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.

Reindeer Readathon 2020

After realizing that being idle will not help me get close to achieving my personal reading goals by the end of the year I have decided to keep myself busy by participating in some fun and exciting reading challenges in December. Enter Reindeer Readathon 2020! I have found it by accident and I really loved the idea and the merry prompts. You can find the official announcement HERE. The main creator of this readathon is Erik from Breakeven Books and you can go and show some love for his YouTube channel HERE. Together with four other wonderful people he is hosting this readathon and leading the team Mistletoe. This is the second year of this readathon and this year there are five official teams. Team Snowflake leader is Hilary and you can check her channel HERE. Team Nutcracker leader is Donna and you can check her channel HERE. Team Stocking leader is Savy and you can check her channel HERE. And last, but not least, my designated team is Candy Cane and the leader of my team is Amanda and you can check her channel HERE.

There is a satisfying number of prompts and each have a certain number of points. Since this is a reading challenge with teams competing the goal is to read as many prompts to get the most points for your team.

Here are my book choices for the prompts:

DASHER – 15 PTS

A book with one word title

Pride (Shifters #3) by Rachel Vincent

DANCER – 10 PTS

A companion novel or a sequel (as in a dancing partner)

Prey (Shifters #4) by Rachel Vincent

PRANCER – 15 PTS

A book with a map in it

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire

VIXEN – 25/20 PTS

A book with a fox on the cover. (Alternatively, a strong female lead)

Narcissus in Chains (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #10) by Laurell K. Hamilton

COMET – 30 PTS

A book you find intimidating

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

CUPID – 10 PTS

Read a genre that you love

Naked City by Ellen Datlow (Editor)

DONNER – 15 PTS

A book with something hidden inside (under the dust jacket, chapter heads, art etc.)

Saga (Collected Editions) #7-9 by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples

BLITZEN – 20 PTS

A book with some sort of struggle (internal struggle, war, battle etc)

The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan

RUDOLPH – 20 PTS

A book where the main character doesn’t seem to fit in (outsider, misfit)

The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan

I like the possible bonus and the additional rules and I plan to use Christmas Star as Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire for those 15 PTS since it is over 500 pages long. I don’t think I will be able do get those 50 PTS for Sleighing it to read additional book for any prompt after being done with all of those above. But in case I make it I have few options left from my personal reading challenge list. Wish me and my team luck!

Go team Candy Cane!

Reading Challenges Update – October 2020

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For the last few months I’ve been keeping myself busy with various reading challenges I found on Booktube. There were months were just one of those was not enough for me and I did several a month even! All this has made me neglect my original reading challenge I set out for the whole year and my TBR Jar Draw reading challenge I am doing for years now! Last update I did for my 2020 reading challenge I did in May. You can read my original post for it HERE and you can check out the May update HERE. The fore mentioned update left me somewhat ahead of schedule and lulled me into neglecting the books I wanted to read by the end of 2020.

Here is what my current list looks like:

✔ 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 30 books I’ve set to read I have actually read 16 and I have started on one other! I have barely two months to read the rest of the books!

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This means I will have to forgo any interesting reading challenges and read only these books by the end of the year! At least it is doable…Only now I remember that this might exclude any exciting new books I will get by the end of the year…I will do my best to finish both the Sbooktober Readathon and Bookopoly TBR game for October because I’m doing both with a friend this year!

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Since my other personal reading challenge TBR Jar Draw is designed to make me read more books that I already own I will take into consideration that all of the books from my 2020 reading challenge are the books I already own! This will mean that I will put TBR Jar Draw reading challenge on hold until I am done with 2020 reading list!

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My TBR Jar Draw is still the same from my last update in September:

1# Lucky (Lucky Santangelo #2) by Jackie Collins

2# The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

3# Angélique, le chemin de Versailles (Angelique 2) by Anne and Serge Golon

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My next post will be about something more positive than reading challenge update panic attack I promise!

Reading 2019 and 2020

Every January my book club has a meeting where we talk about the books we read last year, share our recommendations and experiences in reading. Our January meeting is later today and I’m going over all the books and reading I did last year. I did not plan on writing another generic post about the books read last year.

Last year was a sort of transitional for me since the first half of the year I read sporadically. Writing blog posts about reading books is kinda awkward when you don’t read books that much – I guess every reader goes trough a reading block phase sooner or later.

It took me some time to find my reading mojo. I managed to keep up with book club reading for a time but book club picks are not always books I can enjoy. My motivation for reading is much more personal. I read for pleasure. It was only when I found a book that made me feel happy to be reading did I get back on track and started reading more again.

Somewhere in summer I decided to plan my reading activities a little better and made myself a reading challenge to tackle on some books I already own. My summer reading challenge was a great success – you can check it out HERE. I read fifteen books in the span of two months and I enjoyed most of them quite a bit.

With the promising results and the amount of the books I read that I already owned I was inspired to buy some new books. So after a while I got myself a quite a big pile of new books and most I already managed to read trough! I even made plans on some culling of the books I read and don’t plan on reading anymore. so far they stayed just plans.

The most motivation to read more I got from reading the book series I already owned and the books I owned for years only to read them now and enjoy them so much I wanted to hit myself for not reading them sooner. I was reminded how much I loved fangirling and exploring the character and worlds from the book across other media as well. The announcement of some new TV shows based on books I read in 2019. made me very excited.

I’m happy to report that my reading ended on a higher note for the 2019. I found a new author that I love and have since bought most of the books by that author I could get my hands on. I plan to share my find with my book club tonight! I can count on at least one to read it since some of the books are announced to be translated to Croatian sometime this year.

I still have an ongoing reading plans and I hope to make them work with book club reading and everything else that life throws at me. I’m keeping most of my reading goals for 2020. tied to the books I already own. This is why I have made a list of thirty books I already own that I hope to read in 2020. I will make another post to explore the list in detail and make it easier for me to keep track of my progress.

This blog is a big help for me to see how much I read. I have a Goodreads account and that is where I got the pictures I am using in this post but sometimes I find it more easier to navigate my Monthly reading reviews for results in a year worth of reading.

For 2020. I’ve chosen to challenge myself with reading 55 books. It is not a round number but it is a number I think is achievable for me based on the results of the previous year. I’m happy to report that my reading is doing great so far in 2020. I’m already ahead of schedule and have read a whole 3 books I already own in less that two weeks!

Hope your reading in 2020 is full of great books and adventure!

 

 

Reading plans by the end of the year

Making reading plans makes me feel energized and active. The activity of making lists is something I enjoy. This year’s Summer reading challenge made a good impression and I felt good about my reading and proud about the results. Mostly after finishing a book I have a few moments of being lost when I start thinking about what to read next.

Having an actual list is soothing and relaxing. I like having options and seeing my own progress. And lately I miss seeing my own progress in general. Marking off books I’ve finished reading makes me feel giddy and satisfied.

There are a number of factors that will influence my reading by the end of this year and because of that I will not give myself a time limit but only strive to have at least one book of the list I will be reading at all times.

Here is the list of the books I’ve made a priority to read:

Rogue (Shifters #2) by Rachel Vincent

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

Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #1)
by Rick Riordan, Robert Venditti,

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #2)
by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan

The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Graphic Novels #3) by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan

Black Butler, Vol. 2 by Yana Toboso

Black Butler, Vol. 3 by Yana Toboso

Ender’s Game (Ender’s Saga #1) by Orson Scott Card

Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3 (Kitchen Princess #5-7) by Natsumi Andō

Shifting Shadows (Mercy Thompson Shorts) by Patricia Briggs

Serpent’s Kiss (Elder Races #3) by Thea Harrison

Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake

I’ve chosen the books from my own shelves. All books are in the fantasy category and are mostly a part of the series I already love. The only exemption is science fiction Ender’s Game which I’m interested in for quite some time now – I borrowed the book and it is a first one in the series. The list includes graphic novels and manga editions which I wanted to add more but will keep them as a bonus on the side.

On a whim I decided to go with fifteen books as I had in my last challenge. The time I needed for fifteen books in my Summer reading challenge was around two months and that is exactly what I’m going for by the end of the year!

Wish me luck!

New books in September!

After reading mostly books that I already owned for my Summer reading challenge 2019 I decided to buy some books off my wishlist. I only got two and both of them were on my radar for a few years now!

Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3

(Kitchen Princess #5-7)

by Natsumi Andō

I got hooked on this manga while I was still working in a bookstore and discovered them by accident. I managed to get my hands on first five out of ten total volumes right then. Later I found out how difficult it is to find single volume editions these days since the original manga was published in English translation back in 2005.

After long considerations I decided to move onto omnibus editions that are basically 3 in 1 volumes. I got omnibus 3 that consists of volumes 5 to 7 which leaves me with only one volume extra – Volume 5. Next omnibus is the last one and I might get it after I read trough this one as well.

Stray

(Shifters #1)

by Rachel Vincent

This is another book series I was intrigued by but haven’t actually got to reading it that is over a decade old! I can’t explain what exactly got me to finally grab it and buy it but I’m glad I did! I found some encouraging reviews on it and I think I will love it. This will be start of a new series to read and collect but the good news is this one is done and it only has 6 books total!

It came out as a surprise at how chubby both of these editions are! I expected the manga omnibus to be a bit bigger but Stray really caught me by surprise. I hope I will get into both of them soon!

There is one other book that is new for this September. It’s the one I already read and reviewed – Lost Boys: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance (Crazy Vicious Love #1) by Eva Ashwood. This one is a digital book I got on Kindle.

You can check my thoughts on it HERE.

I’ve been thinking about one other book series I’ve been reading in the digital edition – The Dartmouth Cobras by Bianca Sommerland. I’ve read first five books of the series and there are total of nine books so far. Next book in the series – Iron Cross, I’m thinking of getting soon so I can continue after few years from the last book I’ve read. I wonder will my reading experience change with the years that have passed.

That would probably be all of my new bought books for September but I still have plenty of already owned books on my shelves and there is always a local library in case of emergency or book club reading assignments!

Bookish meriment

This year Goodreads has made a really neat My Year in Books summary for its members. As this year turned out to be not my best in the reading department I was still delighted to see the results.

Even though my reading has taken a back seat for a bit, I’m still happy with books I’ve been reading this year. I’ve been reading some classics I’ve been meaning to for years and I managed to squeeze some new books as well.

I liked that with many genres I’ve ventured into this year I still prefer YA adventure and urban fantasy. Also for the first time ever I had some really good books that I enjoyed and a book I rated with only 1 star out of 5.

While I love my books I also love gaming and other shiny pretty things. Here is the latest one: a puzzle I got this Christmas from a good friend I met trough a book club. I started on it at New Year’s Eve.

There are some books I have been lugging on “reading” shelf that I mostly ignored for months. I have started reading them again and I’m very optimistic with my progress.

As it turns out the last book I’ve read in 2016. was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. And there is one rather ominous quote that can be applied to my monster TBR list.

To reach goals one must set them first. And this is why I am making plans for my reading in 2017. With mandatory finishing books I started I decided to clean up my TBR a bit.

My To-Be-Read list is closing in on 400 books currently. My goal for 2017. is to get it close to 300. I plan on doing this by finishing some book series and getting to reading books I already own.

 

To keep this plan up I decided to launch a preemptive strike at each month and make a list of books I want to read and things I want to do. I’ve been neglecting my blog because I’ve been having too much fun with some other things and it is time to start writing about them too.

So Happy New Year everyone! May you be blessed with interesting books and fullfilling lives ❤

Monthly reading review – April 2015

This April I have read:

Pale Demon The Hollows: Book 9 by Kim Harrison ★★★★★
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee ★★
That Scandalous Summer Rules for the Reckless: Book 1 by Meredith Duran ★★★★
Gerard’s Beauty Kingdom Series (Hall): Book 2 by Marie Hall ★★

1. How many books you’ve read last month? Are you happy with the amount you read?
I managed to kill my happy reading by getting myself into 3 reading groups…This resulted in having read only 4 books for the whole month. I might have to rethink this and let something go. 

2. What was the book that made a best reading for you last month? Any scenes or character that made a lasting impression?
I would have to go with Pale Demon by Kim Harrison. I’m allways happy to go back to this series. Again love All ❤

 

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

Oh boy! From measly 4 books two were below my expectations. First there was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, I read it as a book club assignment. We had a vivid debate on the topic of Atticus and his parenting methods. I just couldn’t get into this book. It reminded me of Mark Twain and his works which I never liked. The whole racial issues are something I don’t understand. Sure I grew up in a country that has seen violence and intolerance – every few decades around here there is a war – the reasons may vary from religion to politics or sheer ignorance. Yet in all those times in the book where people were considered less for the color of their skin and the pliant response, the slow and disrespectfull marathon to gaining of equal rights that is still going on in some parts of USA; I’m sorry I just can’t say I liked this book.

 

4. How did the books you were reading last month fit in your reading plans if you had any?
The books that were not party of any book club assingments or challenges are the only ones that brought me joy. I need to rethink my priorities…

5. Any updates on the series you are reading or are you starting any new series?
Continued two book series and started only one! Still have a few book series I should try to finish…

6. Would you like to recommend any books or authors you’ve been reading this last month?
More happy books like silly romances and awesome urban fantasy series! I descovered how much less stressed I am when I read those kinds of books. I miss them! More historical romances for all!

General recommendation for The Hollows series by Kim Harrison!

 

Continuing reading for May:

Heart-Shaped Box Joe Hill

Reanimator by H.P. Lovecraft

The Tin Drum (Danzig Trilogy: Book 1) by Günter Grass