2009 Reading Challenge Feedback

[Yz the Whyz]

The poll isn't over yet, but it looks like we are continuing with our mothly reading challenges next year. In preparation, I'm seeking for some feedback.

So if you have the time, please drop by and answer the following questions.

1. Next year is 2010. Would it be okay to change our reading goal from 9 books to 10?

2. I'm thinking that some of our challenges were pretty enjoyable that I wouldn't mind repeating them. Among the twelve that we had, can you choose your top six of themes that you enjoyed the most.

January - Paranormal Creatures
February - Share the Love, Read A New Author
March - P.E.A.R.L Awards Categories
April - Serial April (Read 9 books from 9 different series)
May - Go by the Year May
June - Raid a GR shelf (Paranormal Romance shelf)
July - Paranormal Creatures Redux
August - Paranormal Summer Explosion (paranormal elements across genres)
September - Reading with Friends
October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers)
November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge)
December - TBR Clean-up

(PS: Please visit the actual challenge thread for more info, if you are not familiar with the theme)

3. On the same note as question #3, was there a month's challenge that you didn't like at all and would never want to be repeated?

4. Any suggestions for future themes are highly welcomed.

It had been fun reading with you guys. Looking forward to another year of reading challenges.

[Yz the Whyz]

*placeholder for feedback results*

January - 21
February - 13
March - 4
April - 17
May - 7
June - 13
July - 8
August - 12
September - 22
October - 23
November - 19
December - 20

[[deleted user]]

Since I just recently joined GR I haven't had the oppertunity to take part in any of these but I have checked them all out and if I have to pick the top 6 that I would do next year, they with be January, April, June,July,October and December.

[Jessica]

1. I would feel great moving it to 10!

2.September - Reading with Friends
November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge)
April - Serial April (Read 9 books from 9 different series)
October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers)
June - Raid a GR shelf (Paranormal Romance shelf)
December - TBR Clean-up

3.I liked them all!

4.maybe one where we have to have something in common with each protagonist

[♥Lynn ♥]

I hope we still have the challenges next year. I LOVE them!! It is not everyday I can chat with people who have the same interest in the books as I do. I would not mind if we move to 10. I can read anywhere from 20-25 books a month. I did not start these challenges until Oct. so I have not done all of the challenges. I like:February, there are so many authors here, I want to try as many as possible.September, October, November, December. I hope that helps!

[Yz the Whyz]

Thanks for the responses, Kat, Jessica and Lynn.

Lynn, you may add one more month if you like.

[Laura Lulu]

Yes, let's make it 10 books.

My 6 fave challenges were--

March - PEARL Awards
May - Go by the Year
August - Paranormal Summer Explosion
September - Reading with Friends
October - Literary Colors
November - Characters Alphabet Parade

I like the challenges where I have to do some legwork to make my list. :)

[Michelle]

I'm ok to read 10 books!

I didn't participate in them all but I like January, April, August, October, November, December.

There wasn't any I disliked.

[Nita]

I really really enjoy these challenges.

I am fine with 10 books a challenge.

I did not start participating until July, but I had a look at each month's challenge and these are my favorite six:

January - Paranormal Creatures
May - Go by the Year May
June - Raid a GR shelf (Paranormal Romance shelf)
August - Paranormal Summer Explosion (paranormal elements across genres)
September - Reading with Friends
November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge)

My least favorite is this months, the TBR Clean-up Challenge. And that is only because I couldn't change books once I picked them. I'm always changing my mind what I want to read. :D

[I ♥ Bookie Nookie (bookienookiereviews.blogspot.com)]

10 books sounds great to me.

July - Paranormal Creatures Redux
August - Paranormal Summer Explosion (paranormal elements across genres)
September - Reading with Friends
October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers)
November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge)
December - TBR Clean-up

I didn't participate in the challenges earlier this year--but none of them sound like I would dislike them.

A suggestion for a category could be like the pick it for me challenge where someone picks one book for you--how about a pick it for me where someone picks all the books for another person. It could be something like pick 8 from the reader's own TBR shelf--to encourage them to clean up their list and pick 6 that are not on their TBR list--to encourage them to step outside their comfort zone. That would give them 4 books as alternates.

[Caleb]

1.Next year is 2010. Would it be okay to change our reading goal from 9 books to 10? Moving up to 10 books is a good challenge in itself. I haven't completed a challenge yet; I've participated in 3 plus December, which we are currently in the middle of, but I will keep trying!


2. I'm thinking that some of our challenges were pretty enjoyable that I wouldn't mind repeating them. Among the twelve that we had, can you choose your top six of themes that you enjoyed the most.

January - Paranormal Creatures
February - Share the Love, Read A New Author
April - Serial April (Read 9 books from 9 different series)
May - Go by the Year May
September - Reading with Friends
October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers)

3. On the same note as question #3, was there a month's challenge that you didn't like at all and would never want to be repeated? NA

4. Any suggestions for future themes are highly welcomed. I really like the challenges that push me outside of my comfort zone – for example February - Share the Love, Read A New Author and September - Reading with Friends, it is good to try something new.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Ok, my 6 (only 6--I actually liked 11 of the 12.) Didn't like THIS months because we can't change the list once it was made. And I kept getting books in (especially from the library) that I had put onto my reserve pile MONTHS and months ago. And, since I'd waited that long, I had to get them back in, since there were still people behind me waiting for them. And the suggestion about "picking someone else's books" where you have to pick from their tbr pile. . . I tend to not really post my tbr books. I only did that for the June of this year challenge. Thought I'd give people a chance at seeing some of my tbrs if they wanted/had the book in hand already. :o)

Ok, having now put it off as long as I can--time to weed the list down a bit. (Oh, and I'm fine with going to 10 a month too)



January - Paranormal Creatures
February - Share the Love, Read A New Author
June - Raid a GR shelf (Paranormal Romance shelf)
September - Reading with Friends
October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers)
November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge)


Ok, there's my 6. And, since July was just a "repeat" of Jan, I figured that one for the first one that I got rid of. The second I got rid of was the PERL stories. Um, mainly because I've already READ so many of the stories that were listed, even from the past winners/nomininees. So, I figured I'd boot that one. The "by the year" wasn't a bad one--but sometimes finding a book that interests you (and that you haven't ALREADY read) from the earlier years is hard. And finally the serial one--some of my fav serials, the author has ended. And of the others--if they don't have 1 coming out in the month that that's the assigned category--I'll have already read them.

Well, my thoughts. :o)

[♥Lynn ♥]

For July, maybe we can do a Christmas in July. There are 9 letters in Christmas, choose a book that starts with each letter in Christmas.

[Melinda]

Love the challenges.


1. 10 books would be great.

2. January, February, April, August, October, December

3. I didn't care much for June or September.

[Arcadia]

I liked January, April, June, July (I like the idea of going back halfway through and doing one we've already done, but with some changes), September, and November.

I disliked February, March, May, and December.

And ten a month sound good.

[Michelle]

Even though I didn't start participating in the challenges until this summer, and haven't completed the last two, I think I would like increasing the book total from 9 to 10. I've looked over the challenges, and my favorites are:

January - Paranormal Creatures
August - Paranormal Summer Explosion (paranormal elements across genres),
September - Reading with Friends
October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers)
November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge)
December - TBR Clean-up (this is the hardest challenge of them all!)

[[deleted user]]

10 works for me too!

My favorite months:
January
June
July
September
October
December

[Annvelwis]

10 is fine :) 12 would be better, hah...

I liked all of the challenges this year (though I started to participate in April), but my fav are January, April, May, June, July, August.

[Sandy]

I don't know if I'd finish 10 each month but going to 10 is OK with me.

I didn't do all of the challenges but my favorites would be January, February, August, October, November and December.

December's challenge has forced me to stick to cleaning up some of my TBR pile.

My challenge idea would be to do a re-read challenge.

[Tonya]

I have only participated the last 3 months (I think) but looked at the other months and here is my top six:

TBR pile...Dec (makes the TBR pile a little smaller)
Love a New Author...Feb (would make me find some new authors since I have a tendency to obsess over an author I like)
PNR Creatures Redux sounds like fun
Reading with Friends
GR PNR Shelf
Serial

I think 10 books for the month would be great. Thanks for all you do for the challenges YZ and Mel.

[Erin]

1. 10 books sounds good.
2. I've only participated in the last two, but the ones that sounded most interesting:
January - Paranormal Creatures
February - Share the Love, Read A New Author
April - Serial April (Read 9 books from 9 different series)
August - Paranormal Summer Explosion (paranormal elements across genres)
November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge)
December - TBR Clean-up
3. They actually all sounded fun to me.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Actually I DO like the Dec one--I just wish we could change our books. (And since I have about 200 books on my tbr SHELVES, I'd have a lot more freedom to pick out something that appeals to me at that moment.)

[Charlotte (Buried in Books)]

1) 10's fine with me. I've only managed to make it to 9 once so far, but I've had damn good fun trying!!!

2) Favourite challenges so far, June, August, Sept (although I didn't take part), Oct, Nov, Dec.

3) No.

4) As long as we can mix up genres I'm happy (too much PNR & UF and I'll go crazy - I need to be able to take a step back and mix it up with some heavy duty crime or historical nonsense sometimes).

[I ♥ Bookie Nookie (bookienookiereviews.blogspot.com)]

Charlotte wrote: "1) 10's fine with me. I've only managed to make it to 9 once so far, but I've had damn good fun trying!!!

2) Favourite challenges so far, June, August, Sept (although I didn't take part), Oct, ..."

Charlotte--I think our challenges tend to revolve around PNR and UF because we are on a "Paranormal Romance" thread :-)

Here are a few links of groups who might have the variety you are looking for:

Novel Ladies

Historical Fictionistas

The Crime & Thriller Group

The Mystery Divas

[RogueHireling]

I also joined at the tail end of the year, so I wasn't able to experience some of the choices first hand.

So I'm going by what sounds the most interesting to me.

1) Dont mind ten books though i think it will be more difficult for me to finish. I tend to be last book last day sort of person. =)

2)
January - Paranormal Creatures
February - Share the Love, Read A New Author
April - Serial April (Read 9 books from 9 different series)
September - Reading with Friends
October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers)
December - TBR Clean-up

3) I wasn't a big fan of the alphabet character one since I found it rather difficult to find the character names from the books I hadn't read before. I felt like I was reading ahead in search of character names.
I didn't mind that much, it was just the least favorite of the five I have participated in thus far. =)

4) No suggestions so far. Love the reading challenges and I look forward to a whole new year of them. =D
Thanks so much!

[Charlotte (Buried in Books)]

Cherra wrote: "Charlotte wrote: "1) 10's fine with me. I've only managed to make it to 9 once so far, but I've had damn good fun trying!!!

2) Favourite challenges so far, June, August, Sept (although I didn't t..."

Trying to get rid me huh Cherra??? :)

I'm already in the Crime and Thriller Group.

I just get a bit bored of reading the same thing all the time. It's good to mix it up sometimes - that's why I liked August's challenge.

[I ♥ Bookie Nookie (bookienookiereviews.blogspot.com)]

Charlotte wrote: "Cherra wrote: "Charlotte wrote: "1) 10's fine with me. I've only managed to make it to 9 once so far, but I've had damn good fun trying!!!

2) Favourite challenges so far, June, August, Sept (al..."

No!! Never!

[Yz the Whyz]

Charlotte wrote: "1) 10's fine with me. I've only managed to make it to 9 once so far, but I've had damn good fun trying!!!

2) Favourite challenges so far, June, August, Sept (although I didn't take part), Oct, ..."

I don't know if this is something that would interest you, but I have another group where we have different challenges, and are basically open to almost any genre, although romance is the most popular one.

Here is the link:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

[Charlotte (Buried in Books)]

Yz wrote:

Yz, you got me at "almost any genre". I'm in :-)

[Brandy *Ahviel*]

Likes:

March - P.E.A.R.L Awards Categories
April - Serial April (Read 9 books from 9 different series)
May - Go by the Year May
June - Raid a GR shelf (Paranormal Romance shelf)
July - Paranormal Creatures Redux
September - Reading with Friends


Dislikes:
November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge) only becuase I could not decide which ones to chose.
October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers) - colors kind of blended in together

[Shannon]

1. Next year is 2010. Would it be okay to change our reading goal from 9 books to 10?

I wouldn't mind doing 10 books at all.

2. I'm thinking that some of our challenges were pretty enjoyable that I wouldn't mind repeating them. Among the twelve that we had, can you choose your top six of themes that you enjoyed the most.

1)January - Paranormal Creatures
2)February - Share the Love, Read A New Author
3)April - Serial April (Read 9 books from 9 different series)

(Although I wasn't a member of GR until June, these top three sound very interesting.)

I did enjoy doing these three challenges:

4)October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers)
5)November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge)
6)December - TBR Clean-up

3. On the same note as question #2, was there a month's challenge that you didn't like at all and would never want to be repeated?

I didn't dislike any of the challenges.

4. Any suggestions for future themes are highly welcomed.

I'll have to think on that a bit...

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Yz--that "almost anything" got me too. and hey--what's ANOTHER challenge group, right? :o) I'll start with the challenges there in January.

[Yz the Whyz]

Ann,

Feel free to browse the threads in that group.

Aside from the monthly challenges, there are quarterly, seasonal, and yearly challenges. We also have some serious heavy challenges like the Serial Reader Challenge and A Lifetime of Books Challenge.

Hey, any excuse to read is good for me...LOL!

[Ann aka Iftcan]

lol, me too Yz.

Can't wait to start that in Jan.

[Anna]

1. I wouldn't mind 10, although I'll be lucky to make 9 this month

2. My favorites:
January - Paranormal Creatures, February - Share the Love, Read A New Author, April - Serial April (Read 9 books from 9 different series), September - Reading with Friends, October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers), November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge)

3. No

4. I don't have any suggestions

[Tiffany]

i read all the books i put on mine, but i put them on there wrong and couldn't cross them out. i think i've read even some i didn't put on there.:(

[Allison]

I like Jan, Feb, April, Sept, Oct and Nov.

I don't like to much time travel or anything invovling space so some of the months (July and August) were my bottom picks

[Angie]

I have absolutely loved doing the challenges this year. It has helped me read books that have been sat on my shelf for ages but kept putting to one side in favour of a more familiar author. I have loved all the challenges but my favourite 6 were January, February, March, April, June and September.

Thanks Yz!!

[Melissa]

Although I really liked them all, my favorites were:

January
February
June
September
October
December

10 books is cool with me.

I also have to say that I like sticking to a genre in this challenge. I'm also in the other challenge group and can crossover books, but I mostly read PNR and UF so this particular challenge gets me reading the most.

[Mel W]

1. I have no problems with 10 books a month.

2. Since I didn't start actively participating in the challenges until July my top six would be: July, August, September, October, November and December.

3. The challenges for the other months that I didn't list above sounded cool. The only one I have a problem with would be March's, the PEARL Awards one. I can't access the website from here as it is blocked.

4. I have no other suggestions.

[Angie]

Forgot to say I have no problems with 10 books a month :)

[BJ Rose]

1. Next year is 2010. Would it be okay to change our reading goal from 9 books to 10?
10 books for 2010 sounds good to me.

2. I'm thinking that some of our challenges were pretty enjoyable that I wouldn't mind repeating them. Among the twelve that we had, can you choose your top six of themes that you enjoyed the most.

January - Paranormal Creatures
June - Raid a GR shelf (Paranormal Romance shelf)
September - Reading with Friends
October - Literary Colors Challenge (based on colors of book covers)
November - Characters Alphabet (hybrid of an A-Z challenge)
December - TBR Clean-up

I agree that December's challenge was more difficult that it seemed because of the no-changes rule, but allowing an alternate list was a great idea. I know some still had problems with this because of library requests that flood in after the planning, so here's a thought: Post an original list of 10 and an alternate list of 4, neither of which can be changed BUT include the option of ADDING 2 more to the alternate list at any time of the challenge month. Still attacks the TBR mountain but gives a little flexibility for emergencies.

3. On the same note as question #3, was there a month's challenge that you didn't like at all and would never want to be repeated?
Not really - there were some I didn't enjoy as much, but tastes vary so much that I find that almost inevitable.

4. Any suggestions for future themes are highly welcomed.
Perhaps a variation of Read-the-Month? Paranormal does have 10 letters

Or a variation of Pick-a-Shelf? Have our moderator pick 10 shelves, and we pick one book from each shelf.

[Michelle]

BJ Rose wrote: "
1. Next year is 2010. Would it be okay to change our reading goal from 9 books to 10?
10 books for 2010 sounds good to me.

2. I'm thinking that some of our challenges were pretty enjoyable that I..."

I really like the Paranormal idea!!

[Yz the Whyz]

Thanks for all the feedback. Keep them coming everyone. :)

Suggestions that so far I'm liking:

Christmas in July (suggested by Lynn)
Paranormal Acrostic and Explore GR Shelves (just giving them experimental names, BJ Rose *smiles*)

I'll defitely be thinking about the TBR clean-up revision for next year.

[RogueHireling]

Sorry on the suggestions delay, but here are some challenge ideas. Not really sure if they would work.

-Read someone else's challenge list. Pick two or so people from previous challenges and create a list of nine from them. (variation on the friends list challenge.)

-Cover image challenge. Find books with specific images, say vampire, naked man, wolf, city scape, etc.
(Variation on the colors challenge).

=)

[I ♥ Bookie Nookie (bookienookiereviews.blogspot.com)]

Token Female Gamer wrote: "Sorry on the suggestions delay, but here are some challenge ideas. Not really sure if they would work.

-Read someone else's challenge list. Pick two or so people from previous challenges and crea..."

i like those ideas!

[Ann aka Iftcan]

oohhh, I really LIKED that cover image challenge. That might be an interesting one. The only problem I'd have with that is--9 libraries spread over 4 counties (that's what my library system is) and NONE Of the libraries has the entire collection of ANYTHING. Like library 1 will have books 1 and 8 of a series, library 2 will have 3, library 4 will have maybe 1,3,6 etc. Sigh, makes looking at covers hard. And Amazon is somewhat hampered on searching JUST for covers. But hey--that's what makes it a CHALLENGE, no?

[Melissa]

I love the "read someone else's challenge list". That would be great!

My only other thought about the challenges is that we don't usually end up talking much about the books we read for each challenge. Some of us end up reading a lot of the same books as each other, but we don't start a thread to talk about them. I'm guilty of that, too. I'd like to see a thread started for maybe the top few books that are on everyone's challenge lists for the current month. I realize it would be WAY too many threads to try to talk about each book during each challenge, but maybe the one or two that seem to be the most read during that challenge. I think it would push me even more to read that book for the challenge just to get to talk about it. Just a thought.

I love when people put their star rating next to the books when they cross them off their list. I watch everyone's lists as they read and if some of my personal favorites are being read or something that I'm curious about is going to be read I'd like to see other's ratings.

[Laura Lulu]

I love the idea of picking books for someone else. You can go see what they've read and how they liked the things you've read, and hook them up with some of your faves. Great idea. :)

[Ann aka Iftcan]

I like the idea of more talking about the books we are reading. I try to at least MENTION something that I loved/hated about the books that I read for the challenge. But if its late--or I'm tired/not feeling good--I too am guilty of not doing anything more than posting the crossed out (or filled in, depending on what the challenge is) list. So yes, MORE discussion of the books people are reading for the challenge