Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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Strategies for Multiple Challenges
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Serendipity
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Dec 12, 2018 11:04AM
Just wondering how everyone who does multiple challenges handles them. While I don't use one book for more than one category within any one challenge, I have no qualms about using one book for several different challenges. I've planned out four of my challenges so far (ATY, Popsugar, Reading Women, and Back to the Classics) plus my own self imposed challenges (books from 10 new to me countries and a book from each of the large Dewey classifications). Still got to work or Read Harder and Modern Mrs Darcy (although at first glance most of that will be covered by books I've already scheduled for otehr challenges). I think I'll make ATY my primary challenge and as far as possible work through that first. Once that's done I'll move on to Popsugar and then some combination of mopping up the smaller challenges and moving on to Read Harder (if time permits). Within that framework I'll try and read one classic and one of my Dewey books per month. I find if I read too much non-fiction or too many classics in a row reading begins to feel like work not pleasure, so spacing them out works for me.
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Other than that, I do Wacky Challenges, but those all overlap within each other.
I do have a goal of reading one nonfiction, one LGBT+, and one POC book each month, but those all fit into my other existing challenges as well.
Thats an interesting question. I'm curious about what everyone is doing. I'm doing the ATY and Popsugar Challenge this year and my own 'Around the world' challenge where I try to read a book from every country without a fixed time frame.
I'm a slow reader, but upped my reading with the challenges a lot the last years. I read 55 physical books (plus audiobooks) this year, 20 books more than last.
Thats why I put down books for several prompts in the beginning (as many as possible tbh) but try to swap them as I read through the year.
Ideally I won't have any doubles in the end, but that way its not so frustrating if I can't finish it.
I start off with one primary challenge and choose books for each topic in that challenge. Then I start looking at other challenges and evaluating whether the books I've already chosen will work for that challenge. If a challenge would require a huge adjustment to my reading list, I won't do it. If I only have to change a few book choices to accommodate the additional challenge I'll add it to my list of yearly challenges.
This will be my first year of multiple challenges. Book clubs I belong to have started their own challenges this year based on ATY, but they will never know if I double dip, so I plan to. Tho I could read the 100 books I need, I think it would eventually take the joy out of reading some fun reads once in a while.
I do double dip across challenges but not within a single challenge. I'm doing Popsugar and ATY next year, and I do like to read off-challenge too. I don't really have a planned approach other than every time I finish a book I check both lists to see if it will fit anything. Bonus marks if I can knock off two disliked prompts with one book.I'm doing a personal Read the World challenge too, but like Nicole I don't have a time frame, and it is progressing slowly (I am only counting books read from the date I decided to make it a challenge). I guess I should work out how many I should read a year if I ever want to finish!
I will be doing 4 challenges: ATY, Popsugar, Read Harder and TBD. I focus on Read Harder first, double dipping across challenges, but not within one. Especially this year, Read Harder has prompts that I think will be tough to fill and I want to make sure I get those done. Some of those books will work for other challenges, so I will already have some boxes checked when I move to the other challenges. I also am in the Parnassus book club and I use those books, where I can to satisfy prompts.I am looking for suggestions for my 4th challenge? I am looking for something that encourages me to read widely (not a challenge that is limited to a specific genre).
Edie- Since you asked for suggestions for a 4th challenge, here is one that I will be doing with the GR group Around the World in 80 Books. It’s their 2019 Translated Lit challenge. Each book has to be translated from a different language. The level you reach is determined by your # of books. Over 20 is the highest level- Polyglot! They have other challenges, too, based on countries or regions within a country. Hope you find something fun!
I generally do 4 or even 5 challenges in a year, and I don't count any book for more than one prompt. I tend to plan out my lists in advance (with flexibility to change them at any time) to make sure I don't forget any of the books I really wanted. When it comes to actually reading, I like having so many options so I can mood read. One thing I've found very helpful is getting rid of some of my least favourite prompts or the books I'm least excited about early on in the year so I get them out of the way, and don't feel stuck with them all at the end. So in the early months, I usually identify which prompts I'm least excited for and try to scatter those books in with some of the others that I'm very excited for. I also do my best to read a variety of genres, book lengths, etc. so I don't burn out on any particular kind by reading too many similar books in a row.
I try to come up with 52 books that will satisfy ATY, Popsugar, Mrs. Darcy, and A-Z. It's tricky. Like for this year The Martian was a book about air, a book that starts with "M", a book set on a different planet, and a book recommended by a librarian. In a pinch I will read a 53rd book, like for this year when it turned out that Wizard and Glass did not involve any time travel (even though other Dark Tower books did), I tacked on The Time Machine so I could complete Popsugar in good conscience.
I’m doing ATY and popsugar next year, and I don’t plan to double dip. I would say ATY is my primary goal and popsugar is secondary, but I aim to complete them at the same time. I’m also have long term around the world and USA goals, but obviously those are double dipped with my yearly challenges.
Mod
Not enough time to read them all lol. That sucks.
I prioritize ATY and this year I ended up double dipping for all three challenges but not using the same book twice for any one challenge. It brought me really close to finishing all three. I would have been successful if I had planned it out that way from the beginning and probably would have had my challenges done early and been able to go back and read more of my planned books so there wasn't as much crossover.
So that will be my approach next year. I'll work on ATY, plug in doubles for the other challenges and then see what else I can fit in during the rest of the year. I thought it would bother me more to double dip, but it was oddly satisfying to see that I could finish all of my challenges, so I'm warming up to the idea.
One word: spreadsheet!This is my first time participating in a reading challenge, unless you want to count winning my library's reading contest when I was in elementary school one summer! My husband is highly amused at how excited I have been about researching my lists.
This year I decided to participate in ATY and PopSugar. Then I added another goal on top of these challenges - I had to pick books already on my Want-To-Read list, unless it is absolutely impossible (LitRPG anyone??). I actually made things more difficult and used the same exact books across all challenges, except for the two extra for ATY (PopSugar list is 50).
Last night I finalized my list! Of course, this means I'm tackling Don Quixote and The Brothers Karamazov in 2019. Which is probably a good thing - I've been in a reading 'rut' so to speak, was a Lit major yet now work in IT (so my language skills continue to deteriorate into corporate IT speak), and could use the kick in the pants to read a few more substantial books each year.
So when I start deliriously rambling about windmills one day on this group, you all know why! :)
I am doing 5 challenges in 2019, ATY, ATY rejects, Popsugar, Reading Women and Modern Mrs. Darcy. It may be a bit excessive but we will see how it goes. I usually concentrate on ATY and like most everyone else I don’t double dip but I will use a book for multiple challenges. Last year I read ATY in order but I don’t think I am going to do,that this year. Since I get most of my books from the library I got very frustrated when I had to wait for books to become available. Happy reading everyone!
The last four years I’ve done multiple challenges (usually four) with varying “rules” for myself. I try not to do the same thing each year so that it doesn’t get stale. Other years, I’ve allowed double dipping between challenges, but this year I didn’t, and I actually prefer it that way. That said, I’m not actually that bothered about finishing the challenges, so there’s no real pressure. It can be fun to see how many challenges you can fit a book into, but it’s also fun to seek out books for lots of different prompts.
This year was my first time doing multiple challenges (ATY, Popsugar, A-Z and a Disney one I made up because I am insane). I generally read 60-70 books a year so I double dipped between challenges but not within each challenge which worked pretty well - although I am still outstanding a book beginning with J! I'm planning on doing Popsugar and ATY next year (although I might skip the Popsugar "advanced" list because it's a bit too random) but keeping my options open for any additional challenges that catch my eye
One thing I really want to do for 2019 is properly prioritize the challenges that are most important to me. I did a very poor job of that this year, and it's now left me with both ATY and PopSugar unfinished in the last week of the year!
Mod
I'm prioritizing reading all of the books I own (43 unread at last count!), and I'm reading ATY in order. Those are the two things I hope to stand by throughout the next year.
Outside of that, I'm going to take on some Wacky Challenges (from the Wacky Reading Challenges group), but I definitely cross over those books from ATY. I also hope to read at least 20 books that fit ATY reject prompts (I narrowed the prompts down to 32 so I have some wiggle room in there).
I won't be too fussed if I don't finish the Wacky Challenges or the ATY rejects. As long as I finish ATY in order and I read all (or *most*) of the books I own, I'll be pleased.
