Reading Challenges 2014

Here are all the deets:

• The 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2014
• Sign-ups will remain open until December 31st, 2014 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific
• Grab one of the buttons to show off your participation! Parajunkee did a great job with them!
• You DO NOT have to have a blog to join this challenge. You just need to have some books received for review and a place online to review them
• Create a sign-up post announcing your intention to participate and link up below. If you do not have a blog, you can link up to your Goodreads profile that shows your 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge shelf
• Please link back to the hosts in your sign-up posts
• This challenge is to help clear up books you’ve received for review. Any format, or any length, as long as you received the book specifically for review, is allowed.
• There will be a kick-off post on January 1, 2014 at both Fiktshun andPhantasmic Reads where you’ll be able to leave your links for any January reviews. (No 2013 reviews) At the beginning of every month, starting in February, these posts will alternate between both blogs. (See schedule below)
• If you forgot to leave your review link in the challenge month in which you reviewed the book or the linky list closed before you had a chance to leave it, you can leave it in a future month. (No duplicates.)
• There will also be monthly giveaways – make sure you check in each month!
• Use the hashtag #RPRC2014 to share your progress and connect with other participants on Twitter

To sign up click here. I have so many of these...sorry, authors whose books I said I would review.

I think this is a personal Reading Challenge, but I love the idea of reading a work of literature from each year of my life. I'll just keep on adding books as the years progress :), some of these will be rereads!

1976: Roots-Alex Haley
1977: The Shining-Stephen King
1978: The World According to Garp-John Irving
1979: A Bend in the River- VS Naipaul
1980: The Name of the Rose-Umberto Eco
1981: Red Dragon-Thomas Harris
1982: Ham on Rye-Charles Bukowski
1983: The Little Drummer Girl-John le Carre
1984: White Noise-Don DeLillo
1985: Perfume-Patrick Suskind
1986: The Bourne Supremacy-Robert Ludlum
1987: The Bonfire of the Vanities-Tom Wolfe
1988: The Satanic Verses-Salman Rushdie
1989: Liar's Poker-Michael Lewis
1990: The Mother Tongue-Bill Bryson
1991: The Kitchen God's Wife-Amy Tan
1992: Tooth and Nail-Ian Rankin
1993: The Shipping News-Annie Proloux
1994: One for the Money-Janet Evanovich
1995: The Golden Compass-Philip Pullman
1996: Fight Club-Chuck Palanuik
1997: Ella Enchanted-Gail Carson Levine
1998: I Know This Much is True-Wally Lamb
1999: Speak-Laura Halse Anderson
2000: White Teeth-Sadie Smith
2001: The Corrections-Jonathan Franzen
2002: Lost in a Good Book-Jasper Fforde
2003: Odd Thomas-Dean Kootnz
2004: Cloud Atlas-David Mitchell
2005: Looking for Alaska-John Greene
2006: The Omnivore's Dilemma-Michael Pollen
2007: The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian-Sherman Alexie
2008: Outliers-Malcolm Gladwell
2009: The Magicians-Lev Grossman
2010: Just Kids-Patti Smith
2011: Bossypants-Tina Fey
2012: Gone Girl-Gillian Flynn
2013: The Ocean at the End of the Lane-Neil Gaiman
2014:

Like the idea or want to see someone else's reading list? Click on where I found it, here.

Rules for the Dive Into Poetry Reading Challenge 2014:

1. Create a post on your blog stating your intention to read poetry in 2014 and sign up in Mr. Linky. If you don’t have a blog, simply leave a comment about reading poetry in 2014.

2. Choose one of the following options to complete the challenge:

• Dip Your Toes and read up to 2 books of poetry throughout 2014 and leave the full link to each review (if you have them) in Mr. Linky.
• Wade in and read 4-6 books of poetry throughout 2014 and leave the full links for reviews in Mr. Linky.
• Dive in and read 7 or more books of poetry throughout 2014 and leave the full links for reviews in Mr. Linky.

3. Complete your goals between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2014.

Like that idea, sign up here. Leonard Nimoy here we come! :)

Reading Challenge Details:

• Runs January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2014 (books read prior to 1/1/2014 do not count towards the challenge). You can join anytime before 9/30/2014. Sign up on The Book Vixen’s blog.
• The goal is to read at least twelve (12) free ebooks. While twelve is the minimum, there is no maximum limit. See the different levels below and pick the one that works best for you. You can move up a level as often as you’d like but no moving down.
• This reading challenge is for LEGALLY obtained FREE ebooks. We do not condone ebook piracy. These can be books offered through bigger sites, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or smaller sites, such as Smashwords and All Romance Ebooks. Ebooks offered through author or publisher websites are acceptable as well, provided they are available free to everyone at the time of download.
• Any ebook format will work for this challenge (azw, EPUB, iBooks, mobi, PDF, etc.). You DO NOT need to have an ereader to participate in this challenge. You can read ebooks using Amazon’s Free Kindle Reading Apps, which you can download for your iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, Blackberry and more. Free audiobooks also count towards this challenge provided they are free to the public. They can't be free as a condition of signing up for a service and they can't be provided by the publisher for review.
• Only ebooks and audiobooks that were available free, in a legal manner, to the public will count towards this challenge. eARCs, library books, ebooks free through Amazon Prime, and/or books won or gifted are not eligible for this challenge.
• Books can be any genre (fiction, nonfiction, romance, fantasy, mystery, thriller, horror, etc.).
• Crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed, however, re-reads are not eligible for this challenge. The goal is to read the freebies you’ve legally acquired so that they are off your TBR pile.
• To join this challenge, grab the 2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge button and post this reading challenge on your blog to track your progress. Please include a link back to this sign-up post so others can join the reading challenge too. You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, LibraryThing, BookLikes, Libib, etc., so as long as you have adedicated shelf for the 2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge and your profile is not private. The point of linking up is to have a place where people can see what you’re reading.

I have decided to forgo the review link-up for 2014. If you plan to review the books you read for this challenge, link them up in your 2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge post.

Levels:

     Coupon Clipper: read 12 books
     Penny Pincher: read 24 books
     Buying in Bulk: read 36 books
     Super Saver: read 50 books
     Extreme Couponer: read 100+ books

Click here, if you, like me have an ereader full of free books that you need to read!

Challenge Details:

• The challenge runs from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014.
• Sign ups will be open until mid December.
• You don't have to be a blogger to participate. However, leave a comment and tell me what level  you're aiming for.
• For bloggers, post up a challenge sign up post saying what level you've signed up for. Be sure to sign-up with your sign-up post in the linky.
• You don't have to review the books you read however if you do, you will be able to post your links to your reviews here.
• Books have to have less than 300 pages to count.
• Books such as MG/YA, graphic novels/manga, audio, rereads, anthologies and short stories, can count toward your goal.
• Feel free to crossover the books you read for this challenge with other challenges.

(If you have any questions feel free to ask, I feel like I might be missing something here.)

Now the Levels/It will hold with:

String: 5 books

Paperclips: 15 books

Duck tape: 25 books

Gorilla glue: 30+ books

This next challenge will go right with a lovely list of books I found on Pinterest. Here are the ones I haven't read and look forward to trying to this year:

/ 2. Siddhartha by Herman Hessel / 3. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman / 7. Help Thanks Wow by Anne Lamott / 9. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes / 10. Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates / 11. The Neon Bible by John Toole / 12. Consider the Oyster by M.F.K. Fisher / 13. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder / 14. Chronicle of Death Foretold by Gabriel Garciá Márquez / 17. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket / 19. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck / 20. Being There by Jerzy Kosinki / 21. The Red Pony by John Steinbeck / 24. A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut / 25. Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O’Nan / 26. Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker / 27. Black Orchids by Rex Stout / 29. Animal Farm by George Orwell / 33. Heartburn by Nora Ephron/ 35. Strange Pilgrims by Gabriel Garciá Márquez / 36. Grendel by John Gardner / 38.Flatland by Edwin Abbot / 40. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto / 40. Shopgirl by Steve Martin / 41. The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo / 42. Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. / 43. The Girl on the Fridge by Edgar Keret / 44. Love is Letting Go of Fear by Gerald G. Jampolsky / 45. I And Thou by Martin Buber / 46.Perelandra by C.S. Lewis / 47. Pafko at the Wall by Don Delilo / 48. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett / 49. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George / 50. At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom by Amy Hempel / 52. The Passion by Jeanette Winterson / 53. The Quiet American by Graham Greene / 55. Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates.

By the end of the year, I plan on having read all Sherlock books, or at least be closer to the end. :) Sign up on Goodreads here.

Details of the Challenge:

1. This reading challenge runs from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014 (books read prior to January 1, 2014 do not count towards the challenge). You can join anytime before November 1, 2014
2. Read fiction and non-fiction books by and about authors and other personages associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Feel free to expand to black writers from Africa and the Caribbean during this timeframe. The goal is to really immerse yourself in this era. For a list of books related to the Harlem Renaissance, check out the Harlem Renaissance listopia at Goodreads OR books from my personal library tagged ‘Harlem Renaissance’ on LibraryThing.
3. Books can be any format (print, ebook, audio)
4. Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed
5. You can choose your books as you go or create a list in advance
6. I will put up a post for reviews at the beginning of January

Levels:
1-5 books — New Negro (phrase coined by Alain Locke)
6-10 books — Garveyite (follower of Marcus Garvey)
11-15 books — Niggerati (This term is not meant to offend but was associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Phrase used by Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Wallace Thurman)
16+ books — Talented Tenth (phrase coined by W.E.B. Du Bois)

To sign up, click here.

What do you want to accomplish in the New Year? Will reading a book help you reach your goal, keep your resolution, or complete your project? The New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge starts now and goes through the end of January. Start the year off right by reading books that support your goals, resolutions, and projects.

Whether you want to write a novel, start a new career, or be happier, there are books to aid you in your quest. The New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge is to read one to four books that will stimulate action on your goals. Here are the levels:

Resolved: 1 book
Determined: 2 books
Committed: 3 books
Passionate: 4 books

You can read my goals here, now to find books to help achieve those goals!

Sign up for this book/life challenge here.

Here’s the brief rundown on the challenge:

• This reading challenge runs from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014
• You can join at any time
• Any of William Shakespeare’s works are acceptable–his plays and his sonnets–so long as it is a text. No movie or television adaptations or theatre performances (unless you read the text first and then watched an adaptation…that’s okay) 
• Linking your reviews to the Linky Widget THIS POST is optional but strongly recommended just so that we can share titles and thoughts with other bloggers and get to know each other in the process 

Levels (sorry, not feeling very creative coming up with these levels, lol; I’m pretty laxed about this):

• 1 – 4 plays — Occasional theatre-goer
• 5 – 9 plays — Frequent theatre-goer
• 10 – 12 plays — Regular theatre-goer

For a full list of Shakespeare’s works, please refer to this page or this page.

This will definitely help me reread some of those Shakespeare plays that I just adore! Sign up here.

Participating is pretty easy.

1. You have all of 2014 to read a book for each square.
2. A book can only count for 1 square. There will be 25 books for this challenge.
3. The books read for this project can come from other projects you’re participating in: school, review books, other challenge or events, books for fun.
4. If you blog, keep a post/page for the challenge. Update the post/page when you read a book for the challenge with a link to your thoughts/review of the book. Make sure to state which square the book counts for!
5. If you feel like it, write check in posts every few months. Update us on how you feel about the ‘new’ books you’re reading.
6. I’ll keep a page here for people to add review links to. It would be nice to see how others are feeling about the challenge. Add links to your reviews here.

Sign up here.

Meet the Protagonist Reading Challenge 2014

What is a protagonist? The leading character or one of the major characters in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.

The Protagonist Categories:

• A woman who is a mother.
• A real life person who written into a fictional story.
• A person that changes forms.
• A person who is from a country different than the one you currently live in.
• A person who lived before WW1.
• A person who lives by a body of water.
• A person younger than 18.
• A character that is in a book series.

OFFICIAL RULES

The Challenge runs from January 1, 2014 until December 31, 2014.

Read one book from each of the categories.

A book can used in only one category.

You do not need to list your books ahead of time.

Crossover with other challenges is welcome!

Re-reads count. Audiobooks count.  E-books count.  Self-published books count.

Short Stories and Essay Collections may be allowed, BUT only if the stories are about the same person ....  changed on 12/27/13

Anyone may join. If you do not have a blog, just leave me a comment on this post with your progress.

This one just sounds like loads of fun. Sign up here.