A Better Reading Challenge

Recently, PopSugar released their 2015 Ultimate Reading Challenge. Being a reader myself (duh) I was intrigued, but also sort of disappointed in the list. Perhaps it's because the "other" Reading Challenge that was recently circulating around my FB feed. While I appreciate the sentiment behind not reading White, Straight, Cisgender authors for a year, I also recognize that many people want to pick up a new book by their favorite author (hello, Clairel!) or have a stack of books lurking on their nightstand waiting to be read.

Ok, this is a picture of my desk, not my nightstand. Books lurk both places.

 So, my solution was to come up with a New! Improved! Reading Challenge. It took the structure of the PopSugar Challenge and added in some categories that would come closer to the OX Jane challenge.  It is as follows:

• A book with more than 500 pages
•          A classic romance
  
•          A book that became a movie/TV show
•          A book published this year
•          A book with a number in the title
•          A book written by someone under 30
•          A book written by an African American or African author
•          A book with nonhuman characters
•          A funny book
•          A book by a female author
•          A book by a minority author
•          A mystery or thriller
•          A book with a one-word title
•          A book set in a different country
•          A nonfiction book
•          A popular author’s first book
•          A book by an author you love that you haven’t read yet
•          A book a friend recommended
•          A major award winning book (Pulitzer, Booker, Printz, National, etc)
•          A book by a LGBT author
•          A book at the bottom of your to-read list
•          A book that a family member loves
•          A book that scares you
•          A book more than 100 years old
•          A book based entirely on its cover
•          A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t
•          A memoir
•          A book you can finish in a day
•          A book with antonyms in the title
•          A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit
•          A book with bad reviews
•          A book set in the future
•          A book from your childhood
•          A book with a color in the title
  
•          A book that made you cry
•          A book with magic
•          A graphic novel
•          A book you own but have never read
•          A book in translation from another language
•          A play
•          A banned book
•          A book you started but never finished 

Go forth and conquer, my friends.