Reading Challenges

I normally give myself a reading challenge each year based on the number of books I want to read. Last year I started something new by promising to read all of Beverly Cleary's work. She nurtured my love of reading when I graduated from picture books to chapter books as a child. I decided to revisit that special time and make sure I hadn't missed anything. I continued to read other books as well, which caused me to take longer than I had expected. Now a year and a few months later, I am left with six still to read.

In the process of creating a list of Beverly's books, I learned that she wrote a few based on the show Leave It to Beaver. I got so excited about this because I'd never seen them before. Alas, I haven't been able to find these books through the library, and they're out of my price range elsewhere. I will have to go without reading these for the time being.

Leave It to Beaver

Beaver and Wally

Here's Beaver!

While it seems I have failed at my first non-numerical challenge, it hasn't stopped me from considering more of them. That's where this blog comes into play. I don't know about you, but I find that I'm much more diligent when I'm forced to keep track of my progress. Not only that, but it cuts down on the numerous list bearing pieces of paper that I leave around the house. It doesn't hurt that I love to write, either.

I've set myself to reading 100 books this year, but having already read 47, I'm thinking that's not much of a challenge on its own. I want to start another author challenge, but I need to finish Beverly's first. I tend to read 4-5 books at a time, so having multiple requirements should be no problem. And no, I don't get confused between the different story lines. People always ask me that. Think about books as if they are television shows that you watch each week. You wouldn't mix up Spongebob and Glee, would you? So, now to the challenges.

For the year: 100 Books, Beverly Cleary, Jeanne DuPrau

Jeanne DuPrau is the author of the Ember series, which I love, and I'm very interested to see how I like her other writing.

For the month of May: Book titles that begin with each letter in May (the word the omitted for its commonness), Delirium for We ♥ YA Books!, The Strange Case of Finley Jayne (my first steampunk book), The Story of My Life (Helen Keller's autobiography).

M - The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

A - Any Red-Blooded Girl by Maggie Bloom

Y - You by Charles Benoit (It's not easy to find books that start with Y.)

I'm really looking forward to getting started. I'm currently reading The Diamond of Darkhold - the 4th in the Ember series, The Hunger Games - not quite living up to the hype yet, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - audio book, the reader played Dr. Terminus in Pete's Dragon and he does a fantastic job with different voices, Dear Mr. Henshaw for my Beverly Cleary challenge, and Rinkitink in Oz with my youngest daughter at bedtime - the disgruntled talking goat is quite entertaining.

If you're not already a member of Goodreads and you love to read, you should take a look at the website. Book reviews, reading & discussion groups, lists out the wazoo, book giveaways (I just won one today), and lots of other fun stuff. Feel free to add me as a friend while you're over there.