This year is speeding by, the way they do more and more…let’s take a quick look at the challenges and goals I set for the year
I’d hoped to keep charging ahead with Grandpappy’s Corner and Literary Locals, and while those haven’t completely died off, I haven’t done that much with them. I think the next couple of months should bear fruit along those lines, though. We’ll see. HC Chats are plugging around.
How’s the perennial, “Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own” goal going? I think I’m seeing what we’d report as “slippage” in some status reports at work. The next two months will really help with this if, and that’s a big if, I can keep my wallet in my pocket.
| Audio | E-book | Physical | Goodreads Want-to-Read |
NetGalley Shelf/ARCs/Review Copies |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of 2024 | 3 | 68 | 78 | 167 | 10 |
| End of 1st Quarter | 5 | 72 | 77 | 172 | 11 |
| End of 2nd Quarter | 5 | 76 | 92 | 175 | 9 |
| End of 3rd Quarter | – | – | – | – | – |
| End of 2025 | – | – | – | – | – |
2025 Book Challenges
Goodreads Challenge
No worries on that front.
Read Every Day in February for the American Cancer Society
Nailed it. Even better, we raised a couple of hundred dollars.
Reading with Wrigs
I could be doing better, but I’m still feeling bullish.
-
- Religious theme: The Pilgrim’s Regress by C.S. Lewis
- Set in a confined space: Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
- A book with a map: The Price of Power by Michael Michel (technically not completed during the first quarter, but…)
- About happiness or gratitude: Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (one of the cover blurbs called it a novel about gratitude, I can mostly see it, but I’m not sure yet. Consider this a placeholder in case something else doesn’t come along)
The 2025 Booktempter’s TBR Challenge
January–First steps: You have my permission to read the last book you added to the TBR pile: Sword & Thistle by S.L. Rowland
February: Short and Sweet: Read 28 short stories – they can be in magazine, anthology or collection form. You don’t even have to finish the books! Just 28 tales to read: Promise by Christi Nogle and Passageways edited by Rebecca Carey Lyles
March – Ready Steady Go!: Start a series, or the next book in a series that has been lingering on those shelves: Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames
April – Easter Eggs: Read a book about stories within stories: Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
May – The Random Factor: Pick the fifth book you spot in your pile/shelf/ebook library: Body Breaker by M.R. Craven
June – Use the daylight/long reading night: Read the longest book in the TBR pile: The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (not technically finished in June, but close enough)
Further Up and Further In
I’m one book behind here, and I think the next two months may mess with it even more. But I’m not worried about the pacing. I am a little worried that I have to deal with A Grief Observed soon. That one just wrecks me…
25 in ’25
Ouch. This is really not good.
Auditing Challenges
I’m not sure that I want to commit to these, but I saw them on Bookforager’s page, and wanted to give them a shot–they look fun. So I’m going to track them, and if I happen to do well with them, great. If not…oh, well.
(yeah, that’s true with all of these, but I’m sort of calling my shot with the above)
Alphabet Reading Challenge
Not bad…
(yes, the fonts don’t all match. I couldn’t remember what I used last quarter–and undoubtedly, next quarter I’ll forget again. Let’s pretend it was intentional to make it clear what quarter I read what in. Yyyyyyeeeahhhh, that’s the ticket.)
Picture Prompt Book Bingo Challenge for 2025
| 1. A prehistoric flint knapped stone knife | 2. A lighthouse | 3. An apple on a leafy branch | 4. An archery target with three arrows in it |
| 5. A very large mechanical telescope Pushing Ice |
6. A human skull Silence of the Dead |
7. A stag | 8. The ruins of a temple-like structure |
| 9. A crab | 10. A sheaf of wheat | 11. An old mechanical typewriter Blood Over Bright Haven |
12. A cluster of four mushrooms |
| 13. A fringed umbrella/parasol | 14. A chemistry set-up of bottles and tubes A Drop of Corruption |
15. A stylized sun with a human face That Hideous Strength |
16. A Roman helmet The Bright Sword |
Not bad…and yes, again, I’m counting The Bright Sword even though I finished it in July.
I’m in decent shape, overall…
allysonyj
Holy macaroli! You accept so many challenges! (of course, some of them overlap, so you can check off a bunch with one title, but still.) I have the Goodreads challenge and am a bunch of books behind on that one. But then, I tend to dive into huge books.
HCNewton
Yeah, you do tend to go for the chonky books.
I told myself I wasn’t going to do that many this year…but they all looked so fun (and yes, being able to use the same book for multiple entries really helps!)