Two challenges from different ends of the earth

If you're up for a challenge or two, why not try these?

From Sweden, Zee at Notes from the North is hosting the Nordic Challenge for 2011:

here's some info (from Zee's blog post):


When: January 1st, 2011- December 31st 2011

Levels
There will be 5 levels. The levels are
Huginn and Muninn: Read 2 books
Freya: Read 3-5 books
Tor: Read 6-10 books
Odin: Read 11-20 books
Valhalla: Read 20+ books

You can read any book by any author born in a Nordic country (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and/or Sweden) or a book set in a Nordic country. They can be from any genre.


Then there's Jo's Aussie Author Challenge 2011 at Booklover Book Reviews
(and I see she chose the Platypus ... very cool):

according to Jo:

Challenge period:  1 January 2011 -  31 December 2011

Objective: Read and review books written by Australian Authors - physical books, ebooks and audiobooks, fiction and non-fiction!

Challenge Levels: TOURIST or TRUE BLUE!

TOURIST - Read and review 3 books by 3 different Aussie Authors
TRUE BLUE - Read and review 12 books by Australian authors (at least 9 different authors)


so I guess it's time to plow through the bookshelves and select accordingly.  9 different authors? Whew! I'm totally up for suggestions, especially in the crime fiction realm.