Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Reading England 2016

Another challenge I have been considering. It's a new one to me. There are two options and I will be doing the first option. I'll be trying for Level One and see if I can go over later. See here for more details and to sign up.



It's that time of year again! Challenges for 2016 are already appearing, and for 2016 I offer for the second year in a row Reading England.  This year however there are two options (you can pick one or the other, or both):

Challenge #1

The Goal: To travel England by reading, and read at least one book per however many counties of England you decide to read.

Example: You aim to read three books set in three different counties, and you read Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and The Darling Buds of May by H. E. Bates. Reading these means you have read a book from Dorset (Far From the Madding Crowd), London (Mrs Dalloway), and Kent (The Darling Buds of May).

The Rules
  • This challenge begins on the 1st January 2016 and ends on 31st December 2016.
  • You can sign up any time between now and the end of 2016. Only books read after 1st January 2016 count, though.
  • Choose a level (below), but do not feel obliged to pick your books or even your counties beforehand. 
  • Because this is a classics blog, I'd encourage people to read classic novels, but how you define classics is up to you.
  • You are not limited to English authors. Henry James, for example, is American but his novel The Turn of the Screw is set in Essex, and so he counts for the challenge.
  • Don't feel obligated to blog about each book if you don't want to, and if you do - don't feel you have to include general information about the county. You could also include a description of the landscape described from the book in your posts, but again you don't have to. This is purely for fun :)
  • You don't have to read the books in their original language, translations are of course accepted.
  • Audio books, Kindles, etc are accepted too.
  • Poetry, plays, biographies, and autobiographies count as well as novels. 
The Levels:
  • Level one: 1 - 3 counties
  • Level two: 4 - 6 counties
  • Level three: 7 - 12 counties
  • Level four: 12 + counties

Here is what I am reading:
  1. Jane Eyre--Charlotte Bronte (Derbyshire)
  2. Devil's Prize--Kat Martin (London)
  3. Great Expectations--Charles Dickens (Kent)
  4. Northanger Abbey--Jane Austen (Somerset)
  5. The Lake House--Kate Morton (Cornwall)
Challenge completed on July 24

1 comment:

Lory said...

This one sounds so tempting! I'd like to read a lot of books from many different counties, but I'm not sure I can manage with the New England challenge going on as well. I'm sure I can fit in at least 2 or 3. have fun with your list!