Saturday, May 14, 2011

The "Books I Should Have Read By Now" Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

A few days ago, Nonners of Ridiculous Reviews posted a comment on one of my reviews which, unfortunately, got deleted after the whole Blogger debacle. My response to it also got deleted so I'm not sure if she saw it or not.

Basically she saw the On My Shelf page that I painstakingly put together earlier this week and was surprised (although I'm going to guess that it was actually closer to "appalled") by the number of classics that I haven't read yet. I'd noticed it to and decided that it was high time I did something about it.

So I'm challenging myself to read more classics, specifically two a month. I'm calling this the:

Image acquired from this site.

My goal is to read two classic books each month from June 1st to December 31st, 2011. That adds up to twelve classics between now and the end of the year. I'm not sure which ones I'll be reading yet but they will all be from my "On My Shelf" list.

So, thank you, Nonners, for inspiring this new challenge. Whenever I post a review of one of these books feel free to obsess in the comments. :)

Now for the fun part: I'm inviting any interested book bloggers to join in on this challenge. The books you choose don't have to be classics, but they do have to be books that you own that you should have read by now. Any of those tomes that are collecting dust on your shelf are free game. Each month I'll be reporting my progress in a post and participants can feel free to link to any and all reviews they've written for this challenge.

There are three levels that you can take on for this challenge:

Casual Reader: At least 1 book a month
Avid Reader: At least 2 books a month
Voracious Reader: At least 3 books a month

You can sign up to participate at any time during the challenge. When you add your blog to the list below, include your blog's name and the level that you're choosing for the challenge. Reading for the challenge begins June 1st but the links tool is now open for anyone wanting to sign up early.

-Gabe





19 comments:

  1. Gah I have hundreds of the things! Maybe I should add all the books I bought new to the list when I could have waited for a swap or mooch to come up...yet I still haven't read them!

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  2. WOOT!! You know I never liked classics when I was younger...I was reading like, thousands upon thousands of sifi novels...mom got scared and shoved A Room With A View in my hands and of I went. So...YAY...This will be so much fun!!

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  3. Btw, I did get your response. And I actually responded back.

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  4. Glad to see people are joining in on this. I can't wait to see what you all read.

    Nonners: I'm glad you saw it I just wish that I had gotten your response. Blogger deleted any comments that happened on Thursday and Friday so I didn't see it. :(

    I read some classics when I was younger but I definitely appreciate them more now. My family's view was as long as I was reading something they were happy with it. I think my eclectic tastes are a direct result of that, although I can't say that I wouldn't have appreciated people buying books of a higher caliber for me to read.

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  5. I have a similar challenge on my blog. I would love to join yours. I will participate as the casual reader.This will be so fun.

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  6. Thanks for the follow! Good luck on both challenges. :)

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  7. I love this challenge and it's something I started doing last year calling it the "Fifteen in 2010" and again this year another "Fifteen in 2011" with the personal promise if I didn't read it by the end of the year I'd get rid of the book.

    So let's see . . . I'll put myself down as a voracious reader. I want to reread all of Jane Austen and read some of the works I've never read before, like her juvenilia. That plus the fifteen I already committed to reading should equal three books a month but I can easily tuckle in a few other books as needed.

    Count me in! I'll post reviews in my book blog.

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  8. Glad to hear your on board. Feel free to post your reviews on the monthly link-up. :)

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  9. I love this idea! I have so many books on my shelves that haven't been read yet and this is a great chance to finally get to them!

    ~Loren

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  10. I'm in! I've already planned my books and put them up on my post. This should give me the push I need to finally plug some of the worst gaps in my reading. Great challenge!

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  11. Glad to have you both on board. As it's the first challenge I've ever hosted, I was afraid no one would join, but I'm happy to see so many people are interested in it. :)

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  12. Very cool blog and challenge. I'm down.

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  13. I have posted The List! I will have to print it out and put it in plain sight.

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  14. I'm checking out your list right now. :)

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  15. I just finished the first book in the challenge but the review won't go "live" until Friday. So what do I have to do to qualify as a participant? My name seems to be missing in the list above and I hate being invited to a party and then left out.

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  16. Satia: I'm not sure where your link went to. I haven't deleted any of them so it may have been an issue with the site that I use. Definitely repost it; the more the merrier. :)

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  17. Well - you will have lots of built-in entries to our The Classic Bribe challenge and giveaway my dear. I see an Amazon gift card in your future at this rate...

    -Molly

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  18. I try to avoid challenges these days but I am so tempted by this one. There are at least 10 books that I know are excellent that I always think "Why haven't I read that yet?" I may be back to sign up...

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