Last year when I joined Litsy, I was also introduced to reading challenges. Prior to that I’d been an active reader, blithely following my desire to either learn or relax. The only challenge I’d ever done was Goodreads, which is just a simple count of books. These additional reading challenges have given me a whole new dimension to my reading life. They’ve nudged me out of my happy little reading comfort zone. And I’m better for it – both as a reader and as a human.

This year I’m participating in six reading challenges, so at mid-year I’ll give you an update in three parts.

Goodreads Reading Challenge: I committed to 100 books and have read 86 so far. Goodreads tells me I’m 36 books ahead. This is the only challenge I’ve done before. Some years I bump my goal up as I go, but I’m not sure what I’ll do this year yet.

MountTBR Reading Challenge: If you’ve ever done the ReadItForward.com calculation of how many years it will take to finish your TBR (to-be-read) list, you know it’s a daunting and mountainous task. I have a small house and a need for some uncluttered rooms, so my space for books is limited. Right now I’m pretty much at capacity for physical books. Given space requirements, I don’t keep many books. If I want to buy one book I truly should read two. MountTBR is a challenge to encourage this behavior. Any book purchased before January 1, 2017 counts towards the challenge. I committed to Mount Blanc, which is 24 books. So far, I’ve achieved both that and Mount Vancouver – 36 books. At 43 books so far, my next goal is Mount Ararat or 48 books. I hope to pass that one and charge even higher!

Nonfiction Reading Challenge: A friend on Litsy developed this challenge to encourage herself and others to read more nonfiction. It’s simple, just read one nonfiction book each month. Awesome! I love nonfiction and usually read one book a week. So far, I’m at 39 nonfiction books this year.

More in Part Two … publishing soon.