2020 Reading Challenges Report

This last year has been one hell of a ride for many reasons. I will not reflect about things that are not closely related to books and my reading experiences because I would like to keep the tone of this blog positive and hobby related as much as possible. With this in mind I want to go over the many reading challenges and reading opportunities I concentrated my reading on.

2020 has been a year in which I have started to more actively participate in all sorts of reading challenges for the very first time. I have participated in seven different reading challenges through the year. Most of these I finished with great success and learned a lot about my own reading habits and capacities. In addition to these I had a personal reading challenge I choose for the whole year and my usual TBR Jar Draw challenge. Both of these were designed to make me read more of the books I own and read the books from my own bookshelves in particular. In the last quarter of the year I joined a friend of mine on another type of reading challenge on a month to month basis. We liked it an decided to keep it going for as long as our schedules would allow and into this new 2021.

Challenges from month to month

Here are the seven reading challenges I participated in this year:

O.W.L.s Magical Readathon – April 2020

Medieval-A-Thon Reading Challenge – May 2020

Make Your Myth-Taker – June 2020

Olympic Games – June 2020

N.E.W.T.s Magical Readathon – August 2020

Sbooktober Readathon – October 2020

Reindeer Readathon 2020 – December 2020

In order to better track the reading challenges I participate in and to get better organized with them I will be making more room on this blog for them in the form of pages dedicated to them more closely. This will provide me and everyone interested with a better view and understanding of the content provided by my experiences with reading challenges. For this reason I will not delve into detail for all the reading challenges mentioned above.

Personal reading challenges

My long term TBR Jar Draw did not fare well this year. When I first envisioned this personal reading challenge my goal was to make myself read more of the books I own and more books from my own bookshelves; many of which I had for years and have never even started reading them. My initial idea was to draw three book choices from a jar filled with titles of books I own and have not read, and every month I read one of those books while the other two go back into the jar for another draw some other month. In the whole year I have managed to read seven books for the TBR Jar Draw challenge. I ended up sacrificing this challenge in order to pick books that fit into the other reading challenges trough the year.

The total result for this reading challenge actually differs from this assessment. Upon closer inspection and review of the book titles left in the TBR Jar I found I have read ten more books that were in the jar but were not pulled out for the TBR Jar Draw. I picked those books and read them as a part of other reading challenges.

So in short, while I read only seven books due to the TBR Jar Draw, I read another ten books that were in the jar which makes the goal of reading more books I won successfully achieved! This makes for a very nice pile of books from my own shelves that I finally read and removed from my TBR! I am still thinking on changing the format of the TBR Jar Draw to accommodate the reading challenges I choose to participate in and in continuation of reading the books I own at a steady pace.

Personal reading challenge 2020

For 2020 I had also set a personal goal to read thirty books I choose for just this purpose! Some of those books were newly bought by the end of the 2019. and some were on my shelfs for a lot longer than that. By design this was another reading challenge that set me on the same goal to read more of the books I already own but with the actual list of the books! By the end of the year I did not managed to read all thirty books from the list and here is the list in the end:

✔ Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) by Leigh Bardugo
✔ Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) by Leigh Bardugo
✔ The Fates Divide (Carve the Mark, #2) by Veronica Roth
✔ Prey (Shifters, #4) by Rachel Vincent
– Carniepunk by Rachel Caine (editor)
✔ The Witch With No Name (The Hollows, #13) by Kim Harrison
✔ Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy by Ellen Datlow (editor)
✔ The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) by Holly Black
✔ The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2) by Holly Black
✔ Death of a Darklord (Ravenloft #13) by Laurell K. Hamilton
✔ Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) by Rainbow Rowell
✔ Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2) by Rainbow Rowell
✔ The Battle of the Labyrinth: The Graphic Novel (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels, #4) by by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
✔ Black Butler, Vol. 3 by Yana Toboso
✔ Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3 (Kitchen Princess, #5-7) by Natsumi Ando
✔ Saga: Book Three by Brian K. Vaughan
✔ Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire
✔ Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races, #3) by Thea Harrison
✔ Djevojka iz noćnih mora (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake ( Girl of Nightmares )
* MOR – Plodovi osvete by Josip Kralik
* The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
✔ Balzac i kineska mala krojačica by Dai Sijie ( Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise)
✔ Neobičan događaj sa psom u noći by Mark Haddon ( The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)
✔ The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
✔ The Borders of Infinity (Vorkosigan Saga #5.3) by Lois McMaster Bujold
✔ The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2) by Rick Riordan
✔ The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan
✔ The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan
– Hellboy, Volume 1: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola
✔ The Darkness: Darkness/ Batman & Darkness/ Superman 20th Anniversary Collection by Garth Ennis, Jeph Loeb, Ron Marz, Scott Lobdell, Marc Silvestri

Out of all 30 books I have finished reading 26 of them. 2 books I started to read but did not finish and I plan on finishing reading them at a slower pace: MOR – Plodovi osvete by Josip Kralik and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. 2 of the books I did not even start reading: Hellboy, Volume 1: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola and Carniepunk by Rachel Caine (editor).

Bookopoly TBR Game

This is a project I started with a reading buddy in September 2020. After having fun with it for the first time we diced to continue with Bookopoly TBR game on a monthly basis. It makes us both happy and keeps us connected in a bookish way. After just four months we had some awesome experiences with this TBR game and like the creative outlet it offers in our reading choices. Here are the posts related to the Bookopoly TBR Game so far:

Bookopoly TBR game – September and October 2020

Bookopoly TBR game – November 2020

Bookopoly TBR game – November and December 2020

Reading in 2021

In my reading plans for 2021 I feel a lot more comfortable with my ability to fit the books I already own into other reading challenges and I will forgo making lists of particular books to read. I will continue to enjoy different reading challenges and let my reading experience differ from month to month in new and exciting ways. I did make a rather optimistic 2021 Goodreads challenge update to read 100 books. But that is a topic for another post where I will go into greater detail using Goodreads data to delve more into the books and my reading statistics for 2020.

August Book Wrap Up 2020

• 

Monthly reading review – August 2020

This August I have read:

Iznenada netko pokuca by Etgar Keret ★★★

The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katherine Arden ★★★

One-Punch Man, Vol. 1 (ワンパンマン / Onepunch-Man #1) by ONE, Yusuke Murata ★★★★

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix ★★★★★

Angel & Faith: Daddy Issues (Angel & Faith: Season 9 #2) by Christos Gage, Rebekah Isaacs ★★★★★

Half a King (Shattered Sea #1) by Joe Abercrombie ★★★★★

White Elf, Black Heart (Elfes #3) by Olivier Peru, Stéphane Bileau ★★★★

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie ★★★★★

Fantastic Hope by Laurell K. Hamilton, William McCaskey ★★★★

The Autumnlands Vol. 1: Tooth and Claw (The Autumnlands #1-6) by Kurt Busiek, Benjamin Dewey ★★★

The World According to Bob: The Further Adventures of One Man and His Street-wise Cat (Bob The Cat #2) by James Bowen ★★★

• 

1. How many books have you read last month? Are you happy with the amount you read?

This August I have red eleven books. I was planing on twelve and while I realize that eleven is a really good number I am unable to be happy about it because I’m bugged about this last one I did not finish

2. What was the best of all the books you’ve read in August? Any scenes or characters that made a lasting impression?

There were three books I really liked this August. First one was Half a King (Shattered Sea #1) by Joe Abercrombie. I really liked the writing style and enjoyed the characters. The second book was Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie. I have been meaning to read this book for quite some time now and I even managed not to read it for few reading challenges before this one. I was pleasantly surprised by both books. Third book was also the first book I have read in August and one of the newest purchases I was very eager to read The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix.

• 

3. Were there any not so good books for you last month? What made it hard or not enjoyable to read?

The book that kinda let me down since I expected a lot more from it was The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katherine Arden. I had an impression that this is a well liked book most readers. There was something about the way it was written that lacked emotion for me. I even got the whole trilogy in a luxurious edition and that was a big downer as well.

• 

4. How did the books you were reading last month fit in your reading plans if you had any?

I planned on reading twelve books for N.E.W.T.s Magical Readathon this August. You can check out my original post on it HERE and I will make a summary of my thoughts on it soon. I’m pretty glad I managed to get in nine books from my bookshelves and read them. In the end I was off by one book that I only read one third of – Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons by Andy Collins, Skip Williams, James Wyatt. It is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement book that is meant to be a guide on Dragons. How ever I tried pacing my reading I could not read more than a few pages in on sitting and nearly a week and a half was not enough time for me to finish it. This put a damper on my reading experience for August which would otherwise be a great reading month.

• 

5. Any updates on the series you are reading or are you starting any new series

I read six books that were part of some kind of series in August and from all those one was a part of an ongoing series I read from month to month. One was a first book of a new series I plan on continuing for sure. There were three first in the series books I’m reluctant to continue for various reasons and one book I am quite satisfied with and don’t plan on reading other books related to it right now. This question usually serves as a guidance on my progress with many book series I read in any given moment but this month it made my reading a bit more complicated.

6. Would you like to recommend any books or authors you’ve been reading this last month?

Joe Abercrombie was a new author for me in August and I plan on reading more of his books. I would recommend his book Half a King (Shattered Sea #1).

• 

Final thoughts on August 2020 reading

In any other situation reading eleven books would be an excellent reading month but this one book that left me short of my reading goal is really annoying. I was surprised at myself and how well I have paced all other books in August – it usually took me a few days for each book with the sole exception of the one I did not managed to read trough. The amount of books I own was pretty good and in contrast to last month all the books were new to me and I had no rereads in August. August has left me with two books I am already in the middle of reading and it makes planning my further reading projects a bit more daunting. Let us hope I will be up to the challenge!

Make Your Myth-Taker Reading Challenge – Experience and thoughts

June was a third month in a row I have decided to take on a reading challenge. Make Your Myth-Taker was one out of two reading challenges that caught my attention in June. I was interested in the concept of making one’s own story using various prompts for reading. Make Your Myth-Taker offered a lot of options and out of the four general paths I choose the path of the Sorcerer.

• 

In the path of the Sorcerer I have decided to follow the prompts to the Goddess option. This meant I had to read four books in the line of given prompts. The rule I am not very fond of was to read the books in the order for the prompts. This annoyed me a bit and I had to keep checking what book I was supposed to read next! Here are my book choices and what I thought about them:

Sorceress prompt 1. – nonhuman main

Elves Vol. 1: The Crystal of the Blue Elves by Jean-Luc Istin, DUARTE (Illustrator), Saito (Illustrator) ★★★★★

A friend who loves comics and graphic novels suggested for me to try these out after I noticed them on his Goodreads profile. It is a work of European authors with amazing illustrations I sometimes got lost in. The details and the coloring were very well done and some scenes were so good they gave me a feeling of watching an animated work with how well the illustrations flowed from one picture to the next. The story was very easy for me to get into because when I started reading I was just starting a new RPG Dungeons and Dragons campaign with some friends after a long time not playing pen and paper games like that. The fantastical setting offered many different races and an assortment of interesting characters. It was like diving into the world of high fantasy from some of the best authors out there. I appreciated the character quirks, political intrigue between the races and the colorful scenes in the background of it all. I was almost sad to stop reading this graphic novel series because I had to follow the prompts for my next book in the challenge.

Sorceress prompt 2. – foiled cover

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2) by J.K. Rowling ★★★★★

• 

This year I finally started reading the Harry Potter series from the beginning. I have never actually read the first three books before I got my own copies. I started reading them when the third movie came out and started out with the fourth book! I ended up reading the last few books and buying them at midnight premiere sales when the hype for Harry Potter was at its wildest! Reading them now all these years later and after watching the movies so many times was a different experience on its own. I loved the design of the books I started to collect to have a whole set as they come out – The Hufflepuff editions with startling yellow cover jacket and extra lovable tidbits on Hufllepuffs in each book. Even the stars around the title of each chapter made me smile while I was reading. The story was known to me and I enjoyed each little difference I could find from the movie versions in the books.

Sorceress prompt 3. – highest rated

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3) by J.K. Rowling ★★★★★

I did not plan on picking out the third book in the Harry Potter series to read right after the second one. But when the coincidence offered this book as the most highest available to me at the time I embraced this choice with glee! The third book was translated into a very dark movie and because of it it became one of my least favorite movies. Reading the book was a completely different experience. I cant point out the exact differences for me but the book seemed much approachable for me to read than I remember from the movie. I had to watch the movie as soon as I finished the book and go over the things that caught my attention the most. I will be getting the next two books for my birthday and I plan on to continue reading them this year. Having both books fit into the same reading challenge in this order made me very pleased and I hope to fit the others in some other reading challenge by the end of the year as well!

Sorceress prompt 4. – random TBR

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 1 by John Vornholt, Arthur Byron Cover, Alice Henderson ★★★

• 

Last time I had to read a book for a random prompt I ended up not reading the book I got. Random TBR prompt is definitely one of my least favorite prompts out there. I already have a semi random TBR book draw each month with my reading project TBR Jar Draw which I came up with in order to read more of the books I own. I have been at it for a few years now and I’m loving the results. For this reason I decided to use my TBR Jar Draw for the general random book prompt in this challenge. Out of three random book picks I decided on the one with the most pages and was really worried what would this long book do to my reading pace for the reading challenge. As it turned out the book I chose to read was a 3in1 edition of Buffy the Vampire Slayer novelizations – it was three actual books in one chubby edition. This was actually on my TBR for quite a number of years and since I avoided it for that long I decided to go for it. The three novelizations on their own did not have such stellar ratings and reviews and for a while I was a bit worried since these were the character I have fond memories of. The first story Coyote Moon was okay. I had to concentrate on the fact that these stories were set to be somewhere around first two seasons of the TV show. Those were some strange times and the TV show was way ahead of the times for the most part. Second story – The Night of the Living Rerun was the weakest for me. But what really made me not like it was the way the characters were portrayed. I just thought that they were way off from the behavior of the characters in the show. Third story – Portal Trough Time was the most interesting to me. I remember some of the slayers mentioned in the story from the Tales of the Slayers edition I have read before. Because the time travelling theme this one had bad reviews in general but the fact that the characters seemed true to those from the show I ended up liking it the most. The overall score of this edition was the sum of all three stories and I was glad to make a dent into my Buffy related book collection since I have plenty of it to read still.

• 

Just four books seemed too easy for me and when I saw that the third prompt offers a crossover with another path choice I decided to spice things up and go with the crossover to Royal Court path to Monarch line. This added three more books to my reading challenge since the the third prompt is the same for both paths. I had much more trouble finding the right books for the last three prompts. Here are the books I came up with for the prompts:

Royal Court prompt 1. – queen main character

The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3) by Holly Black ★★★★★

I searched through my bookshelves in order to find a book fro this one. I ended up choosing a book I already read in January this year. Few years back I did not reread books often if at all with few notable exceptions. I even joined a Facebook group of fans of this book series and had some extra motivation for reading this book. It was as good and as interesting as the first time I read it! I loved the characters even more the second time around. When I finished reading it I even found out about the next book from the series that comes out later this year and now I am enjoying the hype and anticipation for the next time I can read about the characters that make me happy and giggle a lot! Now that I think about it I am glad I had a reason to read this book again even in such short period of time.

Royal Court prompt 2. – red, purple or gold on the cover

Elves Vol. 2: The Honor of the Sylvan Elves by by Nicolas Jarry, Gianluca Maconi, Diogo Saito ★★★★★

For some reason I had no clue what to pick for this prompt and I even began to panic a little bit because of it! In my search for the right book for the prompt I decided to try the graphic novel I started the reading challenge with. I decided to categorize the cover illustration as gold for the purposes of the reading challenge. I used this opportunity to read another volume of the graphic novel I liked so much. The story in this one is completely independent from the first volume. They are both set in the same world and I got the feeling that they are both an interlude for the stories that come after it. This graphic novel series has 24 volumes and I am interested in reading them all. The character in this volume reminded me of some Dungeons and Dragons archetypes which made it more interesting to me. Again I was floored with beautiful coloring and scenes. I’m sad this graphic novel is not more popular.

Royal Court prompt 4. – reread a favorite

The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter, #2) by Laurell K. Hamilton ★★★★★

• 

Last prompt was a fairly easy one for me to pick after the last two. I have been meaning to reread Anita Blake book series for years now. I have been with this book series for well over a decade. These characters have been part of my reading experience so long I fell very connected with them. This book series has many bad reviews from book nine on and many readers are frustrated with how the author has decided to develop her story and characters. This is a book series with 27 books and counting. Going back to reading the book series from the beginning was an interesting experience. I was reminded just how far the characters and the plot progressed. It has given me some perspective and I plan to continue with rereading the other books in the series as well.

My score on Make Your Myth-Taker reading challenge:

I have read 7 books for this reading challenge.

3 books were completely new for me.

2 books were rereads.

2 books felt like rereads since I have seen the movies so many times.

I have taken on a journey of a Sorceress and went the path of Goddess.

I have decided to expand to the path of Royal Court and go for the title of Monarch.

This reading challenge was an interesting experience. I enjoyed having a reason to reread so many books I love. I will be on the lookout for this challenge next year where I might add to these paths or just choose to complete the journey again. The Make Your Myth-Taker reading challenge was created by Charlotte and Ashley from A Frolic Through Fiction – you can check out Ashley’s announcement for the challenge HERE. Charlotte is on Twitter and you can follow here HERE. Give them some love for they deserve it! I am glad I found this reading challenge and did good on it!

Reading Challenges update May

Lately I’m keeping myself busy by trying out some booktube inspired challenges. In April I tried O.W.L.s Magical Readathon for the first time and this month I am trying Medieval-A-Thon. I kinda like the prompts that inspire me to search trough my own bookshelves to find the books that fit these challenges. I have several reading challenges of my own that serve a purpose of making me read the books I already own. I’m making an effort to fit books across several challenges at once.

Here are the reading challenges I am trying out at the moment:

TBR Jar Draw

This is my personal reading challenge I started out years ago. In the beginning the goal was to try and read one book I own a month. There were some bumps on the way and sometimes I stretched it longer than one month.The idea was to give myself some options because I am very bad at reading something because it is mandatory. I got a decorative jar and wrote down the titles of books I own and and are on my To-Be-Read pile on little pieces of paper which I then folded and put into the jar. I pull out three titles and chose one to read as a next book. In March I choose to read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter #1) by J. K. Rowling and two other titles went back in the Jar ( see HERE for more info). After that I pulled the next three titles in April and this made my last three titles from the Jar:

1 # The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2) by Rick Riordan

This book was already on my O.W.L.s Magical Readathon and did not get read for it. I managed to include it into the Medieval-A-Thon in May and already finished it!

2 # The Wolf Gift (The Wolf Gift Chronicles #1) by Anne Rice

When I was younger I had the idea I wanted to read more books by Anne Rice so I started collecting them. Now I have full shelf of them even though I still miss some of her works and have read only a few. I like the idea still but making it reality is something different still.

3 # Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

This was one of the books I got on bargain sale while I was harbouring big dreams of reading more classics and all the books I managed to avoid reading during school. I have a whole shelf of those books as well!

Since the The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2) by Rick Riordan was already on some other reading lists anyway I read it and pulled three new titles from the Jar for May.

My three new TBR Jar draw are:

1 # Into the Woods: Tales from the Hollows and Beyond (The Hollows Short stories) by Kim Harrison

I used to love The Hollows series. Until I read the last book and got real frustrated by it. I got this book just before all that and was happy to have found it. It is the last book related to The Hollows book series I own and have not read. I’m not particulary motivated to grab it and start reading since I’m still feeling bad for not enjoying the last book of the series – you can check out my review for it HERE.

2 # The Warden (Chronicles of Barsetshire #1) by Anthony Trollope

Another of the books I got really cheap and liked it since it was a classic. I keep mistaking this book with some others and I’m still liking the idea of reading it.

3 #  Shining Path: Cable Volume 1 by David Tischman, Igor Kordej

I got this graphic novel as a present for my boyfriend. It was just before the second Deadpool movie was about to come out and the character of Cable was about to be introduced to the big screen. I’m still curious about the character enough to read it.

Medieval-A-Thon reading challenge

I did not plan on doing another intensive reading challenge right after O.W.L.s Magical Readathon last month. But this reading challenge got me really excited. I started it about a week later and I’m kinda slow going trough it right now.

Here is a list of the books I’ve chosen for this reading challenge:

✔  Dragon on the cover

The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2) by Rick Riordan

✔  A book under 300 pages

Incubus Dreaming (The Incubus, #2) by A. H. Lee

A shiny book

The Testament of Loki (Loki #2) by Joanne M. Harris

Reading now – Start or finish a duology

The Fates Divide (Carve the Mark, #2) by Veronica Roth

A book high on my bookshelf

Death of a Darklord (Ravenloft #13) by Laurell K. Hamilton

A book that begins with a “C”

Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) by Rainbow Rowell

Reading now – A tall hardcover

Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes by Rick Riordan, John Rocco

You can check out my original post on this challenge HERE.

My reading list for 2020

Last but not least is my ongoing TBR for 2020. These are all books from my shelves and these are all books I expect to enjoy one way or another. I’m not reading them in any particular order but letting myself enjoy them as the mood strikes me or as the case may be – as they fit into some other more immediate book challenge! For now I have read 12/30 books from this challenge and have another three planned for this month! You can check out the original post for this challenge HERE.

✔ Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) by Leigh Bardugo
✔ Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) by Leigh Bardugo
The Fates Divide (Carve the Mark, #2) by Veronica Roth
Prey (Shifters, #4) by Rachel Vincent
Carniepunk by Rachel Caine (editor)
✔ The Witch With No Name (The Hollows, #13) by Kim Harrison
Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy by Ellen Datlow (editor)
✔ The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) by Holly Black
✔ The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2) by Holly Black
Death of a Darklord (Ravenloft #13) by Laurell K. Hamilton
Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) by Rainbow Rowell
Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2) by Rainbow Rowell
✔ The Battle of the Labyrinth: The Graphic Novel (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels, #4) by by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
✔ Black Butler, Vol. 3 by Yana Toboso
✔ Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3 (Kitchen Princess, #5-7) by Natsumi Ando
Saga: Book Three by Brian K. Vaughan
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire
✔ Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races, #3) by Thea Harrison
✔ Djevojka iz noćnih mora (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake ( Girl of Nightmares )
MOR – Plodovi osvete by Josip Kralik
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Balzac i kineska mala krojačica by Dai Sijie ( Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise)
Neobičan događaj sa psom u noći by Mark Haddon ( The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
The Borders of Infinity (Vorkosigan Saga #5.3) by Lois McMaster Bujold
✔ The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2) by Rick Riordan
The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan
The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan
Hellboy, Volume 1: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola
✔ The Darkness: Darkness/ Batman & Darkness/ Superman 20th Anniversary Collection by Garth Ennis, Jeph Loeb, Ron Marz, Scott Lobdell, Marc Silvestri

Some of these challenges inspired me to try them out next year as well and hopefully some friends might join me!

Reading Challenges update March

Its time to make an update on my personal reading challenges! I have three personal reading challenges I’m working on. First let me inform you on the reading challenge I have left from last year. You can read how it all started HERE. It was supposed to be done by the end of the year but here we are.  I have managed to read one book out of the three I have left. I have finished Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races #3) by Thea Harrison and have Ender’s Game (Ender’s Saga #1) by Orson Scott Card and Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3 (Kitchen Princess #5-7) by Natsumi Andō left to read. I’m a bit intimidated by Ender’s Game since it is a part of a longer well known science fiction series and has sparked more than a little controversy due to the authors unpopular opinions. Kitchen Princess Omnibus is a part of the manga series I read years ago and I’m a bit apprehensive about how able I will be to get back into it. Also if I happened to like it I will want to finish it right away and I don’t have the rest of the manga series close by. These are my excuses! Want to share yours?

I’m currently working on fitting these into a new challenge for April to speed up the process of finishing this challenge.

Slow but still moving toward the goal!

1. ✔  Rogue (Shifters #2) by Rachel Vincent
2. ✔ The Witch With No Name (The Hollows #13) by Kim Harrison
3. ✔  Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo
4. ✔  Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo
5. ✔  Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo
6. ✔  The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #1)
   by Rick Riordan, Robert Venditti,
7. ✔  The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #2)
   by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
8. ✔  The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #3) by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
9. ✔  Black Butler, Vol. 2 by Yana Toboso
10. ✔ Black Butler, Vol. 3 by Yana Toboso
11. Ender’s Game (Ender’s Saga #1) by Orson Scott Card
12. Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3 (Kitchen Princess #5-7) by Natsumi Andō
13. ✔  Shifting Shadows (Mercy Thompson Shorts) by Patricia Briggs
14. ✔ Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races #3) by Thea Harrison
15. ✔ Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake

The second challenge I’m working on is my TBR Jar Draw challenge I’m doing for a few years now. You can check out my last update on this challenge HERE. I’m actually feeling good about starting to read Harry Potter series from the start for the first time!

The third reading challenge I’m reading trough is a reading challenge I decided to fit in by the end of the year. From the list below I added three read books since last update. Again the Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races #3) by Thea Harrison is on this list as well. Other two books I’ve read from this list are: The Battle of the Labyrinth: The Graphic Novel (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels, #4) by by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan and The Darkness: Darkness/ Batman & Darkness/ Superman 20th Anniversary Collection by Garth Ennis, Jeph Loeb, Ron Marz, Scott Lobdell, Marc Silvestri. You can check out my review on the last one HERE.

Here is the list of the books I own and want to read in 2020:

1. ✔  Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) by Leigh Bardugo
2. ✔  Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) by Leigh Bardugo
3. The Fates Divide (Carve the Mark, #2) by Veronica Roth
4. Prey (Shifters, #4) by Rachel Vincent
5. Carniepunk by Rachel Caine (editor)
6. ✔  The Witch With No Name (The Hollows, #13) by Kim Harrison
7. Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy by Ellen Datlow (editor)
8. ✔  The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) by Holly Black
9. ✔  The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2) by Holly Black
10. Death of a Darklord (Ravenloft #13) by Laurell K. Hamilton
11. Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) by Rainbow Rowell
12. Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2) by Rainbow Rowell
13. ✔  The Battle of the Labyrinth: The Graphic Novel (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels, #4) by by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
14. ✔  Black Butler, Vol. 3 by Yana Toboso
15. Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3 (Kitchen Princess, #5-7) by Natsumi Ando
16. Saga: Book Three by Brian K. Vaughan
17. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire
18. ✔  Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races, #3) by Thea Harrison
19. ✔  Djevojka iz noćnih mora (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake ( Girl of Nightmares )
20. MOR – Plodovi osvete by Josip Kralik
21. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
22. Balzac i kineska mala krojačica by Dai Sijie ( Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise)
23. Neobičan događaj sa psom u noći by Mark Haddon ( The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)
24. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
25. The Borders of Infinity (Vorkosigan Saga #5.3) by Lois McMaster Bujold
26. The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2) by Rick Riordan
27. The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan
28. The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan
29. Hellboy, Volume 1: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola
30. ✔  The Darkness: Darkness/ Batman & Darkness/ Superman 20th Anniversary Collection by Garth Ennis, Jeph Loeb, Ron Marz, Scott Lobdell, Marc Silvestri

For April I’m thinking about joining a Year 3 of O.W.L.s Magical Readathon by Book Roast. You can check out the YouTube announcement HERE for more info. I’ve been checking out this challenge before but I had some issues with understanding it. I decided to make a selection using prompts provided by Book Roast and see where that gets me.

Reading Challenges update February

In the summer last year I started making lists of the books I own and wanted to read. I like making lists and checking off stuff on a list gives me a positive boost I need. I decided to make smaller lists and prioritize books I want to read in a few months intervals. That worked nicely and gave me an approximation of my reading habits and appetites. Reading more of the books I already own and want to read anyway; made me focus better and read more in general. I have a few books left over from the last list I made in 2019. and I’m happy to report I’ve made progress on those as well.

1. ✔  Rogue (Shifters #2) by Rachel Vincent
2. ✔ The Witch With No Name (The Hollows #13) by Kim Harrison
3. ✔  Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo
4. ✔  Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo
5. ✔  Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo
6. ✔  The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #1)
   by Rick Riordan, Robert Venditti,
7. ✔  The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #2)
   by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
8. ✔  The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #3) by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
9. ✔  Black Butler, Vol. 2 by Yana Toboso
10. ✔ Black Butler, Vol. 3 by Yana Toboso
11. Ender’s Game (Ender’s Saga #1) by Orson Scott Card
12. Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3 (Kitchen Princess #5-7) by Natsumi Andō
13. ✔  Shifting Shadows (Mercy Thompson Shorts) by Patricia Briggs
14. Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races #3) by Thea Harrison
15. ✔ Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake

Last three books I’m behind on!

For 2020. I compiled I list of 30 books I want to read that I already own and those are actually coming along nicely as well! The first three books I’ve read are on both of the lists and I’m making those a priority. It is satisfying to check off books from both lists at once.  The books I’ve read from last update are:

The Witch With No Name (The Hollows #13) by Kim Harrison ★★★

Black Butler, Vol. 3 by Yana Toboso ★★★★

Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake ★★★

I did a book review on The Witch With No Name and you can check it out HERE.

Here is the list of the books I own and want to read in 2020:

1. ✔  Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) by Leigh Bardugo
2. ✔  Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) by Leigh Bardugo
3. The Fates Divide (Carve the Mark, #2) by Veronica Roth
4. Prey (Shifters, #4) by Rachel Vincent
5. Carniepunk by Rachel Caine (editor)
6. ✔  The Witch With No Name (The Hollows, #13) by Kim Harrison
7. Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy by Ellen Datlow (editor)
8. ✔  The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) by Holly Black
9. ✔  The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2) by Holly Black
10. Death of a Darklord (Ravenloft #13) by Laurell K. Hamilton
11. Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) by Rainbow Rowell
12. Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2) by Rainbow Rowell
13. The Battle of the Labyrinth: The Graphic Novel (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels, #4) by by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
14. ✔  Black Butler, Vol. 3 by Yana Toboso
15. Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3 (Kitchen Princess, #5-7) by Natsumi Ando
16. Saga: Book Three by Brian K. Vaughan
17. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire
18. Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races, #3) by Thea Harrison
19. ✔  Djevojka iz noćnih mora (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake ( Girl of Nightmares )
20. MOR – Plodovi osvete by Josip Kralik
21. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
22. Balzac i kineska mala krojačica by Dai Sijie ( Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise)
23. Neobičan događaj sa psom u noći by Mark Haddon ( The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)
24. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
25. The Borders of Infinity (Vorkosigan Saga #5.3) by Lois McMaster Bujold
26. The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2) by Rick Riordan
27. The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan
28. The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan
29. Hellboy, Volume 1: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola
30. The Darkness: Darkness/ Batman & Darkness/ Superman 20th Anniversary Collection by Garth Ennis, Jeph Loeb, Ron Marz, Scott Lobdell, Marc Silvestri

I’m already facing challenges because some of the new books from this year’s first book haul that are not on either of these lists look really tempting. I already read some of the newest books I got this year and you can check out my first Book Haul of 2020 HERE

So far my reading pace has been a little ahead of my reading goals and I will probably go easy on myself and continue reading the books that draw me in. Last month I enjoyed all of the books I’ve read a lot and I want to keep reading the books that make me happy and interested.

One of the reading challenges I’ve kinda neglected since last year is my TBR Jar Draw Challenge. Last update and reading I did was back in October 2019. I’ve read two books for it in less than one month and then felt I got some levy and held it back a bit. Now it’s time to get back on track for that as well!

My three TBR Jar draws are as follows:

The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood

Railsea by China Miéville

The Gospel of Loki (Loki #1) by Joanne M. Harris

I will probably have to take time to make some revisions for this challenge after I read one of the three books from this Jar Draw. My main concern is that some of the books I put in the TBR Jar Draw were just random books from the shelves that hold both my books and those of my boyfriend. We have different reading tastes and some of the books he reads would be a slow torture for me…

You can read more about how my TBR Jar Draw all started HERE 

Reading plans and challenges

I like looking out how other people challenge themselves to read books and spend more time reading. This time of the year there are a lot of booktube and blog posts on this topic. I use this blog to keep track of my reading and navigate my own reading plans.

For this year I made a fairly doable reading challenge to read 55 books in 2020. And with those randomly picked 55 books through the year I made one more challenge for the year by adding 30 books I own. These 30 books are quite specific and I made a whole list. The only freedom I allowed myself is random order at any time during 2020 to pick which ever book I feel like at the time.

Here is the list of the books I own and want to read in 2020:

1. ✔  Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) by Leigh Bardugo
2. ✔  Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) by Leigh Bardugo
3. The Fates Divide (Carve the Mark, #2) by Veronica Roth
4. Prey (Shifters, #4) by Rachel Vincent
5. Carniepunk by Rachel Caine (editor)
6. The Witch With No Name (The Hollows, #13) by Kim Harrison
7. Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy by Ellen Datlow (editor)
8. ✔  The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) by Holly Black
9. ✔  The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2) by Holly Black
10. Death of a Darklord (Ravenloft #13) by Laurell K. Hamilton
11. Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) by Rainbow Rowell
12. Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2) by Rainbow Rowell
13. The Battle of the Labyrinth: The Graphic Novel (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels, #4) by by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
14. Black Butler, Vol. 3 by Yana Toboso
15. Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3 (Kitchen Princess, #5-7) by Natsumi Ando
16. Saga: Book Three by Brian K. Vaughan
17. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire
18. Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races, #3) by Thea Harrison
19. Djevojka iz noćnih mora (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake ( Girl of Nightmares )
20. MOR – Plodovi osvete by Josip Kralik
21. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
22. Balzac i kineska mala krojačica by Dai Sijie ( Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise)
23. Neobičan događaj sa psom u noći by Mark Haddon ( The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)
24. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
25. The Borders of Infinity (Vorkosigan Saga #5.3) by Lois McMaster Bujold
26. The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2) by Rick Riordan
27. The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan
28. The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan
29. Hellboy, Volume 1: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola
30. The Darkness: Darkness/ Batman & Darkness/ Superman 20th Anniversary Collection by Garth Ennis, Jeph Loeb, Ron Marz, Scott Lobdell, Marc Silvestri

Prey (Shifters, #4) by Rachel Vincent slipped under the table and onto a chair and is not on the picture. I had to look for it frantically for 20 minutes…

I have already made some progress on this list and have read 4 books so far. I have some books left unread from a reading challenge I thought for myself last year.

Some of the books from that list ended up on this one. Here is how I stand on that list:

1. ✔  Rogue (Shifters #2) by Rachel Vincent
2. The Witch With No Name (The Hollows #13) by Kim Harrison
3. ✔  Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo
4. ✔  Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo
5. ✔  Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo
6. ✔  The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #1)
   by Rick Riordan, Robert Venditti,
7. ✔  The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #2)
   by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
8. ✔  The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #3) by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan
9. ✔  Black Butler, Vol. 2 by Yana Toboso
10. Black Butler, Vol. 3 by Yana Toboso
11. Ender’s Game (Ender’s Saga #1) by Orson Scott Card
12. Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3 (Kitchen Princess #5-7) by Natsumi Andō
13. ✔  Shifting Shadows (Mercy Thompson Shorts) by Patricia Briggs
14. Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races #3) by Thea Harrison
15. Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake

Five of these books I have yet to read and only one of them is not on my list of books I own. I started on The Witch With No Name (The Hollows, #13) by Kim Harrison. The Witch With No Name is on both of the lists. I will update these reading lists regularly and keep updates on both of them together. 

TBR Jar Draw November 2017

First a little update for those who don’t know what my TBR Jar Draw is about. Somewhere at the start of this year I have decided to try and read more of the books I already own. Out of my TBR (To Be Read) pile of books on Goodreads I have selected some of the books I own and wrote the titles on little pieces of paper each. Once I month I draw three titles from the jar and decide to read one of them. This gives me a reason to go trough my bookshelves and find the titles I might have overlooked or forgot about. Here is the link to the post from March that got me started –> TBR Jar Draw 

Last month I squeezed two books for TBR Jar Draw. After finishing the book The Frog Prince in a rather short time I went and pulled another three titles which gave me Rosemary and Rue. My thoughts on The Frog Prince can be read HERE and my thoughts on Rosemary and Rue can be read HERE.

The two draws I have not read are going back in the jar:

# Wait Till Your Vampire Gets Home (Broken Heart #4) by Michele Bardsley

# Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1)  by Joe Abercrombie

My three new TBR Jar draws are as follows:

1 # The Age of Odin (Pantheon #3) by James Lovegrove

This is the book my boyfriend owns. I bought it for him actually along with the rest from this series. Years back we did a few reading challenges among us and this is one of the books he chose for me to read. This was from when I first started writing this blog. You can find the link on the summary of our first challenge HERE. As you can see The Age of Odin is one of the books he choose for me that I did not read in the end. I still kept it on my TBR list on GR out of guilt. And now it’s come back to haunt me and make me think about some new challenging ideas for next year 🙂

2 # The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1) by Philip Pullman

Woow this is embarrassing! The Golden Compass is the book from the second reading challenge my boyfriend and I did. Yet again it is one of the books from the challenge I did not read. You can check out how the second challenge my boyfriend and I made looked like HERE. To my defense I only bought this book last year at Interliber book fair in Zagreb. Another Jar Draw with snow on the cover makes up for a great themed reading up to December though.

3 # Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters, #1) by Jess Lebow

This book I got ages ago while I was a student and was more into Dungeons and Dragons roleplay. I was actually surprised to find out that I bought the first one since I did not look into it much when I got it. I have three books from this series. Lately I have been thinking about playing Dungeons and Dragons again. This might be a good way to get me in the mood.

While all the options above are solid for one reason or another I just might dive into a new book series with The Golden Compass. I am still undecided.