Challenge Accepted! YA-D2 @ Bart's Bookshelf

I've never tried a reading challenge before. I see other bloggers doing them all the time and just think "holy crap when do they have time for this?".

Obviously I'm a blogger who does it more for herself than anyone else (okie that's only 95% true) but darnit all if I don't wish I felt like my blog was important and enjoyable to someone aside from myself. Which is why I still put my offline life ahead of blogging ALWAYS. In ten years I'd much rather have a happy marriage and well mannered kids than a million blog followers... no offense guys! lol

On the same hand RhiReading is something I do for me (like curl up in a bathtub filled with Kama Sutra's Treasures of the Sea bath salts—my personal favorite). Without having something for myself I would go insane. Some days I just NEED to sit down and scope what's going on in the book world or simply dive into a fantasy world where big chaos is happening but you know everything will turn out okay. Lately it seems like I'm getting hit with RL woes from every angle. Any of you other moms out there find that as soon as you started having kids it became impossible to have friendships that lasted? Right now I need a vent-to-my-bff day and realized I don't have one anymore. It's really depressing. I need to vent to my BFF that I don't have a BFF! Talk about a conundrum. :P

Since I don't have a super close friend to confide in and bounce things off of I need to do something for myself. I'm exceptionally stressed out and as the alpha dog in my household I really do need to continue keeping the facade of strength going. Don't get me wrong, I usually work really well under pressure. Lately it's just coming from too many directions at once, I kind of feel like I'm a blindfolded juggler... juggling baby skunks... on a unicycle. *head/desk*

With the blogiversary coming up I thought it was time to try partaking in a reading challenge. I've had a couple of ideas for hosting one in the past but don't have enough followers to feel like it'd be worth putting time into. I dunno... you readers tell me. Do any of you do reading challenges?

I must say that I am a very goal oriented person. Sometimes a goal might be a bit vague but when there is a challenge factor involved I find I'm more inclined to do something. Which could be why I've started making a list of all the things I want to add to or accomplish with RhiReading. Not that I am in a rush of course. Just slow and steady is how I prefer to work with this.

Anyway, back to the reading challenge. (Sorry I got a bit off track there... I need more coffee... or maybe less? haha!). I was checking my blog roll and found a post from Jan @ Eating YA Books about Bart's Bookshelf having a YA Dystopian Book reading challenge. Dude! I luuuurv dystopian fiction. The Unit anyone? Sooo good. I dunno... there's just something about people rising up in the midst of misery. Or beating a system of slavery/oppression/manipulation. Yes, there are some personal RL reasons I love this that I could go into for paragraph after paragraph but I don't want to bore you anymore than I already am.

Cool thing is that the challenge is the perfect starter size for me. After all I plan on being buried in Meljean Brook books in October and am still trying to decide who to make my November author to read. But I can get in 2-4 books in the dystopian YA genre in the challenge period of time. I actually have two sitting around I've been excited to read but keep putting off. The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Hunger Games. I'm still kicking myself for not being fast enough to grab The Hunger Games when Amazon Vine offered it to us Viners two years ago. I knew it was gonna be something good but daaaayum, it's a phenomenon. Something tells me it might end up a favorite. ;)

Well, I suppose I ought to go sit down with a cup of tea and Burning Up. I finally got to The Iron Duke related story and *cheers* it is really good. Weirdly the entire anthology has been like a pyramid for me. The first story was a 2 star, the second a 3 and so on. I have to say I grow into more and more of a Virginia Kantra fan everytime I read her writing. Alright, I said I was going so I bid you all a good day. :) -- Rhi

Image Credit: heironymus