I know you’re thinking “Jana, it’s Christmas Eve. Shouldn’t you be writing about Christmas traditions or something that’s not books?” Hear me out because I am writing about a Christmas Eve tradition! Sure it’s in Iceland but how awesome is this–Iceland has a tradition of giving books on Christmas Eve and then the nice, bookish Icelanders spend the rest of the night reading. It’s a wonderful tradition, called Jolabokaflod and it means “Christmas Book Flood” (read all about it here)
I seriously need this in my life.
Instead, I’ll lovingly glance at the pile of library books and hope that all the books I’m giving as gifts tomorrow are appreciated as much as I want them to be.
Which brings me to no good way to segway into the point of this post, my 2016 personal reading challenge. I love reading challenges because they provide incentive and motivation to read books I’ve put off or wouldn’t otherwise consider or are in the deep recesses of my TBR. It’s why I did the Literary Ladies one over the summer and it’s why I’m participating in Erin’s this winter. The seasonal ones are great but my personal challenge, though, is year long. Because I need to give myself time for no other reason that so many books.
I haven’t decided which books I’m reading yet in all the categories so if you have favorites or suggestions or recommendations, let me have them.
Here’s the categories. Twelve, so I can read one a month:
- Book of poetry
- Classic business book
- Play
- Modern classic
- Historical memoir
- Written before 1900
- Biography of a political figure
- Graphic novel
- Frequently banned book
- Turned into a classic movie
- Over 500 pages
- Written by non-US author
I have another reading challenge I’m working on that I might launch in the spring or summer but I’m not 100% sure yet. I think this one and Erin’s will keep me busy enough!
Happy reading, Merry Christmas, and I’ll see you back on Tuesday for the bonus year end edition of Show Us Your Books!
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[…] books and the Literary Ladies, should they do their summer challenge again. Then there’s my personal reading challenge and one that Alyssa and I had planned to launch but didn’t because #forgetful. But that one […]
I enjoy reading challenges a lot, but I put a lot of pressure on myself to choose the “right” books. I’ve been working on a list for Erin’s challenge for two weeks now!
And yes, I always spend Christmas Eve reading. I’ve already read 3 books on this Christmas break. And I gave each of my students a book for Christmas so they have no excuses.
Merry merry Christmas!
I don’t do well with book challenges. I don’t know why…it’s like I convince myself that I do not want to read whatever I’m supposed to read to fulfill that challenge at the time, so it sort of ruins reading for me a little bit.
I like the idea of trying things you wouldn’t typically read though!
And I really like the idea of the Iceland tradition. Someone shared it on my FB page and I was tickled pink to learn it existed.
SMD @ Life According to Steph recently posted…TWTW – the one with the Christmas
Whoa. This IS a challenge. I have a suggestion…because you like dark, moody books (like me): Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. It is not a book I would have selected, but a woman at this small independent bookstore insisted I give it a chance. It’s written by an Australian author, and it’s set in Iceland.
TexErin recently posted…Sunday’s (more than) Seven Snapshots vol.53
i want a book flood! i think i am going to try and do less challenges this year, we’ll see. good luck!
kristen recently posted…The best (and worst) books of 2015
That is a nice tradition, Iceland has at least one thing going for them. 😉 I don’t do well with challenges for the most part. I don’t want to be forced to read books I normally wouldn’t because then I struggle with a book and it puts me off reading for awhile. It is good to push yourself though. Happy reading.
Kerry recently posted…Surprise I’m Alive