2017 Reading Challenges

Ha! I swore I would get to my new reading challenges in January this year - alas, I did not. But at least, it's early February - that's better than last year! It took me all week to figure it out (there are SO many cool reading challenges out there!)...Here are my 2017 Reading Challenges. You can check in on my progress all year at my 2017 Reading Challenges page.

On the top of the list, as always, a TBR challenge:

Read Your Own Damn Books hosted by Estella's Revenge

I have an entire bookcase of books waiting to be read! In 2015, I managed to read 24 TBR books off my own shelves, and in 2016, I set a goal of 25 TBR books...and missed it by 2! For 2017, I will aim (again) to read at least 25 of My Own Damn Books, and I would love to clear even more off the TBR shelves!

2017 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge hosted by Girlxoxo.

I really enjoyed this fun challenge last year, where there is a different theme every month. My plan this year is to try to remember to check for the monthly motif before the end of the month! Here are this year's categories:


JANUARY – Diversify Your Reading
Kick the reading year off right and shake things up. Read a book with a character (or written by an author) of a race, religion, or sexual orientation other than your own.
FEBRUARY – Undercover Thriller
Read a book involving spies, detectives, private investigators, or a character in disguise.
MARCH – Time Traveler
Read a book set in a different dimension, a book in which time travel is involved or a dystopian or science fiction book where reality looks very different than what we’re used to.
APRIL – Award Winners
Read a book that has won a literary award or a book written by an author who has been recognized in the bookish community.
MAY – Book to Movie or Audio
Read a book that has a movie based off of it. For an extra challenge, see the movie or listen to the audio book as well.
JUNE – Destination Unknown
Read a book in which the character(s) take a trip, travel somewhere, go on a quest, or find themselves on a journey toward something.
JULY – Believe the Unbelievable
This month it’s all about fantasy. Epic fantasy, urban fantasy, fairytales, magic, etc.
AUGUST – Seasons, Elements, & Weather
Read a book in which the season, the elements, or the weather plays a role in the story.
SEPTEMBER – Creepy, Chilling, & Frightful
Cozy mystery ghost stories, paranormal hauntings, murder mysteries, weird and scary creatures- it’s up to you!
OCTOBER– Games, Challenges, & Contests
Read a book that involves a game of some sort. Video games, war games, psychological mess-with-your-mind games, characters who participate in a contest, or a story in which the character takes on a challenge.
NOVEMBER – Last Chance
Read a book you’ve been meaning to get to all year but haven’t yet or read the last book in a series you started.
DECEMBER – Picking Favorites
Read a book by one of your favorite authors or read a book that Girlxoxo has recommended this year.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2017 hosted by Books and Chocolate.

I always like to join some sort of Classics Challenge because it gives me extra incentive to read classics, which I want to do but often ignore for more current books. To be honest, I am joining this one somewhat reluctantly because it is a bit more restrictive than I wanted (I did this one two years ago), but there are very few classics challenges this year, apparently! A book must be published no later than 1967 to count for this challenge (I sometimes like to include slightly more modern classics), but it does look like they lifted the restriction on no re-reads (a major stumbling block for me as I often return to classics I read in high school, 35 years ago!). My own personal goal for this one is to read 6 classics this year (that would beat last year's total of 4). They have 12 different categories to fit your classics choices into (you can see the categories at the link above).

A 2017 Reading Challenge to Keep You Well-Rounded hosted by /r/books.


This one is kind of non-traditional - no sign-ups or links list - but it looks like fun! The idea is to expand your reading horizons by aiming to read one book in each of the following categories - 52 books in a year (I read 75 last year, so that's not a problem, but we'll see how much variety I have!). There is also an easier version, where one book can count for multiple categories, so you could do it with far fewer than 52 books.


Genre
Read a book in the Science Fiction genre
Read a book in the Fantasy genre
Read a book labelled as Young Adult
Read a nonfiction book
Read a History book, fiction or nonfiction
Read a Biography, whether normal, Auto, or Memoir.
Read a book about Politics and/or Religion
Read a book in the Thriller or Suspense genre
Read a Mystery book
Read a book labelled as Dystopian
Read a book in the Paranormal genre
Read a book labelled as a Satire or Allegory
Read a book from the Self-Help, Health, Travel, or Guide category
Read a collection of poetry
Read a book from the Horror genre
Read a Romance and/or Erotica book
Publishing
Read a book originally published in a language you do not know
Read a book written before 1950
Read a book written after 1949
Read a book published this year
Read a self-published book
Read an indie book, where the publisher is a small or niche house and not one of the top 6 publishers
Read a book published under one of the Big 6 publishing houses
Read a debut book from this year
Popularity and Notoriety
Read a book that was turned into a movie
Read a popular book, with at least 1 million ratings on any one website
Read an unknown book, with no more than 100 ratings on any one website
Read a book that won a literary award
Read a book labelled as a Best-Seller from this year
Read a book that was, or currently is, banned by a government
Author
Read a book by an author born in the same country as you
Read a book written by a man
Read a book written by a woman
Characters or setting
Read a book with a contemporary setting
Read a book that features animals
Read a book where the main character goes on a journey
Read a book where a stranger comes to town
Read a book by or featuring a character that is LGBT
Read a book set in your country
Read a book not set in your country, but exists today
Book features
Read a short story, one with less than 5,000 words
Read a short book, one between 5,000 and 100,000 words
Read a long book, one between 100,000 and 250,000 words
Read an epic book, one with over 250,000 words
Read the first book in a series
Finish a series
Listen to an Audiobook
Read a book on paper
Read a book with pictures in it
Combining all the letters of all the titles of all the books you’ve read this year, complete the Alphabet
Other
Read a book for the second time
Read a book that’s been on your to read-list for more than a year

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge hosted by Mom's Small Victories, one of my favorite blogs. I signed up for this one back in 2014, so this is a continuation - I can't wait to see what places I visit in books in 2017! Last year I read 30 books set in other countries/cultures (20 different places), so I hope to do even better this year!

2017 Literary Escapes Challenge hosted by Escape with Dollycas Into a Good Book.

Hurray! After a year off, I found another reading challenge that tracks where books take place. I enjoy this so much that I kept tracking my states even when there was no challenge. I read books set in 27 different states last year, so I hope to do even better in 2017!

Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month! I really enjoyed it last year, so stop by to print out this month's Bingo card and play along!

Big Book Summer Challenge hosted by Book by Book (me!)

I will once again host the Big Books Summer Challenge in 2017, so watch for the sign-up in May!