Thursday, December 6, 2018

Reading Challenge Throwback: My Sign Up



Jamie at Books & Ladders has come up with a new twist on the reading challenge game. Her Reading Challenge Throwback (http://blog.booksandladders.co.uk/2018/12/2019-reading-challenge-reading.html) challenges us to go back through our previous reading challenges and find the ones we did not finish (or complete all the parts of) and re-commit to get them done. I've been pretty good about finishing off my challenges...but I do have a few that I just didn't quite make it.

For full details and to sign up, click the link above. But here are the basics:

~Identify your DNF Challenges
~List those you want to finish and the requirements needed to complete
~Finish those challenges!

Added 12/29/19: Well--other than finishing off the declared missing book from Adam's Official TBR Challenge and knocking off two stragglers from the 1001 Books Before You Die, this challenge has been a bust. It bothers me to not finish a challenge, so I'm going to try again in 2020 even if Jamie doesn't offer the challenge again (no sign of it yet....)


Here are my challenges failures:

1001 Books Before You Die: Each year I have committed to reading five books from the list (until I run out of books that actually interest me). In 2016, I read one book from the list, (yes, count it, ONE) and in 2017 I managed two--which means I must read a total of seven books just to get caught up. I think since this one is such a struggle for me, I will take a year off from a new commitment from 2019 forward. But I am going to try to knock out those seven stragglers....
1. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (7/21/19)
2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (10/4/19)
3. Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow (3/15/20)
4. Neuromancer by William Gibson (8/22/20)
5. Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu (2/22/21)
6.
7.


Mount TBR 2017: This one is really embarrassing. The Mount TBR Challenge is my very own challenge. The first one I ever designed. Well...until 2017, I had the good sense to make my goal Mount Everest (100 books from my TBR mountain range) and I made that goal. Every year. Last year, I got very full of myself and decided I was going to conquer Mount Olympus on Mars (150 books). Yup--you guessed it, I didn't make it. I fell short by 26 books. I learned my lesson and went back to Everest this year (and made it--Woo Hoo!) and will climb the same mountain again in 2019. But, I'm also going to try and reclaim those 26 that I missed in 2017 (and the seven books for 1001 can totally help me with that if they come off my shelves)--so my Mount TBR goal for 2019 will actually be 126. (I'm struggling to complete my 100, in 2019--so we'll see if I can do the extra 26 in 2020.)

1. The Shadowy Third by Marco Page (11/22/20)
2. The Whispering Death by Roy Vickers (11/23/20)
3. A Halo for Nobody by Henry Kane (11/26/20)
4. The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie (11/29/20)
5. Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie (12/3/20)
6. Mrs. Jeffries & the Feast of St. Stephen by Emily Brightwell (12/4/20)
7. The Sirens Sang of Murder by Sarah Caudwell (12/10/20)
8. The Revenge of the Hound by Michael Hardwick (12/12/20)
9. The Dragon Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine (12/16/20)
10. What Remains of Heaven by C. S. Harris (12/17/20)
11. Thirteen at Dinner by Agatha Christie (12/18/20)
12. The Hound of Death by Agatha Christie (12/20/20)
13. Where Shadows Dance by C. S. Harris (12/21/20)
14. Little Grey Cells: The Quotable Poirot by David Brawn [ed] (12/21/20)
15. And Then Put Out the Light by E. C. R. Lorac (12/25/20)
16. In the Keep of Time by Margaret J. Anderson (12/26/20)
17. The Case of the Runaway Blonde/The Case of the Hungry Horse by Erle Stanley Gardner (12/28/20)
18. Vicki Finds the Answer by Helen Wells (12/28/20)
19. The Crimes of Dr. Watson by Duane Swierczynski (12/29/20)
20. Who's Killing the Great Writers of America? by Robert Kaplow (12/31/20)
21. Murder Draws a Line by Willetta Ann Barber & R. F. Schabelitz (7/15/21)
22. Murder at Teatime by Cynthia Manson [ed] (7/15/21)
23. Stone Cold Blonde by Adam Knight (7/17/21)
24. Quaker Witness by Irene Allen (7/19/21)
25. The Kennel Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine (7/20/21)
26. No Medals for the Major by Margaret Yorke (7/20/21)


And finally...I regularly do Adam's Official TBR Pile Challenge. He has us pre-select 12 books plus two alternates (just in case we absolutely can't do a couple of books). Each year I try to do all 14 books and I have succeeded every year except 2015. I missed one book. So, technically, I DID complete the challenge--I just didn't meet my own personal goal. So, to finish this one off I need to read:

1. A Knife in the Back by Bill Crider (4/2/19)

I'm on track to finish all 14 this year as well--but if I don't I will add Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse to this list in order to count this towards the Throwback Challenge. 




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