Tag Archives: reading challenges

2011 TBR Pile Challenge – check in

Posted by melydia on June 22, 2011 None comments


2011TBR

Adam from Roof Beam Reader popped by the other day to remind me about the 2011 TBR Pile Challenge I’d signed up for some 6 months ago. It’s a good thing he did, because I’d forgotten all about it. Let’s check in, shall we?

  1. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
  2. Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer
  3. Adventures by Mike Resnick
  4. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
  5. Jennifer Government by Max Barry
  6. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
  7. Suburban Safari by Hannah Holmes
  8. As Nature Made Him by John Colapinto
  9. Uncivilized Beasts and Shameless Hellions by John F. Burnett
  10. Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell
  11. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
  12. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

My alternates:

  1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  2. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

Hmm. Well, I did manage to read The Graveyard Book but nothing else so far. I also did a major sweep of my TBR pile and got rid of Suburban Safari, Uncivilized Beasts and Shameless Hellions, and A Walk in the Woods. I guess that means I’ve failed the challenge already.

The truth is, I’ve been spending so much time reading and reviewing new books that I haven’t been making any progress whatsoever on my existing TBR pile. Perhaps I’ll be able to get caught up (somewhat) during my current hiatus…but no promises.

Books Won Reading Challenge 2010 – recap

Posted by melydia on January 7, 2011 1 comments

Back in December of last year, I joined the Books Won Reading Challenge. I managed to read 7 of the books on my list:

1. Heresy by S.J. Parris
2. Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh
3. The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight by Gina Ochsner
4. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
5. Absolute Power by David Baldacci
6. Juliet by Anne Fortier
7. The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide by John McNally

This qualifies me for a “silver” medal, and in fact I tied for most books read according to the final standings. That’s kind of nifty. I’m not signing up again this year but it was a fun way to get some of the newer books off the shelf.

Reading Challenges for 2011

Posted by melydia on December 22, 2010 2 comments

The lovely and talented kel_light has inspired me to sign up for some reading challenges for the coming year.

Bewitched Bookworms

Whisper Stories in my Ear, hosted by Bewitched Bookworms, is an interesting audiobook challenge based on the number of hours you spend listening. This means I’ll have to start paying attention to the length of these books beyond the number of discs.

Speaking of audiobooks…

Teresa’s Reading Corner is also hosting a 2011 Audio Book Challenge. This one is in terms of number of audio books completed. Unless something drastic changes in my commute time, I fully expect to earn the “obsessed” badge on this one.

Last but not least:


MizB is hosting what appears to be a fairly casual Read’n’Review Challenge. I review pretty much every book I read as it is, so I figure I’m a shoo-in for this challenge. :)

Okay, so I admit that these aren’t exactly the most challenging of challenges for me. But to be honest, I am so behind on my reading – especially books sent to me for review – that I am wary to sign up for more, particularly if they require me to accumulate more books just to fit the theme. My TBR pile is already set to topple.

What about you? Are you participating in any reading challenges this year?

The 2011 TBR Pile Challenge

Posted by melydia on December 21, 2010 7 comments


2011TBR

I happened upon this 2011 TBR Pile Challenge over at A Novel Challenge and figured, “12 books is nothing. I can do this.” And so I’ve signed up.  At worst, it’ll get some oldies off the shelf to make room for newbies.

My list:

  1. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
  2. Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer
  3. Adventures by Mike Resnick
  4. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
  5. Jennifer Government by Max Barry
  6. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
  7. Suburban Safari by Hannah Holmes
  8. As Nature Made Him by John Colapinto
  9. Uncivilized Beasts and Shameless Hellions by John F. Burnett
  10. Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell
  11. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
  12. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

My alternates:

  1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  2. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

Books Won Reading Challenge

Posted by melydia on December 23, 2009 3 comments

Not so very long ago, I decided I needed a little pick-me-up and entered roughly eleventy-billion book contests on various blogs and websites. Then, rather unexpectedly, I started winning them. None have arrived yet, but I’ve received enough notifications that it seems fitting for me to join the Books Won Reading Challenge. Here are the “award” levels:

Honorable Mention: Read 1-3 book you won.
Bronze: Read 4-6 books you won.
Silver: Read 7-9 Books you won.
Gold: Read 10 or more books you won.

I’m not sure I’ve won enough to be eligible for silver or gold, but we’ll see how it goes. So for now I’ll say I’m going for the Bronze. My list so far:

* Heresy by S.J. Parris
* Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh
* The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight by Gina Ochsner
* The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
* Absolute Power by David Baldacci
* Juliet by Anne Fortier
* The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide by John McNally
* The Animal Review by Jacob Lentz
* Talking to Girls about Duran Duran by Rob Sheffield
* 101 Things I Learned in Fashion School by Alfredo Cabrera

I may have won more that I don’t know about. Sometimes books just show up long after I’ve forgotten about them.  This is a good challenge for me, though.  Sometimes I need help prioritizing my TBR pile.

Edit: I will be linking to my reviews as I read them, adding more books as I win them, and removing books I won that I’ve since realized I am simply never going to read. The original version of this list had 7 items.

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