Thursday, December 1, 2011

Holiday Reading Challenge 2011

December is here! Along a huge list of other things, December means there's only a few weeks left to try to finish all those reading challenges YOU I joined this year. At this point, I've completed some, others were a total fail and there are yet a few that I admit I'm going to scramble to finish by December 31. Either way, I'm not stressing over it much, but I really, really would like to meet my goal of reading 100 books in 2011 and I'm SO close, too. And still, here I am joining one more challenge! This one is a Holiday Reading Challenge hosted by Book Lovers Inc. and I just couldn't resist. I have a few Christmas themed books I wanted to read this time of year anyway, so why not?

Holiday Reading Challenge 2011
Hosted by Book Lovers Inc.
November 10-December 31, 2011.

There are three levels from which to choose:
Santa's Helper: 1-3 holiday themed books
Serial Mistletoe-er: 4-6 holiday themed books
Candy Cane-aholic: 7 or more holiday themed books

The books may be any adult or young adult holiday related book and any format is acceptable--paper books, ebooks, audiobooks, short stories, novellas, etc. Children's books do not count towards the challenge.

I am going for Serial Mistletoe-er because HEY! It's mistletoe, people! And where there's mistletoe, there's kissing and who doesn't love kissing??!!

I have several holiday themed books on my shelves here at home and a few new ones on my wish list, so I certainly won't be lacking for reading material! You can see my selection on my goodreads holiday shelf.

What Christmas or winter holiday themed books are on your list?


Any favorites that you'd recommend?

10 comments:

  1. So I totally want to read the new Holiday Kisses antho from Carina Press. Hmm... wonder if it counts as 1 or 4, LOL.

    And I already read Tessa Dare's new one. (hint: it was good!)

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  2. Do you like Carla Kelly? I'm 2/3 through her Christmas novella collection "Coming Home for Christmas." All new stories; 3 generations of the same family. Just lovely.

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  3. I've read four of the books on your Holiday shelf. Every year at this time of year I reread a couple of Holiday themed books, one of which is Moonlight and Mistletoe by Maggie Daniels. It's simple and sweet and funny. The best things all together to read this time of year, IMO. *g*

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  4. Oh! I should try this! and I just read a Holiday themed book! LOL

    Good luck with the challenge

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  5. Lori: Holiday Kisses anthology is a definite for me this season, too. It sounds so FUN!

    I'm reading Tessa Dare's story this weekend or as soon as I finish Origin in Death.

    Phyl: I haven't read anything by Carla Kelly. Will look into that novella collection. Thank you!

    Brandy: Moonlight and Mistletoe by Maggie Daniels... check! WOW! 4.75 stars on goodreads. Well, by four readers, but still! LOL! I've added to my list and will try to find it. Thanks!

    Alex: Yes, you should join this challenge! It'll be fun! Which holiday book did you just read?

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  6. the first book that came to mind was the David Levithan/Rachel Cohn one, but I think you've read it already since there's a rating. drat LOL. You should give Tis the Season to be Sinful. It was pretty good :)

    at least, all the challenges go towards your goal of 100 books. How close are you? :)

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  7. Hi Christine! So glad to see you join the BLI Holiday Reading Challenge! :-) If you want some further holiday novel suggestions I compiled a list here for a lot of genres: http://www.bookloversinc.com/2011/11/13/bli-holiday-reading-challenge-2011-holiday-read-recommendations/

    I love your Goodreads shelf, so many great holiday stories :-))

    Good luck with the challenge! :-)

    ps: and yep, doesn't the mentioning of mistletoe give you that delicious frisson of something tingly about to happen? *wink*

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  8. I only joined one challenge and it was a disaster! It was the TBR Challenge hosted by Wendy the Super Librarian, and it should be the easiest challenge ever, right? Because we all keep complaining about how huge our TBR piles are, but still, I think I only posted three reviews for that challenge!

    I do have tons of holiday themed books to read, I’ll be reviewing three of them next week but all of them are m/m, so it will be an impromptu m/m Christmas week… I really want to read Carina Press’ holiday anthology -can’t remember the name now- but it sounds nice. I also read and reviewed the Small Town Christmas anthology, with stories by Jill Shalvis, Hope Ramsay and Katie Lane, I liked it but the stories were very short so I’m a bit on the fence about recommending it. I guess anthologies are popular Christmas reads because this is a busy time and is easier to read a novella than a full-length book.

    Good luck with the challenge!

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  9. I was just commenting to a friend that, while I tend to watch holiday-themed movies, I don't often read Christmas-y fiction ... maybe it's time to make that change.

    Good luck to you with the challenge!

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  10. nath: Yeah, I read Dash & Lily's Book of Dares last December. Such a cute read. I have Tis the Season to be Sinful on my list, so we'll see!

    I just finished my 90th book, so I have to read 10 books by December 31! The good news is that I have three novellas on my list, so that'll help! ; )

    Stella: Thanks for the recommendations. I'm bookmarking those links for future reference as I like to read holiday themed books in December every year!

    Brie: Aw, don't let your lack of success with the TBR challenge discourage you against Reading Challenges! I wanted to join Wendy's TBR Challenge, too... but I know myself and know that even if I read the books, I'd fail miserably at keeping up with the reviews and posting them on time. So now I only join challenges for which reviews are OPTIONAL.

    I think the Carina Press holiday anthology you are thinking of might be Holiday Kisses by Shannon Stacey, Jaci Burton, HelenKay Dimon and Allison Kent? Although they have quite a few awesome sounding holiday romances for sale right now... so tempting...

    Dawn: This is only the third season I am reading Christmas-y fiction and I have to tell you, after the first year doing it, I KNEW I was going to make it an annual tradition. I was so pleasantly pleased how much it enriched my holiday spirit. I suggest you try it! :)

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