2020 Reading Challenges

Full rules and sign-up linkups can be found at the link for each challenge.

2020 Reading Challenge

Lark of The Bookwyrm’s Hoard has read 0 books toward her goal of 200 books.

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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

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

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

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!

100

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!

130

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