Thursday, January 8, 2015

2015 Reading Challenge


As a librarian, it seems that I get to hear a lot about what my friends and co-workers are reading, wish they were reading, wish they had time to read, etc.  Not surprisingly, most of us librarians do love to read.  Perhaps surprising to non-librarians, most of us don't get to read as much or as often as we would like...and we almost never get to read at work.

A lot of people I know are doing challenges where they are trying to read a particular number of pages or a particular number of books in 2015 (or in any year, for that matter).  I'm less concerned about that and more concerned with branching out in my reading and discovering some interesting things. So, like a good, modern librarian-type, I took to the internet to find a challenge list that spoke to me and my try-new-things goal for 2015.

I found this list on PopSugar (which is not a website I actually frequent) and it seemed like an excellent place to start. I'm going to update this blog entry with what I read in each category, as well as add them to my (brand new!) goodreads account so that I can track things.  I'm not saying that I'll get through the whole list of all different types of books, but I'll use this as a guide to read and explore new things, and to finally give myself an excuse to read some of those things that have been languishing on my to-read list.

Here's the list:


1. A book with more than 500 pages

2. A classic romance

3. A book that became a movie

4. A book published this year

5. A book with a number in the title

6. A book written by someone under 30

7. A book with nonhuman characters

8. A funny book

9. A book by a female author

10. A mystery or thriller

11. A book with a one-word title
Vicious by V.E. Schwab (364 pages, published 2013, read in hard copy checked out from library, finished 3 January 2015)
An interesting take on the idea of super-powers: what constitutes a "power," who has them, how they get them, and what powers people end up with. This was the Dec/Jan book for the Amazing Book Club of Doom.  

12. A book of short stories

13. A book set in a different country

14. A nonfiction book

15. A popular author’s first book

16. A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet

17. A book a friend recommended

18. A Pulitzer Prize-winning book

19. A book based on a true story

20. A book at the bottom of your to-read list

21. A book your mom loves

22. A book that scares you

23. A book more than 100 years old

24. A book based entirely on its cover

25. A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t

26. A memoir

27. A book you can finish in one day

28. A book with antonyms in the title
Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder  (320 pages, published in 2010, read on my phone, finished 8 Jan. 2015)
I was a fan of Snyder's Study series (starting with Poison Study) and thought the idea of Inside Out was very cool.  It is her first book written for a young adult audience and the main character is a young woman living in a dystopian reality where there is a literal hierarchy.  She is one of the "lowers"--the workers--but she works cleaning the air vent system, which gives her the opportunity  to explore higher levels.  I described it on my Goodreads account as "Sort of Cube meets Snowpiercer meets Hunger Games/Divergent."

29. A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit

30. A book that came out the year you were born

31. A book with bad reviews

32, 33, 34. A trilogy

35. A book from your childhood

36. A book with a love triangle

37. A book set in the future

38. A book set in high school

39. A book with a color in the title

40. A book that made you cry

41. A book with magic

42. A graphic novel

43. A book by an author you’ve never read before

44. A book you own but have never read

45. A book that takes place in your hometown

46. A book that was originally written in a different language

47. A book set during Christmas

48. A book written by an author with your same initials

49. A play

50. A banned book

51. A book based on or turned into a TV show

52. A book you started but never finished

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