Do you set yourself reading challenges?

I'm interested in hearing about any reading challenges people set for themselves. I'm always on the lookout for a good challenge and I have several ongoing ones at the moment:

Classics Challenge (reading at least one pre-1900 novel a month)
Modern Classics Challenge (at least one novel from 1900-approx 1970 per month)
Chunk Challenge (at least one hefty book of at least 500 pages per month)
Olympic Challenge (a book by at least one author from each of the countries represented in the Olympic Games - this is more of a long-term challenge)
1001 Challenge (the list of books from Peter Boxall's book 1001 books you must read before you die

I also take part in two monthly reading circles which helps me vary my reading too.

Does anyone else set themselves challenges in this way? Or are you more of a free-for-all, random-choice kind of reader?

I guess that I am a free-for-all random choice reader. Sometimes I am ready for a "big" book and sometimes I need to read something in non-fiction or a mystery. Usually when I like an author, I try to read everything in the series. My TBR pile does not move for a while as I search out any new Alan Furst novel about spies in WW II or any more Boris Akunin books. I also am on the lookout for any series that the author completes. ( Stella Tillyard and her A Royal Affair George III and his Troublesome Siblings ) I am now reading Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart and will try to get back to the big books that I put down- Mortals by Norman Rush and the last 400 pages of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

I recently decided to read all the Newbery Medal winners and honors. I'm also on a mission to read all the Star Wars books. Other than that the only challenge I have is my "read all your TBRs," which I'm using the 50 Books Challenge to help me with.

I have only recently started setting challenges for myself although I have always intended to do so. I recently joined the 50 book challenge here. I usually read at least that many books per year if not more. I plan to increase the amount each year. I don't actually set such a strict list as your challenges, though - very admirable by the way. They are more sort of guidelines in my head, I guess. I try to read at least one challenging book out of every three books I read. I am trying to incorporate more "classics" into my TBR piles. I am now trying to go through The 1001 Books You Must Read Before you Die and pick up some ideas there as well. I also have a few other books which "Best Of" lists and plan to check out a few others from the library.

One thing we do in our house, myself as well as my children, is read the book before we see a movie that is based on a book. Sometimes it happens in the opposite way if we don't know that something is based on a book. I find it interesting to compare the two and look for the differences and decide which we like better or if we like both for different reasons. I do this more often since there are more adult movies based on books than children's. I have had to tell them that you have to try to look at the movies objectively though and not complain the whole time that "That didn't happen in the book that way!" or you won't enjoy the movie at all.

I am also interested in your Olympic challenge and I have recently seen a 50 State Challenge that I might incorporate into my reading lists.

I am always interested in expanding my reading lists and since I have a varied taste in reading, I can almost always find something I am interested in adding to my lists.

oh, I am such a rebel that if I set a challange I would immediately buck against it. Some people graze at the salad bar, some of us graze at the book shelves.

I read for the sheer joy of it. I'd hate to ruin that with challenges.

I used to balk at the idea of set lists, but to tell the truth, since I started partaking in challenges, I've read more books that I wouldn't ordinarily choose for myself if left to my own devices, and have found some real gems in there too - I'm discovering new authors to add to my list of "well-loved" writers all the time, such as Jane Austen and Vladimir Nabokov who, before my challenges, would never have got a look in. Yes, every now and then I find one that I don't enjoy so much, but I just chalk it up to experience and move on to another one. Overall, I've found it a very positive experience and one I would recommend to everyone, even if it was something as simple as trying an author they've never read before every month or so.

Till this year I've never set any challenges for myself, but the 50 book challenge caught my eye, so I set a goal of 150 books and 60k pages for 2007. I think it's motivated me to read more and to read a wider variety of books. I used to do a lot of re-reads, not because the books demanded that they be re-read, but just because I didn't have anything new in mind to start on. I've found myself picking up new books and new authors since I started the challenge, and it's generally been a really great experience.

I'm not too keen on content specific challenges, such as reading a specific number of classics per year/month as I tend to select my books based on my mood at the moment. I might do a stretch of nothing but Stephen King or a month of all fantasy or read a dozen crime/law novels in a row if that's what I'm feeling like at the moment.

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No, I don't. I had tried one or two set by others, and found that it drove me crazy to have to choose my reading material based on some arbitrary scheme.

It's one thing to have to read a book because it's due back at the library. It's another thing entirely to have to read a book because it's time for an author whose name begins with "L".

I am a list maker and goal-oriented by temperment. On the other hand, I also tend to be taken over by the inertia of the bad tv and other time wasting habits (i.e. the internet). Goal setting is one way I can ensure I don't spend a weekend with the remote control and the mouse.

Currently, I'm working from several lists, the Random House and Modern Library fiction lists being my main resources for the moment. I can't even contemplate a 1001 list without wanting to get fetal in the corner of the den.

I spent years being intimidated by fiction and thus stuck mostly to nonfiction, current events, newspapers, etc. I haven't liked everything I've read but I do understand more about writing and novels than I did before and I've read things that I never would have picked up in a million years on my own.