My Reader's Block All Challenges Drawing Winner!

 

I'm a week behind on this announcement--my apologies. I hope you haven't been waiting all this time with bated breath...But I finally remembered to pull out the Custom Random Number Generator to find us a winner in the Block's All Challenges prize drawing. After a lengthy warm-up (much needed here in the wintery midwest!), it has given me entry #10--Barbara H! Congratulations, Barbara. I'll be sending you an email telling you how to claim your prize in just a few moments.

Thank you to everyone who participated in my challenges in 2025! I hope you had fun and also hope that you are joining me again in 2026. Happy reading everyone!

The Ultimate My Reader's Block Challenge Wrap-Up

I'm still playing catch-up on so many things in the blogging world after being away so much during November & December. [New links/headquarters for the 2026 challenges coming soon!] Here is the wrap-up one-stop shopping plan for all of the Block challenges in 2025. If you participated in any of the Reader's Block challenges, then you may submit your wrap-up posts here. The linky will be open until Sunday, January 18th. Then on Monday, January 19th, I will pick a random winner from all the challenges to select a prize from the prize vault. If you have participated in more than one challenge, you are welcome to submit a separate wrap-up post for each challenge and earn yourself an entry for every challenge.

Please list your name in the following manner (especially if you've got more than one entry): 

Name (challenge name) [example-- Bev@My Reader's Block (Vintage Scavenger Hunt)]

If you don't blog and don't have an URL to link up, you may post your wrap-ups in comments below (one comment per challenge) and I'll add you into the drawing. I will keep my eye on the entries and enter everyone onto a spread sheet in the order I see the entries appear. That order will determine the number for the random number generator to select.

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Reminder: My Reader's Block Challenges for 2026

The new year is almost upon us and I just wanted to remind my faithful challengers and all those looking for reading challenges that the posts for my regular Reader's Block Challenges went up a little late this year, but are ready and waiting. The Headquarters links in the sidebar will be updated for next year's challenges as soon as possible. Here's a handy list of each one. Come join me for new reading adventures in 2026!

 

Vintage Scavenger Hunt

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

Virtual Mount TBR Reading Challenge

 

Reading by the Numbers Challenge

Calendar of Crime

Color Coded and Read It Again, Sam Challenges

The Ultimate My Reader's Block Challenge Wrap-Up Winners!

 

As promised--albeit a couple days late--I have wheeled out the random number generator to select the prize winner/s from the My Reader's Block 2024 Challenges.  Since I only had ten challenge link-ups, I did two drawings. The first with those who made the link up before it closed and a second drawing which included the two challengers who missed the link up and left comments. Our first winner is link #3 Mark @ Carstairs Considers with his Calendar of Crime entry. When I added the two commenters and revved up the generator again, it gave us #7 Joelendil with a Mount TBR entry. Congratulations to our two winners!  I will contact you soon about choosing a prize.

Thank you to all who join me in these challenges. I hope you had fun with them and that you will be along for another round in 2025!

Ultimate Reader's Block Challenge Winners!

 

Thank you again to everyone who played along with my reading challenges in 2023. I am so glad you enjoy the challenges. I'm afraid I just don't get around to visit your reviews and posts like I used to and would like to--someone has stolen several hours out of my day and I can't figure out how to get them back. But I do appreciate your participation very much!

I've pulled out my Random Number Generator and fed my 13 entrants in. After a few whirrs and clanks and buzzing noises, it has produced two winners:

#9 Kimberly @ The Case of the Curious Brunette with a Calendar of Crime entry

#3 Alexis Drake @ Goodreads with a Mount TBR entry

Congratulations!! I will be contacting you both soon with the prize list so you can pick out a book to add to this year's TBR mountain. 

The Ultimate My Reader's Block Challenge Wrap-Up

 

For a few years now, I've gone to a one-stop shopping plan for challenge wrap-up posts. If you participated in any of the Reader's Block challenges, then you may submit your wrap-up posts here. The linky will be open until Friday, January 5th. Then on Saturday, January 6th, I will pick random winners* from all the challenges to select a prize from the prize vault. If you have participated in more than one challenge, you are welcome to submit a separate wrap-up post for each challenge and earn yourself an entry for every challenge. (*Number of winners will depend on where winners are from--I don't want to exclude my friends from outside the US, but shipping costs won't allow me to do many of those.)

Please list your name in the following manner (especially if you've got more than one entry): 

Name (challenge name) [example-- Bev@My Reader's Block (Vintage Scattergories)]

If you don't blog and don't have an URL to link up, you may post your wrap-ups in comments below (one comment per challenge) and I'll add you into the drawing. I will keep my eye on the entries and enter everyone onto a spread sheet in the order I see the entries appear. That order will determine the number for the random number generator to select.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My Reader's Block 2024 Reading Challenges

 

Just a reminder that all the new Reader's Block challenges for 2024 are posted and ready for sign-up. If you're looking for a challenge to join, then please check out those I have on offer. Click on the links to view  the details for each one. I'd love to have you join me for one...or a few...or all of them!

Mount TBR is for those who accumulate books faster than they can read them and need incentive to read more from their own stacks.

The Virtual Mount TBR Challenge for those who read masses of books from the library or other non-owned sources.

The Vintage Scavenger Hunt Challenge is for those who like their mysteries with a bit of age on them. Two levels are available: Golden (Pre-1960) and Silver (1960-1989 inclusive). Read mysteries that fit various Scavenger Hunt categories by finding specific items on the covers.

Calendar of Crime: Read mysteries from any era that fit various calendar-related prompts.

Reading by the Numbers: 2024 is the third year for this challenge whose main goal is to log all your books. No pre-set challenge levels. You decide your goal for the year and then just keep track of the books you read. I put it together primarily so I'd have a handy place on the blog to track absolutely everything I read in one place.

The Color Coded and Read It Again, Sam challenges are both housed at the same page. In the first, readers choose books based on color names in the titles or cover colors and the second is for those who enjoy rereading old favorites. 

The Ultimate Reader's Block Challenge Wrap-Up

 Last year, I decided that rather than post wrap-up links for each challenge, I would have a one-stop shopping plan. If you participated in any of the Reader's Block challenges, then you may submit your wrap-up posts here. The linky will be open until Friday, January 6th. At that time I will pick random winners* from all the challenges to select a prize from the prize vault. If you have participated in more than one challenge, you are welcome to submit a separate wrap-up post for each challenge and earn yourself an entry for every challenge. (*Number of winners will depend on where winners are from--I don't want to exclude my friends from outside the US, but shipping costs won't allow me to do many of those.)

Please list your name in the following manner (especially if you've got more than one entry): 

Name (challenge name) [example-- Bev@My Reader's Block (Vintage Scattergories)]

If you don't blog and don't have an URL to link up, you may post your wrap-ups in comments below (one comment per challenge) and I'll add you into the drawing. I will keep my eye on the entries and enter everyone onto a spread sheet in the order I see the entries appear. That order will determine the number for the random number generator to select.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Ultimate Reader's Block Challenge Wrap-Up

 

This year, I've decided to do things a little differently. Rather than post wrap-up links for each challenge, I've decided on a one-stop shopping plan. If you participated in any of the Reader's Block challenges, then you may submit your wrap-up posts here. The linky will be open until Friday, January 7th. At that time I will pick one random winner from all the challenges to select a prize from the prize vault. If you have participated in more than one challenge, you are welcome to submit a separate wrap-up post for each challenge and earn yourself an entry for every challenge. 

Please list your name in the following manner (especially if you've got more than one entry): 

Name (challenge name) [example-- Bev@My Reader's Block (Vintage Scattergories)]

If you don't blog and don't have an URL to link up, you may post your wrap-ups in comments below (one comment per challenge) and I'll add you into the drawing. I will keep my eye on the entries and enter everyone onto a spread sheet in the order I see the entries appear. That order will determine the number for the random number generator to select.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My Reader's Block Challenges for 2022

 

Just a reminder that all the new Reader's Block challenges for 2022 are posted and ready to go. If you're looking for a challenge to join, then please check out those I have on offer. Click on the links to view  the details for each one. I'd love to have you join me for one...or a few...or all of them!

Mount TBR for those who accumulate books and need incentive to read from their own stacks.

The Virtual Mount TBR Challenge for those who read masses of books from the library or other non-owned sources.

The Vintage Scattergories Challenge is for those who like their mysteries with a bit of age on them. Two levels are available: Golden (Pre-1960) and Silver (1960-1989 inclusive). Read mysteries that fit various Scattergory categories.

Calendar of Crime: Read mysteries from any era that fit various calendar-related prompts.

Reading by the Numbers: 2022 will debut this challenge whose main goal is to log all your books. No pre-set challenge levels. You decide your goal for the year and then just keep track of the books you read. I put it together primarily so I'd have a handy place on the blog to track everything I read in one place.

The Color Coded and Read It Again, Sam challenges are both housed at the same page. In the first, readers choose books on color names in the titles or cover colors and the second is for those who enjoy rereading old favorites. 

Bev's Monstrous Mystery TBR Mountain

 

Hi, my name is Bev. I'm a book-aholic. I accumulate books at a much faster rate than I can read them. A little while ago on Facebook, I posted a list challenge made up of titles I have picked up on my bookish journey--from used bookshops and community book sales; from garage sales and online sources (more rarely). Also books that have shown up as Christmas and birthday gifts. This isn't all of them--some I couldn't easily find cover photos--but it's most of the mysteries/detective fiction/thrillers sitting on my to-be-read shelves [since the photo above the bookish line-up has been replaced with shelves]. If you've read any on this massive list you can congratulate yourself on having beaten Bev to the punch!

Since posting the list on Facebook, I've actually read five of the books! Go me! Let's see how many more I can move off the monstrous TBR stack.

You can play along HERE.

Mysterious Time Quotes...Revisited

Back in 2014 I came across an article on The Guardian that told of their mission which began in 2011 to find a literary quote for every minute of the day. They were getting very close to filling in their last remaining times and had called on readers to help them with the empty minutes. 

Well...you know how I love a good challenge. And I love a good mystery. I also have a great fondness for quotes. So...I decided to set myself a challenge: to find a mystery book quote for every minute of the day and posted about it [HERE]. At the time, I mused on whether I make it completely round the clock in three years. Little did I know how much mystery writers (and possibly all writers for that matter) love certain times more than others. And so much that is important happens on the hour, half-hour, or quarter-hour. At this rate, I may finish filling in all the blanks by the time I finish the last book on my TBR mountainscape [i.e. Never].

 So...I thought I would ask all my mystery-loving friends to give me a hand. I'll post a link below that leads to my spreadsheet. When you pick up your next mystery--If you happen to notice an odd time (like, say, 3:01 A.M.) that's still empty, would you snag the relevant quote and send it, the book title, and author to me (phryne1969 AT gmail DOT com)? Thanks! 

*Addendum: Ken Hull has already jumped in and provided numerous times (noted on the spreadsheet). Thanks, Ken! Due credit will be given to everyone who contributes!

Mysterious Time Quotes Spreadsheet

 

Reading Challenge Prize Winners!

Well...last week ended in quite an uproar in the way of news events and I lost track of the fact that I had challenge prizes to hand out. So I'm going to condense my announcements into one.

First up for the Vintage Mystery Extravaganza...this was pretty easy for the Random Number Generator. Christina from You Book Me All Night Long wrote up a very nice wrap-up post and was the my only responder. Thanks for checking in Christina! I've sent you an email.

Next up, is the Mount TBR and Calendar of Crime Challenges . In 2020, I had the largest climbing crew ever--193 of us out there scaling the TBR mountain scape. Ten climbers checked in for the final wrap-up and I've fed the info into the Generator and our winner is commenter #5 Susan at Avid Series Reader. Congratulations, Susan! Susan is also our Calendar of Crime Queen as the only responder to that wrap-up and winner of the "My Calendar's Book" prize as social butterfly--for reporting the most books read on the criminal calendar! An email is coming your way too.

And finally--The Virtual Mount TBR Challenge. In 2020, there were 34 of us trekking up the holodeck mountainsides. Three of those climbers checked in on the wrap-up post. The Generator has thought carefully and decided to choose commenter #1 Jean at Howling Frog Books. Congratulations, Jean! Keep your eyes peeled for your email.

Thanks so much to everyone who joined me for challenges this year. I hope you all had fun and that the world's events didn't intrude too much on your reading time. 

Reminder: My Reader's Block Sponsored Challenges for 2021

The final days of 2020 are upon us and as we wrap up the reading year (and, if you're anything like me, dashing madly through books trying to finish off those last remaining challenges), it's time to also look ahead to the reading fun waiting for us in the New Year. I just wanted to remind my faithful challengers that the new posts for my regular Reader's Block Challenges went up at the end of October. And the Headquarters links in the sidebar also have links to the new year's challenges. In January, the Vintage Mystery Extravaganza will morph into the Vintage Mystery Scattergories. In the meantime, here's a handy list of each one. Come join me for new reading adventures in 2021!

Vintage Scattergories

Mount TBR 

Virtual Mount TBR

Calendar of Crime

Color Coded Reading Challenge

Read It Again, Sam

Reading Challenge News & Upcoming Celebrations

2020 and 2021 are anniversary years here at the Block. In April of next year, My Reader's Block will be ten years old (my how time flies!) and January 2021 will mark the 10th anniversary of the ever-changing Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge. With those two things in mind, the upcoming edition of the Vintage Mystery Challenge--named for 2020 and 2021 "Vintage Mystery Extravaganza"--will include a brand-new section as well as a look back at all the versions of the challenge over the last ten years. 

I will begin posting sign-ups for next year's challenges in the coming week. The Calendar of Crime, Mount TBR, Virtual Mount TBR, and Color Coded/Read It Again, Sam Challenges will all return to the Block as well. 

A bit of news for Monthly Key Word Challenge fans: Kim from Bookmark to Blog was the original host for this challenge. When she started blogging with Tanya at Girlxoxo, she handed the reins over to Claudia at My Soul Called Life with the understanding that Claudia would hand it back if she decided not to do it anymore. Claudia's blog abruptly disappeared and when I couldn't get in touch with her, I (not knowing about the arrangement with Kim) decided to host a variation myself. Kim has been in touch and I am handing the challenge back to her. Stay tuned--I will most definitely be signing up and will point you all in the right direction once she has the challenge posted.

Other challenge news: Sign-ups and final wrap-ups will look a bit different this year. My linky provider has put a limit on the number of link-ups I can have open at one time, so I will be using my limit to cover the monthly review link-ups for most challenges and all other sign-ups will be done through Google forms. I thought folks might be most interested in having review links visible--to check out any tempting titles. I will have to rethink the Color Coded and Read it Again Review links (if I can find an alternate way to make review links visible for those, I will).

2019 Challenges Reminder

As we head into the home stretch of 2018, I just want to take a moment to remind the folks on my Block of the exciting challenges on offer for the New Year. I'd love to have you all join me for all of them....but maybe I can tempt you into just one? Here are the links for what's on offer in 2019:

My old standby...the Vintage Mystery Challenge (which features variations in theme and method). This year's version is the same as last: Just the Facts, Ma'am

Brand New for 2019: The Calendar of Crime Challenge (which allows for mysteries of all publication dates read according to various calendar-related categories).

Another perennial favorite: Mount TBR 2019 (to help reduce those teetering stacks of books waiting to be read).

Also Brand New for 2019: The VIRTUAL Mount TBR Challenge (designed for those who have long lists of want-to-read books from the library, books borrowed from friends, or any other books you do not own yourself).

Returning for another year (and indefinitely: The Monthly Key Word Challenge (Read books with certain words in the title each month).


 And last, but not least: The Color Coded Challenge and Read It Again Sam Challenges. Two challenges that have their small, but devoted group of fans and which are offered at the same page. The first requiring books with color-based requirements and the second for those who like to reread old favorites (or give not-so-favorites another chance).

A Post for Reading Challengers

As we head towards the end of October, I'm beginning to marshal my thoughts about the challenges I will be sponsoring in 2019. And I have a few announcements and a request or two.

1. Just the Facts, Ma'am will be on offer again. I would like to ask participants to consider what categories (not already on offer) that you might like see added to the detective notebooks. Is there a murder method that I'm ignoring? A location that you'd like to hunt for when choosing your mysteries for next year? Please send all suggestions to me at phryne1969 AT gmail DOT com.

2. Mount TBR will also be back--and will be for the foreseeable future. I just don't see my TBR mountain range ever getting any smaller (no matter how much I read). As long as I've got mountains, I'll be asking you to join me for a Mount TBR hike.

3. And the Monthly Key Word Challenge will also return with new key words for a new year.

4. I am retiring the Follow the Clues Challenge. It hasn't worked out quite as I envisioned it and participation hasn't been high. I may try to tweak it and bring it out of mothballs at some point in the future....

5. In related news, I am currently putting the finishing touches on a Calendar of Crime mystery challenge which will accept all mysteries no matter the year of publication. Perhaps this will have more appeal for mystery lovers than item #4.

6. I am also toying with a companion challenge to the Mount TBR. Over the years, I've had people ask me why I don't allow library books ("I've had Book X on my TBR list for eons but I don't own it. Why can't I check it out from the library and count it as a TBR read?"). If I get this one together, it will be a Virtual Mount TBR--climbing that list of books you've always wanted to read, but don't own.

7. The Color Coded and Read It Again, Sam Challenges will most likely be back in the same low-key (low-moderator-involvement) way. 

If you think the sound of a virtual Mount TBR sounds great and/or you have a strong desire to have the Color Coded and Read It Again, Sam Challenges return, please let me know. I'd love to be able to gauge interest in these.

Thanks for listening!

Looking Towards 2018: Vintage Mystery Challenge Poll Results and Other Challenges

The votes are in two votes for a return to Vintage Bingo; no votes for Vintage Scattergories; one vote for Vintage Themes; three votes for the Original Challenge; two votes for another round of the Scavenger Hunt; and the winner was Something Different with six votes. I will be putting the finishing touches on the latest edition of the Vintage Mystery Challenge this week and hope to have the rules and sign-up posted soon.

Also--for those participating in other challenges:

Mount TBR, Color Coded, and Read It Again, Sam will all be back for another round in 2018 as well. A new poll will appear in the sidebar about the Follow the Clues Challenge to gauge interest for next year. I didn't find it to be as interesting as I expected and I haven't gotten a sense from the number of folks who have posted reviews that this has been a great success. Please let me know what you think about it in the sidebar poll.

My Reader's Block Challenge Reminders

Just a reminder to all the Challenge fans out there on the Block--final wrap-up posts are still open for all 2016 Challenges. I have listed the links to those pages below. Both the Vintage Scavenger Hunt and Mount TBR Challenges have a prize drawings associated with them.

2016 Vintage Scavenger Hunt Wrap-up
2016 Mount TBR Wrap-up
2016 Color Coded Challenge Wrap-up
2016 Read It Again, Sam Wrap-up

Also, if you haven't signed up for the 2017 round of challenges I hope you will. We have a lot of fun scavenging for cover items and conquering our TBR mountains. There is also a challenge for those who like color in their reading or who like to reread old friends. And brand-new to the Block this year is the Follow the Clues Mystery Challenge. Please see links below for the original sign-up pages and more information on each challenge.

2017 Vintage Scavenger Hunt Sign-up
2017 Mount TBR Sign-up
2017 Follow the Clues Mystery Challenge Sign-up
2017 Color Coded/Read It Again Sam Sign-ups

2015 Challenge Wrap-Ups Reminder

For those interested in prizes--or just checking in with your final tallies--don't forget to visit the 2015 Challenge Headquarters for each challenge (click pictures in the sidebar) to enter your wrap-up posts or comments. Prize drawings will start next week!