Allison’s Comments (group member since Jan 02, 2015)

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

Do you need to balance out all those chunksters and doorstoppers you've taken on? This is the challenge for you! Read books 280 pages or less for this challenge.

Level 1 - Ruffled Feathers
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Level 2 - Flapping Wings
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Level 3 - Taking Flight
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I'm not gonna make it! Just a couple shy...

This challenge will run from January to April 2017.

Challenge yourself to read some authors that are new to you. Maybe there's an author or two you've been meaning to try for a long time. Don't let them linger on your TBR any longer!

Level One: 1 New Author
Level Two: 3 New Authors
Level Three: 6 New Authors

For those of you who need a little push to read those longer books, join the Chunkster challenge in 2017 and read books over 400 pages.

Level One (Chunkster)
- Read 3 books with > 400 pages
Level Two (Flower Presser)
- Read 6 books with > 400 pages
Level Three (Back Breaker)
- Read 10 books with > 400 pages... and then see a chiropractor!

Let's go big in 2017! The doorstopper challenge is not for the faint at heart. Only books over 800 pages count for this challenge. State your own goal to join, even if it's only 1 book.

Guardian List:

Complete Guardian List
Comedy
Crime
Family & Self
Love
Science Fiction & Fantasy
State of the Nation
War & Travel

Boxall's List:

Listopia: Favorites from 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die
Books shelved as Boxall on Goodreads

Awards:

(Only winners, not nominees.)

Some popular awards: Pulitzer Prize,
ALA Alex Award, National Book Award,
Man Booker Prize, Orange Prize, Newbery Medal,
Walter Scott Prize, Macavity Award, Hugo Award.

You can also search for awards on Goodreads to find one that interests you.

Let's Have Pie - Books to Read Before You Die
(Boxall's / Guardian / Awards)



Interested in chipping away at the Boxall's or Guardian's lists of books to read before you die? How about exploring award winners?

This challenge combines the themes from the Guardian list with your own particular focus. Choose a list or an award (you can choose more than one award to help fit the categories), and eat some pie to complete the challenge.

Themes

1. Comedy
2. Crime
3. Family & Self
4. Love
5. Science Fiction & Fantasy
6. State of the Nation
7. War & Travel

Levels

Level 1: Just a Taste
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Level 2: Getting Greedy
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Level 3: I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing
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Bookopoly is a year-long challenge starting Jan 1st, 2017. If you are in the middle of a game from last year, you can choose whether to continue that game or start over.

How to Play

- Roll 2 dice to move around the board. You can use regular or electronic dice. Click here for electronic dice.

- Read a book for the genre, category, or theme of the square you land on before rolling again. You may plan up to one roll in advance.

- Choose books from your existing shelves if you can (real or virtual).

- If you need ideas, ask!

- If you land on a "Partner Pick" square, request in the game thread for someone to choose a book for you to read. You can request for up to 3 books to choose from.

- If you are choosing a book for another player, select from their existing shelves.

- One round is complete when you pass GO. You can play as many times as you like.

- If you find that you don't want to finish a book, you can forfeit the turn by asking for a Partner Pick substitute.

➜ Click here for electronic dice

The Board

GO - Free dice roll

Brown - Genre: Classic
Partner Pick - Read a book chosen from your shelf by another player
Brown - Genre: Non-Fiction
Library Fine - Read a book from the current month's theme
Railroad - Travel Along: A book about a journey
Light Blue - Theme: Friendship
Chance - Sort your shelf by "Random" and read the first book
Light Blue - Theme: Love
Light Blue - Theme: Family

Book Ban - Read a book you've been putting off for a long time, or finish a book that you've previously abandoned

Pink - Category: A book published this year
Electric Co - In a setting that's new to you
Pink - Category: A book recommended to you by a friend or family member
Pink - Category: Part of a series
Railroad - Travel Ahead: A book set in the future
Orange - Genre: YA, Middle Grade, or Children's
Partner Pick - Read a book chosen from your shelf by another player
Orange - Genre: Mystery
Orange - Genre: Historical Fiction

Book Sale! - A book by a favorite author, or re-read a personal favorite

Red - Category: A book that has been made into a movie
Chance - Sort your shelf by "Random" and read the first book
Red - Category: The book from your shelf with the highest average rating
Red - Category: The shortest book on your shelf
Railroad - Travel Abroad: A book set in a different country
Yellow - Theme: Good vs. evil
Yellow - Theme: Social Issues
Water Works - By an author that's new to you
Yellow - Theme: Coming of age

Go to Book Ban!

Green - Category: The book most recently added to your shelf
Green - Category: The book you've had on your shelf the longest
Partner Pick - Read a book chosen from your shelf by another player.
Green - Category: The longest book on your shelf
Railroad - Travel Away: A book set in another world
Chance - Sort your shelf by "Random" and read the first book
Blue - Genre: Fantasy / Sci Fi / Paranormal
Library Fine - Read a book from the current month's genres
Blue - Genre: Contemporary

Jenny wrote: "Ali, are the Sookie books good? I've heard mixed things about them. Sounds like some interesting reading Rose!"

They're ok. Kind of chick-lit with paranormal romance, really fluffy. I think I'm calling it quits after this one. The first couple books were fun enough, but it's getting boring now.

I'm having trouble settling on one thing right now, so I'm flipping back and forth between the Dead Travel Fast and Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse #4). I didn't intend to pick up two books on vampires at the same time, but they're quite different so it's working out.

caitlin; "i said often" wrote: "I just finished one of my books today, so would that count? It was started ages ago but it has been in my schoolbag for months."

It counts if you finished it for the readathon!

★ Getting Started ★

1. Introduce yourself! - We'd like to know who you are, what part of the world you're from, what kind of books you love, and anything else about yourself that you feel like sharing.

2. Set up your personal challenge thread - This is your home in the group, a central place where you can keep track of your progress on all of the challenges that you join, or any other reading goals you've set for yourself.

3. Join some challenges! - To join a challenge, simply add a comment with your goal in the challenge thread.

Many are set up so that you can participate at different levels, and the longer challenges have a template for tracking your progress that you can copy and paste into your post and edit as you go along.

★ Types of Challenges ★

Monthly Theme Challenge - In 2017, we'll be selecting a monthly theme by poll. To meet the challenge, read any book, fiction or nonfiction, that relates to the theme of the month.

Mini Challenges - These are month-long challenges. They're short and sweet, and are meant to promote spontaneity.

Books used for the mini challenges cannot be used for other challenges in the same category, but they can be used to complete the maxi and year-long challenges.

Maxi Challenges - These are mid-length mini challenges. Books may be used across more than one challenge.

Year-Long Challenges - Challenges that run the whole year. Books can be used across more than one challenge.

Readathons - We run readathons a few times per year. These are a special push to get on track with reading goals. Join in the reading mania!

★ Member Interaction ★

Challenges are always more fun together! Don’t forget to update us on your progress, even if it’s just to say what you read to fill a challenge requirement.

There are several discussion folders on the home page that offer opportunities to interact with other members outside of the challenges. These include:

• Buddy Reads - Want to do a buddy read? Here's where you can ask others to join you.
• A Quest for Answers - Featuring lots of reading-related questions to help members get to know each other a little bit.
• Book Chat - Join an existing discussion, or feel free to add a new topic.
• Specific book / author discussion - Join an existing discussion, or feel free to add a new topic.

Set up your personal challenge thread in this folder. This is your home in the group, a central place where you can keep track of your progress on the challenges that you join, or any other reading goals you've set for yourself.

Feel free to check out other members' threads for ideas and encourage each other.

I think it's going to be hard to pick only one of these themes!

I hope so, Camille. Thanks for the idea!

We're now accepting nominations for themes to start off our new monthly challenge in January! Is there a topic you'd like to explore? A place or time? A specific author, category or genre?

Nominations are open until Friday, December 23rd.

We're planning a new monthly challenge for 2017. Rather than reading from a pre-determined genre, we will have monthly nominations for themes, and choose one by poll.

You can participate in the theme challenge by reading any book related to the theme for that month. You may choose fiction or nonfiction, and read as many books as you like.

We haven't decided yet if we'll do a group read for this challenge, so feedback on that is welcome.

Yes, we'll repeat this one. Glad you're enjoying it!

You're right, there's always next year! Good luck!