The Robot Librarian's Reading Challenge discussion

Welcome to the Robot Librarian's Reading Challenge! I'm your moderator, Kenya, and I hope you all have a good time here.

This thread is for participants to introduce themselves, and to talk a bit about what they like to read. No need to get too personal, just tell us a bit about yourselves!

My name is Mandi, but I've used the online name of Kenya for many years now, so go ahead and call me by that. I'm a librarian from Idaho who loves fantasy, science fiction, non-fiction, and will dabble in other genres if they interest me. I'm also an avid Star Wars and Transformers fan -- the latter of which explains the Robot Librarian name for the challenge, haha.

Happy reading!

My name is Jeanne (French pronunciation, so more like Zhan or John). I also answer to Dancing Pecan or just Pecan (nickname/trail name). My favorite genres are Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Mysteries, but if something sounds interesting I will give it a try. When I give a book recommendation, it will probably be from one of those three genres.

My name is Mary. I love historical fiction (especially around events/people I don’t know as much), new releases (I follow read with Jenna) and just regular fiction. I dabble in dystopian, some ya and some non fiction. It’s hard for me to find a fantasy or sci fi j like but I am find with a bit of time travel

Oh yeah-I am from New Jersey and love audio books in addition to regular reading

I'm Barb. I currently live in Caldwell, New Jersey but by the time 2024, I should be living elsewhere in the state; my house is going on the market in October. For the past 25 years, I have been a lawyer; before that, I was a stay-at home mom and part-time newspaper reporter. My favorite genres are historical fiction, literary fiction, poetry, and history, but I read just about anything, and I look forward to this challenge.

Barbara wrote: "I'm Barb. I currently live in Caldwell, New Jersey but by the time 2024, I should be living elsewhere in the state; my house is going on the market in October. For the past 25 years, I have been a ..."

No way... I live in Caldwell, Idaho! We're city twins, haha.

Hi, I'm Jennifer, currently of WA state, formerly of New York City (born and raised New Yorker). I also answer to Jen or Jenna. I work as a web developer. I primarily love fantasy and sci-fi, but also dabble in other genres across the spectrum. I have a soft spot for rogues, thieves, pirates, and found families.

When I'm not reading, I love anime, playing video games, musical theater, and watching sports. Oh, and I'm also a big Star Wars fan, too, Kenya!

I'm Laura, also currently in WA state. I've been there a little more than a year, and I still slip up when someone asks where I'm from! Before Washington's Tri-Cities, I spent about 3 years in Santa Fe and the previous 20+ years in St. Louis.

I'm a retired high school math teacher. Now I am the full-time caretaker for my son Seth (age 31 and severely affected by autism).

I read EVERYTHING, and I'm a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. I'm pretty sure I rewatch the series every year.

I'm Sonia, and I am from Melbourne, Australia. I am a children's and youth librarian at a public library. Doing reading challenges helps me to read wider and I have discovered lots of new books that I wouldn't have picked up. My comfort genres are fantasy, mystery/thriller and paranormal romances.
I also enjoy crocheting and doing jigsaw puzzles so have stated listening to audio books while doing these things.

Laura wrote: "I'm Laura, also currently in WA state. I've been there a little more than a year, and I still slip up when someone asks where I'm from! Before Washington's Tri-Cities, I spent about 3 years in Sant..."

I love Buffy too!!!

Hi, I'm Milena from just outside NYC. My favorite books to read are mysteries. But I also love SciFi, literary fiction, non-fiction, romance.

Hi! I'm Sheri from northwest Ohio, but born a Yooper ;), and I teach college writing. My reading list and genres are all over the map, literally and figuratively, but mystery and non-fiction are my most widely-read genres.

Hello! Emmy here. I'm a librarian IRL and a big fan of old classic novels, especially adventure stories. One of my favorite reading challenges is picking up old books strictly based on the names, with no other context. You'd be surprised by the corkers you find this way!

When I'm not reading classics, I also dig humorous memoirs, pulps, and nonfiction.

Hello All! I'm Georgann. I was looking for reading challenges for 2024 and stumbled on this one. I am looking forward to it! I'm from a Chicago suburb, retired now from the best job in the world as customer service in a large library. Currently, I watch 3 grandchildren for my son and DIL. We have a total of 13! I read many genres, esp love SFF and UF. Sonia, I also crochet, and am working on graduation afghans for each of the grandchildren and 4 grandchildren-in-love. I better live to 85 to get them all done!!

I'm Debbie, a librarian from Northern Indiana. I just heard about this challenge in another challenge group. Where is the list of this year's challenges, I can see the prompt discussions but not a complete list. TIA

Kenya, I wonder if you would please explain how this works for us newbies. I see a #1 prompt as a book published in 2024. So do you just periodically put out a challenge or...?

hi I'm Traci I host a blog called titlesurfingwithtraci and also can be found using scraptraci online as well. The latter is due to my other major hobby of scrapbooking.
I live in the Chicago suburbs and my main reading focus is cozy mysteries and historical fiction. I have expanded my genre a bit in the last few years while doing challenges (i have a bit of a compulsion for organizing and planning for them a bit more than actually completing :) ) looking forward to adding this one to my list

Georgann wrote: "Kenya, I wonder if you would please explain how this works for us newbies. I see a #1 prompt as a book published in 2024. So do you just periodically put out a challenge or...?"

Hi Georgann! This challenge is simply to encourage people to read new things. The prompts should be listed here on this Goodreads group, and there is also a complete list of prompts here -- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q...

OK! Great! Thank you! I see the google doc. Where are they posted in the group?

Georgann wrote: "OK! Great! Thank you! I see the google doc. Where are they posted in the group?"

Look under Challenge Prompts. They're divided between Regular, Advanced, and Non-Fiction prompts.

Got it. Thank you. I'll have fun with this.

Georgann wrote: "Got it. Thank you. I'll have fun with this."

I hope you do! The point of this group is to have fun. :)

Hi, I'm Kathy. I work in a library in central Ohio. I work in Youth Services and love to read children's books - picture books, non-fiction, chapter books. I also like to read adult books, mostly mysteries, but I like a good sci-fi/fantasy.

Hi I'm Denise from Los Angeles. I teach high school when I'm not reading. I like books of all types, it's easier to list my least faves...not into manga or graphic novels. I don't prefer sci fi or fantasy but will try them for prompts

A little late to the party but hey, I made it! I’m Kris from the SoCal High Desert. I am never without a book and I don’t think there is anything I won’t read. I have worked in elementary school, high school and my local public libraries and would go back to any in a heartbeat if I wasn’t helping my DH with our family business (maybe when we retire?). Looking forward to seeing how many of the titles on my TBR list will satisfy these prompts as I read through the year.

Hello all! I’m from Rhode Island and go by Phair here on GR. Now retired, I was director of the same public library for almost 45 years. I read pretty much anything except horror and true crime. My preferred genre is historical mystery. I read about 75 to 100 books a year depending on what life throws my way and tend to write a review of each book when I post on GR which explains why I am now 4 months behind in said posts. I do keep hand-written paper reading journals - the only way I have a chance of recalling what I’ve read. (I’m also a statistics nerd with all sorts of details about my reading in those journals.)