There is never never never enough time for me to get all my stuff together. I started a post LAST Friday about a reading challenge I’d decided to join, and here it is, Friday again, and I figured I should just start over, and talk (briefly) about BOTH of the challenges I’m starting, in one post.
First is the POC Reading Challenge, short for Persons of Color Reading Challenge. It just launched in late January, in response to yet another occurrence of “white washing” in a book cover’s image: although the main character is a person of color, the cover design shows a white person. The POC Reading Challenge is a commitment to read books by and/or about persons of color. The levels are:
Level 1: Read 1-3 POC books
Level 2. Read 4-6 POC books
Level 3. Read 7-9 POC books
Level 4. Read 10-15 POC books
Level 5. Read 16-25 POC books
I’ve decided to commit to Level 3, because I know I’ve got books by authors of color on my shelves that I haven’t read, and that will help my RYOB Challenge too. I’ve already read one, will likely start a second one soon, and have a few others in mind for the next few months. Oh — and why am I signing up for this challenge? Because I believe in this project and the message behind it. The challenge sign-up post is here, and if you click around the blog, there are lists of books to help people get started, and links to other pages of interest and many helpful resources.
The other challenge I’m joining is called Clover, Bee, and Reverie, and it’s a challenge to read more poetry. I’m pretty psyched about this one, because I have MANY poetry books on my shelves, still waiting to be read. Most of them would be “quick reads,” and would (of course) also count toward the RYOB Challenge. Especially after my enthusiastic response to the Eavan Boland book I read in January (yes, one down!), it just made sense for me to pursue more poetry reading this year. The levels, and some additional information:
There are four levels of participation:
Couplet: Read 2 books of poetry
Limerick: Read 5 books of poetry, and finish at least one badge
Octave: Read 8 books of poetry, and finish at least two badges
Sonnet: Read 14 books of poetry, and finish two badges, and one expert badge
What is a badge? A badge just means you need to read two books of poetry that are connected in some way: same time period, some subject matter, same form, same author, etc. An expert badge means four books, same constraints.
I’m going to aim for the “Octave” level, again focusing on books I already own and haven’t yet read, as much as possible. Wish me luck!