Back in the waning days of 2023, when I decided on my reading challenges for 2024, I had hoped I would find more time and motivation for reading. Well, I was taken a little by surprise when I was able to shift from part-time to full-time hours at my job starting in January, and I realized that would affect how much time and energy I'd have for a lot of things. Reading included. There were some ebbs and flows over the year, and I wound up with about the same number of books read as in 2023. It's tempting to be disappointed when I see others reading 60 or 70 or 100 books in a year, but after all, it's not a competition. Or so I tell myself! This is just a season in my life in which 20ish books per year is what I have time for, and as long as I'm enjoying what I read, it's a win.
So here's how I did this past year. First, a DNF challenge . . . The 2024 European Reading Challenge is hosted by Rose City Reader, and the goal is to read books set in Europe or by European authors, and to 'visit' as many European countries as possible. Quite a few of my books were set in the United Kingdom, but other than that I had only one other European setting and that was Italy (The Juliet Code by Pepper Basham). So I'm not going to do this challenge in 2025, and won't link this wrap-up post either. I do like keeping track of the locations my books are set in, but at present this is a challenge that isn't suiting my reading habits.
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Although I knew it was highly unlikely that I'd complete it, I did work on the 52 Book Club's 2024 Challenge. These kinds of challenges are fun for me, and worthwhile even if I don't complete them, because it encourages me to read titles, authors, and even genres I might not otherwise consider. Find out more about the 2024 Reading Challenge HERE.
#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2024
1. Hardy Haul at Hardy Hall - PJ Fitzsimmons (locked-room mystery)
3. Blood of Adam - Rachel S. Neal (more than 40 chapters)
4. Voice of the Ancient - Connilyn Cossette (lowercase letters on the spine)
7. Sisters of Fortune - Anna Lee Huber (at least four different points of view)
8. The Juliet Code - Pepper Basham (features the ocean)
9. Once Upon A Prince - Rachel Hauck (a character-driven novel)
10. The Vanishing at Castle Moreau - Jaime Jo Wright (told in non-chronological order)
11. The Kamogawa Food Detectives - Hisashi Kashiwai (title starting with the letter K)
12. The Lady of Bolton Hill - Elizabeth Camden (title starting with the letter L)
14. Ticker - Lisa Mantchev (a grieving character)
15. Harvest of Rubies - Tessa Afshar (part of a duology)
24. Find Momo Across Europe - Andrew Knapp (a cover without people on it)
25. The Sentence Is Death - Anthony Horowitz (an author "everyone" besides me has read)
30. The Matrimonial Advertisment - Mimi Matthews (picked without reading the blurb)
32. A Christmas Charade - Karla Hocker (time frame of a week or less)
37. A Fatal Illusion - Anna Lee Huber (palindrome on the cover)
**39. Good Energy - Casey Means (non-fiction recommended by a friend)
43. The Crumbs off Heaven's Table - D.M. Griffin (about finding identity)
44. Silencing the Siren - Denise L. Barela (includes a wedding)
47. The Word is Murder - Anthony Horowitz (author self-insert)
I counted one book in the challenge that I haven't finished, so I've ticked off twenty of the 52 prompts. I read a few books I'd had on my Kindle for ages and I'd nearly forgotten about, and I picked a couple books based on other blogger's mentions, and found a couple of new-to-me authors I enjoyed. So I didn't complete the challenge, didn't even get to the halfway point, but I'm still happy with my result. And this IS a challenge I'll do in 2025, and do my best to get my number up at least a little bit.
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I think your approach to the 52 Book Challenge is perfect! Any year I find some new to me authors and some great books is a great one. Thinking about that Europe reading challenge and other than a few of the bigger countries-- England, France, Italy, I'm not sure I've ever read much set in any of the other countries either (perhaps Switzerland and Germany.)
ReplyDeleteI started in 2024 too, but pretty much gave up right away following this list. I had read some on it, I forget how many, but knew I wouldn't maybe like the book genre that it wanted so I set my own. Sadly though, I didn't finish near as many as you have. I like seeing your list, will give me some ideas of some I may want to read. I don't recognize many on your list so they would be new to me. I may have read Sisters of Fortune, I'll have to look. I have been doing audio books as the eyesight isn't what it use to be, but I do prefer a book in hand. Just something about that. I also started trying to knit more so that took me away from a book and to audio. I'll see how I do in 2025 and may keep closer track. I'll check out your blogs on book reviews too. I've been amiss at blogging, but trying to get back to it. Glad to see you're still here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these! I love the idea of "theming" the books we read and it's also great to see a list of titles to choose from!
ReplyDeleteGood for you for DNFing a challenge you knew you would be able to do. It is SO hard for me to quit, even when it is in my best interest.
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