2011 Reading Challenges Update

At the beginning of the year, I signed up for two reading challenges - one on Goodreads and one at the Roof Beam Reader. To date, I am done with one, and almost done with the other.

The Goodreads challenge was strictly a challenge of number of books. My initial goal was 110, but I blew past that in August or September, so I updated it to 140. As of today, I have completed that challenge. The 140th book? A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks. Nearly a quarter of the 140 were graphic novels, a category I really dug into this year. My favorite book of the year? Hmm... I don't know. There were a lot of good ones, quite a few I barely remember, and some I really disliked. Good ones: The Night Circus, When She Woke, Little Brother, Full Catastrophe Living, The City and the City. Cherie Priest became my favorite writer during the year. I cleared quite a few books from my To Read shelves - both the virtual Goodreads one, and the physical one in my living room. But of course, I added far more than I read. Sigh.

The second challenge, the TBR challenge at Roof Beam Reader, is 11/12ths of the way done. That challenge, you may recall, was to pick 12 books from my to be read list, and read them all within the year. A Princess of Landover was my 11th book in the challenge; only Madam Bovary remains, and I am in the middle of listening to it. I restricted myself to books I actually owned, in an attempt to clear off the aforementioned living room shelf, and get myself to read books I had been, for one reason or another, avoiding.

So, am I going to stop reading for the rest of 2011, once I finish Madam Bovary? What do you think? Of course not! If for no other reason, I have a trip to Seattle and back, and flying without a book is just impossible. I don't know if I will sign up for any challenges next year though. I set the bar so high this year, at 140, that I am not sure I would be able to match it. And although it was fun to have a goal to read certain books throughout the year, I don't really need it to keep me reading and clearing off my shelf. If I do decide on either challenge though, you can be sure I will blog about it.

2011 Reading Challenges Update

Whoops. Looks like I forgot to post anything yesterday. Sorry ('cause I know you are all heartbroken.)


Today, after finishing the marvelous Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor, I added it to my "books read in 2011" list on Goodreads, and discovered that it was the 111th book I have finished this year. That was my original goal for the entire year, back in January. I will clearly blow past it by the end of the year - I mean, I still have 3 1/2 months of reading to go - so I revised my goal up to 140. If I meet it, it would be the most I have ever read (at least since I have been keeping track, which means probably ever). Benjamin is a little skeptical, since I have read a lot of graphic novels and manga this year - he says I should remove them from the total. But I don't want to do that - I read them, didn't I? And they are published as books - they have ISBN numbers and everything. So they stay. It is my own challenge, so I can set the arbitrary rules.

The other challenge I joined this year was to read 12 books that had been sitting on my "to read" shelf for over a year (here's my original post about the challenge). So far, I have read 7 of the 12, and I am currently in the middle of the 8th. I managed the two longest a while ago, and 3 of the 4 I haven't started yet are not long. But one of the ones left is Madame Bovary, and it isn't exactly short. I think I am going to listen to that one on my iPod, since I found an unabridged addition on Audible.

If I do manage to read 140 books, I am most likely setting an almost impossible bar for myself. I doubt I will be reading quite so many graphic novels and manga all at one time again, for one thing. Ah well. The important thing is that I will have a challenge for the future.

2011 TBR Pile Challenge update

5 months into the year, and I have finished 5 books from my To Be Read Pile Challenge List. The one that I thought might derail me, PrairyErth, has now been finished - it took me almost exactly 3 months (622 pages of fairly dense natural history etc.), and I have started listening to another long one, A Distant Mirror, as an audiobook in the car. Now the one that will be a challenge is Madam Bovary. But I am sure I can manage it...

Here is a link to my "review" of PrairyErth on Goodreads.

As an incidental note, I am also 47 books into my Goodreads challenge to read 110 books in 2011. That number will be climbing steeply in a couple of weeks, because I have a slew of graphic novels on hold at the library. Yes, I count them as books. They have pages, I read them, I get them at the library.

The only problem with these challenges is that they are supposed to help me whittle away at all my "to read" lists, but those lists are not getting any smaller. For every book I read, I probably add 2 or 3 to the list. So many books, so little time...

2011 TBR Pile Challenge

Sorry - a quick diversion before I return to my trip to Eureka Springs.  I have decided to join a 2011 book reading challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader - check out his site for the details. The quick summary is that I have to pick 12 books and 2 alternates from my to-be-read bookshelf or list that have been on said shelf or list for more than a year and then read them. To make it official, I make a list and then review the books as I read them. I decided to stick to books that I already own, because I have plenty of those to choose from, and I really need to make room for more books. Here are my choices, in no particular order:

1. My Antonia by Willa Cather
2. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
3. PrairyErth by William Least Heat-Moon
4. New Europe by Michael Palin
5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
6. The Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlinck
7. The World We Have by Thich Nhat Hahn
8. Judgment Day by Penelope Lively
9. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
10. A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks
11. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman
12. Traveling Mercies by Annie Lamott

Alternate Titles (in case I just can't stand something on the list or some other such)

1. West with the Night by Beryl Markham
2. The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson

In theory, this should be a pretty easy challenge, since I intend to read at least 100 books again this year, and hope to read as many as 110. But, life has a way of making other plans, and a couple of those are pretty big and weighty (A Distant Mirror and PrairyErth in particular). We shall see. I will try to remember to post updates as I progress.
**Update: Links to all reviews are added to the comments. **