Challenge Alert: The 2012 TV Addict Reading Challenge

I watch a lot of TV. The fiancé and I are big fans of box set marathons. At the moment we’re going through Dexter, and when I discovered that it’s based on a book series, it got me thinking about how a LOT of my fave TV shows are based on books. And about how I want to read them. Then, whilst browsing the available challenges on A Novel Challenge, I had a light bulb moment: Why not turn my quest to read the book versions of my fave TV shows into a challenge?

So here it is! The rules are simple (coz I’m not so good at following them myself):

-The challenge runs from January 1 2012 – December 31 2012. The idea is to read the books that TV shows are based on. Where it's a series, read the books that correspond to the TV seasons available (read the whole series if you want to, of course!). What you do from there is up to you: review the books, do book/show comparisons, review the TV shows, do recaps… whatever tickles your fancy!

-Pick the level you want to achieve in this challenge from the list below, create a post on your blog about it and pop it in the sign-up linky! Non-bloggers are welcome to participate too – do your thang in the comments.

-Each month I’ll create a post where you can come and link up your reviews or comment about the books you’ve read/shows you’ve watched as part of the challenge.

 -You don’t have to plan in advance what books you’re going to read - though of course you can if you want to! Here are some ideas (let me know if I’ve missed your faves):

• The Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith. There are four books in the original series, plus The Return trilogy and one book in The Hunters trilogy (with two more to come). There’s also Stefan’s Diaries, which are four books (with more to come) based on the TV show. Just to make things easy. Ahem.
• Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepherd. The series currently stands at nine books, with three more to come.
• A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, which Game of Thrones is based on. There are five books out now, with two more coming. There are also six novellas connected to the series.
• Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, which consists of six books.
• ­The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, which True Blood is based on. At the moment there are 11 books out in the series, with at least two more to come.
• Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar. There are 13 books in the original series, 10 books in the It Girl spin-off series and four in the follow-up series, The Carlyles.
• Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell.
• The Secret Circle trilogy by L. J. Smith.
• Chief Inspector Barnaby series by Caroline Graham. There are seven books in series, and the first five were the basis for Midsomer Murders. 

Challenge levels 

1. Single play: Read the books that correspond to ONE TV show.
2. Mini-series: Read the books that correspond to TWO TV shows.
3. Series: Read the books that correspond to THREE TO FOUR TV shows.
4. Soap opera: Read the books that correspond to FIVE OR MORE TV shows.

Since this is my own challenge, I'm going to aim high and go for "soap opera" level. Remember, you don't have to read the whole series to complete the challenge, just the books that correspond to the seasons of the TV show (e.g. the first four books of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, which formed the basis for the four seasons of True Blood that are currently available).

Sign up here!