2008 Challenge Wrap Up

I realized that I didn't do a recap of the challenges I participated in during my 30th year. It was my first year of blogging so there weren't that many, but I'm going to recap them here. This is for my own enjoyment really, so feel free to skim over post this if you like.

Reading Challenges Recap

Age 30: Nov. 4, 2007 - Nov. 3, 2008

~~~~~Completed Challenges~~~~~

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
This was the very first challenge I joined and I even completed it early. The goal was to read 6 historical fiction books. Here's what I read:

• Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky
• The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck
• Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks
• Cane River, by Lalita Tademy
• Water for Elephants, by Sarah Gruen
• Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck

And here's a link to all my reviews.


The Irresistible Review Challenge
The goal was to read 8 books that you would not have picked up had it not been for another blogger's review. I read 6 within the deadline and finished the last two afterward. Here's what I read:

• King Solomon's Mines, by H. Rider Haggard
• Last Chance to See, by Douglas Abrams
• Dracula, by Bram Stoker
• Stone Creek, by Victoria Lustbader
• Pyongyang, by Guy Delisle
• In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan
• Life Is So Good, by George Dawson
• Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie

And here's a link to all my reviews.


The Summer Reading Thing
The purpose of this challenge is to challenge yourself. My goal was to read 5 specific books and finish the other two challenge I signed up for. In the end I did finish one challenge on time and 4.5 of the 5 books. Here's what I read:

• Matrimony, by Joshua Henkin
• Life Your Road Trip Dream, by Phil and Carol White
• Maggie Again, by John Husband
• Genuine Men, by Nancy Bruno
• Why The Wind Blows, by Matthys Levy

And here's a link to my reviews.

~~~~~Ongoing Challenges~~~~~

The 1% Well Read Challenge
The goal was to read 10 books from the list of 1,001 books to read before you die. This challenge is still going on. So far I've read 4 complete books and half of two others. The list is in my left sidebar.


LOST Books Reading Challenge
The goal is to read 5 books that relate to the TV show Lost. This challenge ends later this month. So far I've read three books. The list is in my left sidebar.

Summer Reading Thing - COMPLETED!

I joined this challenge on July 25 (here's my original post) and it ended on September 21. Here is a list of my goals and the results:

• I finished the Irresistible Review Challenge (albeit a bit late).
  
• I finished the Historical Fiction Challenge! I finished this one early so I got the cool badge on my left sidebar.
  
• I read/reviewed the following books for authors and publishers:
  
• Matrimony, by Joshua Henkin - given to me by the author
  
• Live Your Road Trip Dream, by Phil & Carol White - from Online Publicist
  
• Maggie Again, by John Husband - from the publisher
  
• Castaway Kid, by Rob Mitchell - from the publisher (this one never arrived, so I dropped it and substituted the following book: Genuine Men, by Nancy Bruno - from the publisher)

What I DIDN'T finish ...

I was also supposed to read Why the Wind Blows, by Matthys Levy (from Online Publicist) but I didn't finish it. I meant to bring it to the beach with me over the weekend ... unfortunately I left it at work. Oh well.

In the end, I only missed my goal by a half of a very short book. DOH! In total I completed 10.5 books for the Summer Reading Thing. My goal was 11 specific books. However I also read about 15 other books this summer so I'm quite pleased with myself!


OFFICIAL WRAP-UP

Challenge host Inkspasher asks that we include our answers to the following questions in our wrap-up post:

Tell us which book you liked best (and why), which you liked least (and why), any new authors you tried and if you'll read more by them, and what (if anything) you learned from participating in this challenge.

Best: This is a hard one, but I'm going to say Dracula by Bram Stoker. I'm choosing this one because I never expected to like it much, let alone to love it. But once I was into the story I couldn't put it down!

Least: Easy ... that would be Matrimony by Joshua Henkin. It just wasn't my kind of book. I was bored through most of it.

New Authors?: All of them, actually. Oh, except for John Steinbeck - I'd read a few of his books in the past. I've said before that I don't really follow particular authors; I read whatever comes to my attention, regardless of who wrote it. So I may read more by these authors but not because I go out of my way to find their books.

What I Learned: I learned a few things from this challenge ...

1. I learned that this is the kind of challenge I like to participate in. I get to choose how many books I want to read and there are no rules on which books I can choose. Other challenges are great for introducing me to new books but I already have a huge backlog and this type of challenge gets me to read those books rather than committing to new ones.
2. I learned never to include that I want to complete other challenges as part of my Summer Reading Thing goal. I listed several challenges that I wanted to complete as part of my Summer Reading Things goals - I should have just listed the books I wanted to read. I was too confusing for me, and if I didn't complete those challenges then I would have failed this one as well.
3. Don't forget about Mr. Linky! I forgot to post my reviews throughout the challenge so they all went up on the same day.
   

Thanks Inksplasher for this wonderful challenge! I'm sure I'll be back for the Winter session.

Summer Reading Thing ... I'm IN!

Not that I need to join any more challenges or anything like that ... but THIS one is different ... really. I mean it. Don't you believe me? (imagine me batting my eyes very sweetly ... is it working?!)

The reason I'm joining this challenge is that I can choose any books I want to read - I just have to set a goal and list it here. That's the whole challenge!

Here are my goals:

1. complete the Irresistible Review Challenge
2. complete the Historical Fiction Challenge
3. read and review the following books I've promised to review for authors and publishers

• Matrimony, by Joshua Henkin (in progress now)
• Live Your Road Trip Dream, by Phil & Carol White
  
• Maggie Again, by John Husband
  
• Castaway Kid, by Rob Mitchell (in the mail to me now)
• Why the Wind Blows, by Matthys Levy

The challenge ends on Sept. 21; according to the list above, I need to read 11 books between now and then - a completely reasonable goal.

Get in on this challenge and set your own summer reading goals! Click on the Summer Reading Button above to go to the main site and sign up. Happy Reading!

Oh, by the way, there's still time to enter the two contests I'm running right now! I'll announce the winners on Friday so be sure you've got your name in. Click here and here to enter.