Sunday, June 1, 2014

Almost Half-Way: 2014 Reading Challenges Update

Back in January, I set my GoodReads goal to read 50 books this year. In the past, this is a number I have sometimes struggled to achieve. But this year, diversifying my reading by choosing more graphic novels, children's books, poetry, short stories/novellas, and audiobooks made it possible for me to complete my goal on the last day of May. I realized I was reading a lot more books than usual, but I never thought it would happen so quickly!

I'm not going to call it quits only five months into the year, so I'm bumping up my goal to 75 for now. I'm tempted to bump it to 100, but it's all in good fun and I never want to feel (self-imposed) pressure from that number. I also have some pretty chunky books on my radar to read next, so I'd like to keep my goal realistic and re-evaluate again later on if necessary.

I've also completed my original goals for eight of my other 20 year-long challenges, but have bumped up my participation levels for most of them since it's so early in the year. I still have some reviews to post, but I'm officially calling two challenges complete for 2014:


I've maxed out the levels on this challenge, so I'll call it a success!

Hosted by: Savvy Verse & Wit
Goal: Dive In level, 7+ books of poetry
GoodReads Shelf: Poetry
Progress:
7/7 books
COMPLETED!

BookSpeak!, by Laurie Purdie Salas & illustrated by Josée Bisaillon
Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson, edited by Frances Schoonmaker Bolin & illustrated by Chi Chung
Wicked Poems, edited by Roger McGough & illustrated by Neal Layton
A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein
Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein
Falling Up, by Shel Silverstein
Every Thing On It, by Shel Silverstein

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I'm sure I will read more audio books before the end of the year, but the host site has been down for several months, so I'm going to call this challenge complete.

Goal: Going Steady level, 12 audio books
GoodReads Shelf: Audiobook Candidates
Progress:
12/12 audiobooks
COMPLETED!

Great Classic Humor, edited by Mark Twain
If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't), by Betty White
Books, by Larry McMurtry
I Am America (and So Can You), by Stephen Colbert
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling
I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I've Ever Had, by Tony Danza
Commitment, by Dan Savage
Blood, Bones, and Butter, by Gabrielle Hamilton
Not Becoming My Mother, by Ruth Reichl
Team Human, by Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan
Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney
Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles

14 comments:

  1. Congratulations! That's great. I've always loved Shel Silverstein's books.

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    1. Thanks! I never read them as a kid and felt like I was missing out. I also had to see what all the fuss was about since A Light in the Attic is on the ALA's Banned/Challenged Books list!

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  2. That's some serious results there! I'm doing well with chunkster challenge (to which I have no goal I guess) and TBR 2014 challenge, for which I've managed to read one book a month so far (but of course I keep postponing more bigger books like The Pillars of the Earth :p) My GR goal is 75 books and I've been ahead by 5-6 books for months now, so that I guess is pretty realistic goal (assuming no major slumps appear).

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    1. Thanks Riv! Since they didn't have set levels for Chunkster this year, I had set my goal to 5, but since I reached it so early, I bumped it up to 10 -- realistic I think, but also a bit of a challenge. It's always nice to be a little ahead of things in case there is a slump :)

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  3. Wow, congrats on meeting your goal only five months into the year. My goodreads is set to 80 - I usually do 100, but wanted to take the pressure off this year. So far I am a couple of books ahead of schedule :)

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    1. I love a challenge, but it's not good to feel like you're under pressure for something like this...80 seems like a really good number for the year though -- I hope you reach it :)

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  4. Congrats! You are rocking it this year with all your reading. You are proving to everyone that you can never sign up for too many reading challenges. ;)

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    1. Thanks Kay! They can be hard to keep track of sometimes, but it really isn't all that hard to meet the goals if you have a lot of overlap. I do think I'm going to do less challenges next year -- the linking up can be so time-consuming...

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  5. Since you think you might read more audiobooks, there is another challenge for that:
    http://www.hotlistens.com/2014-audiobook-challenge/
    You can still join this one. I'd joined this one before I learned about the one you mentioned (I did that one in 2013).

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    1. Thanks for the info! But with all the other challenges I'm in, I think I'll just call the audio one done for this year :)

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  6. I did the poetry challenge as well, but called it complete after only five books, since I'd signed up for the second level. Whenever I sign up for challenges with levels, I pick the one I think I will be most comfortable doing, but am always sure I might just go over on most of them.

    And I forgot to say in the previous comment that I did not join the other audiobook challenge even (though I'd done it last year) since I'd already joined the Hot Listens one (I saw that one first).

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    1. Sounds like you are better at picking your levels than I am! I like to choose a somewhat challenging level, but my main goal with all these challenges is to diversify my reading, so I try not to be over ambitious when I set goals in January. I'd rather start off on the low side, get my motivation going by seeing the progress I'm making, and then decide later on if I'm up to reading more for a particular topic/genre/challenge. Good luck on your challenges for the rest of the year :)

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  7. YAY Christine! You're doing so good, and I loved seeing how diversifying your reading has helped you read more. That's so cool!

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    1. Thanks Hannah :) It's been a lot of fun so far this year!

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I'd love to hear what you think :)