I’ve been partiipating in the current Seasonal Reading Challenge over at GoodReads.  It’s really focussed me on getting through lots of great books, limited my TV time, and generally been a good thing for my aging brain.

These challenges are all about reading, and you collect points for reading books that satisfy certain requirements.  For example, in the current challenge, you could get 5 points for reading a book of short stories, a book with a beautiful cover, or a banned book (three of the ten 5-point tasks).  For 30 points, one of the tasks reqiured you to read two books, one with something you find on the outside of a house in the title (I read Rex Stout’s The Doorbell Rang), and one with a room in a house in the title (I read Back to the Bedroom by Janet Evanovich).  There were a total of 890 points in the various tasks, and I think I’ll hit about 500 by the end of the month when the challenge ends.

Even if you don’t participate in this group, Good Reads is a great place to track your reading and keep a list of books you’ve read and want to read. There’s an iPhone app for GoodReads which lets you track your reading even if you’re not at the computer.

The new challenge starts on December 1 and the first set of tasks have been published. I spent much of my afternoon yesterday developing my reading list for the next challenge and it’s in an online doc here.  As the 20 and 25 point tasks are published I’ll update the list.

Here are my recent reads, pretty much all of which are associated with the current challenge. Graphic novels, audiobooks, and ebooks all count towards tasks as well, so I’ve usually got something going on each device!  Here’s my tracking list for the current challenge.  The yellow highlighted entries are books I hope to finish by November 30 for a potential 100 more points.