Full rules and sign-up linkups can be found at the link for each challenge.
2020 Reading Challenge
I originally set my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal at 200 books for 2020. In mid-September, I revised that number downward, to 175 books for 2020.
9/28/2020: As of the end of August, I was over 25 books behind schedule. I attribute the lag to the pandemic. At times, it has been much harder for me to concentrate on reading, or stay interested in a book. I have DNF’d more books than usual. I have also spent more time on social media and news sites. So in mid-September, I revised my goal. After all, I had no way of knowing what 2020 would throw at us when I set it, and there’s no point in setting myself up for failure at a time when I’m trying to keep my morale up.
The Backlist Reader Challenge 2020
Host: The Bookwyrm's Hoard
Progress: 3/20 (15%)
1 January, 2020 — 6 January, 2021
Failed
I host The Backlist Reader Challenge 2020, so of course I’m participating! My goal is to read 20 books published in 2018 or earlier that have been on my TBR list (on Goodreads) for a while. My secondary goal is to review most of them this year, since I was pretty bad about reviewing them last year. Below are the books I have read but not yet reviewed. Books marked with a * are books I reread, but haven’t read in more than 10 years and had largely forgotten.
- Little Men (Louisa May Alcott)*
- The Wilhelm Conspiracy (Charles Veley; audio)
- The Moving Finger (Agatha Christie)*
- Wildfire at Midnight (Mary Stewart)*
- The Ivy Tree (Mary Stewart)*
- Clean Sweep (Ilona Andrews; audio)
- An Extraordinary Union (Alyssa Cole) – reading
- Binti (Nnedi Okorafor) – currently listening
Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2020
Host: My Reader's Block
Progress: 2/12 (17%)
1 January, 2020 — 31 December, 2020
Failed
Along with my own Backlist Reader Challenge, I’m also joining the Mount TBR Reading Challenge hosted by My Reader’s Block. While the challenges are similar, this one is for books you actually own, rather than books that are on your TBR list. And you have to own them, or at least have ordered them, before January 1, 2020. As far as I can tell, Kindle books do count, but since I have a number of print books that I haven’t read yet, I hope to concentrate on those. My goal is to read 12 books from my shelves or Kindle that I haven’t yet read (the Pike’s Peak level), focusing on print books and books I was given as gifts. Below are the books I have read but not yet reviewed:
- The Wilhelm Conspiracy (Charles Veley; audio)
- Clean Sweep (Ilona Andrews; audio)
- An Extraordinary Union (Alyssa Cole; Kindle ARC and paperback) – currently reading
- Binti (Nnedi Okorafor) – currently listening
Library Love Challenge 2020
Host: Angel's Guilty Pleasures
Progress: 3/12 (25%)
1 January, 2020 — 31 December, 2020
Failed
- Geat a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
- The Dog Who Lost His Bark by Eoin Colfer
- Make, Sew and Mend, by Bernadette Banner
I’m also signing up for the 2020 Library Love Challenge hosted by Angel’s Guilty Pleasures and Books of My Heart. My goal is to read at least 12 library books this year — and review them. If they also count toward The Backlist Reader Challenge or the Audiobook Challenge, so much the better! (NOTE: Due to the pandemic, I probably won’t achieve this goal.) Below are the books I have read but not yet reviewed:
- The Case of the Spellbound Child (Mercedes Lackey)
- Hideaway (Nora Roberts)
- Blue Dahlia (Nora Roberts) – reread
- Black Rose (Nora Roberts) – reread
Audiobook Challenge 2020
Host: Caffeinated Reader
Progress: 2/10 (20%)
1 January, 2020 — 31 December, 2020
Failed
I’m participating in the Audiobook Challenge again this year, hosted by Kimberly at Caffeinated Reviewer. I set my sights too high last year, so this year I’m aiming for the Stenographer level of 10-15 audiobooks. Below are the books I have read but not yet reviewed. Books marked with a * are books I have read or listened to before.
- The Wilhelm Conspiracy (Charles Veley)
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J. K. Rowling)*
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J. K. Rowling)*
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J. K. Rowling)*
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J. K. Rowling)*
- The Secret of Chimneys (Agatha Christie)*
- Clean Sweep (Ilona Andrews)
- Aunt Dimity and the Duke (Nancy Atherton)*
- Some Die Eloquent (Catherine Aird)*
- At Betram’s Hotel (Agatha Christie)*
- A Most Contagious Game (Catherine Aird)*
- The Stately Home Murder (Catherine Aird)*
- His Burial Too (Catherine Aird)* – currently listening
- Binti (Nnedi Okorafor) – currently listening
Diversity Reading Challenge 2020
Host: Celebrity Readers
Progress: 3/12 (25%)
1 January, 2020 — 31 December, 2020
Failed
- Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole
- Geat a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
- Like Lovers Do by Tracey Livesay
I joined the 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge in July, and set a goal of 12 diverse books. (The year was half over when I joined, and to my shame, I hadn’t read very diversely early in the year, so I didn’t set a higher goal.) Because of the current focus on Black Lives Matter, I will be concentrating on books by Black authors, but also books by authors of color and authors who are LGBTQ, disabled or neurodiverse, or of faiths other than Christian. I also want to read books containing more diverse main characters, regardless of who the writer is. Below are the books I have read but not yet reviewed:
- Red, White & Royal Blue (Casey McQuiston)
- An Extraordinary Union (Alyssa Cole) – reading
- Binti (Nnedi Okorafor) – currently listening
- The Relentless Moon (Mary Robinette Kowal) – Technically, I could count this book based on the criteria for diversity given by the challenge host. But I can’t tell you why it counts without spoilers, so I am reluctant to include it officially.
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2020
Host: PopSugar
Progress: 10/50 (20%)
1 January, 2020 — 31 December, 2020
Failed
- The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz
- Almost Just Friends by Jill Shalvis
- The Blue Hills by Elizabeth Goudge
- Memories and Murder by Lynn Cahoon
- Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas
- The Last Passenger by Charles Finch
- His Bride for the Taking by Tessa Dare
- Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole
- Riviera Gold by Laurie R. King
- The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
I’m doing the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2020 again this year. I honestly don’t care if I get all the prompts checked off, but it’s fun to see which ones I do complete. Here are this year’s prompts. I already have ideas for some of them, but will have to think hard about others. Prompts in bold have been read. Bold, clickable title links mean I have reviewed the book.
2020 Challenge – Regular prompts
- A book that’s published in 2020: Almost Just Friends (Jill Shalvis)
- A book by a trans or nonbinary author
- A book with a great first line
- A book about a book club – possibly Booked for Death (Victoria Gilbert)
- A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics –
- A bildungsroman
- The first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed
- A book with an upside-down image on the cover
- A book with a map
- A book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast, or online book club
- An anthology
- A book that passes the Bechdel test
- A book with the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it
- A book by an author with flora or fauna in their name: The Last Passenger (Charles Finch)
- A book about or involving social media
- A book that has a book on the cover
- A medical thriller
- A book with a made-up language
- A book set in a country beginning with “C”: Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station (Dorothy Gilman)
- A book you picked because the title caught your attention
- A book published the month of your birthday: Angel in a Devil’s Arms (Julie Anne Long)
- A book about or by a woman in STEM: The Relentless Moon (Mary Robinette Kowal)
- A book that won an award in 2019
- A book on a subject you know nothing about
- A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics: The Blue Hills (Elizabeth Goudge) (my edition has no images)
- A book with a pun in the title
- A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins
- A book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character
- A book with a bird on the cover: The Case of the Spellbound Child (Mercedes Lackey)
- A fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader
- A book with “gold,” “silver,” or “bronze” in the title
- A book by a WOC: Once Ghosted, Twice Shy (Alyssa Cole)
- A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads: Chasing Cassandra (Lisa Kleypas)
- A book you meant to read in 2019: Memories and Murder (Lynn Cahoon)
- A book with a three-word title: Like Lovers Do (Tracey Livesay)
- A book with a pink cover
- A Western
- A book by or about a journalist:
- Read a banned book during Banned Books Week
- Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
2020 Challenge – Advanced prompts
- A book written by an author in their 20s
- A book with “20” or “twenty” in the title
- A book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement (a nod to 20/20 vision)
- A book set in the 1920s: Riviera Gold (Laurie R. King)
- A book set in Japan, host of the 2020 Olympics
- A book by an author who has written more than 20 books: The Vanishing (Jayne Ann Krentz)
- A book with more than 20 letters in its title: His Bride for the Taking (Tessa Dare)
- A book published in the 20th century: The Moving Finger (Agatha Christie; reread)
- A book from a series with more than 20 books: Take A Thief (Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series; reviewed in 2016 and reread in 2020)
- A book with a main character in their 20s – Wildfire at Midnight (Mary Stewart; reread)
COYER with Friends (Winter 2019-2020)
Host: Because Reading
Progress: 10/10 (100%)
1 December, 2019 — 8 March, 2020
Completed!
- Christmas Angels by Nancy Naigle
- Death with Dostoevsky by Katherine Bolger Hyde
- How the Dukes Stole Christmas by Joanna Shupe, Sarah MacLean, Sophie Jordan, Tessa Dare
- The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz
- Lady Derring Takes a Lover by Julie Anne Long
- Almost Just Friends by Jill Shalvis
- Memories and Murder by Lynn Cahoon
- Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas
- The Bachelor by Sabrina Jeffries
- The Last Passenger by Charles Finch
I participated in the COYER Winter with Friends challenge that ran from Dec. 1, 2019, through March 7, 2020. I signed up in an earlier post. My goal was 10 qualifying books, and I more than met that goal. (Qualifying books are ebooks you own that cost under $1.99, and audiobooks you own that cost under $5. Print books and library books of any format don’t count unless they are read for one of the in-challenge readathons.) Below are the books I have read but not yet reviewed, or books which I have reviewed previously:
- The Scandalous Lord Dere (Stephanie Laurens)
- The Game (Laurie R. King) – reread
- Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) – reread
- Little Men (Louisa May Alcott) – reread
- Angel in a Devil’s Arms (Julie Anne Long)
- The Wilhelm Conspiracy (Charles Veley; audiobook)
- Jackson (Emily March)
- A Curse So Dark and Lonely (Brigid Kemmerer) – Buddy Read Readathon
- The Moving Finger (Agatha Christie) – reread
- Tribute (Nora Roberts) – reread; reviewed back in 2017
- Dance Upon the Air (Nora Roberts) – reread
- To Ride Pegasus (Anne McCaffrey) – reread
- Tucker (Emily March)
- A Murderous Relation (Deanna Raybourn)
COYER Quarantine Edition (2020)
Host: Michele & Berls of Because Reading
Progress: 13/10 (130%)
23 March, 2020 — 31 August, 2020
Completed!
- Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
- Watson on the Orient Express by Anna Elliott, Charles Veley
- Winterwood by Jacey Bedford
- Booked For Death by Victoria Gilbert
- The Corpse with the Crystal Skull by Cathy Ace
- Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole
- Riviera Gold by Laurie R. King
- The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
- Tea & Treachery by Vicki Delany
- Like Lovers Do by Tracey Livesay
- Death at High Tide by Hannah Dennison
- Boone by Emily March
- A Deadly Edition by Victoria Gilbert
The COYER Quarantine Edition runs from March 23 to August 31, 2020. The strict COYER rules apply (ebooks under $2, audiobooks under $5, no library books.) The exceptions are any book you read for a readathon, and books you read with a buddy who is also doing the COYER challenge; for those books, you may read any format, from any source. Below are the books I have read but not yet reviewed, or books which I have reviewed previous to this year.
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J. K. Rowling; audio) (ReReading Readathon)
- Aunt Dimity’s Death (Nancy Atherton) (ReReading Readathon)
- Watson on the Orient Express (Anna Elliott & Charles Veley)
- The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (Dorothy Gilman) – reread
- The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (Dorothy Gilman) – reread
- The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (Dorothy Gilman) – reread
- Mrs. Pollifax on Safari (Dorothy Gilman) – reread
- Mrs. Pollifax on The China Station (Dorothy Gilman) – reread
- Madam, Will You Talk? (Mary Stewart) – reread
- Murder in Waiting (Lynn Cahoon) – ARC
- Seeing Darkness (Heather Graham) – ARC
- The Ivy Tree (Mary Stewart) – reread (last read over 30 years ago)
- Who Wants to Marry a Duke? (Sabrina Jeffries) – ARC
- Summer at Lake Haven (RaeAnne Thayne) – ARC
- An Extraordinary Union (Alyssa Cole) – currently reading
- Deadly Touch (Heather Graham) – ARC
- The Left-Handed Booksellers of London – ARC
- The Secret of Chimneys (Agatha Christie) – audio; reread
- Someone to Romance (Mary Balogh) – ARC
- Clean Sweep (Ilona Andrews) – audio
- Aunt Dimity and the Duke (Nancy Atherton) – audio; reread
- Some Die Eloquent (Catherine Aird) – audio; reread
- Dreaming Death (Heather Graham) – ARC
- Happily This Christmas (Susan Mallery) – ARC
- At Betram’s Hotel (Agatha Christie) – audio; reread (last read over 10 years ago)
- Henrietta Who (Catherine Aird) – reread; reviewed in 2015
- Return to Virgin River (Robyn Carr) – ARC
- A Late Phoenix (Catherine Aird) – reread
- Slight Mourning (Catherine Aird) – reread
- Who Wants to Marry a Duke (Sabrina Jeffries) – ARC
- Cinders and Sparrows (Stefan Bachmann) – ARC
- Binti (Nnedi Okorafor) – audio; currently listening
- The Language of Ghosts (Heather Fawcett) – ARC; currently reading