Holly’s Comments (group member since Nov 05, 2013)

Holly’s comments from the The Reading Challenge Group group.

I've heard a lot of good things about it, hence my purchase! :D

Decided to treat myself to a few books, since I had a WHSmith gift card, and some extra money.

Purchased:
Stoner by John Williams
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Very happy with my haul, although I need to read some texts for my second semester first, so won't be able to start reading for a while...

There's a 'Buy One Get One For £1' offer in WH Smith... Very dangerous...

What are you thinking of The Voyage Out, Julie? I got it out the library ages ago, but never got round to reading it so I had to return it.

That's an amazing start and a great set of books! Can't wait to see what the rest of the year will bring for you!

I'm definitely going to try fit this in after all the good reviews! Although I might not be able to get it finished in 2 months!

Glad our challenges are able to help you, Jessica! :)

Good luck!

This genre is definitely more popular than I thought it would be!

Once again attempting Wuthering Heights. It's on my required reading for university next semester, so this time I really need to read it...

Yeah, I'd say interpret it how you want to. Personally, I'd do the same as Renee, but it's an opportunity to read a trilogy you've been meaning to read for a long time, so it's up to you.

P.S. Renee, let me know what you think of Allegiant!!

In an attempt to read more LGBT lit this year, I might give Boy Meets Boy a go, or perhaps Fingersmith like you Renee!

This month's World Lit genre is the Middle East. We therefore are focusing on books either written or set in the Middle East, or that is written by a middle Eastern author.

Countries typically considered to be in the Middle East: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq (and Kurdistan), Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

If you're a bit lost, check out book lists that are set in the Middle East, or the 'Best Middle East Books' list.

A really wide set of genres for you to explore in February!

Will you go down the Sociology route, or read a memoir based on family? Or perhaps the science behind fall in love? There's endless possibilities!

Stuck for ideas? Check out the Sociology genre page, and non-fiction lists based on relationships and family.

Can anyone else hear wedding bells ringing? Or is that just me?

I know this genre is a bit like marmite: you usually love it or hate it. But hopefully people can get something out of it regardless!

If you're stuck for ideas on what to read this month, check out the numerous Goodreads book lists on romance, or the genre page!

Hi Debs,

First off, this group is rather casual, you can take part as much or as little as you like. There's no pressure to do absolutely everything.

I saw you were over in the 'Helpful Hints' thread, and apologies for it being out of date. As Renee highlighted, we did a rather big overhaul of the group and added a lot of new features, so it seems rather out of date. However, the basics of the group are the same, and the Helpful Hints thread can help you there.

We have 5 group reads, which you can find in this folder. This is essentially a casual discussion of a book we all read in the month. You don't have to take part in these, or if you've read it already you're more than welcome to join in the discussion.

3 of our group reads are linked to our Challenges that we're running this year: Genre, Non-Fiction and World Lit. We focus on a different aspect of these each month, and poeple can discuss them in our monthly threads and read from the specific subject. For example, February consists of Romance/Chick Lit, Sociology/Relationships/Family and literature from the Middle East. Again, you are welcome to join these at your own leisure, and only pick certain months that take your interest. These might help you try find new things to read.

Finally, we have Mini-Challenges, which are member-organised challenges that are just fun little extras to the group. We have our 'official' Bingo Mini-Challenges, but apart from that, they're often smaller. These are completely optional, and you can take part by just posting in the thread. We make new ones each month, of varying sizes, so there will be some new ones up soon!

They're the main areas of the group. Other folders such as 'General' and 'Book Chat' are just leisurely collections that discuss books and everything.

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to either post here or in the 'Any Questions' thread, where us mods will attempt to get back to you as quickly as possible! :)

Hope you enjoy the group!

We've set up a thread for Alphabet Soup Challenge 2015, Christina, if you're interested. Renee explains it better there than I ever could! :)

Glad you're looking forward to the bingos!

Hi B,

If you want to just talk about a book, we've got the 'Specific Book/Author Discussion' folder where you can make threads about a specific book.

If you are looking to do a buddy-read (essentially, an organised, un-official group read where a set of people read it at the same time), you can post in this thread to see if anyone is interested in doing a buddy-read of the book.

And if it fits in with any of our monthly challenges, found here, you can post in the respective threads.

Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. :)

Hi LuAnn,

Do you mean the group or the reading challenge?

All the goodreads blog widgets can be found in: Click on your profile up in the right corner > Edit profile > widgets. Then there will be boxes with the codes in for you.

Award Winners definitely sounds like an awesome mini-challenge to do! Keep an eye out, Renee may add it to her infamous list!

I've just made a buddy-read thread for Love in the Time of Cholera!

You can check it out here.