Happy New Year and welcome to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks. Welcome back to all those who are joining me for another round and to those joining in for the first time.
The rules are very simple. Read 52 Books. That's it. How you get there is up to you. We have several optional challenges which are listed in the link bar above to stimulate your imagination and help you on your reading journeys. Beside the perpetual A to Z, Well Educated Mind challenge, Dusty/Chunky books, and another journey Around the World, new this year are the Literary Nobel Prize Winners and 52 BaWer's recommendations from 2013. I've also come up with some fun Monthly Themes and Readalongs.
Mrs. Santa was quite nice to me this past Christmas and gave me Nancy Pearl's Book Lust to Go, Tom Nissley's A Reader's Book of Days and Peter Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. I was completely blown away by 1001 books because I had seen the lists on line, but never the book itself. It is huge and besides the book descriptions, it is chalk full of pictures, artwork and posters for the majority of books. Absolutely beautiful and I'll try to share some pictures soon. I can already tell these books will be beneficial to all of us because they are already helped spark my imagination to help with weekly posts, plus making my already really long wish list even longer. Not to mention my teetering TBR stacks.
To start off our journey, we are going to begin our Around the World tour in Japan. Join in on a readalong of Haruki Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicles or choose one of his other books if you've already read it. To make life interesting, I'm also starting a personal Centuries Challenge beginning with the 12th century (1101-1200). So - to make life fun for the month of January, go find some books written by Japanese authors, set in Japan and/or set in the 12th century. Although I went a little nuts and found books from several different centuries. *grin*
Currently in my backpack besides Murakami's Wind Up is his A Wild Sheep Chase, the first volume of The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki (Waley Translation), Shinju (1st book in her Sano Ichiro series) by Laura Joh Rowland, Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn and the novella The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.
We are going with a short week one in order to avoid a short week 52 and no one having time to do wrapup's. It all works out in the end so don't panic over finishing a book this week.
Cheers to a happy, fun, entertaining and educational reading new year!
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Link to your reviews or year end wrap up posts: Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.
I managed to read about 110 books this year but I'm going to challenge myself to read 52 non-fiction books (1/week). =)
ReplyDeleteAwesome - good luck with your non fiction goal!
DeleteI didn't make it to 52 this year, but with a toddler running around and working part time from home, I am pretty happy with my 27 books this year.
ReplyDeleteYes, an active toddler does make it hard to read. Good job with the 27. Good luck with your reading this year!
DeleteI was able to finish a book this week ;-) It doesn't count for most of my challenges because I started it last year. I was only 45 minutes short of finishing it last year, but dinner, movie & shopping was worth it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun!
DeleteI started, once again, a blog but this time just for the BaW Challenge! Thank you for hosting!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. Will be by to see your blog!
DeletePlease delete my link #11 if you can. My laptop was momentarily possessed and posted when I wasn't intending to. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteFirst book done! Yay!
Done!
DeleteOK, I hope my link works, it's to my "52 books" page on my Blog. That's allowed, right? Since it should go right to the 52 books page...here's hoping I make it to 52 this year!! ~theresa~ (aka ~coffee~)
ReplyDeleteYes, that works!
DeleteI learned about this challenge just at the end of last year too late to join in. I am really looking forward to participating this year.
ReplyDeleteI've posted a list of my first couple of months reading and hope to post my first review on Monday.
Glad you decided to join in. Good luck!
DeleteHey guys. No matter where you are in the challenge, link to your reviews on the current thread. Mr kinky will close end of Saturday and new mr kinky will be up on the new week.
ReplyDeleteSo much exited about this challenge. Thank you for creating 52BAW. Looking forward to read a lot of books this year. I hardly read 10 books the last year without any guidance like yours. This year is going to be different for me.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are excited and look forward to hearing about your reads!
DeleteJust what I was looking for! Some inspiration and a little motivation to read more books this year. I'm going to join along! I really need to finish my current book tonight and find/start week 2 (wont panic!). This will be a busy year for me- to be honest one book every 2 weeks will be an achievement for me. Really looking forward to the round the world challenge. I think I'm going to aim for 1 week to do the country challenge, 1 week non-fiction and the other 2 weeks a month to be 'misc.' :-) Not going to beat myself up over not liking a book and just chucking it either; life's too short to read books you don't like! I don't have a blog but hope to comment along on here as I go.
ReplyDeleteGood luck everyone- Happy Reading!
Awsome - sounds like a good plan to me.
DeleteHey Robin,
ReplyDeleteHow do I post my first weeks book link. I cannot seem to find the place for it. I just posted it on my blog but wanted to do a direct link on yours.
Cheers,
Oksana
Mr linky is open on week 2. No matter where you are in book number, link on the current post. Easier to follow rather than trying to keep up with numerous threads. I closed mr linky at the end of each week as we move on to the new week. Click on home and then you can scroll down to week 2 post.
Deletei just finished to read The Catcher in the Rye, a classical that has been in the shelf nearly since i was born. However, it's a beautiful thought by a young from the past, read it.
ReplyDeletebuio
I have that one on the shelf with the plan to read it this year. Glad you enjoyed it.
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