Completed Book Challenges 2015

For 2015, I participated in 3 Reading Challenges that are completed, my first 24- Hour Readathon, and there are two challenges that have started that will go through the end of 2015 (I'll save those for a later post). Oh! I also became more involved with this whole book blogging community! Whoot whoot!

I like book challenges because they make me think a little about which books I'm choosing and can also force me out of the comfort zone of my usual books. Well, kind of. For the category- based challenges, there are always those categories that I don't do, usually the ones that I really don't want to read. 

The Goodreads Reading Challenge

For the Goodreads challenge, you get to choose the number of books that you are going to read for the year. I always start with a low and easily completed number. And then I change it as the year goes on. My final indicated goal was 150. I'm actually hoping to end the year with 180 total books read.

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon:

First time, not too shabby though I wanted to finish four whole books and I only got through 3.5. I blame my children who insisted on needing things. The Readathon is twice per year. I might try again in April. Maybe not. 

Readathon reads: 

I am Princess X  by Cherie Priest 

Ariah by B.R. Sanders

Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman

Breakout by Kevin Emerson (not completed for challenge)

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2015:

I think it's annual. Pretty simple: read one book from each category. I only ready 20 of the 24 categories. And I didn't finish the short stories book I chose. Because it was BORING. There's still time to complete a few more categories, but I'm gonna just call it done. I might try again for 2016. 

Challenge	Completed
A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25	White Teeth – Zadie Smith
A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65
A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people)	Queen of the Fall (DNF)
A book published by an indie press	The Sins of the Father – Thelonious Legend
A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ	Ask the Passengers
A book by a person whose gender is different from your own	A Replacement Life
A book that takes place in Asia	A Tale for the Time Being
A book by an author from Africa	Purple Hibiscus – Chimanada Adiche
A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)
A microhistory	Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - by Mary Roach
A YA novel	Reality Boy
A sci-fi novel	Strange Bodies
A romance novel	As You Wish
A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade	A Sense of an Ending
A book that is a retelling of a classic story	Dorothy Must Die, Scarlet, AntiGoddess
An audiobook	So many
A collection of poetry
A book that someone else has recommended to you	Necessary Lies
A book that was originally published in another language	The Dinner
A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind	Saga 1-4
A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure	Everything I Know about Zombies, I learned in Kindergarten
A book published before 1850	Wuthering Heights
A book published this year	The Cost of All Things
A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”)
A sci-fi novel	Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Teen Book Festival 2015 (May 2015):

Rochester has an annual teen book festival. This year there were 30 authors doing book signings and workshops and etc. There were SO many great books I read as part of this challenge. Link here for the post challenge recap. 

Author	Book	Notes
M. T. Anderson	Thirsty, Feed	My thoughts on Feed are on my most recent post.
Jennifer Lynn Barnes	Raised by Wolves	I definitely want to finish this series.
Charles Benoit	Fall from Grace	This was so fun. I’m so glad I read this.
Heather Brewer	Vladimir Chronicles 1- 4	Needing to read more than just the first one really killed my completion time for the challenge!
Jessica Brody	Unremembered	Series to finish
Michael Buckley	Sisters Grimm*	I have the two NERDS books at home. Plan to read.
Matt de la Peña	The Living	This is a series to finish
Ally Condie	Matched	When I head back into the dystopian genre, I’ll look Condi up, again.
Cinda Williams Chima	The Heirs*	LOVE HER…
Sarah Dessen	Just Listen, Truth about Forever*
Kevin Emerson	Exile	I went back and forth about this book. I would give the second one a shot.
Gayle Forman	If I Stay	I had planned to miss all things Forman until some of the hype died down… but this book was good. Though, I think I would have liked a different ending.
April Henry	The night she disappeared
Ellen Hopkins	Burned	WAY better than I thought. The ending caught me by surprise.
Julie Kagawa	The Iron Series*
A. S. King	Reality Boy; Ask the Passengers	One of my new faves, for sure
Jo Knowles	Jumping Off Swings (#1)
Emmy Laybourne	Monument 14
Katie McGarry	Crash into You	This turned out to be the third in a series. Oops. I might have been fine alone, though. It was light reading (for a 474 pages). Good girl, bad boys, messed up family lives. What’s not to love?
Sarah J. Maas	Throne of Glass	A series to finish
Jonathan Maberry	Rot and Ruin*	A series to finish
G. Neri	Yummy	This is the saddest GN in history. I’ll be reading more Neri in the near future.
Jennifer Niven	All the Bright Places	This book is getting a lot of attention. At least it is on my feeds. It was definitely a golden spot of the challenge but I’m glad I was ahead of some of the buzz.
Chris Pallace		Get Mooned – on its way to my library
Jason Reynolds	The Boy in the Black Suit	I plan to also read: When I was the Greatest
Kevin Serwacki	Doorknob& the Parade of Bugs	This was a cute little picture book I had to drive two towns over to read at the library. I’m thinking of adding the bunny to my tattoo.
Neal Shusterman	Bruiser, Unwind*	Already a Fave. Bruiser is one of my top fave books. Still need to finish the Unwind series, though.
Heather Terrell	Fallen Angel	Just picked it up yesterday. It’s on my agenda to finish today.
Terry Trueman	Stuck in Neutral	I’m mad at this book.
James Howe	Bunnicula 1-3	This audiobook had me cracking up. I plan to read The Misfits #1 to see what I think.

Spring 2015 14in4 (March - June 2015):

The 14in4 Book Challenge started as a way for me to challenge one of my booknerd friends, Nicole. I looked around online and found a category-based challenge designed so that the people doing it would read 14 books in 4 months, hence: 14in4. The first time we did it, we stuck pretty close to the one I found, using a point system and shooting to gain the most points. When we did it the second time, I was totally losing my mind to make points make sense to myself and I ditched it all together. There's a current one going right now, but that's a different post. Here's what I read for the one that ended in June. Link here for my post challenge ramblings.

Challenge	Completed
Read a book from one of the US banned book lists.
The basis for a movie that you have already seen.	Jurassic Park - Michael Creighton
A graphic novel (or trade paperback).	Saga Volumes 1-4 - Brian K. Vaugn & Fiona Staples
That you already own but have never read.	Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas
That was recently selected by a local library for book discussion.	Leaving Time - Jodi Picoult
With a character that has your first name.	Delicious Foods - James Hannaham
Set in the decade you were born.	Perfect- Rachel Joyce
In one calendar day. (Must be at least 150 pages long)	Crash Into You - Katie McGarry
Set in a place you’ve never been but want to visit.	How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran
Written by an author of a different racial, religious or ethnic background that you are.	The Living - Matt de la Pena
A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade	A Sense of an Ending (2011 winner)
Written by someone when they were under the age of 25	White Teeth -  Zadie Smith
A retelling of a classic story (e.g., fairy tale, Shakespeare, classic novel, etc)	Scarlett - AC Gaughen
A self- improvement book	**Story of a Happy Marriage (DNF)- Ann Patchett