I don't usually post on Sunday (day of rest and all that), but since this kinda sorta has to do with church (mine, anyway), I'm going to go ahead:

The LDS Publisher blog is sponsoring Summer Book Trek, a reading challenge that encourages people to read books by authors who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly referred to as the LDS Church or the Mormon Church).  You do not have to be LDS to participate.  Before you turn away, thinking this is just a ploy by those sneaky Mormons to lure you into their clutches with a bunch of preachy books, STOP!  Any kind of book (except maybe picture books—not sure on that one) counts as long as it's by an LDS author and, honey, there are a whole lot of them:  Stephenie Meyer, Ally Condie, James Dashner, Brandon Sanderson, Brandon Mull, Dan Wells, Robison Wells, Kimberley Griffiths Little, Bree Despain, Emily Wing Smith, Brodi Ashton, Glen Beck, Richard Paul Evans, Jessica Day George, Shannon Hale, Janette Rallison, etc.  And that's just a short list of the ones who write books geared toward the general public.  There are plenty more.

Need another reason to join up?  How about this—prizes!  LDS Publisher has lots and lots of books and other fun stuff to give away.  There are many easy ways to earn points.  Plus, so far, there aren't many participants, which means you've got an even greater chance of winning prizes.  And, oh yeah, the rules are totally flexible.  You can read as many or as few books as you'd like.  You can change your reading list—add items, subtract them, alter them, whatever—at any time.  So, really, why wouldn't you join?

The challenge runs through the month of August (although you can start earning points now), and it's going to be lots of fun. Wanna join up?  Click here for all the details.


Here's a very tentative (and no doubt unrealistically ambitious) list of the books I'm hoping to read:  


The Hollow City by Dan Wells
Faith, Hope & Gravity by Merrill Osmond
Infinity Ring by James Dashner
Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson
Evertaster by Adam Glendon Sidwell
Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Possession by Elana Johnson

I know.  It's impossible, but that's the cool thing about this challenge, I can add/delete titles at any time.  Sweet!