Tag: reading challenges

A Young Girl Reading, Jean-Honoré Fragonard

2012 Reading Goals

Posted on by Dana

A Young Girl Reading, Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Happy New Year! Let’s all hope we survive the end of the Mayan calendar this year, mainly so people on the “History” Channel (lately, I’m thinking some sort of federal authority ought to require them to use the quotation marks) will quit talking about it.

I met my reading goal of 50 books in 2011, which was my best ever year. While I do want to read more books this year, I am not sure I could read much more than 50, so I’m setting this year’s goal at 52, only a moderate increase over last year’s goal. It also rounds out to an even book a week.

I am participating in the following reading challenges this year:

All of these challenges allow for books to be counted for more than one challenge, which is great. Otherwise I’d need to pare back.

Last year I made it a goal to improve the tagging on my blog posts, which is still an area I need to work on. I am posting more regularly, and the review posts include the authors’ names now, which I think has contributed to making them more useful. I need to work on titling meme posts so that they are more descriptive of the content rather than just titling them after the meme and using the date. I need to get back in the habit of doing Teaser Tuesdays. I realized in looking back at my posts that I actually liked those posts quite a lot more than I thought I did. Also, I think it’s a good way to introduce readers to favorite quotes in books. Another goal I have for my blogging is to post more often about book and literature-related issues, which I started out doing, but gradually cut back on. In reflecting on my favorite posts of the year 2011, I found those types of posts were more frequently my own favorites, and it stands to reason that if I liked them better, perhaps readers do too.

I have some other reading goals for the year.

  1. Find the time/energy to revive the faculty book club I have led at my school. My colleagues have been asking me about it.
  2. Comment more on reading blogs. I subscribe to many in my feed reader, but I don’t leave comments as often as I think about it.
  3. Clean out my blogroll/RSS feed reader once a month and eliminate bloggers who haven’t posted in a while (unless they announced a hiatus and plan to be back).
  4. Read books set in a larger variety of locales. I don’t want to push it artificially, and I want to read what I want to read, but I did notice the books I read this year were clustered in two locations: the east coast of the U.S. and the U.K. I guess it makes sense, but even with the U.S., I only read two books set in western states (Colorado and Washington) and one set in the midwest (Wisconsin, though that was [amazon_link id=”0060558121″ target=”_blank” ]American Gods[/amazon_link], which is set all over America, and I picked the place the character settled down the longest).

Outside of reading, blogging, and reading about blogging, I have some more goals for the year.

  1. Continue the exercise regimen I started before Christmas. My Christmas present to myself (from the family, I guess) was a Wii Fit, which my sister said was great for beginners. I started a yoga/aerobic/strength training regimen that I have been faithfully doing every day for about a week (barring Christmas, mainly because I didn’t take the Wii down to my parents’ house, where we spent Christmas). It’s actually been a lot of fun to use the Wii Fit program.
  2. Learn to knit. My sister learned from watching videos, and frankly, I hope I can teach myself using videos or tutorials rather than take a class. But I should like to learn so I can make Hogwarts house scarves for everyone in the family according to their house colors (Maggie and Sarah are Hufflepuffs, Steve’s a Slytherin, I’m a Ravenclaw, and Dylan hasn’t been officially sorted in Pottermore, so I’ll either let him pick or sign him up for Pottermore when it’s out of beta). Maggie and Sarah seemed to like the idea of having Hufflepuff scarves, so it sounds like a plan.
  3. Cook more. It’s hard with work and everything else, but it’s more economical. I have done fairly well this year, but there is always room for improvement. I get bored of the same old things over and over. I like trying out new (simple) recipes and saving the more time-consuming/difficult stuff for weekends, holidays, or breaks. Cooking more means planning better and perhaps even a membership at one of those wholesale warehouses. I have a family of five, and we go through the food. I need to be smarter about the food budget. I have quite a few food-related books on my TBR list, too. I love watching TV about food and reading about food.

What about you? Do you have any reading goals or other goals for 2012?

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2011 Reading Challenges

Posted on by Dana

Little menI took on a lot of reading challenges this year. How did I do?

Completed Challenges:

  • Historical Fiction Reading Challenge  2011: This was one of my favorite challenges, though I didn’t participate much at the blog hosting it. Maybe in 2012. I committed to reading 15 books for this challenge, and I read 22.
  • Steampunk Challenge: This challenge only required trying out one steampunk book. I didn’t like the one I read very much, but I haven’t given up on the genre. Still, I did just read the one book for the challenge.
  • GLBT Challenge: Like the Steampunk Challenge, this challenge just asked for readers to try fiction that could be classified as GLBT either because the author fit that description, or a character in the book did.
  • Where Are You Reading Challenge 2011: This challenge didn’t specify a number of books to read. All I had to do to complete it was track the settings of each of the books I read using Google Maps, which I did. Look for that map tomorrow.
  • Once Upon a Time Challenge: This challenge just asked that readers try fantasy/sci fi/fairy tales. I committed to one book, which I was able to finish.
  • R.I.P. Challenge: This is one of the best reading challenges every single year. I committed to reading four books for this challenge, and I actually read five.

Challenges I Didn’t Complete:

  • Books I Should Have Read in High School, but Didn’t: This was my own challenge, and I failed utterly. I committed to reading six books, but I only read one. I hope other participants enjoyed it and fared better in their own quest to make up for books they didn’t read in school.
  • YA Historical Fiction Challenge: I committed to reading 15 books, and I only read 4. I think I was under the mistaken impression that I read more YA, but I guess I don’t read as much as I thought, and certainly not as much YA historical fiction.
  • Take a Chance Challenge: I wanted to try to read all 10 books in this challenge, and I think the idea made me think outside the box a little bit for some book selections. I wound up reading 7 books, which isn’t bad, but it isn’t complete either.
  • Gothic Reading Challenge: I came close to completing this one, and I really did think I might do it at one point. I read 17 of 20 books. So close, but not complete.
  • Shakespeare Reading Challenge 2011: I only read one of the six plays I committed to reading. I started a second, but I didn’t finish it. I usually read more Shakespeare than that. I chalk it up to not teaching literature this school year and having already covered Shakespeare in the literature courses I was teaching from January to May.
  • Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Reading Challenge: Happy 200th birthday, [amazon_link id=”1936594528″ target=”_blank” ]Sense and Sensibility[/amazon_link]! I wanted to read two books for this challenge, but I only finished one. I tried to read a second, but it wasn’t grabbing me, and I didn’t finish. I sent it off to a new home via PaperBackSwap.
  • Being a Jane Austen Mystery Challenge: I never even started this one. I intended to, but I’ll be honest and say that without knowing how good these books are, I was afraid to buy them, and they never became available as free Kindle books or on PaperBackSwap (that I know of, anyway), so I was afraid to plunk down the money. I know, I know. I should just sample them on the Kindle and see if I want to keep reading. I should remember that Kindles have that feature. I keep forgetting about it, and it’s an awesome feature, for sure. But I do kind of what to see what would happen if [amazon_link id=”0553386700″ target=”_blank” ]Jane Austen met Lord Byron[/amazon_link].

Look for my 2011 Reading Year in Review tomorrow. That recap post is becoming a tradition.

On New Year’s Day, I’ll be posting my reading goals for the year 2012.

photo credit: katclay

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Harry Potter Reading Challenge 2012

Posted on by Dana

Harry Potter Reading Challenge

I found another challenge I want to participate in this year. I haven’t re-read the Harry Potter series in a while. I always enjoy it when I do, and I always get something new out of it, too. I think I’d like to try it again. Penelope at The Reading Fever is hosting what looks like a fun Harry Potter Reading Challenge.

In order to participate, you just need to read or re-read the Harry Potter series between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012.

Anyone want to join me?

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2012 Reading Challenges

Posted on by Dana

I love reading challenges! Here are some 2012 reading challenges I’ve found and decided to try. I probably will add a few more, and once the calendar flips over to January, you’ll find permanent links to these challenges in the sidebar where all the 2011 ones are right now. What I need to be better about this year is actually participating on the blog challenge sites themselves—posting links to my reviews, and the like.

Historical Fiction Challenge 2012

I participated in the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011, and it was easily one of my favorite and most successful reading challenges of the year, so I wouldn’t want to miss it again. I’m going for the Severe Bookaholism level of 20 books. Sign up here.

Where Are You Reading 2012 Challenge

The Where Are You Reading Challenge is another challenge I also did in 2011 and thoroughly enjoyed. You can see my Google Map here. I’ll post it again later in the month in my recap post. Sign up here.

Mixing it Up Challenge

I’m kind of excited about the Mixing it Up Challenge. The idea is to branch out and try books in different genres:

  1. Classics
  2. Biography
  3. Cookery, Food, and Wine
  4. History
  5. Modern Fiction
  6. Graphic Novels and Manga
  7. Crime and Mystery
  8. Horror
  9. Romance
  10. Science Fiction and Fantasy
  11. Travel
  12. Poetry and Drama
  13. Journalism and Humor
  14. Science and Natural History
  15. Children’s and Young Adult
  16. Social Sciences and Philosophy

I’m going for the “All the Trimmings and a Cherry on Top” level of participation at one book in each genre. Not sure what I’ll read yet, but I have a few ideas for some of the categories. Sign up here.

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2012

As soon as I described this one to my husband, he said I needed to sign up for it. I do have a small TBR mountain leaning against the wall on my side of the bed. Steve would be glad if I could plow through some of it. I’m not too insane, so I’m going for Pike’s Peak (plus, I’ve been there because it’s in my home state of Colorado), which requires me to read 12 books from my TBR pile. I’m not sure which ones I’ll read yet, but as I said, I have a huge stack, and I also have a lot of unread Kindle books. Sign up here.

Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge

How absolutely adorable is that button? This challenge asks participants to read free e-books. For the purposes of this challenge, ARC’s, library books, or books I’ve won can’t be counted. The books must be free, legally downloaded books. FYI NetGalley users, it looks like NetGalley books are counted as ARC’s for the purposes of this challenge, so they’re out, too. I’m going for the Coupon Clipper level of 12 books. Sign up here.

Outlander Series Reading Challenge 2012

I have actually only read the first four books of Diana Gabaldon’s [amazon_link id=”0440423201″ target=”_blank” ]Outlander[/amazon_link] Series. I just recently downloaded all of the audio books with Audible credits I had saved up, so this challenge seems like a good incentive to actually listen to the books and actually catch up with the series. Sign up here.

You know of any other great challenges I should check out? Naturally, I’ll be doing the Once Upon a Time Challenge and the R.I.P. Challenge that Carl hosts once he announces them later.

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2011 Reading Goals

Posted on by Dana

James Jebusa Shannon 1910

I didn’t set any reading goals last year. In 2007 I read only 14 books in the whole year, and I think seeing other folks’ reading totals coupled with the morbid realization that I don’t have an infinite amount of time to read all the books I’d like to made me want to step up the number of books I read. I did better in 2008 at 23 books, and in 2009 I read 29. In 2010 I read 40 books. In the interests of improving each year, I hope to read 50 books in 2011.

I’m participating in the following reading challenges:

I haven’t previous declared my intention of signing up for the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge. I thought about it for a while because I just re-read Sense and Sensibility this year. I decided I could save it for a late-2011 re-read—after all, I couldn’t let the bicentenary of one of my favorite novels by one of my favorite authors pass by with no celebration at all! Plus, The Annotated Sense and Sensibility comes out in May, and it should offer a deeper and newer way to experience the book. I am not sure which other books in the challenge I’ll read. I know I won’t be reading The Three Weissmanns of Westport because I read it in 2010, and I didn’t like it so much that I would want to read it again that soon. However, I have tried very few of the Austen sequels, and this challenge might be an opportunity to do so. I am committing to the Neophyte level of 1-4 books. I’m most interested in these, in addition to The Annotated Sense and Sensibility:

I can’t say for certain I am done signing up for challenges because some of them run later in the year, and as you can see, many of the challenges are similar enough that I can count books for more than one challenge. I like reading challenges because it’s a way of feeling like a part of a reading community or book club of sorts. I will be signing up for Carl’s challenges when they occur later this year for sure.

In terms of blogging, I want to improve my posts by tagging them better. I often forget tags. For instance, I like to tag all the books I read on my Kindle with my Kindle tag, but when I went through some older posts, I missed tagging probably five or six books. It doesn’t make my blog as user-friendly as I’d like when I don’t tag properly. Also, I want to begin including author names in my book review blog post titles. I haven’t been in the habit of doing that, and it might be helpful for readers. I would also like to maintain my regular posting schedule as much as possible. I have finished my master’s now, so I hope I’ll have more time for reading and blogging. I would like to become more involved in the reading blogger community.

Do you have any reading goals? Participating in any challenges you want to share?

photo credit: freeparking

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