Come One, Come All: TBR Challenge 2013!

Christine prodded me on Twitter the other day, and the answer is yes - there will be a TBR Challenge 2013.  Because honestly?  Wendy needs some help in climbing that mountain range.  Even if I only manage to get 12 books read off the pile every year, that's still better than nothing.

This will be my third year hosting the challenge, and it's really been oodles of fun.  I hope past participants have enjoyed it as much as I have and will think about signing up again for the new year.  For the uninitiated, just what is the TBR Challenge?  Well.....

Simply put, it's where readers pick up a long neglected book from their TBR pile, read it, and comment on that read on the 3rd Wednesday of every month.  The idea is to read those long neglected books that you just had to get your hands on at the time, but have been languishing in your pile, all lost and forgotten.

Commentary on your chosen TBR read can happen anywhere online (your blog, Facebook, GoodReads, Twitter, a message board etc.) just provide me with a link when you sign-up so interested readers can follow all the challengers!

This is a voluntary challenge and I want this to be fun.  Hey, life happens.  If you have to skip a month, there will be no ridicule.  Likewise, while there will be bragging rights for those that complete the challenge without skipping a single month - there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Since some readers like a little guidance, I will also be keeping with tradition and providing themes.  These themes are totally voluntary.  If you don't have anything in your TBR that fits, the theme doesn't appeal, or you just want to read something else - go for it!  Again, this is meant to be a fun challenge.

I have once again set up an information page on the blog that gives all the background, proposed themes, dates of the challenge for the whole year, along with the list of participants so you can all follow along!   I kept some of the themes from previous years, but have also added a few new ones for 2013.  They are:

January 16 - We Love Short Shorts! (Short stories, Novellas, category romance)
February 20 - Recommended Read (something recommended by a fellow reader)
March 20 - Series Catch-Up (pick a book from a series you're behind on)
April 17 - New-To-You Author
May 15 - More Than One (An author who has more than one book in your TBR pile).
June 19 - Lovely RITA (RWA RITA nominees OR winners)
July 17 - The Classics (Something classic within the romance genre - an author, a specific book, a trope/theme - I'm open to wide interpretations here!)
August 21 - Steamy reads (Erotic romance, erotica, something spicy!)
September 18 - Western (Contemporary or historical)
October 16 - Paranormal or romantic suspense
November 20 - All About The Hype (a book that created such chatter that it was inescapable).
December 18 - Holiday themes (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, it's all good!)

 So who's in with me?  Honestly, it's loads of fun and beneficial if you need a little pick-me-up when dealing with monstrous TBR Guilt (I can't be the only one who suffers from that....).  All you need to do to sign up is leave a comment on this post, or e-mail me, with a link for where you will be posting your "commentary."

And if you want to take a little time to mull it over?  That's fine too.  You can sign-up anytime over the course of the year.