Saturday, December 19, 2009

Unfinished Challenges for 2009

As 2009 draws to a close I know that there are a few of my challenges that I'm not going to finish...and so I'm officially giving up on them.


The Read Your Own Books Challenge was probably the hardest one for me, and also the one I did the worst on. I think that is pretty funny considering these are all books that I picked out from my TBR, and yet I never got around to reading them.

I finished 4/10 books on this list. I also should, but probably won't, be trying this particular challenge next year.

1. The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant
2. Dry by Augusten Burroughs, (review)
3. The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory (review)
4. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
5. The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis (review)
6. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfork Cross (review)
7. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
8. The Constant Princess by Phillipa Gregory
9. Amagansett by Mark Mills
10. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson



Another challenge I struggled on was the Classics Challenge. There are so many classics I want to read, but I never seem to make time for them with new books always showing up on my shelves. I read 3/4 books for this challenge and am pretty happy with this result. I also did a classics challenge last year and didn't read a single book for it. This may be one I try again in 2010.

1. My Antonia by Willa Cather (review), audio
2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (review coming soon)
3. The Pearl by John Steinbeck (review coming soon)




The last challenge I was unable to complete was the Book Awards III Challenge. I only completed 3/5 for this challenge. I know I had more award winning books on my shelves, but I never felt compelled to read any of them. I'll probably be skipping this one if it's held again.

1. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (review) - Pulitzer Prize Winner
2. Let Me Go by Helga Schneider (review) - D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, Listen Up Award
3. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (review) - Romantic Novel of the Year Award



As of right now I am still one book away from completing the War Through the Generations Challenge, and am 100 pages into my last book for it. Since I'm so close, I'm going to work hard on completing it in the next couple of weeks. So far, I've read 4/5 for this challenge.

1. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen (review)
2. Resistance by Anita Shreve (review)
3. Let Me Go by Helga Schneider (review), audio
4. Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas (review)

5 comments:

A Bookshelf Monstrosity said...

I'm sure there are quite a few challenges I will end up not finishing for 2010. I'm signed up for 16 as of right now! Pretty over the top, I guess...

Sandy Nawrot said...

I didn't do too bad this year. I tried but failed to read all of the Outlander series. I'll finish them at some point, but I got burned out. I have another challenge, the Random Reading Challenge, that is looking pretty pathetic right now. It doesn't end until sometime next spring I think, but I'm in free fall. Such is life, huh?

Ambrosia @ The Purple Booker said...

Don't worry about not finnishing challenges. I managed to finnish allof mine but the main challenge I took on which I thought was pretty funny.

Kaye said...

you still did very well. I didn't complete the WWII challenge and have thrown in the towel on that one. I only signed up for 2 challenges in 2010. Hopefully I can keep that under control. have a great week and a wonderful holiday.

Lisa said...

But the point is you tried and it worked to motivate yourself to read things you might not have gotten to otherwise.