I’ve been participating in Carrie Gelson’s #MustReadin2019 Reading Challenge since 2014. I’ll let Carrie explain the purpose and spirit of this challenge:
For anyone out there with a To Be Read list that seems like it will never end, this challenge is for you! This is all about making your own personal list of books that you want to commit to reading in 2019.
These aren’t the only titles you will read over the year, but a list to help guide your reading. A list to lure you back to a reading path you have set for yourself. Many, many new books will tempt you! Go ahead and read them but having a list like this ensures you will not forget some titles you were determined to read. That’s the intention and spirit of this challenge.
What I love about #MustRead is that there’s no need for reader guilt if you don’t finish your list, and that’s a good thing, because I don’t think I’ve ever finished one of mine. But it does give me inspiration throughout the year and a very strong structure and focus during the last week of the year as I frantically read as many books as I can to try to finish my list!
For the past two years, I’ve posted my list last because it’s completely crowdsourced from the other #MustRead lists. I select one title from each person’s list to compile my own. It’s so much fun to check out the lists as they’re published and select the book I want to read.
I have three rules. No rereads. I only choose one book per list, even when there are five or six I’m DYING to read. And no substitutions except in the case of series titles. If I decide to include a series title on my #MustRead list, I do allow myself to substitute the first book in the series if it’s new to me.
I like to create diverse #MustRead lists to remind me throughout the year of my goal to read #ownvoices titles. It was so easy this year to create a diverse list because there was such a range of voices included on the #MustRead lists. Although it would be easy to populate my #MustRead list with all middle-grade novels or picture books, I try to include a variety of genres and formats as well. Over the past couple of years, I’ve also been reading and enjoying more books for grownups, and I was glad to be able to include a few of those on the list too.
I think this every year, but this is definitely the best #MustRead list I’ve ever put together, and I have the whole wonderful #MustRead community to thank for that!
the dirigible plum 
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