I've started casting my eye about for some good challenges to enter for 2012, and here's the first one, which I found over at Musings of a Bookshop Girl. The Mixing it Up challenge involves choosing a book from a variety of different genres, and should encourage me to branch out a little more than usual. I'm going to aim for the top level - all the trimmings and a cherry on top - and will read one book from all 16 categories.
The categories are:
1. Classics - Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Biography - The Tent, the Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy
3. Cookery, food and wine - Eating for England by Nigel Slater
4. History - The First World War by Michael Howard
5. Modern Fiction - All Her Father's Guns by James Warner
6.Graphic Novels and Manga - Ethel and Ernest by Raymond Briggs
7. Crime and Mystery - The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo
8. Horror - Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
9. Romance - A January Chill by Rachel Lee
10. Sci-Fi and Fantasy - The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov
11. Travel - Nine Lives by William Dalrymple
12. Poetry and Drama - Journey's End by R.C. Sherriff
13. Journalism and Humour - Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell
14. Science and Natural History - Six Feet Over by Mary Roach
15. Children's and Young Adult - Jennings Goes to School by Anthony Buckeridge
16. Social Sciences and Philosophy - Breakfast with Socrates by Robert Rowland Smith
Some of the categories, like Modern Fiction, are going to be really easy to complete, but others will require a bit more thought. I've never read a graphic novel, for instance (not since Asterix books as a child!), so that should be an interesting one to find a title for. I have a few ideas for some of the categories, but we'll see what takes my fancy as I work my way through over the year.
I'm eyeing up a lot more challenges and 2012 promises to be packed with loads of interesting things to read.
I'm toying with the idea of this one too but I only usually manage to hit 50 books a year (if I'm lucky!) so I'm kind of nervous about committing such a large chunk to new genres! Will be interested to see how you get on though and will probably end up capitulating in the end anyway!
ReplyDeleteI do this too - think "ooh yes", then think "oh, I might not have time", then end up entering them anyway. Might as well just stop prevaricating and dive straight in!
ReplyDeleteThis would be really easy for me, it's only the graphic novels, poetry and philosophy that's not normal reading!
ReplyDeleteThis is just the first one. Once I add all the other challenges I'm looking at ((including your sci-fi challenge) I'll have plenty to do!
ReplyDeleteDidn't realise you were taking part in this too. I haven't decided every book yet either. Actually, haven't decided most of them. Going to do what you plan and see what I feel like.
ReplyDeleteWow, four books down already! You're way up there at the top of the pile so far, congratulations... ;)
ReplyDeleteI haven't decided what to read for every category yet, but it'll hopefully encourage me to start looking around my shelves a little more as each one goes by. Good luck!
Really? Well, I always read a lot of different genres anyway and these are all the easiest categories. Once we get ot science and philosophy things will get much tougher!
ReplyDeleteHi Sophia! Doin' well so far! I loved EATING FOR ENGLAND, am hoping to try my first Jo Nesbo this year, and I have ANNA KARENINA on my wishlist, so I'm off to check out your reviews and see what you thought... Keep up the good work (says the girl who's barely touched her challenges so far) - and happy reading for the next few months! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement! I really need to start knocking out a few more of these to stay on track. I might make next month "challenge month" and see if I can't move forward with them all a bit more.
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