Reading Challenges 2012

This time last year I declared that I would challenge myself to read 52 books in a year.

Well I didn't quite make it (I partially blame NaNoWriMo). I managed to read 40.5 books (I had one book that I started in 2010)

However this failed attempt has encouraged me to take part in some more official reading challenges... four in fact. Although some books will fall under more than one reading challenge which is a good thing. I have since seen loads of different reading challenges around the blogosphere. And even though some of the other challenges would overlap with others I have decided to draw the line at four - to avoid getting confused!

The first three are Book Chick City reading challenges. Book Chick City is hosting five reading challenges in total.

The first one is the Mystery & Suspense Reading Challenge 2012. There are two levels to this challenge. Level 1 is twelve books and level 2 is twenty-four. I think I'll probably go for level 1. I reckon I could read more than twelve but I don't want to commit to twenty-four when I read 40.5 books in 2011 and I have four reading challenges to complete - we'll just have to see I suppose.

Next up is the Horror & Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2012. Again there are two levels - level 1 which is twenty-four books and level 2 which is forty-eight. Again I'm opting for level 1 (which is another reason why I'm only going for level 1 in the Mystery and Suspense Challenge).

And the last Book Chick City challenge I am going to sign up for is the Zombie Challenge 2012. This challenge has four levels - One Chomp (6 books), Two Chomps (12 books), Three Chomps (18 books), Four Chomps (24 books). I'm going to go for One Chomp, and luckily any books I read for the Zombie Challenge should count towards my total for the Horror & Urban Fantasy Challenge.

And the last challenge I'm going to take part in is hosted by Literary Escapism. This challenge is the New Author Challenge 2012. The authors you choose do not have to be debut authors they just have to be ones that you have never read before. Again there are levels - 15, 25 or 50. I've signed up to read at least 15 new authors... and hopefully some of them should also count towards the other three challenges I'm taking part in.

Now even though I'm taking part in the above challenges my first book of 2012 does not count towards any of them... my sister got me the autobiography of comedian Lee Evans - The Life of Lee - for Christmas. So I thought I'd kick start with that. Well I suppose it could count towards the New Author Challenge... but I think it would be slightly cheating as Lee Evans isn't strictly an author. And I think it's more about fiction than non-fiction.

Happy New Year!