Tagged: reading challenges
Alan Vernon [CC BY] One of the most successful reading challenges I completed in 2017 was the Mount TBR challenge from Bev at My Reader’s Block. I have way too many books that I’ve purchased over the years sitting unread on my bookshelf or in the Kindle cloud. So I’m very happy that I was able to read 36 books from my TBR pile, climbing Mount Vancouver. Some books I acquired mere months before the challenge started, while others had been languishing on my shelves for decades. The...
I’ve always been fond of classic British authors, so the British Books Challenge (hosted by Chelley at Tales of Yesterday) fit right into my reading plan for 2017. I read thirteen books for this challenge, only two of which I had read before, Emma and Nineteen Eighty-four. My favorite was Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and my least favorite was Beerbohm’s Zuleika Dobson. Genres included epic poetry, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and satire. The most recent book was Agatha Christie’s 4:50 from Paddington from 1957, and the earliest book was Daniel Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year...
It’s time now for me to make my case in Bev’s Follow the Clues Mystery Challenge. The challenge was to read a certain number of mysteries and link them in a chain of evidence from one to the other. As she explained: To follow a set of clues furnished by the mystery books you read to create a body of evidence to support a book court case. Each book clue should lead you to your next read. The connection can be anything at all from author names to...
The Back to the Classics Challenge was hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate, who asked participants to read a classic in one of twelve different categories. For completing 6, 9, or 12 books, participants also earned entries into a drawing for a $30 Amazon gift card. I finished and reviewed the full twelve books, but at times it was a chore. I had difficulty making it through Far from the Madding Crowd, The Trial, and Dead Souls. On the other hand, Rebecca and Kristin Lavransdatter were books I couldn’t wait to get back...
The goal of the European Reading Challenge hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader was to read books from different European countries. There were several different levels to choose from, each of which was represented by a different level of hotel accommodation: FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE): Read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries. FOUR STAR (HONEYMOONER): Read four qualifying books. THREE STAR (BUSINESS TRAVELER): Read three qualifying books. TWO STAR (ADVENTURER): Read two qualifying books. ONE STAR (PENSIONE WEEKENDER): Read...
Last year I read a paltry three nonfiction books, so I’m glad Katie at Doing Dewey is hosting a nonfiction challenge for 2018. It’s a flexible challenge, so I’m going to keep it simple by reading a few nonfiction books that have been on my radar for awhile. I’m hoping to triple my nonfiction reading by reading nine books in 2018. Katie’s challenge is also going to feature a giveaway, Twitter chats, and a quarterly group read-along. Be sure to check out all the details at the 2018...
The British Book Challenge is back again this year, hosted by Chelley at Tales of Yesterday. I read a lot of British classics, so it was easy to decide to participate. Here are the details: The British Books Challenge is a reading challenge that will be running here on Tales Of Yesterday between 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2018 and the main focus of the challenge is reading and reviewing books by British authors. This challenge is available for all bloggers and/or booktubers who review books on their...
Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews is hosting the 2018 Victorian Reading Challenge, a challenge I have not tried before. Since I have so many Victorian books on my Classics Club list, I’m going to give it a go. Becky has a checklist of different types of Victorian books and several options to choose from, with the only requirement being to read a minimum of four Victorian books: Option A. Read alphabetically A-Z with authors OR titles OR a blend of authors/titles. I’ve decided that from now on X...
As I wrote about earlier, in 2018 I’m going to focus mostly on reading books that have been on my to-be-read shelf for years. However, there are a few books that I want to reread for various reasons, so I’m going to join the Read It Again, Sam 2018 Reading Challenge, hosted by Bev at My Reader’s Block. There are four different levels to the challenge as outlined by Bev: Déjà vu: Reread 4 books Feeling Nostalgic: Reread 8 books A Trip Down Memory Lane: Reread 12 books...
The reading challenge sign-ups continue with Bev’s Mount TBR 2018 Challenge. This is her seventh year hosting this challenge that encourages readers to read the books that have been purchased over the years and never read. I have an embarrassing amount of books on my to-be-read shelf, so I am definitely participating in this challenge again. There are several levels to this challenge, each of which is represented by a different mountain: Pike’s Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your...
Bev at My Reader’s Block is too good at coming up with tempting reading challenges. I can’t seem to keep from signing up for them. A new one for me for 2018 is the Monthly Keyword Challenge, which she is hosting for the first time. In this challenge, Your task is to read at least one book each month whose title includes one or more of the key words for that month. For instance, in January you might read Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon. See Bev’s...
The Color Coded Reading Challenge caught my attention last year and I find myself interested in it again this year. I’m not sure why, since it’s not easy to find books that match the color categories. My own personal rule for this challenge is not to use the covers of books to satisfy the categories, but only to use the titles of the books, which makes it even harder. I’m not sure how many years I’ll be able to do this using only books from my TBR pile,...
