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Last Week's Links Reading

Last Week’s Links

Last Week's Links

A neuroscientist explains what tech does to the reading brain

woman readingAn interview with UCLA neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf, author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain and the recently released Reader, Come Home, which details “how technology is changing the brain, what we lose when we lose deep attention, and what to do about it.”

After autofiction

Rachel Cusk and Karl Ove Knausgaard embarked on works blurring the boundaries between fiction and autobiography. Now the two series have come to an end, did they find the freedom they craved?

Simplicity or style: what makes a sentence a masterpiece?

If you follow Twitter during weekends, you may have seen the hashtag #SundaySentence. In this article Jenny Davidson, professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, gives her definition of a great sentence:

A great sentence makes you want to chew it over slowly in your mouth the first time you read it. A great sentence compels you to rehearse it again in your mind’s ear, and then again later on. A sentence must have a certain distinction of style – the words come in an order that couldn’t have been assembled by any other writer.

BOOKS WITH STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS OVER 50

Being of a certain age myself, I enjoy books that feature older women characters. And if you’re into reading challenges that ask you to read a book featuring “a strong female character over 50,” here are eight books to help you fill in that category.

READ HARDER: A BOOK WITH A FEMALE PROTAGONIST OVER THE AGE OF 60

And if 50 is too young for you, here’s a list of six books featuring female protagonists over age 60. I heartily second the recommendation of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid and would also add Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney.

 

© 2018 by Mary Daniels Brown

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Book News Reading

Reading Challenges for 2017

Read Books

I’ve set out my own reading plan for 2017, but if you’d prefer a challenge with specific category descriptions to guide you, here are several. Many of these challenges offer discussion groups either on their own web sites or through Facebook pages, so you’ll be getting a book group as well as book recommendations.

Here are several challenges to get you started in your search for the right one for you. If you don’t find anything appealing here, do a web search for “reading challenge 2017.” You’ll find lots of entries, some for specific interests (e.g., Christian reading challenge, European reading challenge).

BOOK RIOT’S 2017 READ HARDER CHALLENGE

For this well-known challenge “there are 24 tasks, averaging to two per month over the course of the next 12 months. You may count one book for multiple tasks, or read one book per task.” The purpose is to achieve “a perspective shift – but one for which you’ll only be accountable to yourself.” You can download a printable PDF of the challenge tasks.

The 2017 Reading Challenge

From Modern Mrs. Darcy, who describes this as a “choose-your-own-adventure reading challenge.” She offers two focused challenges, “reading for fun” and “reading for growth.”

Take the 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

POPSUGAR offers “40 book prompts to help diversify and expand your reading in the new year, PLUS an “advanced” section with 12 books for hardcore readers who complete the challenge before the year is over.” The challenge consists of “a variety of ideas to mix up your reading choices, not specific book titles.” Examples of categories are “a book set in the wilderness” and “a novel set during wartime.”

There’s a printable list you can download and use to check off categories as you complete them.

2017 Reading Challenge

This challenge from Better World Books aims to get you “to try different kinds of books.” There’s a PDF checklist to download to keep track of your progress. And the Better World Books blog will be posting recommended books for each challenge category throughout the year, just in case you have trouble coming up with titles on your own.

Retellings Reading Challenge 2017

This challenge from the U.K. asks you to read retellings of stories such as classics, children’s classics, fairy tales, myths, legends, folk tales, well known people’s lives.

Reading Challenge

This Pinterest board links to many reading challenges from several years.

The WeAreTeachers 2017 Reading Challenge

This challenge asks you “to read at least one book from one of these categories every month.” There’s no indication that you must be a teacher to participate.

The 2017 reading challenge

This challenge, from Justina Wooten of Anythink Wright Farms of the Rangeview Library District in Colorado, might suit you if the 40+-category challenges are too much to take on. This one lists a different category of book for each month in 2017.

 

© 2017 by Mary Daniels Brown

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Reading

2016 Reading Challenges

Read Books

I had a poor reading year in 2015, managing to complete only 28 books of a goal of 40. But this year I should have more time to read, so I’ve once again challenged myself to read 40 books this year on Goodreads. I set and exceeded that goal in 2013 and 2014, so I’m pretty confident I can achieve it this year as well.

The only feature of the Goodreads challenge is the number of books you plan to read. If you’re looking for a more structured challenge that will expand your reading horizons, here are three:

The 2016 Reading Challenge

Modern Mrs. Darcy challenges you to “read 12 books in 12 different categories in 12 months.” Her challenge includes the following categories:

  • a book published this year
  • a book you can finish in a day
  • a book you’ve been meaning to read
  • a book recommended by your local librarian or bookseller
  • a book you should have read in school
  • a book chosen for you by your spouse, partner, sibling, child or BFF
  • a book published before you were born
  • a book that was banned at some point
  • a book you previously abandoned
  • a book you own but have never read
  • a book that intimidates you
  • a book you’ve already read at least once

Modern Mrs. Darcy also offers you some free downloadable forms to help you track and complete the challenge, including a list of these categories and a reading journal (look for a link in the right sidebar).

Take 2016’s Ultimate Reading Challenge!

Macy Williams at PopSugar also has a challenge designed to “help you read a variety of books this year.” Her list of categories is a bit longer than Modern Mrs. Darcy’s, so I’m not going to reproduce the whole list here. But you can download a printable list of the categories and check each one off as you complete it.

The 2016 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge

This challenge has 24 tasks, which means you’ll have to complete two a month to finish by the end of 2016. As with the previous two challenges, you can download and print a list of the categories.

There’s also a Read Harder group on Goodreads, and you can “check in all over social media with the hashtag #ReadHarder.” You even have the opportunity to participate in a live Read Harder book group if you live in one of these cities:

  • HOUSTON
  • NEW YORK CITY
  • PHILADELPHIA
  • LOS ANGELES
  • CHICAGO
  • GLASGOW
  • BOSTON
  • WASHINGTON, D.C.

If you need help finding books to fulfill all the categories, there’s a link here to a list of recommendations from the New York Public Library.

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You might be able to find some suggestions for these challenges from 32 New Books To Add To Your Shelf In 2016, which covers new releases through May.