Reading Challenges: 10-10-10 or 52/52

Reading is the creative center of a writer's life.

Stephen King

Here's a reading challenge that lets you read old favorites and expand your literary horizons: Read ten books in ten genres by October 10, 2010. The genres can be however you define them. Here are mine (my personal deadline is 12/31/2010):

• C. S. Lewis (by and about)
• J. R. R. Tolkien (by and about)
• Christian Classics
• Children's Classics
• Short Stories & Plays/Epic Poems
• Modern Library Top 100 List
• Books on Writing/Career
• Inspirational Fiction
• Fiction Miscellany
• Nonfiction Miscellany

So far this year, I've read three books in three different genres. Only 97 books to go!

If this challenge sounds too daunting, try 52/52 instead. That's one book a week for the year. (Thanks to my niece Ashley for this one.)

We're writers and we're readers. So grab your library card, join a book exchange, or browse the shelves at your favorite bookstore to get started on your own 10-10-10 or 52/52 reading challenge.

What will you be reading this year?

Johnnie

[Quote from On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (p. 147).]