Happy New Year! Now that 2014 is here, it is time to announce the reading and blogging challenges I will be participating in this year. If you missed it, you can find my 2013 Challenge Report here. I’ll update this post throughout the year with links to the qualifying reviews.
Last year I set my Goodreads reading meter for 100 books, and finished 2013 with 122 completed titles. This year I am setting the meter for a very modest increase to 125 books.
In 2013, I also participated in Doing Dewey’s Book to Movie challenge, completing the Movie Devotee category of reading six books and watching their film adaptations. This year, I’m leveling up to the Movie Lover category, and aiming to read nine books and watching their film adaptations. I’ve got my eye on some 2014 releases, including Divergent, The Fault in our Stars, Maze Runner, and Mockinjay Part 1. I’m on the fence about Vampire Academy, so if you think I should read it, leave a comment and tell me why! I still need at least five more movies to fill out the roster, so let me know if you have a favourite adaptation. (Also reviewed: Argo, The Pillars of the Earth, Saving Mr. Banks)
I already read pretty broadly across genres, but the Eclectic Reader Challenge hosted by Book’d Out helps me expand my horizons into categories I might not otherwise explore. This challenge convinced me to pick up Gone Girl, which I ultimately quite enjoyed, and the inclusion of a translated fiction category in 2013 gave me the incentive to delve further into the work of Haruki Murakami after really enjoying 1Q84 in 2012. I’m joining the challenge again this year, and there are even more categories that I don’t often dip into. Suggestions for Award Winning, True Crime, Romantic Comedy, Alternate History, Graphic Novel, Cozy Mystery, Gothic, War/Military, Anthology, Medical Thriller, Travel, and Published in 2014 are all very welcome in the comments!
I’ve been accumulating a pretty large TBR pile over the last few years, so this year I’m joining a new challenge to try to reduce the backlog a bit with the 2014 TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader. The goal is to read and review twelve titles that have been on my TBR pile for at least one year. I picked a mixture of fiction and non-fiction titles, and gave equal attention to my digital and physical TBR piles. The twelve titles I’m aiming to read are:
1. Adaptation by Malinda Lo – 2012
2. Alif the Unseen by G Willow Wilson – 2012 – Did not finish
3. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo – 2012
4. Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson – 2010
5. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi – 2011
6. The Fault in our Stars by John Green – 2012 – Read but did not review
7. Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly – 1990
8. Cinder by Marissa Meyer – 2012
9. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel -2009
10. Learning to Bow by Bruce Feiler – 1991
11. On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs et al. – 2007
12. Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden – 2012
Back up titles:
13. Freshman Year by Rebekah Nathan – 2005
14. Feminism in the Worlds of Neil Gaiman edited by Tara Prescott and Aaron Drucker – 2012
Three challenges should keep me relatively busy in 2014. What reading and blogging challenges are you participating in this year?
Required Reading 
Good luck! I’m technically doing the oldest TBR challenge too because I’m not allowing myself to buy any new book unless I have at least 3 in return. 🙂
I’m also excited for The Maze Runner and Mockingjay 🙂 I’m currently reading The Monuments Men and enjoying it quite a bit, so that’s one possibility I’d recommend for filling out your list. I’ll be excited to see what else you end up reading and watching. Thanks for joining the book to movie challenge!
Monuments Men also sounds like a good one. Thanks for the recommendation!
Glad to have you joining me for the Eclectic Reader Challenge again this year, I look forward to seeing what you choose to read
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out