Tuesday, March 20, 2012

A Non-Fiction Adventure--Introduction

*Updates to the challenge info below, marked with an asterisk

Taking the lead from the awesome creators of the Fill in the Gaps: 100 Project and The Classics Club, I have decided to create a similar challenge focusing on non-fiction books.  The fruition of this idea came to me yesterday as I was looking at my shelves of non-fiction books.  In my library of 3000+ books, non-fiction makes up about 1000+ of that total.  I focus so heavily on fiction I never take the time to squeeze in some non-fiction reads which I do love to read.  So I thought, why not follow the lead of those I mentioned above and create this challenge for the non-fiction genre.

Here are the guidelines:
  • choose 50+ non-fiction books; the number is up to you.  Choose 50, 75, 100, 200.  It's entirely your choice
  • Books must be non-fiction--biography, autobiography, history, memoir, cooking, travel, science, etc.
  • list them at your blog (or on Goodreads or another social media site, if you do not have a blog)
  • choose your completion goal date five years in the future and make note of it with your list of titles (like this:  reading goal--50 books  goal dates--March 20, 2012 - March 20, 2017)
  • come back here and post the link to your list in the linky below
  • write a review (or a short summary) on the book when finished and link it to the title in your list (or link to your review on Goodreads, again, if you don't have a blog)
  • there will be pages posted at the top of the blog for you to link your reviews
  • when you have completed the challenge, come add your link to the Completed Challenges page
  • there will be a blog roll in the sidebar where I will list you/your blog linked to your lists
  • grab the button in the right sidebar and link it back to this blog
  • check out this PAGE which contains links to various online sources with lists of reading ideas
  • I might host a read-a-long from time to time.  If you are hosting one, or an event or challenge surrounding a non-fiction title, post about it at this PAGE
A couple more important details:

  • this challenge can be crossed over with any other challenges
  • your link in the linky below must lead to your list, not just your main blog address.  Any links that are blog links only will be deleted

Updates:
*I was asked if the list has to be made in advance.  The idea is to work toward reading non-fiction that you've been wanting to read so the list is mandatory. However, the list does not have to be set in stone. You can change out titles as the mood suits you.

*Starting over and I'm opening up the number of years from five years to anywhere from five years to ten. That's right. If you want to change your goal and make it 7 years, go for it. If you want to make it 10 years, be my guest. I, for one, am making mine ten years. (See This Post)

***************

I hope I haven't forgotten anything.  If you think I missed something, please let me know.  I'm aiming to make this challenge as low maintenance as possible.  There will be no mini-challenges or prizes.  This challenge is all about challenging ourselves to read more and to expand our horizons.  I truly hope you will join me on this adventure.

If you're interested in reading the classics or filling in the gaps in your regular reading, why not check out the two challenges I mentioned above.  I'm participating in both and they are both great concepts in challenges.

Happy reading!

19 comments:

  1. I'd love to do this challenge with you! Quick question, is it mandatory to list the books ahead of time? I read according to mood and can't possibly imagine listing 50 books at once and keeping to that list. LOL

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  2. Sheery,

    The idea is to work toward reading non-fiction you've been wanting to read so the list is mandatory. However, the list does not have to be set in stone. You can change out titles as the mood suits you. I hope you'll still join me and it's not too much of a constraint for you. How many were you thinking about working toward in the five years?

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  3. Thanks Michelle! I'll have to look at what exactly is on my shelves at home and compile the list. I definitely want to join you in this challenge, though. I'm sure I can manage 50 nonfiction books in 5 years. :)

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  4. I'm really looking forward to this, Michelle! Great idea!

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  5. Hey Michelle, Great idea. I've signed up, but give me a week or so to get it all together. If you like, you can take my name off and I'll re-sign when I have a page to link to.
    Cheers,Kate

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  6. Hi Kate,

    Just add your new link when you have your list together and I'll delete the old one. No worries!

    So glad you're joining me!

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  7. Yeah like this is a stretch for me. LOL! I'm in. Let me put together my list and then I'll sign up. I can easily do 50 in the course of 2 years, but I'm not sure if I'll go higher. Maybe I'll challenge myself!!

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  8. This is great idea! I don't typically read non-fiction so this will be a challenge for me. Thanks for hosting Michelle!

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  9. I was very excited to hear about your challenge! I love non-fiction and resolved (unofficially; I hate New Year's resolutions) to read more this year. A couple of weeks ago I re-blogged Time's list of 100 best non-fiction novels to pick from. Not all of the books interest me, but there were quite a few I had never heard of. Combining that list, along with the Modern Library/Guardian UK non-ficton list* (which is more international, natch) and you have a great jumping off point for your challenge.

    The link I provided is to a page that combines your challenge as well as The Classics Club, which I'm joining as well. What I discovered when making the lists is there are quite a few non-fiction books that will be great companion reads to contemporary novels. That sets my geeky heart singing.

    Thanks for creating this challenge! I'm looking forward to it!

    *Links to these two lists are included on my post page.

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  10. Michelle, you are keeping me busy with your challenges :)

    Thanks for not making our lists carved in stone. I like the idea of being able to swap out titles if I happen to become interested in something different.

    Looking forward to trying to read more non-fiction!

    Thanks for hosting!

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  11. I have created both a list and a blog to participate in this challenge. Thanks for hosting one for non-fiction readers. My list of 100 may see a few changes since my real TBR of non-fiction is much longer than 100 and I'm a mood reader, but I'll try to stick to the original as much as possible.

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  12. Well I finally posted my link. I hope it works. I haven't completely finished my list yet. I'm hoping to have 200 books listed eventually.

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  13. Hi, I've finally got my list together on GoodReads so I could jump in here. I commit to reading 250 non-fiction books by May 21, 2017. Geez, doesn't that date seem like something out of sci fi? These are all books in my TBR heap, and this challenge will help me work them in to the reading rotation.

    Thanks for hosting this challenge!

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  14. Kate, great list! 250 books...I'm impressed. Thank you for joining me for the challenge. I hope you enjoy it!

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  15. Hi all--I am joining Michelle and you for this long-term challenge. I am a fan of non-fiction despite what my blog seems to be about--mystery and suspense. I am really an eclectic mood reader, and it seems that those who stick to just one or a couple genres seem to have way more readership (and no one likes talking to themselves) :)

    Long way of saying I am game for this adventure and hope to enrich my life along the way.

    Have a question for Michelle: do rereads count (I have a bunch of read memoirs on my kindle)? If not, that's fine with me. Thanks for arranging this.

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  16. I'm a year late, but I still want to join the party! http://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/p/a-non-fiction-adventure-introduction.html

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  17. I am a tad late to the party, But I really want to join!
    http://etimes3.org/non-fiction-adventure/

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  18. OMG I found another challenge!! I joined the Classics Club challenge 12 months ago and have just today discovered THIS non fiction challenge. Now since I much prefer reading NON fiction to fiction, and I have TONS of NON fiction books on my TBR piles, I think I will get through this challenge a lot better. I have also pulled some of the Non fiction books off my Classics Clubs list so now I have to go and find some replacements for those. LOL Thanks for the exciting new (to me anyway) challenge!! -- http://nonfictionchallenges.blogspot.ca/2015/12/i-just-discovered-non-fiction.html

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  19. Even if no one else is doing this challenge any more, I am certainly going to do it. So I will be posting some of my reviews here. So here is my first review - http://nonfictionchallenges.blogspot.ca/2016/01/home-schooling-is-not-dangerous.html

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Your comments are welcome and appreciated!