Reading Challenges, Old and New

Being such an avid reader, I never really felt the need to participate in any of the reading challenges I see around the blogs. But this past year, I did join in two challenges and enjoyed doing them. So I decided that I would continue doing a few this year as well.  In this post I will take a quick look at the challenges from 2023 that I did and tell you about the ones I plan on participating in this year.

GoodReads Reading Challenge 2023

I have been doing this challenge since 2019 and I always meet my goal. For the most part pretty easily, but there have been one or two years where doing this challenge stressed me out a little bit. I kind of felt pressured to read more books! This year I want to slow down my reading and read less books, or at least not feel pressure to read them. With this in mind I have decided not to set a limit this year and see if that helps.

The Nonfiction Challenge 2023 and 2024

The Nonfiction Challenge was the first challenge I decided to do this year. I was never a huge nonfiction reader, but I would read at least 1 or 2 a year. But the last five or so years, I don’t think I had read any, so I joined this challenge to encourage myself to read a few more in 2023. My goal was to read at least 3 nonfiction books and I actually managed to read 8. I have not yet officially joined this year’s challenge as I am still deciding what my goal will be, but I do plan on doing it and doing a better job of following through with reviewing and tagging the nonfiction books I read. Look for a post later this month with more information. 

The Year Long Scavenger Hunt 2023 and hopefully 2024

I already did a long post about this challenge, which you can read here. I had a lot of fun doing this one and I hope that there will be a new one set up for this year soon. This was a good one because it was a year long, so I could still pick books to read on whatever I was in the mood for and then could find a category to put it under. I should have maybe spent a little more time thinking about the topics though, as I did struggle a little with the two science fiction prompts. I just didn’t read that much scifi last year. But it all worked out in the end.

New this year: Epic Reads Next Page Reading Challenge 2024

I get a weekly newsletter from Epic Reads and I also follow them on Instagram. They are the online blog for Harper Collins YA division. They are doing this challenge this year and I thought it sounded fun. I really like that they only have one reading prompt, but then they have what they are calling ‘Off the Page Challenges’ which is an activity centered around reading. I may not do all of the off the page challenges but the reading ones will be at the top of my monthly tbr. For January I will be reading the first book in a series. I have chosen Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. I own a copy of this and keep meaning to read it, so now is the perfect chance. 

A Non-Reading Challenge: Photo Challenge Bingo 2024

I like to take photos with my camera when I am out walking in my neighborhood. I sometimes share them on Instagram, but not always. I have been following Maria Antonia for awhile now and just love the photos she has been posting every week. I thought about joining in the photo challenge in 2023, but was a little intimidated by the weekly challenges. Hopefully I will be able to handle a monthly one. Looking forward to this one.  

I am so looking forward to doing these challenges. I am already thinking about them and have a nonfiction book lined up to read this month. I know many of you are also doing challenges and I look forward to seeing how you progress over the year on them. Until next time…

Happy Reading!