Time for a challenge...or six?!

Right then, now that I've been committed to this blog for a good couple of weeks, I feel that the time has come to enter a few challenges in order to keep the posts coming and a bit more varied, and in order to have a bit fun! So this is my first 'challenge sign-up post' with links to those challenges so that you can check them out if you wish to! All of these, of course, are book related. But as time goes on I will most likely get into a few general blog challenges, or challenges related to other things I enjoy as I feel right now that adding a bit of variety to this blog is top of my priority list.

First up: The '2014 "Real" Book' Challenge

Hosted by Fiction Fare and Swoony Boys Podcast. This is a year long book reading challenge, similar to the 2014 Reading Challenge that Goodreads is hosting, but applies only to 'real' books, i.e. Audio Books & E-Books are not included. Sorry Kindle. My aim is to read 35 books this year, which at the moment is looking both achievable and a little low (I came up with that figure while taking into account Uni and other life stresses). It will be fun to see how far I get with this one!

Secondly: The 'Jumble Your Genres' Challenge

Hosted by Lovin' Los Libros, Readers Live A Thousand Lives and Corrie The Book Crazed Girl. The aim of this challenge is for readers not to get stuck in one genre of book and to help mix things up a bit, which of course, is the whole point of me entering these challenges! Perfect! Each month, as I review books, I will make sure to read a book from the genre listed. Obviously I am starting late (as will be the case with most of these challenges) and have missed January's assigned genre. February's is 'Contemporary', so look out for that!

Third: The 'Quick Fix' Challenge

Hosted by Jessie's Book Place. The conditions of this challenge is to read shorter books. Only books with less than 300 pages count towards your final score. I entered this one because I have a tendency to read books that are much longer, and it would be good to get into the habit of reading some shorter ones too so that I can read more books throughout the year. The level I am aiming for with this one is 'Paperclips' (so 15 books) so let's see how we do!

Fourth: Top Ten Tuesday

Hosted by The Broke And The Bookish. This one is a little different to the others and I'm really excited about it! The point is, every Tuesday, to write a list of books (the aim is 10, but you can have less if you want) of a topic picked by the lovely blog writers. All topics are related to books in some way, but it will provide the perfect opportunity to have a little more variety in my posts! The next topic, for Tuesday the 11th February, is 'Top Ten Books That Will Make You Swoon'. A difficult one to start off with seeing as I don't read many romantic novels, nor do I tend to 'swoon' at them, but we are allowed to put our own spin on the topic so I'll see what I can do!

Finally: The '2014 Monthly Motif' and '2014 Monthly Key Word' challenges!

 

Hosted by Bookmark To Blog. These two challenges are closely related and so I've decided to put them together. These will definitely be the two toughest of my challenges as they are very specific in their requirements. They look like so much fun though that I just have to give them a go and see how I get on! Starting with the 'Motif' challenge, each month I will need to read a book that contains or revolves around a certain theme picked by the creator of the blog. February's is 'Award Winner', so this month I will have to read one or more books that have won a Literary award at some point since its publication. In a similar style, the 'Key Word' challenge gives a list of words each month and I will have to read one or more books with one of these words (or a similar one) in the title. February's words are: Her, Life, Night, Red, Dark & Island. Tricky!

So, quite a few things to do and enough to be going on with I think! Feel free to click on the buttons/links to each blog and challenge, as these people work hard to come up with and keep track of the challenges they set for our enjoyment, and deserve a follow! I can't wait to get started!