I didn’t reach all of my reading challenge goals this year, but generally, I didn’t miss the goal by much. Where I really struggled was in writing reviews; I felt burnt out, and often couldn’t think of anything original or interesting to say.
Goodreads 2018 Reading Challenge
I read 192 books in 2018; my goal was 200 books for the year. Looking back, I think I set that goal too high. 2017, the only year I read over 200 books, was the year I had mono and couldn’t do much but read for about six weeks. This year’s total of 192 books is more in line with my yearly totals for each of the other years I’ve done the Goodreads Challenge. So I’m not really disappointed that I missed my goal. And I’m setting my goal for 2019 at 190 books.
ETA (1/24/19): I did reach my goal of 200! I had entirely forgotten to add all the books I read for my job—in other words, the ones I created the index for. I don’t usually add them to Goodreads until late in the year; since I work on them well ahead of publication, they often aren’t yet on Goodreads during the time I’m actually working on them.
The Backlist Reader Challenge 2018
Host: The Bookwyrm\'s Hoard
Progress: 8/30 (27%)
1 January, 2018 — 4 January, 2019
Failed
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming
- With This Ring by Amanda Quick
- The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley
- Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron
- Rendezvous by Amanda Quick
- Affair by Amanda Quick
- The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell
- East by Edith Pattou
My goal for The Backlist Reader Challenge (which I hosted) was 30 books from my TBR pile/shelves/list, all published in 2016 or earlier. I reviewed the 7 titles listed above, but I read 17 more qualifying books for a total of 24 backlist TBR books this year. Clearly, I need to do better about actually writing the reviews, but I still made a dent in my TBR backlog.
Blogger Shame Challenge 2018
Host: The Herd Presents
Progress: 3/10 (30%)
1 January, 2018 — 1 February, 2019
Failed
- Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence
- A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert
- Closer to the Chest by Mercedes Lackey
The 2018 Blogger Shame Challenge was hosted by Anna of Herding Cats, Burning Soup. It’s for all those ARCS you should have reviewed, but didn’t. (Maybe you didn’t even read them!) They had to be at least 4 months past due to count for the challenge. My goal was 10 qualifying books. I only ended up reviewing 3, so I’m counting this a failure. I hope to do a lot better next year!
COYER Winter 2018-2019
Host: Michelle & Berls @ Because Challenges
Progress: 7/8 (88%)
1 December, 2018 — 3 March, 2019
Failed
- Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron
- Santa Puppy by Lynn Cahoon
- Once Upon a Winter's Eve by Tessa Dare
- Hot Winter Nights by Jill Shalvis
- Rendezvous by Amanda Quick
- The Clairvoyant Countess by Dorothy Gilman
- Playing for Keeps by Jill Shalvis
The COYER Winter 2018-2019 Challenge is hosted by Michelle and Berls of Because Reading and Because Challenges. It runs from Dec. 1, 2018 through March 2, 2019, so it’s still going. The rules are both easy and strict: Read digital books (ebooks or audiobooks) that cost less you less than $1.99 ($5 for audiobooks.)
My unofficial goal is 8 qualifying books over 3 months. I’ve already reviewed 6, read a 7th, and started on the 8th, so I’m in good shape.
COYER Birthday Bash 2018
Host: Michelle & Berls @ <a href="https://www.becausereading.com/"Because Reading
Progress: 7/11 (64%)
9 June, 2018 — 31 August, 2018
Failed
- The Cottages on Silver Beach by RaeAnne Thayne
- Shelved Under Murder by Victoria Gilbert
- A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert
- The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley
- Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley
- Rockets' Dead Glare by Lynn Cahoon
- The Corpse at the Crystal Palace by Carola Dunn
The COYER Big Summer Birthday Bash ran from June 9, 2018 through August 31, 2018. My goal was the Spring Clean level, 11–20 books. I read 25 qualifying books, but only reviewed 7. Again, I had trouble following through on writing reviews, so while I more than met my goal, I still failed in a way.
Take Control of Your TBR Pile Challenge (March 2018)
Host: The Caffeinated Reviewer
Progress: 5/6 (83%)
1 March, 2018 — 30 April, 2018
Failed
- Lost and Found Sisters by Jill Shalvis
- The Woman in the Water by Charles Finch
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming
- Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence
- Real Life Organizing: Clean and Clutter-Free in 15 Minutes a Day by Cassandra Aarssen
The Take Control of Your TBR Pile Challenge took place during the month of March, 2018. It’s for anything on your TBR pile published before March 1, 2018, including old ARCs. You can see the rules here.
My goal was 6 qualifying books; I read 8 but only reviewed 5. Again, I met my reading goal but failed to follow through on the reviews.
Newbery Medal Challenge
Host: La La in the Library
Progress: 0/96 (0%)
In Progress
None yet!
The Newbery Medal Challenge is an open-ended (no time limit) challenge to read all the Newbery Medal winners. I didn’t end up reading any Newbery winners this year. (The graphic is misleading; I’ve read 17 Newbery winners in my lifetime, but since I haven’t reviewed them, the widget doesn’t know I’ve read them.)
Angela
I think you did great even though you didn’t meet every single goal. You still read a lot of books!
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Angela! I did, and I’m happy with the number I read. (Just wish I’d written more reviews!)
Rita @ View From the Books
Very impressive! So many good books you’ve read… and so many challenges, lol. Well that makes the reading all the more fun. I’m going to be taking part in your Backlist Challenge. Does it not go from 1/1/19 to 1/1/20 (scary saying that year out loud)? I see your current challenge runs to 2/1.
Happy New Year!
Lark_Bookwyrm
Oh, thank you — I’ll check those dates! And I’m glad you’ll be taking part. 🙂 ETA: Just checked the dates. I usually give the challenge widget a little extra time so people can review the books they read on the last day of the year, but I gave it too much time. The 2019 challenge ends on Dec. 31, 2019, but I’ll keep the review linky open through January 3, 2020.
Anne
I think you did well. 190 is still almost 4 books a week which is quite a bit. Overall you are pursuing some great goals and as you go along you will adjust and it will get better. At least that is my deal. I LOVE COYER as it is a shorter time period with fun people.
I have an issue where there are some books which qualify for my challenges but I don’t review on the blog, and just do a short review on Goodreads.
Good Luck this year! Anne – Books of My Heart
Anne recently posted…Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Anne! I feel pretty good about the overall Goodreads total, but wish I had been better about reviewing books this year. It’s something to work on for next year. 🙂
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits
Still great progress, even if the widgets don’t show them as completions!
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits recently posted…19 for ’19
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Nicole!