With all the craziness of our huge, drawn out move across Oregon, I am amazed at and pleased with how much progress I actually made on these reading challenges. Don’t get me wrong, there are some challenges I flat out dropped, some I never managed to get going on, a few I did a little with, and then others that I rocked. And I learned some things along the way…
1. It’s okay to change my mind about a reading challenge.
2. It’s okay to not like books others rave about.
3. I will push myself out of my reading comfort zone (aka favorite genre) again this year because I had a blast discovering new ones like Steampunk and Fairy Tale Retellings.
4. I love meeting new to me authors.
5. I also learned what kind of challenges I love and which ones I found too boring, or restricting.
So how did I do? And what did I think of the various challenges? Let’s break it down…
2015 Ultimate Reading Challenge by Popsugar.
I only got 18 out of 49. I liked the idea of this type of challenge, but I found I really didn’t enjoy it. I do like some of the categories, but several of them, I just wasn’t interested in. Which means I need to take the ones I liked and make my own, right? Maybe sometime.
26 Books in 2015 by Bringing Up Burns.
I got 12 out of 26…almost halfway. Again, just didn’t care for some categories. 🙂
The 2015 Reading Challenge by Modern Mrs. Darcy.
Um…3 out of 12…let’s just move on.
Clocks, Cogs and Mechanisms Reading Challenge 2015 by Writing Our Fairy Tale.
I LOVED this challenge. Steampunk was a new genre for me this year, and I really enjoy them. I aimed for Brass Gears (1-3 books) and reached Flight goggles (4-6 books) with a grand total of 6 books. I’m super excited to join this challenge again this year, and hope to hit the next levels this time.
Reading Road Trip 2015 Challenge by She’s Got Books on Her Mind.
I only hit 9 out of 50, but I loved this challenge. I think I might host my own sometime and make it an eighteen month or twenty-four month challenge. I think it needs more than a year. But then I do tend to join a ton of challenges which makes it harder to reach in the shorter time frame.
Reading England 2015 by Behold the Stars.
I, um, I only hit one: London. But I’m back to try again this year. I love England, and I’d really like to read my way around it. So to speak.
2015 Authors A to Z Reading Challenge by Samantha Lin.
Well, I got halfway. I hit 13 out of 26, but I really enjoyed this one, too. I think I might try again this year.
Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge 2015 by Alexa Loves Books.
Well, my aim was to read five and I rocked that for sure. I hit 15 fantasy books, and totally loved reading this genre. I’m back for more this year, and hope to beat my record. 😉
2015 Color Coded Challenge by My Reader’s Block.
So I sorta hit a big ZERO on this one. Seriously, I got nothun’. But I liked the idea of this challenge, and I’m going to give it a go again this year. I’m hoping to totally hit them all, too. We shall see.
2015 Library Challenge by Book Journey.
Rocked this like I knew I would. I hit Going Pro level with 37 books. And because we tend to check out a ridiculous amount of books, I am not going to do the library ones again. It’s not really a challenge.
2015 Operation Deepen Faith by Operation Actually Read Bible.
I read one book. It’s been an interesting year, and I have grown in my faith, but not because of this challenge. I just didn’t focus on it. Instead, I focused on my quiet time, and learning new things like Bible Doodling and praying in color. I’m signing up again, and will pay more attention to blending what I’m doing along with this challenge. I think it’s a good one.
The 2015 Parenting Reading Challenge by The Single Mommy Blog.
I read one book, and it was a novel with a single mom in it. Totally fail on this one. I do have some parenting books I want to read this year though. Just not for a specific challenge.
2015 Poetry Reading Challenge by Savvy Verse and Wit.
I loved reading more poetry. I read three poetry BOOKS and really enjoyed them. I may have to host a poetry reading challenge during 2016. 🙂
2015-2017 edition by Monthly Mix_up Mania.
I love this challenge. It continues on into 2017, and I am well on my way. I’m pretty sure I can complete this one by the deadline. I can’t wait to see where I’m at by the end of 2016.
2015 EBook Reading Challenge by Annette’s Book Spot.
I had high hopes of making a dent in my ebook stash, but sadly, I read a grand total of three. Maybe this year I can knock some of these out.
(Fairytale) Retelling reading challenge 2015 by The Daily Prophecy.
This was another new to me genre that I enjoyed. I only read three, but I have some titles I’m looking forward to diving into this year, so I signed back up.
2015 Snagged @ The Library Challenge by The Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog.
This was another easy one to do well on. I hit Overdrive Junkie, and even though there was one more level, I’m happy with my end result. Again, I probably won’t do these anymore.
The Valdemar Reading Challenge – 2015 by All Booked Up.
I had really hoped to get to this challenge this year, but it just didn’t happen with the move. I’m planning on hosting my own sometime as these look really interesting.
What’s In A Name – 2015 by The Worm Hole.
I only managed 2 out of 6. I just don’t know. It was a crazy year though.
I Love Picture Books Reading Challenge 2015 by Book Dragon’s Lair.
Apparently, I only managed 4. Which doesn’t seem right, but there ya have it. I’m doing this one again for 2016. I want to read more picture books to the kids and grandkids.
2015 Women’s Fiction Reading Challenge by The Book Date.
I may have stretched the category a bit to claim the two I wrote down for this. But the women really did grow through these romantic suspense novels. So I’m calling it good.
And to gauge just how addicted I am to reading challenges this year, I found this challenge:
Reading Challenge Addict by the Reading Challenge Addict blog.
I hit Easy as Pie with five finished challenges. Out of…well, we won’t go there will we.
So on that note, I am going to join another fun slew of reading challenges for 2016. I have a beautiful new house with some awfully cozy reading spots already discovered, and new ones to create. And it rains a lot here in the winter…perfect for snuggling up under a blanket and staying dry with a good book.
If you want to see what I read, click over to my 2015 Reading Challenges page, and check out the links to individual challenges.