Sunday Salon meets Weekly Geeks | Time to catch up

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This week’s Weekly Geeks could not have come at a better time. Being away on vacation is great for reading (I polished off three books) but not so great for staying on top of book reviews and challenge updates. So I was pleased when I saw Dew’s challenge for this week:

This week’s theme is: catch up on… something.

Weekly Geeks #6 was catch up on reviews week, but so many of you organized bloggers were caught up with reviews that you chose to catch up on other things. So I kept in mind that a catch-up week every now and then will probably be welcome. At this point, I’m very behind on several blog tasks, so I thought maybe you might be, too!

I have two reviews left to write from my holiday reading – but I’ve just spent a little time updating my challenge lists and thought I’d share them with you.

Completed Challenges

50 Book Challenge – Readers who have been with me for a while might remember that the whole reason for this website was to document my journey to read 50 books during 2008. When I set myself that challenge I never imagined that I would meet so many fantastic people – and learn about so many wonderful books! Instead of reducing my TBR mountain it continues to grow from strength to strength – but I have re-discovered my passion for reading, and thanks to the numerous challenges I’ve signed up for I actually read my 50th book – Animal Farm – on July 26th!

Year to date I’ve read 61 books – I would love to aim for 100 books – but I think a more realistic target would be 75… maybe I’ll go for 100 in 2009

Here are some of the other challenges I’ve completed – all run by some wonderful bookish bloggers:

I Heard it Through the Grapevine – From May 1 to November 30 read at least three books recommended by other readers.

Here’s my list:

1. March by Geraldine Brooks
2. The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay
3. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson
4. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
5. Stardust by Neil Gaiman

The Chunkster Challenge – read at least four books with at least 450 pages by December 20th.

Here’s my list:

1. The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak
2. This is all – Aidan Chambers
3. Hester’s Story by Adele Geras
4. Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
5. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

The Summer Reading Challenge / The Summer Reading Thing -

The Summer Reading challenge requires you to read as many books as you’d like between June and August. The Summer Reading Thing has slightly different dates and runs from June 20 through September 21.

Here’s my list for both challenges:

• Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
  
• What if…? By Steve N. Lee
• Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (The Summer Reading Thing starts here!)
• Anne of Green Gables
• The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson
• Anne of Avonlea
• The Boy in Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
• The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
• Dear John by Norma L. Betz
• No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Matrimony by Josh Henkin
• Anne of the Island
• The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
• Jemima J. by Jane Green (Summer Reading Challenge ends here)
  
• The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay
• Anne of Windy Willows
• Glitz by Louise Bagshaw
• Second Glance by Jodi Picoult
• The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

Failed challenges

It had to happen sooner or later – I signed up for the Chick Lit challenge as I have quite a few of that genre languishing on the TBR – the aim was to read three books between June and September 1, but I could only manage two!

Here’s my list:

1. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
2. Jemima J by Jane Green

I did read Glitz by Louise Bagshaw but unfortunately I didn’t finish it until Spetember 13 – which was outside the timescales

Ongoing challenges

This review has reminded me of ongoing challenges that I need to focus on if I am to complete them! This should help me plan my reading for the next few months – here are some of the books I’ll be reading:

• Anne’s House of Dreams
• Anne of Ingleside
• Rainbow Valley
• Rilla of Ingleside
• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Asichie
• Great Expectations
• three more classics!

How about you? Are you all caught up on your book reviews and challenges? How many challenges have you completed this year? Are you on track to complete everything you signed up for?

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