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It's January and that means it's time for this year's TBB Reading Challenge & Booklord Challenge! Looking to read more? Read differently? Read anything at all? You're in the right place! There were a lot of interesting approaches to how people used the new-to-last-year Themes, so they're back! And with a new list of things to apply to your challenge however you like. Down to brass tacks. What are the TBB Reading Challenge and the Booklord Challenge? Primarily, it's a set of challenges to read more and read more broadly! To join in, just tell us your personal Reading Challenge (maybe it's a specific number of books, specific titles, or something else!) and whether you'd like to attempt completing the FULL BOOKLORD CHALLENGE (using ALL the prompts below). Then get reading, and post updates here through the year. However much or whatever you aim to read, you're welcome to join. 2024 BOOKLORD CHALLENGE PROMPTS 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 25% of them are not written by men. 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure a least 25% of them are written by writers of color. 4. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 8% of them are written by LGBTQ writers. 5. Read a work in translation 6. Read something that was nominated for an award 7. Read something that is referenced in something else (a movie, a tv show, another book, etc.) 8. Read some poetry OR a play 9. Read something in the public domain 10. Read something you think is probably overhyped 11. Read something illustrated (whether it's a few splash pages or a comic, do whatever you like here!) 12. Read two works by different authors who have a matching name (initials, first, last, middle, whatever) 13. Ask the thread for a Wildcard 14. Read something with exactly four (4) words in the title (since it's 2024) THEMES Themes are returning! We have a new set this year and they are still entirely optional! They're not regular prompts like you see above, but you could treat them like extra prompts if you like! Or you could use them as an addition or modification to the prompts above. They're just here for some extra inspiration, so feel free to use them (or ignore them) however works for you. - Dark - Light - Unconventional - Expected - Simple - Complicated - Old - New - Angry - Calm Use this form to join the challenge and let us know your goals: Name: Personal Challenge: Booklord 2024? (Yes or No) SOME TIPS FOR READING MORE! These are just a few things I started doing that helped me read a lot more (and I've seen a lot of similar tips elsewhere). I seriously went from reading 1-2 books a year to averaging in the 75-100 a year range by doing the stuff below (and not really consciously at first -- and some of it might have started as a way just to keep myself from doomscrolling -- but it did work!). See if any of these might help you out! - Find the right format(s). If hard copies feel like a hassle, ebooks and audiobooks might be a good fit for you. Try them out if you haven't! - If it sucks, put it down! Remember that you don't have to finish a book you're not enjoying! It's a lot easier to read a book that you find fun or interesting! - Try reading more than one book at once. If you like a book but you're just not in the mood for it, try picking up something you are in the mood for to keep your momentum going. You can always come back to the other book later! - What are you really doing with your time? A lot of us are genuinely busy, but think about about how much time you spend mindlessly scrolling through things, watching YouTube videos of cow hoof trimming, playing a time-waster game you don't even enjoy. Listen to ebooks during your commute, open your ebook app while you're waiting for your doctor's appointment -- there are lots of little nooks in life you can use to read a few pages here and there if you keep it in mind. - Keep your books nearby. It's always easier to read when your book is right there! Put your ebook app on your homescreen, carry a paperback at all times, whatever works for you. - If you're really out of practice reading, set a comically small goal to start with. Commit to reading just one page, or even one sentence! You'll almost definitely exceed your expectations and it can be easier to build a habit when you start with low stakes. - Use an app or a notebook to keep track of what you've read and what you want to read. Scratch paper, Goodreads, Storygraph (my personal favorite), etc. Looking at what you've accomplished and what you're looking forward to can be a good way to stay engaged. - Relax! Reading for fun should be fun. (I assume you're doing this challenge for fun at least!). Even if you aren't quite meeting the goals you've set out, you're still accomplishing something!
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Jan 3, 2024 01:47
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 02:59 |
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Name: Heavy Metal Personal Challenge: 30 (books, audiobooks, comics) Booklord 2024? No Name: AlbertFlasher Personal Challenge: 6 books Booklord 2024? No Nom de Plume: RailtraceR30 Personal Challenge: 57 books Booklord 2024: gently caress it, Let's Go Name: Bilirubin Personal Challenge: 15 books Booklord 2024? (Yes or No) sure why not? Name: freelop Personal Challenge: 12 Booklord 2024? Yes Name: Jordan7hm Personal Challenge: 100 Booklord 2024? Yes though not that focused on it. Name: Gertrude Perkins Personal Challenge: 52 books Booklord 2024? YES Name: ectoplasm Personal Challenge: 52 Booklord 2024? Yes Name: mdemone Challenge: 100 books Booklord: Yes Name: Ben Nevis Challenge: 75 books Booklord: Yes Name: lifg Challenge: 30 books Booklord: No Name: GarbiTheGlitchress Personal Challenge: 39 books Booklord: No Name: Lord Rupert Challenge: 52 books Booklord: Nah Name: DurianGray Challenge: 52 books, re-read Moby Dick and House of Leaves Booklord: Yup! Name: Kuule hain nussivan Personal Challenge: 52 (books) Booklord 2024? Sure! Name: escape artist Personal challenge: 50 (audiobooks / regular) Booklord: Nah Name: UltraShame Personal Challenge: 25 Booklord 2024? Yes DurianGray fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Mar 10, 2024 |
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Jan 3, 2024 01:47
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Name: DurianGray Challenge: 52 books, re-read Moby Dick and House of Leaves Boolord: Yup! Finally posting my own! I keep meaning to re-read some stuff I've loved so I'm going to go ahead and make it part of my personal challenge.
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Jan 19, 2024 16:26
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Gertrude Perkins posted:Who Booklords the Booklord??!!?! Not me apparently since I accidentally wrote "Boolord" lol
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Jan 20, 2024 20:40
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January felt like it lasted forever for me, but now it's over! I finished 8 books and got a few challenge categories ticked off already. 1. Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliot I think I might have gotten this confused with something else I saw recommended around because woof, this did not work for me. It's ostensibly "Alexander the Great but a Girl and In Space" but it was more of a... I dunno, goofy teen hijinks with some war and court politics thrown in? I ended up skimming through a lot of it trying to find something that would keep my attention and it didn't really happen. Oh well! 2. The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite This is a historical fiction lesbian romance set in England during the reign of George IV (the exile and return of Queen Caroline is a major recurring plot element) about a beekeeper in a lavender marriage and a widowed printshop owner falling in love. Waite writes solid historical fiction in addition to the relationships which is what keeps me reading her stuff even though I don't usually go for romances. I learned a lot about beekeeping and printmaking! 3. The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw A very short, weird, purple, gross, and indulgent story about a mermaid (the scary kind) and a plague doctor (not really human either) travelling around a dying kingdom together. I really enjoyed this but the prose style is VERY idiosyncratic and I found myself looking up words maybe every other page (and I was a nerd who read the dictionary for fun in middle school). Definitely recommend if indulgent, gorey, medieval settings and purple prose are your thing. 4. In Memoriam by Alice Winn This was another queer historical fiction novel, but this time set in the trenches of WWI instead of a cozy English village. I enjoyed this a lot. It's core is a romance between two British (private? public? the fancy kind of boarding school there) school boys who both have un-spoken crushes on each other. When WWI breaks out, they both eventually join the same regiment and start a relationship, but again, it's WWI so things aren't going great. This didn't ignore how much of a horror show WWI was, but it also had some moments of respite, like a sequence of kind of fun POW prison breaks. I liked it a good bit! 5. The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon A very unique sci-fi book in a decaying world where city-states are run by capricious and eccentric AI gods, many of whom have become 'corrupted' and destroyed their constituents. Everything ties in with these corrupted AI gods, and while there are some action sequences, most of the book is focused on the concept of the self and interpersonal relationships. It's very meditative for a book that also has giant robots stomping around occasionally. I dug it! Might be a bit slow if you're expecting a whiz-bang robot showdown though. 6. The Revolt by Clara Dupont-Monod, translated by Ruth Diver This is a very lyric/literary historical-ish novella about Eleanor of Aquitaine and her son Richard the Lionheart and the Game-of-Thrones-y battles (political and... the war type) between monarchs in the period. Most of the broad strokes seem factual, but there's of course a lot of creative liberty taken considering the events it's based on happened almost 900 years ago. It was pretty good but the pacing was definitely slow 7. Citizens of the Mausoleum by Rodney Gomez A poetry collection I picked up on a whim while pre-ordering a different poetry collection. While I have probably read a bit more poetry than the average person, I would not say it's a lot more. I think that this was a good collection. Nothing stood out as 'bad' as far as my current poetry litmus test, but noting really sunk its claws into me either. Some really striking turns of phrase, but overall it hasn't stuck with me. I do look forward to reading more poetry soon though! 8. The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage by Anthony Brandt A nonfiction book about what it says. I was initially expecting this to mostly be about the Coppermine expedition since that's where the phrase in the title comes from, but it covered a lot before and after, and while Franklin is of course a major figure, he's far from the only one. This was a really good overview of the history of the (especially English) attempts and tragedies and near-tragedies looking for something that wouldn't really exist until global warming happened (yeesh). 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 8/52 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 25% of them are not written by men. ~6/8 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure a least 25% of them are written by writers of color. ~3/8 4. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 8% of them are written by LGBTQ writers. ~4/8 5. Read a work in translation -- The Revolt (from French) 6. Read something that was nominated for an award 7. Read something that is referenced in something else (a movie, a tv show, another book, etc.) 8. Read some poetry OR a play -- Citizens of the Mausoleum (poetry) 9. Read something in the public domain 10. Read something you think is probably overhyped 11. Read something illustrated (whether it's a few splash pages or a comic, do whatever you like here!) 12. Read two works by different authors who have a matching name (initials, first, last, middle, whatever) 13. Ask the thread for a Wildcard 14. Read something with exactly four (4) words in the title (since it's 2024) -- The Salt Grows Heavy
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Feb 1, 2024 23:13
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UltraShame posted:Name: UltraShame How about Leech by Hiron Ennes? (Also counts toward LGBTQ+ author.)
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Mar 8, 2024 13:59
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February was sorta rough for me health-wise and I "only" managed to finish 5 books (I know that's not a small number but it felt like it compared to what I usually get through). Knock on wood, March has been better so far at least! 9. Merchant Kings: When Companies Ruled the World, 1600-1900 by Stephen R. Brown Six snapshots of different colonial-capitalist eras, each centered on a specific guy. You get the Dutch East India Company, the British East India Company, up through the early days of the scramble for Africa. No surprise these guys were nightmare human beings. Really hammers home how tightly interlinked the roots of imperialism/colonalism and human exploitation are. 10. The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown What it says in the title. This tells the story of the Donner party focusing (mostly) on survivor Sarah Graves, but it did give a lot of extra context for the era and the aftermath that one of the other books about it I'd read (Under the Banner of Heaven) didn't go into so much, so there was new-to-me material here along with the stuff I was already familiar with. A good read if you're interested in learning more about what actually happened to the Donner Party though! 11. The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff Sort of a literary historical fiction book about a servant girl escaping from the horrors of the Jamestown colony during the winter known now as The Starving Times. She spends most of the time running through the winter forests of (what would become) Virginia and struggling desperately to survive. Really lyrically written and does not avoid being gnarly about how terrible trying to scrape by in the woods with no real resources or knowledge would be, but also has moments of beauty. I won't spoil it, but I will say I appreciated how it ended. 12. A Restless Truth by Freya Marske The second book in a historical fantasy romance series set in the Edwardian era where there's a lot of drama and power struggles involving a secretive society of wizards. The first book starred two men (who ended up together) and this is two women (one the sister of the main guy in the first book). There's a murder mystery on an ocean liner and also a lot of pretty graphic lesbian sex scenes. But it works? (The first one did too, for me at least). I usually get bored by romances but this had an engaging enough plot outside of the romance to keep me interested. Pretty popcorn-y fare, but I'm invested enough in the overarching plot to pick up the third book at some point. 13. The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party by Kelly Tyler-Lewis While Shackleton was busy getting the Endurance sunk and escaping the dangers of the Weddell Sea, another party on the opposite side of Antarctica tried to carry out the deadly work of laying supply caches for Shackleton's intended march past the south pole and across the continent (a first, since the pole had already been reached by Amundsen and Scott). Things go VERY BADLY and it's honestly a surprise more people didn't die. If you like polar expedition disasters, check it out! 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 13/52 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 25% of them are not written by men. ~9/13 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure a least 25% of them are written by writers of color. ~3/13 4. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 8% of them are written by LGBTQ writers. ~5/13 5. Read a work in translation -- The Revolt (from French) 6. Read something that was nominated for an award 7. Read something that is referenced in something else (a movie, a tv show, another book, etc.) 8. Read some poetry OR a play -- Citizens of the Mausoleum (poetry) 9. Read something in the public domain 10. Read something you think is probably overhyped 11. Read something illustrated (whether it's a few splash pages or a comic, do whatever you like here!) 12. Read two works by different authors who have a matching name (initials, first, last, middle, whatever) -- Stephen R. Brown / Daniel James Brown 13. Ask the thread for a Wildcard 14. Read something with exactly four (4) words in the title (since it's 2024) -- The Salt Grows Heavy
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Mar 10, 2024 01:49
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paradoxGentleman posted:I haven't read in any real capacity (unless you coung RPG manuals, which you really shouldn't) in years, especially after uni. I would love to get back into it again. As the OP I decree you should do whatever the hell you want, the challenge is for you to define as you wish, and re-reading is still reading. e: I also love re-reading generally. You're going to be coming to a book with a different perspective now than the first time you read it so it'll be a different experience too, even if only subtly.
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Mar 24, 2024 14:28
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 02:59 |
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I only finished two books in March. That's the lowest number I've finished in a very long time. I did start a lot of books that I'm still in the middle of, and probably the biggest explanation is that I started learning to play the banjo which is apparently taking up a lot more of my brain's focus than I would have expected! 14. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison I know this is far from a majority opinion but I kind of hated this book hah. This gets lauded as a 'cozy' fantasy focused on court politics. The basic gist is that the youngest and least-favored (and half-goblin) son of an elf emperor suddenly inherits the throne after his father and all of his brothers die, and he has no clue how to rule or how court works because he lived essentially in exile his whole life. It's not a bad pitch, but imo none of the worldbuilding or court politics really make sense if you dig a little below the surface (which is important for a book heavily focused court politics to really work!), and a lot of it just seems really out of touch and woefully under-researched (I even found an interview with the author where she explicitly said she made it about elves and goblins because she didn't want to do any research on actual medieval courts  ). I could go on for a very long time nitpicking it but I'll stop there.15. Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo Another Singing Hills Cycle book! This series is still really neat. I'm still enjoying the conceit of how the stories the main character collects weave into their own life and adventures. This was one of the more somber entries so far, about death and legacy and how often we only know and understand other people through stories we know (or later find out) about them rather than direct experience. Looking forward to the next one! 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 15/52 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 25% of them are not written by men. ~11/15 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure a least 25% of them are written by writers of color. ~4/15 4. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 8% of them are written by LGBTQ writers. ~6/15 5. Read a work in translation -- The Revolt (from French) 6. Read something that was nominated for an award -- The Goblin Emperor 7. Read something that is referenced in something else (a movie, a tv show, another book, etc.) 8. Read some poetry OR a play -- Citizens of the Mausoleum (poetry) 9. Read something in the public domain 10. Read something you think is probably overhyped -- The Goblin Emperor 11. Read something illustrated (whether it's a few splash pages or a comic, do whatever you like here!) 12. Read two works by different authors who have a matching name (initials, first, last, middle, whatever) -- Stephen R. Brown / Daniel James Brown 13. Ask the thread for a Wildcard 14. Read something with exactly four (4) words in the title (since it's 2024) -- The Salt Grows Heavy DurianGray fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Apr 9, 2024 |
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Apr 9, 2024 14:12
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