Read Harder (Rochester)

Each year, Book Riot releases a book challenge list consisting of 24 categories. The Mission, if you choose to accept it, is to read one book for each category through the year. Books can count for multiple categories.

In Rochester, SarahSaysRead and I facilitate an unofficial group of readers who get together once a month to talk about the books we are reading for the challenge. We split the categories up into pairs so that we all have some idea about where we are and where we are headed. This (2018) is our second year of meeting. We've got about 4 or 5 folks who are regulars and then a few who come sometimes.

We typically meet on a Sunday but the location varies, as we’ve decided this is a good way to also try different foodie spots. If you are interested in joining us, please email me (Kenya) at kacophani at gmail dot com. Put Read Harder Roc in the subject line or risk that circular file. 

Read Harder 2018
January	First book in a new to you YA or middle grade series	Essay anthology
February	Book published posthumously	Romance by or about a POC
March	Book of Social Science	One sitting book
April	About Nature	Cover you hate
May	Comic written and illustrated by the same person	A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa).
June	Sci-fi with a female protag by a female author	An assigned book you hated
July	Children’s classic published before 1980	Genre fiction in translation
August	Book of Colonial or postcolonial lit	Comin that isn’t Marvel, DC, or Image
September	Western	Oprah Book Club selection
October	Book of true crime	Comic written or illustrated by a person of color
November	Celebrity Memoir	Mystery by a POC or LGBTQ+ author
December	Classic of genre fiction	Female protag over the age of 60

  

Bout of Books 21 - Wrap up

Last week was #BoutOfBooks, a week long readathon. My goals were really about completing the challenges and interacting more with other bookigh folks because I don't really need to read more books. So... ya know, in relation to my goals for the readathon, I failed. But. I read a lot. So... if I change my goal ad hoc, then I am right on target!

Here's what I read:

Clear A Shelf 3 - Running Post (Probably)

This is going to be one of those running posts for a challenge. Hopefully, it won’t be like most of the other ones that I have had in which you can see the exact moment I stopped tracking whatever the challenge goal was.

This one is for my current Clear A Shelf Challenge

Bout of Books 20: Recap Post

This, as expertly indicated in the title of the post, is my recap post for Bout of Books 20!! 

And here's the link to the master post with running updates if you are so inclined. [And Here]

I read some thing every single day, which I think is part of the goal of the Bout. I did a couple of chats and cheered on my fellow bouters on twitter! I'm definitely looking forward to the next one and hope that it doesn't take me a year to get back to the fun!

Bout of Books 20: Master Post

It’s been over a year since I’ve done a Bout, which definitely seems too long. I haven't done any in 2017, yet! WTAF!? I’m planning to invade all the twitter chats, stalk the hashtag, and root for my twitter peeps anyway, so I might as well sign up. Here it is, then. The sign up post! This is the master post that I will update, theoretically on a daily basis. 

I have a number (about 9) books checked out from the library that I want to get done with. I don't think I'll get through all nine but my plan is to focus on those first. Of course, I might change my mind completed tomorrow. I'm whimsical like that.

Dewey's April 2017 - Sign Up Post

Okey Dokey,

I signed up for Deweys Readathon for this Satruday. I have lots of other things scheduled but I’ll shove some books in- between. I'm thinking I might get about 12-14 hours in. I've got two shows that I am in on Saturday and one show that I am doing the merchandise table for. It's 42nd Street, so I actually want to watch it. There goes 3.5 hours down the non- reading drain right there! On Sunday I have book club and then the final public for for Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. So, I can't really be up for the whole 24 hours.

Audiobooks are a busy-readathon-day must, y’all! I'll have one running through all commutes and set up, etc.

Readthon TBR:

This is a loosely goosely list because I might ditch this plan and read a bunch of other stuff. But, I hope to read at least four books so my list includes a couple of with are nibbles of novels, as Becky calls them [link].

• Radio Silence by Alyssa Coles: for Read Harder
• Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris: For book club
• The House of Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros: It’s been on my TBR for a while and I own it.
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (audiobook)
• Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (audiobook)

Currently Reading:
Before Saturday I plan to finish my two currently in progress books.  If all things go well, I will end April right at my goal of having read 10 books per month. 

Read Harder - Roc: An LGBTQ Romance

Last week was the first meeting for the Read Harder Rochester book group! We had four whole people show up! Whoott!!

This month’s categories up for discussion were: A Book about War and A LGBTQ Romance. This post is about the latter.

 An interesting point that came up doing the discussion about this category is that all members agreed that it would be important, moving forward, to choose books in the “diversity” categories that were written by authors from the under-represented group. Not all of our books this time reflect this approach and the readers could tell that an "insider" voice would probably have been better.

Read Harder 2017

Last year I did a bunch of reading challenges and have since decided that keeping up with them was too much of a chore. I do plan to do a few Readathons throughout the year but Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge is the only reading challenge that I’ve officially decided to do for 2017, though Book Riot recently posted the 59 Book Fandom reading challenge that I might check in with unofficially and I haven't decided about participating in the Review Diverse Books challenge, yet. As a blogging challenge specifically, that one would be a new thing for me. Appealing or terrifying? Hard to say!

I've participated the last three years, failing by two categories (THE HARD ONES!) each time. This year, I've teamed up with other local readers to meet each month to talk about two categories to encourage me to get those books read. 

Here's the official Book Riot Link

Here's the PDF you can download to play along

Sarah (over at Sarah Says Read) and I went through the the 24 tasks and paired them based on "easiness." Hard tasks were basically those that might require more research to know if it will work, be harder to find, or have more difficult content. We tried to pair each hard task with an "easy" task and put all the hard tasks earlier in the year. Here's how it came out and my running log:

Dewey's Readathon Fall 2016 - The Ready, The Set, and The Currently Reading

It’s Dewey’s time again!! Last year was my first one and I’m excited to do it again!!

This post is where I'll post updates throughout the day, assuming that the Blogger app on my phone doesn't keep shutting down.

I've decided that rather than really narrowing down my TBR for the day, I'm just going to have a pool of books to choose from based on my library books, my old eARCs, by clear a shelf books, and four new audiobooks.

Clear A Shelf August – Reading Challenge (Sign Up Here!)

I know I’m not the only one. Admit it. You have loads of books sitting around your house but you still mostly read books that you just randomly pick up new at the library, at the book store, or from the Little Free Library near you. And they are mostly completely unrelated to the books on your completely overstuffed and ridiculous TBR shelf. 

So, I’ve decided to take a month and try and "Clear a Shelf." Hence the name of the challenge. Clever, no? I've been thinking about hosting a challenge and viola! So, come along with me. You know your shelves will thank you.

READ THE "RULES"

Qualifying books fall into two categories:

OWNED: Anything you own before August 1^st is fair game. You can use this challenge to clear a shelf of books you already own. I am going to try and focus on this category.

TBR: Any book already on your established To Be Read (TBR) list as of August 1^st regardless of whether you own it or not.

DECLARE YOUR GOAL

Percentages are based on the total number of books you read for August.

0% - 25 %:  Noble Page

25% - 50%: Knight

51% - 75%: Ruler

76% - 100% Warrior

MAKE A POST/ GET THE STICKER

If you want to join me on this quest, post your goal on twitter, your blog, or wherever you do such things. On Twitter please use the hashtag #ClearAShelf. And check this out. I made a thing! You can use this sticker on your post. It's cute, right!?

SIGN UP 

Sign up using a link to your post in the linky form thingy below. If you use your actual sign- up blog post or tweet, I will pop in every now and then to shout words of encouragement along the way. All Rulers and Warriors at the end of the challenge will be entered into a raffle to win two new- to-you books from my shelves. I haven't figured out those details yet. Obviously, I'm new!


So, the stupid linky thing is no longer working. If you are joining me on this challenge, just drop me a Tweet or an email with the link to your sign up post! Technology is such an awesome and spectacular pain in the butt!!

#MakeMeRead Readathon - Running Post

Here’s my original sign-up post for the challenge, which is hosted by Ely at Tea and Titles and Val at the Innocent Smiley. The readathon goes from July 9th to July 16th.

The way the vote turned out:

2016 Book Challenges - June Update

 I can't believe that we are already halfway through 2016. That is crazy! Here's how my reading challenges are going so far. I'll post an update about blog challenges separately. Can you tell I'm trying to reach a goal for posts before the end of the month? 

#MakeMeRead Readathon Sign up Post

Another Readathon! Yes! I've clearly got nothing but time.

This is another week-long, read- as- many- as- you- can event, with a bit of a twist. It’s hosted by Ely at Tea and Titles and Val at the Innocent Smiley. The readathon goes from July 9th to July 16th.

RocTBF2016 Recap Post

All right. My two month OBSESSION is over and done with. The 11th Annual Rochester Teen Book Festival is DONE. I have already started stalking the web site for plans for next year, but apparently, no one cares about MY needs!!

As you may know, the plan was for me to read (or have read) one book for each author that would be at TBF. Once again, I was so close to completing this goal that I could taste it! One barrier was that I was scheduled to participate in a book tour for a ginormous book during the final week of the challenge. Hashtag bad timing. I ended with three measly authors to go! However, I read a few books by authors I already knew and loved, so no tears from me. I guess.

I was an adult Author’s Assistant again this year. This basically means I was the Head of an author’s entourage. Here’s a picture of the team and the Spectacular Cathleen Davitt Bell.

Bout of Books 16 - Recap Post

I used my first Bout of Books readathon challenge to support my Teen Book Festival Challenge goal. While I did not end up reading each author that was at the Rochester TBF (I WAS SHORT BY THREE PEOPLE, DAG- NABBIT!!), I did read a butt ton and got pretty close.

Bout of Books Update, Midweek!

This week is all about binge reading all the books to complete my RocTBF2016 Challenge. I’ve joined the bout of books readathon for the first time mostly to support the goal. It’s super fun. The other people participating are nice and run some great blogs. Follow the hashtag #boutofbooks on twitter if you don’t believe me. I'm sure you can follow it on other platforms, but I'll leave that all up to you to figure out!

Since Monday I've:

• 972 actual pages 
• Listened to about 8.5 hours of audiobook
• Finished 4 books (completing one that was already started before the challenge started).
• Participated in 1 twitter chat (monday)
• Been tweeting encouragement to other #boutofbooks tweeps

Currently reading:

  

Up Next:

Bout of Books Challenge

May 11: Bout of Books Challenge today is “Five Favorites”

So… My Five Blog Posts (Don't judge me for being overly self- focused! I needed something quick!! Plus, it is *my* blog!)

1.    My post about the Unofficial Book Riot Book Crawl last year.

2.    A post about what I do in my "spare time."

3.    This post about my favorite Bookish people in the 'verse.

4.    This one from when I got my Little Free Library posted!

5.    My post after Broadway con in January.

Bout of Books 16 - Master Post

 What do I need to push through the last week before TBF? A reading challenge! Yes!! Enter: Bout of Books 16. This will be my first one.

Official Blurb:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 9th and runs through Sunday, May 15th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 16 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Reading Goal:

My goal is to read the 10 books I need to complete my TBF reading challenge goal!! Of course, there's work to deal with.

Challenges/Giveaways

Monday 5/9
Introduce Yourself #insixwords
My post: Kenya, here! Bookish, nosy YA enthusiast.

Tuesday 5/10
Show Off Your Shelves Photo Challenge #shelfie4boutofbooks

My post: Here's an old #shelfie #shelfie4boutofbooks. Hey!

I'm wearing those headphones I lost!

Wednesday 5/11
5 Favorites - Update post

Thursday 5/12
If you like this, try this...

My Posts:

#boutofbooks challenge: If you like @cw_spn #Supernatural, try Anna Dressed in Blood by @KendareBlake #YaLit

#boutofbooks: If you liked American Boys by @KielyBrendan and @JasonReynolds83 then try Lies We Tell Ourselves by @robin_talley #RocTBF2016

Friday 5/13
Freaky Friday Photo Challenge #freakyboutofbooks
 

My Post: The most horrifying picture on the Internet: my coffee cup is... EMPTY!! #boutofbooks #freakyboutofbooks 

Saturday 5/14
Share your favorite Bout of Books moment - Fail! I just shared and RTed other people's moments!

Sunday 5/15
FREE DAY!

Recap Post

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