As 2010 began my blog was just a few months old. I knew that reading challenges are a big part of the book blogger world. I decided to join a lot of reading challenges in 2010 and ended up signing up for 46 to be completed in 2010 reading challenges. In part I did this just for the fun of it, in part to support the book blog community and in part to help me get to know more book bloggers. In 2009 I had already learned from the Japanese Reading Challenge that a reading challenge could open up a new world of reading to me. Before I began this challenge I had never read a Japanese literary work. Now I have read over 100 and have no plans to stop. A reading challenge enriched my reading life.
I have now finished 44 of the 46 challenges. I will not complete one of the challenges and one I might finish.
I think joining all these reading challenge in 2010 helped me to reach my 2010 blog goals and I am glad I did it.
In 2011 I will be cutting way back on the challenges I am participating in. I see myself joining from five to ten reading challenges in 2011. I will post as I did in 2010 on each challenge as I join it and this year I will explain why I am joining the ones I pick.
What are your thoughts on reading challenges as the year comes to a close?
Mel u
46? That's a lot of challenges!
ReplyDeleteI like my 250 challenge best. ;-)
I hope you're proud of your accomplishments. Finishing 44 out of 46 reading challenges is awesome! Wow! I feel the same way about reading challenges though I forget to keep going as the year goes on. I do plan on joining about 10 challenges next year. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteGosh 46 is crazy lots! Even keeping track of them all must've been exhausting! I'm going to join less challenges next year myself. I keep an eye on challenges that I'm interested in though not officially join sometimes.
ReplyDeleteJillian-thanks for commenting-I guess it was a lot
ReplyDeletemee-yes a trifle crazy!-I set up a separate web page to track by progress and on some challenges I sometimes did not up date the challenge page
Vassily-thanks-I hope share some challenges in 2011
ReplyDeleteVassily-thanks-I hope share some challenges in 2011
ReplyDeleteThat is a massive lot of challenges. I hope that you enjoy a calmer challenge year in 2011
ReplyDeleteMel, you are the King of Reading Challenges, even creating your own projects in which you read countless works by single authors!! :)
ReplyDeleteI've also enjoyed Bellezza's Japanese Literature Challenges, which introduced me to Japanese literature, but I've read nowhere near 100 works!
So many challenge! How did you ever keep track of them all? :-)
ReplyDeleteI vouched not to do any challenges next year, but now I've already got about 6 or so. One is my own, and most of the others are friendly bloggers that I feel I should support.
But really, I want to read what I want to read and not follow any challenges.
This year I did a few and I'm very strict to myself about finishing them (I think you must be too), so really I want a year "off". But it might not happen...
I am trying to clamp down on reading challenges next year, but they kept popping up everywhere and I felt my resolve weaken. In principle, I won't sign up for a challenge that requires me to read 6 or more books! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to keep it to one at a time, unless they can be easily combined! The Brontë Challenge went swimmingly, although I still have a few reviews straggling.
ReplyDeleteThe DH Lawrence Challenge, small as it is, has gone a bit so-so. I started with an omnibus and Lady Chatterley, then added a bunch of books as I had got hold of them ... and then took books off again. Now it's just a collection of short stories + Lady Chatterley, and I'll read the four other novels as I go along, but not with a deadline hanging over me!
You're very brave to do so many challenges all at once! :)
Traxy-I enjoyed the Bronte Challenge-I read two short stories so far for the D H Lawrence challenge-I am very into Katherine Mansfield and she and Lawrence and Frieda were very close-
ReplyDelete46 challenges? I would be insane by now trying to keep up with them all. I think cutting back will help you have a much less stressful year.
ReplyDeleteBecky-Page Turners-the 46 challenges was not stressful-I did a blog page where I tracked all my challenges and updated it once and a while-
ReplyDeleteSuko-thanks-in 2011 I will be focusing more on my projects
Leeswammes-I made a web page just to track the challenges-
Jan von Harz-I felt no stress over the 46 challenges-I figured I am not being paid or graded for this project so I did not worry over it-I knew in advance I should be able to do nearly all the challenges and read just what I wanted to
Bibliojunkie-I will do at most 10-
Because of my own big project, I don't plan to do many challenges--but they are so appealing! I think I may join a couple: Back to the Classics, Victorians, GLBT. And I plan to participate fairly regularly in the Literary Blog Hop and the Classics Circuit. I can imagine getting totally drawn into the world of challenges, though!
ReplyDeleteLife Time Reader-challenges are fun and I learned a lot from reading the posts they produced-I connected with some great bloggers world wide-maybe I got a bit carried away but I enjoyed it and it did help my blog in a lot of ways-
ReplyDeleteMel u,
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm in the minority here. I signed up for only one challenge this year, and while I did fulfill it, I didn't report back as I should have.
I belong to four f-t-f groups that meet monthly and find that's enough outer direction for me. I have too many books in my TBR bookcase, and I feel I should read those first. Moreover, I get many recommendations from friends, fellow members of the book groups, and fellow bloggers, all of which sound interesting and all of which demand I read them NOW.
Perhaps when I see some empty space in my TBR bookcase, I will try the challenges again.
Wow you joined a lot of challenges :) I love reading challenges, as long as I choose books/challenges that interest me. They are a lot of fun and can both help organize your reading and introduce you to new genres, like what you menioned about Japanese lit. I'm excited to do the South Asian challenge in 2011 because I haven't really read much from authors of those countries :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on completing all of those challenges! I have signed up for 5 in 2011, and this is my first time trying any challenges. Maybe I'll take on more if I get off to a good start :)
ReplyDeleteWow! You could use this on your next resume!
ReplyDeleteI plan to work on a few perpetual challenges next year.