A Love For Lit: Challenges

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge

So i found this awesome booklist! It's called 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die! It's looks to be mostly classic-type books from all periods of times and all countries! The list has been revised 3 times. My list below includes all the books from all 3 lists! In total, that is 1294 books! I have a notorious reputation for hating classic books... :( I definitely want to atleast attempt this! I'm hoping to read 1 to 3 books per month...so that is like 35 to 107 YEARS to read them all and thats only if i'm real loyal..lol.

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With love,
Margaret

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2013 60 Books a Year Challenge

I decided to set my Goodreads challenger to 60 books this year! I will add them below as i read them!

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With love,
Margaret

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2013 Pageturns Reading Challenge

This is my own challenge, hosted here! I'm challenging myself to 10,000 pageturns in 2013! In theory, one book is about 200 pages, so 10,000 would be about 50 books! Im doing 60 books a year also but ive noticed myself trending towards small books, so this we be a good challenge for me. In 2012, I turned about 8300 pages according to Goodreads.

Leave a comment if you are doing a page turning challenge! :D

With love,
Margaret

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2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge

Hosted by On a Book Bender & Reading the Paranormal

Here's how it works:

Should you choose to participate in this challenge, your goal is to read at least twelve (12) legally obtained FREE e-books. While twelve is the minimum there is no maximum limit.
Anyone can join. You don't have to be a blogger, and you don't have to live in the United States.
Any E-Reader will work for this challenge, including: iPad, Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Sony Reader, enTourage.
Please Note: If you don't have an e-reading device, you can still join in with Amazon'sFree Kindle Reading Apps which you can download for your iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, Blackberry and more.
The challenge runs from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. You can join at any time.
e-books in ANY genre count for this challenge as long as it was FREE at the time that you downloaded it.
Every month in 2013, I will make a post for the 2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge so you can link your reviews. Based on participation, monthly link ups may be combined.

Challenge Guidelines:

If you have a blog, create a post announcing your participation in the challenge. Please include a link back to this post.
Non bloggers: participate by linking up your profile URL from the site you plan to post your reviews on such as Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThing, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.
When you post your book review, you MUST reveal how you obtained the free & legal download. Please make your source clear. We do not condone piracy of any sort.
You can list your books in advance or list them as you read them.
Crossovers to other reading challenges is acceptable, but ARCs/galley e-books DO NOTcount. Again, this is a Reading Challenge to read as many of the FREE e-books legally offered for your e-reader. To get started, check out the Top 100 Free books on Amazom, or the Free e-books on Barnes & Noble.

Levels:
Coupon Clipper: 12 Books
Penny Pincher: 24 Books
Buying in Bulk: 36 Books
Super Saver: 50 Books
Extreme Couponer: 100+ Books

Hmm hard to decided... But i think i'll do... Penny Pincher (24 free books) I'll list them Later!

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With love,
Margaret

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2013 UtopYA Reading Challenge

Hosted by My Pathway to Books & Give it to Cupcake

Levels
5- Gnome
10- Fairy
15- Mermaid
20- Werewolf
25- Vampire
30- Angel

Challenge Rules
1. The books must be written by an author that is a panelist, exhibitor or attendee of UtopYA Con 2013.
2. The challenge will start on January 1, 2013 and end December 31, 2013 but you may join at anytime.
3. You don't have to have a blog to participate. Just join in on the fun somehow! P.S. that means authors please participate too! We would love to have you.
4. The books can be in any format (ebooks, paperback, scroll, etc.)
5. To join the challenge
if your a blogger, make a blogpost with the challenge button and tell us what level you've picked and link your post to the linky.
everyone else, tweet/facebook/pin/etc. what level you picked with a link to this post and link the direct link to the linky.

Prizes (prizes are to be determined but they will be awesome)
1. The person that reads the most books by UtopYA authors (books read before the Con will count x2, so if you read 15 books before the Con it will count as a score of 30)
2. Everyone that reaches their goal will be entered to win a prize
3. there will be UtopYA challenges throughout the year so be looking out for those!

I think i will chose Gnome (5 books) for this challenge. I will list my books later.

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With love,
Margaret

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Hosted by Auntie Spinelli Reads & Megan Likes Books

Guidelines:

This challenge runs from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013.
You must have a blog to able to participate, since reviews must be added to the linky.
When you sign up with the linky, please put the link to your post about joining the Paranormal Reading Challenge.
You're welcome to list your books beforehand or just add as you go.
Sign-ups are open until December 1, 2013
At the beginning of each month, I will post a kick-start post, each month featuring a different category of paranormal creature. This post will also include a linky to include your reviews from that month.
Each review you link will qualify you for an entry into the monthy giveaway and if your review includes the feature paranormal creature of that month, you get a bonus entry.
Each book can only count for one category, even if it contains more than one paranormal creature. For example, Twilight contains both vampires and werewolves, but you can't use it for both the vampires and werewolves/shifters categories.
Everyone who completes the challenge will be entered into a grand prize giveaway at the end of the year.
If you read multiple books from one category, feel free to add them to the linkies. Don't stop at just one!
Book can count for other challenges.

Each month, we'll be featuring one of the creatures on the list at both Megan Likes Books and Auntie Spinelli Reads.

January - Vampires
February - Angels/Nephilim
March - Fey
April - Demons
May - Aliens
June - Zombies
July - Witches and Wizards
August - Mermaids
September - Dragons
October - Ghosts
November - Werewolves/Shape-shifters
December - Other

This looks fun! I will list my books later!!

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With love,
Margaret

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Hosted over at Auntie Spinelli Reads.

Guidelines

The challenge runs from January 1st to December 31st.
Any books started before Jan. 1 will not count.
Any book after the first book in a series counts. Books in the same series also count.
Novellas count, as long as it is after book #1. (ex: #1.5, #2.5, etc) No prequels.
Books can be of any publication date. They don't have to be released in 2013.
Sign ups will be open until December 1st, 2013.
Add the URL of your challenge post to the linky widget. (If you'd like to wait, it's ok to use your blog URL and send me your link when you get the post up)
At the end of each month I will post a linky for you to add your sequel reviews to.
I will try to do some giveaways throughout the year for participants (as long as I can afford it).
There will be a giveaway at the end of the year for all participants who completed the challenge.

I've decided to set my goal to 20 Sequel books!
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With love,
Margaret

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Hosted by The Book Nympho & Hot Listens

Reading Challenge Details:

Runs January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013. You can join at anytime.
The goal is to find a new love for audios if you are new to them or to outdo yourself by listening to more audios in 2013 than you did in 2012.
Books must be in audio format.
ANY genres count.
Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
If you're a blogger grab the button and do a quick post about the challenge. Please include a link back to this sign-up post so others can join the reading challenge too.
You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads or LibraryThing or on your audible.com or other accounts you have.

Levels:

Newbo (Not quite addicted) 1-5 audios
Ear Worm (Narrator's voice gets stuck in your head) 5-10 audios
Tickle Me Audio (Seriously, I'm getting serious) 10-15 audios
Plugged In (I can quit anytime) - 15+ audios

This one is hard for me to choose, but i think i'll do Ear Worm (5 to 10 audio books)! I'll post my books up soon!

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With love,
Margaret

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2012 in Review & Goals for 2013

Well surprise surprise...i didn't finish my 2012 50 book goal! This strikes me as somewhat odd because i read like 70 or something books in 2011. I figured 50 books was "taking it easy". In theory, 50 books a year is about 1 book a week, with 2 weeks off. Seeing how i can comfortably read about 2 to 3 books a week, i figured 50 would be perfect.

In the early months i had that "put off" mentality. You know, the good old "i have a whole year, so why hustle now?" I knew going into the challenge that it would be soo easy. About half way through the year, i was doing good, about a book or 2 ahead. Around Halloween all the craziness started. (Getting sick, traveling, reading slump, laptop broke, Christmas shopping) By the middle of December, i had like 8 books left. I read some small books and tried to pull in some under the wire..but no, that didn't work. I think the last stats was 46 out of 50 books.

In 2013, i want to do a better job at planning my reading out through the year. I was thinking of doing about 2 a week or maybe 1 every 3 days. Those scenarios would equal about 100 or so books total. Then i was thinking of going real precise and doing 1 1/2 books per week, which would equal to like 78. I want it to be more than 50 but less than 100. Ultimately, i think i'll choose 60....about 6 to 7 days per book. This way i'll have a little room in case of another reading slump.

I think i'll go to goodreads now and set in stone... 60 books a year. Wow, feels good to set a new goal...feel even better that i've already started reading my first book! Awesome! So how did you do last year... And whats your goal this year?

With love,
Margaret

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2012 50 Book Challenge... Will I make it?

Well I have a small dilemma...I set out to read 50 books in 2012 and i was doing excellent at first! In January and February i read like 15 books! Throughout the rest of the year i read about 3 or 4 a month...up until October that is... Some time in the middle of October i started feeling kind of ugh about reading. You know, the good ole reading slump! Then we were getting ready for Halloween...then my birthday. After that, i was totally sick for two weeks and had to go to the Emergency Room... After that came Thanksgiving then getting ready for Christmas... So yeah, for one reason or another, I haven't been able (or didn't want) to read diddly squat. So now, here i am with less than two weeks left for this year brandishing a grand total of 42 books.

My dilemma is that i read slow as molasses! I usually can get through a book in 2 or 3 days, but that's only if i don't do anything else. It would take *does math* 24 days to read the 8 books... but to put a chink in things, i have too much still to do for Christmas, plus right after Christmas, we are going out of town, not to return until 2013. Sigh, sigh, sigh. Since failure is not an option, I've been thinking of some remedies!

Ok first thing could be novellas. Yeah, i know: Its practically cheating...but hey, the author puts it on Amazon in a standalone format...so i guess i can consider it as a book. :D Next would be Audiobooks! My "main" laptop broke unfortunately and all of my ebooks (300+) and audiobooks (35+) were on there. Thankful a while back i was "experimenting" with dropbox and to my astonishment, most of my files were on there (although i don't remember putting them on there). I got a totally awesome chromebook for Christmas, so i could probably play them on there.... I hope i have enough...

*UPDATE*

I did employ the "novella" principle last night and was able to get 4 books out of the way. For the last 4, I am hoping to do an audiobook per day... :/ Any other advice or ideas would be great.. hehe. Also, how are y'all doing on your own challenge?

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With love,
Margaret

http://www.goodreads.com/profile/SweetSwan