Reading Challenge

I love to read, and I have since I was five.  Sure, I took a couple of years off after finishing each of my degrees, and I don't have time to read as much as I'd like to, I really love books.  The last few years, I've taken the Goodreads reading challenge, setting a number of books that I'd like to finish in a year.  The first year I failed miserably, but last year I far exceeded my goal.  This year my goal is 36 books, and I've already finished seven.

One day in early January, I ran across this reading challenge on Pinterest.  I decided to mix it up and little and give the 26 book challenge a shot! 

I have a Pinterest board where I track all the books I read, as well as marking them on Goodreads, but I'll also check in here from time to time to make sure I'm keeping up with this particular challenge.  Here's where I stand as of this morning:

The 26-book 2017 reading challenge

1. A book you read in school
2. A book from your childhood - On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. A book published over 100 years ago - Dracula, by Bram Stoker
4. A book published in the last year - The Magnolia Story, by Chip and Joanna Gaines
5. A non-fiction book - In Cheap We Trust, by Lauren Weber
6. A book written by a male author
7. A book written by a female author - The Sage Stone Prophecy, by NS Wikarski
8. A book by someone who isn’t a writer (think Paul Kalathani or Richard Branson)
9. A book that became/is becoming a film
10. A book published in the 20th Century
11. A book set in your hometown/region
12. A book with someone’s name in the title
13. A book with a number in the title
14. A book with a character with your first name
15. A book someone else recommended to you
16. A book with over 500 pages
17. A book you can finish in a day
18. A previously banned book
19. A book with a one-word title
20. A book translated from another language
21. A book that will improve a specific area of your life
22. A memoir or journal - Talking as Fast as I Can, by Lauren Graham
23. A book written by someone younger than you
24. A book set somewhere you’ll be visiting this year
25. An award-winning book
26. A self-published book

I'm off to a great start.   I have to laugh, because Dracula counts for several, but I'll be honest and just take it for one!  Took me a while to figure out how to find a book with a character with my first name, but I did a little creative searching on Overdrive and found one to check out that I will read soon!

What about you - do you like to read?  How do you feel about reading challenges?  Fun or too much pressure?