2019 Reading Challenge

Reading Challenge.

How many of you love to read?

Hands up in the air!

…and wave ’em round like you just don’t care!

Woo Hoo!

As an introvert, I take great pleasure in my reading time.

Now don’t think I’m saying that extroverts don’t read.

Because I know for a fact that they do.

My mom is an extrovert and I remember her whiling away many a summer afternoon reading.

It is that memory etched into my mind that cultivated my passion for reading.

2018 Reading Challenges.

Personal Reading Challenge.

Some of you who’ve been visiting here a while know that I took on a personal reading challenge for the month of February of this year.

It was part of my “this is 40” year of monthly challenges. That post details my plans to read 3 classics for the month. I felt like I had only skimmed the surface of reading classics and that I should add in some more.

In my follow-up post of the lessons learned during the reading challenge, I shared that I actually accomplished reading 5 classics and shared which titles I read along with some lessons about the process.

Modern Mrs. Darcy 2018 Reading Challenge.

It was at that time, that I decided to participate in Modern Mrs. Darcy’s 2018 Reading Challenge. I have completed that challenge for 2018 and it looks like this:

(psst…I am Amazon affiliate, which means that the links to these books will earn me a small commission at no cost to you should you choose to purchase something at Amazon.)

Details.

• A classic you’ve been meaning to read –Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• A book recommended by someone with great taste The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• A book in translation –The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• A book nominated for an award in 2018– The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower
• A book of poetry, a play, or an essay collection Cymbeline  by Shakespeare
• A book you can read in a day–The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• A book that’s more than 500 pages – Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés Ph.D.
• A book by a favorite author The Zahir by Paulo Coelho
• A book recommended by a librarian or indie bookseller Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris
• A banned book– The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• A memoir, biography, or work of creative nonfiction–The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.
• A book by an author of a different race, ethnicity, or religion other than your own. – The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

And more:

Those weren’t the only books that I’ve read this year.

Off the top of my head, I can share that this year I read the four book Red Queen Series by Victoria Aveyard.

Last month, I read The Power by Margaret Atwood because I accidentally thought it was nominated for an award in 2018 and it was really 2017.

I am currently reading Hippie by Paulo Coelho and expect to be done with it very soon.

I may even fit in one more book before the year is out.

I also read some non-fiction books, but I didn’t write them down.

I will definitely be remedying that in 2019.

Benefits of being a reader.

Scientific Based Benefits.

We all know that there are scientific benefits of being a reader.

Just a few of them are:

1. People who read books live longer (and, hello, who doesn’t want that?!). That information is according to this article at Inc., which cites Yale researchers found that people older than 50 who read for 30 minutes a day lived an average of 23 months longer than non-readers and magazine readers.
2. Reading can chill you out. That’s according to this article at Huffington Post which cites research out of the University of Sussex by measuring and evaluating heart rate and muscle, it took study participants just 6 minutes to relax once they started turning pages. Ahhh, I feel more relaxed already.
3. Reading can keep your brain sharp and may stave off Alzheimer’s. C’mon, this should be enough to get you reading…right now. The details and research of which are also located in that Huffington Post article.
4. Reading can help with sleep. And as a mama with the stressors of raising three teenagers and keeping a household running, I can tell you straight up that anything that can help with sleep is a welcome relief. You can find the details in this article at  Bustle. The basis for this is according to the same research out of the University of Sussex.

More Benefits.

Now, these are just five scientific based benefits. But if you are an avid reader, or maybe even a little less than avid, you know that there are many other benefits. Expansive vocabulary, enhanced comprehension, better critical thinking skills. I could continue, but…

2019 Reading Challenge.

On that note.

Once again I will be participating in Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Reading Challenge.

This time since I’ll be joining in at the beginning of the year, I’ve officially signed up and everything for the 2019 reading challenge!!

I even threw down the gauntlet, and my husband is going to participate in that 2019 reading challenge!

I hope that you’ll participate too!

You can click on the link above and pop over to see the Modern Mrs. Darcy’s 2019 reading challenge. The challenge entails 12 different categories and you choose a book that qualifies for each category, with the goal of reading (at a minimum) 12 books for the year.

Updates.

I will be updating you quarterly on the blog to let you know how the 2019 reading challenge is going for me…and the hubby and what our book choices have been thus far.

It’s very likely that I will post updates more frequently than that over on the Bedlam & Daisies Facebook Page.

If you’d like to see those you can click the link above and like and follow the page or you can do that from the sidebar of the blog.

That way you can let me know what you’re reading as well and can fill me in on whether you are enjoying the challenge. It’ll also be helpful for anyone joining along to gain ideas for categories that they may be having a hard time finding a book with which to fill.

How It’ll Look.

I also wanted to let you know that I won’t be following the order of the categories on the 2019 reading challenge. I will jump around filling in the categories as I see fit. I encourage you to do the same if this works best for you.

As mentioned before, I will be keeping track of all the books that I read as part of my own 2019 reading challenge. I’m hoping to well surpass 12, but I’m not prepared to throw out a number (maybe in 2020). Also, I will share the books that I read that don’t fit into a reading challenge category.

More 2019 Challenges.

Many of you followed along during my year of “this is 40” monthly challenges which started when I turned 40 in September of 2017 and ran through August of 2018.

However, if you missed any of those, they can be found in the 30 day challenge category located under Wellness.

They encompassed many things covering the mind, body, and soul.

I felt like so many of those pushed my comfort zones and made me strive for growth.

And I liked that process so much that I will be bringing them back for the entire 2019 year.

Yippee!!

Some may be similar to those of old. However, some may be completely new.

But you’ll just have to check back to see.

So be on the lookout next Wednesday for the announcement for January’s Challenge.

I hope that you’ll be willing to join along on those as well.

Also, let me know in the comments if you are joining on the reading challenge!!

2019 is going to be so exciting!

Let your light shine!

Amy