What reading challenges are you doing?

In another discussion it came up that there are a lot of interesting reading challenges that people don't always know about. So, I'm curious, what reading challenges are you doing, on LT or elsewhere?

I'm currently working on 4, though with somewhat limited success:

The 999 Challenge, where the goal is to read 9 books in each of 9 categories in 2009 (my categories are Ancient World, Math/Science, Dewey Decimal Challenge, Fantasy, Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic, Children's/YA, Arabian Nights, Fairies/Fairy Tales, and Just Because).

The 75 Book Challenge, which is pretty self-explantory: the goal is to read 75 books in 2009.

The TBR Challenge, where you make a list (or two) of 12 books from your TBR pile and try to read one every month of the year.

And the Dewey Decimal Challenge, where you attempt to read a book from each of the Dewey Decimal categories (for a total of either 10, 100, or 1000 books, depending on how broad you want the categories to be)--not one to be completed in a year!

What else is out there?

This is a great idea for a thread, _Zoe_.

I'm only doing the 75 book challenge- http://www.librarything.com/topic/64030

I'm also in the King's Dear Constant Reader's group reads, which is like a challenge. We are reading Stephen King's books in order of publication. Here's a list of '09's reads in case anyone is interested. http://www.librarything.com/topic/50983
We started in October with Carrie.

I never heard of the TBR Challenge and I will definitely be checking it out!

I actually have a hidden one that's on message #42 of this thread. It's the What's In a Name Challenge that's open mostly for bloggers. However, since I don't maintain a blog, I thought that LT was the right place to keep it. :) Each year, there are six different categories. I figured it would be easy to fill with all the reading I am doing anyway.

In addition, I defected earlier this year from the 50 Book Challenge which I completed successfully last year. It's goal was to read 50 books per year. I think I'm ahead of last year so I've moved on to the 75 book Challenge that Zoe mentioned above.

I'm doing the Global Author Challenge which is fun because it has no time limit. I make my own rules!

I've set up two other purely personal challenges. One is the Aspenwood 100 in which I am replacing 100 old, worn books at an assisted living facility in Silver Spring, Maryland, with newer copies of hardback books (all Bookcrossing registered). No time limit. This is 85% complete, but I have enough books to complete it soon.

A second is the Tikvat Israel CSA Bookbox Challenge which is to create a lending library of food-related books for my CSA (community-supported agriculture) group. My goal is at least 25 books. So far I've collected 7 books related to a personal wishlist of food-related books. No time limit.

I also participate in the 999 Books Challenge.

Last, but not least, I just accidentally discovered the Dewey Decimal Challenge (also noted in post #1) and couldn't resist. I started out with a goal of only 10 nonfiction books, so the challenge should be pretty easy to complete. Again - no time limit!

The funny thing about these challenges is that there is really not much structure to them. I pick and choose whatever I feel like reading and see if the books fit into a challenge. If they don't, well tough! I'll read them anyway. What I do *not* do is pick my books ahead of time. I don't want a syllabus of required reading.

The only group I'm in is 50 Book Challenge, but my personal challenges (or goals, really) are to read 150 total books, including 75 new reads, 10 non-fiction, and 45000 pages.

If I tried to do more challenges than that, I would collapse under the weight of it. There's only so much I can structure my reading before it starts feeling like a chore rather than something fun. That's just me, though.

Edit: Sometimes I feel like changing the name of 50 Book Challenge to..something else, I'm not sure what. Or maybe changing the group info to say in big red letters "you don't have to only read 50 books!" Because nobody ever reads the group info (on any group, it seems) and that is something that is constantly misunderstood.

I'm working on the 75 Book Challenge. http://www.librarything.com/topic/58385

And just recently I stumbled upon the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die which is a list of books from Pre-1700 through early 2000's. Although, I'm not really aiming to complete this one. It's more of a list to see older/influential books that I may want to read or that will come up in conversations.
http://www.librarything.com/topic/63318

Edited: Links

I bought The New Lifetime Reading Plan by Clifton Fadiman. It is a book encouraging more diverse reading of important literature, including a section of important 20th century books. I keep thinking about trying it but so far I haven't attempted it.

I'm only doing the 999 Challenge and the 100 Book Challenge. I plan to do the 10-10-10 next year and TBR sounds like one I could work in with it.

I refuse to do any more "year" challenges (888, 999) until I've finished my 888 list.

And my 2007 TBR list.

And my 2009 TBR list.

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What?!?

I'm doing the 75 Book Challenge and the US Presidents Challenge. There we're reading bios of all the Presidents before the next one.

ETA (per SqueakyChu's request):

My 2009 75 Book Challenge thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/62831

Link to the Presidents Challenge:
http://www.librarything.com/groups/uspresidentschalleng

If the challenges you are doing are here on LT, please add the links to your messages. Thanks!

I'm heading straight over to the tbr challenge. I only have about 40 in the pile but they constantly mock me as I reach past them to grab a newer acquisition.

I'm attempting the 999 Challenge (half way point reached) as well as trying to read my 26 books a year from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (that figure is based on my age and the average age of death for females).

I like to participate in the Group Reads - Literature, Monthly Author Reads and Author Theme Reads. I do like the sound of the Global Reading Challenge that SqueakyChu mentioned so I'll take a peak at that group. I like challenges where time frames are fairly loose.

And like #7 I'm already looking forward to the 10-10-10 Challenge.

I just joined the TBR challenge http://www.librarything.com/topic/64052 and am seriously considering the Dewey Decimal Challenge.

I am doing the 100 book challenge on LT.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/61719

I belong to 4 RL book groups, and since they all have specific books to read, I don't want anything on LT that will restrict or dictate what to read.

#6 Cal,

Welcome aboard! I am trying my best to finish or at least be exposed, to The New Lifetime Reading Plan. 'Late start for me. Decades ago, I'd had 16 years of American education. This means I've had virtually no exposure to the great literature of the world. Over the past 4 years, I've made a dent in ol' Clifton's list. It's been a great journey so far.

Back on topic. I always attempt the 50 book challenge, but tend to bog down on one or two books during the year. The Bible and War and Peace really kicked my butt.

This year it's Ulysses. That is a challenge on its own and I'm only a third through. It's like Mrs. Dalloway on acid.

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For some great reads to post on your Global Reading Challenge, join the Reading Globally group. They fit well together!

I don't have any new challenges to mention, but those that I am actively participating in are:

999 challenge - I'm absolutely loving this one, and have chosen pretty broad categories that I would mostly be reading in anyway. (e.g., mysteries, historical, new-to-me authors, nonfiction) I do not choose books in advance - I also hate "required reading" lists.

75 book challenge (although my personal goal is 150) - I shamelessly list everything here.

US Presidents. I started this on my own before joining LT (and finding that the world is full of people just as geeky as I am). As a result, my challenge as documented here begins with #6 John Quincy Adams. I insist on reading them in order and usually get at least 2 bios per prez, so it goes slowly. Especially since biographies are one of my least favorite reads and I require long and frequent breaks. Pretty sure I won't meet the goal of all presidents completed before the next election. So what.

Dewey Decimal Challenge. It has long been a fantasy of mine to read books from every shelf in the library. (Like I said, geeky) When I stumbled on this challenge late last year I was fascinated. I'm going for all 1000 categories, and expect that this will be a life-long effort. The best part is the eye-rolling that I get from my family when I come home all excited about a book on some obscure subject that I found at the library!

I started the global reading challenge last year, but that was just so hard. I was having trouble finding books from the locations I wanted, and so many of the recommendations from other members were so exotic that I wasn't sure I'd enjoy them, assuming I COULD find them. So, I don't participate there anymore, but I DO try to read more global books than I used to, and have a category in my 999 challenge just for them.

Like a couple of people have already mentioned, I am also looking forward to the 10-10-10 challenge, and have just about finalized my choice of categories. For me, reading challenges have been one of the most rewarding aspects of LT.

i'm doing my first challenge this year, which is the 999 Challenge (see mine here). my categories are: Amelia Peabody series, Children/YA Lit, Dark Humor/Satire, Made Into Movies, Books About Books, Great American Fiction, Anthropology/Religious Studies, Lit About Travels, and Debut Novels.

i'm enjoying it because it's going to keep me from:
a) purchasing books without a strong intent to read them (which i'm very bad about)
b) actually remembering to read books that i really want to read but then forget about
c) getting stuck into one genre/author/series etc and then wondering why i haven't read anything else the entire year.

i've knocked out 28 books already. that's a decent, steady pace, but i want to get ahead by a couple of books so that i have some breathing room in the fall when my very first niece or nephew is born! i'm sure i'm not going to be reading much when i've got a newborn to fawn over.

I started the 999 but didn't get far with it. I wanted more flexibility. Like way more than nine categories and maybe only one or two books in some categories. I'm still hanging in on the 75 book challenge.

This seems like a good thread to ask a question or two. Some of these challenges have become so popular it's nearly impossible to keep up. And the interests are very broad, as they should be in such challenges or reading journal groups.

I've been wondering about the feasibility of some mini-challenges. Like a six book popular science reading challenge spread out over a year. IOW, a popular science book every two months. That specific of a challenge probably wouldn't get to big and would be easy to keep up with. Other mini-challenges with different subject matters could also crop up. Good idea? Bad idea? Would mini-challenges attract anybody?

I've been wondering about the feasibility of some mini-challenges.

I think it's a great idea because it would include lots more people who feel intimidated or restricted by a challenge that's too large. One of the challenges that I'm participating in (see the What's In a Name Challenge) has only six categories.

It would be good to have a central thread to list all of the Challenges in an organized manner. It should include all challenges we do, those found both on and off LT.

I agree with SqueakyChu. I think one or two big challenges a year for most people are the norm. Mini-challenges would give you an opportunity to accomplish a goal that you have been thinking about without becoming all consuming. That's why I am doing the Stephen King's group reads and the TBR challenge. 12 books each are a very reachable goal.

I'm doing many mini-challenges on my own.

Some include:

12 books from 1001 Fantasy Books to Read Before You Are Turned into a Newt
12 books from my US 50 State Challenge
12 books from Dewey Decimals I've not read before
12 books from a different genre each month
12 books from MLA book list
Finish reading all Spider Robinson books (I have about 7 left)
Hubby and I are doing a SF book a month together (we read the same book)

#18, 19 I also think that is a good idea. I looked at SqueakyChu's "What's in a Name" challenge, and I liked it, too. Different things are challenging to different people. One size doesn't fit all.

I also like the idea of a "Challenge Central". As a newbie, I didn't know what was available or where to find it. Maybe it could be added to the introductory "tour".

It might be good to set up a wiki page, since that's a lot easier to keep organized than a thread.

I'm participating in the 50 Book Challenge although I'll probably read at least double that amount. I'm also participating in the 999 Challenge, the TBR Challenge and the previously unmentioned Paranormal 999 Challenge which can be found here:

http://www.librarything.com/groups/paranormal999challen#forums

someone in one of my other groups (i don't remember which at the moment) suggested an alphabet challenge where your only goal would be to read a book who's title or author's last name began with that letter of the alphabet. you would read them in order and try to get through them in a year.

i really liked the idea of this challenge. it's not a huge amount of books and it's broad enough to give you lots of wiggle room. i probably liked the idea even more since i had just finished reading The End of the Alphabet (which is the most wonderful novella and i highly recommend it).

I started my science mini-challenge group. If anyone else wants to use the term mini-challenge(s) that's fine by me. Now it'll be interesting to see if anybody shows up or if any other mini-challenges are started. Thanks all, for input on something that was rolling around in my head.

>27 VisibleGhost: I'd suggest an intro thread for the group so more people will be aware of it.

I am another 999 Challenge person but I am building mini-challeges into my list for next year. One of them is Dewey Decimal TBRs. Another is 1001 Books. I did not set them up for this year but OCD type that I am, I will do that for next year. I am finding the challenges hugely rewarding. They motivate me to read the good stuff. I am still doing a lot of free-lance purely R&R after-work reading (fantasy, sci-fi and mysteries), which probably means I will not complete my challenge, but I have, in a sense, already "won". It has been years since I have worked at reading anything substantial and I am big time glad I discovered LT to pull me back out of the tired and lazies. I need the discipline of a list and a challenge to keep me pushing myself. I like the exercise. I had become an intellectual couch potato - and asleep at that!

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Zoe, are you going to set up that wiki page?

I've never actually used the wiki, so it might take me a while to figure out what to do when I eventually get around to it. If someone else is able to set it up right away, that would be great!

*whistles and waits for someone else to volunteer*

>27 VisibleGhost:
Did you start the mini challenge here on LT? If you did could you post a link for us to check it out? I really like the concept, especially since it could fit into the larger goals.... maybe I'll feel like I'm making headway in my 75 challenge with little markers :)

katelism, I didn't want to offend anyone by pushing the group but since you asked here's the group link.

http://www.librarything.com/groups/minichallengepopular

I would really like to see a Challenges & Mini-Challenges group. One central place to see what's out there. Each C & MC could have a thread with a description and a link to the group. I'd also like to see more Mini-Challenges on LT. The are tons on them on the blogs, but I personally don't want to have to set up a blog and post to one.

Not related to this but kind of, it would be nice to have all the group reads and their time frames posted in one place too. Perhaps a thread on that group. I am thinking of kind of a one-stop place to see what's going on in groups that you might be interested in participating in but might not have stumbled upon, especially if it's not a large and very active group.

Just my two cents.

Oh, and VisibleGhost, thanks for starting a specific mini-challenge group here on LT. I don't read popular science much but I'm still glad to see someone starting to bring the mini-challenges here. Good luck on yours and hosting the group.

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You know, something like a 'challenges and group reads central' (Or 'LT Events', which could also include author chats) is a great idea for the site overall, in fact - I'm not thinking of a group so much as something larger (haha!). If we can have LT local to find out what's going on in the book world near us, we should be able to have something similar to find out what's going on on LT that we might want to take part in.

It could function kind of like local, have an optional homepage module, and allow you to show upcoming LT 'events' by topic or keyword - things like 'science fiction' or 'young adult' or 'popular science' or 'group read' or 'challenge' or 'mini challenge' - and then each event could have its own page that describes what it is and offers appropriate links to particular groups or threads.

The wiki could do much of this, but the problem is that the wiki is not very integrated into the site. Something that is a /part/ of LT would be very nice. Really, it's kind of silly that we have all these ways to interact with each other about books, but they're actually kind of hard to find!

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I think you're right about the wiki not being sufficiently integrated into the site to be of use to most people. What happens is that information in the wiki is often not used because regular users don't usually "happen upon" that information in navigating this site.

Feel free to ignore this post.
Since you guys are interested in challenges I thought I'd let you know that I also made a min-challenge group, 6 Degrees of Separation. Feel free to check it out, or as previously stated, feel free to ignore. Or if you feeling between apathetic and interested, feel free to shake your head at my shameless promoting :)

http://www.librarything.com/groups/minichallenge6degree#forums

Why are you reopening a topic from 2009 to advertise another website?

I'm sorry. I had absolutely no clue that it wasn't allowed, or that somehow people would find it offensive. It said in the first post "what reading challenges are you doing, on LT or elsewhere?", and I was doing a challenge elsewhere. We didn't have that many participants in the past, so I thought people on here might be interested. I have absolutely no clue why my post was flagged!!! There wasn't anything wrong with it, in my opinion. Rather than offend more people, however, I removed it.

Also, I'm just curious, is there a rule about opening an old topic again? I thought that it was allowed, but I'm still semi-new here (a few months, I guess), so I probably don't know all the social rules yet, just those I agreed to when I joined.

>41 SDaisy:

You are perfectly welcome to open up dormant threads! That is not a problem at all.

I think the problem was that people were thinking you only opened up this thread to discuss (read: advertise) another website while you thought you were just sharing a reading challenge.

>42 lilisin:

Thank you so much for your kind reply. I wasn't intending to advertise anything, because I'm not selling anything, and the only benefit I could get from posting about the reading challenge on here is more people talking about books and a better challenge. I saw this thread in a LT search, and thought, "Oh, hey, that looks like the perfect place to talk about it." XD

>43 SDaisy: Here's another consideration for you, having to do more with resurrecting old threads than in anything that was in your original post...

When you are responding to something that was last alive in 2009, you aren't really gathering the interested audience that you might have hoped for. I glanced over the previous participants, just now, and only a couple of those people are still active. I'd say you'd have had much better luck with the conversation you were looking for if you'd made your own, brand new thread, over in the book challenge arena. You might try looking through the list of groups offered here on LT (and I admit it's a bewildering array of offerings),

http://www.librarything.com/groups

One of the more common (and very active) is 50 Book Challenge (don't let the name scare you off; like most fun things, there aren't strict rules).

http://www.librarything.com/groups/50bookchallenge

I recognize that you're new, and still feeling your way around. Try hanging out in some of the challenge groups for a while. They're probably just what you are looking for.

When the thread you responded to was new, LT was new also, and there weren't nearly as many groups. Book Talk tends to be a catchall, and this is due in no small part because it's the first choice when posting a generic topic. Trust me, there are kindred spirits in the book challenge groups that you'd probably enjoy hanging out with (please note that I'm in zero of those groups).

No worries.

Also, usually it is enough to write one message in a suitable group, and not several in different groups.

>44 Lyndatrue:
I also made a thread for it (as MarthaJeanne pointed out), but I thought that this thread looked like a nice place to post about it as well. I liked the idea of the thread, how people could share about the challenges they were in, because as you said, the amount of groups is bewildering and my new thread might be overlooked among the multitudes of others. Thanks for your reply. :-)