Reading Challenges

I'm a huge fan of reading challenges. They help me work toward a goal and push me to spend more time reading. And, really...who doesn't want to spend more time reading?


Goodreads is great for reading challenges and even counts books for you. At the moment, I'm behind my goal of thirty books this year, but I'm hopeful that I can get as close to that number as possible before the year is up!

Back in January, I blogged about a 2014 Challenge I was taking part in against my brother, Sunshine. Basically, whoever read the most books would receive a $20 gift card from the loser. My brother wants his card for the PlayStation store, while I want mine for Amazon. Of course I'll use it to buy more books.

Here are the rules for the 2014 Challenge, in no particular order:

1. Books must be added to and tracked on Goodreads to count, with a special 2014 Challenge shelf.
2. Books must be published (so my critiquing doesn't count, nor do my read-throughs of my own drafts). 
3. Only novels count toward the total read (no non-fiction, comics, graphic novels, etc.). 
4. Every two audiobooks listened to equals one book read.
5. Only one book started before January 1, 2014 counts toward the total for 2014 (for me, this was Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, started December 30, 2013). 
6. Revamped books will only count if added to the 2014 Challenge shelf. 

As of today, I have finished twenty-six books. Of those, eighteen were new reads, seven were audiobooks, and one was a reread. Considering I work from home, unschool two kiddos, and cover a wide range of other duties that would lead people to believe my alter ego is Wonder Woman, I think I'm doing okay. 

In 2015, I already have plans to participate is in this reading challenge:

I'm already excited and thinking of which books on my TBR list can count toward each check!

Do you participate in any reading challenges? How are you doing for 2014? What are your reading goals for 2015?

--Brianna Lebrecht