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We are approaching 1/4 of the way through the new year already (I know, hard to believe!) and I’m curious to know if anyone is working on the personal reading challenge?
I’d love to know what you are reading, what you’ve read so far, what you’re looking forward to reading or any of your reading goals.
In case your curious here is my list which I try to keep current. I set the bar very high for myself this year and I can’t wait to see how it pans out.
Happy reading (and writing)!
photo courtesy of Jupiter Images
Before I forget to mention it, another article is up at Suite101. This time around I was very conscientious of following each and every previous suggestion I received. I think I am getting better at it and I am definitely getting more accustomed to their style.
I am really enjoying the gig at Suite, since it allows me to write about things I am genuinely interested in. I sometimes feel like my interests are all over the place, but this has helped me to realize the importance of focusing in on a target area (or a few target areas), which will hopefully lend me some credibility.
Anyway, this article is about book-swapping websites which are actually really fun and a great way to get your hands on books for (virtually) nothing.
Speaking of books, did anyone get any books for the holidays? What books are you planning to read this month? I’ve been lax as far as reading (chalk it up to the holidays), but I intend to pick up a new book tonight (not sure what yet).
Also, don’t forget to start your own reading challenge this year. My goal is to read 75 books this year, so I’d better get going!
After my last post about the importance of reading, I figured I’d share with you one of my own challenges. At the beginning of this year, I joined an LJ group called 50bookchallenge. The goal being to read 50 books for the year. I was amazed at the amount of people who joined, and the variety of age groups who participated. I’m proud to say that at this time, I have managed to read 66 non-required books for the year. I am definitely going to challenge myself again next year, upping the ante to an undecided number at the moment. I really think this is a great idea to encourage reading, share ideas, socialize and even serve as an incentive for children. If you already blog on LJ you should check out the group. If not, don’t fret. You can still challenge yourself. Follow these simple guidelines to get started:
1. Set a goal within reach. If your not a big reader, that’s okay. The idea here is to get yourself to read more than you did last year. An easy goal for a beginner would be 12 books for the year, one book per month.
2. If you need some persuasion, try offering yourself a reward. Buy yourself a new book, movie or cd when you successfully make your halfway point in the challenge.
3. To keep yourself motivated, encourage your family, friends and co-workers to a reading challenge as well. Do it as a group and have the person who reads the fewest books at the end of the year buy dinner for the rest of the group. Also if your doing it as a group, you can swap books around to each other that you think others might like.
4. You can make the challenge as difficult as you like. For instance, you may really want to challenge yourself by reading only classics. Or you may find it a challenge to read plays or poetry. Use this opportunity to engage yourself in the most challenging way possible.
5. Use the challenge as a way to discover genres and authors. Don’t be afraid to pick up a book you know nothing about, but seems appealing to you. I’ve found many great writers and genres by judging their books by their covers.
6. Stuck with choosing a book? Try reading customer reviews at Amazon. They usually offer unbiased opinions of books to help you decide if you might enjoy it. Amazon is so great…they also offer a “search inside” feature on many of their books which lets you reads portions of the book so that you can get a feel for the style. Last, but not least, Amazon also lists books that you may be interested in based on other books you have read. Of course you don’t actually have to buy the books thru Amazon, you can pick them up at your local library, once you’ve chosen which ones piqued your interest.
7. Most importantly read and HAVE FUN. Enjoy your reading time. Have a glass of wine or a cup of tea and make it a ritual.
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Without any further ado, here is my 50 Book Challenge for 2007:
1. “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” By Milan Kundera
2. “Short Cuts” By Raymond Carver
3. “On the Road” By Jack Kerouac
4. “Revolution on Canvas Volume One” Edited by Rich Balling
5. “Henderson the Rain King” By Saul Bellow
6. “Henry and June” By Anais Nin
7. “The Taking” By Dean Koontz
8. “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” By Mark Haddon
9. “Midnight” By Dean Koontz
10. “the 1000 journals Project” by someguy foreward by Kevin Kelly
11. “Deadly Innocence” by Scott Burnside and Alan Cairns
12. “What My Mother Doesn’t Know” by Sonya Sones
13. “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” by Joan Didion
14. “Running With Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs
15. “American Gothic Tales” Edited by Joyce Carol Oates
16. “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer
17. “Reasons to Live” by Amy Hempel
18. “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd
19. “…Said the Shotgun to the Head” by Saul Williams
20. “She” by Saul Williams
21. “Heavier than Heaven” by Charles R. Cross
22. “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
23. “Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation” Edited by Roger Housden
24. “The Tao of Pooh” by Benjamin Hoff
25. “You are Not a Stranger Here” By Adam Haslett
HALFWAY POINT!!!!!!!!
26. “The Husband” by Dean Koontz
27. “The Bride Stripped Bare” By Nikki Gemmell
28. “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-glass” By Lewis Carroll
29. “A Ship Made of Paper” by Scott Spencer
30. “The Devil Wears Prada” by Lauren Weisberger
31. “A Death in Belmont” by Sebastian Junger
32. “A Mighty Heart” By Mariane Pearl
33. “Suicide The Forever Decision” by Paul G. Quinnett
34. “What Was She Thinking [Notes on a Scandal]” by Zoe Heller
35. “My Story: Illustrated Edition” by Marilyn Monroe
36. “The Time Traveler’s Wife” By Audrey Niffenegger
37. “Spook” by Mary Roach
38. “The Thirteenth Tale” By Diane Setterfield
39. “Sharp Objects” By Gillian Flynn
40. “Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood” by Koren Zailckas
41. “Eat, Pray, Love: One Womans search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia” by Elizabeth Gilbert
42. “102 Minutes: The untold story of the fight to survive inside the twin towers” by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn
43. “100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed” by Melissa P.
44. “That Night” by Alice McDermott
45. “The Rules of Attraction” by Bret Easton Ellis
46. “High Infidelity” Edited by John McNally
47. “Soul Survivor” By Dean Koontz
48. “Haunted” by Joyce Carol Oates
49. “Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer” by Moira Anderson Allen
50. “The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success” by Linda Formichelli & Diane Burrell
I HIT THE TARGET!!!!!!!!
51. “Get Paid to Write: The No-nonsense guide to freelance writing” by Thomas A. Williams
52. “Get a Freelance Life: mediabistro.com’s insider’s guide to freelance writing” by Margit Feury Ragland and Laurel Touby
53. “Final Exits” by Michael Largo
54. “Under the Bridge” by Rebecca Godfrey
55. “Rolling Away: My Agony with Ecstasy” by Lynn Marie Smith
56. “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides
57. “Red: The Next Generation of American Writers-Teenage Girls- On What Fires Up Their Lives Today” Edited by Amy Goldwasser
58. “The Bad Place” by Dean Koontz
59. “Tick Tock” by Dean Koontz
60. “The Door to December” by Dean Koontz
61. “The Darkest Evening of the Year” by Dean Koontz
62. “Hideaway” by Dean Koontz
63. “How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of All Time” By Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer
64. “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson
65. “No One Cares What You Had For Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog” by Margaret Mason
66. “Ophelia Speaks” by Sara Shandling
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So start planning your own book challenge. Keep me posted on what your reading. I will start a new challenge on January 1 and post my challenge both here and on my livejournal page. Join me!
“Those who do not read good books have no advantage over those who cannot read them.” — Mark Twain
