Wednesday, December 16, 2015

2015 Reading Challenge




Remember this? I'm sure you do as it was plastered all over Pinterest and I think I saw it at least 32,486 times during the month of January alone. 

Anyway, I pretty much ignored it, feeling like I would be lucky to read 5 books that would fit the listed categories.

Guess what?!!? I was wrong!

Last night, I stumbled upon this gem, the 2016 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge, which reminded me of the 2015 version. 


I quickly printed off both with plans to make an official attempt at the challenge in 2016 and then to also see just how many books I read that might fit the 2015 challenge. Surprise, surprise!

So, for the 2015 challenge, I read 20 books on the challenge list of 50. Not quite 50% but then my overall reading for the year was way down as well. 

Here's what I read for the challenge:

A book with more than 500 pages - The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
A book published this year - Saving Mr. Terupt by Robert Buyea
A book with a number in the title - Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
A funny book - Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
A book by a female author - The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
A book with a one-word title - Charleston by Margaret Bradham Thornton
A book set in a different country - The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
A nonfiction book - The Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner
A popular author's first book - How to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet - All the Single Ladies by Dorothea Benton Frank
A mystery/thriller - The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
A book a friend recommended - Gods & Kings by Lynn Austin
A Pulitzer Prize-winning book - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
A memoir - Yes, Please by Amy Poehler
A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit - The Last Summer in Chelsea Beach by Pam Jenoff - set in London and Washington D.C.
A book with a color in the title - Touchblue by Cynthia Lord
A book with magic - Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty
A book by an author you've never read - The Color of Secrets by Lindsay Ashford
A book you own but have never read - The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy
A book with bad reviews: Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee (I read lots of negative about this book)

I'm pretty happy with my results and I may just try to squeeze in one more before 2015 closes for the category "A book that came out the year you were born" -It just so happens that The Hiding Place by Cora Ten Boom was published in 1971 and has been on my "to-read" list for a while now.


3 comments:

~**Dawn**~ said...

I had to see how my reading for 2015 fared against the checklist! (I cannot resist a list. LOL) Of the 37 books I have finished, I was able to mark off 25 on the list! And it could have been 26, but only one book could apply for either non-human characters or magic, so I had to pick one. I have my 2016 reading list built already. Now I'm curious how the books I have chosen will match with the new list.

*krystyn* said...

@dawn - wow you knocked off a lot on that list..great job!!! I had the same issue with the magic/non-human character too!!

~**Dawn**~ said...

What's really funny is that I probably would have struggled if I had set out to accomplish this, as opposed to seeing how it matched up after the fact. I don't like feeling like my reading is forced! LOL