50 Book Challenge

Recently, while I was on Live Journal, I glanced over at the community spotlights and noticed a community called 50bookchallenge. It's basically a community that challenges you to read 50 books in a year--about, oh, one book a week or so. While it's a stretch, since I'm basically unemployed at the moment (this blog is my job, and it doesn't pay well...or....at all), I decided to go ahead and give it a go.

Actually, the person who created the challenge hasn't accomplished it yet, so obviously there's no pressure if you don't make it. But I'd certainly like to try it out. (Plus, I can count school books and books I review here in my total, AND it gives me extra blog post. I win!)

So, here's how it's going to work. As I said above, I'm counting books I read for school and books I read for reviews, as well as books of my own choosing. I'm not going to count manga--unless I get short for time, and decide I need it to help keep my running total going along.

For books I read that aren't reviews, I'll give you a summary of the book and my own personal thoughts on it--less professional than my real reviews, more chatty. I don't think there's much of a point to review a book that's been out for years (or even centuries!), but I thought you might find my thoughts interesting. (Plus, it helps me feel like I'm working!)

To help you (and me) keep track of where I am, I'm going to be using a meter:

0 / 50 (0.0%)

Right now it's "0" because i haven't finished any books this year. (I actually DID read some books at the end of last year that I was planning on reviewing--actually, I hope to have one review up tonight, but I'm not making any promises, just in case.)

Currently, I'm reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman, so I'll count that as my first book. After that, I have the ominous-looking tome that is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I have a feeling I'll be reading that book while I'm reading others because it's a bit notorious for being very...different. But, my friend Patrick said that if I read through it and finish it, I can force him to read a book of my choosing, so I'm determined to get through it ASAP.

I think I'm going to go see how much I can get done of Stardust now, since I'm starting a week into the year. Regardless, I'm going to take a break and post up a review for you all (unless some unforseen event happens that prevents me from posting it up).

Oh! And I almost forgot--if you have a suggestion for me of a book to read, by all means, leave a comment in my journal and let me know! I love discovering new books.

Wish me luck!