Reading Challenges for 2015

Time for lots of hot chocolate. Yay!

So, it's December already and that means winter, hot drinks, Christmas lights and holiday spirit. I've already started humming Christmas carols while cleaning, and I'm slowly getting in the mood for all the holiday films. It may be just me, but I can't go by without seeing all the Christmas films on television! I'm way behind on my Christmas shopping (meaning I have yet to begin), but I've started my holiday reads, so I guess that says something about my priorities...

Of course, December wouldn't be complete if I didn't also start getting ready for the New Year. And that includes choosing which reading challenges I will participate in during 2015! I'm incredibly excited about this, since I've never taken part in any of these before. I've decided to keep it simple for this first year, only signing up to a few challenges, and see how it goes before stepping it up over the course of the next few years. So, here are the reading challenges I've decided to sign up to in 2015.

Around the World Challenge

This lovely challenge is being hosted by Crini at All About Books, and consists of trying to map all the places visited through books. I love the idea of travelling with books, so I decided I just had to be a part of this. I'll have a page dedicated to this challenge up and running over the next few days, with the map where I'll track my progress, and you'll be able to follow along throughout the year. There are also plenty of mini challenges to keep things interesting, so I can already tell this will be a lot of fun!

2015 Women Challenge

This challenge is hosted at Peek a booK, and is encouraging us all to read more books written by women. I hadn't actually noticed it before, but I do tend to read a lot of books written by male authors, so this year I want to make an effort to read more books from female authors. Since I'm trying to keep my goals contained, I'll aim for Level 2-Girls Power.

Rules:

*anyone can join;

*you don't need a blog to participate;

*audio, e-books, bound books and re-reads are ok;

*create a sign up post on your blog and post the link in the Linky here (scroll down please, it's at the end of the Italian translation);

*challenge goes from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015;

*here you can link your reviews.

Levels:

Level 1: BABY GIRL - read 5 books written by a woman author

Level 2: GIRLS POWER - read 6 to 15 books written by a woman author

Level 3: SUPER GIRL - read 16 to 20 books written by a woman author

Level 4: WONDER WOMAN - read 20+ books written by a woman author

2015 Library Challenge

Sheila at Book Journey is hosting this wonderful Library Challenge. Now, as for you all other book lovers, for me the library is a great place to visit to check out new titles or try authors I've never read before without using up all my (unfortunately very limited) resources at my local bookshop or on Amazon. In the past, I used to visit my local library very regularly and check out massive amounts of books every time, because who can resist when faced with so much bookish riches for free?

However, I have noticed that recently I have been visiting the library a lot less than usual. This is mainly because I have so many books to read at home and on my e-reader that I haven't really been making the time to go to the library, which is a real shame considering all the amazing services they offer. Aside from traditional books, my library has also recently started lending e-books and DVDs, and has activated an online booking and inter-library request service, so that if they don't have the book I'm looking for but another library in my region does, I can have it delivered with just one click. And, of course, I get to pick the librarians' brains when I can't choose what to read next!

This year, I want to fall in love with my library again, taking the time to get lost between the shelves, wandering around until I find the perfect book (or books!) to take home with me. I'm going to commit to checking out at least one book every month, for a total of 12 books during the whole year, but I hope to take out many, many more.

What services does your library offer? And are you taking part in any challenges this year? Let me know in the comments below!