Reb's academic reading challenge for 2017

Another year is almost done, which means it's time to release the chart for next year's academic reading challenge.  See below for rules, rationale, and a handy chart to keep track of your reading.  If you want a word doc with the chart on it, send me a message with your email address. As I get to the end of my own reading year, I'll do some summing up posts and invite report backs from anyone who finished the 2016 challenge.

 Rationale:

This is a challenge I created for academics who feel that their reading has become over-specialized and possibly joyless, who want to read more literature for pleasure, who want to broaden the way they approach their own research and teaching, who like to talk about reading with each other, who are interested in interdisciplinary reading, and who want to support their friends and colleagues by reading their books.  

  You don’t have to be a professor to do the challenge. Maybe you graduated from school but you miss reading academic books. Maybe you're a geek and you like to read scholarly literature. 

The challenge starts on January 1,  2017 at midnight and goes till Dec. 31, 2017 at 11:59!

. There are a total of 15 regular categories in the challenge with three “extra credit” categories for over-achievers.  There are also double-points available in a few categories.

Rules and guidelines:

The academic books must be at least 175 pages long

Novels must be at least 200 pages long

Books of poetry or special issues of journals must be at least 100 pp. long

One book can be a children's or YA book.

To decide whether a book is academic, look for something published by a university press.

Any book on the list, except where specified by category, can be a novel or a complete journal issue as long as it fits the general category

Books can only count for one category, but you can switch them from one category to the other before you’re done if you like.  (In other words, you can't count a book by your friend who wrote about food for both the food and "by a friend" category)

Only one book can be something you’ve read before

Audiobooks are fine as long as they are unabridged and the print edition is at least 200 pages long.

Books must be started no earlier than midnight 1/1/17 and finished no later midnight 12/31/2017.

Points: This isn't a competition, but if you're counting…

Total possible points for 1-15 without "double-point bonuses" : 200. 

If you do all the double-point bonuses and do extra-credit, you can get the maximum of 260 points.

Category	Author	Title	pages	Date finished	points
1. A book by a friend or colleague					10
2.  A book you first saw in a Social media post or heard about on a podcast, or radio show					10
3. A classic in your field or book you see cited often but have never read					10
4. An academic book about a (non-human) animal or animals					20
5. A book that you've started in the past but never finished					10
6.  A work of literary fiction published in the last five years (bonus points if it's published outside the U.S or the U.K )					10 (20)
7.  A book about a subject or field that you study, but in a country that you don't usually study (bonus points for books published outside the US/UK)					20 (30)
8.  A book about popular culture outside the United States or England					20
9. A book about an immigrant or migrant community					10
10.  A book by a prisoner or formerly incarcerated person					10
11,  A book in your field or current research project published since 2013					10
12.  A book in your field or current research project published before 1980					20
13. A book about religion					20
14. An academic book about sex, sexuality, sex work; OR about food, agriculture or food-service work (Double points if you manage to read one of each, or to combine them - a book about sexy food)					10 (20)
15. A book about teaching, pedagogy, or an ethnographic study of students and/or teachers					10
16.  Extra Credit:  A book that you loved as a child or teenager, but that you haven't read since then					10
17. Extra, EXTRA credit : Read a web comic every week for a year					10
18. Super Duper Extra Credit: A book that you bought on a whim   double points  if you experienced this whim a year ago or more but still haven't read the book					5 (10)