2019 Reading Challenge

The wait is over, readers! The 2019 Reading Challenge is finally here! I think that Tress (find her blog here) and I were both really shocked at how much the 2018 challenge had taken off. I know that I definitely was! Since 2018 is wrapping up (where in the hell did this year go???), we wanted to go ahead and get the 2019 challenge ready to go! If you want to see what we did for the 2018 challenge, you can find that here.) I'll post my final update for the 2018 challenge sometime near New Years. I'm hoping to make a push for a couple more books on it still.
Here's a bit about this year's challenge. Both Tress and I really liked the format we came up with, and I don't think either of us really wanted to step away from that. She's ultra-organized, and I live in spreadsheets, so it just works for us. We really tried to make each level harder than the next, as much as we could. For me, however, I'm sporadic in reading and will get caught in a series on Kindle Unlimited and then find myself without places to put the books I read. This has already happened on the 2018 challenge, and I end up having read a lot of books that just don't fit. It's a bit of a motivation killer, to be honest.

Before even sitting down to develop the 2019 challenge, I really wanted to include a way to combat my reading tendencies. There were some topics in 2018 that I was dreading tackling, and while there are some in the 2019 challenge, (here's looking at you a previously abandoned book and political figure spots) I think there's a ton I'm really looking forward to diving into. I might actually plan ahead to do better this year. If you know me, feel free to laugh at that last statement.

The idea of how to go about this challenge is the same as last year's. There are five levels, each hopefully getting more difficult. There are 12 books in each level for a grand total of 60 books. You can complete it in order if you like or skip around. Tress tries to read in order and I definitely just jump around. Some of the categories are the same as last year, some are different. There was a handful of topics that we really liked and are broad enough that we felt good about keeping them. New to the 2019 challenge is that the last spot in each level is a free space. Feel free to use these as you feel fit. This is hopefully going to tame my binge reading that's not relevant to the challenge, and I'm guessing Tress will use it for rereads, but I'll let her talk about what she plans to do with them.

I've included a PDF that you can download and use if you like. I'm just going to make a list on the blog, so the pdf is going to look different. I'm way too lazy to do an HTML table this year. So, numbered list it is! After the list, I'll talk a bit more about which ones I'm excited about, and some of my plans for what I think could work for some of the topics.

If you'd like a PDF version to download, you can download it here.

2019 Reading Challenge

Level 1: Book of the Month Club

 1.) A book with a red cover
 2.) Read a YA fiction
 3.) A book under 300 pages
 4.) A book you got for free
 5.) Reread the first book of a series you love
 6.) Read a book that takes place during the summer
7.) A book whose title starts with the letter M
8.) Read a romance novel
9.) A book that has been turned into a TV Show or Movie
10.) A book with a title done in alliteration (example: Pride and Prejudice)
11.) A New York Time's Best Seller (Past or Present)
12.) Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 2: Casual Reader Club

 13.) A book by John Grisham
 14.) Read a Fantasy novel

15.) Read a book with a color in the title
16.) Reread a book you have recommended to someone else
17.) Read a detective novel
18.) A book with a number in the title
19.) Read a book about dragons
20.) Read a book published by Penguin Random House
21.) Read a book found on Project Gutenberg
22.) A book about an artist (fictional or real)
23.) A book that was published in 1999
24.) Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club

25.) Read book 1 in a trilogy
26.) Read book 2 in the same trilogy
27.) Read book 3 in the same trilogy
28.) Read a book recommended by a friend on Social Media
29.) A book about a Librarian
30.) A book about breaking a code or a treasure hunt
31.) Read a book by Brandon Sanderson
32.) Read a book that takes place in a large city
33.) A book suggested by https://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/
34.) A book for under $3.00
35.) A book with exactly three words in the title
36.) Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 4: Speed-Reader Club

37.) A book over 500 pages
38.) A book about time travel
39.) A book with a form of weather in the title
40.) Read a book published in 1969
41.) A book authored by a Catherine/Katherine or variant
42.) A book by Anne Rice
43.) A book from Time's All-time top 100 book list (find it here)
44.) Read a coming of age novel
45.) A book involving mythology
46.) Read a self-published book
47.) A book with the word dream in the title
48.) Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 5: Overachiever Club

49.) Read a book on a banned book list
50.) The most recent book in a series you haven't finished
51.) A book that you judged by its cover (either positively or negatively)
52.) A book that takes place in your home state
53.) A book that takes place before 1965
54.) Read a biography
55.) Read a book you've previously abandoned
56.) A book about a real or fictional politician
57.) A book set in Asia
58.) A book with a tree or forest on the cover
59.) A book with the letter Z in the title
60.) Free Space- Pick any book!

Thoughts going forward:

I feel like we did an awesome job keeping level 1 simple. I don't really have any titles that stand out to me that I for sure want to include on this tier. There's a lot of options. I think if you do this one order level 1 is a good one to get motivated for the rest of the challenge.

I think the topic I'm most excited about on level 2 is "Reread a book you have recommended to someone else." That one was Tress's idea, and it might actually be my favorite on the entire list. I have a few books in mind for this one but don't have it narrowed down to one yet. I will say I want to pick one that I've already reviewed on the blog so I can compare and contrast my thoughts. 

Number 25, 26, and 27 were the ones I was most proud of coming up with. This was another way to combat both Tress and I's tendencies to get sucked into series with nowhere to put them. There are so many options for these spots, but the idea is that you read one full trilogy for the spots, if it's not apparent. I foresee myself putting Nora Roberts books there because so much of her books are already trilogies.  If anyone needs a suggestion for "A book about a Librarian" Charlaine Harris has an entire mystery series where the main character is a Librarian. It's her Aurora Teagarden series.

I'm pretty neutral about level four. There's not anything that I'm super excited about, but nothing that I'm cringing at reading either. I actually think this level will be reasonably easy, but we'll see how it actually plays out.

I think that level 5 is the one that has the ones I'm cringing about. I'm dreading the topics of a book that you've previously abandoned, a book about a politician, and a biography. But it's a challenge, so we had to include some that seem daunting. As of right now, I plan to get through level 1 and then figure it out from there, but knowing me I'll probably go about it like I do everything; like a puppy who gets easily distracted by everything.

I would absolutely love to hear what your thoughts on both this upcoming challenge! If you went through the 2018 challenge with us, let me know how you did (or are doing.)