More Reading Challenges for 2012

So  you've signed up for Brian Lindenmuth's 365 Story Challenge and you're still looking for a challenge of the reading sort? They're everywhere. For example, over at YA Bliss, there's the YA Historical Fiction Challenge with three levels--the first requires you read five books; the second requires you read 10 books, and the third is for readers ready to tackle 15 books. Books don't have to be 2012 releases, but they do have to be YA or MG.
Just to get you started, there are several lists of YA Historical Fiction available.

 Over at Historical Tapestry, they're hosting a 2012 challenge in all categories of historical fiction, including fantasy and YA. This challenge offers five levels of participation, for readers who only have time for two books up to readers who plow through 20.
The International Reading Challenge began earlier this year but runs through June 2012, so there's still time to participate. Check out the video for the event here. One of the sponsors is The Breathless Quills, which reviews books from different countries. Check it out here.

The coming year, 2012, is apparently the "National Year of Reading," so do your part!

So many blogs, so little time

I admire people who can blog day in and day out. Clearly, I don't have that discipline. But I really like browsing the blogs. I found this one, Historical Tapestry, by accident and it's going to be a place I hit up often:
One of my long-time projects is a historical mystery and part of the problem is that I can't bring myself to just ... make stuff up. I have been researching it off and on for several years now, and the section of my bookcase devoted to research is not several shelves deep, with Welsh-English dictionaries, books on weapons, books on food, books on clothing. You get the idea. Reading this excellent blog will be another excellent way to fritter writing time away. Because you know, there can never be too many ways to avoid actually sitting down and writing.