Welcome! Rebecca and I worked very hard on this concept and list. Before creating it, we searched high and low for a similar list and found absolutely nothing. Within weeks of posting our lists, we began to see lists with the same title pop up on various blogs and social networking sites.
Unfortunately, there are several blogs that did not link or credit us.
Please help us keep the integrity of the book blogging community by crediting our blogs and/or using our logos to help spread the fun in an honest way.
We encourage all book fans to create their own lists, but request, once again, that you link us up. Like I said, we worked very hard on this concept.
Thanks!
In March, Rebecca @ Love at First Book and I came up with the idea for a bookish bucket list, which we titled 50 Bookish Things You Must Do Before You Die. What’s different about our list is that it has nothing to do with reading any particular books, but rather taking bookish actions. We had 35 goals in common and 15 individual goals. Together, we have helped each other work our ways through some of the items on our lists, so below is an update.
The ones that I have started or completed are bolded in blue with details below.
Common Goals
- 20 DIY bookish (& sophisticated) crafts
- Participate in creating or create my own Little Free Library
- Read 50+ classics
- Click here for the Classics Club updates
- Visit author/book locations (homes, parks, etc.)
- I’ve been to the Stanley Hotel, which inspired The Shining by Stephen King and Pikes Peak, which inspired America the Beautiful (not a book, but still neat)
- Do 10 new activities inspired by books
- Go to a book blogging conference
- Have cards in 10+ countries
- I’m working on Spain and South Africa
- Stamp 100+ books
- I’m working on it!
- Send/Receive 100+ PostCrossing cards
- I’m at 8!
- Do 10+ video blog post
- Plan a few book-themed date
- Have a book-themed party
- Host an in-person book club
- Meet 20 authors
- Beginning recently, I’ve met Brad Meltzer, Eli Saslow, B.A. Shapiro, and a few others who I can’t remember right now!
- Make blog bookmarks
- Consistently volunteer or work at a bookstore or library
- Work a Friends of the Library sale
- Guest post for a big deal book website or magazine
- Host a blogging event (see the Weekday Read-a-thon and Book Club I’m doing with Love at First Book)
- Write thank you notes to authors whose books make a difference
- I won’t say who they are, but I’ve sent some notes 🙂
- Make postcards for the blog for PostCrossing
- Get 1,000 Likes on Facebook
- Get 1,000 followers on the blog
- Have a review posted/published by a national publication/website
- Be asked by Amazon to be a Vine member
- Be invited as a guest speaker for a blog/book-related conference
- Make enough money from blog to break even with blog costs
- Get 1,000 books donated to a cause (I’m currently working on this one at Books for Soldiers)
- Participate in online author discussions
- I’ve participated in SheReads and Little Brown discussions on Twitter
- Plan a trip to meet other book bloggers
- While I haven’t traveled, I did meet Leah at Books Speak Volumes when she came through town
- Read the top most banned books (see my list)
- Participate often in BookCrossing
- Have a stamped book/leave a card in every state
- So far, I have Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia.
- Have a stamped book in 10+ countries
- I have a book ready to go to Spain
- Participate in as many blogging events (Bloggiesta, read-a-thons, YoRWtFIW, etc) as I can
- I’m hosted a Bloggiesta mini-challenge March 2013
- Rebecca and I host our own Book Club
Then, there were some that we decided on independently. Here are my 15 individual goals:
Individual Goals
- Discover new and debut authors
- Some examples (including the one that landed me in the NY Times) are William Klaber andLori Carson
- Go inside the reading room at the Library of Congress
- Visit Presidential Libraries
- I’ve been to the Eisenhower library
- Read Pivotal Books (Silent Spring, The Feminine Mystique)
- I finally read The Bell Jar
- Visit the Top 10 Libraries in America
- Write a personal history
- Have built-in bookshelves, preferably with a ladder
- Order business cards with my personal email (my current ones have no name or email)
- Attend a Great Gatsby Gala (themed)
- Edit a book that will be published
- I edited Ever Rising, Ever Falling by J.R. Williams
- Started a literary consulting company
- Own a first edition classic
- I bought a classic Rudyard Kipling!
- Read a book about every U.S. President
- So far I have Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and Hillary Clinton 😀
- Get involved with starting a Changing Lives Through Literature chapter (check it out here)
- Host a “Blind Date With a Book” party
- Read more “essay” collections
- I’ve read a few collections, but for the most part I’m not loving them. I hope I find some good ones!
So Rebecca and I are challenging YOU! Create your own bookish bucket list!
Can’t think of 50? Think of however many you can!
Feel free to take my logo (above) or Rebecca’s logo and create your own 50 Bookish Things You Must Do Before You Die! Just make sure to link it back to The Book Wheel or Love at First Book!
Then share it with us!!!!! And check out Rebecca’s list of 50 Bookish Things You Must Do Before You Die!
Already have a list? Leave it in the comments!
Want to make a list? Do it! Just link us up, please!
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