Monday 8 December 2014

The Pre-Printing Press Challenge 2015



For the second year in a row, I'm going to participate in The Pre-Printing Press Challenge hosted by Elena at All Booked Up.  I believe books written before 1440 are largely under-read, so anything I can do to support these works, I will.

Last year I planned to read 4-6 books and I've made it to 12.  My success makes me want to branch out but, knowing that I have challenges that will keep me reading newer books ---- Reading England Challenge, Jane Austen Project, etc. ------, I'll reign myself in and aim for the trusty 4-6 books, hoping to read more.  What do I have in mind?  Well, from my Classics Club list, I hope to get to Herodotus' Histories, The Republic by Plato and The Cantebury Tales.  Otherwise, I'd like to read Ovid's Metamorphoses and Plutarch's Lives, but these are two chunksters that I don't see myself being able to fit in this coming year.  However, one never knows .........

The rules of the Pre-Printing Press Challenge:

  1. All books must have come out before 1440, when the printing press was first invented.
  2. Books chosen for this challenge can overlap with other challenges.
  3. Books can be translated into the language of your choice.
  4. All the books you've chosen must be read by December 31, 2015.
  5. You can read 1-3 books, 4-6 books, 7-9 books or 10 or more books if you're feeling particularly ambitious.
  6. The choice of books is up to you. There are no set reading lists, and you don't have to set one when you join.
  7. Post your blog address where you'll be posting your comments on your choice of books in the comments of this post when you join, and tell me how many books you've chosen. I'll set up a link to participating blogs from here.
  8. Above all, Have fun.


The challenge starts January 1st.

Are there any other ancient and early medieval literature enthusiasts out there who are planning to join this challenge?


19 comments:

  1. This is very tempting indeed - I've got a few on my TBR pile pre-1440, most notably Chaucer.

    I'll mull this over, but I think I may well join :)

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    1. Please join with me! You can aim for the lowest level and then know you'll easily make it with your Chaucer project.

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    2. Ok, you've twisted my arm! I'll get through my backlog of reviews and then I shall post! :)

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  2. Glad to see you back again this year. Congratulations on last year's successes too. Best of luck on your goal for the year to come.

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    1. Thank you for hosting again, Elena. This is one of my favourite challenges!

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    1. Ha ha! Thanks! Sadly we'll be out of this time period in our WEM biographies but I'm sure that I can scrounge something up to fit it.

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  4. I am seriously tempted - another challenge with no time restrictions suits me and I might finally get Beowulf read.

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    1. I really love challenges that are reasonably open. That way much of the pressure is taken off, particularly if you choose a lower level.

      I LOVE Beowulf and have read it four times. Let me know if you want to do a read-along of it. I'm free around Apr/May/June and Sep/Oct/Nov. A read-along may give you that push you need to read it.

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    2. Thank you - that would be lovely, either of those time frames.

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    3. Oh good! Perhaps pencil in May and we can both see how we're doing then.

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  5. With all of your reading challenges, you are going to have a very interesting year. I admire that you're taking on some of these books, I find them so intimidating. Good luck!

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    1. For years I found ancient texts intimidating (and I expected boring as well), but I found that they're anything but! Thanks for the wishes and best of luck with your challenges too!

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  6. This challenge is probably the most interesting one I've found so far but while I like classics I'm not really good in reading as old book as this challenge requires. Hope you'll succeed and have fun! :)

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    1. This challenge was so much fun last year. Have you tried reading older books? I thought I would hate reading them but I ended up loving them.

      Thanks so much for your wishes!

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  7. This is a very intriguing challenge. There's something about books pre-1440 that I just love the sound of, but I so very rarely read them! I'm almost tempted to join this one, but I’m really trying not to create any set plans for 2015 beyond January. Even the books on your list are tempting! Good luck!

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    1. Well, you could challenge yourself to one. But that would be making plans, wouldn't it? With your blank slate for 2015, I can't wait to see what you're going to end up reading!

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  8. Such a fascinating challenge! I have a couple of books in my library (like many ancient Greek classics, the Epic of Gilgamesh and The Tale of Genji) that I could read as pasrt of the challenge, since I keep postponing their reading. I will try to squeeze at least one of them in my reading list this year :)

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    1. Welcome Akylina! This is one of my favourite challenges. Your plans sound like they would get you to at least the first level and, who knows, you may fall in love with a different style of writing. I hope you enjoy whatever you choose to read!

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