Reading challenge!

Every so often I get a little stuck in my reading. Sometimes it's because I'm sick (like now) and can't stay conscious long enough to get any reading done. Sometimes my childhood ADHD acts up and I can't concentrate. Sometimes I just don't want to read my review books, but I can't find a non-review book to spark my fancy either. There are times when I just get on a roll, and I can devour book after book. It would be nice if it could be like that all the time. One thing I've noticed is that sometimes, when I'm on said roll, I notice a lot of my books have things in common, which is a strange phenomenon I mentioned in a post earlier this year.

SO. I have decided to do something new. Every couple weeks or so, I am going to do a themed reading challenge. It's nothing official or binding, but sometimes it's nice to read books that have a certain theme or setting or genre are written by the same author. A couple weeks ago, I took a break from ya, and I read four adult novels in a row. Granted, they were written by Meg Cabot, Jennifer Echols, and Rachel Harris, who are known for their YA novels, but it was nice to read novels with characters roughly my age and with similar Adult Problems I have.

For months and months, I have been getting recommendations to read books by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and a couple weeks ago, I bit the bullet and read my first JLA novel (actually, it was a J. Lynn novel, but same diff). I flew through Frigid and enjoyed it. I also just finished up Wait for You, and now I'm on to Trust in Me so you could say I'm having a JLA-themed week. And it's all thanks to those of you who have been pushing me to read her work and those of you who have been picking her novels for your WoW book each 
week.

This is where you guys come in. I've been brainstorming some ideas, but I'd like your input as well. Help me pick some themes for my weekly challenges. Have a favorite author whose work I Must Read? What's your favorite series? What genre or sub-genre should I focus on for a few days? Let me know! To help you help me, some of my ideas include: genre-hopping authors (ya-to-adult, ya-to-mg, adult-to-ya, etc), middle grade week, romance week, new adult week, new-to-me authors (obviously, you guys won't know who is new-to-me, but give me author suggestions, and I'll be able to find them), debut week (focusing on debut books by year), etc.

Some caveats: I'm not into really religious stories. Characters who think about religon and whatnot is fine (I mention this a lot, but books like Miranda Kenneally's Things I Can't Forget are totally great to recommend because it's not about the religion), but I never read books that are shelved in sections like "Christian Fiction" or whatever. Just not my thing. Erotica is also off the table. Romance is fine, even if it doesn't entiresly fade to black, but if it is comparable to that trilogy we all know of and that I'm sick of hearing about or that inexplicable series of dinosaur novels now available on Amazon (if you haven't heard of these, don't worry; I'll fill you in tomorrow with my TTT list), consider me entirely Not Interested.

I've enjoyed many of your recommendations so far, and I hope you guys will share some good picks for me this time around too!

 Funny enough, my name totally rhymes with Barney Stinson.

7 comments:

  1. Sounds cool! And hahahaha. Good use of Barney Stinson's "Challenge Accepted" line. ;D

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    1. I love Barney. He totally makes HIMYM for me.

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  2. Such an awesome idea! I recently did a book themed week but reading books from a certain publisher! I read nothing but books from SwoonRomance & it hey were all fabulous. They offer YA & adult. I did a week of their YA contemps. I'm really glad I did & they got me out of a reading rut. So I encourage you to try a week of that for my recommendation. Some of the ones I really loved were How To Date A Nerd, Effortlessly with You, Funeral Singer, & The Cinderella Moment. :)

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  3. Great idea! I focused on spooky stories for October and it was fun! For other themes maybe try steampunk (like Megan Curd's Steel Lily) or cozy mysteries (M. C. Beaton for example). Good luck!

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    1. Love steampunk! Don't know why I didn't think of that one myself. Thanks for the idea, Susan!

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