Tuesday, December 15, 2009

2010 Reading Challenges


I love challenges.  I don't always totally complete challenges that I take on but figure that it is better to try and fail than to not try at all.  If I at least try I may accomplish something, but if I don't try anything then I am sure to accomplish nothing.  I'd rather accomplish something than nothing. With that thought in mind I have decided to take on the following Reading Challenges in 2010.  It seems like a lot but in reality there will be a whole lot of overlapping.  All books will fit in at least two challenges, and most will fit in a lot more than that.

2010 52 books in 52 weeks reading challenge - Plain and simple - read at least one book a week for the whole year.  I will be looking for very thin books.  :)

Reading Through the Seasons 2010 Challenge - Read one book for each season with the season word in the title.  Pretty simple.

Flashback Challenge - The challenge is to reread books you've already read but it includes a mini challenge to read at least one book from your childhood, one from high school, and one from adulthood.  I think I can manage that.

1st in a Series Challenge - I love reading books in a series!  I'll be attempting to read at least three books that are firsts in a series.  Now to find some interesting sounding series.  Hmmmm...

2nd Reading Challenge - At first I thought this was the same as the Flashback challenge but it's totally different.  For this challenge you read either a second book in a series or a second book by the same author.  Once again I'm aiming for at least three books.

Wish I'd Read That Challenge - There are a few books I can think of that I wish I had read so I figure this one will be easy.  I'm aiming for at least three books that fit this challenge.

E-books Reading Challenge - I know that some of the books that I wish I had read are available as e-books so this one should be easy. Once again I'm aiming for at least three.

Read the Book See the Movie Challenge - The kids and I have done this a lot over the years, and loved it!  In our experience the movie very really measures up to the book.  There are lots more out there that we haven't done yet, or we may just redo one or more.

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - I love historical fiction!  Had to join this one.  I'm sure I can manage at least three, if not more.

The Art History Reading Challenge - I love art and I've been wanting to learn more so that I could add more to our home learning.  The minimum for this challenge is just three books so I figure I can manage that.

Science Book Challenge - Not my favorite kind of reading but necessary for our home learning so I'm going to do my best to do at least three non-fiction science/nature themed books.

Support Your Local Authors Challenge - This is simply a challenge to read local authors.  It's something I'd like to put more effort in to.  I know there are a few people in our community that have written books and I should make the effort to read them.  This is a perpetual challenge and there are no minimum requirements

Canadian Authors Challenge - I want to make a conscious effort to read more Canadian authors and was planning on starting a challenge to do so until I came across this one.  The challenge is to read a minimum of three books by Canadian Authors.

2010 Reading Challenge - Newfoundland Authors - This is a challenge I issued myself because I want to make a conscious effort to read more Newfoundland authors.  I haven't see a goal of a certain number but will simple see how many I've managed to read by the end of the year.

Christian Non-Fiction Challenge 2010 - I like the idea of this challenge but I'm not sure I will manage to read as many as required.  The challenge is to read ten or more.  I'm going to make a conscious effort to read as many as I can fit in whether I reach the ten or not.

Biblical Fiction Challenge 2010 - The challenge is to read at least six fiction books based on stories or characters from the Bible.  I like those kind of books so I will attempt to include some of them in my reading list, though I'm not sure I'll manage to read six.  I guess we'll see.

The Christy Awards Reading Challenge - I wanted to include more Christian authors in my reading and this challenge will help with that.  The challenge is to read at least three books that have won a Christy Award.  Lists are available on the site.

Young Readers Reading Challenge -I will definitely be reading some children's books to my four year old so this one is a must.  Must read a minimum of 12 for the challenge but I will read more than that.  I will be keeping a list to see how many we have actually read by the end of the year.

Young Adult Reading Challenge - The challenge is to read at least 12 young adult novels.  I'm hoping to find some to recommend to my young adults.

Take Another Chance Challenge - This is a list of 12 very different challenges to find books books to read in "unusual or random ways".  You only have to do three to participate.  Ones I'm thinking about using are: #1: read an author who has the same initials, same first name, same last name, or exact same name as you; #3 read a book that is on a provided list of 100 best books, I'm thinking of choosing from either the Mystery or Non-Fiction list; #4 read a book that won a literary award; #11 read two authors from the same family

2010 Genre Book Challenge - There are no minimums for this one, basically just a list of different genres to encourage people to read different genres.  I'm going to see how many I can cover.

2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge - I like this challenge.  I'm hoping to get most of my books from my local library so this one should be easy.  Minimum is 25 books.

Throughout the year I will be posting about books I read and reporting on how I am doing in the different challenges.  I'd love to hear from you if I should happen to inspire you to take on any of these challenges, or if you have already signed up for any of them.

2010 Reading Challenge - Newfoundland Authors


I've searched high and low but I can't find a challenge to read Newfoundland Authors in 2010, so I've decided to issue my own challenge. :)

Newfoundland and Labrador is my home province. I love it. I know there are a number of authors from Newfoundland and Labrador and I've read some of them. To be perfectly honest, I haven't always enjoyed books written by Newfoundlanders. I have read a few that I've liked, but the ones I haven't especially liked are more numerous. I think it is a matter of my own taste in books rather than a reflection of the quality of our writers. I don't especially like books that are full of crude language and questionable behavior and many of the books that I've found by Newfoundlanders seem to have both. Regardless of that, however, I want to make an effort to read more books by Newfoundlanders in 2010. I'm hoping I'll find more that I actually enjoy. I am not going to set a goal of a particular number, just going to see how many I've actually read by the end of the year.

If you are interested, you are welcome to join me in this challenge. I haven't a clue about the wonderful Mr. Linky that I've seen on other pages for people to use in joining challenges. If I happen to learn I will add it to this post, but at least for now you can simply leave a comment on this post letting me know that you are planning on joining the challenge. If you should happen to write reviews of the Newfoundland authors books that you read, I'd love for you to share links to those, too, throughout the year.

To help myself and anyone else that might be interested in this challenge, I will make a post in the near future with a list of Newfoundland authors and books. If you have authors or books that could be added to the list, feel free to tell me about them in a comment on this post.