My 6 Book Challenges

My own personal book challenge is one I tried last year...52 books in a year, one per week...and failed at. This year I'm more determined. To help me meet my goal, I'm joining several challenges hosted by different people. I'm hoping they will compliment the books already in my to-read pile while allowing for opportunities to discover more great books.

The first is the "WHAT'S IN A NAME" challenge by hosted Beth Fish Reads. There are only six books for this challenge, but the title of each book must have _____ in the title. Here are my books:

1. Evil:  Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche (non-fiction)
2. Gem: Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History by Scott Andrew Selby
3. Number: One Day by David Nicholls (or maybe The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall)
4. Size: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
5. Movement: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
6. Life Stage: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (I hope this one counts. It seems like it should, but it's kind of a stretch.)

The second is an E-BOOK challenge hosted by The Ladybug Reads. I don't have an e-reader (although at some point I feel I may cave and buy a Nook color, but that won't be for some time.) I do however have a smart phone with the kindle app. I also have the kindle software on my laptop. At Amazon, all of the books in the public domain are FREE, so my focus for this challenge will be the classics. I've signed up for the Addicted level (12 books).

Almost all of the books I plan on reading will be first reads, but I've decided to join Daemon's books in rereading the HARRY POTTER series.

This past year, for the first time, I read a lot of Young Adult and Middle Grade books, and I've enjoyed most of them.  So I'm reading more and joining For the Love of YA's 2011 YOUNG ADULT reading challenge. I only signed up for the lowest level, The Mini (12 books).

I enjoy non-fiction books, especially ones about science, but I'm not going to limit myself to just one type of non-fiction. I'm joining Past as Prologue's NON-FICTION challenge. I'm going for Expert (7+ books) because I have 10 on my to-read list for this year.

FINALLY, I'm doing an AUDIOBOOK challenge hosted by Teresa's Reading Corner. I'm hoping to get to the Addicted level (12 audiobooks).

Some of these challenges may overlap, but I think that's okay. And although these seem like a lot of books, I think I can do it. Wish me luck.