2014 In Review — Challenges

Today I want to talk about challenges. To be very honest, this is an area in which I have a FAILING score!

You can see my ‘scorecard’ here.

I only entered a few challenges because based on past experience, I KNEW I would have a problem keeping up. But more scorecard is deceiving. Even when it LOOKS like I completed the challenge….I didn’t! For example, I went well beyond reading the 15 books I committed to for the Historical Fiction Challenge, BUT a big part of the challenge is posting reviews AND linking them on the Historical Tapestry website. I DID link about twelve of them, but then just gave up.

Let’s take a closer lookllll

2014 Historical Fiction Challenge

I committed to the Medieval level, or to reading a minimum of 15 books. I actually read and posted reviews for 24 books, and read a few more that I did not review. But as I mentioned above, I only linked 12 of my reviews to the Historical Tapestry website, so I have to count this as a fail. I didn’t not complete the challenge, though I came close. I will probably sign up for this one again, because I DO read a lot of historical fiction. It should not be this hard to remember to go link my reviews!

My grade — D+

2014 TBR Pile Challenge

This one was a miserable failure. I committed to reading 12 books that were on my TBR at the beginning of the year. I only succeeded in reading 4. On the plus side, I did actually review all 4 books! And I started another book, The Swan House by Elizabeth Musser, but it did not hold my interest. So I did kind of knock a book off my TBR! I think one of the problems with this challenge was that I had to choose which books I wanted to read way back in January. That just didn’t work for me. I may try to do a modified version of this one next year that I set up just for myself. I really would like to knock another 12 books from my shelf this year, so I may set that as a goal, but do some ‘free range’ reading to accomplish this; pick from my shelf whatever suits me at the time.

My Grade — F

2014 Mount TBR Challenge

This one seemed like a simple idea; to read 12 books that were on my TBR. However, it wasn’t as simple as it sounded. They had to physically be on my shelf before January of last year. That meant NO library books! I’m not sure if I will do this one. I actually won a lot of books in the last three months that I want to be sure to get to, so I may just accomplish this one this year. I plan to cut back on my book tour commitments so that I WILL have more time for ‘free range’ reading.

My Grade — FFF!!!

2013 Goodreads Choice Awards

This was a challenge I made for myself, in an attempt to diversify my reading. It didn’t work. My plan was to look through the nominees from the 2013 GoodRead Choice voting, and choose to read 10 books from various categories. Like I said, it didn’t work. I didn’t even try tracking categories, so I can’t even say if I came close. Will I try this next year? Maybe, but only if I think of a better way to do it.

My Grade — FFF!!!

2014 GoodRead Reading Challenge

I love this one because it is so easy! All I have to do is tell GoodReads how many books I want to read and then mark them as read as I complete them. No review necessary, and I really don’t even need to star-rate them! I DO like to add reviews and if all went perfectly I would add each book to my ‘score card’. But even without reviews, I did complete the challenge. I challenge myself to read one book per week, or 52 books. As of today I have finished 64, and may get another one or two done before the year ends! So yes, I will definitely do the 2015 GoodReads Reading Challenge next year…..if I can find it! That seems to be the real challenge for me each year; finding the link to sign up! Anyone know where it is??

My Grade — A+

2014 Book Club Reads

My book club meets monthly, with a new book each month except December, when we have our Christmas brunch. (Am I the only one who went looking for a book titled ‘Christmas Brunch’ when I saw it on the schedule???) Most years I miss reading one or two books because I give up on them (particularly if they are a memoir!) or I know I won’t be there. But this year, even though I was not able to attend all the meetings, I did actually read all the books! And I posted reviews for all but two! Of course, this is an informal challenge that I participate in by default as a member of a book club, so I will be doing this one again in 2015. We already have our first five books selected and I have them on reserve!

My Grade — A

That’s my 2014 Challenge wrap-up. I’ll be back later with updates on how I plan to challenge myself in 2015! How did you do this year? And really….does anyone know where that link is to the 2015 GoodReads Reading Challenge?!