The Reading Challenge I'm Tackling in 2017
I've always been a little bit of a rebel when it comes to books. If there's a book EVERYBODY is talking about, I'll probably avoid it. If there's a popular series that's buzzed about all over, I'll probably never read it. If it's being made into a movie, I'll want to never ever read it. For some reason though, if you give me a reading challenge of books I should try to read in a year, I will want to read EVERY ONE so I can cross them off the list. It just works for me.
I discovered two different challenges late in 2016 and attempted to get through them, but I didn't quite succeed. For 2017 though, I'm going in with a game plan!
Here's what I'll be tackling this year:
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Modern Mrs. Darcy's 2017 Reading Challenge
Find the list here!
This year, Anne Bogel (the queen of all things books, if you didn't already know) has made a fun choose-your-own-adventure style reading challenge, with two different lists of challenges. I'm planning to tackle them both!
Here are the two lists, with my initial thoughts of what I'll PLAN to read for each one (although this TOTALLY could change a ton!) since I'm attempting to purchase no new books and really make progress on all the books I own but haven't read yet!
Reading for Fun:
- A book you chose for the cover: Astray by Emma Donoghue (buy here)
- A book with a reputation for being un-put-down-able: Good as Gone by Amy Gentry (buy here)
- A book set somewhere you've never been but would like to visit: Walden by Henry David Thoreau (buy here)
- A book you've already read: Quiet by Susan Cain (buy here)
- A juicy memoir: Shrill by Lindy West (buy here)
- A book about books or reading: The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr (buy here)
- A book in a genre you usually avoid: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (buy here)
- A book you don't want to admit you're dying to read: Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman (buy here)
- A book in the backlist of a new favorite author: An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor (buy here)
- A book recommended by someone with great taste: Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner (buy here)
- A book you were excited to buy or borrow but haven't read yet: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (buy here)
- A book about a topic or subject you already love: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (buy here)
Reading for Growth:
- A Newbery Award winner or Honor book: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (buy here)
- A book in translation: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (buy here)
- A book that's more than 600 pages: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (buy here)
- A book of poetry, a play, or an essay collection: Bread and Wine by assorted writers (buy here)
- A book of any genre that addresses current events: The Locust Effect by Gary Haugen (buy here)
- An immigrant story: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (buy here)
- A book published before you were born: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (buy here)
- Three books by the same author: Hannah Coulter, Jayber Crow, and A Small Porch by Wendell Berry (buy here, here, and here)
- A book by an #ownvoices or #diversebooks author: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (buy here)
- A book with an unreliable narrator or ambiguous ending: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (buy here)
- A book nominated for an award in 2017: TBD
- A Pulitzer Prize or National Book Award winner: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (buy here)