How would you like to read more books, discover new authors, and creatively track the books that you read during the upcoming year?
If this sounds like a worthy goal, I invite you to join me in officially becoming a Reading Challenge Addict!
A Reading Challenge Addict commits to entering and completing one or more Reading Challenges during the upcoming year. Since I love challenges, I’ve decided to go all out! This year, I’m participating in 25+ diverse Reading Challenges that will:
- Encourage you to read more
- Introduce you to new authors, genres and bloggers
- Stretch you intellectually and stimulate you creatively
- Entertain and edify you
- Reignite your passion for reading and your love of books
Intrigued? Come join the fun!
Check out the challenges I’ve shared! If you see a challenge you like, sign up on the hostess’s site, then leave a comment to let me know you’re participating! At the end of the article, you’ll find a Link-Up where can share the Reading Challenges you’ve joined or are hosting, as well as the books you have read for these challenges!
Which Reading Challenges are your favorites? Leave a comment!
I’ll post periodic updates throughout the year. To see the latest books I’ve read, visit Create With Joy – Book Reviews.
Challenges That Encourage You To Read More Books
The 2013 Read 52 Books In 52 Weeks Challenge encourages you to read one book a week or 52 books in a year. There are also a number of optional mini-challenges you can participate in to spice up the challenge, including a 5/5/5 challenge to read 5 books in 5 categories and/or 5 genres.
This is my second year of participation in the challenge. I will be participating in Two Mini Challenges: The Dusty Mini Challenge (limit buying new books for 1-4 months and read 4 to 12 or more books gathering dust on your shelves prior to 2013) and the Inspiration Mini Challenge.
The purpose of the Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge is for you to outdo yourself by reading more books than you did last year! This is my second year in participating in this challenge. Last year I outdid myself by reading 24 more books than the previous year! This year my goal is to get “out of breath” and read 6 to 10 more books.
TBR Challenges – Read What You Already Own
The Embarrassment Of Riches TBR Challenge 2013 encourages you to read books in your To Be Read (TBR) pile that you owned prior to January 1, 2013. I am joining this one at the Copper (6 Book) level.
The 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge encourages you to read your TBR books with a 2012 or earlier release date! I’ll be joining at the A Firm Handshake (1-10 TBR Books) level.
Off The Shelf 2013 encourages you to read the books off your own shelves (2012 or earlier) that have gone unread for too long. You choose your challenge level (quantity) and can participate in additional challenges as well. I am joining at the “tempted to choose 5 books to read” level.
The Free Reads 2013 Challenge encourages you to read all of those books you have received for free but haven’t been able to get to. They include books you’ve received as presents, review requests, prizes, or just found in the streets. They do not include library books or other lending services. These must be books that have become part of your personal collection. Includes ARCs and new releases.
I am joining at the “For me? Choose 5 books to read” level.
The 2013 Mount TBR Reading Challenge is perfect for those of you who have HUGE stacks of unread books of your own that you need to start whittling down! I have to confess – this one intimidates me – but I will tackle Pike’s Peak (12 books) and see how high I climb!
Reading Challenges By Format & Publisher
The 2013 E-Book Challenge encourages readers to expand past just physical books to embrace e-books in all forms. This is my second year of participating in this challenge and I will be joining at the Floppy Disk (5 E-Books) level.
The 2013 Self-Published Challenge encourages readers to look beyond the traditional, and experience pure imagination. You can read any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is self-published by the author. This is my second year of participating in this challenge and I will be joining at the Sentence (5 book) level.
The 2013 Go Indie Reading Challenge encourages readers to give non-mainstream types of published works a chance. It includes both self-published books and books published by Independent Publishers. I’ll be entering at the Tentative (5 book) level).
Reading Challenges By Genre
If you love reading about food, the Foodies Read 2013 Challenge is for you! For this challenge, decide how many food books you would like to read during 2013. A food book is a book that is centered around food and/or drinks. This could be a cookbook, a food biography or memoir, or a non-fiction book focused around a specific food, wine, chef or restaurant. You can also include fictional stories in which food plays a major role.
I’ll be joining this challenge at the Pastry Chef level of 4 to 8 books.
The Nerdy Non-Fiction Challenge 2013 encourages participants to read more non-fiction this year. The challenge site contains a huge list of non-fiction categories, and you are encouraged to read a minimum number of books in at least 2 to 3 categories. I don’t consider myself a Nerd… but for the purposes of this challenge, I guess I’ll be proudly donning that label! My goal is to rock the Nerd category by reading 15+ books in at least 8 categories!
The Non-Fiction Non-Memoir Reading Challenge 2013 encourages you to read a variety of non-fiction books across a variety of topics, excluding memoirs, journals, autobiographies, and cookbooks, instruction manuals, how-to, self-help and travel books, individual essays and articles, children’s books, and any other types of books not meant to be read cover to cover. Sounds like a lot of exclusions, right? That’s part of the challenge!
I’m aiming for the PhD level – 25 books – in this challenge!
The Immigrant Stories Challenge encourages you to read books of any type that include an immigrant story. What a fabulous way to expand one’s horizons and learn more about one’s roots! I am going to start this at the entry level – Just Off The Boat, 1 to 3 Books – and see where this challenge takes me.
Author Challenges
The purpose of the 2013 Women’s Challenge is to read more books by female authors. I thoroughly support that goal! I’ll be participating at Level 4, Reading 16+ female authors this year.
Seasonal Challenges
The New Year’s Resolution Challenge is a seasonal challenge that encourages you to take action on your New Year’s Resolutions by reading 1 to 4 books that will stimulate actions on your goals by January 31, 2013. I plan on reading at least 4 books in this category before the month is over.
Specialty Challenges – AKA The Fun Stuff!
The 2013 Book Bingo Reading Challenge is one of the coolest challenges I have come across. If you love Bingo and you love fun and games, you will want to participate in this challenge just for the thrill of filling out their very cool scorecard!
To participate in the challenge, you use their scorecard to complete rows the way you would in a game of Bingo. Each spot contains the specific reading challenge you must complete, such as:
- Reading books in your TBR pile
- Re-reading some books
- Reading some new books
- Reading books that everyone but you has read
- Reading books from a series that you have started & have been neglecting
Be sure to visit their site for the full details!
The A To Z Reading Challenge is self-explanatory. Read one book starting with every letter of the alphabet!
The What An Animal Challenge encourages you to read at least 6 books that meet any of the following requirements:
- There is an animal in the title of the book.
- There is an animal on the cover of the book.
- An animal plays a major role in the book.
- A main character is (or turns into) an animal.
The What’s In A Name 6 Challenge encourages you to read books in 6 categories with the following words (or their equivalent) in the titles:
- A book with up or down (or equivalent) in the title.
- A book with something you’d find in your kitchen in the title.
- A book with a party or celebration in the title.
- A book with fire (or equivalent) in the title.
- A book with an emotion in the title.
- A book with lost or found (or equivalent) in the title.
Geographical Challenges
The 2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge invites you to travel via book across the entire United States during the course of the year – and, for bonus points, beyond! You receive points by completing books and identifying the state or country where most of the action in the book takes place (for fiction) – or, for non-fiction, identifying the locale the book is about! Visit the site for the complete details.
I don’t actually expect to journey to all 50 states during the year – but I do think it will be fun to see how many places I do visit during the course of the year!
The 2013 Postal Reading Challenge invites you to read and review books with a postal theme. You can choose non-fiction books about letter writing, collections of real letters, or epistolary fiction of any era. I’ll be joining this challenge at the Postcard Level, aiming to read 4 books with an epistolary theme!
Faith-Based Reading Challenges
The following challenges are a little different than the previous challenges in that they are offered more for your personal edification than for public tracking (although sign-ups are available!) But, after reviewing the resources and parameters of the challenges, I felt that they were too good not to share!
Operation Actually Read Bible is a Perpetual Challenge that encourages you to set your own Bible Reading goals – and your own timeline for completing them! Read the entire Bible in a year – or in five! Read portions of it in depth. Read the Bible any way you choose – just read it! Guidelines for Getting Started are provided if needed.
Operation Deepen Faith is a wonderful challenge that offers several options for deepening your faith! Again, there are no strict guidelines or commitments to make – choose what you like then delve in. This is an awesome challenge for anyone who is serious about growing in their faith!
The Cloud Of Witnesses Reading Challenges (based on Hebrews 12:1-2) encourages you to read Christian classics. The main criteria for this challenge is that the author is a deceased Christian. Suggestions are provided for those who need ideas.
I’ll be using these challenges for ideas and inspiration and as a means to help track my faith-based reading this year. I am starting my Bible Reading for the year in the Book of Ephesians.
Which Challenges Are Your Favorite?
As you can see, there is no shortage of Reading Challenges to choose from this year! Which challenges do you like the most? Please leave a comment and let us know your thoughts!
Reading Challenge Link-Up
Are you are hosting a Reading Challenge of your own? Are you participating in any Reading Challenges, including the ones listed in this article? If so, please feel free to share the direct links to your posts so that we can visit you, discover new challenges, and cheer you on!
wow, there are a lot of reading challenges out there! I should join one, but I’m already feeling overwhelmed, lol. I have a million books on my shelfs that I haven’t even read yet. I should start there.
Don’t be overwhelmed Adelina. If you have a lot of books already on your shelves, than the TBR challenges are PERFECT for you! 🙂
It might surprise you to know that I used to be such a bookworm when I was young but I haven’t read a single book in the last 2 years! 🙁
I have resolved to read more in 2013 though and a couple of faith-based books are already being shipped to me so I can read them. So I guess if I join a challenge, it would be one of the faith-based challenges.
Awesome! Glad to see you are reading in 2013!
What a great idea! I have SO many books on my shelves that I need to read. I need to make my goal to read one book at a time. 🙂 I have about 6 going right now!
I’m going to check out these challenges more thoroughly when I get a chance.
Thanks!
You read like me Kelli – I find it hard to focus on just one at a time as well!
This is an awesome idea! I dont think I have seen this idea on a blog before! Thansk for linking toTalkin’ About Thursday –
DeDe@DesignedDecor
Wow, that’s impressive. I thought I was nuts undertaking 4 reading challenges at once, clearly I am an amateur. I look forward to seeing what you read for each challenge, especially the animal challenge, I need an animal classic for The Back to the Basics Classics Challenge! Thanks for giving me your link!
I think I need to concentrate on the many books I own that haven’t been read yet. However the A-Z and the Bingo challenges sound fun. With limited time I think I’ll stick with the piles in my home. Of course I have so many they might cover a few other challenges. Oh boy :p
Check out the TBR Challenges – they are specifically designed to help you read what you own! 🙂
I love this. I am going to join some …or all of these challenges.
Question: When I do a book review, where do I find the url for the cover of the book?
Hi Retha,
I’m so glad you’re going to join us for some of the 2013 challenges!
Which ones are you thinking of doing?
If you write a post about it on your blog, be sure to leave a comment and share it on the link-up so that we can visit!
In answer to your question:
I’m not quite sure what you mean by the url for the cover of the book – but see if this answers your question, and if not, please try again!
In my reviews, I include a photo of the book that I upload to my site and a URL that links back to a site where people can find out more information about the book (such as Amazon, the publisher, the author’s website, etc).
I pull the URL by searching for the book on the site I want and then linking the direct url (the permalink) to my title. The actual urls I use may vary from review to review – if I am reviewing an independent author who has their own website, I may link back to the book on their site; if I’m working directly with an independent publisher, I may link back to the book on their site; or I may link back to a major retailer like Amazon. I use my discretion depending on the review.
Does this answer your question? If not, please try again… Thanks and have a great weekend!
This is very helpful. You have answered a question before I asked it . Wow. I was wondering about the urls links.
Where do you get the photo of the book?
For the books:
1) If you are working with a publisher, a tour host, or an author, they may send you one!
2) You can take your own photo.
3) You can do an image search or go to any of the sites I mentioned previously where you are linking to and use the photo there.
Always try to get the best photo possible (even if you have to take it yourself). Sometimes you will see various distortions in colors on photos of the same books across the web or, on “look inside” options/arrows that obviously indicate you copied the image and distract from your site. You don’t want that! Cover photos are generally not difficult to find unless you are dealing with an upcoming release (and then they should be available through your source).
Hope this helps!
Here is my link to the post
I spent almost the whole day on this post. I decided to subscribe to 12 of the challenges you mentioned here.
I’m so glad you decided to join in the challenges! Watch for my update posts; I hope to do one soon! 🙂
How do you keep track of the books you read and the reading challenges?
I keep a chart of what I read (although I have to catch up on matching them to their challenges!)
I’m hoping to post regular updates this year – last year I kept a private log but didn’t have time to post it publically.
Hi there!
Here is the sign up page for the 2014 “Women Challenge”:
http://www.peekabook.it/2013/12/2014-women-challenge.html
Hope you join us again!
Valentina
http://www.peekabook.it