Somehow, someway, I have committed myself to 5 different reading challenges. That’s right. Five.

I blame Litsy (mostly).

I also blame Litsy for my exponentially growing TBR, so much so, that I put myself on a book buying ban earlier this month.

(Of course, I may have already broken that ban when I received an email today from Subterranean Press about a special edition of Kevin Hearne’s Hexed, book 2 of the Iron Druid Chronicles. I had already pre-ordered Hounded, Book 1, so I *had* to pre-order Hexed. Right?)

Anyway, I digress. Reading Challenges. Yes, so I may have over-extended myself on reading challenges as I’m now struggling to organize what I need to read and when. (On top of the 5 reading challenges, I’m also doing the Litsy Markup Postal Book Club, which starts July 1. But more on that later.)

First up: The annual Goodreads reading challenge, in which you set your own goal of how many books you want to read between January 1 and December 31. I’ve participated in this challenge every year since 2011. I set my 2018 Goodreads reading challenge goal at 78, which breaks down to 1.5 books per week. My average is 87 books per year with my best year reading 124 books and my lowest year reading 51 books.

I like the Goodreads reading challenge because it allows you to change your goal throughout the year and there’s no limit on what you can read. You control your goal all year and you can read whatever you want. Easy peasy.

Second: One of my Goodreads groups, Eclectic Readers, brought back their Mad Libs Reading Challenge for 2018. And who can resist Mad Libs?

The Mad Libs Reading Challenge is to read 10 books with titles that fulfill the listed parts of speech/category. The challenge began in January and culminates at the end of the 24-hour readathon on June 23.

Third: In April, I signed on for the Great American Read (GAR) Bingo Reading Challenge, which was suggested by a fellow Litten (read about GARbingo here). GARbingo runs from April 23 to October 23 and my GARbingo board has 24 books + 1 bonus book. My current stats for GARbingo are 5 + 2 out of 25—the +2 are for the two books I read which on the GAR list of 100 but not on my bingo board.)

(I may be an overachiever when it comes to reading challenges.)

Fourth: A couple of weeks ago, another Litten posted about a year-long SFF (sci-fi and fantasy) TBR reading challenge. The goal is to read 50 SFF books that fit one or more of the listed criteria. We also have the option to partner with someone. Luckily, this one runs for a full year, from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019.

Fifth: I just today signed on to the Backpack Through Europe Summer Reading Challenge (BTE) hosted by The Reader’s Room (also fellow Littens). Starting on July 2, readers have 13 weeks, until September 30, to “travel” (read) through a minimum of 4 countries. The idea is to read a book either predominately set in one of the European countries or read a book by an author from one of the countries. (There are rules and structure on how to “travel.” All the rules are on The Reader’s Room challenge page.) Right now, I’m thinking of “flying” into Heathrow, UK, so my first book has to be either set predominately in England or be by an English author. But more on the ins and outs of this challenge later.

Luckily, the one thing that saves me is that you can use one book for multiple challenges. But this is still going to be an interesting summer of reading, particularly with the SFF challenge and BTE challenge because both of those challenges will take some thought on what to read. (I’ve already completed the Mad Libs Challenge.)

Are you participating in any reading challenges? Share your reading challenges, your likes and dislikes about reading challenges, and any other thoughts or suggestions in the comments below.