2023 Challenges

Have you chosen which categories you will do in 2023?
I am planning to do Classics CAT, Geo CAT, Kiddy CAT, Random KIT, Mystery KIT and Alpha KIT.
Leona

Not yet, so ideas are welcome! Vague notion percolating: to read nothing but what's on the bookshelf before borrowing anything new.

>2 nohrt4me2: I would need to stop reading threads on LT to have even a whisper of a chance with that. Too many good books I don’t own. Though my own shelves are perhaps only 50% read at this point.

>3 2wonderY: I like to read from my book shelves also. I have had snow the past 3 days so my going to the library is now limited.

About 80% of my reads are heavy historical fiction. The others are non-fiction, and literary fiction. I fly far away from sci-fi, fantasy, and magical realism.

Just working on my TBR pile in 2023 and trying not to accumulate any more books until I have made progress on shortening the pile.

The challenge for me this coming year is to divest myself of all except maybe 200 books I haven't read yet, so over 2,000.
Most of the books were my late wife's, and I'm such a pathetically slow reader that I'll be surprised if I read even half of what I keep. It will be a few months before I finish my current-read.

>6 perennialreader:. I say that every year!

>7 WholeHouseLibrary:. I hope that you will consider bookbombing some Little Free Libraries. There is an app that will lead you to their locations. It's fun to find them, but difficult not to help yourself to books that you find interesting.

My husband and I have a problem getting rid of books. :-) I switched to a kindle to reduce the number of books coming into our house. The biggest problem right now is what to do with old science textbooks (we are both trained in biomedical sciences). They are no longer up to date but it seems a shame to throw them in the trash or recycling.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
k4k

>9 krazy4katz: if you are still active in the field you might want to review them just to make sure you aren't throwing the baby out with the bath water. My experience with older science texts is, in many instances, they provide things such as detailed derivations/discussions of whatever which later, more up-to-date texts merely reference or dismiss with phrases such as "it can be easily shown", "it can be derived with a little effort", "other authors have provided detailed descriptions",etc.....and the reality is - no, it can't and they haven't. I've had any number of instances in my career where the old texts provided exactly what I needed to know. In fact, right now I'm refreshing my memory with respect to the issues of the power spectral density and the old texts are everywhere in evidence on my desk because the newer texts don't have the needed details.

>9 krazy4katz: I would donate them to a thift store. I get most of my books at a local thrift store.

My local libray has challenges quite often. I have won a set of classic books and also a set of books by J. R. R. Tolkien
Winter Tales is the challenge now from January 1- February 28.
The reader can win badges and enter for prizes for writing reviews and completing challenges such as:

Winter Mysteries
Completed on 2/1/2023
3 /2 Activities Completed

1 Prize Drawing Entry
Complete 2 out of 3 activities to earn this badge.

Activities
“Read” a silent or foreign language movie (subtitles) Which movie did you choose?
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Watched on You Tube. A 1916 movie.

Read a mystery, crime, or suspense novel. Which novel did you choose?
The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters. Cozy mystery set in Egypt.

Participate in Blind Date with a Book starting in February at select libraries. Who was your date and how did it go? Check out our events calendar to see if your library is participating!
ECRL Events Calendar
I got The Collector's Daughter by Gill Paul. It is about Evelyn Herbert Beauchamp. It is a historical fiction book. Egypt, her father Lord Carnarvon, Howard Carter and King Tut's tomb. The book goes back and forth from 1922 to 1980. A story about her life and struggles with strokes.

The Blind Date book was covered in brown paper so it covered the book name and author. It did have a short description of the book.

I completed all the tasks. Another was to list birds that wintered in Minnesota and list ones you have seen. I found some great bird books.