Those of you who have been visiting reviewsrevues.com since last year may remember that I set up a Book Bingo fund-raiser at my local library.  It was very successful and I posted  a monthly update on here to let you know how I was getting on with the challenge.  It finished back in August and I managed to complete my card two days before the closing date.  That momentous post can be found here.

Well, we have just started it again, with a couple of rejigs and rewordings in the categories and a few new challenges.  We are running it from now until the beginning of August.  As that is a bit less time than we gave it last year I sneaked in some more Bonus Squares into the random mix (although I don’t have any of these on my card).  We’ve also put in some Question squares so that when people bring in a book they have read they can be asked a book related question, which if they get right, will give them a sticker to cover the square.  I have three of these Question squares on my card- which shouldn’t be too difficult for me as I set the questions!  ( I think someone is coming up with some dastardly book posers for me).  As before there is a prize for a line, and the completed cards will be put into a hat to find a random cash prize winner after the closing date.  The cost of these cards is £3 and last year it raised a pleasing amount of money for the Friends Of Shanklin Community Library- but on this occasion, fund-raising is not the whole intention.

I want to give people the opportunity in the library (which is staffed largely by a group of volunteers) to be discussing, recommending and sharing books.  This was my ploy in setting the whole thing up and I’m pleased that it made money but I’m also pleased that it got people really talking about books and trying out new things.  Over the past year I’ve heard numerous times about new enthusiasms for authors and genres kicked off by last year’s Book Bingo.  There were plans that we would do it only every other year but the demand has been to bring it back for this year and so here it is.

So looking at my card I can see that I have 21 books to read before August 1st.  The categories were randomly selected from around 70 possibilities.  Inevitably there is going to be some overlap from my last year’s card and  surprisingly there are 7 repeats.  Last year I also had lent to you by someone; poetry; young adult/teenage novel; with an animal in the title; published in the last three years;bought from the library “For Sale” shelves and first in a series.  The book  I was reading up until the last minute was from the published before 1900 category but I do not have that one this year. I’m very pleased  that I’ve got Book published in the last three years as now most of my reading for review fits into this.   I’m looking forward to getting my first stickers (the book I am currently reading will fit nicely into the set in another country category) and I’ll give you a monthly update to let you know how things are proceeding.