Friday, November 25, 2011

Challenges 2012


It's that time of year to decide what challenges, if any, to join for 2012. Since my main goal for the coming year is to clear out more books from the looming piles and the ever increasing e-books on my Nook, I decided to join this challenge, Off the Shelf hosted by Bonnie at Bookish Ardour. Okay, so Cheryl at CMash loves to read was my inspiration. Her enthusiasm is catching. So, I'm jumping in with both feet and going for the "Hoarder" level. I love the fact that it is both e-books and physical books. That should start to make a dent in the stacks.

Off The Shelf 2012

This is the second year running for Off The Shelf!, with last year being an overwhelming success (over 300 participants), and we hope this year it does just as well! There are some differences this time, thanks to a new year, new place, and some experience. Have a read below, if you have any questions ask away, and the most important part of it is to have fun!

What It’s All About

Do you love books? Do you love them so much your to be read list seems to keep growing, and growing, and growing? Is space on your bookshelf taken up with unread books? Is your eBook library burgeoning with unread stories? We’ve been there at BA and we still are!

This challenge is to read those books you own a copy of, print, digital, and audio, you have been meaning to read, but never gotten to. If you don’t own enough books for the challenge you can read your TBR list instead. And no, you do not need to get rid of your books afterwards, that’s completely your choice, this challenge is only to read them.

The Deets

•The Main Rule: Do not include books acquired during 2012, it defeats the purpose, read those books from before 2012 started!

•Running Dates: 1st of January – 31st of December 2012
•When Can I Sign Up: All the way up to the last two weeks of December!
•Crossover Genres: Anything! The name of the game is to turn those unread books into read ones.
•Mr Linky: To use the Mr Linky you’ll need to click on the graphic then enter your link. These will be updated and posted into this page every couple of weeks or so.
•Further Details: Crossover challenges are fine, you can change levels at any time, this is eBook, short story, and graphic novel friendly, and you don’t need a blog to join in (read further for details).

The How To

1.Choose Your Level:These are listed further down and you can change levels at any time.


Challenge Badge

2.Grab The Badge: Place it somewhere on your blog, profile, or in a signature where possible and link back (main page or this page, it’s up to you).
3.Sign Up Post: Create a post on your blog, in a group, or on a forum (only if allowed) to let others see what you’re aiming for (a predefined list of books is optional).
4.Link Up: Grab the direct URL to your sign up post, not your blog, click the Mr Linky graphic and enter your link!
5.Blogless? Don’t worry, you can sign up with your social network profile (YouTube, Twitter, GoodReads, Shelfari included), just make sure you link to your review list, shelf, tweet, or category. If you don’t have any of those feel free to comment!

Afterwards

1.Your Reviews: Reviewing is optional! But if you do review we’d love for you to share them by submitting them on the Review Page (including social networks).
2.Finished: When you’re done it’s completion post time and you can share these on the Completion Post page!


Challenge Levels
1.Tempted– Choose 5 books to read
2.Trying – Choose 15 books to read
3.Making A Dint – Choose 30 books to read
4.On A Roll – Choose 50 books to read
5.Flying Off – Choose 75 books to read
6.Hoarder – Choose between 76-135 books to read
7.Buried – Choose between 136-200 books to read

Extra Challenges

If you feel like that extra kick to your reading challenges here’s a couple you can choose from.
•World: Choose a country as your theme, reading only books from that country or where it’s the setting. For how high you go you can choose more than one country;
•Level Tempted and Trying: Choose one country
•Level Making a Dint and On A Roll: Choose two countries
•Level Flying Off to end of Hoarder: Choose three countries
•Level Buried: Choose four countries.
•Gender Battle: Read books only by female or male authors. Another alternative is to read equal amounts of both.




Since I read a ginormous fair amount of cozies, I thought why not join the cozy challenge hosted by Yvonne at Socrates Book Reviews. I signed up for the super sleuth level.


From Yvonne:
"Welcome to the second annual Cruisin' thru the Cozies Reading Challenge! My interest in the cozies hasn't diminished in the past year. If anything, it has increased. LOL So, this is one reading challenge I plan to continue hosting.

I love cozy mysteries and I want to read more of them this year. To find out exactly what a cozy mystery is, check out Cozy-Mystery.com. This site is dedicated to cozy mysteries and does a great job of defining them as well as giving a list of cozy mysteries. This challenge is NOT restricted to what is on their list, it's just to be used as a guideline in case you need some hints on what to read.

So, here are the rules...

1. Choose the level you wish to participate:

Level 1 - Snoop - Read at least 6 books
Level 2 - Investigator - Read 7-12 books
Level 3 - Super Sleuth - Read 13 or more books
2. The challenge runs from January 1, 2012 and ends December 31, 2012.

3. You don't have to choose your books in advance. If you do, you can change your list at any time during the year. Books can overlap with other challenges.

4. Books can be in any format - paper, audio, ebooks...it all counts!

5. You don't have to post a review, but I'm sure others would love to know about the books you are reading and may even want to add it to their reading lists.

NOTE: If you don't have a blog and want to participate, that's fine. You don't have to have a blog, just post in the comments section as you finish books.

6. Take the button above, put it on your blog and post about the challenge. Then add your name to Mr. Linky below...Please use the link of your challenge post, not the link to your home page.

Have fun!"

Well, these two should keep me occupied during the year keeping to my goals. How about you? Have you signed up for one or two challenges or maybe close to a dozen like "someone" I know? *giggles*  Happy reading in 2012 and have fun with it. After all, reading is a pleasure!

10 comments:

  1. WooHoo...you go girl!!! I'll be cheering you on!! Hoarder level...you are determined, aren't you? GL!!!

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  2. Oh my, these are all such great challenges! I am only doing one this year, I think, and it's totally self directed. I want to read one classic a month for the year. I tried this last year, and gave up in March, when things got too hectic! I am bound and determined to make it this year!

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  3. Way to go... I am doing the cozy challenge, and a Mount of TBR challenge, about the same as Off the Shelf challenge you joined. Have fun with the challenges.

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  4. Good luck, Kaye... these both sounds like fun. I'll start out the year with C.B. James' TBR Double Dare by reading only books from my tbr pile until April 1.

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  5. Thanks for joining us, Kaye! Good luck with it and have fun! I'm still trying to decide which challenges to do.

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  6. I signed up for the super sleuth for the cozies challenge too! It's going to be fun discovering new cozies.

    Good luck with your challenges.

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  7. Good luck with the challenges for 2012 Kaye. I'm still on the fence whether I'll be joining any, although I was able to finish all the ones I joined in 2011.

    Hope u had a nice Thanksgiving. Playiny catch up this evening:(

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  8. I just may have to do the Off The Shelf Challenge as that is what I really want to work on for next year.

    Good Luck in 2012!!

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  9. I am participating in the Off the Shelf Challenge, too. I am impressed at your level. I am down in the "Trying" (15 books) section. I figure I can read more but since my reading has been slow this year trying to keep myself from getting, well, ahead of myself! lol Good luck!

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