Semi-Charmed Winter 2015 Book Challenge

photo via @megtristao

It's time for the next installment of the Semi-Charmed Book Challenge series! Whether you are a newcomer to the challenge or a repeat reader, I am excited to have you here today. Continue reading after the jump for the winter challenge rules and categories.

General rules:

• The challenge will run from November 1, 2015, to January 31, 2016. No books that are started before 12 a.m. on November 1 or finished after 11:59 p.m. on January 31 will count.
• Each book must be at least 200 pages long, unless otherwise noted. Audiobooks and large-print books are fine, as long as the regular print version meets the length requirement.
• A book can only be used for one category, and each category can only be completed once. If you want to switch the category of a book during a later check-in, that's fine, just be sure to account for that in your point total.
• Rereads can be used for a maximum of three books in the challenge. This rule is meant to encourage you to try new books while still allowing you to revisit books from your childhood or young adulthood that you might get more out of now. Please reread the entire book within the timeframe of the challenge in order to count it; no simply finishing old books or partial rereads.
• The highest possible total is 200 points, and the first five people who finish the challenge will be invited to contribute a category for the summer 2016 challenge.
• Edited to add: When considering a book with a subtitle, feel free to ignore the subtitle if it is not generally considered part of the title.

And now for the exciting part: the challenge categories!

5 points: Read a book that has between 100 and 200 pages.
10 points: Read a debut book by any author. (The book does not have to be a 2015 debut.)
10 points: Read a book that does not take place in your current country of residence.
10 points: Read a book that someone else has already used for the challenge. — Submitted by SCSBC15 finisher Kristen @ See You in a Porridge. [Edited to add: The book must be at least 200 pages long.]
15 points: Read a book published under a pseudonym (e.g. Robert Galbraith, Sara Poole, J.D. Robb, Franklin W. Dixon, Mark Twain, etc.). — Submitted by SCSBC15 finisher Megan M. [Edited to add: The edition you read must be attributed to the pseudonym.]
15 points: Read a book with “boy,” “girl,” “man” or “woman” in the title (or the plural of these words).
15 points: Read a book with a one-word title (e.g. Attachments, Americanah, Uglies, Wild, etc.).
20 points: Read a book with a person's first and last name in the title (e.g. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle).
20 points: Read a food-themed book. — Submitted by SCSBC15 finisher Jamie @ Whatever I Think Of!
20 points: Read a book with a verb in the title. (For any grammar nerds out there, I mean “verb” in the most general sense, so gerunds count. For non-grammar-inclined people, just use any book that appears to have a verb in the title!)
30 points: Read two books with the same title (by different authors). — Submitted by SCSBC15 finisher bevchen @ Confuzzledom. [Edited to add: The titles must be the SAME save for alternate spellings. For example, The Alchemist and Alchemist would be two different titles and would not work for the challenge, but The Alchemist and The Alchemyst would work.]
30 points: Read a nonfiction book and a fiction book about the same subject (e.g. a biography and historical fiction novel about the same person; two books about a specific war or event; a nonfiction book about autism and a novel with a character who has autism, etc. The possibilities are endless!). [Edited to add: This one is very broad! Just have fun with it!]

How to keep track: I’ll publish a check-in post on the first day of each month, beginning December 1, on which you can comment with your progress. I will also include the scoreboard from the previous month on each check-in post.

If you would like to create a preliminary reading list for the challenge, feel free to link up your post below. (See an example list here.) A preliminary post is not mandatory to join the challenge, and you can always change which books you want to read, but it is a good way to see what other people are planning to read and get some ideas for categories you might be stuck on.

Please feel free to share the below button and/or the hashtag #SCWBC15 on your blog, Twitter, Instagram, etc., to get the word out! Be sure to mention me so I can see how you're doing (@megtristao on Twitter and Instagram).


<a href="http://megancstroup.blogspot.com/2015/10/semi-charmed-winter-2015-book-challenge.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmB1jO1pXsi6K9V_ApnTcN3CJ6wT0zG434-zVYGJdGTIj8xoiO81KbAJHDmCxCTPBcRGKkuvb9SoVSlZ1DbEElcFmC481zn_TqdnhMSbQ0sr-j801qoU7gqgGQeSNJCj5te5sf2Zc4PrOe/s1600/SCWBC15.jpg" border="0" width="200"/></a>
Please let me know if you have any questions, and have fun picking out your challenge books! See you on December 1 for the first check-in. :)