Love nothing better than settling down with a new book? Then you might be interested in joining me for the 2016 Reading Challenge from Goodreads. There's still plenty of time to sign up for the challenge and it would be lovely to see some familiar faces in the forum.
There are two tiers to the challenge: Tier 1, which involves reading 52 books - all 43 from the 'categories' and an additional 9 wildcards; or Tier 2, which involves reading up to 36 books, with at least 32 from the categories. I'm hoping to finish the Tier 1 challenge (and I do feel that my commute should at least be useful for something) but it's nice to know that I can ease off and still complete the Tier 2 challenge if life becomes a little hectic.
I will be making the challenge a little harder for myself though, as I'm hoping to make it through 2016 without buying a single book! It will be very difficult - I love the smell of new books - but with at least two thirds of my 'To Read List' also on my book shelves, I think it's time to scale back on my book buying habit. Hopefully, I'll be able to find enough books to fit the categories for the 2016 Reading Challenge but if not I'm sure I'll be able to borrow the remainder from the local library.
Of course, I'll be tracking my progress in my new Webster's Page's 'Color Crush' (and already have my eye on the new Bibliophile Stamps from Pinkfresh Studios) so that the challenge stays fun.
Already On My To Read List: A Book About/Set By The Sea; A Book Published In The Year You Left School; A Book About/Set In Antarctica.
I'm struggling to think of books for a few of the categories, so can anyone recommend some books that might fit the following:
A dead author's last book?
A debut novel?
A book about books?
A book with LGBT content, matter or characters?
A book with two authors?
If not, tell me what your favourite book is (or, at least, a current favourite.) I have 9 wildcards, so I might just choose one to read.
Oh Clair! I love the idea of this but i have to say that I don't think I've read a book in over two years! I used to LOVE reading and was a book buying addict but I've scaled right back since I stopped travelling by public transport and also since I started needing reading glasses! But to get back into reading again is so appealing - the tier 2 would be more than a tough challenge for me - one book a month might be better! But I love the idea of all those categories. I actually have a bit of a "thing" about books about books but mine are all non-fiction. I don't know if that's any help for you? In fact one of my favourites is about the history of the bookshelf - much better than it sounds! But I did my dissertation about reading and books so I did go through a phase of buying a lot of books about books and reading - let me know if you want me to fish around! My favourite book of all time is Gone with the Wind - a bit of an epic but worth every one of the 799 pages in my version. Better than the film due to the additional detail but great to read when you have the film characters in mind! Or classic Jane Austen of course. Do I have to sign up to Good Reads for this challenge?
ReplyDeleteOh this looks like fun, I am already doing an alphabetic challenge, I might have to see if I can hit Tier One here. For the books you needed, James Patterson is now writing most all of this books with a co-author, as does Bill O'Reilly.
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to your plan to not buy any books. I hardly ever do these days - the vast majority of my reading matter comes from libraries. Are you a member of more than one council area's libraries? That couold definitely help you out.
ReplyDeleteI have a card for two local councils and James has a card for a third so with those, plus the Uni library at work ... I'm pretty much never lost for something free to read. [And if you do need to succumb to buying .... I recommend charity shops because who could argue with donating to a good cause?! Then you get to donate twice when you put them back into a charity bag.]
As for your questions ... off the top of my head ...
A debut novel: One of my all time favourite books is Andrew Miller's debut Ingenious Pain.
A book about books: If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino is a classic one. Or - similarly but more modern is - The Alchemist's Apprentice by Jeremy Dronfield
A book with LGBT content, matter or characters - It's very lightly touched on but Ali Smith's How To Be Good is just so wonderful I'm recommending it to every one anyway!
Enjoy your challenge and have a very happy 2016! x
I was tempted to try this but I'm not sure that I can handle the category part of this. It's a combination of being too lazy to work at finding books for the categories and my aversion to feeling forced to read particular books! I did set my own reading goal this year though. I'm hoping to read 25 books. That used to be a really low goal for me but I haven't read very much lately. I have a little stack of four sitting here so I better get moving. One of them might fit your book about books category: "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
ReplyDeleteOoh I meant 'How to be Both'! Not 'Good'!
ReplyDeletea book with 2 authors - Judith Michael you will love them
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