For this year's reading challenges, I decided to do something very different and drastic.  I am going to read women authors.  I feel like I've been neglecting all those wonderful female authors sitting on my shelves.  I will be tailoring my challenge participation to account for this overall goal.  I do have a few exceptions.  I may read a male author if 1) I've already started the series and desperately want to finish it (i.e. Song of Ice and Fire) 2) It is a book club selection (out of my hands) or 3) If it is a male author writing nonfiction specifically about a women subject (e.g. a biography of Kate Chopin).  Other than those three exceptions, I want to discover some wonderful women authors.

From All About Books:

The goal of the challenge:

The goal of this challenge is to reduce your TBR (= books you own but have not read yet) by as many books as possible. To achieve this you set yourself a monthly goal = by how many books your want to reduce your TBR each month. We are going to give you a mini-challenge each month that is going to help you to achieve that goal. Or you can participate in a TBR battle.

Your TBR reduction is calculated by the books you read minus the books you got (everything counts, no matter how you got it, even presents).

IMPORTANT: Once you chose a goal, you can’t change it!

Collect points:

During the challenge you will be able to collect points which you can use to enter our giveaway at the end of the challenge. You can collect up to 3 points each month:

• You get 2 points if you reached your TBR reduction goal
• You can get another point with one of the following two ways
  • Pass the mini-challenge of the month
  • Win that month in the TBR battle

When you register for the challenge you have to choose one way to gain the extra point, but you will always be able to switch between the two after a month. You will only get the extra point though IF you reached your TBR reduction goal.

The TBR battle:

In the TBR battle you are going to compete against another participant. You are going to choose who you want to battle with. If you want to participate in the battle but haven’t found a partner yet, we’ll try to help you find someone! (You should choose someone who reads about as many books as you and has roughly the same goal)

The person who reduced their TBR by more books during a month wins the battle and gets the extra point.

We’ll provide you with a google doc that you can use to keep track of the books read and got and to see who is winning.

If you or your partner looses interest in the battle and you want to participate in the mini-challenges instead, you can switch at the beginning of a new month.

The procedure:

The challenge takes place from January 1st 2015 until December 31st. You can register until January 1st.

Partners and google docs for the TBR battle will be send out until January 4th.

A new mini-challenge and a link to submit your monthly values will be available in THIS document every 1st day of a month.

This sounds like a great way to motivate me to read from my own shelves instead of buying or even going to the library.  I've decided to challenge myself to 4 books from my TBR shelves a month.  That's only 48 books over the course of a year!  I think I can do that.  And I decided to participate in the mini challenges instead of the battle.