2012 Challenges in Review



For the past several years I have silently done reading challenges without signing up. In 2013 I'm branching out and signing up officially. Hopefully that doesn't slow me down on the reading, which is the whole point anyway.

In 2012, I did pretty well. I completed three according to all the rules. I completed another, but broke my personal rule, and failed at one, but enjoyed several American classics.

A to Z Reading Challenge 2012 - Completed
Just finished today with a book by Ellery Queen for the Author Q slot. I really enjoy this Challenge in 2012.

2012 Dewey Decimal Reading Challenge - Completed
I said I'd read 12. I  doubled my goal. Go me!

Willa Cather Novel Reading - Challenge 2012 - Failed;-(
Well I failed sort of. I read 7 of the 12 books. But I enjoyed the ones I read. And someday I'll probably read the others. Willa Cather is an awesome American Author!

What's in a Name 5 Challenge 2012 - COMPLETED
One of my very favorites!

Read Your Name - COMPLETED
But I didn't follow my own rule and only read my TBR pile. Shame on me. (I did read seven enjoyable books!)

Also just to brag (because that is basically what talking about your achieved goals is but hey, I deserve it. I read alot) I accomplished this:

Read 178 books
Read about 50,000 pages (I could tell you for sure, if I didn't have a whole abandoned shelf that Goodreads is figuring into my total.)
The longest was Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick which rather seems like cheating, but oh well...
I read mostly young adult fiction, followed by adult novels and mysteries in about equal measures, and then nonfiction.
I read 14 books that I really loved.
Not included in this or on my Goodreads page, I read the four Gospels in the New Testament. (Also a goal this year.)

It was a good year.

A to Z Reading Challenge 2012 - Completed

A to Z challenge: Read books alphabetically by title and/or author.
I've done this before. It almost killed me in 2010, but why not do it again? Right?

Authors

Arkin, Alan - The Lemming Condition
Bauer, Joan - Peeled
Cather, Willa - Alexander's Bridge
Devereux, Jude - Moonlight in the Morning
Estes, Eleanor - Rufus M.
Farmer, Nancy - A Girl Named Disaster
George, Jessica Day - Tuesdays at the Castle
Hannigan, Katherine - True (sort of)
Ivey, Eowyn - The Snow Child
James, Will - Smoky the Cowhorse
Kilpack, Josi - Pumpkin Roll
Lemmon, Gayle Tezmach - The Dressmaker of Khair Khana
Myracle, Lauren - Peace, Love, & Baby Ducks
Neville, Emily Cheney - It's Like This Cat
O'Dell, Scott - The King's Fifth
Peck, Robert - Soup
Queen, Ellery - The Tragedy of Y
Richmond, Alyson - The Lost Wife
Sankovitch, Nina - Tolstoy and the Purple Chair
Trigiani, Adriana - Viola in Reel Life
Ullman, James Ramsey Banner in the Sky
VanLiere, Donna - The Angels of Morgan Hill
Willig, Lauren - The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
FoX, Paula - The Slave Dancer
Yelchin, Eugene - Breaking Stalin's Nose
Zhang Bin, Benjamin - Orange

Titles

Aquamarine - Alice Hoffman
Billy Creekmore - Tracy Porter
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy - Ally Carter
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover - Ally Carter
Enchanted Ivy - Sarah Beth Durst
Finally - Wendy Mass
Gone: A Novel - Cathi Hanauer
Here Lies Bridget - Paige Harbison
Interrupted: A Life Beyond Words - Rachel Coker
Just One Wish - Janette Rallison
Kneeknock Rise - Natalie Babbitt
Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter - Jennifer Reese
Not Becoming My Mother - Ruth Reichl
O Pioneers! - Willa Cather
Petey - Mikaelsen, Ben
Q: A Novel - Evan Mandery
Room - Emma Donoghue
Song of a Lark - Willa Cather
Till We Have Faces - C. S. Lewis
Unmeasured Strength - Lauren Manning
V is for Vengeance - Sue Grafton
Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
HeX Hall - Rachel Hawkins
Yellow Star - Jennifer Roy
Zora and Me - Victoria Bond

This is it for challenges. (Unless I really find something I can't live without.)

2012 Dewey Decimal Reading Challenge - Completed!

The Challenge:  Read any non-fiction book(s), adult or young adult. That's it. You can choose anything. Poetry? Yes. Memoirs? Yes. History? Yes. Travel? Yes. You get the idea? Absolutely anything that is classified as non-fiction counts for this challenge.

I always like levels in my challenges, so here are mine:

Dilettante--Read 1-5 non-fiction books

Explorer--Read 6-10

Seeker--Read 11-15

Master--Read 16-20

This challenge will last from January 1 to December 31, 2012. You can sign up anytime throughout the year. Visit this post.

So I want to read 12. Maybe I'll get more. We'll see. 

1. The Man Who Never Was by Ewen Montague 
2. Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese
3. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tezmach Lemmon
4. How to Talk So Teens will Listen and Listen so Teens will Talk by Adele Faber
5. Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey
6. The Grantwriter's Internet Companion by Susan Lee Peterson
7. Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carvarnon
8. This is Believe: On Motherhood by Dan Gediman
9. Who Dares Wins by Bob Mayer
10. Mud, Sweat, and Gears by Joe Kurmanskie
11. The Man in the Rockefeller Suit by Mark Seal
12. Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman
13. Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
14. Dibs in Search of Self by Virginia Axline
15. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
16. Swagger: 10 Urgent Rules for Raising Boys by Lisa Bloom
17. A Course in Weight Loss by Marianne Williamson
18. Farm City by Novella Carpenter
19. Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St. John
20. The Woman Who Wasn't There by Robin Gaby Fisher
21. Cheating Destiny by James S. Hirsch
22. Unmeasured Strength by Lauren Manning
23. The Clumsiest People in Europe by Favell Lee Mortimer
24. Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter by Melissa G. Moore

Update 12/29/12 - Well I guess I  doubled my goal. Go me!

WildmooBooks: Take the Willa Cather Novel Reading - Challenge 2012 - Failed;-(

Update 12/29/12 - Well I failed sort of. I read 7 of the 12 books. But I enjoyed the ones I read. And someday I'll probably read the others. Willa Cather is an awesome American Author!

I love reading challenges and this one sounds fun. I'm ready with the first short story on my shelf to start January 1!

Here is a link to the post about it. 

And here is the Challenge:

The Challenge:

Read one Willa Cather novel each month in order of publication from January through December 2012.

The Reading List:

1. January: Alexander's Bridge (1912)
2. February: O Pioneers! (1913)
3. March: The Song of the Lark (1915)
4. April: My Ántonia (1918)
5. May: One of Ours (1922)
6. June: A Lost Lady (1923)
7. July: The Professor's House (1925)
8. August: My Mortal Enemy (1926)
9. September: Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927)
10. October: Shadows on the Rock (1931)
11. November: Lucy Gayheart (1935)
12. December: Sapphira and the Slave Girl (1940)

Guidelines for this Challenge:

1. Read all 12 of Willa Cather's novels in order of their publication, one per month, from January 2012 through December 2012.

2. Sign-up/express your interest in participating in the comments section below. If you find this challenge after January feel free to jump in.

3. If you have a blog please post the badge/image on your site with a link back to this post for others to find. - I tried. I couldn't. Please follow the link and see if you can make it work, because I'm unable.

How this will work:

1. I'll write a post on the first day of each month reminding everyone what book is up for the month and will provide a little background or interesting information about the novel.

2. I'll post my thoughts about the book on the third Monday of each month.

3. Share your thoughts each month about the novel--however brief or detailed--in the comments section of my post on the novel.

4. If you have a blog, provide the link to the post that you write for your blog in the comments section for others to find. OR, if you don't have a blog but post reviews on Goodreads, LibraryThing, or elsewhere, provide the link to your review in the comments section.

The Un-Rule for this challenge:

I'd love for more people to discover Willa Cather's novels and their diversity. I hope you'll join me in reading all 12 novels, but if you don't have the time to commit to all 12, please feel free to join in for a few of the novels or even just one. My only request is that you read the novel in 2012 and not refer only to a past reading experience.

WildmooBooks: Take the Willa Cather Novel Reading Challenge 2012!

What's in a Name 5 Challenge 2012 - COMPLETED

Yet another reading challenge. I love this one and have been doing it , without signing up of course, since the beginning.

Here is the link to the sign up post.

Here is my list:

Between January 1 and December 31, 2012, read one book in each of the following categories:

1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
2. A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
   
3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title: Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers
   
4. A book with a type of house in the title: The Professor's House by Willa Cather
   
5. A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis
   
6. A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title: Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

Read Your Name - COMPLETED

I love challenges and reading down my TBR list so here is another one for motivation. If you want to actually follow the rules and sign up and maybe get prizes and stuff go here: Read Your Name 2012

Or you can be like me and give Victoria credit for a great idea, come up with a lovely list of books off your Goodreads TBR page, and then proceed to read them on your own without much fanfare.

I'll bold them when I finish them.

King's Fifth
Rufus M. or Rammer, Jammer, Yellow Hammer
It's Like This Cat
Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter
Tongue of Fire
Enchanted Ivy
Not Becoming My Mother or Number the Stars