2016 Challenges

Part of my goals for reading in 2016 is to participate in several challenges that will push me to read a little outside of my usual. In addition to my general Goodreads Challenge goal of 130 books (the same as last year), I’m participating in these challenges, so far:

Bookriot is doing its second annual Read Harder Challenge, consisting of 24 tasks to complete throughout the year. Several friends did this one last year, and this year’s categories look interesting, so I’m giving it a go.

At the young adult review blog It’s All About Books, they’re hosting another year of the Around the World challenge, which does exactly what it says on the tin: encourages you to read books set in or by authors from all over the world. The nice thing about this challenge is that there’s no official number you need to reach. Instead, they ask you to set up a Google map with pins for each location you read a book from. There are also mini-challenges you can choose to participate in, like reading at least one book for each continent or visiting extreme points on Earth.

Finally, one serious reading problem I have is that of keeping up with my book-buying habits. I have several shelves-worth of books that I own but have never read. To try to tackle this, I’m participating in the Mount TBR Reading Challenge at My Reader’s Block. This challenge is set up with different levels, so you can choose the number of books from your to-be-read pile that you want to try and address this year. I’m choosing to do the Mont Blanc level, which is 24 books or 2 a month. To add a random element, I’m following the lead of Michelle at I Push Books and using an internet randomizer to choose my books for me from my “owned but not read” shelf at Goodreads.

So these are my plans for the year in reading. Wish me luck!