Book Challenges 2019

I’ve done book challenges in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The first two years, I just sort of winged it. In 2018, I planned all my challenges based on books I already owned.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I started off the year reading a lot of books I didn’t like. There were whole stretches of time where reading felt more like a chore than something fun. And since reading is my escape/ primary coping skill, that was pretty miserable.

Midway through the year, I gave up on trying to force myself to read books I already owned. I did searches for YA books that fit the categories and got them from the library. It ended up being a lot more fun, and I discovered books I ended up loving.

A large number of books I own were bought by me in the past, and my reading tastes have changed drastically over time. The books I wanted to read 10 years ago aren’t necessarily what I want to read now. And forcing myself to read them for arbitrary reasons isn’t good for anyone.

I do think that planning the books in advance was helpful, but this year, I’m going to be very picky about it. If I can find books on my shelves that I want to read, I’ll use those. (I did read some great books I already owned for my challenge categories.) But if I can’t, then I’ll search online for other books to fit the categories. I think it’s all about balance, and reading challenges are supposed to be fun.

For this year, I’m going to do the Popsugar Challenge and the While I Was Reading Challenge again. I finished them both last year, finishing the last book for the challenge on December 31… I like to cut things close!

I’ve already made out my list, filling in some suggestions for categories. Starred books are ones I already own. I’ve tried to give myself more flexibility this year. Even though I might have multiple books in multiple categories, my intention is to count each one only once. There are still a few categories left blank, so if you have any suggestions, feel free.

Are you doing any reading challenges this year? Which one?

 

 

Book Challenges- Week 20- 21

So… apparently, I forgot to post this last week. I wrote it, but never hit the “post” button. Oops.

I’ve taken a break from The Stand. I was enjoying it, but life got stressful due to the health issue of a family member. I accidentally forgot it when I went to an appointment, and since I needed to read, I started something else.

I’m not considering it abandoned… I will get back to it.

I’m hoping next week will get back to normal. Or as “normal” as life ever is for me.

Popsugar Challenge

(17/50)- No progress this week.

While I Was Reading Challenge

(4/12)- No progress this week

The Unread Shelf

Running Total: 3 Um… is that really all? I’m not doing so well on this one.

5 Classic Books

(0/5) I’m at page 819 of 1135 of The Stand.

Miscellaneous Reading

Because You’ll Never Meet Me & Nowhere Near You, by Leah Thomas (YA science fiction): Because You’ll Never Meet Me was on my TBR forever. I don’t know how it got there, and I didn’t really know what it was about. From the description, it seems like it’s about two boys with illnesses that are within the realm of reality. I just figured they were exaggerated the way books (and movies) often do.

But that’s not the case at all! These books are science fiction, though if you don’t know, that’s not clear until close to the end of the first one. I can see how some people might not like the book because of it, but the surprise made it even better for me.

Ollie is a bit… much at first. The voice is perfect and exudes extraversion. Moritz is so glum that I thought I was going to hate him at first. But these two characters are fantastic together and have a lovely character arc. It didn’t take long before I loved them both.

The sequel, Nowhere Near You, is as good as the first one. I love Ollie and Moritz so much that I’d follow them anywhere.

The Suffering, by Rin Chupeco (YA horror): This is the sequel to The Girl From The Well, that I read in  April. I would have gotten to the sequel sooner, but I was trying to be good and work on book challenges.

It was great! It focuses more on Tark than the first one, but we still get to see plenty of Okiku. It’s also set in the suicide forest in Japan, a place I’m fascinated by, to no one’s shock. (Would it be too morbid to use this book for that Popsugar category, a place that fascinates me?)

If you liked the first one, the second is just as worth reading.

Heart of Ash, by Kim Liggett (YA horror & romance): This is the sequel to Blood & Salt. It’s almost as good as the first one. There were some aspects of it that I found a bit confusing (like how the whole possession thing worked), but I enjoyed the story enough that I read past the confusing parts without thinking too much about it.

Down The Rabbit Hole, by JD Robb and others (Mystery/ romance): This is an anthology of romance stories inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and includes Wonderment in Death, #41.5 in the series. All of the stories are pretty good; I like all things Alice. It’s a light, fast read.

The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl, by Barry Lyga (YA fiction): The title is a bit misleading. There are no astonishing adventures in this book, though it’s still really enjoyable. It’s contemporary fiction about two misfits who find one another. The title is made to sound like a comic book because they both enjoy comics, and Fan Boy is writing a comic. There’s a particular thing I enjoyed that most books don’t do. (Spoiler alert: At the end of the book, Fan Boy is so worried that Goth Girl will commit suicide that he calls her dad, and dad gets her help. Taking a step like that is one of the bravest things a kid can do, and I thought it was an amazing example.)

Abandoned

None this week.

2018 Running Total: 59

Have you made any progress on your TBR or book challenges? What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?

2018 Book Challenges- Week 2

Popsugar Challenge

(4/50) Considering how long book 3 was, I’d say that’s good progress.

Sorry for the really long review of this one, but I can’t do it justice in a paragraph.

1. A book with an ugly cover– A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara (literary) I got interested in this book after Ramona over at While I Was Reading put it on her list of books she refuses to read. She said it was supposed to be gut wrenching, which was enough for me. I like a good gut wrenching from time to time. A mutual reader friend and I decided to read it together, because if it’s really that intense, it’s best to read it with a friend. After I started reading, I retroactively put it in this category because the cover is awful. I never would have picked it based on that.

I’ll be honest, it was hard to get into at first. Around 20% (according to my Kindle), it started to hit its stride and hook me. This is a looooong book.

I don’t think it emotionally affected me as much as it would most people. First off, I knew it was supposed to be depressing. Second of all, I worked for Child Protective Services, and although I’ve never seen as awful of things as happened to Jude, once you’ve seen awful stuff, degree almost doesn’t matter any more. Third, I knew what was going to happen by the time I hit 30%. I hoped I was wrong…

I also felt like this book played with my emotions a bit, like it was trying to be gut wrenching, rather than the author just telling a story. Like I said, the ending was telegraphed early, but the fact that it’s not revealed until the end lessened the impact for me. There was a large twist I didn’t see coming that particularly hit me, but in retrospect, I really should have seen it.

The language isn’t especially beautiful. Often, in literary fiction, I highlight passages I love for their beauty. In this book, I did still highlight, but for concepts I wanted to revisit rather than language. It’s a lovely book for the way it evokes emotions and its portrayal of life.

Still, with all its flaws, it’s a wonderful story about life and love and friendship, how hard it is to recover from a crushing childhood. I do recommend this book, but with reservations. If you’re too sensitive to weighty emotional material, or you don’t want to commit to reading the first 150 pages of a long book before it gets good, it’s probably not your thing.

But if you love literary fiction and love an emotional ride, this may be one to put on your TBR.

2.  A book about grief- Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum (YA)- This was exactly what I needed after reading A Little Life. It wasn’t quite “light,” but it was a fast read with light-hearted and humorous moments. To be totally honest, I teared up with this book more than I did with A Little Life. All the emotions in this book were because of the main character telling her story and me feeling bad for her, not because I was supposed to.

It’s about a teenager grieving the loss of her mother, but also about friendship and falling in love. It was a super fast, refreshing read. It was totally predictable, but that was exactly what I needed.

While I Was Reading Challenge

(0/12) No progress

Clearing Off My Shelf Reading

No progress

5 Classic Books

(0/5) No progress

Miscellaneous Reading

1. Secrets in Death (In Death #46), JD Robb (Romance, light science fiction, murder mystery) I can’t keep up with JD Robb’s/ Nora Roberts’s output. I know some people find these to be all the same, and in some ways they are. Eve Dallas, with her husband Roarke, solve every mystery and always get the bad guy. But I enjoy the stories and it’s always a familiar, comforting, fun ride. They’re different enough to keep me interested, and while I like some more than others, none of them disappoint.

2018 Running Total: 6

Have you made any progress on your TBR or book challenges?

Book Challenges 2018

I acquired a lot of books in the last year and read still more from the library. Part of the reason for this was that I did the Popsugar challenge for 2017, and probably due to poor planning on my part, I had to get a lot of the books in order to complete the challenge.

I read and planned as I went along, which is why, of the 52 books on the list, I have 6 left to read with less than a month left in 2017. (Yikes! But I’m pretty sure I can do it… wish me luck.)

I like some things about book challenges, and dislike other things. But I’m going to participate in two challenges for 2018: the Popsugar challenge and the While I Was Reading challenge.

This time around, I’m going to give myself an extra layer of challenge (that I think will actually make it easier). I’m going to plan all the books to read ahead of time, and I’m going to try to read books I already own. There are some categories for which that won’t be possible. (Nordic noir, anyone?)

Here’s my list of books and categories. If you see any blank categories, feel free to suggest books.

Wish me luck; I think it’s going to be a great way to cull my shelves. Hopefully I’ll find some books to donate and some I love and want to keep.

Are you doing any book challenges for 2018?

Guest Post from While I Was Reading

Today’s post is a guest post from Ramona Mead over at While I Was Reading. She’s here to talk about her reading challenge for 2018.

I’ve known the author of this blog since elementary school. We lived on the same street, and when a move in junior high took me to the other side of the school district, we lost touch. But thanks to the wonders of technology (ie Facebook) we reconnected several years ago and have rekindled our friendship, bonding over our shared passions for writing, reading, and having what others consider “too many” pets.

At the start of 2015, I followed the lead of another bookish pal, jumping into Book Riot‘s first annual Read Harder Challenge . It sounded easy enough for a nerd like me: read a book to fit into each of the 24 categories. Two books a month? Piece of cake.

I approached my book shelves with my challenge list in one hand and a pencil in the other. I scanned through categories such as: a book that takes place in Asia, a book by an author from Africa, a book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture, and a book by or about someone who identifies as LGBTQ.

I came to a startling realization, my book shelves are not exactly diverse.

2017 is the third year I’ve participated in the challenge, and to be extra nerdy, I did a second one, the PopSugar 2017 challenge (including the advanced categories, of course!) The challenges have expanded my horizons as both a reader and a writer. They have pushed me far out of my reading comfort zone and busted many of the misconceptions I had about certain genres such as fantasy and romance, and YA writing.

As the years have gone on, I’ve become increasingly frustrated with Read Harder’s categories. This year I’ve found them to be painfully specific. I’ve had a hard time completing some of the categories as they’re written so I’ve put my own spin on them to be able to mark it off.

It was this frustration that led me to create my own reading challenge for 2018. I enjoy categories that are more personal to the reader.

I’ve come up with 12 categories, because while Doree and I can finish a ridiculously large number of books in a year, this isn’t realistic for the majority of readers I know. I have a few friends who have been intrigued by my completion of challenges past but too intimidated by the large number of categories to give it a try.

All you have to do is read, no other participation is required. If you start and don’t finish, that’s okay. However if you do complete the challenge, you can email me your list to be entered to win a prize at the end of 2018!!

• Read a book that takes place in one day.
• Read a memoir or biography of a musician you like.
• Read a collection of poetry.
• Read an audio book with multiple narrators.
• Read a self published book.
• Read a book you received as a gift.
• Read a book about a historical event you’re interested in (fiction or non).
• Read a book written by an author from the state where you grew up.
• Read a book recommended by one of your parents (in-laws count).
• Read a book with your favorite food in the title.
• Read a book with a child narrator.
• Read a book you chose based on the cover.

If you wish to participate in the challenge, please let me know either by commenting on this post, contacting me via Facebook, or you can shoot me an email at grazona@live.com.

You can download a printable list of the challenge categories here.

I’ve created a Facebook Group and a Goodreads Group for participants to gather for discussion and brainstorming!

I am excited to have you all along with me on this new venture! Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions, ideas, or suggestions.