilt, neurosis, even murder, and he controls every single one of Discovery's components. The crew must overthrow this digital psychotic if they hope to make their rendezvous with the entities that are responsible not just for the monolith, but maybe even for human civilization. (Amazon)

* NB. I found the following site to be of much more use when researching books published in 1968 - POWERSET.COM. To use simply click on the link add the year to be searched (1968 for example) followed by In Literature.