The 2023 Reading Challenge Celebrates a Banner Year
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
The 2023 Mass Book Reading Challenge by the numbers:
More than 2,500 participants hailing from 275 Massachusetts cities and towns
9,000+ books read
69 Partners, including libraries, bookstores, academic institutions and cultural organizations
As Mass Center for the Book closes out the inaugural year of its widely popular Reading Challenge program, we celebrated its success with two events: at GrubStreet Writing Center’s headquarters in Boston’s Seaport District on November 30, and at Click Workspace in Northampton on December 3.
Both events featured a slideshow, food, free book raffles, a literary trivia contest, a book swap related to the 2024 Reading Challenge monthly categories, and complimentary swag. Gift cards were awarded to the winning trivia team members and to the teams with the “best name.”
Program Coordinator Karolina Zapal developed and promoted the Reading Challenge and served as the emcee of the trivia contest at both events.
Participants who arrived at the events as strangers engaged easily in friendly interactions and trivia team collaboration over their shared passion for reading. There were couples out for date night, parents who attended with young adult offspring, a grandmother escorting her grandchildren, young adults on a night out, and new Massachusetts residents looking to make connections through the common interest of books.
Two separate couples travelled almost 40 miles from Attleboro to attend the Boston celebration, while a couple who learned of the Challenge at lala books in Lowell travelled from their home in Gardner to the party in Northampton.
Participants credited their local library or independent bookshop for steering them to the Challenge, and many were grateful for being pushed to expand beyond their typical genre selections. They finished the year cherishing their “reading pals” and the ability to share an intergenerational family activity across miles.
The 2024 monthly challenges were chosen with input from current participants and we already have 118 Partners registered for 2024 (a 70% increase from 2023). Hybrid events featuring guest authors at Springfield City Library and Weymouth Public Library are scheduled, with other events to be added. For details and 2024 updates, see the Reading Challenge page.
Here’s a sampling of the trivia questions from our recent events, all linked to our 2023 monthly challenges. (How would you have fared?)
1. Name one of any four books by Massachusetts author Tracy Kidder that takes place in or about the (Boston) or (Northampton) area. (February challenge: Read a book set in your home town/city or state.)
2. Out of this list, who is NOT a Massachusetts author? (Choose one: Edith Wharton, Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville.) (March challenge: Read a Mass Book Awards honoree.)
3. Name the poet who recited a poem she wrote for the inauguration of Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2021. (Extra point if you can name the poem.) (April challenge: Read a collection of poetry.)
4. How many public libraries are in Massachusetts? (Choose one: 52; 171; 369; 1018) (July challenge: Read a book borrowed from your local library.)
5. After the Bible, which book is the world’s most translated book? (Select one: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; The Little Prince; The Hunger Games; Anne of Green Gables; On the Road. (August challenge: Read a book in translation.)
6. What is the oldest continuously operating bookstore in the United States? (Hint: it’s in Massachusetts.) (November challenge: Read a book recommended by a local bookseller.)
Trivia answers:
1. Boston: Rough Sleepers, A Truck Full of Money, The Soul of a New Machine, Mountains Beyond Mountains; Northampton: Hometown, House, Among Schoolchildren, Old Friends.
2. Walt Whitman.
3. Amanda Gorman (“The Hill We Climb”).
4. 369.
5. The Little Prince.
6. The Andover Bookstore.