Original 2015 Reading Challenge Post
As the post title states, this is really just a general wrap-up for all the reading challenges I participated in this year. There's a sense of accomplishment in completing so many challenges, but at the same time, I know that I had chosen several of these challenges because they WOULD be easy to complete (Romantic Suspense Challenge, Men in Uniform Challenge, and so on).
My biggest accomplishment, honestly, would be the 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge hosted by Michelle at Because Reading and Berls at Fantasy is More Fun. To create a large list of assigned reading, stick to it, and officially complete every book I set out to complete for the year... it feels good.
What I'm Currently Reading
These are the books that I am still reading and hope to have finished by the end of the year. I've also listed which reading challenge they will qualify for if I DO manage to finish reading them before 2016. Otherwise, another year is another year.
Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis
- General Reading Challenge @ GR and BL
- Outdo Yourself Challenge
- 2015 Reading Assignment -- extra credit book #2
- Men in Uniform Challenge -- Police
The Chimes by Charles Dickens (narrated by Richard Armitage)
- General Reading Challenge @ GR and BL
- Outdo Yourself Challenge
Risky Christmas (two story anthology)
-- Hidden Secrets by Jill Sorenson
-- Kidnapped at Christmas by Jennifer Morley
- General Reading Challenge @ GR and BL
What I Hope to Read Before the Year is Over
There are still eleven days left of the year and so I'm in hopes that I will be able to 1) finish reading the above listed books, and 2) add a couple more books to my 'Read' pile for 2015. So the following are books I DO plan to start reading before the year is over and hope to have completed, as well as the challenges they will be part of.
Shadow Dance by Julie Garwood
- General Reading Challenge @ GR and BL
- Outdo Yourself Challenge
- Mount TBR Challenge
- Romantic Suspense Challenge
- Men in Uniform Challenge -- FBI agent
- Neverending Series Challenge -- final book to complete!!!
Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis
- General Reading Challenge @ GR and BL
- Outdo Yourself Challenge
- 2015 Release -- not an actual challenge, but I'm keeping track
The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas
- General Reading Challenge @ GR and BL
- Outdo Yourself Challenge
- 2015 Release -- not an actual challenge, but I'm keeping track
A Family For Christmas by Mona Ingram
- General Reading Challenge @ GR and BL
- Outdo Yourself Challenge
The Stats
- General Reading Challenges -- COMPLETED 11/13/2015
Goodreads Reading Challenge -- GR list/shelf
BookLikes Reading Challenge -- BL list/shelf
My Goal: 150 books
Progress: 170/150 books read
This is a typical reading challenge I participate in every year and aside from cheating my first year participating in 2012 (by dropping my goal at mid-year when I realized I probably wouldn't make it), I've actually been pretty good at keeping up. I think I increased my goal by a small amount last year and ended up surpassing that number, which gave me the confidence to set a more stable number of books to read as my yearly goal.
Of course, this particular reading challenge includes everything from short stories, anthologies, novellas, and even manga volumes. Last year I had read several manga volumes, each listed as one individual book on my list. This year, my count actually has more full-length novels included. Last year I managed my time a little differently. This year I struggled through a lot of pre-chosen books for reading challenges that made my time management a little more difficult.
I will be participating in this same general numbers goal challenge next year and my goal will remain the same.
- Outdo Yourself Challenge
-- CHALLENGE COMPLETED -- 12/17/2015
Hosted by Book Vixen
My Goal: Getting My Heart Rate Up: read 1 - 5 more books
(I read 154 books for this challenge in 2014 / My goal will be 155 - 159 books in 2015.)
My Progress: 155/155
See Also: 2015 Outdo Yourself Challenge shelf for list of books
This is probably one of the harder challenges I picked up two years in a row, although last year, it was no difficult feat to surpass the number of books I had read in 2013. But since I pretty much stretched my limits in 2014, this year ended up being a real challenge to try and outdo my final reading count from last year.
The reading count for this challenge is a little more restrictive as we can only include books that are at least 100 pages or more in length. So, no manga volumes, no short stories, no picture books. So this particular reading challenge number is a bit more accurate describing the number of books I've read (or audio books I've listened to).
I barely made it to complete my goal this year.
I will not be participating in this reading challenge next year, if only because I'm pretty sure I've found my yearly book average and will probably remain fairly steady for a while to come. Maybe in a year or two I will try my hand at this challenge again. Knowing myself, however, I'll probably still keep track of books for this challenge and maybe join the challenge at a later date.
The Book Vixen will no longer be hosting this Reading Challenge, but Corinne Rodrigues will be taking over: 2016 Outdo Yourself Challenge.
- Romantic Suspense Challenge
-- CHALLENGE COMPLETED -- 4/9/2015
Hosted by Book Vixen
My Goal: SWAT: read 21+ romantic suspense novels
My Progress: 77/21
See Also: 2015 Romantic Suspense Challenge shelf for list of books
- Men in Uniform Challenge
-- CHALLENGE COMPLETED -- 3/17/2015
Hosted by Book Vixen
My Goal: Chief: read 16+ men in uniform novels
My Progress: 71/16
-- 16 books read -- COMPLETED -- 3/17/2015
See: 2015 Men in Uniform Challenge shelf for book list
See: 2015 Men in Uniform Challenge post for detailed list
The above two challenges were the easiest two challenges I've ever chosen. Knowing full well that I can binge-read several Romantic Suspense novels (a good percentage of which involve Men in Uniform), I was certain I couldn't fail these two challenges even if I tried. On top of that, the goal levels were also pie. And as anyone can see, both challenges were completed in full at the highest goal level before June even rolled around.
I will not be participating in either of these challenges next year, if only because they really just present an extra set of statistics I need to record... despite the fact that I will probably continue to record these statistics for future use. Maybe.
The 2016 Romantic Suspense Challenge will be hosted by Shooting Stars Reviews.
- 2015 TBR Pile Challenge
-- CHALLENGE FAILED --
Hosted by Roof Beam Reader
My 2015 TBR Pile Challenge Summary Post
My Progress: 10/12
See Also: BookLikes shelf / Goodreads shelf
This is the third year I participated in the TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader. This is the third year I have failed, even if not miserably. You would think that if I could finish a 48 book Reading Assignment Challenge (see below), then I'd have no trouble at all finishing a 12 book reading challenge wherein I can read any of these books at any time during the year.
The problem is, I keep choosing books to place on this list that I can't find the motivation to read. This is my "I would love to read these books one of these days" challenge, with books that I include that are books that I keep telling myself to read and books that are sort of outside my comfort genres.
It probably helped that I did some challenge crossover books between this challenge and the Reading Assignment Challenge, but by the time the last stretch of the year rolled around, I was so obsessed with the Reading Assignment Challenge that I sort of blew off this challenge.
I will probably not be participating in this challenge next year for obvious reasons.
- 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge
Hosted by Because Reading & Fantasy Is More Fun
My 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge Summary Post
My Goal: Reading Level 5: 48 books (4 books/month), 4 Extra Credits, 1 Pass
My Progress: 48/48 (4 Extra Credits used / No Passes used)
-- Goal Reached on 12/13/2015
Extended Goal: Added on 2 Extra Credit books
Extended Goal Progress: 1/2 Extra Credit books read
See Also: BookLikes shelf / Goodreads shelf
This was my favorite reading challenge this year. I can't really say why, but I had a lot of fun with making my list, formatting my update posts, and in general, reading books I would have otherwise avoided reading (**coughcough**Allegiant**coughcough**). But I don't deny the huge sense of accomplishment bestowed upon myself for setting out a large list of books to read, with a restricted number of books to read monthly, and completing this grand mission.
I've picked up new-to-me authors because I chose to list books I probably wouldn't have picked up dependent on my reading mood. New-to-me authors include: Molly Harper, Tess Gerritsen, Christine Feehan, Roxanne St. Claire, Meg Cabot, Robin Benway, Meagan Spooner, and a few others. Unfortunately, I can't really say that I've actually liked all of them, and really only a small percentage of the new-to-me authors picked up due to this challenge actually made my "interested in reading more from this author" list.
Fortunately, I also picked up a second or third book of an author I had previously only read one book from and had never been sure whether or not to continue reading said author's works. These authors include: Jill Shalvis, Julie Garwood, and Marie Lu. Jill Shalvis' Lucky Harbor pilot novel turned out fun and I'm not opposed to continuing that series. Julie Garwood's Heartbreaker was an average start to a long series, but I'm now kind of hooked to said series. And Marie Lu's Legend trilogy was excellent and I look forward to continuing on with other books she has written.
I will definitely be participating in this challenge next year and have already formulated my list and other thoughts. I have even given thought to including series that I need to finish, that I actually DO want to finish as well as some new authors or new series I've been circling around for ages without making time for. Some of these authors will include Jeannie Lin, Amanda Quick, Nora Roberts, Lisa Gardner, and others who've always sat on my radar only, or who have drawn my attention recently.
- Mount TBR Reading Challenge
-- CHALLENGE FAILED
Hosted by My Reader's Block
My Goal: Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR pile/s
My Progress: 31/48
See: 2015 Mount TBR Challenge shelf for book list
I have a huge bookshelf. I keep adding to that bookshelf. Both digital and physical. Unfortunately, I also have a huge reading list that also keeps growing, a bad spending habit, and this uncanny ability to always check out four weeks worth of reading from the library at least once a month.
When I first set out to participate in this challenge--to read books I acquired on my shelves before the reading challenge year--I had even made a list and had done some rough guesstimation calculations and came up with a realistic number of 48 out of all 200+ books on my shelves. I figured that of all the books I owned, 48 was a reasonable number to whittle my shelves down by.
And I have failed spectacularly.
HOWEVER, I will not be deterred. I'm going to try again. 2016 is another year and I will always have more books on my shelf to add onto my challenges... or something like that.
- The Series That Never Ends Challenge
Hosted by Delighted Reader
My 2015 The Series That Never Ends Challenge Summary Post
My Goal(s):
First Goal: Surviving the Book Tsunami - 5-9 books / COMPLETED
- 5 books completed -- 3/8/2015
- 9 books completed -- 6/1/2015
Next Goal: Removing the Thorn From My Side - 10-15 books / COMPLETED
- 10 books completed -- 6/9/2015
- 15 books completed -- 7/31/2015
Next Goal: Goddess of Reading the Never Ending Series - 15+ books / COMPLETED
- 16 books completed -- 8/16/2015
My Progress: 18/15 books
Listed Series Goals Completed: 2/3
See: 2015 Series Never Ends Challenge shelf for book list
I chose to participate in the Neverending Series Challenge because I had recently started into a few long-running Romantic Suspense series that were still getting new installments as the years go by: Tracers by Laura Griffin was a new one I started in 2015. Buchanan-Renard by Julie Garwood was a series in which I had started the year before with the first book--curiosity and continually loving the next book more and more got me interested in continuing the series. Bishop/SCU by Kay Hooper was another series I'd been following for some time, but just never made time to continue even though I wanted to read the entire series.
In the ensuing months of 2015, I went on to reading other long (5+ books) or ongoing series such as KGI by Maya Banks, Steele Street by Tara Janzen, Bullet Catchers by Roxanne St. Claire, and so on. I wasn't sure how dedicated I was to reading these other series so I didn't include them in this challenge, but they would have totally qualified. And also, I'm already up to book #9 of KGI and I recently finished book #6 of Steele Street.
I'm a little conflicted as to whether or not to participate in this challenge in 2016. For one, this is not an easy challenge unless it's crossing over with other challenges. I've still got one book left to go in the Buchanan-Renard series to complete my challenge. On the other hand, I had only planned on reading 5 of the Tracers books as part of my challenge goal, but ended up finishing all 8 of the already published installments, then continuing to read the newest, recently published installment #9, thus catching me up with the entire series at present..
In 2016, some of the books for my Reading Assignment Challenge are part of some really long series, both ongoing and completed, with at least 5 books in the total series book count.
So this might actually be a good challenge to continue to participate in. I just haven't quite made up my decisions yet.
In Summary
I will be publishing an official Reading Challenge post for my 2016 Reading Challenges, but here is the gist of everything:
I have decided to cut back on the number of challenges I will be participating in next year. Keeping track of all of my books read and for what challenges and any other statistic has become something of a tedious, obsessive activity for me this year and I realize that I might have gone a bit overboard. If I showed everyone my bookish spreadsheets, it could get a little scary.
So aside from the general number goal challenge via GR and BL, I will only be participating in 3 other challenges (decided as of this moment):
2016 Reading Assignment Challenge
2016 Mount TBR Challenge
2016 Bookish Resolutions
(I will update links as I create each starter post.)
I will probably still end up keeping track of the number of series I've read and completed and started as well as all other statistics I normally keep track of on my personal spreadsheets, but that's probably about it for me.
I DO, however, want to participate in more Read-a-thons, so those are still in the 2016 bookish plans. I'm particularly interested in the Bout of Books week-long read-a-thons, though I haven't decided which one to participate in yet.
Otherwise, this year, I feel like I've managed pretty well.
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