It's February and the last month of challenge. I've been so pleased with how everything turned out so far: the high level of participation, the great reviews and comments and, most of all, reading about so many new to me authors. Writers like Elizabeth Bowen, May Sarton and Marian Engel are now within my periphery of awareness when before I did not know they existed. That gratifying because at the outset this challenge came out of a selfish desire to get around to writers in which I was interested rather than any laudable notions about lifting authors from the abyss.
I've had such a good time that I've decided to make this an annual even in the hopes that at least some of you had such a good experience that you would wish to continue. With this in mind I've made some adjustments in order to keep the challenge viable.
The list of authors will be changed. All authors who garnered 3 or more different challenge readers will be shifted in order to make room for fresh additions. I know that some of us have read books without posting any reviews or commentary so it would be lovely if those participants submitted in comments the list of writers you read once the challenge ends at February 29, or before if you have a realistic idea of how many books you'll be able to finish by then. Although those authors won't be on the official list for the next challenge in September their tags will remain, of course, as will the reviews.
I will solicit new author submissions to replace those removed (and only those, I won't be making the list any longer) in August 2008. If you haven't added this blog's RSS feed to your reader you probably should if you want to keep an eye on things or have any authors in mind. I'll also be taking a look at authors suggested last year who did not make the cut.
The remaining authors will patiently wait in the list for us to try again. That way we'll have an incentive to get to books we didn't manage to this time around for lack of time or focus. (I know that my list of authors changed every other month.)
I don't know how long this challenge will last but if it has some longevity I would consider bringing back retired favourites in order for participants to have another go at them, maybe even reread to compare experiences.
Feedback, questions, ideas on improvements are all welcome. Thank you so much for making my first attempt at hosting a reading challenge such a success!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I've had such a good time too, so thank you very much Imani for thinking of this challenge and organising it. I really appreciate it and it has broadened my reading experience immensely. I'm still reading one more book for the challenge and hope to write about it soon. It'll be great if we continue it as an annual event. I'll be thinking of other authors to add to the list in anticipation.
Woohoo! Great idea. Now, I've got to keep a list of possibly authors for August. A few have already sprung to mind.
Imani, this is such a wonderful challenge.
I have a suggestion for the next group of authors. Don Robertson. He wrote from the 1960s-1990s. Like Faulker, he had his own universe, Paradise Falls. Most of his characters are interconnected somehow.
I'll go out on a limb and say that his greatest achievement was his trilogy about a boy named Morris Bird III. The first book in that trilogy, The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread is being reissued in paperback on April 22.
Thanks for organising a wonderful reading experience, Imani. I too am delighted that this is going to continue as an annual event, not least as it means I can save the Malcolm Lowry book up for next year.
I'm going to try to remember some of the authors I've thought of over the past few months, for next year.
Imani, this challenge has been great fun. Thanks for hosting it. I am glad there will be another one :)
Post a Comment