The Challenge: Read 100 Books by 10-10-10

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By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 01/28/2010

Looking for a way to get out of a reading rut, Melissa Klug and Kalen Landow decided to push themselves to read 100 books by October 10—10 books from 10 categories they normally wouldn’t choose.


Kalen Landow says reading outside your comfort zone is important.

“It’s so easy to turn on the TV, even get on Facebook, that you have to make the time to read,” says Landow, head of marketing for Taylor Trade Publishing, a division of Rowman & Littlefield in Boulder, CO. “And this is about reading outside your comfort zone, which is important.”

Borrowing from a similar competition they’d seen on LibraryThing, the two launched the 10-10-10 Reading Challenge on January 1. To date, about 25 people have signed up through Facebook, email, and Twitter where entrants can see how others are fairing by following the hashtag #101010reading.

“We really used social media to challenge people,” says Klug, director of marketing for Glatfelter, which manufacturers paper for books.

Melissa Klug ended up loving Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.

Those who sign up agree to read books in 10 categories that they invent themselves. Take Margie White, who included “Fiction with food in the title or on the cover,” as one topic or Alyson Beecher who’s looking for something more “Dystopian.”

To Klug and Landow, the key is to select books you wouldn’t normally read. Mystery buff? Maybe you’ll tackle some poetry. Prefer essays? Perhaps some science fiction might broaden horizons.

Klug, for example, wanted to find out why so many adults were reading books aimed at younger people, and added that category. The result? Surprise to find she loved Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008). Landow felt similarly after finishing Ha Jin’s collection of short stories, A Good Fall (Pantheon, 2009).

“I’m not a short story fan, which is why I put it on my list,” Landow says. “I was so in love with this book, now I can’t to read more.”

As for getting to the 100-book marker by October10, both Klug and Landow say that’s not really the main point. Landow in particular is not sure she’ll make it by the deadline —but isn’t really concerned.

“I hope if people get overwhelmed they’ll tweak this to make it a challenge they can get their heads around,” she says. “I may not get to all 100, but if I expand the kind of books I’m reading, I’ll consider it a success.”