Weekly Geeks v9.23: Reading Challenges

If you haven’t joined in with the rest of us Weekly Geeks, then you should with this weeks. The topic this week is Reading Challenges.

“Reading Challenges: a help or a hurt? Do you find that the reading challenges keep you organized and goal-oriented? Or, do you find that as you near the end of a challenge that you’ve failed because you fell short of your original goals? As a result of some reading challenges, I’ve picked up books that I would have otherwise never heard of or picked up; that, frankly, I have loved. Have you experienced the same with challenges? If so, which ones? Do you have favorite reading challenges?”

I personally love reading challenges.  It’s not so much that they keep me organized or goal-oriented, but more that they give me options.  I currently have a TBR list with over 700 books on it, so when I sign up for challenges, I go through my list to see what could be applied where.  So when I do need to find something to read, and instead of looking at 700+ books to choose from, I go to my challenge reading list and see maybe 50.  It doesn’t seem as intimidating that way.

Plus I always end up reading novels that are no where near my TBR list or stack (yes those are two separate entities), so I don’t really get upset if I don’t complete a challenge.  I use them as a guide for when I have no clue what to read next.  Currently, I don’t have that problem as I have 40 books sitting on my desk waiting to be read and I need to get that pile down to 5 or 6 (which is where I like having it), so I’m not really focusing on challenges right now.  One of my challenges ended today and I only read one of the four I said I was going to.  Am I upset, not really.  That’s life and it’s not going to stop if I don’t get to a certain book by a certain time.  I have books that I do need to read by a certain date because either the author is going to be vising the site (Rachel Vincent on Tuesday or Elizabeth Leiknes June 30th) or I need to get it back to whoever I borrowed it from.

I don’t know if I would say I’ve read books specifically for a challenge that I wouldn’t have otherwise.  I tend to pick challenges based on my TBR list, not on what the theme is.  However, I will say that I’ve read books that would (probably) normally get pushed way back and would probably still be on the list when I get it to under 100 books (if that ever happens, which I doubt).

My favorite reading challenge is the one I’m hosting at LE and it’s not because I’m hosting it either.  I’ll be honest, when I first started my site, I knew maybe 8 PNR authors.  Now I know way more than that and it’s been so exciting finding new authors.  I’ve come across so many series that I simply love that I get excited whenever I find someone new.  What can I say, I’m easily excitable, but having a goal of searching for new authors has been fun.  Granted, I still know a lot of PNR authors, but I haven’t read all of their works yet.  I’m working on it, but it’s slow moving as there are soo many out there right now.

And since it has been awhile since I updated everyone on my challenges, let’s do another one now.

1. New Authors: the goal is to read 50 new authors in 2009.  Currently, I’m up to about 17 with a couple new ones on my immediate list to read (Showalter, Fennell, Leiknes).  I’m not doing as well as I was last year, but that’s mainly because the number of authors I knew last year compared to this year is exponentially greater.  Which also means there are a ton of series out there that I still want to read while still discovering new authors.  Hosted by Literary Escapism and goes from 1/1-12/31.
2. Support Your Local Library: I’m not doing too bad with this one.  I’ve only borrowed 4 books from the library this year, but I’ve been receiving a lot of review copies right now.  There are a few series I really want to read, and I’ll be getting those from the library, so this will go up I’m sure.  Hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog (Jan 1st – Dec 31st)
3. Themed Reading Challenge: It’s a good thing this topic came up because I didn’t realize that I only have little over a month to get this one done.  Of the four novels I originally picked, I’ve only read one of them, so I think I’m heading to the library. Hosted by Caribou Mom (Feb. 1st to July 31st)
4. 1st in a Series: Wow…I’ve done more on this one than I originally thought.  The goal is to read the first novel in 12 new series and I’ve done 2.  Looking at my list again, there are a few I really want to get to.  Hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog (Jan 1st – Dec 31st)
5. 2nds Challenge: I haven’t really done a lot with this one.  The idea is to try an author again.  You’ve read one novel from her, nows the time to try another one.  Of all the authors on my list, I’ve only gotten to one.  That’s going to change soon.  Hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog (Jan 1st – Dec 31st)
6. Paranormal 999 Challenge: I actually tweaked this one a little.  I liked the idea, but there’s no way I was going to be able to read 81 books without going insane about my other reading obligations.  So I trimmed it down to reading 3 books in each of the 9 categories and I have to say that out of 27 novels, I’ve gotten through 8 of them. Hosted by LibraryThing with a Yahoo Group (Jan 1st – Sept 9th)

I actually have one more challenge I’m planning to do, but it doesn’t start until September 1st, so I still have some time.  If anyone is interested in joining a sweet challenge, make sure you stop by Stainless Steel Droppings closer to September for his annual R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge.  It goes from Sept 1st – Oct 31st and this will be his fourth year doing it (if he does it).  It’s kind of fun (and perfect for LE) since it focuses on the Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror and Supernatural genres during the Halloween season.

So those are my reading challenges.  What is your take on them.  Which ones do you participate in?