Friday, April 30, 2010

The Seasonal Reading Challenge

Leave me alone in a room full of books, and when you come back I'll have found the YA Fantasy section--and that's where I'll stay. When Mockingjay comes out at the end of August I'll be ready to party, and the very next week I'll be dancing in line while I wait for The Clockwork Angel. The last book I finished was Halt's Peril from the Ranger's Apprentice series--and it's not even out in the U.S. yet!

I hate to admit it, but my reading has become distinctly one dimensional, which is why I was so excited to learn about The Seasonal Reading Challenge from Goodreads. For the Spring challenge, you can earn up to 980 points. You earn points in increments of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. There is one 50 point task. The tasks are designed to get you reading outside of your comfort zone.

Some of these people are hard core readers! To complete this challenge I estimate that you would need to read almost 70 books in three months. I have no idea if anyone has ever won before or not, but I can guarantee this quarter it won't be me!

The challenges sound fun though--Go to a public area and spy on someone reading a book. Read the same book. It only counts if they don't catch you though.

Another challenge: In honor of Arbor Day--read a book with a tree on the cover. How about: Read a book from pages 3, 4, or 5 of the goodreads list Books That Everyone Should Read Once.

My first book is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and it goes with challenge 5.2: "Read a novel featuring gardens." I can't believe it's only worth 5 points!

No way I'm going to get to even 100 points. But I bet I can beat you!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Testing, testing 1, 2, 3

It's nearly impossible  to decide what I want to write about on this blog. Should I talk about my family? music? books? being an author? religion? politics?

If I waited until I knew what my niche market was, I would probably never start a blog at all. At least we can cross out politics. For right now, I'm just going to be random.

My cousin and friend Brittany has an amazing family blog, and she doesn't use her children's names on it--only their initials. Since there's no way I can have a blog without mentioning my family, I need to decide immediately if I should adopt this strategy. The real question is--am I on the ball enough to catch myself before I use their real names? Since discretion is the better part of valor, I'll give it a try. I have 4 children--J, D, J, and E. Dang, I already have a problem. Maybe JA, D, JT and E? Perhaps I'll have a brilliant flash of insight while I'm cleaning up the breakfast dishes.

I guess just starting a blog was a big enough step for today.