New Year + Reading Challenge

Hey, all! Can you believe we've just entered 2016? It flew by. But it was a great year, suffice to say.

And in this last year, I read a total of 55 books. (That's over one a week, so I'm kinda proud o' that number.) ;) I completed my GoodReads challenge to read 50, and I completed another reading challenge that I did with one of my friends. It feels so great to accomplish those challenges! Really, it does. (And GoodReads sends you an email to sum up your year in books... Totally fun for someone like me.)

Today, I just challenged myself to read 52 books this year. That's one a week. And, yes, I'll probably get more than that number in, but it's a good goal to aim for! But I was looking online for another reading challenge to do with my friend again this year, and I wasn't liking a lot of the ones I found. SO, I decided to create my own, using parts of the other challenges that I found. And I'm lettin' you all in on this one...

The only rule that applies to this reading challenge is this: you cannot count one book for two categories. Meaning: If you read a book set in, say, Paris, which you badly want to visit, and it's over 400 pages long, it can only go for either "A book set in a place you want to visit" or "A book over 400 pages long", not both. 

1. A book over 400 pages long.

2. A book set in a place you want to visit.

3. A book with royalty in it, real or fantasy.

4. A book that is under 150 pages long.

5. A book that intimidates you. (I think this one is War and Peace for me. I NEED TO FINISH IT.)

6. A nonfictional book. (This could be a biography, a Bear Grylls book on survival...which, yes, is probably going to make it on the list for me. :) I got two Bear Grylls books for Christmas! Already started one, too...)

7. A book set in your favorite time period.

8. A book that has a main character that is your opposite gender.

9. A true story. (Again, this can be a biography, a memoir of sorts, a book on WWII...anything, as long as it's a true story written as a true story.)

10. A fictional book about a historical event. (This is where you get to read a fictional book about a true story. ;))

11. A book by a New York Times bestselling author. (Ted Dekker, anyone?)

12. A book your friend recommends (and loved).

13. A book that you read with/to a sibling or friend. (This can also mean that you and your friend/sibling read one chapter a day, alone, and then discuss it together. It doesn’t have to be a read-aloud!)

14. A book set in a country outside of America.

15. The first book in a series.

16. A mystery.

17. A book (going to be) published this year, 2016.

18. A book you own but have never read.

19. A book you started and never finished.

20. A book you’ve already read once.

21. A book with a beautiful cover.

22. A book that was made into a movie.

23. A book written at least 100 years ago. (A Jane Austen or R.M. Ballantyne novel would work for this one.)

24. A book about/set in the outdoors. (Okay, so this one is totally fun. It can be a book about something in the outdoors – snowflakes, thunderstorms, survival techniques, etc. – or it can be a fictional novel set in the outdoors…such as: the protagonist surviving, lost, in the dense jungle of Peru… I’ve never actually seen a book about that, but I know Bear Grylls wrote a few novels about survivalists!)

And that’s the challenge. Are you up for it? If 24 seems like a lot, feel free to mix and match your favorites! Because…reading is about enjoying yourself.

Let’s get creative with this. Let’s expand our mental bookshelves by inching out of our normal reading habits to grab a book you wouldn’t automatically read. Perhaps. Because maybe that book is the start of a new adventure. And what is life without adventure?

To another year of adventuring…in books and in faith and in life.

Happy reading! And happy New Year...

~Micaiah K.~

P.S. That ‘Top Ten of 2015’ post I mentioned? It’s late, yes, but it’s still on the way. It just takes time…that I haven’t set aside yet. (Lots of links and pictures and things to find online…)