The Book Club is having our semi-annual reading challenge again. The Winter Reading Challenge 2023/2024 gives you an excuse to read your books that you've been wondering about AND add another Award to your collection!
The way to participate is simple. Below you post a pledge for the number of books you realistically think you will read between December 2nd (2023) and January 20th (2024)(HOL time). You may pledge one book or 5 (or more). We will keep track of your pledge and of the books you read and post about. Those who meet their pledged amount in the allotted time will receive the Winter Reading Challenge Winner award.
Does this sound fun? Great! Before we get started, here are a few things you need to know:
To qualify for the award, you’ll need to post something around the Book Club for every book that forms part of your pledge. This doesn't have to be just a series of reviews: you might present a new author in The Bookshelf or start a conversation about something more general you noticed in several books in Between the Pages. You can read a book that already has a topic and reply to it with your own observations.
While there are specific guidelines in the 'Overview' threads on each subforum, for this Challenge here are a couple of things to keep in mind. To ensure that people get the most out of any reviews you write for The Bookshelf, we’re asking you to make your comments a minimum of 80 words long. This does not include the info about the book’s title, author, or series. Please check for your book in The Book Shelf, either by name of the book or by author's name, before starting a new topic for your recent read. Another way to look, besides scanning the many pages, is to do a Search (up in the upper right corner of the screen) for the author's name and/or book title.
Note: If there is a topic already established for the book you are reviewing (or for the author of the book), and you inadvertently start a new one, we will probably move it over for you. Also, make sure the review or discussion is yours and based on your own thoughts while reading; lifting a review from Goodreads or elsewhere on the internet, representing it as yours, is categorically not allowed. You can, however, quote from Goodreads as part of your review/discussion.
Please pay attention to HOL appropriateness while choosing your books. Ideally, you should be posting about things that are suitable for even our younger members to read (the later Harry Potter Books are generally a good guide for the level of threat, language, and violence that is advisable). If you believe your book tackles darker or emotional themes then please include a disclaimer so that everyone can make an informed choice.
Once you've made a post about a book, please edit your pledge (below) to reflect that and point us in the right direction with a link to your book review. Remember, until you’ve posted about it, the book doesn’t count towards your pledge.
Things to remember:
1. Once you pledge your amount of books, you CAN’T reduce your pledge. That is why we are asking you to please pledge realistically the number of books you think you will be able to read.
2. If you wish to increase your pledge, you may certainly do so at any time. For example, say you originally pledged 4 books and you wish to increase that to 6. You can alter your post to reflect that, but before you do please keep this in mind: If you fail to read the number of books on your new pledge (6), you will not get the award for the original pledge (4). You can, however, keep your original pledge and just keep adding books as you read them.
3. On-line fanfiction is not allowed, but you can certainly re-read a book, listen to an audiobook, or read a graphic novel. (Remember, that while online fanfiction and the like doesn’t count, you’re free to mix it up with some re-reading, audiobooks, or graphic novels.)
4. If you’d like to re-read one of the Harry Potter books, then please feel free. However, we would prefer you to read another book as well as that one and post a discussion rather than a review.
5. Finally, once you have made a post about a book, it is important that you edit your pledge below with the name of the book, the author, and give us a link to your post.
6. Do not list the books you plan to read when you post your pledge. In your initial post, you only write in the number of books you pledge to read.
If you have any further questions not covered here, head on over to the Questions Thread and ask.
Sound exciting? Let's do it!
