It may seem silly, but sometimes setting myself a reading challenge – a challenge to myself but in the company of others – can help me decide to finally read a book that’s been languishing on my shelves or on my to-be-read list for ages instead of picking up the shiny new books from the library or bookstore shelves. (Not that I’m promising I’m not going to buy or borrow any new books this year, though!)
Massachusetts Center for the Book 2023 Reading Challenge
The Massachusetts Center for the Book year-long reading challenge starts off with a toughie for January – Read a book less than 100 pages in length.
Even most novellas are over 100 pages! But I found a library book to meet the challenge:
Assume the Worst by Carl Hiaasen (64 pages)
The TBR Pile Challenge Year 10
I did pretty well with Sue’s Big Book Summer challenge last year, so when I saw Adam at Roof Beam Reader was celebrating ten years of the TBR Pile Challenge, I decided I needed to try this challenge one last time. (You can view my past failures under the menu item “TBR Pile Challenges.”)
To qualify for the TBR Pile Challenge, books have to have been on my bookshelf or “To Be Read” list for AT LEAST one full year. These ten are all on my actual bookshelves and most have been on my TBR list for at least a year.
1. Light from a Distant Star by Mary McGarry Morris
2. NW by Zadie Smith
4. One Day by David Nicholls
5. The Past by Tessa Hadley
3. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
6. Fludd by Hilary Mantel
7. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
8. The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver
9. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
10. Lincoln’s Dreams by Connie Willis
Have you read any of these? Which should I read first? If you don’t see where to comment, please click on the post title and comments should appear at the bottom of the post. (Also, it should be easier to comment now, I hope, so if you’ve tried before and given up, please try again! Thanks!)
I never seem to get myself organized enough to take part in a TBR challenge, though I’d really like to do so. Maybe I could look around this afternoon…
I thought Things Fall Apart was brilliant. Emotionally moving.
Things Fall Apart is a book I found unpleasant to read, but it has lived in my imagination since and I understand why it’s a classic. I’m glad to have read it; you might be too.
[…] embarrassed to have never read. Then it sat on my shelf for a few more years, until I put it on my 2023 TBR Pile Challenge list. I’m reading it for Black History Month, as […]
[…] years and coming of age. It’s been on my TBR (To Be Read) for years, until I put it on my 2023 TBR Pile Challenge list and finally read it. I am sorry I waited so long, but it turned out to be good companion […]