I was invited to participate in a reading challenge this summer by a member of the Porchlight Family Media podcast community. She was moderating the challenge on the Goodreads website so I took a look at the criteria and decided to join. I have been wanting to read more lately and this was the perfect excuse/reason to do so.

8 of the books I'm reading for the challenge

The challenge is to read 10 books over the summer from 10 different categories. Also you must read through the categories in the order they were outlined by the challenge moderator. I like the idea of choosing different books across the various categories and having to read in order; it makes the challenge more fun and interesting.

Here are the categories:

1. A classic
2. A fantasy/sci-fi
3. A contemporary fiction
4. An indie published book
5. A non-fiction
6. A book set between 1901 and 2000
7. A book set between 1801 and 1900
8. A book set between 1701 and 1800
9. A book set between 1601 and 1700
10. A book set between 1501 and 1600

Since the books don't have to be ones that I haven't read before, I decided to re-read a few that I haven't read in quite a while and mix in some new reads as well. Another approach I took was to use books that I already own for as many of the categories as possible. I was able to select 8 of the 10 books from my personal library.

Here are the books I chose for each category:

1. A classic: The Good Master by Kate Seredy
2. A fantasy/sci-fi: Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
3. A contemporary: Deadfall by Robert Liparulo
4. An indie published book: Dead Broke by Bruce A. Borders
5. A non-fiction: Lessons My Father Taught Me by Michael Reagan
6. A book set between 1901 and 2000: The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy
7. A book set between 1801 and 1900: Destry Rides Again by Max Brand
8. A book set between 1701 and 1800: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
9. A book set between 1601 and 1700: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
10. A book set between 1501 and 1600: The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

My selection for the "Indie" category is a Kindle E-Book that I've had in my Kindle account for awhile, but haven't got around to reading yet. Also my selection for the "1601-1700" category is not a book I owned and was a result of some recommendations from other challenge participants. So I checked out the audiobook version of that one from my library via OverDrive.

So what do you think about reading challenges? Are you participating in any? Or would you like to come along on this one? Let's read some great books this summer!


[If you want to join the challenge I'm participating in on Goodreads, click here. Or you can just use the categories above and go along with me.]