2015 Reading Challenge [Closed] discussion

The 2016 Reading Challenge will continue the concept of this year's challenge, with 52 weekly topics. Users then choose a book fitting each topic in order to complete the challenge. 3 of the (future) mini-polls will be devoted strictly to "small book" suggestions, allowing for one short book each month.

How it will work:
The topics for the 2016 RC list will be determined through 13 mini-polls. Each user will vote for their favorite 4 topics in each mini-poll, which will then add up to the 52 topics (13 polls x 4 topics/poll=52 weekly topics). This timeframe allows for a completed list at the beginning of December.

Voting ends July 5 at 8:00am EST

Rules:
- Each person can take the survey one time.
- First column: pick up for 4 themes. One, two, or three choices are fine if that's all that interests you.
- Second column: Rank all themes from most (1) to least (20) preferred.

Survey Link

10 topics interested me a lot in this batch! I hope some of them will be submitted again later :)

I was worried that I wasn't going to like a lot of the topics in next years challenge but so far basically all of the suggestions have been ones that interest me. We're getting really good batches to vote from!

I definitely agree, there are quite a few choices that I'm super excited about...but I'm not too excited about the mental illness one...

Brittany wrote: "I definitely agree, there are quite a few choices that I'm super excited about...but I'm not too excited about the mental illness one..."

Yeah, I wasn't sure on that one for everyone. I think for some people that could be very difficult to read about or could be a trigger, especially if that person suffers from one or knows someone that does.

My thoughts exactly Francesca! I guess I'll just stick with "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon. It's a quick easy read and kind of touches on mental illness.

Both "Buried" by Robin Merrow MacCreedy (a fictional journal of a teenage girls descent into mental illness), and "Before I Go To Sleep" by S.J, Watson (fictional story about a woman with amnesia; a very serious version of 50 First Dates) are okay. They aren't outstanding books (I rated them both a 3), but they're both decent suspenseful books about mental illness.

Manda wrote: "Both "Buried" by Robin Merrow MacCreedy (a fictional journal of a teenage girls descent into mental illness), and "Before I Go To Sleep" by S.J, Watson (fictional story about a woman with amnesia; ..."


Thank you for the suggestion Manda, I will definitely have to remember those!

One of the best books I have ever read is Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness which I believe would fit the mental illness category. It is a true story as well.

It's too early to choose, although I am interested in that theme we don't know if it's going to be in the final list. I hope it will, :-)

There are quite a few on this list I really liked so it made voting hard. I hope some are submitted again as well.

I had a really hard time choosing my top 4 from this list so I'm glad that there was a ranking system.

This year I did the Popsugar challenge and the A-Z (title) challenge so I think next year I may just do this challenge plus some of the other suggestions I like, as opposed to choosing two different challenges. There have been so many amazing suggestions that I think I could be occupied for quite some time :)

This batch had a lot of good choices. I hope my suggestion gets chosen. I never win anything. LOL.

The only one that is difficult for me is the "author with my initials." Not a lot of choices. :)

I didn't like the initials category this year either.

Thanks again to Laura for organizing this. I like a good number of the topics here as well. I'm not a fan of topics that are about something you can't know until after you've read the book though - it makes it hard to find a book that fits that you haven't already read.

The mental health topic was one of the top ones from the first poll. It will end up being on the final list for 2016.

Brittany wrote: "Manda wrote: "Both "Buried" by Robin Merrow MacCreedy (a fictional journal of a teenage girls descent into mental illness), and "Before I Go To Sleep" by S.J, Watson (fictional story about a woman ..."

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (I haven't read yet), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, and Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho can also be for that category. I read One Flew and Veronika, and they're pretty inspiring books.

Manda wrote: "Both "Buried" by Robin Merrow MacCreedy (a fictional journal of a teenage girls descent into mental illness), and "Before I Go To Sleep" by S.J, Watson (fictional story about a woman with amnesia; ..."

I'm not excited about the mental illness topic, but "Before I Go To Sleep" is on my TBR-list, so thanks for mentioning it :)

I've already decided to read The Bell Jar for that topic as I've been wanting to read it for ages anyway but couldn't fit it in this years challenge! I want to read One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest at some point as well though, maybe for the book I've seen the movie of but haven't read as I have seen the film. I'll have to wait and see all the challenge topics though so I can see where I can fit things in!

Katie wrote: "The only one that is difficult for me is the "author with my initials." Not a lot of choices. :)"

Same here! There turned out to be more authors with my initials than I expected but out of all of them there were only two books that I was somewhat interested in reading.

Peter wrote: "I'm not a fan of topics that are about something you can't know until after you've read the book though - it makes it hard to find a book that fits that you haven't already read.
"

I agree on this point. That's why although the category of 'a character that you develop or have a crush on' is a good topic, it's tough to pick a book for that if you haven't already read it, and I'm trying to avoid re-reads as much as possible. The only other option for this is to pick a book that's next in a series maybe but even that's a bit tricky.

Brittany wrote: "I definitely agree, there are quite a few choices that I'm super excited about...but I'm not too excited about the mental illness one..."

I don't like the term mental "illness". The word illness brings a lot of stigma with it. I much prefer the term mental health - either way, it doesn't have to be about something severe of intense like schizoprenia, or bi-polar disorders or anything else that may be uncomfortable or a trigger for someone.

Mental health runs the gamut from severe metal disorders, to cognitive development delays to depression, epilepsy, anxiety or PTSD. This topic is actually quite broad in that you could find a fictional book like one suggested above (or "The Curious Case Of the Dog in the Night-Time" is a good fictional story written from the perspective of a youth with autism), a non fiction discussing specific mental health issue ("The Reason I Jump" is on my list), or a memoir dealing with something like PTSD from a soldier's perspective, substance abuse from a celebrity's memoir, or even a biographical work on a famous person who confronted mental health issues in their lifetime, like Vincent Van Gogh.

Whatever people choose, there is a wide range of topics that fall under the umbrella of mental health.

Peter, that was my intention when suggesting it. I know that I really liked the categories where I could fit in books that I like, as opposed to the more rigid categories like "a play" or "a graphic novel". A lot of popular books from this year would fall under the category (We were Liars, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Fight Club, Looking for Alaska, Silver Linings Playbook, Still Alice). It doesn't have to be a situation where the person is formally diagnosed or even a focus of the book.

I think "illness" is used in an attempt to normalize mental health, as being the same as what people would view as traditional illness and be less stigmatized, like cancer. But it can definitely go the other direction, like you said Peter.

If it bothers anyone then you can definitely replace it with a different suggestion and use the miscellaneous folder :)

There are some great choices in this poll, but I agree about topics that you can't know they'll fit until you've read the book. There was one in particular like that this year (the book that made you cry).

I agree with Laura in that I feel that using the term mental illness actually destigmatises it. As someone who suffers from often crippling depression, I wish that more people would understand that it is an illness, and just because they can't see any physical symptoms or effects from it, that doesn't make it any less real.

Jody wrote: "There are some great choices in this poll, but I agree about topics that you can't know they'll fit until you've read the book. There was one in particular like that this year (the book that made ..."

Yeah, I found the book that makes you cry a hard topic to pick for. I only ended up picking The Lovely Bones because I haven't read it yet but I cried at the movie so I figured I'd probably cry at the book too.

I also agree with you that I think referring to them as mental illnesses helps to de-stigmatise it. My Nan is Bipolar and I think when it's referred to as an illness, it helps to show and make people understand that they're things that can't always be helped just like any other illness. One of my sisters has also suffered with depression and although she's ok most of the time now, she still has times where it affects her a lot and I know that she can't help it just like my Nan can't always help it when she has one of her turns and just like anyone can't help it when they're having a problem with their mental or physical health. I think the word illness also helps to soften it and make it sound less intimidating to people that have them and to people that don't have them and, maybe, don't fully understand them.

On topic: Laura, I agree. I tend to really like topics that are offer a broad selection of choices across multiple genres and subtopics. I don't mind the odd genre based topic, but I tend to like the topics that challenge me to broaden the subject matter I tackle more than just the style of writing.

Off topic: I completely understand and agree using the term mental illness does bring to light the fact that it is something beyond the control of the person who has it and attempts to normalize it with other illnesses. However, the problem I see with that is that other physical ailments are not classified as "physical illnesses" in terms of speaking about them generally. The term "illness" itself is an outdated word that tends to bring outdated misconceptions with it.

Mental health attempts to put the mind on par with the body and puts a positive spin on the term by comparing the mind's health to physical health - a fluctuating system that is not static and changes over time. Illness is a static term. Health is a dynamic term. Further to that, not all issues are an "illness" - something like a brain injury isn't an illness but still falls under the mental health umbrella. All in all, I see the point of both in terms of attempting to destigmatize it, but I feel like mental health is more inclusive to any and all issues concerning the mind.

That said, I'm a frontline emergency responder and we refer to all things related to the health of one's mind, be it anxiety, ptsd, schizophrenia, dementia, autism, brain injuries and everything in between as mental health.

EDIT: The important thing is to bring awareness to any type of mental health/illness and understand it is beyond the control of the people who have them so they are recognized as someone with a treatable condition, rather than someone who should be feared or avoided.

I struggled with a few categories that I couldn't really predict this year but luckily was able to rearrange as I went.

For the humor book, I ended up finding The Martian really funny so I moved it to the funny book and put something else in the future book category. But it would be a lot easier to have categories where you can predict ahead of time.

For the crush, I viewed it as a little easier since there's usually a lot of talk around those books. Twilight comes to mind as a book where people had big crushes. I think outlander is pretty similar.

I wouldn't be afraid to have it still fulfill the category if it didn't totally live up to expectations. There's been some books where I was a puddle but my "made you cry" book ended up just making me tear up a little. I don't feel the need to take it off the list. But that's just my opinion.

I would definitely just move one of those books to the cry week and read something else for the original one ;) But that's just me...

I would do as Laura said, Kirin, and just move one of those books into the cry week. I've actually been doing the challenge quite differently from everyone else, I usually read books from my to-read list and then try to fit them into categories. It has been working quite well, as I've tried to fill the most difficult ones first. There were only a couple of books in which I chose specifically for one category.

It's a nice way to do it Renata, I would have no difficulties to do it for some categories but most of them are out of my comfort zone :)

I've the same problem for the cry and funny books, it's really difficult to decide what to read for this categories. I usually don't laugh or cry while reading, so it doesn't help...

Zaz wrote: "I usually don't laugh or cry while reading, so it doesn't help"


Oh gosh Zaz!! I couldn't imagine reading without laughing or crying!! Or occasionally throwing books out of anger.

These were amazing choices! I'm really looking forward to doing some of them next year.

Brittany wrote: "Zaz wrote: "I usually don't laugh or cry while reading, so it doesn't help"


Oh gosh Zaz!! I couldn't imagine reading without laughing or crying!! Or occasionally throwing books out of anger."

Brittany, I agree with you completely! Reading completely devoid of emotion? How?

P.S. Not trying to hate on you, Zaz, just curious. :D

Because laugh or cry are the only emotions? :p
While reading, I love, I hate, I smile, I'm a bit sad, I'm annoyed or I'm sooo bored. It's already lots of feelings.

Zaz wrote: "Because laugh or cry are the only emotions? :p
While reading, I love, I hate, I smile, I'm a bit sad, I'm annoyed or I'm sooo bored. It's already lots of feelings."

Touché Zaz :) you've got us there! There have been plenty of books this year that have made me smile that I would never have picked up if it weren't for this challenge group...however there are a few books that I've wanted to completely destroy as well because of this challenge haha. I guess it all equals out :)

Zaz wrote: "I usually don't laugh or cry while reading, so it doesn't help"

Couldn't agree with you more. I had an especially tough time with the cry week, some would even say I cheated, haha. I can count in one hand the times I've cried over a book/movie or something similar, and by "cry" I mean "got teary-eyed".

About the way I'm doing the challenge. It is a bit tricky for some categories, but that's why I love this group, when I feel like it would be nearly impossible to fit one of my books into a category I try to see what others have read for it and get some ideas/suggestions.

I'm really impressed that you're able to follow the challenge in order! I really tried to do that at the beginning and I think that it's a little better that way, especially for discussion purposes. I'm just not disciplined enough to read the specified book on my list for that week. I also have a lot of variety in genres so I just couldn't get myself to adhere to it, with my mood at any given time.

Three challenges is also pretty awesome. I'm doing two and am still struggling to catch up!

I never had any interest in reading in order - I want to read what I feel like reading when I feel like reading it. I'm not reading in order next year either. :)

Actually, as a suggestion for those who do read in order, maybe we could slot the "Reader's Choice" topic into Week 1? I just remember Week 1 this year (500+ pages) feeling like a huge hurdle to overcome for the very beginning of the challenge.

Jody wrote: "I never had any interest in reading in order - I want to read what I feel like reading when I feel like reading it. I'm not reading in order next year either. :)

Actually, as a suggestion for thos..."

I liked that the first book was challenging because it was more satisfying to check it off. I'd prefer the Reader's Choice to be somewhere in the middle because I'd put an unplanned book there.

I haven't really gotten as far as to consider how to gather opinions on the ordering of the titles but we will likely have a thread devoted to the topic once the list is compiled.

I personally think the RC topic would be best suited for the middle, allowing followers to "jump"to a preferred book once they've been sticking to the challenge for a while. But I'm already a jumper so am not the best person to decide ;)

I found such a huge challenge straight off the bat quite off-putting - but that's just me. I'd rather not set myself up for failure, and have something 'easy' to start off with. But I'll be jumping around anyway, so it was just a suggestion.

I'd prefer the reader's choice at mid-challenge too, the first weeks were easy and compelling (not because of the topics but because I just planned all my weeks and was eager to try new books). However, starting with 500+p was not the wiser choice, so a topic easy to customize will be nicer :)

Geez, i've been so busy with work and things going on in my life that I completely missed the first survey. I'm not too keen on two of the categories from the first survey, but I will give them a try anyway. The categories for this survey were hard for me to choose from, except 1 of them. Looking forward to see which ones ultimately win this round.

Keep in mind that if there are more than 4 topics you really like, you can always submit them in a later poll to be voted on again. They might make top 4 in a future poll.

Jennifer, I'm glad you were able to vote in this poll! There are still 11 polls to go so plenty of opportunities :)

Laura wrote: "Jennifer, I'm glad you were able to vote in this poll! There are still 11 polls to go so plenty of opportunities :)"

Exactly! Now I just need to remember to come vote, lol. My work schedule will be less chaotic now though, so I will have more time to do things I actually enjoy doing now.

We also take suggestions for the polls on the Monday before it opens. So the next set of suggestions will be on July 6 (about 7PM EST). It will be opened as a new thread. If you're interested!

Good to know, because I have a lot of ideas for suggestions, lol