Come Join Me in My New/Old Reading Challenge for 2010!

January is a popular time to kick off new reading challenges. I have seen challenges to read 100 books in a year. Challenges to read 12 YA books before the end of the year. There are Speculative Reading challenges. Thriller and Suspense challenges. Historical Reading challenges. Romance reading challenges. Even an A-Z Reading challenge.

Google the words “2010 book reading challenge” and you are sure to come up with additional reading challenges you never even dreamed existed!

Well, I’ve decided to start a reading challenge of my own this year. I’ve quoted these quotes before, and I’m going to quote them again. (I like them so much, I’ve added one of them permanently to my sidebar!)

“Books worth reading are worth re-reading.” (Holbrook Jackson) And: “We hold if a book be worth reading once, it is worth reading twice, and if it stands a second reading, it may stand a third." (Gilfillan)

So I am officially kicking off my New/Old Reading Challenge for 2010! 

For every new book I read this year, I’m going to pull out an old favorite and re-read it. I did this as a personal challenge last year. I didn’t quite succeed with an even trade-off (after all, it’s the striving that counts, right?), but oh! what treasures I rediscovered along the way with the old favorites that I did take time to read! My head is already buzzing with “old favorite” titles that I want to add to my list this year!

Are any of you willing to join me? There’s no required numbers of books to read by the end of December. Only that for each new book you read, you take the time to revisit an old favorite from your past.

Shall I throw in a prize to motivate your participation? How about a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com to be awarded in a random drawing from among the challenge participants next January 15^th, 2011? That will give you all time to compile your lists and get them posted on your blogs. (Or listed in my comment section.)

Rules:

1. Anyone can join. You do not have to have a blog to participate.

—Non bloggers include your information in the comment section.

2. If you have a blog, please post about this challenge. Insert the picture above with a link back to this site if possible.

2. You can join the challenge at any time during the year.

3. There are no minimum number of books to read. Fiction and non-fiction books both count.

4. Reviews on your blogs are purely optional.

5. Any book format counts.

6. Titles do not have to be selected ahead of time.

7. Keep a running roster of your reading somewhere on your blog (if you have one), either in a continually updated post or in your sidebar, so that others can see what you are reading. If you don’t have a blog, keep a list SOMEHOW (notebook, whatever) so you can post it in a comment section on my blog next January.

8. Find some way to differentiate between "new reads" and "old reads". (I like to use asterisks, but CAPITALS, Bolds, or Colors work good, too.)

8. Challenge ends December 31, 2010.

9. Please sign up for this challenge under Mr. Linky. When you sign up, put the DIRECT LINK TO YOUR POST ABOUT THE NEW/OLD READING CHALLENGE (example: http://jdp-news.blogspot.com/2010/01/come-join-me-in-my-newold-reading.html), NOT just your general blog address (example: http://jdp-news.blogspot.com). You may put your blog’s name in parentheses behind your name in Mr. Linky if you so desire.

I hope you will join me! I promise, many of your “old favorites” will be happy to see you again!

(Before you decide this challenge is impossible, check out my 2010 Reading Challenge Update.)

(NOTE: New Mr. Linky signups have been moved to 2010 Reading Challenge Update.