Joyfully Retired

For me a new year means a new Reading Plan. I know that many people are shying away from book challenges and I respect them for their decision. I’m not one of them. I find that the challenges open up new possibilities I may have overlooked. Picking through the list of challenges (found at A Novel Challenge) has actually been a good exercise in deciding what I want to read next year.

Evaluating challenges was sort of like shopping for clothes. I pulled a lot of challenges off the rack and then I had to try each one on to see how it fit me. By the time I came out of the dressing room, I had discarded about half of them. Today I want to tell you about which ones I took to the checkout counter.

I’m dividing my list of challenges into a couple of posts just so I can keep them organized in my head. I’ll post today, tomorrow, and possibly next week. This also serves as my formal announcement of each challenge.

First I focused on what I wanted to read next year and then chose challenges that matched those genres.

1. One of my biggest surprises this year was how much I enjoyed Graphic Novels. There are great picture books out there suitable for people my age. So I’m joining the challenge in 2011 and I intend to read at the Intermediate Level – 3 to 10 novels. For complete information, visit the Graphic Novels 2011 website.

2. This will be my second year for the Awesome Authors Challenge. Sponsored by Alyce from At Home With Books, this challenge pushed me to try new-to-me authors, like Louise Penny, Beth Hoffman, and Margaret Atwood. Without the challenge, I might have missed some of my favorite books of the year. I plan to read at least ten authors I’ve heard wonderful things about. To join, visit this post.

3. I had so much fun participating this year in the What’s In A Name? Challenge. It was like playing a game. I want do it again. The objective is to read a book that fulfills these requirements: Read six different books with each of these six things in the title: 1) a number,  2) jewelry or a gem, 3) a size, 4) travel or movement, 5) evil, and 6) a life stage. This has me paying better attention to book titles. This one is sponsored by Candace from Beth Fish Reads, but for the challenge, visit her at the dedicated blog: What’s In A Name? Challenge.

4. A Year of Feminist Classics may not be an official challenge. It’s more of a year-long study and discussion group. There is an excellent Reading List so participants know in advance what will be read. The list is reflective of writings in this genre from around the world. To see the list and and learn more, visit here: A Year of Feminist Classics. My goal is read at least six of the titles.

5. The War Through the Generatons Reading Challenge will be focusing on the U.S. Civil War. I’m going to try for the Dip level which means I must read 3 to 5 books in any genre as long as the U.S. Civil War is a primary or secondary theme.

That’s it for my general challenges. Tomorrow I’ll share the mystery challenges with you and, in the next few days, I’ll post the how challenges (e-book, audio, etc.).