Sunday 29 December 2013

My 2014 book challenge

It’s no secret that I’m an avid reader, in fact one of my great passions in life is books. I work in children’s publishing, always have a book on the go and I currently have a to-read pile pushing three figures. In 2013 I set myself the reading related challenge of reading 52 books in the year. Having the challenge really did make me keep a track of my reading and properly evaluate each one, that was also due to the blog too. So as I enjoyed 2013's reading challenge so much I thought I'd set myself a new challenge for 2014, but this time I don’t want to make it about the number of books I read. I'd rather give the challenge a bit more substance and make it about what I'm reading.


So for 2014 my aim is to tick off some of the books I've been meaning to read for ages, try some new authors and read some of the books that were big this year. So with than in mind I'm setting myself a series of mini challenges, I'm not planning on necessarily completing them all, I just want to give as many of them as possible a go. So without further ado, below is my list of book challenges for 2014.

  • Finally finish all the books in The Chronicles of Narnia series (I've only read the first three so far).
  • Read some of the top picks from the ‘best books of 2013’ lists that have recently been doing the rounds. Below are the books at the top of my list:
    • Rooftoppers, Katherine Rundell
    • She Is Not Invisible, Marcus Sedgwick
    • Life after Life, Kate Atkinson
    • Inferno, Dan Brown
    • Eleanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell
    • The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
    • Love, Nina, Nina Stibbe
  • Finally read some of Neil Gaiman’s books. I’m thinking The Ocean at the End of the Lane and Coraline at least.
  • Read the final books by Roald Dahl that I've not read yet – Boy, Going Solo, The Magic Finger, Dirty Beasts, Fantastic Mr Fox and Revolting Rhymes
  • Reread some of my favourite classics – Persuasion, The Little Princess, The Secret Garden and give Dickens another try.
  • Read some of the apparent gems that are coming out in the world of kids books in 2014:
    • A Boy Called Hope by Lara Williamson
    • Trouble by Non Pratt
    • When Mr Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan
  • Read some of my sister's favourite books - Jo Nesbo and Game of Thrones specifically
  • Read A Cuckoo's Calling - I can't believe I've not read that yet!
  • Read the rest of John Green's published books: Let it Snow, An Abundance of Katharine's and Will Grayson, Will Grayson
  • Read some more children's classics - Stig of the Dump, Watership Down, Carrie's War
Any other booky challenges you can think of that I should add to my 2014 book challenge? I’m all ears as I want to make it interesting for myself and push my reading habits further. If you can’t think of a challenge simply let me know your favourite book or author and if I've not tried it/them I’ll add it to the pile!


2 comments:

  1. Hi Fi! Happy New Year! I just joined a book club :D Are you in one? You should be with your love of all things books ;) xx

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    1. Happy Christmas and New Year to you too! No I'm not in a book club, but I keep thinking I should join one, it's just a case of finding one nearby! Have a great day. xx

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