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The Book Barn Reading Challenge Hello everyone, and welcome to the 2019 edition of the SomethingAwful Book Barn Reading Challenge! The general idea is that you set a number of books you’ll be reading for the year, and then try to hit that number. Post every month what you read, with a little bit about each book. Try not to just post lists of what you’ve read. The Booklord Challenge In addition to the general reading challenge there’s always a little extra bit of challenge called the Booklord Challenge. One person is chosen to be the Booklord and they define some specific categories. I participated in this for the first time last year and thoroughly enjoyed myself. This year it turns out that I am the lucky one who gets to be your Booklord for the year! Congratulations to you all! These categories are just something fun, and not a requirement. You don’t even have to do the Booklord challenge if you don’t want! The categories are also fairly open, and up to your interpretation. For example, a local author doesn’t have to be from your current city, they could be from your hometown, your home region, or your home state. It’s up to you what you define as “local.” Additionally, don’t feel that if you haven’t hit every single challenge at the end of the year you have failed. The true goal here is to read a greater variety of books, which is hopefully what these categories will lead to. Here is the challenge for this year: 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 4. Read a book by an author from every continent (N. America, S. America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania). 5. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 6. Read at least one book by an indigenous author. 7. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2019 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). 8. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 9. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. 10. Read a book by a local author. 11. Read a book published in 2019. 12. Read a book with an awesome cover. 13. Reread a book. 14. Read a poetry collection. 15. Read a collection of short stories. 16. Read a play. 17. Read a book about feminism. 18. Read a book involving sports. 19. Read something biographical. 20. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. 21. Read something in the public domain. 22. Read one book you didn’t finish in a previous attempt (think high school if nothing comes to mind!). 23. Read a book about art. 24. Read a book that is the basis for a movie/tv show you have already seen. Try to read a different book for each of the challenges. However, for numbers 2, 3 and 4 feel free to count books that you read for the specific challenges. Also with the wildcards, try not to suggest something too difficult. The goal is for people to finish the challenge! In Conclusion At the end of the year we will post a little about the challenge and the books we read, and have a merry time. Also, sometime in December I will ideally pick a Booklord for 2020. So that’s it! Post here in the thread whatever number of books you’d like to read for the year, as well as if you’re doing the Booklord Challenge. Also, if you don’t have a specific number of books you want to read, I liked Guy A. Person’s idea of the “personal challenge” from last year, so just post that. Good luck, and have fun! Happy reading everyone! cryptoclastic fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Jan 7, 2019 |
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Jan 6, 2019 13:21
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Posters taking the challenge Name: cryptoclastic Personal challenge: 40 books, not including audiobooks or single short stories Booklord's challenge: yes Name: Tiggum Personal challenge: 52 books, 24 by female authors, 12 non-fiction Booklord's challenge: no Name: Gertrude Perkins Personal challenge: 52 books, 1/3 not by men, 1/3 by writers of colour Booklord's challenge: yes Name: clamcake Personal challenge: 50, posting about books Booklord's challenge: yes Name: Talas Personal challenge: 60 books Booklord's challenge: yes Name: Take the plunge! Okay! Personal challenge: 20 booklord challenge goals Booklord's challenge: no* Name: Groke Personal challenge: 40 books, 10 Norwegian Booklord's challenge: yes Name: MockingQuantum Personal Challenge: 70 books, 7 rereads Booklord's challenge: yes Name: The Berzerker Personal challenge: 30 books Booklord’s challenge: 75% of it Name: Duck Rodgers Personal challenge: 50 books, 5 Iraqi authors Booklord’s challenge: yes Name: Chamberk Personal challenge: 50 books Booklord’s challenge: yes Name: Guy A. Person Personal challenge: 100 books Booklord’s challenge: yes Name: Ben Nevis Personal challenge: 80 books Booklord’s challenge: yes Name: CestMoi Personal challenge: 1 book Booklord’s challenge: no Name: apophenium Personal challenge: 47 books Booklord’s challenge: yes Name: pospysyl Personal challenge: 40 books, maximum eight by straight white males Booklord’s challenge: yes Name: pleasecallmechrist Personal challenge: 52 books Booklord’s challenge: yes Name: citybeatnik Personal challenge: 30 books Booklord’s challenge: 1/3 of the challenges Name: Kickshaw Personal challenge: 60, not including comic trades, and at least 12 nonfiction Booklord's challenge: yes Name: Arivia Personal challenge: 50 books Booklord's challenge: yes Name: Furious Lobster Personal challenge: 52 books Booklord’s challenge: yes Name: Karia Personal challenge: 60 books, read all of their physical books before acquiring more Booklord’s challenge: yes Name: piejinks Personal challenge: Booklord’s challenge: yes Name: ENEMIES EVERYWHERE Personal challenge: Read at least 20 "classics" Booklord's challenge: yes Name: FelicityGS Personal challenge: 30 books, 10 in Korean Booklord's challenge: yesish Name: Paperhouse Personal challenge: 15 books Booklord's challenge: Name: Lester Shy Personal challenge: 30 books Booklord's challenge: no Name: ProperGanderPusher Personal challenge: 20 books (30 stretch) Booklord’s challenge: no cryptoclastic fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Sep 29, 2019 |
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Jan 6, 2019 13:22
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I'm going to try to read 52 books, at least 24 of which are by female authors and 12 of which are non-fiction. I failed dismally last year but managed it in previous years so hopefully I can do it again. No booklord challenge for me.
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Jan 6, 2019 13:56
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Hell yeah, bring on the boooooooooks My goals: 52 books total, at least 1/3 not by men, at least 1/3 by writers of colour. Sign me up for all the booklords too.
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Jan 6, 2019 17:45
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I'm going for it! My personal goal is reading 50 books, and I'll also complete the booklord's challenge. I had a great time reading for the challenge last year but didn't post about anything I read. So I'll have to do a better job of remembering to actually share about the books I read each month. And this shall be my true personal challenge.
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Jan 6, 2019 17:46
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Nice! My goal is reading 60 books and I'll also try the booklord's challenge.
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Jan 6, 2019 19:15
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I want to do it like this: my personal challenge is to hit at least twenty of the booklord challenge goals. Am I allowed to do this?
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Jan 6, 2019 22:07
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Hey yeah! I hosed up last year because of a long drawn-out case of sadbrains that messed with my concentration and reduced my reading speed to less than half of normal. Sufficiently better now to hope for a more effective year. # of books: 40 Booklord challenge: Yes Additional personal challenge: At least 10 Norwegian books (by actual Norwegian authors, translations don't count).
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Jan 6, 2019 23:12
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Sure I'll book again this year. Last year I booked lots of books, so this year I think I'll try for 70 books, and booklord challenge. I'm setting a personal goal of re-reading at least 7 books, for no other reason than I'd like to revisit some good books, and I feel like sometimes re-reading books is a richer experience than the first time through.
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Jan 6, 2019 23:14
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:I want to do it like this: my personal challenge is to hit at least twenty of the booklord challenge goals. Am I allowed to do this? I see no problem in this! I put you in as a no with a star. However, there are really only 20 individual categories. If you think about the authors and stuff as you go along challenges 1-4 will automatically complete themselves. Something to think about!
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Jan 7, 2019 01:47
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I usually do the Booklord but failed hard last year, only read 20 books and definitely didn't do the Booklord... things fell apart when I was assigned the Three Kingdoms as a wildcard tbh I'm in for 30 and aiming to complete at least 75% of the Booklord Challenge Items
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Jan 7, 2019 05:47
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I'm in for 50 books, and I'll do the Booklord Challenge. Last year I read 3 books by Nigerian authors, and it was an interesting way to get a better understanding of another country/culture. I'm going to do the same this year with a different country. So I'll read 5 authors from Iraq. e: For clarification, is the 'book about feminism' meant to be non-fiction? Duck Rodgers fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Jan 7, 2019 |
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Jan 7, 2019 16:29
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50 books and the challenge, please!
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Jan 7, 2019 17:31
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I'm going to aim for 100 books again this year plus the booklord challenge
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Jan 7, 2019 17:33
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80 and the challenge. Honestly, I expect to hit 80 easily, but I'm more interested in the challenge and reading things I might not otherwise.
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Jan 7, 2019 17:54
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i shall read 1 book
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Jan 7, 2019 18:13
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CestMoi posted:i shall read 1 book make sure you don't read more than 1 book this year, or you will end up in book jail, where you are forced to read nothing but white-man-libertarian power fantasy sci fi novels
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Jan 7, 2019 18:19
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MockingQuantum posted:make sure you don't read more than 1 book this year, or you will end up in book jail, where you are forced to read nothing but white-man-libertarian power fantasy sci fi novels Well, at least you wouldn't run out of things to read.
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Jan 7, 2019 18:27
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Going for 47 books this year. I'll go for booklord, as well. I'll be coming back for some recommendations for some of those, probably. Also  ing to post my final update from the 2018 challenge before tomorrow, eastern time.
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Jan 7, 2019 21:48
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The Berzerker posted:I usually do the Booklord but failed hard last year, only read 20 books and definitely didn't do the Booklord... things fell apart when I was assigned the Three Kingdoms as a wildcard tbh Hopefully there are no ridiculously hard wildcards this time around. If someone gets something they feel they just can't do, feel free to ask for another! But do your best to do it. I completely understand being unable to do the Three Kingdoms though. The page count alone would kill me. Duck Rodgers posted:For clarification, is the 'book about feminism' meant to be non-fiction? I would say it doesn't have to be non-fiction, as long as there are feminist themes. There's quite a bit of feminist literature out there. Interpret it as you will, however. I will probably read something non-fiction myself. Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit is something that has caught my eye recently.
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Jan 8, 2019 01:35
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Your challenge has some interesting categories! I'll take it. Personal Goal: 40 books Addendum: Max eight will be by straight white male authors. pospysyl fucked around with this message at 01:53 on Jan 8, 2019 |
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Jan 8, 2019 01:44
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CestMoi posted:i shall read 1 book Ganbare, CestMoi-san
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Jan 8, 2019 05:58
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I didn’t post my own personal challenge so I will post it here. Last year I put a goal of 40 books and I hit it, but barely. I listened to a few audiobooks and read some single short stories to get my final number. This year I am doing 40 again, but not including audiobooks or single short stories.
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Jan 8, 2019 08:48
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whatevz fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Apr 25, 2022 |
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Jan 9, 2019 21:27
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I will read books
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Jan 10, 2019 12:31
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Well hell sign me up. Goals: 30 books And, since I have been desperately attempting to expand my horizons out of the things I've been reading lately (mostly urban fantasy or pop-history) I think I'm going to mirror Take the Plunge's challenge - hit at least a third of the Booklord Challenges. I'll update this post as I go along.
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Jan 10, 2019 23:34
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citybeatnik posted:Well hell sign me up. fwiw in previous challenges, it's generally worked better for people to post at the end of each month and list what they read the previous month, that tends to generate more discussion than just editing a single post with updates, which usually gets overlooked. But don't let me stop you, read books, love life
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Jan 10, 2019 23:41
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MockingQuantum posted:fwiw in previous challenges, it's generally worked better for people to post at the end of each month and list what they read the previous month, that tends to generate more discussion than just editing a single post with updates, which usually gets overlooked. But don't let me stop you, read books, love life You know what? You're right. I'll do that instead.
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Jan 11, 2019 00:00
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So we have a small group that's signed up for the challenge this year and think I would like to try and start some discussion. Are there any of the Booklord challenges you're excited about or interested in? Or the opposite: anything you're dreading? Personally I am looking forward to the reread, and the local author. I usually don't do rereads, but I've been thinking about East of Eden a lot lately. When I first read it I wasn't really into literature, but I still loved it. I'm curious as to how I would see it now. I have also never read any local authors. I'm from Western North Carolina, an area not exactly known for a strong literary tradition. I knew that Thomas Wolfe was from Asheville, but I didn't know anything else about him. After looking into him I found out he was one of those authors who died early but made a big splash before they did, so I am really looking forward to reading one of his books. Another general question I have is how do you decide what to read for the year, and for the challenges? Do you plan everything out at the beginning of the year? Find books for certain categories? Read on the fly and fill in the challenges as you go? Personally I like to try and pick a few challenges I am excited about or interested in, and then find a few books that fit that challenge. I have them on my to read list, and then when I finish a book I'll choose something from the list that fits my mood at the time. In the next few weeks I'll try and choose a specific challenge to have some discussion about. Hopefully people can drop some good ideas for the specific challenges and give others ideas of what to read. Last year I read The Accusation and A Brief History of Seven Killings thanks to the discussions about the specific challenges, and I really enjoyed them both, so I hope something similar can happen this year.
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Jan 11, 2019 01:52
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whatevz fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Apr 25, 2022 |
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Jan 11, 2019 02:01
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I'm looking forward to using it as an excuse to get out of my wheel-house and read some more diverse authors personally - and as an excuse to finally get off my butt and read some stuff written by someone that's not American or from the UK. That and the genre challenges for much the same reason really.
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Jan 11, 2019 02:33
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I'll give it a shot. Personal goal is 60, not including comic trades, and at least 12 nonfiction. Booklord challenge is a yes. E: going to admit straight up that I read A LOT of trashy YA and fantasy, please don't judge too harshly.
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Jan 11, 2019 04:11
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pleasecallmechrist posted:Dude. Read Look Homeward, Angel. You will weep at the beauty of that prose. Wolfe and William Gay are my two favorite Southern writers. That was the book I was eyeballing. I am now even more excited to read it. And yes, NC BBQ is the best. I live in Korea now and that’s always a must-eat every time I get home.
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Jan 11, 2019 06:31
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cryptoclastic posted:So we have a small group that's signed up for the challenge this year and think I would like to try and start some discussion. I've thought the most about the local author at this point. Mostly because one of the books I read so far is The Break by Katherena Vermette. She's from Winnipeg, where I lived most of my life. I ended up reading The Break in a day, and it is immediately one of my favourite books ever. As soon as I finished I put a hold on her book of poetry at the library. I went back and forth about whether I should count her as my local author. Ultimately I decided that it didn't seem fair to Ottawa (where I've lived for almost five years) to use an author from Winnipeg. So I'll have to find an Ottawa author. (read The Break. It counts as a book by an indigenous author and a book about feminism in the challenge)
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Jan 11, 2019 15:10
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cryptoclastic posted:So we have a small group that's signed up for the challenge this year and think I would like to try and start some discussion. Glad to see Sports crop up, there's some sports (or sports adjacent) books that I've been looking at and this'll be a good motivator. Local will probably get me to pick up the next Lonesome Dove book after reading the first a couple years back, as McMurtry is localish. Indigenous, I'm debating between the recent Stephen Graham Jones or Rebecca Roanhorse's next book due out this year. Or if I get real ambitious, I'll look into Ainu or Maori literature or something. Little nervous about Poetry, I'm just completely at sea on that one. There's some easy re-read options, as I sorta re-read Wodehouse or Stout in the background of this challenge every year, but I might try and pull one from the recent past that I feel like I didn't quite "get."
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Jan 11, 2019 16:17
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Regarding how I choose books, last year I planned it out pretty meticulously right at the beginning, but all that planning kind of went to the wayside pretty quickly, and by the end of a year I just had a ton of books in my queue that fit any number of challenges. I'm kind of approaching it the same way this year, where I'll have a nice, fat reading list and just grab whatever intrigues me and fits a challenge I haven't done. I don't think I'm really dreading any of the challenges, honestly. Local author is an interesting one, I live in Minnesota so the classic suggestions are Garrison Keillor and Laura Ingalls Wilder, neither of whom I'm that interested in reading. Technically, F. Scott Fitzgerald was from my city, but he honestly didn't spend that much of his life in St. Paul. I might read The Great Gatsby anyway, since I haven't ever read it. I'd really like to find a local Hmong or Mdewakanton author, since I know criminally little about both cultures. I've technically already done the indigenous writer challenge (Trail of Lightning) but I'd like to read more by indigenous authors in general. I actually had no idea Stephen Graham Jones was Blackfoot, I've been meaning to read some of his collections or Mongrels forever. The only challenge I'm sort of iffy on is reading something about sports-- I know there's a billion books that are at least sports-adjacent, I've just never been that into many sports so I'll have to do some digging to find something that interests me. I suppose that's what makes it a good challenge for me to do, though! Oh also, I work in live theater for a living, so once we get out of the madness that is the beginning of the year, I can probably put together a list of plays if people are looking for suggestions on that front.
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Jan 11, 2019 17:03
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MockingQuantum posted:Regarding how I choose books, last year I planned it out pretty meticulously right at the beginning, but all that planning kind of went to the wayside pretty quickly, and by the end of a year I just had a ton of books in my queue that fit any number of challenges. I'm kind of approaching it the same way this year, where I'll have a nice, fat reading list and just grab whatever intrigues me and fits a challenge I haven't done. If you want to combine reading indigenous authors with sports, Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese (Ojibwe from Northern Ontario) is a book about a boy who uses hockey as an escape from the realities of living at a residential school.
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Jan 11, 2019 17:23
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As for planning, I mostly just go the the library a lot. Until probably July I'll just keep some of these in the back of my mind whenever I go and if something looks appealing and might fit, I'll grab it. I'll be a little more deliberate come the end of the year when there's likely a few left that just never seemed to strike my fancy. MockingQuantum posted:I've technically already done the indigenous writer challenge (Trail of Lightning) but I'd like to read more by indigenous authors in general. I actually had no idea Stephen Graham Jones was Blackfoot, I've been meaning to read some of his collections or Mongrels forever. I haven't read his collections. Mongrels is good. I loved Growing Up Dead in Texas, though I recognize there's a strong possibility it's a love/hate type book.
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Jan 11, 2019 17:25
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Yes! I will do this. My goal is to read 50 books, and I will do the Booklord’s Challenge. Edit: I already have some other reading challenges I’m doing (Canada Reads, a list I got off Pinterest, a sci-fi/fantasy/horror book club I belong to) so I’m kind of combining a lot of different ideas already. It’s easier though because a lot of the Booklord’s Challenge is stuff I usually read anyway, like a lot of women’s lit and LGBT texts. Due to sadbrains and required reading for my English degree I fell out of reading compulsively for pleasure, so this is my big step back into that. Sports and a local author are going to be my big toughies. Arivia fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jan 11, 2019 |
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Jan 11, 2019 18:54
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Arivia posted:Sports and a local author are going to be my big toughies. There are some sports adjacent books that I think would count here. Things that feature sports without being about sports. Something like The Throwback Special, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, or The Art of Fielding.
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Jan 11, 2019 19:44
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