NOTE: Sign-ups for this challenge closed March 1, 2020.
Welcome! The Birth Year Reading Challenge returns for another year!
What makes this challenge different from the others out there? In a word: PRIZES! Here at the Hotchpot Cafe, everybody wins.
Special thanks to Steven Depolo for permission to use his photo.
BIRTH YEAR READING CHALLENGE
What books were published the year you were born? This challenge encourages you to find out, and then read some of them. You might even draw some conclusions about what was going on in the literary world that year.
Wikipedia and GoodReads.com have lists of books by year published. Literary prize lists are a great source, and searching “best books of ______” will also give you interesting results.
Ready to join? Leave a comment and/or a link to your post, with your reading list. I promise no snarky comments will be made about your age.
RULES
1. Join anytime before March 1, 2020. The challenge ends at midnight EST on December 31, 2020.
2. If you're a prior participant in the BYRC and have already mined out the books from your birth year, you may substitute the birth year of a close family member as your year of choice. One year per participant per challenge, please.
3. Books may come from your TBR pile or list, but they don’t have to.
4. Overlaps with other challenges are allowed and encouraged.
5. Change your book list at any time.
6. Reviews and reactions are encouraged, but you don’t need to have a blog to participate.
7. All genres and formats are eligible. If it’s a book, it counts. But for the book to count toward the Grand Prize and the Barnburner Prize, it must be 100 or more pages long.
8. One candle is awarded for each qualifying book you read. There is no limit on how few or how many candles you can earn.
9. Candles will be tracked at a “Progress & Reviews page,” linked in the sidebar.
10. After you sign up, tell your friends! A sign-up post on your own blog would be very nice. Feel free to borrow the button for display on your blog, also.
PRIZES
When you meet your reading goal, you can select a book from my library – most likely an ex-library hardcover or a gently used trade paperback (a list will be provided) – and I’ll mail it to you. But keep reading because . . .
GRAND PRIZE
On January 1, 2021, the three readers who’ve earned the most candles will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 gift card from Amazon. You can be the kid in the candy store, and I can be the parent who foots the bill!
BARNBURNER PRIZE
The reader with the most candles on January 1, 2021, will receive a special customized prize package tailored to their reading interests.
Are you in? I hope so! Please sign up by leaving a message in the comments, with your reading list or link.
I'm in--still doing my mom's birth year (1947): https://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2020/01/birth-year-reading-challenge-2020.html
ReplyDeleteOkay, you're ready to go on the Progress & Reviews page. Glad to have you back!
DeleteDespite the hardest of weeks, the moment of laying to rest one's own precious Mom: I will rejoin your warm community. My Mom & I love reading and this will cheer me up and keep me sane.
ReplyDeleteI wish my favourite theme of yours, "Reading Naturally" were on but I understand a need for breaks. Perhaps another year, with subjects juggled just the way you like. As per my blog post write-up, I am ensuring there is no doubt of my membership by being first and I will choose a year when I have time.
This will be the second time I am replacing my own birth year. Need the fill-in be a birth year, or may we select a year of any meaning we derive for ourselves? Thanking you very much for your treats and happy news that brightened a very hard four days, Carolyn. https://cmriedel.wordpress.com/2020/01/20/birth-year-reading-of-2020/
Welcome, Carolyn, and please accept my sympathy for the loss of your dear mom.
DeleteThe chosen year needs to be your birth year or the birth year of a close family member. I hope you'll be able to find some worthy books that meet the criteria. Do let me know when you decide on your year.
I'm joining again.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Jamie! Please share your details when you know them.
DeleteP.S. I looked up your birth year from last year. :-)
DeleteDear Jane
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot but don't purchase amazon gift card for me (would love a book from Book Depository for the same amount) Kindly check your mail.
Warms
Neeru
I received your email and will answer you there. Thanks for the heads up!
DeleteDear Jane
ReplyDeletePapa will be celebrating his big eight-o this year and I plan to celebrate it by reading 10 books from the year 1940. So please count me in for the challenge. Thanks once again for hosting such a lovely challenge.
Welcome back! I'm so glad you're joining again and am honored that you're celebrating your Papa's milestone birthday this way.
DeleteDear Jane, I hope you found your cat and that you get your home feeling safe and comfortable again for all four of you. January 2021 is as bad and sad as last year, when Mom ascended from mini-strokes. May people stop presuming the virus is all there is in anyone's life.
ReplyDeleteOur precious cat, Spirit, only 16 1/2 (they live close to 30) was diagnosed with stomach cancer on January 5. He went to Heaven with my Mom on January 14, 2 days ago. It is too sudden for us to bear it or process this.
Kind words by e-mail (RiedelFascination(at)Gmail(dot)com), at Goodreads, and by mail mean everything to Ron & I, who regard Spirit as a dear, irreplaceable son. But thank God our other cats are here to love and boost us, who love and need Spirit as much as we do.
Your prizes are great pleasures to look forward to, too. Please remember to send an Amazon gift certificate from Amazon Canada (.ca) in my case. Our dollar is about 75c lower (Google any converter), if you wished to tweak the amount to match what $25 US would be for us. Otherwise, I am happy for any gifts coming my way.
I wish a miracle for our Spirit son, or more time were the gift. I guess we move ahead without him on Earth. I wish Conan had been located and returned to us in time to see the cat he loves so dearly, like a Dad. Love and friendship, Carolyn & Ron.