New Author Challenge

I've decided to participate in the New Author Challenge at Literary Escapism. I tend to get so wrapped up in the series that I love so much that I may be missing out on a lot of great books and authors that are new to me. I'm challenging myself by going for 50 new authors in 2010. I'm not going to include new authors I've read only in anthologies; those are just teasers to me, intended to get me to read the author's novels. Plus it's too confusing for me to keep track of on Goodreads, since I'm not planning to start posting reviews on this site. I'm looking forward to seeing how I do! Check my shelf for this challenge on Goodreads to see how I'm doing.

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The Challenge That Started It All

I never intended to have a blog. I participate at Goodreads frequently, so I didn't see a need for a separate book blog. And I didn't think I really have much else to say, unless it was to post pictures of my beautiful dogs. But I mostly just email them directly to the most interested (so I think) parties, and I thought I'd leave it at that. Then I started Twittering. And occasionally I found something I wanted to post for my friends to see that took more than 140 characters. I tried Tumblr, but it's pretty limited, including not allowing visitors to make comments. This became a big issue when I wanted to participate in a readathon. I quickly set up a very basic free blog, had fun during the readathon, and figured that was that.

Except I became friends with a lot of book bloggers on Twitter. And discovered some intriguing aspects to the process. Of course, if you really work the system you can get a lot of free books. But then you HAVE to read and review them. I have so many books I'm eagerly anticipating already, plus several Goodreads groups in which I like to participate. I just don't want to have to read a bunch of books that I might not have chosen otherwise, or have to read them first if I have some new releases or a series that I'd rather focus on.

But what really caught my eye was the ability to participate in reading challenges. Now that's fun! Some of my Goodreads groups do various monthly challenges, but those usually have rules that cause the same dilemma of requiring me to read books I'm not as excited about. But annual challenges, that's right up my alley! And I was off and running, plunging head first into the blogging life.

And the blog that brought all of this into focus? Book Chick City  and her Speculative Fiction challenges. I'll be participating in 2.

The fantasy fiction genre challenge at the Obsessed - 24 book level. This will be very easy for me, considering my current obsession with urban fantasy. I'll stick to adult and YA books for this challenge, no juvenile or graphic novels. Check out my progress on Goodreads.



And the science fiction genre challenge at the Addicted - 12 book level. This will be a challenge for me, as I've been sadly neglecting my sci-fi roots for urban fantasy lately. I hope this will encourage me to explore new authors and to revisit some old favorites. Check my progress here.


Thank you Book Chick City! I'm looking forward to the fun of the challenges, as well as to my future as a blogger. I owe it all to you!

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2010 Library Reading Challenge

I had been thinking about starting a blog for a while, but the opportunity to participate in reading challenges was the last straw. So here I go, off and running with my first challenge. Which actually might be a challenge, as I recently got a nook to help make reading easier with my bad hands and occasional migraines. I've always been a huge library user and supporter. I honestly would be insane without my books! I'm very lucky to live in an area with top-ranked libraries with inter-library loan access to another 14 library systems. I have a link to the internet request page on Firefox bookmarks bar and my Home screen on my iPhone and use them often. In fact, one of the main reasons I chose the nook is because I can continue to borrow from out libraries using their growing ebook collection.  Check out how I'm doing at Goodreads on my "challenge-library-borrowed-2010" shelf. Thank you to J. Kaye's Book Blog for organizing this challenge.

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