2016 Reading Challenge

2015 was a good reading year! My book club chose some excellent books, and while I didn’t hit every single one of the books I challenged myself to in this list, I got most of them–including some that I likely wouldn’t have read otherwise. And I did hit my book count–100 on the dot (unless I finish another one today)!

For 2016, I’m creating another list, too, but shorter this time, and I’m setting my reading goal at 60 instead of 100. The purpose of this is to read longer books that I’ve always intended to read but that I’ve passed over in favor of shorter books that I could finish sooner (and also meet my challenge). And some of my favorite books this year–specifically Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin and The World According to Garp by John Irving–were long books worth savoring.

Among those 60 books, I want to read the following:

1. A work by a Russian author
2. A work by an African author
3. A work by an Asian author
4. A work by a Caribbean author
5. A science fiction novel written by a woman
6. An Arthur C. Clarke Award winner
7. A book longer than 600 pages
8. A book set in South Carolina
9. A book set in a bookstore or library
10. A book featuring a road trip
11. A book about baseball
12. A book set at a lighthouse
13. A work of nonfiction about an event that occurred in my lifetime
14. A work written by a woman under the age of 30
15. A book set in New England

15 books–a manageable goal! I’m thinking of setting up some mini-challenges, too–like only reading books I own in one month (instead of buying new ones or checking them out at the library) or something like that, but I’ll decide on a case-by-case basis.

And soon, I’ll post an update of my favorites from 2015. On to 2016 and more books!