Challenges
There are a couple of other challenges I’m debating adding for 2019, but by and large I’d like to keep things relatively simple. The more challenges I join, the harder it is to keep track and to keep up with all the links!
ETA (1/09/2019): I’ve added two more challenges, which you can see here. Or you can track all my challenges on the 2019 Challenge page.
My Goals for The Backlist Reader Challenge 2019
Of course, I’m participating in The Backlist Reader Challenge again. As the host, I sort of have to! And anyway, the whole point of the challenge originally was to encourage myself to read the older books on my to-read lists. (And on my shelves, and in my Kindle… I have far too many unread books.)
This year, I’m setting my goal at 20 backlist books. Last year, I set my goal at 30 books, and so far I’ve read a little over 20—but I didn’t review most of them. So my secondary goal is to review most of the backlist books I read this year.
If you want to participate in The Backlist Challenge 2019, click the image above to go to the rules-and-signup page—and get some of those older books off your TBR list or pile!
My Goal for the Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge
My goal is 190 books for the year. My goal for 2018 was 200 books, and it proved to be just enough of a stretch that I didn’t (or rather, won’t) quite make it. I like to keep my goals realistic, so reducing my goal slightly should make it feel “reachable.”
NOTE: Has anyone seen a link to sign up/set goals for the 2019 Goodreads challenge? Do we even know if they are doing the challenge for 2019? I’ve been all over the site and I can’t find it anywhere. In the past, they’ve always announced it in November. ETA: I’ve been informed it will be available at 12:01 on Jan. 1, 2019.
My Goals for the Audiobook Challenge 2019
The Audiobook Challenge 2019 is hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Reviewer. The challenge is to read more audiobooks than you did in 2018. Any book in audio format counts toward the challenge, including rereads, borrowed audiobooks, and crossovers from other challenges. (So, for instance, I could listen to a book for The Backlist Reader Challenge and count it for this challenge as well.) You can see the full list of rules by clicking the image. Last year I listened to 19 books, of which only 6 were new to me (the other 13 were rereads or re-listens.) My goal for 2019 is 20 books, which puts me in the “Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me)” challenge level (15-20 books.) My subsidiary goal is for 10 of them to be books I’ve never read or listened to before.
My Goals for the 2019 Blogger Shame Challenge
The Blogger Shame Challenge, hosted by Anna at Herding Cats & Burning Soup, is for “all those review books that somehow slipped through the cracks and just didn’t get reviewed when they should have.” Any review copy that is more than 4 months past due counts for the challenge. I had a lot of trouble making myself write reviews last year, even worse than the previous year, so now I have a pretty big blogger shame pile (virtual, of course.) Some of them I’ve read but didn’t review, and others I never even read. My goal is to read and review 10 ARCs from 2018 and earlier. I’m going to count books I reread if it’s necessary in order to review the book. If I can review an older book without rereading it, I won’t count it for this challenge.
My Goals for the Newbery Medal Challenge
The Newbery Medal Challenge is an open-ended (no time limit) challenge to read all the Newbery Medal winners. In my lifetime, I’ve read 17 of them, all of them well before I started blogging. (Most I read as a child.) This year, I’d like to read and review 2 Newbery winners that I haven’t read, and re-read and review at least 2 others.
* * *
You can track my progress for all my reading challenges on my 2019 Challenges page. The link is in the top menu bar.
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Good luck on all your challenges! I agree that it can be tempting to join a million, but you’re much better off keeping it simple.
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Sunday Post: Book Pre-Order Incentives & Giveaways Galore – 12/23/18
Lark_Bookwyrm
It definitely works better for me. 🙂
Lark
I’m limiting myself to two reading challenges this year: yours and the Back to the Classics challenge. 😀
Lark_Bookwyrm
Good luck on both! And they work well together, which is great. I’m totally in favor of challenges that overlap.
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits
These sound like great goals! I’m all in favor of reachable goals.
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits recently posted…Friday Reads: Reading Challenge Update – Q4 2018
Lark_Bookwyrm
My personal feeling is that goals should nudge and encourage, not overwhelm or seem out of reach. But that’s what works for me; other people’s mileage may vary. 🙂
Angela
Good luck with all these challenges! I agree, joining too many can get overwhelming.
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’ve seen people sign up for 20 or 30 challenges, and I’m just in awe. I have no idea how they can keep up with all of them.
Anne
Wow I do challenges but try to keep them realistic or I mean easy. I read lots of new releases and audiobooks and library books so those are givens. The one I have the most fun with is COYER. I am right now considering some kind of backlist challenge for all the stuff I own but haven’t read.
Good luck! I hope 2019 is your best reading year yet. Anne – Books of My Heart
Anne recently posted…Crisis by Felix Francis
Lark_Bookwyrm
You would be welcome to join The Backlist Reader Challenge (that I host)! I try to keep the rules really simple, because I’m not good at completing complicated challenges myself. These are the year-long challenges I’ll be doing, but I’m doing Winter COYER right now, and I’ll do a few more short-term challenges during the year.