I was planning to wrap up my 2019 challenges AND list my 2020 goals all in one post, but it ended up being an overwhelming behemoth of a post (that no one would actually read), so I decided to split things up after all. Watch for my 2020 goals, which will be posted on Monday.
A Wrap-Up of My 2019 Reading/Blogging Challenges:
Progress: 24/21-30 Discussions (Chatty Kathy)
Even though I only posted one discussion in December, I averaged out to two a month and met my goal for the year!!
Nicole’s Best Books of the Decade
Tales of a Social Media Failure: Is Bloglovin’ a Thing of the Past?
Goodreads Choice Awards and Paste’s 30 Best Young Adult Novels of the 2010s: What Have I Read?
Tales of a Social Media Failure: AKA, I Don’t Understand Instagram Stories
Books YOU (Yes, You!) Should Nominate for a Cybils Award
I’m a Judge for the 2019 Cybils Awards!
That’s a Wrap! (My Wrap-Up of the SCBWI 2019 LA Summer Conference)
Updating the Blog (a Little) and I Need Your Opinions!
Bookish This or That Tags (x2!)
Goodreads’ YA Books Lists: 2019 Edition.
Why Don’t Illustrators (and Cover Artists) Get More Attention?
How Often Do You “Randomly” Visit New Blogs?
Bookish This or That Tags (x2!)
Goodreads’ YA Books Lists: 2019 Edition. Let’s Discuss.
Have Books Ruined Me for Movies?
“Other Stuff” I Like Reading About on Your Book Blog.
I Want to Post It NOW! (AKA One Reason I Almost Never Blog Ahead.)
I’m Addicted to Exclamation Points!!
The Challenge of Running a Successful Meme (or Challenge!)
How Much Is Too Much? Sometimes Life Is Stranger Than Fiction.
Why Audiobooks Are Important.
Bookworm Confession: Swag Isn’t My Thing.
Why I Love the Book Blog Discussion Challenge (Even When I Fail)
Things I Learned About Fairy Tales By Reading the Grimm’s Versions
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts at Midnight
Progress: 3/12 Classics Read
I pretty much gave up on this challenge early in the year, but this is three more classics than I might have read otherwise, so that’s a win I guess?
19th Century Classic
20th Century Classic – Catcher in the Rye
Classic by a Woman Author – I Capture the Castle
Classic in Translation – Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Classic Comic Novel
Classic Tragic Novel
Very Long Classic
Classic Novella
Classic From the Americas (includes the Caribbean)
Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia)
Classic From a Place You’ve Lived
Classic Play
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Books and Chocolate
Progress: 62/48 Library Books Read
I managed to hit the top tier of this challenge, thanks to all my audiobooks!
Books for this challenge:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Twilight by Joss Whedon, Brad Meltzer, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Retreat by Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Last Gleaming by Joss Whedon, Scott Allie & Georges Jeanty
Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien (audio)
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (audio)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future for You by Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate by Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Time of Your Life by Joss Whedon, Jeph Loeb, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Winter by Marissa Meyer (audio)
Stars Above by Marissa Meyer (audio)
Far From You by Lisa Schroeder
Rebound by Kwame Alexander
The Color of Lies by CJ Lyons (audio)
A Friendly Town That’s Almost Always by the Ocean! by Kir Fox
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Cinder by Marissa Meyer (audio, reread)
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (audio, reread)
Cress by Marissa Meyer (audio, reread)
Fairest by Marissa Meyer (audio)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon & Georges Jeanty (reread)
The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondō & Yuko Uramoto
We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan & Brian Conaghan
The Lonely Ones by Kelsey Sutton
The Language Inside by Holly Thompson
Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels by J. Warner Wallace (audio & ebook)
Slayer by Kiersten White
Oblivion by Jennifer L. Armentrout (audio)
Release by Patrick Ness (audio)
The Whispers by Greg Howard
Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd (audio)
Solo by Kwame Alexander & Mary Rand Hess
Educated by Tara Westover (audio)
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab (audio)
Finale by Stephanie Garber (audio)
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (audio)
George by Alex Gino (audio)
After Zero by Christina Collins (audio)
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (audio)
Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa (audio)
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan (audio)
Birthday by Meredith Russo
How to Worship a King: Prepare Your Heart. Prepare Your World. Prepare The Way. by Zach Neese (audio)
A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold (audio)
White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout (audio, reread)
Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout (audio, reread)
Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout (audio)
Swing by Kwame Alexander & Mary Rand Hess (audio)
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett (audio)
Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye (audio)
The Fire Keeper by JC Cervantes
The Program by Suzanne Young (audio)
Grace Goes to Washington by Kelly DiPucchio
Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio
Slay by Brittney Morris
The Treatment by Suzanne Young (audio, reread)
The Recovery by Suzanne Young (audio)
The Remedy by Suzanne Young (audio)
The Epidemic by Suzanne Young (audio)
The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand (audio)
Storm and Fury by Jennifer Armentrout (audio)
All of Me by Chris Baron
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Angel’s Guilty Pleasures
Progress: 17 (~1 Connect 5 per month)
I did fantastic with this challenge!! I posted one Connect 5 per month, and I have plenty to spare (they end up building up at the end of the year as lists get filled.)
Themes I Hadn’t Posted Yet:
Since I mostly only posted one of these a month, I have a few extras to share now!
Space/Sky
Stars Above – Had to choose something from The Lunar Chronicles for this category, of course!
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe – Yep, they break the whole universe—that’s some space for you. 🙂
Starry Eyes – The two main characters in this book go on a camping trip to see an astronomical event. (Writing this made me realize I never posted my review of this book! I had planned to do a dual review with someone but they never replied, so I never posted it! Guess I’ll do that in 2020.)
Planet Earth is Blue – The autistic MC is eagerly awaiting the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger in this one.
The Toll – This is the only option that doesn’t have space in the title, but space ends up being an important part of the book!
Memoirs/Biographies
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood – This Trevor Noah memoir was fantastic!
Hey, Kiddo – My first memoir in graphic novel form!
Educated – Wow! Tara Westover’s memoir is incredible, and how do people live that way?
Becoming – I actually never ended up reviewing this on the blog, but I LOVED getting to know Michelle Obama in this book and found it far more fascinating than I expected to.
Becoming RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Journey to Justice – Look at that: the two books I read about political figures both have “Becoming” in the title. This is another graphic novel (this time, a biography), and it was fascinating!
Historical Fiction
Between Before and After – This story alternates between 1955 and 1918 (up to the early 20’s).
Voices – Historical fiction based on Joan of Arc.
Cape – This one takes place during WWII.
The Lady Rogue – A gothic historical paranormal novel.
Gods & Kings – I read this book with my Bible study group (but didn’t post a review on the blog). This one is Biblical Fiction based on Hezekiah (a king who’s featured briefly in 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles in the Bible).
Alliteration in the Title
Samantha Spinner and the Super Secret Plans
Samantha Spinner and the Spectacular Specs
Cold-Case Christianity
Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss
Friend or Fiction
Set Outside the US
Dear Haiti, Love Alaine – I’ll bet you can guess where this one is set?
The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story – A manga set in … Japan (you guys are really good at guessing).
The Fire Keeper – Shoot! I can’t remember where this one is set, except that they’ve moved to some remote island somewhere to escape the Mayan Gods (it doesn’t work).
Chosen – This series takes place in Ireland. (I reviewed this one in 2020, but I read it in 2019!)
Slay – Parts of this book take place in France (because it’s dual POV).
Fandoms
The Geek’s Guide to Unrequited Love – This whole book centers around a trip to Comic Con.
Geekerella – This one is about a con for a (fictional) famous sci-fi movie.
Shred Girls – In this book, the MC is a HUGE superhero fan, and she thinks her cousin might actually be a supervillain.
Secrets of a Fangirl – The MC in this book doesn’t want anyone at school to know she’s still a superfan of a series everyone loved when they were kids.
Carry On – While this book didn’t contain a fandom, the whole book is based on fanfiction written by Cath in Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl!
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Book Date
Progress: 6/12 Books Read
I sort of gave up on this challenge, I’ll confess. Someday I’ll read all these books. Someday.
- Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (2016)
- The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner (2016)
- Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab (2017)
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (2015)
- Winter by Marissa Meyer (2015)
- Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (2015)
- UnBound by Neal Shusterman (2015)
- Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes (2016)
- Geekerella by Ashley Poston (2017)
- History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera (2017)
- Every Last Breath by Jennifer Armentrout (2015)
- Alienated by Melissa Landers (2014)
Alternates:
- The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis (2016)
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973)
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Roof Beam Reader
My bookish resolutions for 2019:
- Write the first draft of new MG. I’m very sad and disappointed in myself that I didn’t meet this goal. My writing is going to be my highest priority in 2020.
- Read 1 review book for every 1 that I receive. I got 4 books for review in December. Which means, in 2019 I received 96 books for review. But I only posted a few reviews in December, only 1 of which was a review book. So that means I only reviewed 93 review books in 2019, putting me short of my goal. (But I actually read five review books that I just didn’t get to posting reviews for—because of the way I’ve been tabulating this, they don’t count. But I guess they’ll put me ahead in 2020!)
- Read at least 6 books on the craft of writing. Nope. I read two. But I did go to conferences and attend writing groups, etc., so I actually feel like I did pretty well with this.
- Read at least 12 books written in verse. (Since I’m writing my next book in verse.) I was great about this at the beginning of the year, but fell off when I stopped writing toward the end of the year. I only read 8.
Query 50 agents. Or get an agent. ? (I was a wimp and I only queried 12 agents in 2018. At that rate, I might get an agent in like 2050.)Crossed this one off in February when I signed with East/West Literary!! Sadly, my book hasn’t sold yet but send me prayers and good wishes that 2020 is the year!
Non-bookish resolution for 2019:
(This one doesn’t count for the challenge, but I’m putting it here so it’s with my other stuff and I’ll hopefully pay attention to it.)
- Work out 3 times per week. Hahahahahahaha!
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Because Challenges Make Reading More Fun
I think you did very well on your challenges.
Thanks!!
great job. i saved this email because i see a couple challenges i’ll be looking for this year. i didn’t do the library challenge last year, but i am definitely doing it this year. the tbr challenge may motivate me to clear off some of those books i want to read but keep putting them on the back burner
I did a mid-year wrap-up where I calculated how much money my library books (especially audiobooks) had saved me, and it was an OUTRAGEOUS amount!!
I don’t think you failed at all, you read some amazing books and made headway in every challenge. So yay you for that! Here’s hoping 2020 is your best year yet and that you discover lots of books you love with your whole heart!
I definitely failed a few of the actual challenges, but I feel pretty good about how the year went—definitely want to focus more on my writing in 2020 though!
You deserve a round of applause, because you did great! I love the connect five challenge. I have to check that out.
This year, Kathryn @ Book Date is doing Connect 5 as a weekly link-up. You should definitely check it out!
You did well on your challenges. Good luck 2020 on any you do.
Thank you!!!
You did really well with your challenges! The Classics one feels like it would be super difficult so I’m not surprised that one was abandoned but, as you say, you’ve still struck off 3!
Good luck with your writing this year and I’ve crossed my fingers for your book selling!
Yeah, I honestly don’t think I would have made any effort at all to read classics if it hadn’t been for the challenge, so I still call it a win.
Wow, I think you did amazing on your challenges, you had so many! I loved seeing what challenges you joined + what you read (and I saw some fun books).
As for my challenges? I don’t really do a lot of challenges, but I do participate in 2 in one of my Goodreads group, and at the end of the year I check how I did in the Popsugar challenge. Maybe I should pick up more challenges… but I always forget about them after a while and then don’t feel up to the task to check out all my read books to see if anything matches. 😛
I do a recap of my challenges every month in my wrap-up, otherwise I’d probably forget about them too!
That was a lot of challenges! I used to do them but now I don’t. I should do a library challenge though because all my favorite books of 2020 have been from the library!
Angela’s doing the library challenge again this year, so you should definitely check it out!!
You had a lot of challenges and goals, so honestly, I think you did great. *fingers crossed* that your book sells this year, and I hope that you can write more in 2020 in general. That’s one of my big goals too, which means I need to read/blog less because those things take up a lot of time and I find that I don’t have the energy/motivation to write my own book if I’m doing those other things.
-Lauren
I’m really hoping that my book sells. It’s been a very long waiting game so far, which can get frustrating, but I just have to focus on the long goals.
Ahh wow, you had such a huge amount of challenges last year, wow. I think you did pretty well on all of these though, that’s fantastic! I hope you can focus on your writing more this year, it’s always so complicated with everything else going on, but you can do this! <3
Yeah, I do this to myself like every other year—I’ll sign up for too many challenges, and then fail and then the next year I’ll scale way back and then the next year I sign up for too many again. Someday I might learn. But probably not. LOL!
You did good on a lot of your goals! I want so bad to focus on my writing in 2020, but must change some stuff first. We’ll see. Not joining into the discussion challenge this year since I can’t seem to complete it. I also am going to work on my TBR pile this year. I hope!
Well, if you end up writing any discussion posts, feel free to link them up anyway (I don’t want to miss them!). 🙂
Looks like you made some good great headway on these!
Yes, I’m pretty satisfied, even though I definitely didn’t make all my goals.
You put amazing amount of thought and effort into this post with so many challenges! It blew my mind. I am impressed with your organizational skills, so bravo for an excellent year of books.
It always makes me laugh when people say they’re amazed at my organizational skills because I feel like I have none at all. LOL! I guess, when I look at these wrap-ups, though, I see that I’m not as hopeless as I thought. 🙂