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Happy 2016! What’s on your reading list?

Happy 2016, folks!
It’s a special year for us here at Writers & Books. This year, we celebrate our 35th Anniversary, and the retirement of our Executive Director, Joe Flaherty. In the coming months, we’re also hosting Sonja Livingston, author of Queen of the Fall, this year’s pick for “If All of Rochester Reads…” Other exiting goodies we have in store for you are an 80’s themed party, the 35-Word Story Contest, and more! It’s hard to imagine cramming it all in over just 12 months.

When the New Year rolls around, it’s a time of imagining possibilities. We make resolutions, but we also make less tangible goals–sights that we want to see, things we want to do, places we want to explore. Of course, one of the best places to explore is in literature. This year, in honor of our 35th Anniversary, we invite you to join our 35 Book Challenge for 2016!

People who attempt the challenge will read something that satisfies each number on this list—some books may satisfy more than one, and that’s fine too! Not sure if you can read all 35? Try and see how far you get! It’s all in the name of celebration and exploration.

35 Book Challenge for 2016:

1) A biography

2) A book in the science fiction genre

3) A book you’ve read before

4) A book that has been banned

5) A book you started and never finished

6) A book that was published this year

7) A book about travel

8) A book you had recommended to you

9) A book based on a true story

10) A book you were supposed to read in school

11) A book written for children

12) A book with a great cover design

13) A book that’s a sequel

14) A book you can read in a day

15) A book with more than 500 pages

16) A graphic novel

17) A book that features a character who is not heterosexual

18) A book in the fantasy genre

19) A book about food

20) A book about an artist

21) A book published before the year 1900

22) A book about something you’ve never done before

23) A book in the humor genre

24) A book with a non-human main character

25) A play

26) A book on the bestseller list

27) A book that’s a translation

28) A book in the horror or thriller genre

29) A book that’s been sitting on your bookshelf but you’ve never read

30) A book written by a female author

31) A book written by a person of color

32) A book of short stories

33) A book of poetry

34) The 2016 pick for “If All of Rochester Reads…” Queen of the Fall by Sonja Livingston

35) An author’s first book

Enjoying your read? Let us know on twitter with #35BookChallenge and tell us what you think!