Monday, November 30, 2009

Reading Challenges - Part 2

On Sunday I posted about my love/hate relationship with reading challenges: I love the fact that it adds a community component to the solitary reading past time, and I love that they help me to read outside my comfort zone. I hate them because I am only batting about .400 completion rate this year and I realize that I have not succeeded in all my good-intentioned endeavors. Despite these short-comings, I am convinced that the pros outweigh the cons and I will sign up for at least a few challenges in 2010.

Two challenges that I had no problem completing in 2009 and so I will stack the cards in 2010 by signing up for them again include J. Kaye's Support your Local Library Challenge and Carl's R.I.P V challenge (assuming he will offer it again). I have always used my local library in the past, but typically I have pigeon-holed its purpose: when the kids were younger I would use the library to bring home stacks and stacks of new picture books every week; when I first started teaching I would use the library to find resource books to help me in this new profession. It was only this year, through this challenge, that I discovered the library as a great place to obtain current novels without the high price tag. I am not sure what level in which I sign up, although I think I may try to stretch myself and commit to the "Just My Size" level which means that I will read 50 library books over the course of the year.

I think the one thing that I learned about myself as a reader this year is that I like to be free to choose what I want to read in my free time. While I have the life long goal of reading many of the classics, especially Dickens, Bronte (Charlotte, Emily and Anne), Austen, Dostoevsky -- just to name a few......I find that teaching the classics all day makes me less likely to want to read them at night, when all I want to do is just escape from the academic stress and strain of daily life. I think that is why I failed at those kinds of challenges in 2009. So while I am very tempted to sign up for Laura's All About the Brontes challenge, or the collaborative Lord of the Rings challenge, or participate in Ti's Moby Dick Mondays read-along challenge, I think I will hold until my retirement years to commit to such lofty goals.

A couple of challenges that have caught my eye as very interesting and creative challenges include Deborah's Nancy Drew Challenge where she hopes to read all 56 yellow-jacket Nancy Drew books in a year's time (I LOVED Nancy Drew growing up and while I never read the entire collection, it does have a certain appeal) and Shona's Rory Gilmore Books Project where she hopes to read all 150 books referenced on the Gilmore Girls' show at some point in time. Somehow Shona found a website that lists all these novels and she has created a Google Document to help track her reading progress. I LOVE this show and have always been in awe of Rory's passion for reading. Since this particular challenge has no deadline, I am giving considerable thought to giving it a try (I am not sure how I could lose???).

Other challenges that I am giving serious thought to joining include: Book Chick City's Thriller and Suspense Challenge (this is my go-to genre, so I think it might be a good fit for me, although I am somewhat nervous about the requirement to read 12 of this genre in 12 months); Aarti's Flashback Challenge (where you re-read books of your own choosing. Since I already do this for several books that I teach, I think it would be easy to complete and I will hopefully add at least one book that I do not teach to the mix --- like Little Women or Anne of Green Gables); C. B.'s Read the Book, See the Movie challenge (I have watched so few movies lately that I am beginning to feel that I can't relate to my students who seem to see every movie as it is released. I am thinking this challenge may help bring me into the 21st Century without compromising my preference for literature); and MizB's Read Your Own Books challenge (which truthfully is the ONE challenge that I should join so that I can begin to make a dent in the ever growing TBR piles).

Seeing how it just the first of December, I am sure there will be many, many more 2010 challenges posted on A Novel Challenge over the next several weeks. I plan to frequent that site and do some research before I definitely sign up for any of these tempting adventures.

In the meantime, let me draw your attention to the blogosphere event happening this weekend. It is the December Read-athon hosted by Dreadlock Girl and it starts at 6:00 am PST on Saturday December 6. This event is very low key - as I think there are no prizes, give aways nor designated cheerleaders. BUT...it is a great way to catch up on some fantastic reading. I am hoping to take part in at least a small part of the event, and I hope several of you will have time to do the same.

13 comments:

  1. I've got a list of 5 challenges I'm seriously considering signing up for.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just five minutes ago I was sitting on my bedroom floor with books everywhere, figuring out what challenges I think I can accomplish next year! I'll be posting on them soon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Some great challenges here! I need to get going on this, too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You've chosen some nice ones, Molly; they're hard to resist, aren't they?!

    We have a similar conflict with challenges. I feel I signed up for too many this year, and was discouraged that I didn't complete many of them.

    But,I've already signed up for Women Unbound and the ShelfDiscovery Challenge ... I'm sure others will follow!

    ReplyDelete
  5. If you're batting .400 on the challenges, then you're doing better than the best slugger in baseball!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh I'm sure I'll sign up for 16 or 20 challenges. I just think they're fun and I don't worry about finishing. I mean I *try* to finish, I *intend* to finish, but I don't sweat it if I fail.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I really liked this post. I'm with you on wanting to join so many challenges. I feel bad, however, when I don't complete them so this year I'm being much more careful about what I sign up for. You've picked some very good ones.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Arrrrgghhhh...I do not need to know about these cool challenges!!! I'm overcommitted already. I'll just pretend I didn't see any of these!

    ReplyDelete
  9. It looks like you're going to be participating in some great challenges next year! I need to put together all of my challenge posts, but I've got so many that I want to sign up for that I've been a little overwhelmed.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for considering joining in on Rory Gilmore Books Project. I too was over whelmed by the number of books tht's why I made it perpetual , so no pressure :)

    All other challenges ur considering look great. I am in on a few of them..

    ReplyDelete
  11. R.I.P. V will definitely be happening, its great to know that you are game again! I too am joining J. Kaye's Challenge, and a few others, but I generally limit them and will again this year.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm hopeless with challenges - I think I've joined 15 so far, which I know I'll never be able to finish, but they are SO FUN!! =) It's one area of my life where being a failure doesn't bother me that much.

    ReplyDelete
  13. If you haven't decided yet on joining the Nancy Drew challenge, just wanted to let you know that there are now prizes for the challenge, here's the post that explains it Nancy Drew Challenge: Prizes

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails