Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion
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Suggestions for Future Categories/Challenges
There are a lot of space related events that happened in July, some already mentioned -- Lunar walk, Apollo 11, NASA formed on 29 July 1958, and on 14 July 2003 the US Government aknowledged that an Area 51 existed in Nevada (*Note: they did not aknowledge the existance of "little green men"). So we could do an astronomy, space exploration, aliens on earth category.Or, to make the category wider we could add aeronautics and flight in honor of Amelia Earhart who not only was lost on July 2 but was born on July 24.
Disneyland opened 17 July 1955, so we could do fairytale related or something that references a fairy tale in the title.
The modern bikini debuted 5 July 1946 at a Paris fashion show so a beach theme or character who models.
On 19 July 1848 the first U.S. Women's Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, NY so maybe something with women in leadership positions or someone active in the women's rights movement (current or historical).
Dolly the cloned sheep's anniversary is in July also, but I couldn't think of anything clever to go with this. We're already doing twins and repeat letters this month. :)
The Everything Paranormal group is starting an alphabet challenge where there is a word for each letter and that word needs to be in the title. I thought that was a neat idea and maybe we could do it here. It would have to be a yearly challenge. I came up with some ideas for words for both PRN/UF and romance and thought one word from each column could be assigned for people to pick from (depending on their taste). If you go with this, please feel free to change words, these are just ones I thought would be popular (and I went with the any letter in the word for both x and z)PNR/UF | Romance
a accidental | all
b blood | baby, bride, bad
c curse, cast | chocolate, chance
d dead, danger, dark | dream
e enchant, eternal | embrace
f fury, fang | family, falling
g grave, ghost | girl, good
h hunt | heels, hot
i ink | irresistable
j jinx, jewel | jump, joy
k kill | kiss
l last, love | love, lady
m magic, mortal | man
n night, no | naughty, not
o other, one | only, once
p personal, power, psychic | pleasure, passion
q quest | queen
r red, real, run | rogue, remember, rake
s spell, sin | sweet, secret, she
t touch, tale, trouble | touch, true, talk, tempt
u undead | undercover
v veil, vampire | virgin, viscount
w wicked | wedding, wild, want
x hex | sex
y you | yes
z wizard | crazy
(edited to improve formatting)
Again, I would like to say thank you to everybody who stops by at this thread and gave suggestions. You are all a wonderful resource.
Open for August ideas:
Wow already!August is National American Indian Heritage Month so a Native American romance would be really cool. :)
The only Friday the 13th of 2010 will happen in August so we can read some horror or suspense.
I like the flag idea for July so we can also use the Independence day of other countries (that have flags other than red, white and blue :)
India (yellow, white and green)
Jamaica (black, yellow and green)
Happily August is Romance Awareness Month August 9th is Book Lovers Day which encourages you to find a place in the shade to relax with a good book.
- just wanted to point that out, don't know how to include it in the challenge -
August 1st is Friendship Day - books having heavy friendship story lines (like Debbie Macombers Blossom Street series)
August 5th is Work Like a Dog Day (honors and recognizes the hardest working among us) - Could either do the animals on cover / in story or the hard woking jobs, farmers, construction, mining, ect.
India's national day is January 26, same as us here in Aus.
According to Wikipedia, India's Independence Day is celebrated on August 15http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independ...
D.G. you are quite correct and Aug 15 is India's Indep. Day. January 26 is their Republic Day and I do know they celebrate that quite heavily (we always get coverage here in Aus because its our day too); so maybe they have a 'do' twice a year?
I have another quarterly challenge idea. Since the next quarterly challenge falls in September, maybe a Back To School challenge? All the books have to do with a class you would take in school.1. Math - Book has to have a number in the title. Example 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover, One With the Night, First Drop of Crimson
2. English - Read a book that is considered a "classic". Example Pride and Prejudice
3. Science - Read a book with a character that is some kind of a scientist.
4. Art - Read a book with a interesting or beautiful cover. Or a character that is some kind of an artist.
5. Music - Read a book with a title that is also a song title. Example Born to Be Wild
6. Foreign Language - Read a book with a character the speaks a foreign language.
7. Law - Read a book with a character that is in the legal field.
8. History - Read a book that is set in the past.
9. Phys Ed or Sports - Read a book with a sport in the title or a character that plays sports.
10. Geography - Read a book that takes place in another country.
ohhh i like that!!! for foreign language could also do a book that has been translated into english from another language
Excellent thoughts Valorie & good addition Dee ;)
Great idea Valerie! I'd participate in that one. :)
@ ValorieLove the concept of the Back-To-School Challenge.
*adding it to challenge ideas notebook*
The definition of august is majestic, lordly, or befitting a lord. Thusly we should be required to read a book with a nobleman as one of the leads.
Does this mean, you may just read a historical?LOL
Not if I can help it. Just because there is a king doesn't mean it has to be historical. I would certainly say that Roarke lives in august surroundings. I would count him as a nobleman of industry.Other examples might include the BDB books. After all, the Brotherhood is to Wraith as the Knights of the Round Table was to Arthur. How many fantasy books have a prince/duke/king/whatever of the *fill in crappy name* people who must win back/save/restore/avenge his people? (the answer is almost all of them)
As long as the challenge doesn't say 'read a regency romance' I'll find a way around it. Otherwise, I'll growl and grumble but still read it.
LOL! See i got the ball rolling and you gave me good ideas in case this goes through. *sticks tongue out*
Great idea Dee! Glad everyone likes the idea!
Oh I was going to suggest something similar to Jim's! But I was going with August coming from Augustus, a ruler of the Roman Empire. So we could read a book about somebody who's in charge: a King, President (of a country or company), a General, an entrepreneur, a teacher, etc.
Me likey too!Btw, did Jim just have a little tantrum when faced with the dreaded "Historical" ??? That brain of yours is almost savant like :-)
Ok, here's another idea:August seem to have a lot of 'holidays' related to water (Coast Guard Day, Sea Serpent Day, etc.) so we could have a book with water on the cover or set on a beach, sea, lake etc.
How about a wedding challenge...Something old
Something new
something borrowed
Soemthing blue
book with a wedding scene
book where character is planning a wedding
book with married characters as hero/heroine
book with engaged characters as hero/heroine
book with divorced characters
etc.
That sounds pretty neat. Good idea.
What a great idea, Flib! I'd do that one in a heartbeat too. :)Just don't start the wedding challenge and the back to school challenge at the same time please! I'd like to do both. :)
FlibBityFLooB wrote: "How about a wedding challenge...Something old
Something new
something borrowed
Soemthing blue
book with a wedding scene
book where character is planning a wedding
book with married characte..."
Hmmm, this could be a really good Dare! Somehow i have ended up with tons of these books and i have no idea WHEN i'll get a chance to read them.
how about doing a random number generator...for a book choice...roll a number and pick a book that has pages within like 20 of the rolled number...or, there is a random sort you can do for your TBR pile - do this and read one of teh books that shows up in your top 5 or 10
August is one of the hottest months here in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus we should read a 'hot' book.August is in the 'dog days' of Summer around here. Read a book with a dog on the cover or featuring a dog.
Most of the schools around here start classes about the 20th every year (23rd this year). So to celebrate starting something new, we should read a book with fewer than 50 ratings.
Sandra wrote: "Sea Serpent Day? LOL."LOL, Sandra! There's a day for everything it seems. :)
Delicious Dee the book slut wrote: "how about doing a random number generator...for a book choice...roll a number and pick a book that has pages within like 20 of the rolled number...or, there is a random sort you can do for your..."
Liked this idea, Dee! But I think we should use #8 (cause August is month #8.) I've been thinking and thinking how to integrate #8 in the challenge! :)
I was thinking of a book with 8 letters/words (or more) in the title but I think that would be somewhat difficult.
D.G. wrote: "I've been thinking and thinking how to integrate #8 in the challenge! :) "You could go the very tangential route and say that the main character must share a name with one of the children from the sit-com "Eight is Enough". The Bradford clan should never be forgotten!
Sticking with the eight as a tangential origin, we could also go with:
- same name as one of the 'Octo-mom's' babies
- having to do with octopuses (or I understand octopi and octopodes are also acceptable forms of the word)
- having to do with pieces of eight (either the Spanish dollar popularized by the pirate songs and tales or the eighth Styx album)
Then again, I suppose your eight letter/words is better.
*sorry, just feeling troublesome this morning*
Are you still on vacation or are you causing trouble from an Internet cafe? haha - My my we are creative this morning :)
Vacation is over. But today I am feeling a bit troublesome. My wife said I was, "Nothin' but trouble!" this morning when I made her late for work. 8) My boys said I was being trouble when I was teasing one about his girlfriend and the other about not having one. Even the librarian this morning called me a smart ass several times. That's a sure sign you are being trouble.
Photojim wrote: " My wife said I was, "Nothin' but trouble!" this morning when I made her late for work. 8) "Sooooo Jim...what did you do to make your wife late for work? ;)
You remind me of my husband this morning. He was in a really silly mood and kept teasing me left and right.
D.G. I'm assuming you don't really want a play by play analysis.I have another August Idea. Since Cleopatra killed herself on August 12, 30 BC. Perhaps a challenge that has a suicide or deals with suicide.
*Sorry for the massive change in topics there*
ohh, that could be interesting...i was looking at that book Thirteen Reasons Why - which is about a teenager who commits suicide and a guy she had a crush on who gets her diaries which talks about why she did it
I really didn't enjoy Thirteen Reasons Why. Seriously wanted to slam that girl upside the head. But some people really seem to like it.Maybe instead of a suicide it could be more of a life or death situation. Not as restrictive (and not as depressing - it is summer afterall!!!)
The 24th August is apparently Strange Music day. So how about a book that takes it name from a song??
August 1, 1981 MTV debuted -- goes along with the other musical suggestions.August 6, 1991 Tim Berners-Lee first posted files describing what would become the "World Wide Web" and August 12, 1981 IBM Personal Computer was introduced -- Picture of computer on cover, computer in title, computer programmer as character.
August 7, 1782 Badge of Military Merit (Purple Heart) established as military decoration -- character in military
August 10, 1846 Smithsonian Institute established -- museum setting, curator character, museum on cover
3rd full week of August International Kite Festival in Long Beach, Washington -- Picture of kite on cover
International Kite Museum website: http://kitefestival.com for those interested
Daffodil and Charlotte, great suggestions. I'd be happy with a music/MTV category.
Music is much better than suicide. Sorry Photojim can't read anything like that.
Here, here. I would be so depressed the whole time i'm reading the book...LOL
- Edinburgh Festival takes place during August - read a book with a Scottish character or set in Scotland.- August is Inventor’s Month - read a book featuring with a main character that is an inventor
- August 1 is Friendship Day - read a book featuring friendship (friends to lovers maybe)
- On August 3 Columbus set sail on his 1st voyage – read a book involving sea travel or has a main character that is an explorer
- August 5 is International Beer Day - read a book that has a character that works in a bar or is a bar owner
- Around August 10 Ramadan begins - read a book set in an Islamic country or has a main character that is a Muslim
- Julia Child was born of August 15 - read a book with a cook as main character
- August 17 is Archeology Day - read a book where a main character is an archeologist or archeology professor
- August 19 is National Aviation Day - read a book where a main character is a pilot or a book about plane-travel
- August 26 is Women's Equality Day - read a book featuring a female character in a “seat of power” or a job usually reserved for men
- August 31 is National Trail Mix Day - read a book set in the great outdoors (though, I think we already covered that one)…maybe featuring a hiker
Great ideas Alathea, I really like the archeology idea. And you could open it up by including museums with it.
Very good ideas in there Alathea! I'm partial to Scotland, friends, sea travel... Okay I like it all :)
Romance Readers Reading Challenges
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I agree! I love those and the lemon bar cookies. Unfortunately I make them quite often!