Reading Challenges for 2014

In 2014 I plan to once again take on a few reading challenges.  Reading challenges are great because they can hope expose one to new genres and meet reading goals.

Challenge #1: Literary Explorations Challenge
This will be my second year with this challenge.  The goal is to try books from different genres.  There are three challenge levels: Easy with 12 genres, Hard with 24 genres, and Insane with 36 genres.  I will either to do the hard or insane challenge.


Challenge #2: Mount TBR
My to-be-read pile has over 150 books.  It has been an ongoing battle to whittle it down.  I'm hoping the Mount TBR will help me do that.  Ideally I would like to get my TBR pile down to fifty or less.  I don't think that will happen this year, but hopefully I can at least make a sizable dent.

There are several level's to choose from:

• Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile
• Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile 
• Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books from your TBR pile 
• Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR piles 
• Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile 
• El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile 
• Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile 
• Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile

I'm aiming to climb Mt. Vancouver level, but it would be awesome if I made it up Mt. Ararat.

Challenge #3: What's In a Name?
I am also intrigued by the What's In a Name Challenge. For this challenge the goal is to read books whose title falls into the following the categories:

• A reference to time (Eleven Minutes, Before Ever After)
• A position of royalty (The People’s Queen, The Last Empress, The Curse Of The Pharaoh)
• A number written in letters (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, A Tale Of Two Cities)
• A forename or names (Rebecca, Eleanor & Park, The Unfinished Work Of Elizabeth D.)
• A type or element of weather (Gone With The Wind, Red Earth Pouring Rain)

Challenge #4: Goodreads
Lastly, I will do the general Goodreads challenge to read an overall number of books for the year.  My goal for 2013 was 60 books, as of the writing of this post I'm on book number 64.  For 2014, I'm contemplating aiming for 65 or 70.

Now that I look at this, it is quite a lot.  Wish me luck!  And if you know of any other interesting reading challenges let me know in the comments below.