Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Looking Ahead: TBR Challenge 2012

It dawned on me recently that it's almost the last week of October.  And since the last thing I want to think about right now are the holidays (I'll keep my head in the sand, thankyouverymuch) - I thought now would be a good time to look ahead to the TBR Challenge 2012.

Yes, I'm going to host again.  Mostly because it keeps me honest and forces me to scale the mountain range at least once a month.  I like to delude myself that I'm actually making progress climbing that mountain by reading at least 12 books a year off of it.  Ha!

One thing I'm contemplating are the monthly themes.  I know some of you love them, and others of you find them too restricting - even though I always say they are totally optionalSo, on that score, I've set up a poll at the top of my left hand sidebar (feed readers, if you want to vote, you're going to have to physically click on over to my blog!). 

ETA: Well, forget the poll.  Looks like only people with Blogger accounts could use it, and even then it wasn't working correctly for me.  So please vote yea or nay on themes in the comments section of this post.

Also, while we're at it - in the event that y'all want me to hang on to the themes, I'm now open for suggestions on some potential ones you'd like to see for 2012.  Just drop your ideas in the comments section of this post.  I'll consider each and every one of them - picking my favorites to add to the rotation.

Even if you didn't participate in this year's challenge, I still encourage you to vote.  It really is lots of fun, and at least for me, I get that little zing of accomplishment every month.  Please consider signing up for the challenge in 2012.  Gory details and a chance to sign on will happen sometime mid-December-ish.

14 comments:

Natasha A. said...

I love this Challenge, despite having to drop out of it part way through the year. I personally love the themes. I like the challenge of finding something in my pile (and yes, I need to get over the whole, if I don't have something pick anything, rather than panicking! lol).
As for ideas, I like the holiday ideas, I like the pick a non-romance, I like the sub-genre themes. What you had this year was pretty awesome.
Now to go see if refreshing will bring up the poll :(

Wendy said...

Natasha: Sigh, I ended up taking the poll down. It wasn't working properly and I'm not smart enough to fix it. So I'm encouraging people to leave their opinions on the matter in the comments. Which you did. Yippee!

Phyl said...

Well, as I said on Twitter, I don't really care one way or another. If I don't have something that fits the theme, I'm comfortable picking up one of the tens of thousands of historicals littering my TBR pile.

Keira Soleore said...

Wendy, I really like this challenge. And while, I haven't been able to get my books reviewed in time, I've managed to get them all done. I don't like the themes, since my goal is to read books other than romance. I already read romance quite a bit, so I've been using this challenge to read other fiction and nonfiction. And it's worked very well. So thank you for running it. And I'm on board for 2012, too.

One question: What do you do with the review links we provide? Do you collate and post somewhere?

Wendy said...

Phyl: I personally stuck with the themes this year because I'm hosting - but I might deviate more next year. KristieJ keeps nagging me to read certain books that I've had buried in my TBR forever. I'm tempted to do my own KristieJ Made Me Read This challenge :)

Keira: It's too daunting for me to deal with individual links to commentary - so I just post the "home" link on the information page. That way people can follow along that way, and maybe discover a new-to-them blogger/reader/person to follow on GoodReads.

Bri said...

I liked the themes because it got me to read some subgeneres that I probably would not have tried otherwise

Phyl said...

You got me thinking, Wendy. Maybe a challenge should be to read (if you have it) a "KristieJ Favorite." Maybe that way I'd finally get Connor's Way read. :-)

Kwana said...

I love the challenge although I have fallen off many a month it does give me some reading direction and hey I've gotten a few books read from it!
I also like the suggestions. You either have it on your shelf or pick up something else. It's all good. Thanks for hosting again!

Anonymous said...

I think the themes help give some of us a focal point for pulling something specific out of the mountain. I admit that I can't always use the themes, because I don't read some genres/sub genres, I don't let some languish TBR, and I often don't know whether books I haven't read feature certain specific elements.

Maybe you could mix it up a bit by alternating content themes with others? Like "book recommended by another reader I trust," "book I can't remember where/why I bought," or "possibly the book that's been in the pile longest"? I think it would be fun to look at the TBR from that perspective, too.

A huge thanks for agreeing to host again. Even though I have been late a few times, and I missed one month entirely, this challenge has gotten me to read some great books that I always INTENDED to read. It's easy for me to get caught up in the new stuff, and having a reason to dig once a month has unearthed some real gems.

Wendy said...

Thanks everybody! Keep those suggestions coming!

I'm really leaning towards "themes again" because while some find them daunting - I almost think it's "more daunting" to not have them. So many optinos! How do I choose?

Oh and SonomaLass: "Recommended" or "Hyped" is definitely making the list somewhere next year. I'm also leaning towards doing some kind of "Old School" theme - book that was published 10+ years ago. I mean, that would only be 2002 or later, but still....

Keira Soleore said...

I like the recommended or hyped category.

Buriedbybooks said...

I like the idea of mixing content themes with other ones. Personally, I *have* to have themes, because I get deer-in-the-headlights frozen looking at the TBR without a starting point.

And thanks for hosting again. It's been fun. Even if I'm the world's worst participant.

I am, of course, coming up empty on specific themes, though.

Leslie said...

I like the themes too. They're good for guidance and if we need/want, we can always pick something else.

I like sonomalass' ideas for new themes. And I can totally get on board with the KristieJ recommends. Add me to the list of those with Connor's Way on the tbr pile because of Kristie. :)

Thanks for hosting this again!

Carrie said...

I was inspired by the TBR challenge and have read over 50 books this year that were on my goodreads TBR list before 2011. I usually read at least one book each month within the recommended category, often more than that. Then I also read "general" books off my TBR list. It was great to force myself to go back and chose books off the forgotten beginnings of my TBR list.

I'm good with the any categories. If I don't have a book on my list that fits, I'll just read something else that's there.