"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

The end of Summer Reading Challenges. How did I do?

It is almost time to head back to school. Labor Day is just a few days away. Time to take stock how I did on my summer reading challenges.

I. Thirty Book Challenge: I read 35 books this summer. I may get two or three more finished before the Labor Day deadline, too. Here is the breakdown, the total is over 100% because some books are in more than one category:
  • 25 YA books that may be considered for our Mock Printz event starting later in September or October.
  • 5 book club selections
  • 6 nonfiction
  • 14 audiobooks
  • 4 graphic novels/biographies
  • 2 by Harper Lee
  • 3 books I may actually finish before Labor Day will bring total to 38---To the Field of Stars; Ishamael; and Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
30 books Summer Reading Challenge

35 / 30 books. 117% done!

II. Summer Big Book Challenge hosted over at BookbyBook. I entered through the back door on this challenge. I read a 400+ page book then signed up for the challenge. It was a cheap trick, I know.
The book I read that qualified for this challenge was All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.








III. Austen in August hosted by RoofBeamReader. The goal is to read anything Austen in the month of August, including books about the author. I read What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullen. Mullen asked and then answered twenty questions about Jane Austen and her writing style. I found most of the essays very interesting and enlightening.



Two pending challenges, (both have a late-October deadline)---

Classics Club Spin Challenge: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

R.I.P. X Challenge: this is a challenge to read a thriller, horror, Gothic, or suspense novel. I will be reading Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge but I haven't started it yet.

A love/hate relationship. I love challenges because they spur me on with my reading sometimes even forcing me to read books I've wanted to read for years but never quite had the time or the volition.  I hate challenges because they seem to add pressure (self-imposed) and stress.  That is why summer challenges are perfect.  My lifestyle is less stressful during the summer so I can take a bit more stress from the challenges and there is always an end point in mind.

As I was looking around the Internet for stuff on reading challenges I stumbled upon this huge and hilarious reading challenge graphic which is designed to assist the reader of the challenge to read a YA book a day for a year. Take a look. 365 Day Challenge.

Do you ever join reading challenges? How do you feel about them?


2 comments:

  1. No, I don't. I would put a lot of pressure on myself(like you do!) and reading would become more of an obligation and not a pleasure. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like you whipped your challenge, congrats. I guess I havent joined any reading challenges yet. I sort of like reading without the challenge perhaps.

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