MY READER'S BLOCK: Reading Challenge Throwback: My Sign Up

SCAM artist alert

Apparently there is someone calling themself "Luigi Calloway" out there who is claiming to be associated with the Mount TBR Reading Challenge. He is contacting authors and telling them if they pay him, then their books will be used for the challenge. It's possible he's also telling people they must pay to participate in any way. Please know that there is absolutely no charge associated in any way with this reading challenge and that this person does not represent me or anything associated with my blog. There will NEVER be a reason for anyone to have to pay for participation in any way for any of my challenges. If only people who exert this much time and effort on scamming people would put it into something worthwhile....like reading their own books!

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.