Cover to Cover Challenge discussion

I know we still have more than 3 months left in this year, and I hate springing this one on you guys so early, but I figured it's probably time to start thinking about the next year and what we want to see around here, what we don't want to see, and what can be done better.

As you probably know, we changed a few things around here when we entered 2011. Mostly, I'd love to get feedback about that, and in addition, hear from you any suggestions you have.

1. Last year, we had a single goal of 144 for all. This year, each of us chose our own targets and had our own "lounges" depending on our goal. Would you like to continue making your own reading goal for next year? Vote here .

2. Last year, we had a single thread where each of us talked about our reading progress. This year, we had progress threads in our respective "lounges". Since I've noticed lesser chit-chat this year (probably because of splitting the threads), I've been thinking it would be better to have a single thread where everyone can come together and talk. Do you think you would like that too? Vote here .

3. We had a week-long readathon every three months this year (a total of 4 in 2011). For next year, would you like to continue with that schedule, or would you like to see them more frequent at once every two months? Vote here .

4. Since the readathon minichallenges have been a hit, would you like to do similar challenges even when there are no readathons? Say a bigger challenge spread over 2-3 months? (This is not a poll, so I would love to hear from you below what you think about this.)

5. What else would you like to see in this group?

I like the idea of smaller challenges spread over 2 - 3 months.

I love this thread, and I really love, love, love the Read-a-thons. They have really helped me to focus on my reading and think about my choices. The challenges in the Read-a-thons have made me pick up books that I normally would not have read or at least not read at that moment, and I have thoroughly enjoyed them! The challenges are wonderful in whatever format you present them. Keep up the good work! We appreciate your hard work at keeping all of this going.

For #4, a bigger challenge would be great. But maybe only for 1-2 months? 3 months seems to long, imo.

Great ideas you have here!

Because I am also in other Goodreads groups, it is hard to get the challenges done within the time frame of the week-long readathon and get my other reading done, too -- so, yes, I would like to see the challenges with more time to get them done. Maybe a list of 10 or less challenge items over a 2 month time period? Or maybe 4-5 each month?

I like the idea of the lounges, but maybe also start a monthly - best book read thread, or what are you reading now type threads...we could even look at doing buddy reads when people can post if they are interested in reading a certain book and others can join in.

I was in the sky's the limit club this year and kinda feel like i'm bragging when i'm also posting in a culmulative thread where some people have only read 15 books in a year and i'm past 300...does that make sense?

I like the buddy reads idea. I also like the idea of having challenges outside of the read-a-thon as well as during the read-a-thon.

I personally like this thread for its lack of too much chatter, its nice to have one thread where I can easily catch up, yet have the support of my fellow readers and get great book suggestions. :D

I like the best book idea and maybe buddy reads I do buddy reads on another board too. and it helps you maybe get books that have been on your shelf for awhile and need a little push to get though them.
so far this year I'm at 110. I signed up for 150. and this friday night I"m picking up my prize I won for 2nd place in the shore bookstore reading contest. that means I came in second for july, aug and a few days in sept that I read more than anyone else that entered it. who would think.

I like the idea of challenges spread over longer periods as others have mentioned. Having more frequent read-a-thons would also be great.

The all-day read during each read-a-thon is helpful, but I think that it might be better if you schedule it on the last day. I found that when I tried to really push myself to read a ton the first day, I got very tired and accomplished less the remainder of the week (I kept falling asleep while listening to audio books). Staying up too late reading the first day burned me out and I had less energy and desire to read for the next 6 days. Having an all-day event at the end might also help those who didn't accomplish much during the week to catch up.

I like the idea of fewer challenges during the Read-a-Thon (but still keep some, as they are a lot of fun!) and adding a few over a 1-2 month period.

I actually really like the 24-hour Read-a-Thon being the first day of the week-long event. It gets me more excited for the R.A.T, planning to devote that first day to reading, then fitting in what I can the rest of the week.

I can't deal with the reading challenges, would love to, but my life doesn't lend it, but I love this group and the way we are able to track our reading and look at the tracks of other people's reading, I get so many recommendations and new books to read!

I've missed out on the readathons this year and I've been generally behind with how busy I've been. I think having more frequent readathons would allow more options for people to participate - if they can't commit to one week, they can join in the next one a month or two later.

I chose 360 and am already at 349, should make it this month

Ann wrote: "I like the idea of fewer challenges during the Read-a-Thon (but still keep some, as they are a lot of fun!) and adding a few over a 1-2 month period.

I actually really like the 24-hour Read-a-Thon..."

After reading Ann's comment about the 24 hour event, I got an idea. Why not have the option of choosing any day within the read-a-thon week to designate as your 24 hours. This way people who work weekends can grab a day during the week, those with plans one weekend can grab a day the following weekend, those wanting to get a head start can read all day the first day, and people like me who burn out when they read too much the first day can wait until the last day to read for 24 hours.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! It took me a while to get the time to reply to your comments, though I've been reading all your suggestions.


Rachel wrote: "For #4, a bigger challenge would be great. But maybe only for 1-2 months? 3 months seems to long, imo."

I myself like the idea of 1-2 months as well. I was actually thinking of starting a challenge about 1.5 months before a readathon, and the challenge(s) end with the readathon.

Dee wrote: "maybe also start a monthly - best book read thread, or what are you reading now type threads...we could even look at doing buddy reads when people can post if they are interested in reading a certain book and others can join in."

I like the idea of having a "Common Room" with discussion topics like that - recommend a read, what am I reading, what is keeping me from reading today, etc.

As for buddy reads, the only reason I didn't consider them here was because there were a lot of groups that have it too. But it's something I can have here - we do have a lot of members here.

Amy wrote: "The all-day read during each read-a-thon is helpful, but I think that it might be better if you schedule it on the last day. I found that when I tried to really push myself to read a ton the first day, I got very tired and accomplished less the remainder of the week (I kept falling asleep while listening to audio books)."

Ann wrote: "I actually really like the 24-hour Read-a-Thon being the first day of the week-long event. It gets me more excited for the R.A.T, planning to devote that first day to reading, then fitting in what I can the rest of the week. "

Amy wrote: "After reading Ann's comment about the 24 hour event, I got an idea. Why not have the option of choosing any day within the read-a-thon week to designate as your 24 hours."

I can see the point of both approaches. The reason we kept the 24 hour reading on the first day was actually because the readathons started on Saturday, and people could get the whole weekend to plan their reading schedule around. The readathons however end at the start of the next weekend, so it didn't seem convenient to have the 24 hr reading scheduled at the end. That said, I am all for leaving the 24 hour day to each reader. I think we pretty much had just that happen this year - besides I was worried about people appearing out of sync depending on when they started their 24 hour reading, but that didn't happen. So leaving this decision to the participant is a good option.

maybe just make them informal. Say I want to read The Princess Bride (for example), I could throw up a thread in a separate folder - if people want to join in they can...I'm not a huge fan of huge organized group reads, but more smaller group ones work for me

Aths / Athira wrote: "Dee wrote: "maybe also start a monthly - best book read thread, or what are you reading now type threads...we could even look at doing buddy reads when people can post if they are interested in rea..."

I am with Joanie. I'd love to join in the Read-a-thon's but life always gets in the way. The school year is super busy for me and the summer's very quiet. So having them more often would mean I could participate more. Even if I can't do the read-a-thon, I always try to follow the challenges after the fact. They force me out of my usual genres and have led me to some amazing books and authors, eg Mitch Albom.

Here are some of the challneges i Have done, most thru A [email protected] which is closing down on 12-31



1 st in a Series
Read 100 books
144 Books in 2010
451 Challenge
A to Z Challenge
Alice in Wonderland Challenge
American Civil War Reading Challenge
Art History Reading Challenge
Audio Book Challenge
Awesome Author Challenge!
Biblical Fiction Challenge
Books to Read Before I Die Challenge
Book Awards IV Challenge
Buy One Book and Read It
Celebrate the Author Challenge
Centuries Reading Challenge
Chill Baby, Chill
Children's Classics Mystery Challenge
Chunkster Challenge 2010
Colorful Reading Challenge
Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge
Christy Awards Challenge
Countdown Challenge
Crime, Thriller & Mystery
Cybils Award Challenge
Darling Daughters Reading Challengellenge
DEBUT AUTHOR CHALLENGE
Decades Challenge
E-Book Challeng
Erotica Romance
Every Month is a Holiday
Fall/Winter Mystery
Fantasy Reading Challenge
Finish That Series
Fire & Ice Historical Fiction Challenge
Flashback Challenge!! 37
Four Month Challenge, Part Two
French Revolution Mini-Challenge
GLBT Authors
Genre Book Challenge
Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge
Second Challenge
Global Reading Challenge
Historical Fiction Challenge
Harlequin/Silhouette Romance Reading Challenge
Horns and Halos Reading Challenge
International Year of Biodiversity!
James Patterson Reading Challenge
Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge
Medical Mystery Madness Challenge
Mixology Book Challenge'
Nancy Drew Challenge
New Author Challenge
Numbers Challenge
Ollie Ollie In For Free Challenge
Once Upon A Time: Reading Challenge
Pages Read Challenge 58
Paranormal TBR Challenge
Pub Challenge
Rainbow Connection Challenge
Raved Reads
RYOB - Read Your Own Books Challenge
Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge
Reading From My Shelves Project
Revisit Your Childhood Favorites Challenge
Reading through the Seasons
Relic Novels Challenge
Romance Reading Challenge
Romance Reading Challenge
Royals Romance Reading Challenge
Science Reading Challenge
Second Challenge
Series Challenge Season 4
Short Story Reading Challenge
Social Justice Challenge
Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Support Your Library
Support Your Local Author Challenge
TBR Lite
Take Another Chance Challenge
TAKE THE JOURNEY 2010 Reading Challenge
ThemeQuest Reading Challenge
There's No Other Love Like a Wife or Mother
Third Time Is A Charm Challenge
Thriller & Suspense Challenge
Time Travel Reading Challenge
A Tournament of Reading
Tudor Book Challenge
TwentyTen Reading Challenge 90
Typically British Reading
Vampire Series Challenge
We Didn't Start the Fire Challenge
What's in a Name Challenge
What's In a Title
Wish I'd Read That Challenge
Winter Words Reading Challenge
Women's Murder Club Reading Challenge
World Religion Challenge
Year of the Historical 100
You've Got Mail Reading Challenge
You Set It Paperback Challenge
Young Adult Reading Challenge
Young Readers Reading Challenge

I probably still have the copy that went with most of them

Lindy, thanks for that great list of challenges!

hi how many kindle books can we read in 2012--now that I have one I would loke to include a kindle category

Karen wrote: "hi how many kindle books can we read in 2012--now that I have one I would loke to include a kindle category"

Karen, you can read books in any format. We don't have that restriction in the rules. So you can read as many or as little Kindle books or ebooks as you want.