The Reading Challenge Group discussion

I've seen this in another group and it looks like a really nice idea!

Each month has a set genre/theme (e.g. Romance, Science Fiction) and participants aim to read one or more books from that genre during the month. You can if you wish, post the books you're aiming to read for the whole year in regards to the genres at the start of the year, to get books that you've wanted to read for ages read.

For example, say February might by Dystopian/Utopian month and so I aim read We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. If I wanted to, I could read another one in that genre (e.g. The Maze Runner).

If people are interested in this, we can use this thread to discuss what genres everyone wants!

THE GENRE LIST
January - Historical
February - Romance/Chick-Lit
March - Young Adult
April - Humour
May - Fantasy/Science-Fiction
June - Contemporary
July - Utopian/Dystopian
August - Crime/Mystery
September - Classic/Literary
October - Horror
November - Non-Fiction
December - Adventure

Sounds good to me! Then, no matter what books we read, we could all discuss the genre and exchange recs. :)

That sounds like a wonderful idea, Faye!

That sounds suspiciously familiar to another reading challenge :P

I'm aware of this, Michael, believe me I did not mean to 'steal' anything. I just thought it was such a lovely idea, and would be well suited to a group of this sort.

If you have any problems with it, feel free to message me about it. I'll be happy to remove the thread if you are in any way offended or concerned.

I'm not offended at all, I think everyone should try genres that are out of their comfort zone. There are amazing books in all genres.

I'd glad! It just seemed such a lovely way to get everyone out of their comfort zone, if they wish to participate of course!

I know personally that I stick way too much in my comfort zone (either classics or dystopias) and I know I need to start experiencing some books I wouldn't normally read!

this would be a good way to get me to read stuff I normally wouldn't

I'd be interested in doing this. I think it'd be a good way to try some books I'd otherwise miss.

That's excellent! We should try formulate a genre list.

I would be interested in dipping in and out of this depending on what reads I am doing with my group.

This would be a great chance for us to get out of our comfort zone, as Michael said, and be adventurous in our reading!

It would be great if there was a list of two or three books of that genre, for lazy people like me who would not be bothered looking into the genre and finding our own book.

:)

This is a great idea! I think that, at least for me, it is easy to get into a rut with reading. I find one genre and just stick with it (not good, not good at all) and I feel that it's important to branch out to keep the "little grey cells" active. :)

Thinking off the top of my head, these are ones I can think of that are big genres:

Fantasy
Science-Fiction
Horror
Crime
Historical
Romance
Non-Fiction
Mystery
Classic
Young Adult
Utopian/Dystopian

and I can't think of one more...

What does everyone think?

Holly wrote: "Thinking off the top of my head, these are ones I can think of that are big genres:

Fantasy
Science-Fiction
Horror
Crime
Historical
Romance
Non-Fiction
Mystery
Classic
Young Adult
Utopian/Dystopia..."

This is a great idea! What about Contemporary and Chick-lit??

Contemporary and Chick-Lit sounds great!

We could merge Crime/Mystery, to make things less confusing.

Holly wrote: "Contemporary and Chick-Lit sounds great!

We could merge Crime/Mystery, to make things less confusing."

Yeah, that'd be great:)

How about these...

Adventure
Humour
Literary
Religious

There's too many to pick from! Literary always confused me, I must admit! Adventure could come under Fantasy and Science Fiction. Unless we combine Fantasy and Science-Fiction, and have Adventure as a separate genre.

So, it would look like this:

Fantasy/Science-Fiction
Adventure
Horror
Crime/Mystery
Historical
Chick-lit
Non-Fiction
Contemporary
Classic
Young Adult
Utopian/Dystopian
Humour

Yes, I'd say Fantasy/SciFi together. Literary could be lumped in with Classic, I suppose? It would save confusion about which is which, haha!

If it comes down to it, Utopian/Dystopian would technically fall under SciFi, wouldn't it?

What is Contemporary?

Literary could be paired with Classic, that would work. We can move Dystopian/Utopian to Science Fiction.

There seems to be two definitions of 'contemporary' literature: being set in the timeframe it was written in, and dealing with modern issues.

Wouldn't either definition of contemporary be included in other genres?

Only as part of them, not as a genre itself. We are one short of 12 though.

True. Yeah, I like the list as it stands. :)

January - Historical
February - Chick-Lit
March - Crime/Mystery
April - Humour
May - Non-Fiction
June - Contemporary
July - Fantasy/Science-Fiction
August - Young Adult
September - Classic/Literary
October - Horror
November - Adventure
December - Your favourite genre so far.

I've done a rough layout. Seeing as we are one short, I thought December would be nice to really expand on a genre individually we liked.

If this is liked, please say so, and I'll put it up within the challenge description.

We could add Romance....and in the month of Feb, coz well, it is the month of love(Valentine's Day) but that's just a silly idea...:P:P I think we should have two completely different genres in consecutive months...Like, for example, in July and August, we have Fantasy and YA which are quite similar....so we could put in something else after fantasy and put YA for some other month....Anyway, that's just a suggestion, anything you do is all right:)

I think Romance could be good for February... we could maybe have Romance/Chick-Lit in together? It might give the guys a little more wiggle-room for that month. ;)

Looks good! I can't wait to see what Historical book we select for January. :D

Oh wait, if we're one short we could bring back Utopian/Dystopian? I only meant to put that in with SciFi/Fantasy if we ran out of slots, but if we're one short it could go back in. Although I do like the idea of returning to our favourite genres, too.

Yeah,..we could have Utopian/Dystopian as a genre...and Romance/Chick-lit would be great!

Okay, I'll edit it a bit and put it up in the challenge!

Looks great, Holly!

I think this sounds like a great idea! I will need suggestions for the dystopian. The few books I've started in this genre have not been finished

I'm super excited about this!

awesome idea! ^_^

Danielle wrote: "I just found an interesting one also for January- "The Lost King of France: How DNA Solved the Mystery of the Murdered Son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette"...I love when there is unexplained hist..."

Ohhh, that sounds fascinating!

wow, this sounds really interesting. can I still join? I'm affraid I'm not good at making up books, but I would love to get out of my comfort zone and read new stuff. layout so far looks really good by the way :).

Mandy wrote: "wow, this sounds really interesting. can I still join? I'm affraid I'm not good at making up books, but I would love to get out of my comfort zone and read new stuff. layout so far looks really goo..."

Of course you can! This will be going on all year, so anyone can jump in whenever they like. :)

Tempted to join... sigh, if only the first wasn't my most detested genre. Hmph! Shall have a hunt in the bookshop on Friday for something though!

Like Iasa said, you could read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (which I personally found to be a decent read). Having a quick look at your to read list, The Color Purple could also fit the challenge and would probably be a nice complement to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

I swear I'm not a stalker!

Yes, anything that has anything to do with anything historical could count for this challenge. It doesn't have to be specifically "historical fiction" or a non-fiction history book.

I just stumbled across this challenge and I really like it. What books have people chosen for January?

Ginny, there's a post about that here

:)

Aggrrrhhh.... I so want to participate in this challenge but already chose my January books and nothing historical among them. I know i can change it but i want, no need to stick to it ( i have discipline issues and dont wanna get all flaky on this)
So that means an extra book. We shall see how that goes.

But Feb- romance means I will finally read Pride and Prejudice

Yon don't have to take part in every month! Feel free to start in February :)

Maybe you can read a historical book as well as a romance book in Feb to make up for it? I don't see it as that much different.

I'm basically reading a chick lit book right now and hope to finish it soon. The historical I want to read the golem and the jinni has 17 people on hold for it on the overdrive ebooks library so I'll have to wait and read that one later in the year.

Amber wrote: "I'm basically reading a chick lit book right now and hope to finish it soon. The historical I want to read the golem and the jinni has 17 people on hold for it on the overdrive ebooks library so I'..."

I loved The Golem and the Jinni. Great choice.

Thanks Roseanne but I have to wait on it first.

Think I will read th book thief next to count for my January genre challenge

Sandy, it's up to you. If you want to, include it!

I expect Biographies will be included more in the 'non-fiction' section, but you can use them in other genres if you want!