2017 Reading Challenge discussion
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2016 Reading Challenge
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Neils wrote: "We are having a huge debate in my family...do books on tape count or do you have to READ the book?"I say, the point of a book is to transmit something meaningful from the author's heart to your heart. Any other organs involved (brains, eyes, ears, fingertips, or whatever) are entirely secondary!
I have a question about category 8 (banned or challenged) vs. category 20 (controversial). Obviously any banned book is also controversial, but what other types of books are included in controversial? Seems to me it could be just about anything: religious, political, fashion choices...what was intended here?
In my opinion, something like Fifty Shades of Grey was controversial when it was released.
Judy wrote: "I have a question about category 8 (banned or challenged) vs. category 20 (controversial). Obviously any banned book is also controversial, but what other types of books are included in controversi..."I think any book that any group would have said they did not agree with what was written for whatever reason would be controversial. I think the categories are supposed to be pretty loose, so it is open to interpretation!
Neils wrote: "We are having a huge debate in my family...do books on tape count or do you have to READ the book?"
Just my opinion :
I've just started listening to audiobooks in the past year , but have been a major book lover for my whole life.
I would definitely count audiobooks as being READ ... they take me 3 times longer to listen to than if I read the book myself .
It takes some getting used to, to read with your ears instead of your eyes. You sorta have to train your brain to block out a lot of other stuff and just listen .
Just my opinion :
I've just started listening to audiobooks in the past year , but have been a major book lover for my whole life.
I would definitely count audiobooks as being READ ... they take me 3 times longer to listen to than if I read the book myself .
It takes some getting used to, to read with your ears instead of your eyes. You sorta have to train your brain to block out a lot of other stuff and just listen .
Julie wrote: "Neils wrote: "We are having a huge debate in my family...do books on tape count or do you have to READ the book?"Just my opinion :
I've just started listening to audiobooks in the past year , but..."
IMO:
I think they can be counted as read when you are listening to the unabridged version because you are actually having someone read you every word of the book as it is written. So it is like you are reading it just with your ears ;-)
Sarah wrote: "I think any book that any group would have said they did not agree with what was written for whatever reason would be controversial."That makes sense! Almost a wildcard category but not quite.
Anne wrote: "Welcome to the 2016 challenge!The main goal is for everyone to read books that they might not otherwise choose, thus expanding beyond their comfort zone."
Anne, I just gotta say I'm enjoying this challenge very much! Thanks for putting it together! It's certainly accomplishing your main goal in my case, getting me to read things that wouldn't have been on my radar. Probably won't fill out the whole list but we shall see.
Judy wrote: "It's certainly accomplishing your main goal in my case, getting me to read things that wouldn't have been on my radar."Me, too! For example, Stephen King's 11/22/63. I was dreading the Fantasy category since I dwell almost entirely in nonfiction. I'd only read one other Stephen King and hadn't enjoyed it much, so this time travel adventure would never have crossed my threshold. But I let it in because of the challenge, and it is probably my favourite read of 2016 so far.
Another example: fiction author Terry McMillan, born in 1951 like I was, would probably not have made it into my "read next" pile; Disappearing Acts was a welcome surprise.
And the "person younger than you" challenge is going to prompt me to read Charlotte's Web, which snuck by me at the appropriate age. Now I will finally read this work by a fellow Cornellian who has sharpened up my writing over the years with Elements of Style.
I'm still dreading 6 of the categories (how am I going to deal with "first book you see in the library" when my library is chock-full of romances on its "in your face" shelf?). Maybe my solution will open my eyes again.
Is it too late to join and just post reviews for the categories I have already completed?
Sara wrote: "Is it too late to join and just post reviews for the categories I have already completed?"Not at all! Welcome to the challenge!
I think I'm done for this year with 49/52. See the books here:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I have these left:
4. Antarctica
- not happening! (no authors there and I have zero interest in polar explorers)
7. Australia (well that may still happen?)
35. Book published the year you graduated high school
- How do you find these - without looking up every single book you read this year? Is there a clever way of searching?
Hello, for number 35 I searched "books published in 19--" and I got a link to lists in goodreads and other sites. Hope you find something interesting :)
Anetq wrote: "I think I'm done for this year with 49/52. See the books here:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I have these left:
4. Antarctica
- not ..."
Natália wrote: "Sara wrote: "Is it too late to join and just post reviews for the categories I have already completed?"
Not at all! Welcome to the challenge!"
The book I read for Antarctica was "Where'd You Go? Bernadette" so I am drawing a blank on who it is by. It was interesting and different but it has some detailed Antarctica stuff.
For the high school task, I Googled books published in my year of graduation, lots of lists popped up.
Good luck!!! I must say this has been a fun challenge and I look forward to trying it again next year as well.
Thanks - I tried google as well, but it primarily gives me anglo-american books I don't feel like reading. What I was looking for it actually the other way around: I want to search my Read or TBR list for books published in a certain year.
Anetq wrote: "Thanks - I tried google as well, but it primarily gives me anglo-american books I don't feel like reading. What I was looking for it actually the other way around: I want to search my Read or TBR l..."When you look at your book list, you can go to settings and add a "date published" category so that you can sort by date.
Kristina wrote: "When you look at your book list, you can go to settings and add a "date published" category so that you can sort by date. "Excellent, thank you so much! I found it - and as I suspected I already read something for the category this year: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
So that's solved, and I'm at 50/52 :)
I decided to DNF this one after 45 books. I got some picks on my list that were only tangentially related to the category and even then I felt restricted. So now I'm reading some books that I couldn't fit into the list, because I had already filled all my wild cards. I've actually read 50 books this year (plus 7 short stories and novellas) and I will get to 52, but I won't be finishing this challenge.
Thomas wrote: "I decided to DNF this one after 45 books. I'm the same. 45/52 and I think I'm going to call it quits for the year on the challenge. I have read 90 books this year so it has been a good year.
I am at 50/52 books for the challenge and I am finished. But I am at 64 books for the year right now. So I am calling it good! I really liked the challenge this year.
I'm leaving the challenge at 51/52, couldn't find my favorite author's favorite book. I really enjoyed finding books for the challenge so I hope we'll have it again in 2017.
Currently trying to catch with logging all the books I have read. I stopped reading on my Kindle for a bit, so the logging stopped. Sigh...I enjoyed this challenge and look forward to another challenge in 2017.
It is the end of the year, and I have read over 120 books, and have met all of my reading challenge goals, with the exception of 2 categories. All of the favorite books by my favorite authors were books that I had already read--so I skipped that one, and I could not find a Retold Fairytale to read.Here is my list:
Read a book that takes place on each continent, or is written by an author from that continent (fiction or non-fiction)
1. North America — 11/22/63, by Stephen King
2. South America—One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3. Africa — The Story of an African Farm, by Olive Schreiner
4. Antarctica — Race to the Pole, by Ranulph Fiennes
5. Europe — Skeletons at the Feast, by Chris Bohjalian
6. Asia — The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
7. Australia — Bittersweet, by Colleen McCullough
8. A banned or challenged book —The Fault in our Stars, by John Green—banned from a middle school.
9. An award winning book (Pulitzer, Hugo, Man Booker, etc.)— World’s Fair, by E.L. Doctorow (National Book Award)
10. Memoir/Autobiography/Biography — Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren
11. A dead author's last book — Travels with Charley, by John Steinbeck.
12. A book with LGBT matter or character(s)— A Home at the End of the World, by Michael Cunningham
13. A book your favorite author loves
14. A retold fairytale
15. A Young Adult book—Echo, by Pam Munoz Ryan
16. A history book (fiction or non-fiction) — The Quartet by Joseph Ellis
17. A book where you have seen the movie, but not read the book — The Big Short, by Michael Lewis
18. A book from the NYT Bestseller list — The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough
19. A book with the point of view of an immigrant —Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin
20. A controversial book — The Giver, by Lois Lowry
21. The first book you see when you walk into a library or bookstore—The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman.
22. A classic—Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace.
23. A debut novel—Sleep Toward Heaven, by Amanda Eyre Ward.
24. Published this year (2016)—Fool me Once, by Harlan Coben.
25. Based entirely on the cover—Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger
26. Own but never read—The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
27. A book by an author you never read before — Emperor of Ocean Park, by Stephen L. Carter
28. A book recommended to you by a friendly librarian — The Garden of Evening Mists, by Tan Twan Eng
29. A book by a Nobel Prize winner —Too Much Happiness, by Alice Munro
30. Mythology (not just Greek)—Mythology, by Edith Hamilton.
31. A book written by someone born the same year as you — Arthur & George, by Julian Barnes (1946)
32. Dystopia — The Heart Goes Last, by Margaret Atwood
33. Reread of a favorite book—A Christmas Tree, by A.C. Greene.
34. A book about books—My Reading Life, by Pat Conroy
35. Book published the year you graduated high school— If Morning Ever Comes, by Anne Tyler (1964)
36. A book a child/teen/someone younger than you loves — Finding Winnie, by Lindsay Mattick
37. A book about/set by the sea — The Sea, by John Banville
38. A book with two authors—Deck the Halls, by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark.
39. Author from your own state, province, or country — The Train to Crystal City, by Jan Jarboe Russell
40. A book about a trip (road, cruise, around the world) — Avenue of Mysteries, by John Irving
41. A book with the name of a person in the title — The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
42. Science Fiction — Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
43. Fantasy — The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro
44. Wild card — In the Unlikely Event, by Judy Blume.
45. Wild card — Prague Winter, by Madeleine Albright
46. Wild card — American Pastoral, by Philip Roth
47. Wild card — Piece of Cake, by Derek Robinson
48. Wild card — Transparent Things, by Vladimir Nabokov
49. Wild card — Books, by Larry McMurtry
50. Wild card — Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee
51. Wild card — Once Upon a Town, by Bob Greene
52. Wild card — A Banquet of Consequences, by Elizabeth George
Whew! I finished. I wasn't sure it was going to happen. It was harder to do than I thought. Just seems like the more I want to read the more life gets in the way. I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. And for those whose new year isn't in a few days, I wish you a great week!I hope to see everyone for the new challenge, if not I hope to still see you on Goodreads.
I like the swapping about... I think of it as a puzzle on top of the challenge