Happy New Year! I like the beginning of the year. It always feels like a chance to start over and forget any bad luck you’ve had the previous year.
So, why not start off 2011 with books?
I did! 🙂 I finished off 2010 with a trip to the bookstore yesterday and picked up the top four books–Dead is Just a Rumor by Marlene Perez, The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, The Dark Divine by Bree Despain, and Nightshade by Andrea Cremer–and then Matched by Ally Condie arrived in the mail on Thursday.
I read 28 books in 2010, which is okay, but not as much as I’ve read in previous years. There are SO many books that have come out lately I want to read, so I hope to read more in 2011. If you want to read more too, there are lots of book challenges hosted by bloggers out there you can join in on. Here are some of my favorites:
- Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge hosted by The Book Vixen: Read more in 2011 than you did in 2010.
- Show Me the Free Reading Challenge hosted by The Unread Reader: Since getting a Kindle a month ago, I’ve discovered that there are lots of books randomly offered for free download, often to promote an upcoming release from the author. I now have at least 30 e-books on my Kindle that I downloaded for free from Amazon, all waiting to be read. You don’t even have to have a Kindle if you want to read them too, there are free Kindle applications for your phone or computer that you can use. Check out ereaderiq.com for current free books.
- The Debut Author Challenge hosted by The Story Siren: Discover new authors by reading 2011 debuts. There are a lot of great debuts coming this year!
- 2011 Audio Book Challenge hosted by Teresa’s Reading Corner: My iPod hooks into my car, so I love listening to audiobooks on my way to and from work. Audiobooks really help me to get through my to read list faster than I could have by only reading.
- Retold Fairy Tales & Enchanted Cousins Challenge hosted by Among the Muses: Read books inspired by the fairy tales we heard as kids. I have several books like that on my to read list already!
- Support Your Local Library Challenge hosted by The Book Junkie: You don’t HAVE to buy every book you read. The library is happy to lend you books for free (as long as you turn them in on time, which is the problem I always have). I love my local library, the staff is always very friendly and I love browsing through their shelves for new books to read.
- Young Adult Reading Challenge hosted by For the Love of YA: Now this is a challenge that I could easily do! 😉 Just read a bunch of YA books throughout the year. Easy and fun!
- Paranormal YA Challenge hosted by For the Love of YA: Challenge yourself to read at least 12 paranormal YAs this year.
- Full Steampunk Ahead! Challenge hosted by Book Soulmates: Steampunk is a genre I’m just beginning to discover, so I’m looking forward to reading more of it this year.
Those are only a few of the TONS of challenges available for 2011 if you want to increase your reading or discover new genres and authors. Head over to A Novel Challenge to find even more.
I’m going to (unofficially) take part in all of these challenges I’ve listed. (Remember that one book can count for several challenges–a YA Steampunk could count for both the Steampunk Challenge and the YA reading challenge, and even the debut author challenge if it’s a debut book.) How are you challenging yourself this year?