Last year I ran this challenge from September to February, and the premise was this: almost all of us have authors who we have long meant to read, but somehow never gotten around to. Perhaps you have always been intrigued but intimidated by their work. Perhaps "required reading" and your favorite authors have taken up most of your time. Perhaps they have been sitting on your shelves for years, continually trumped by new fascinations. Well, now is their time.
The rules:
- The challenge will run from August 1, 2008 to January 31, 2009. You may join at any time before or during those six months.
- During those six months, read at least SIX books by an author whose work you have never read before.
- You may choose six different "unread" authors to introduce yourself to, or you may choose just one or two and explore their work in greater depth.
- Authors may be drawn from any genre of literature. The only requirement is that they be authors whose work you substantially regret not having read yet.
- Your choices may overlap with other challenges you have underway.
- Make your list of at least six unread authors or works.
- Write a comment in response to this post expressing your immense, irrepressible desire to join the Unread Authors Challenge. If you have a blog, include a link to the entry in which you lay out your challenge goals. (Be sure to link to the specific entry, rather than to the blog as a whole, for the ease of those who want to view your choices.) If you don't have a blog, type out your list in the comment.
- If you would like to join the Unread Authors Blog (which will allow you to post copies of your list and any reviews you write directly to the blog), and you are not already a member, include an email address. I suggest using the format "email AT email DOT com" to avoid evil bots who seek out your email address for their own nefarious purposes. I will then send an invitation to join the blog's authorship to that email address.
