The desire to pass on a favorite read to a friend has always been in vogue, but with the advent of the Internet, the number of ways to share one's passion for books seems boundless. There are online reading groups that focus on any subgenre you can imagine; Canadian authors, ancient Roman history, Dick Francis' horse racing mysteries, children's fantasy, etc. Love a particular book and you can discuss it with other ardent bibliophiles all over the world.

The beauty of all of these communal reading groups is that they fit anyone's schedule. There's no need to stray far from your favorite armchair (and your TBR bookshelf) to find amiable bookworm buddies to chat with and glean reading recommendations from when you can do so with your computer. With a side order of fuzzy slippers and a hot mug
of coffee or tea, this becomes even more seductive.

Here's a sampling of some other online book groups that I've noticed:

Book Talk - This free discussion group has fiction and non-fiction picks (voted on by registered members) for each two-month period and has a special book chat forum, where authors occasionally drop by to answer questions and otherwise enlighten Book Talk readers about their work.

African American Literature Book Club - Billed as the #1 site for readers of Black Literature, this popular site provides author profiles, a discussion board, book reviews and news, with fiction and non-fiction titles galore.

Books a Month - Together since 2000, this group votes on their monthly reading picks, a wide range of classic and contemporary fiction, with certain months designated for kiddie lit, mysteries and holiday reading.

Reading challenges provide a different format for sharing book lust. Instead of having participants focus on specific books, they offer themes which readers are "challenged" to read on their own, selecting their own authors and titles. There are many different sorts of reading challenges currently ongoing and starting up again with the turning of the calendar year. Some challenges offer book prizes, others involve mapping destinations one reads about, some focus on edification, while others are pure escapism. Here is a reading challenge sampler:

A Novel Challenge - The mother lode of information about reading challenges, both perpetual and with deadlines, with great links to all. Start with this site if you are shopping around for a reading challenge to suit your reading speed and fancies.

The Pulitzer Project - The challenge is to read all 81 novels which have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Deadline: None, thank goodness. Similar reading challenges involve reading all Booker and Orange Prize novels, Newbery novels, the oeuvre of Nobel Laureates in Literature, etc.

999 Challenge - Over at LibraryThing, a group of rabid readers are challenging themselves to read 9 books from 9 different categories over 9 months in 2009 (extra credit for completing the mission by 9/09/09.)

Caribbean Challenge - Six books by Caribbean authors or which focus on life in that part of the world are encouraged to be read during 2009.

I tried a reading challenge for the first time this year to stretch my normal diet of books about books, history, mysteries, and travel and culinary writing. I joined the Orbis Terrarum Challenge so that I could read out of my fiction comfort zone (primarily British, Canadian, and American authors) and read more widely from world literature. I have enjoyed the discipline of this reading challenge and found a few books and authors, like R.K. Narayan and
Mario Llosas Vargas, that I will dip into more.

In 2009 I hope to stretch my personal bibliography with either a classic fiction reading challenge or perhaps a nonfiction challenge. I find I am just too daunted by the Chunkster
Challenge (books of 450+ pages) though I love a good doorstop novel when I am on vacation or have the "luxury" of a bedridding illness. I'm just not in that stage of life right now.

Here's wishing a happy, healthy year of peace and good books to all throughout the holiday season and in the coming New Year.

Posted by: Rachel Jagareski