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

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

Okay, I've basically added many of my summer reads to this. (Because I can't do my Summer Reads AND this challenge, too many books!).

Start Date: June 19th
End Date: Late September

B1: Exploration - War and Peace
B2: Congratulations! - The Silence of the Lambs (won 1989 Bram Stoker Award)
B3: Participation -
B4: Information - And the Band Played on
B5: Collaboration - Maurice

I1: Listed it - The Odyssey
I2: Bought it - Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
I3: Eyed it - Tess of the d'Urbervilles
I4: Downloaded it - Selected Poems of Byron
I5: Scored it! - Murder at the Vicarage
N1: Oldie but goodie - Wuthering Heights
N2: New kid on the block - A Week in December (not 2014, but it's the latest book on my list)
N3: FREE - Les Misérables
N4: Yesterday's news - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (second latest book on my list)
N5: Everybody's talking - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night -Time - Read 12/06/14

G1: Nice to meet you - Cranford
G2: You seem familiar - For Whom the Bell Tolls
G3: One of the girls - Emma
G4: One of the guys - Dracula
G5: Old friends - Notes from Underground

O1: Take a stand - The Pilgrim's Progress
O2: Take a friend - A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow
O3: Take a trip - The Kite Runner
O4: Take a look - Master and Commander - Read 11/06/14
O5: Take a break - The Giver

You can set up an official 'tips for reading a lot' thread if you wish! :)

I read this a while ago and found the ending really odd and quite shocking!

I'm tempted to scale it down a bit! It seems very daunting, especially with some of the massive books in there!

This looks really interesting! I might try and organise this into my Summer Challenge, but I'll have to see! :)

That's an AMAZING list of books, Lucy. You've got some great titles there!

You'll find a general Summer Reading mini-challenge in the 'Mini Challenges' folder, for anyone else wanting to read a set list or number of books this summer!

You can make more specific themed ones if you wish. :D

I absolutely adore your theme, although I doubt I'll be able to fit it in with my reading :'(

Kaylie, I was of a similar mindset with Perks. I think it was alright, and I can understand why someone would love it, it just didn't shine for me.

I adored The Book Thief, definitely one of my favourite books of 2013! The Maze Runner is also rather good, although it leaves a lot of questions at the end!

I'm also planning on reading Gulliver's Travels this summer, so I'd be interested in doing a buddy read!

Okay, so I've gone a bit overboard on my planning, but I really want to make the most out of this summer! Which means getting a variety of reading done, mostly by the key authors.

Start Date: 19th June (End of exams, woohoo)
End Date: Late September

Read: 2/35

1 Austen: Emma
1 Bronte: Wuthering Heights
1 Dickens: Great Expectations
1 Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground
1 Gaskell: Cranford
1 Hardy: Tess of the d'Urbervilles
1 Hemingway: For Whom the Bell Tolls
3 Shakespeares: Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale
1 Tolstoy: War and Peace

9 Books I Own and I've Been Meaning To Read for Ages:
Dracula
Gulliver's Travels
The Odyssey
The Kite Runner
The Pilgrim's Progress
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
The Phantom of the Opera
Master and Commander - Read 11/06/14
A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow

1 Book I Never Finished:
Les Misérables

3 Plays/Poem Collections:
Medea
Selected Poems of Byron
Selected Poems of Sylvia Plath

1 Short Story Collection:
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales

2 LGBT Books
And the Band Played on
Maurice

2 Group Reads:

6 Genre Challenge Reads:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night -Time - Read 12/06/14
A Week in December (June - Contemporary)
The Giver (July - Dystopian/Utopian)
The Silence of the Lambs (August - Crime/Mystery)
Murder at the Vicarage (August - Crime/Mystery)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (August - Crime/Mystery)

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your great comments! I'll definitely be continuing the group next year (will probably keep the same group, just change the name and archive some items). Whether Faye wants to put up with me for another year is a whole different matter ;)

If you scroll down on the discussion page a bit, you'll see the new Mini Challenges folder with an introductory thread (and my idea for a challenge). Thanks Chase for the excellent idea!

In the 'Book Chat' folder, you'll also see the new thread Help me pick my next book!. This should hopefully make people really feel part of the group, and it's a wonderful idea! Thanks Kiwi!

This was a great suggestion by Kiwi!

Sometimes it's just hard to choose which book to read, and why not ask some of your fellow members to help you?

You can ask to have one off your general to-read list, or another shelf, or just a short list of books!

This is a challenge for anyone who wants to get a set number, or list of books read this summer!

You can pick your own start and end dates, just go with the general consensus of the summer months, or just go with the flow!

There was a request from a few members to include a section for smaller challenges. While we all have our yearly goals, there are some smaller challenges and goals that we wish to get to.

Feel free to make a new thread for a challenge you want to do, and people can join in!

Emma, I looked at your 2014 shelf and it looks like you're going amazingly! Well done, and good luck!

Exams are beckoning, but when I get a spare moment this evening I'll set up a 'mini-challenges' folder and a few threads.

The TBR-list one would be so helpful for everyone, I know! I might set up an 'owned-book' challenge too, because I really need to get through some books sitting on my bookshelf.

I think what can make this feature really great is if members to about making mini challenges that they want to, so we get a wide range of subjects.

Also, I have no reason to stop this group in 2015. Scarily, I don't know where I'll be, or what I'll be doing (so much change, eek!) but I'll always be on Goodreads and this group. 2015 feels so far off for me though, considering everything that is going to happen between then!

I would, but June is already really busy. I will, however, keep a keen eye on this thread!

Gautami, that's AMAZING. Well done :)

I have gone slightly insane, I must admit! The list got so long that I decided to make a separate tbr-summer shelf!

Chase, I was considering this too! I was thinking, much like the personal challenges, people post them, and people can join in if they wish.

What do you think?