This seems like just the right sort of challenge for me. I got a bit bogged down this year with all my different challenges, so this one will keep me occupied but not overwhelmed. I think.
I'm going to aim for 5 in each category. That will leave lots of freedom for spontaneous reads and group reads, which I'm missing out on too much this year.
Notice: Management reserves the right to change categories and/or books at any time.
My categories (drum roll........)
1.
A day without Orange is like a day without sunshine - Orange prize winners and nominees
2.
We Like Short Shorts! - short story collections
3.
She’s a Classic - classics written by women
4.
Booker, Dano! - Booker prize winners and nominees
5.
Dust Collectors - books that have been on my shelves more than two years
6.
Border crossings - books from countries other than the US or UK
7.
The Bigger they are, the harder they fall - chunksters, 500 pages and over
8.
News to me - authors new to me
9.
Pulitzer Prize winners10.
The whole truth and nothing but the truth - nonfiction
Bonus:
11.
Play it again, Sam, re-reads, or books I started and didn't finish and want to try again or books I think I've read before but I'm not sure!
I'm starting to fill in some titles now -- but these are only suggestions to myself, certainly not set in stone!
I'm going for 75 total books in 2010.
Message edited by its author, Oct 19, 2009, 10:05pm.
I have almost the same title for my Booker category! Great minds etc etc
As for the cross-category thing, it's entirely up to you. If you want the Good Earth to fit into 2 categories, then it can. That's the beauty of such a flexible challenge!
Starring you for 2010! I'm going stepped, but I like the '5 per category' idea - I wish I'd thought of that earlier! I may have to rearrange my challenge already. I thought if I finished my stepped thing I could go wild-card by backtracking and adding more to some of the categories...
Thanks cheese and ellie! I just went back and filled in some books. So far these are all books I have on my shelves already! That's a good way to tackle my TBR stacks. Some great reading ahead of me for 2010.
So far I've not overlapped, except the author category. I'm going to try to make each one an original list. Otherwise, I could overlap just about every one of them and then I'd just be cheating myself out of some good books.
ETA: suggestions welcome for any of the categories!
Message edited by its author, Oct 18, 2009, 2:26pm.
Great categories! I will definitely be checking in on you - are you starting in January?
Great category names! Yes, you can overlap if you want. Personally, I look at it as a sign of superior planning abilities and a well-organized mind. :-) I've done both the 888 and 999 challenges, and have found for me it doesn't add any extra pressure on my reading but only acts as a tool to help me manage my reading and my TBR. I also never plan the actual books in advance because I find it too restricting. But the beauty of these challenges is that you can make them fit what you want to do. You're the only rule maker.
DQ = yes, January 1.
Nickelini -- the books are definitely guidelines for me, they're not promises and certainly not set in stone. Most of these are books I really want to read anyway.
Not set in stone is a great way to describe it. I usually have an idea of what I might read at the beginning of the year and it's always fun to see which ones I actually do read, and which ones get ignored, yet again.
I've done something similar and given myself a list of candidates from my TBR pile. As soon as I set a book in stone, I immediately don't want to read it (one of my major problems with high school English!), but I find a bit of direction helpful when I'm trying to work out what to read next!
Looks like we have some overlap in our Booker Prize category. I'll be interested to see what you think of
The True History of the Kelly Gang and
The Bone People. They've been sitting in my TBR pile so long it's shaming!
I'm loving your categories and lists!
Good luck with
The Bone People. I feel like a rather unpatriotic New Zealander when I a) admit to not having got past the first paragraph and b) groaning whenever anyone mentions it. But there you go!
I'm going to come back when I've run out of book ideas (ha ha) because a lot of your lists are ones I'd like to read!
I have starred your thread as well: great categories and books I either want to read or have read and would love to see your response to. Two of my favorites that you are suggesting to yourself are
Song of Solomon and
Possession: A Romance.
cmt --
The Bone People is one of the books my book group chose for 2010, so I'd be reading it anyway. I've heard such differing opinions about it, so will see what mine is!
Thanks, cmt and NeverStop -- I'll look for your threads as well!
I usually have an idea of what I might read at the beginning of the year and it's always fun to see which ones I actually do read, and which ones get ignored, yet again.
My thoughts exactly! I actually do type up a complete list of the books I plan to read, and then see how closely I follow it... of my 53 books read so far for the 999, only 17 are from the list. Ha.
Oh, so I'm not the only one then! I'll have to check my list and get back to you, but I think I'm doing about the same.
Lots of good books on here! I read
Persuasion for the 999 challenge and really enjoyed it and I'm reading
Wives and Daughters for the 1010. We have a lot of overlap! Are you stalking me! ;)
I'll have to keep checking in to see what you think about the shared reads. Welcome to the challenge!
>26: Curses, foiled again! ;o) Thanks for stopping by with a welcome. I probably shouldn't have compiled my list so early, I'm anxious to get to some of these, but still have some to finish for my 2009 challenges. See you on the pages!
The 'compiling the list' bit is so tempting, though, once you've started up a thread! I've started pulling books down from Mount TBR too, even though I know that I'll have bought loads more by January...
I'm considering a moratorium on book buying for awhile. Seriously. I have every one but two of the books on my list for 2010. That made my list compiling easy.
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