Wednesday 29 April 2015

2015 challenges update

I meant to do quarterly challenge updates this year but for some reason it just didn't happen at the end of March. I think I just forgot to be honest, or else had a lot of other posts going on. So, anyway it looks like I'll be doing updates every 4 months instead... I've no idea what you would call that, thirdly? Doesn't sound quite right...

Anyway, this year I'm doing 3 challenges which run throughout the year, and am also in the middle of a 3 month one. These are they:

1. Bev's 2015 Mount TBR challenge.


I signed up to the Mont Blanc level which is to read 24 books throughout the year. So far I've read 10 with the 11th. book well on the way to being finished, so that one is going well.


2. The Victorian Bingo challenge.


This is a bingo card style of challenge and for it I need to read at least 5 books. So far I've only read one. That's not very good going but I have plenty of time to catch up and plenty of books to choose from. Some are suited to Carl's R.I.P. autumn challenge as well so I'll double up when I do that.


3. The Southern Literature reading challenge.


For this I signed up for 'Pull up a seat and stay a while!'. Which is to read 3 or 4 books in the course of this year. So far I've read one, which is ok... not wonderful... but I have no fears that I won't finish this one.


4. Carl's Once Upon a Time IX.


I'm doing Quest the First which is to read 5 or more books between the 21st. March and the 21st. June. My total so far is 4 so that one is going swimmingly. I would expect to read at least 2 or 3 more for that challenge.


Lastly, as part of Bev's Mount TBR challenge I set myself the challenge of reading as many as possible from this shelf of books:


I put 24 books there. It's a coincidence that it's the same number as I need to read for the challenge, my aim really was to try and clear some of these books as I didn't think all of them was a realistic aim. I still feel that way. Anyway, here's what the shelf looks like now:


It might not look all that different but in fact there are 6 books missing from it. I've read 5 and the 6th. - the Agatha Christie autobiography - is coming along nicely. So, in actual fact, almost a quarter of the books have been read and I'm really quite pleased with that.

So, some challenges going really well, others not so well, but luckily I have plenty of time to catch up. And really the plan this year was to take it a bit easier with challenges and that's what I've done. It's much more casual and a lot more fun, I find, to do just a few that interest me.

And to finish this post... here's another thing I've been doing over the past week or so:


Happy reading or jigsaw puzzling, if you're an enthusiast like me.

~~~oOo~~~

4 comments:

DesLily said...

wow you are doing great ! I notice you do a bit of what I do when trying to "dwindle the pile"... read the smaller books first! It is a good feeling to be rid of 3 instead of 1 . I have so many big books and biography type books it isn't funny but haven't gotten tired of the mystery books yet. I am reading the Dan Simmons book right now and it's rather large but going well.

Kay said...

Well, when they have 3 sections of school instead of two (semester), they call it trimester. You'd could say you are reporting for this trimester. LOL

I can tell a difference in that shelf. Some big books gone. Enjoy your reading in a more easy going style. :-)

BooksPlease said...

Well done Cath! It's so easy to be tempted to try too many challenges, which is what I have done and I still feel pressured because I've not read many in some of them. Currently I'm falling behind with the Mount TBR Challenge, as I keep getting new books and library books.

And fitting in a jigsaw is a great achievement - the one I started at Christmas is now much as it was at New Year!!

Cath said...

Pat: There are no smaller books in this lot of books. That was really stupid of me wasn't it? LOL!!! Seriously... I planned to get some of my chunky books read this year... it's called being a glutton for punishment. lol

Which Dan Simmons are you reading, Pat?

Kay: LOL!!! I love it. Thanks for that brilliant suggestion.

Yes, some quite chunky ones gone off the pile and I'm very happy about that. Means my cunning plan is working so far this year.

Thank you, I will.

Margaret: Thank you. I just felt I couldn't cope with another pressured year of challenges, even though I really enjoyed doing them last year. I'm actually wondering if I'm achieving more by 'not' doing them to be honest.

I mainly do jigsaws online now but, as with books, I have a huge pile of them to do and must crack on so that I can return them to my daughter or pop them to the charity shop.