2010 Reading Challenge Feedback

[Yz the Whyz]

With the year almost over, once again, it's time for me to get some feedback with this year's reading challenges.

So, if you can please take the time to answer a few questions, it is greatly appreciated.

1. Pick your top six(6) monthly challenge themes. The six popular ones will be use again for next year.

I'll be putting an asterisk on challenges that have enjoyed a second run this year, and let's see, if some of them, can go for a third year.

January - Paranormal Creatures*
February - All About Authors
March - Not Your Usual Series
April - Serial April*
May - Cover Hunt
June - Reading With Friends*
July - The Challenge of Time and Place
August - Characters Alphabet Parade*
September - Expedition:GoodReads
October - Literary Colors*
November - Paranormal Acrostic
December - TBR Clean-up*

Anybody can cast their choices. You don't have to be a regular challenge participant to be able to vote.

2. On the other hand, was there a month's challenge that you didn't like at all and would never want to be repeated?

3. 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]

*Reserved space*


January - Paranormal Creatures* - (27)
February - All About Authors (4)
March - Not Your Usual Series (3)
April - Serial April* - (21)
May - Cover Hunt - (15)
June - Reading With Friends* (15)
July - The Challenge of Time and Place (3)
August - Characters Alphabet Parade* (18)
September - Expedition:GoodReads (9)
October - Literary Colors* - (22)
November - Paranormal Acrostic - (6)
December - TBR Clean-up* - (18)

up to #33

[Desperado]

I've only been a member since March & only participated in 4 of these challenges. But I enjoyed the ones I have & alot of them look really good.

Top Six
1.Serial April
2.Reading With Friends
3.Character Alphabet Parade
4.Literary Colors
5.Paranormal Creatures
6.Expedition: Goodreads

*On a side note, I think TBR Clean-up is a great challenge. I just wish it was in January, since December is such a busy month for alot of people. I thought about joining it but no way in hell am I gonna be able to read 10 books during Xmas time.

[Patricia]

I started doing the Challenges in April and have really enjoyed them.

1 Serial April
2 Reading with Friends
3 Paranormal Acrostic
4 Characters Alphabet parade
5 TBR clean-up
6 Paranormal Creatures (I didn't do this one but it sounds fun)

[Lacy♪ ♫Movements of a Demigod ♪ ♫]

1. Expedition: Goodreads
2. Characters Alphabet Parade
3. Reading With Friends
4. TBR Clean-Up
5. Paranormal Creatures
6. Serial April

[AH]

I don't have a top 6 but I'd like to have a go at -

1. Paranormal creatures
2. Character Alphabet Parade
3. Cover Hunt
4. TBR Cleanup

I tend to join in challenges that are 3 months and longer.

[Nita]

I participated in every challenge except Novembers. My favorite six were:

1. Paranormal Creatures
2. The Challenge of Time and Place
3. Serial April
4. Reading With Friends
5. Literary Colors
6. Characters Alphabet Parade

My least favorite was the All About the Author challenge, and that was only because I could not find an author born the same year as me that I wanted to read. Not many choices at all.

Otherwise even when I am not able to read many of the books on my lists, the fun part is picking the books. I am so glad you come up with these challenges.

[Samantha]

I didn't exactly participate in all but ones I did or I think I did, but here are my top 6

1.January - Paranormal Creatures*
2.April - Serial April*
3.June - Reading With Friends*
4.August - Characters Alphabet Parade*
5.October - Literary Colors*
6.December - TBR Clean-up*

I didn't like the challenge of time and place, I just had a hard time thinking of books for it so I didn't even attempt it

I generally will participate in challenges such as the ones that are listed above, they are easy to pick books for.

[Charlotte (Buried in Books)]

I struggle to complete the challenges but always like to have a go. My favourites this year have been:

Serial April
Reading with Friends
Alphabet Parade
Expedition Goodreads
Literary Colours
TBR Clean Up

[Rachel-RN]

My top 6:
1. TBR Cleanup (very easy to pick books for)
2. Reading with Friends
3. Serial April
4. Literary Colors
5. Paranormal Creatures
6. Cover Hunt

The one I least liked was "Not Your usual Series" mainly because it was hard finding 3 stand alone books.

[Diane ~Firefly~]

My top 6
1. Literary Colors
2. Cover Hunt
3. Serial April
4. Paranormal Creatures
5. Expedition Goodreads
6. Characters Alphabet Parade

The one I liked least was Paranormal Acrostic. I don't mind acrostics, but those letters are a bit on the difficult side (and three A's).

All in all you do a great job with these and I really appreciate your creativity.

[Crystal]

My favorites:
Literary Colors
Cover Hunt
Characters Alphabet Parade
Paranormal creatures
Not usual series

Least favorite:
All about authors
Time and Place

[ൠSinful]

I liked
Paranormal Creatures
Reading with Friends
the best.
It's fun to do new ones too.

[Karyn]

Hi Yz,
These series challenges are great, i try and participate as much as i can and the ideas for the challenges are always interesting. I've found some great books whilst participating in these challenges. Looking forward to more in 2011

top 6:
Paranormal Creatures
Serial April
Cover Hunt Challenge.
Literary Colors
Paranormal Acrostic.
TBR Clean-up


The Challenge of Time and Place was the one i found hard to find books for

[Desperado]

Okay, I just realized I moaned about the TBR challenge being in December-busy month-& not being able to read 10 books because of that....when any other challenge would be 10 books, as well. The challenge isn't the problem, it's the "Read 10 books in Dec? Bleh" that's a problem for me.

Jeez. I am so fucking slow. Ignore me.

[RogueHireling]

I think I really enjoyed them all this year, but here are my fav top six.

TBR Cleanup
Literary Colors
Expedition Goodreads
Serial April
Paranormal Creatures
All About Authors

Thanks again to all of you who help run these. They are incredibly enjoyable. =D

[Lora]

Haven't participated in all of these but here's my favourites list.

1. Serial April
2. Literary Colors
3. Paranormal Creatures
4. Cover Hunt
5. Characters Alphabet Parade*
6. The Challenge of Time and Place

[Michelle]

I only started these 'challenges' in Nov but wanted have had a look at some of the years.

1. Serial April
2. Literary Colors (i just came in on the tail end of this one and would have liked to have had a go)
3. Reading with friends
4. Paranormal Creatures
5 TBR Cleanup - except this is probably going to take me into Jan as I always have several books saved to read over the holidays

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with in 2011. Still getting my list together for Dec's Challenge

[Gemma]

I liked the Cover Hunt challenge and the TBR one. I didn't like the all about the author again becuase I found it hard to find an author born the same year as me.

I'd like to make a suggestion for a challenge called "The story so Far" Where you have to read the latest book in a series. This could include one time books, but I think it would be handy as it could mean you get caught up in a series you really mean to.

I also liked the Paranormal Creatures

[Ann aka Iftcan]

January - Paranormal Creatures*
March - Not Your Usual Series
April - Serial April*
May - Cover Hunt
August - Characters Alphabet Parade*
October - Literary Colors*

Ok, guess that's the best I can do. These are not necessarily in order of my favs. I just left them in monthly order.

It was really hard to eliminate some of the challeges, since they were so different and thus enjoyable.

[Rebecca (Bec)]

I only participated in a few i think jan August and december. I like the challenged when I have a variety of choices to make and its not restrictive (so i dont have to go find/buy a book just to meet the requirements) I find that quiet a bit i struggle to think of books that i have to put into the challenges so i end up just reading a series that i have already got going. otheriwse i will end up with too many series on the go!!

I found 10 to be to much for me sometimes (personally) but that doesnt matter becasue i just read as many as i can.

other than that I Always look at what is happening each month and assess wether i can get through. I like participating in this groups challenges becasue they are "challenging" for me! :)

[Rebecca (Bec)]

Sorry I forgot to mention my top

since i only participated in a couple I will put then

1. December TBR
2. January paranormal Creatures
3. August Alphabet perade
4. Literary Colors (although I didnt participate this year I would definately consider it!)
5. all about Authors (I struggled a bit)

BTW the ideas for these challenges are the best i have seen from any group, in regards to difficulty levels.

[Sandy]

Here are my favorites in no particular order. I like that you've added alternates in the TBR cleanup this year.

1. January Paranormal Creature
2. May Cover Hunt
3. Characters Alphabet Parade
4. October Literary Colors
5. November Paranormal Acrostic
6. december TBR Cleanup

[AmandaG]

Thank you Yz for doing all this hard work.

1. April (Serial April)
2. May (Cover Hunt)
3. August (Character Alphabet Parade)
4. October (Literary Colors)
5. Nov (Paranormal Acrostic)
6. Dec (TBR Cleanup)

[AlbertaJenn]

Wow, I'm just checking out the Challenges for the group for the first time. These look like fun! Six that I would love to do next year are:

January - Paranormal Creatures*
April - Serial April*
May - Cover Hunt
July - The Challenge of Time and Place
October - Literary Colors*
December - TBR Clean-up*

Hope to have many great chats with all of you in the ney year!

[Amber]

My favorite six challenges from this year were:
1. Paranormal Creatures
2. Not Your Usual Series
3. Cover Hunt
4. Character Alphabet Parade
5. Literary Colors
6. TBR Clean-up

I really enjoy challenges which let me choose 80% of my books from the TBR list or are easily selected from other posted lists. Cover/character ones are great because I can almost always make something work.

That being said, while they were interesting, I would not want to repeat these two lists because they were difficult for me to manage.
1. Reading with Friends
2. Expedition: Goodreads

Thanks for the great challenges this year! I look forward to 2011 :)

[Erin]

These were my favorites, though I can't say there was one that I didn't enjoy. Some were harder to pick books for than others, but they were all fun.

January - Paranormal Creatures*
April - Serial April*
June - Reading With Friends*
August - Characters Alphabet Parade*
September - Expedition:GoodReads
October - Literary Colors*

Thanks for all the great challenges this year.

[Angie]

My favourites were:
January
April
June
August
November
December

[Valorie]

They were all so great, it's hard to choose! I think my faves were...

January - Paranormal Creatures
February - All About Authors
April - Serial April
June - Reading With Friends
October - Literary Colors
December - TBR Clean-up

[colleen]

My favorites were:
January - Paranormal Creatures
April - Serial April
May - Cover Hunt
September - Expedition:GoodReads
October - Literary Colors
November - Paranormal Acrostic

I din't like:
December - TBR Clean-up (I don't like having to choose the books ahead of time)

[Laura]

I love this challenge group-it's my favorite and I only didn't like the All about Authors and the Challenge of Time and Place.

My top 6 faves were:

1. Paranormal creatures
2.Literary Colors (it's so fun, that's actually the challenge that lured me to the group back in '09)
3. Cover hunt
4. Reading with friends
5. Serial April
6. I liked the "clean up" challenge since I didn't have to go buy any new book.

[Ashley]

I love this group...and thanks mostly to these fun challenges I read 59 books in 2010!

Here are my picks for top 6 challenges:

1. Paranormal Creatures
2. Cover Hunt
3. Reading w/Friends (I now have tons of goodreads friends!)
4. Exploring GoodReads
5. Literary Colors
6. All About Authors

There was one month that asked us to read Anthologies, and that was the most difficult for me personally. Thanks for all the fun this past year! More to come this year!!!

[Mo]

Is there a rule about how short a book can be for the challenges?

[♥ Ashleigh ♥]

i have to say the challenges you come up with are FANTASTIC!!
it's always more fun to read when you enter these challenges :)


i have to say my fave's are

# January - Paranormal Creatures
# April - Serial April
# May - Cover Hunt

i know it was suppose to be six, but im happy just choosing three :)

[Lizz (Beer, Books and Boos)]

I liked

January - Paranormal Creatures*
March - Not Your Usual Series
April - Serial April*
May - Cover Hunt
June - Reading With Friends*
October - Literary Colors*

[Alicia]

I hope someone is still checking this discussion, because I don't know where else to post this suggestion/question.

I am relatively new to the group. Do all challenges consist of ten books? I love challenges, and I'd love to participate in this group's challenges. I just cannot read ten books per month, so if I did participate, I'd only be setting myself up for failure. Perhaps, future challenges could have a lower difficulty option, requiring only four or five books. Please!

[Samantha]

yes all these challenges consist of ten books per month, but no one expects you to read all ten just read as many as you can, and just have fun with it :) I hope I helped some.

[Alice]

I can only post the ONE PNR challenge I participated in, Serial April. Of all the various group challenges I did, it was my favorite.

[Yz the Whyz]

Alicia Reads wrote: "I hope someone is still checking this discussion, because I don't know where else to post this suggestion/question.

I am relatively new to the group. Do all challenges consist of ten books? I love..."

Hi Alicia!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your suggestion/s.

The monthly challenge in this group is for 10 books. But just as Sammie said, you can read less than that.

If you are interested in other type of challenges, you might check out another group that I moderate: Romance Readers Reading Challenges group.

There are a variety of challenges, and more flexibility with genres.

[L-D]

Is there a place to post challenge suggestions?

[Michelle]

There is in the Group that Yz mentioned above :)

[Samantha]

that's a different group though

[Charlotte (Buried in Books)]

Yes, this group tends to just have the monthly challenge.

The Romance Readers Reading Challenges group has LOTS of different challenges, and you can host your own.

[L-D]

I guess I should've read the list of challenges first! The idea I was going to post is very similar to January's Paranormal creatures list! Mine was a tiny bit different but the concept is the same.

[Samantha]

this is feedbacks to the monthly challenges I'm sure that idea's and suggestion is good here right?????

[Yz the Whyz]

Yes...feedback and suggestions are welcomed. I think I mentioned it in the first post #3. : )

[Samantha]

alright problem solved then :)

[Soo]

I just joined in November but I've had fun! I checked out the other Challenges listed and here's what seems interesting to me. I wouldn't mind participating in any of the following:

1. January - Paranormal Creatures
2. December - TBR Clean-up
3. June - Reading With Friends
4. September - Expedition:GoodReads
5. April - Serial April
6. November - Paranormal Acrostic

Dislike: Any challenge that takes more time to find books to fulfill the challenge. Example: Author born/died in my year.

Suggestions:
A) Based on either Title or Author: You pick out a book - Rosemary and Rue by Seanan Mcguire. The next book's title or author has to start with the beginning letters in the last book. If you go by title, the next book has to start with R. If you go by author, the next book has to start with S or M. This challenge can be limited to just Titles, Authors or combined.

B) Top 10: There are a lot of reading lists on Goodreads. For this challenge, you have to pick 1 book out of the top 10 from 10 different PNR lists. For example: Zombies, Vampires, Werewolves, Magic, Witches, Fantasy, Elves, Mythology, Time Travel, Dystopian, Angels or Demons.

C) Author Favs: Look & see what your favorite authors are reading and see what books they've rated 5 stars. Pick 10 books, rate it, and state what you thought of the book. Whether or not your thoughts go in line or against the authors, etc.

-Soo

[Alice]

Love Serial April