Book Challenge Discussion Thread

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Should we have a monthly or quarterly or yearly book challenge?

Something along the lines of:

*Read at least one interracial book a month
*Read 12 interracial books in six months
*Read one interracial book that is:
-BWWM
-WWBM
-BWAM
-AWWM
-an atypical interracial pairing
you get the idea...
--Or
*read one interracial book with the following themes:
-Marriage of convenience
-One of the characters is in the military or law enforcement
-Historical
etc...

Thoughts? Ideas?

[Arch , Mod]

I think that a monthly book challenge is good.

I don't have a lot of interracial books though, but I will try my best.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Arch, I know you like BWWM, but I know you could probably find Asian and Latino with White characters among the category romances. So that would be helpful.

[Arch , Mod]

Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Arch, I know you like BWWM, but I know you could probably find Asian and Latino with White characters among the category romances. So that would be helpful."

I do have a few other interracial books in my large TBR pile. I will read them.

I will state the race, when I share information about the couple.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Cool.

When I get some more feedback, I'm make the criteria more specific.

[CaliGirlRae, Mod Squad]

I'd love a book challenge. They really help me to tackle the ole TBR and I'm aiming to try books I haven't picked up or head of before. I like the idea of a yearly book challenge with a month dedicated to each theme or IR group or something like that. I'm definitely game though. :-)

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Oh, that's a good idea, Rae.
I like it!

[Arch , Mod]

2010 Interracial Book one for me was Fire and Ice by Anne Stuart: WW/AM

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

I'll create a folder where you can create a thread to keep track, Arch. Great idea!

[Arch , Mod]

Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I'll create a folder where you can create a thread to keep track, Arch. Great idea!"

Thanks.

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

I know this thread is older now, but I really like the idea of IR reading challenge. I know there's the folders where we can keep track of our IR reads, but I'm wondering if this still something that the moderators are considering doing in the future?

I wouldn't know of half of the IR romance writers, novels etc, if it weren't for this group =)

[Arch , Mod]

Yes, there should be a IR challenge. Maybe like the challenge on the other group. Spell out or theme challenge. Danielle knows what I am talking about.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Michelle, I'd like to do one. There wasn't a lot of feedback before. I'm glad this group has been helpful to you!

Do you have some ideas for it? Arch, you are onto something. Can you think of an idea?

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

Ideas? Hmmmm..... I don't know that its really creative or anything, but what about picking a theme for each challenge? For example, one challenge could be paranormal, then suspense, then historical etc.

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

I like Arch's idea too. As long as whatever we'd be spelling out isn't too long! Just kidding :)

I can't remember which thread it was, but someone in this group made mention regarding the unsuspected IR pairing in some books. I think it might be fun to seek out books like that for a challenge.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Those are great ideas, Michelle. Maybe we can have a year/quarter long challenge where we have different goals, including what you've mentioned.

[Arch , Mod]

Michelle, do you mean genre, instead of theme? (Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary).

I don't think that we can spell a word out Danielle or do you think, Interracial can be spelled out using interracial books?

Maybe a theme challenge can be good. (Best friends, love at first sight, nemesis at first sight (lol, Sam and Alyssa), married couple, etc.)

I haven't read a lot of interracial books, so I don't know a lot of the themes that are in some of them.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

I think the theme challenge is more doable.

So far we had these suggestions:

Best friends to lovers
Love at first sight
Nemesis at first sight/Enemies to lovers
Married Couple
Atypical interracial combination
Historical
Contemporary
Paranormal
Chick-lit (I added)
Surprise interracial



How about unusual setting, character with unique professions (such as caterer, assassin, etc), Lovers reunited (which isn't a fave of mine), nerdy/geeky character.

We have like 12 themes and the participants pick 6 or more to fulfill. We could have a pick your own theme as a bonus.

How does that sound?

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

Oh, I meant genre, not theme, thanks. I went through some the IR books that I have in my posession now, and I guess choosing books for an IR challenge might be a little on the difficult side, unless you're reading e-books. But for me, difficulty finding books for challenges is the part of the fun.

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

Danielle,

that sounds pretty good to me. I looked at the themes you and Arch listed, the idea of choosing 6, 7th as a bonus, and I'm thinking a challenge based on themes could be a lot of fun. Just let me know what I can do to help.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

If you want to co-coordinate with me, that would be great, Michelle. Arch, I don't want to leave you out if you want to be on it with us.

Should we aim for January?

How about a six month challenge, just to get our feet wet?

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

I wouldn't mind co-coordinating, and I think January would be a great time to get started. Stretching over 6 mos isn't a bad idea since finding IR novels to fit the themes might be a little hard.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Cool!

[Arch , Mod]

January is cool. I might get more interracial books to add to my reading by then.

[Tracy]

I'm glad to hear a reading challenge is on the horizon. I have (unfortunately) not read any IR in several months. A reading challenge will help.

I love the idea of a 6 month challenge; I tend to procrastinate on the 1 years. The themes you have are great too. I'll keep an eye out for the thread about potential books and add what is in my library.

I look forward to starting in January. Thanks again.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

I appreciate the interest. Thanks to Michelle for getting this moving again.

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

No problem Danielle. I'm already excited about starting the challenge in January, and seeing what everyone else will be reading =)

[Arch , Mod]

Should we list our books in December?

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

I wouldn't mind listing my books in December as long as the other participants wanted to do the same. If we were to do that, should we post the challenge in the beginning of December/ late November to give people some time to start getting their books together?

[Arch , Mod]

How about we list themes in December and books in January. That would be better.

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

Good idea Arch.

Just so I'm clear.....

So far, we're planning to take the themes listed above, choose any 6, and can choose a 7th as a bonus, and read those books over a 6 month period, right?

When we create our lists, should we list the ir pairing in each book?

[Arch , Mod]

Yes Michelle. We can add more themes to chose from as well.

I think it would be good to let others know which interracial pairing we are reading about too.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

I'm excited too! I will finally get some of these IRs I have piling up read. I think that the reader can list the pairing if she/he knows. I would think some readers may fill in the challenges as they go, as well. I think it's best to keep things flexible.

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

Flexibilty is a good idea. I love creating reading lists, but I rarely stick to the list throughout an entire challenge. Last night I created an IR romance folder, and started going through my books to see just how many IR books I have. I'm just hoping that the ones I do have can fit into some of the themes listed. I was so excited going through my books last night, that I could hardly sleep, LOL!

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Wow. You are going to be all set, Michelle. I admit I have done that with some challenges. We are just Girl Scouts, is all!

[Dee]

Hey count me in on this IR reading group also. I need to up date my book shelf. The only type of stories I don't read are paranormal. I sleep along and have a tendency to hear thing the go bump in the night without having any excuses. I like the idea of reading a book every six month. With all the other things I have going on in my life, being required to read a book more often than that time frame may put me in a bind. But please count me in.

[Arch , Mod]

You are in Dee.

I don't read paranormal books as well. I do have a few in my TBR pile.

I'm a contemporary reader and writer. I hope to find some more interracial books for this upcoming challenge.

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

I do like paranormal romance, but for this challenge, I'm hoping to come across some non-pnr novels.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

The good thing is you can pick what you want to read with this challenge.

[Arch , Mod]

Yes,

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

Has anyone been able to put any thought in to how we should write up/ present the challenge to the group yet? I was thinking that we could refer to it as "the semi-annual IR romance reading challenge." But then I started thinking that that's a bit much, LOL! So I wanted to know you ladies thought a fun name for the challenge would be.

[Dee]

Since we will be reading more than just IR romances stories, Why not something like "The IR Reader's Challenge?" That way if we can adjust the reading status to suit the books and the group's reading ability.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Well, they should be IR romances, don't you think (or at least a book that has an interracial romance in the storyline)? It's just various themes within the genre. The goal is to get us reading IR more often than we might.

Michelle, if you want to play around with the write-up, feel free. I haven't made it that far yet. :)

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

I agree with Danielle about the books at least having to have in IR romance storyline within the selected theme. I do like "The IR Reader's Challenge". It's just short and to the point.

Danielle, I'll start playing around with the write-up sometime tonight or tomorrow =)

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Thanks, Michelle!

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

An example: (event announcement?)

FIRR will be launching it's first (?) six month IR reading challenge on Jan. 1, 2011. The goal of this challenge is to have fun, and to increase our IR romance reading. Please see actual thread for more details.

(Thread?)
The IR Reader's Challenge

Duration: Jan 1, 2011- June 1, 2011

For the IR Reader's Challenge, participants must choose, and read 6 books based on the themes/ scenario/ genre's listed below:

Best friends to lovers
Love at first sight
Nemesis at first sight/Enemies to lovers
Married Couple
Atypical interracial combination
Historical
Contemporary
Paranormal
Chick-lit
Surprise interracial
Unique profession (caterer, assassin, celebrity etc)

*participants may choose a 7th as a bonus

You may post your books in advance, or as you read them. When posting, please include which theme/ scenario/ genre your selection fits. The only requirement for this challenge, is that your books must feature an IR pairing of some sort. If needed, you can look at the groups bookshelf for titles. Also, you are strongly encouraged to keep track of your IR reading in the designated folder.

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

That's just something quick that I wrote up, based on what we already talked about, and I wanted to check with everyone, and get some input to make it sound more friendly, add to it, etc. As I was typing, I thought the idea of doing one of those group event things might me a good idea, and if we're starting in January, maybe doing the event announcement in mid-December would be a good idea. What do you think about that? I know it's peak holiday season, so it may get overlooked.

[Arch , Mod]

I like it Michelle.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

That looks great, Michelle. The event announcement is a very good idea.

[Michelle, Mod with the Bod]

Thanks Arch. Do think sending out one of those event announcements is a good idea?