The Reading Challenge Group discussion

Hi everyone,

This is just an update on what we have going on for 2016. We're implementing a few changes and developments, and a few new things for the upcoming year!

First off, our group reads and challenges are being simplified! We felt there were too many this year, so we're going back to basics and changing a few things. We'll only have THREE group reads per month: our usual monthly Genre pick, World-Lit, and an 'Alternate Read' that will cycle through different focuses. See below!

Genre Challenge/Group Reads
January: Contemporary/Literary Merit
February: Romance/Chick Lit
March: Mysteries
April: Fantasy
May: Historical Fiction
June: Minority Studies/LGBT
July: Science-Fiction/Dystopian
August: Poetry/Plays
September: Travel
October: Horror/Thriller
November: Manga/Graphic Novels
December: Humour

Alternate Group Reads
January: Non-Fiction
February: YA
March: Classics
April: Non-Fiction
May: YA
June: Classics
July: Non-Fiction
August: YA
September: Classics
October: Non-Fiction
November: YA
December: Classics

World-Lit Challenge/Group Reads
January: South America
February: Middle East
March: Sub-Sahara
April: Southeast Asia
May: Central America/Mexico & Caribbean
June: Western Europe
July: North Africa
August: South Asia/India Subcontinent
September: North America
October: Eastern Europe
November: Oceania/Australia
December: East Asia


Another addition to group reads will be a Group Read Leaders. These will help lead the discussion, and pose questions and points for everyone to talk about. This slightly more controlled way of doing group reads will hopefully maximise participation and discussion. If people want to be a discussion leader, simply post on the group read thread when the poll is over if you want to give it a go!

We'll also have a mass of year-long mini-challenges going up! Which you can see over at Renee's 'Mini Planning for 2016' thread! We're also planning on putting up more and more mini challenges each month, to really get people reading! (And in case anyone is wondering, there will be a non-fiction mini to replace the challenge we have this year!)

And don't forget our readathons! We'll be having a few additional smaller ones as well to add to our usual ones.

Another exciting thing we're starting this year is Accomplishment Badges. These will be little badges you can add to your personal challenge threads when you complete things (your reading challenge, mini challenges, readathons etc). These are just a fun extra thing. I'm currently designing them, so we'll start rolling them out as things open up in January!

Last but not least, we're in the middle of sorting out our new Group-Wide Challenge for 2016! It requires a bit more organisation, so we'll be releasing the information soon. Keep checking back!

Hopefully this isn't too complicated for everyone. Once we start rolling out everything across the group in the opening days of January, it'll become a lot clearer! The main point of this post was to get the monthly timetables up, so you can fully see where we'll be starting next year!

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to post here, or send me a message if you want a more private way of communicating.

Happy reading!

Here is a list breaking down what we're doing next year!

Year Long Events:
Challenges (change monthly)
   ~ Genre Challenge (widget)
   ~ World Lit Challenge (widget)
Group Reads (change monthly)
   ~ Fiction by Genre
   ~ World Lit
   ~ Alternate (NF/YA/Classic)

Year-Long Mini Challenges
Non-Fiction 30-Book Mini Challenge
Decade Mini Challenge
Alphabet Soup Mini Challenge
Awards Mini Challenge (Allison)
Buyer’s Remorse/TBR Challenge
Serial Numbers (series challenge)
Brush Up Your Shakespeare Mini for Shakespeare's 400th Anniversary
4 Seasonal Bingos
New month-long mini-challenges each month

Plus a mix of readathons throughout the year!

I love it! Thanks for all of the hard work. If you still need a Group Read Leader, I'd be happy to help.

It will be on a book by book basis, Leslie. So if anything takes your fancy when we close the polls for each group read, let us know! :)

Will do and thank you for letting me know about the Personal Challenges. I'm in a bunch of book clubs so it was nice to be able to have a space to set up my own challenge and begin to organize my thoughts. I recommended to GR that they should set something up where we could do this on our own pages. They said they've had a lot of requests for this. So, we'll see.

Thanks to all the moderators for their hard work. I have not belonged to this group very long but that is great there are going to be some updates made based on member's input. I am especially glad the number of group reads per month was reduced, as perhaps more people will be able to participate. Looking forward to 2016! :)

Will this group be doing the Popsugar challenge again this year?

What is the Pop Sugar Challenge?
Is it the 50 Book Challenge that Cassie put up?

Renee wrote: "What is the Pop Sugar Challenge?
Is it the 50 Book Challenge that Cassie put up?"

Yes, that was based on the PopSugar challenge. Here is a link to the new PopSugar Challenge for 2016.http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-...

Sounds great, thanks for organising all this!

Thanks, Lisa Ann! I would love to have that mini-challenge again for this group. Would anyone consider typing it up and linking it in the 2016 Mini-Challenge Planning thread?

There will also be a year-long challenge based on the Boxall's 1001 / Guardian's 1000 books to read before you die lists.

Hooray! I wasn't sure if you were finished with that. So glad it will be part of the 2016 lineup. :)

Love the breakdown

Where can I find the books to read before you die lists? I love planning for 2016!

Boxall publishes the 1,000 list as a book every couple of years, so I believe the list itself is copyright protected. Still, like so many things, you can find it online if you look. There's also a group on GoodReads just devoted to reading the books on the list. They have the Boxall titles on their bookshelves, but haven't actually posted the list itself.

There's a GR group called 101 Books To Read Before You Die and they have a thread listing the 101.

I'd just Google for tge 1,000 if I were you.

I found this. What's especially helpful is the breakdown by time period. Great for so many of the challenges here. Happy reading!!!


http://1001bookreviews.com/the-1001-b...

This seems great! I'm already picking books to read for the challenges.
Btw, when do the polls close? I'm up for being the Group Read Leader, in case they haven't been chosen yet!

You make your offer when you see something that interests you in the individual Group Read polls. Or so I'm told. :-)

Best wishes.

Leslie wrote: "You make your offer when you see something that interests you in the individual Group Read polls. Or so I'm told. :-)

Best wishes."

Thanks! Any idea when the polls come out? :p

I posted a template for the 1001 books mini-challenge in the 2016 planning folder for anyone who wants to plan ahead. I included some links to help you find books that fit the categories. Have fun!

I'm planning on putting up the nomination threads today. Once they've closed (probably on Christmas day), the polls will then go up.

Once the winner has been picked, then it would be great to get someone to come forward.

We're doing the nominations a bit later this month, just because we needed to sort out and release all the 2016 stuff.

Good this clears things up!

Have I missed the nominations thread for January?

Nope, they're about to go up! Sorry its's so late!

No problem - I've been slammed the last few days and just was wondering...Hope you had a nice Christmas, Holly!

I am new to the group. Can I be honest? I'm INCREDIBLY overwhelmed! So much info. I'm hoping as we go along there will be someone willing to lead me by the had. Lol.

Hi Angela,

I know it seems like loads when its all in a list. But I promise you I will make more sense when its all up and running.

Plus, only do what you choose to do. If you want to do mini challenges but not the readathon, youre free to.

And if things are still overwhelming, we have our 'Any Questions?' thread where you're more than welcome to ask questions about things you're confused by.

Thanks Holly!!

Have I missed what the upcoming January read books are going to be? I had been trying to pencil out the reads across all the various groups I'm in and various challenges to see what I wanted to try and squeeze in.

They're rather late since everything has been really busy, but the polls are now up! You can vote what book you want to read and the winners will be announced on the 3rd.

Sorry for the delay!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, currently heavily pregnant and had a difficult pregnancy so haven't been around much. I really like the changes, especially the more focused discussions.

I'm sorry to hear it's been a hard pregnancy! All the best to you and the baby!

Glad you like the changes, and Happy New Year!

Great to hear from you, Sam! I'll be keeping you and Baby in my thoughts. <3

I am just finding this challenge

Question: for each of the three challenges must I read the book in that specific month?

Question/Assumption: to satisfy the challenge, must it be only from the three posted each month? (I do assume yes)

When voting for this challenge, I have only voted for books that I have already read because I thought it was a vote of confidence for the book. If, in fact, I am voting for a book TO READ, should I change my voting approach?

I apologize if all this is made clear in the rules. But it is nice to be in touch too. ;)

Hi Celia,

The point is that there is a focus on each month. So therefore, books that are read that follow the focus would count. And that should answer your second question.

As for your last, it's based on what you would like to read, yes! Of course, nominations often vary between things people have read and recommend and books people want to read. Polls are generally more focused on the question: what do you want for the group read. So, obviously, if you'd recommend it then obviously you may want to vote for it. But the primary focus is on what you would like TO read.

Holly wrote: "Hi Celia,

The point is that there is a focus on each month. So therefore, books that are read that follow the focus would count. And that should answer your second question.

As for your last, it'..."

I am inspired by the World-Lit Challenge but am too late to 'do it right'. I decided to use the focus of each month as a check-off list for books I have already read or plan to read in 2016. I have already read 5 but definitely out of order. Next year I will do it right. In the meantime, thanks for getting back to me.

There isn't exactly a 'right' way of doing these challenges, Celia. We work on a very open basis, and ultimately the challenges are for you, not for us. The 3 challenges do have a bit more structure to them. But feel free to do it how you want to do it.

Holly wrote: "There isn't exactly a 'right' way of doing these challenges, Celia. We work on a very open basis, and ultimately the challenges are for you, not for us. The 3 challenges do have a bit more structur..."

Thanks Holly.