2016 reading challenges

[Jennifer]

I've taken it upon myself to participate in 2 reading challenges and the book club in 2016. I might borrow a few of the better challenge themes for the book club topics throughout the year. Out of the 2 I've picked, there's about 70 books and around half of them are probably for books I would never choose myself. I love the idea of broadening my reading interests!

Is anyone else doing any reading challenges?

[Ribbon]

Where are these reading challenges? I only know the number of books challenge that Goodreads has each year.

I got through 350 books this year, though that includes several manga series and lots of children's books from bedtime reading. I think I'll set my goal at 200 for 2016 and see how that goes. I've exhausted quite a bit of the local library's collection by now.

[Alisha]

I'm doing the Popsugar Challenge:

⌷ A book based on a fairy tale
⌷ A national book award winner
⌷ A YA best seller
⌷ A book you haven’t read since high school
⌷ A book set in your home state
⌷ A book translated to English
⌷ A romance set in the future
⌷ A book set in Europe
⌷ A book that’s under 150 pages
⌷ A New York Times best seller
⌷ A book that’s becoming a movie this year
⌷ A book recommended by someone you just met
⌷ A self improvement book
⌷ A book you can finish in one day
⌷ A book written by a celebrity
⌷ A political memoir
⌷ A book at least 100 years older than you
⌷ A book that’s more than 600 pages
⌷ A book from Oprah’s Book Club
⌷ A science fiction novel
⌷ A book recommended by a family member
⌷ A graphic novel
⌷ A book that is published in 2016
⌷ A book with a protagonist that has your occupation
⌷ A book that takes place during Summer
⌷ A book and its prequel
⌷ A murder mystery
⌷ A book written by a comedian
⌷ A dystopian novel
⌷ A book with a blue cover
⌷ A book of poetry
⌷ The first book you see in a bookstore
⌷ A classic from the 20th century
⌷ A book from the library
⌷ An autobiography
⌷ A book about a road trip
⌷ A book about a culture you’re unfamiliar with
⌷ A satirical book
⌷ A book that takes place on an island
⌷ A book that’s guaranteed to bring you joy

[Anita]

Rachel wrote: "Where are these reading challenges? I only know the number of books challenge that Goodreads has each year.
I got through 350 books this year, though that includes several manga series and lots of..."

You can probably find some challenges in different book clubs, or there might be groups specifically for challenges. Otherwise, you can just come up with one on your own and kind of share your progress with the bookclub! I think it's a great idea and maybe something TMS bookclub could look in to -- opening up some challenge threads for our members!

Wow Alisha, that looks fun though! I'm still finishing up a great A-Z new-to-me female authors challenge for this year... haven't even thought of next year!

What are your two for 2016, Jennifer?

[Jennifer]

Alisha wrote: "I'm doing the Popsugar Challenge:

⌷ A book based on a fairy tale
⌷ A national book award winner
⌷ A YA best seller
⌷ A book you haven’t read since high school
⌷ A book set in your home state
⌷ A ..."

this is one of the 2 i'm doing as well. the other one is the read harder challenge and I will post it as well in case anyone else is interested in incorporating it into their 2016 reading lists.

[Brittany]

In the past I've tried to do book challenges and I always fail them D:
So I'm pretty much sticking to Goodreads so many books in a year challenge, but this year I think I'm going to cut back, I set my goal for 110 this year, and while I did complete it I think I sometimes made myself feel pressured to read instead of doing other things, both in an effort to reach my goal and to beat last year's number, which was about 140. I made it to 112 this year, which I am satisfied with, but I think next year I'm only going to shoot for around 75.

[Ribbon]

I probably won't do one of those variety pack challenges but I am trying to explore new genres. I usually read light fantasy, fairy tale and mythology related stuff, and the occasional dystopia. I'm aiming to try some science fiction and mystery stuff this year. Stuff that isn't in the kids and teen sections of the library.

[Jennifer]

I always seem to go to the same books over and over so I'm using the challenges to find new books. The town I live in doesn't have a library, and the nearest bookstore is nearly 2 hours away, so a lot of the time, I find myself just reading the same 50 or so books on loop. I'm kind of excited to try this and like this group, I've met some really nice people in the sugarpop challenge group, so it's broadening my horizons in more ways than one. :)

[Teleseparatist]

I've done number-of-books challenges (I do that every year anyway) and I've done a challenge in 2014/2015 where every week I drew lots about genres / categories and I had a month to complete the task. It was REALLY hard ;D

This year I'm thinking about doing a blast from the past kind of challenge - I'm a bit obsessed with my goodreads and that results in my hardly ever re-reading. So this year I'm thinking about trying to re-read one book every 2-3 months. Not so much that I'll feel like my stats are suffering but much more than I'd do on my own.

I'm still not sure how I'll choose what books to read, I'm thinking about goingf for sff I enjoyed back when I was in high school and which I don't remember too well. I'd re-read them and compare the reality and the recollection, and post about it on my tiny dusty hardly ever used book blog / and on goodreads ofc.

[Shannon]

I try to do a reading challenge every year. I set a goal for number of books and I also create my own challenge based on others that I find online. I like them because they get me to read stuff I normally would not. I work at a library and pushing myself to read outside my typical genres allows me to help patrons better with book recommendations. Plus, I find myself really enjoying stuff that I did not think I would.

I didn't finish my 2015 challenge for types of books, but I got close. I did just complete the number of books challenge though so somewhat made my goals for the year.

[Marielle]

I try to do a couple of challenges each year, the goodreads one, and usually something to make me read various genres. Doing the bookriot one this year, many of the other ones are very US-centric, and that's not my scene.

[Sara]

I'm interested in some of these challenges that aren't just numbers of books, but how do those of you who've done them balance challenge lists with your own growing to-read list?

[Jennifer]

Sara wrote: "I'm interested in some of these challenges that aren't just numbers of books, but how do those of you who've done them balance challenge lists with your own growing to-read list?"

I'm doing 2 of them this year, along with the goodreads challenge and the book club. I will say, I live in the middle of nowhere and cannot drive (epilepsy) so I have a good amount of time to read all the books that will go into all that.

But as for balancing the challenge list with my to read list, I actually wrote out all of the themes and I left a space after each one to write in the title of a book that I want to read/have that fits into each category. I also find Listopia right here on goodreads is helpful to me when I can't think of a book that matches the theme.

[Brittany]

I've seen on booktube where people do a jar challenge where they put 12 themes or something in a jar and then draw one a month, that way you have a challenge but still plenty of time to read what you want to read.

[Anita]

Ha, dwindling a tbr list is a challenge in itself! I actually make it a point to pull a book from the back of my list every now and then.

Like Jennifer said, I try to incorporate my tbr list as much as possible. It's not very possible, so it doesn't diminish the spirit of a reading challenge that forces you to look outside of your usual reading spots. And it makes me happy to read the books I marked as want to read :) so it's win-win

[Anita]

^^ I like that idea a lot, Brittany!

[Megan]

My challenge to myself this year is to read from more authors of colour.

[Hana]

OK. I'm glad this topic was put up! The Goodreads challenge thing annoyed me a bit, as the number of books I read is not an issue for me. I'm a book addict, so I already read a lot of books. This year my challenge will be to read a difficult book for every fun/light book I read. Happy new year everyone!!

[Ashwise]

My reading challenge is 150 books plus to read 10 books by Tolkien

[Chessa]

I'm trying to do a few challenges - some of them cross over, and I have no qualms about double dipping.
-Read Harder - really excited about this one because it has the potential to really stretch me in terms of genres I read.
-SF-F group challenge - I'm trying to read 12 of the books that the Science Fiction and Fantasy group has read over the course of its lifetime. Hoping to knock a few classic SF/F off with this one - I've never read Dune, for instance, which is sort of ridiculous.
-The Mary Sue Challenge - trying to do this one, but we'll see.
-Read Harder Panels - this one is focused on comics/graphic novels. I just found out about it this week, so I'm excited to see what I can come up with.

And my GR goal is to read 60 books this year. :)

[Katie]

Chessa, Dune is so good! I hope you enjoy the classics that you finally check out

[Anita]

so how did everyone do on their challenges this year? can you believe we talked about this pretty much a whole year ago??!

I just finished up my a-z new-to-me-female authors challenge and somewhere in there I managed to finish up my goal of 150 books. just in time, so I'll try to finish up the Mary Sue November read (an ancient culture) that I didn't do.

next year I'm thinking of doing a read around the world challenge in a group focused on reading female authors.

how about you all? What were some fun books and difficulties you encountered this year in fulfilling your challenges? seen any interesting challenges for the new year yet?