Reading Challenge update | Three-quarters through!

Three-quarters through the year, and I’m so busy I forgot to do my reading challenge update.  Many thanks to Cheryl Mahoney for reminding me.  I know I’m not doing nearly as well as her.

Three-quarters assessment in a nutshell

• Goodreads target: no problem, 43 out of 52 read. 4 ahead of schedule!
• Alphabet Soup (Author edition); not many to go, but stalled
• Colour-coded Challenge; one to go
• Non-fiction Adventure; well into next year’s target
• SpaceTime Challenge; completed the initial (soft) target
• New Release Challenge; too many over target, and currently up against release deadlines, so prioritising them
• Mount TBR challenge; stuck on a ledge on the mountain unable to move

You can see the progress on each of them on the pages, as linked, but here are some lowlights.

Alphabet Soup Author edition

I have discovered it is just as tricky finding authors through the alphabet as it is titles. The usual problems occur – few for letters like X, too many for C,G,H,L in particular, and more of the same jumping into your reading pile pushing out all the others.

I’m just looking for E,I,U,X,Y,Z.  That should be easy enough for the next three months, if it wasn’t for pressure from Netgalley books (yes, I should resist them). The authors I’m looking at for these letters will help my TBR list too, and they need reading before Christmas.

• I have started Nuala Ellwood’s My Sister’s Bones, but my reading time got highjacked. I think I can remember who’s who for when I return, though.
• I have an anthology based on the songs of Janis Ian, credited to her, close to the top of my TBR list. It’ll count for the SpaceTime Reading Challenge, too
• I thought I’d located a U that I actually wanted to read, but the one furthest up my list is Kaye Urmansky’s Pongwiffy. I don’t think I own it yet.  I suspect I’m hoping for something more interesting to come along (I thought I had one).
• I decided that Benjamin X Wretland counted. He’s been on my list for ages.
• I found Laurence Yep on my list, so bought a cheap copy of Dragons Gate.  It looks interesting.
• Where would I be without Ben Zackheim?  Time for the last in the Shirley Link series.  I’ll miss her – and him!

So in theory, I’m done.  In practice, it’s a long way to go.

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

This is why I do these reading challenges – to get through the books on my list. It seems this year, despite so-called limiting my number of newly released books, I’ve prioritised those – and authors suiting my alphabet challenge not on my TBR list.

My target is 36, which can be measured by scaling lower mountains twelve books at a time.  I didn’t get to the first one until June, so it’s not surprising I’m only halfway up the second mountain, not three-quarters up the third.  My target is currently 17 books away!

This is a familiar story.  I seem to have to binge on books at Christmas each year to get anywhere near my target. Well, so be it.  Another Christmas binge coming up.

And what’s even more telling: of the 19 books I’ve read, 14 came onto my list only last year.

Conclusion: I’m putting books onto my list to meet other challenges.  Maybe next year I’ll do just Mount TBR… and the Non-Fiction Challenge which is a ten year one!

SpaceTime Reading Challenge

Since I run this one, I’m going to do a separate update later this week. And get around to see the other participants. I meant to do that in July, but forgot. Sigh.

Happy reading, everybody!