EDITED: 2014 Reading Challenges

Now in my second full year of blogging, I've decided to participate in a number of challenges to expand what I'm reading and increase my review count. As this post is going to be buried by next week, if you are interested in my challenge progress, feel free to check out the Challenge tab at the top of my blog.

The first challenge is one I've completed 2 years running and is hosted by my favorite Goodreads group, the Young Adult Book Club. This is the 2014 A-Z Reading Challenge. In this challenge, participants have from January 1 to December 31 to complete 26 books, each one corresponding to a letter of the alphabet. Titles or authors names are allowed. For instance, for the letter A, you could read Anna and the French Kiss by Stephenie Perkins or The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares or even The Prophecy by Erin Albert. However, "a" and "the" must be omitted so A Separate Peace by John Knowles would count toward the letter S not toward A. Current progress: 1/26

My second challenge is also through the YABC, and it has actually been in progress for a full year already. This is the 50 States (or Countries) of YA Challenge. This challenge has no end date as it requires a LOT of reading and a lot of planning. Participants can choose to do just the 50 states of the US or 50 countries or both. All you have to do is read a book set in each state or each country and it counts. This challenge is what inspired me to start my Listmania Monday posts with lists of ya novels by state and by country. I added DC and Puerto Rico to my YA states challenge so my current progress (I think) is: 30/52 (states) and 13/50 (countries).

The Jumble Your Genres challenge is hosted by Readers Live A Thousand Lives, Corrie the Book Crazed Girl, and Lovin' los libros. Requirements: Each month, read a book (just ONE!) based on that month's theme, then link up your review.

January: young adult

February: contemporary

March: urban fantasy

April: middle grade

May: dystopian

June: high fantasy

July: adult

August: paranormal

September: romance

October: sci-fi

November: historical

December: new adult

The 2014 SARC is hosted by IceyBooks and Dizneeee's World of Books. Requirements: Read 15 standalone ya or mg novels published between January 1 and December 31, 2014. Companion novels do count, but books must be read in 2014. 2014 books read in 2013 do NOT count.

In direct opposition to the SARC, we have the 2014 series challenge hosted by Read. Sleep. Repeat. This challenge is a little bit more involved because it requires finishing an entire series, but 1. you can pick your target level and 2. since 90% of what I read are series, I'm in good shape for this challenge. Seriously. I have 16 series ending in 2014 that I'm all caught up on with the exception of those final books, plus Allegiant plus at least 17 series that won't be finished until at least 2015, but are eligible for the challenge. Rules: You must either finish a series in 2014 or you must be caught up on it by the end of the year. To count, the series must have at least 2 books published by December 1, 2014 (novellas DO count toward that number). DNF's and abandoned series don't count. You do not have to start the series in 2014 so previously read series DO count.

Levels:

Bronze: 1-3 series

Silver: 4-6 series

Gold: 7-11 series

Platinum: 12+ series

My goal: Platinum

Emily of Falling for YA may be my savior this year with the Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge. In this challenge, which runs Jan 1 through Dec 31, bloggers are encouraged to read and review as many digital review books as possible to improve our review percentages on these sites. There is no limit to when books were either received or published; they just need to be read and reviewed in 2014.

Levels: 

Aluminum: 5 books

Bronze: 10 books

Silver: 25 books

Gold: 50 books

Platinum: 75 books

Diamond: 100 books

My goal: Silver

Finally, another big one: the 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge hosted by Bookish. Don't let the name fool you. 2014 has nothing to do with this challenge other than this is when the books will be read and reviewed. The one major rule of this challenge is that ALL books must have a 2013 or earlier pub date. 2014 ARCs or new releases DO NOT COUNT! This challenge is to basically help us all downsize our TBR piles by reading the books that have been out for a while. As someone with a 3000+ TBR shelf, this challenge is going to help a LOT. Genres don't matter, and novellas and short stories do count. This challenge runs January 1 through December 31, 2014, and signups don't end until December 15. What are you waiting for?! I've already finished 3 books that count!

Levels: 

A firm handshake: 1-10 books

A friendly hug: 11-20 books

First kiss: 21-30 books

Sweet summer fling: 31-40 books

Could this be love?: 41-50 books

Married with children: 51+ books

My goal: A friendly hug

ETA: Mere hours after I put up this post, I discovered another challenge hosted by one of my favorite new blogs, and I couldn't not join up!

The 2014 Real Book Challenge is co-hosted by Swoony Books and Fic Fare. This challenge is pretty much in direct opposition to my Netgalley/Edelweiss challenge as they have completely different requirements! However, I think this one will go nicely with the TBR pile challenge. Rules: Any book of any genre counts...as long as you can hold it in your hands and turn the pages yourself! Yes to ARCs! No ebooks! No audio! Physical copies only. Considering I have something like 50 books checked out of the library, this should be a good one for me. My progress: 2 books!

Levels: 

Real Book Newbie: 1-10 books

Real Book Enthusiast: 11-20 books

Real Book Snob: 21-30 books

Real Book Aficianado: 31-40 books

Real Book Hoarder: 41-50 books

Real Book Queen: 51+ books

My goal: Real Book Snob (21-30 books)