Category: Book Challenges

August TBR

Posted July 31, 2017 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 8 Comments

I recently started a monthly TBR feature, where I try to pin down which books I plan to read in the upcoming month. It also helps remind me throughout the month which books I’m supposed to be reading, for various reasons. I add a little poll at the bottom too, so you guys can vote and help me narrow down some of my options as well. Here are my top TBR choices for this month and how I did last month… July Progress I definitely went a little off-book for July! I kept reading random ebooks from the library or my Kindle without really thinking about what was on my TBR for the month. Oh well! I was happy to bang out the above egalleys – one was wonderful and heartbreaking (GIRL NEXT DOOR)… the other was terrible (36 QUESTIONS). Here’s hoping I read more summery books in August (especially ones on the TBR. Cough). I also started IN SOME OTHER LIFE before the end of the month, so I’m counting it here, of course! On Deck for August For Review All Things New by Lauren Miller The Dirty Book Club by Lisi Harrison The F Word by Liza Palmer I recently got quite a few books on Negalley, because of course I decide to ruin my percentage JUST when I was getting incredibly close to the 80% pipe dream. I hope to bang out a few of them since I’ve been liking my digital reads lately. I’m not […]

Make Me Read It Readathon | Poll, TBR, and Tracking

Posted July 17, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features, TBR Lists / 8 Comments

Hosted by Ely @ Tea & Titles and Val @ The Innocent Smiley /// August 6th to 13th Look at the books you own, either physical, e-book or ones you’ve borrowed from the library and pick out a few you really want to read, or feel like you should read. It’s up to you how many you pick, personally I’d pick a few more than you expect to be able to read in a week. Example: if you think you’ll only read two, pick out five books or if you think you can read seven, pick out ten. Make a list of these books on your blog, or make a video, or a Goodreads shelf or post a picture on Instagram—whatever is easiest for you. Then get friends, other bloggers/booktubers etc. to vote on which books you HAVE to read. When the readathon comes along, you read the books in the order of most votes. For example, if one book gets 10 votes—you read that first, then the one that got 7 and so on. If there’s a tie, then it’s your preference. The goal is to read as many as possible. I’m excited to participate in this readathon for the third year in a row! (See other years here and here if you’re curious.) In the past, I’ve exclusively used books from my shelves and library books. This year, I definitely want to mix in some egalleys and ebooks (since I’m working with less physical copies lately!). I usually rank the books in order […]

2017 Mid-Year Challenge Progress & Statistics

Posted July 5, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features, Wrap-Ups / 10 Comments

I love tracking my TBR and trying to see what else there is to accomplish by halfway through the year. I always hope it shocks me into saying HOLY SHIT get going on those challenges… but this year, I’m in pretty good shape for all of them! It looks like I’ll definitely meet my goals. Check out last year’s post if you’re curious! As you see in my monthly wrap-ups, I keep my stats updated each time. The spreadsheet I use is definitely the reason for my organization. I use this time of year (in addition to the end of the year) to REALLY go all-out with my stats. It also helps me create new goals or update existing ones. I may decide I really should read more fantasy or more books from my own shelves. I’ll highlight all of the books I’ve read so far in general too. All of the Books Read So Far Random Fun Smallest book read: Mischief & Magnolias (70 pages) Largest book read: The Sweet Far Thing (819 pages) Most read author: Beth Kendrick (4) Books read 300 pages or under: 24% Books read over 300 pages: 76% Most pages / books in a month: 5,869 pages in February / 16 books in January Least pages / books in a month: 3,406 pages in June / 8 books in May As you know, I love challenges and tend to participate in them quite a bit. I always sum them up in my wrap-ups, but this time of year is great to kick my ass […]

July TBR

Posted June 30, 2017 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 8 Comments

I recently started a monthly TBR feature, where I try to pin down which books I plan to read in the upcoming month. It also helps remind me throughout the month which books I’m supposed to be reading, for various reasons. I add a little poll at the bottom too, so you guys can vote and help me narrow down some of my options as well. Here are my top TBR choices for this month and how I did last month… June Progress June was apparently when I read all of my highly anticipated books! Between finally reading JUNIPER LEMON, diving immediately into ONCE AND FOR ALL, and also finally starting LUCKY IN LOVE (at the end of May), it felt nice to read a bunch of solid books in a row. I didn’t do too bad on my TBR. June – toward the end of the month – definitely got a bit crazy, but I managed to keep reading. On Deck for July ARCs to Read The Possible by Tara Altebrando I Believe In a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo In Some Other Life by Jessica Brody So yes these are repeats from previous TBR posts, but whatever. I am bringing all three to Portland tomorrow (eek!) so they’ll be read soonish. I need to send IN SOME OTHER LIFE back to Marg before it’s published as well. I’m not sure why I keep putting these ones off. Egalleys A Short History of the Girl Next […]

June TBR

Posted May 31, 2017 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 23 Comments

I recently started a monthly TBR feature, where I try to pin down which books I plan to read in the upcoming month. It also helps remind me throughout the month which books I’m supposed to be reading, for various reasons. I add a little poll at the bottom too, so you guys can vote and help me narrow down some of my options as well. Here are my top TBR choices for this month and how I did last month… May Progress May was a pretty good reading month! I had two HUGE books to read between ACOWAR releasing and THE SWEET FAR THING being “due” for my book club. Those two books totaled 1,435 pages. I’m impressed I was able to finish as many books as I did! I’m glad I prioritized some of the May releases I was really looking forward to as well. Definitely a solid job on my May TBR. On Deck for June ARCs to Read Juniper Lemon’s Happiness Index by Julie Israel | The Possible by Tara Altebrando I Believe In a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo I’ve had a couple of these on my TBR before (and I’m very excited to read them) but keep letting them slide into the following month. I hope to bang all three of these ARCs out before their release date (or at least very close to their release date!). Fingers crossed they’re all awesome, obv. Owned and/or New Releases Just Dreaming by Kerstin Gier […]

Bout of Books 19

Posted May 7, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features / 1 Comment

Goals, TBR, Progress/Tracking, Challenges, and Wrap-Up I’m here for Bout of Books 19, as usual! This May challenge is coming at a nice time because I have soooo many summertime ARCs to get ahead on. I also want to read a lot of owned books before I pack them up. Check my small sign-up post here. The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 8th and runs through Sunday, May 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 19 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team Goals As I mentioned, my biggest goals are twofold. I want to get ahead on ARCs of books being published in the summer and also read books from my shelves. I had my challenges last month to achieve both of those goals and did pretty well. I exceeded my ARC goal but didn’t quite meet my owned book goal. This Bout of Books will piggyback off of those challenge ideas! Specifically, I hope to start and/or finish 4 books during this week – only ones in those two categories. Possible TBR Tracking Monday May 8 Started reading Always and Forever, Lara Jean Tuesday May 9 Started Waiting On You (audiobook) Finished Always and Forever, Lara Jean Wednesday May 10 Continued Waiting On […]

April Netflix and Books Challenge Check-In

Posted April 29, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features / 3 Comments

Erica from Diving Under the Cover and I introduced our Netflix and Books Challenge for 2017 as a way of making progress on books we want to read and TV shows we want to watch. The TBR lists were chosen by matching books up to various TV shows based on characters, plots, etc. You can learn all about the challenge and join in anytime here! Don’t forget, you can also still participate in our Netflix and Books Tag that we debuted in 2016; it’ll give you some points in this challenge too! Reading Progress No news to report here! I’m still in waiting mode for a few books to be released from my TBR. I also haven’t really been in the mood for my rereads on here either (The Great Gatsby and Gossip Girl). I’m afraid that GG will create a whoooole binge of the series and I have too many review copies to read instead haha. I wish I had those books in audio form… Completed books so far: Still to read: TV Watching Progress LOL so yeah no progress here either. I just have been watching very few shows aka mostly Friends. We’ve watched some random other shows, plus Shameless as always, so we’ll see when these final get banged out. I think the most likely one will be Bob’s Burgers because I’ve watched a few recent episodes with Chris. I may let this be my “before bed” show since I’ve seen a lot of them already. I’m also half-watching the current […]

May TBR (and Bout of Books 19 Sign-Up)

Posted April 28, 2017 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 13 Comments

I recently started a monthly TBR feature, where I try to pin down which books I plan to read in the upcoming month. It also helps remind me throughout the month which books I’m supposed to be reading, for various reasons. I add a little poll at the bottom too, so you guys can vote and help me narrow down some of my options as well. Here are my top TBR choices for this month and how I did last month… April Progress & Challenges April’s TBR was a little different because I participated in some month-long challenges. One was my own personal challenge to read mostly books from my own shelves, plus there was a blogging community challenge to read ARCs in April. (More info below.) Overall, I did pretty well! I got derailed because I forgot about my book club pick AND that I had a book coming from an ARC tour. I only read three books from my actual April TBR list because of those things… and I didn’t read much at all until the very end of the month regardless! Owned Book April Goal: 75% of books read in April should be books from my shelves (physical ARCs or pubbed books) Progress: Started and/or finished 11 books in April – 5 of them were owned copies – 45% A Very ARC-ish Readathon Goal: 50% of books read in April should be ARCs (physical or egalleys) Progress: Started and/or finished 11 books in April – 5 of them were ARCs – 45% On […]

April TBR (Including A Very ARC-ish Readathon and Owned Book April)

Posted March 31, 2017 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 15 Comments

I recently started a monthly TBR feature, where I try to pin down which books I plan to read in the upcoming month. It also helps remind me throughout the month which books I’m supposed to be reading, for various reasons. I add a little poll at the bottom too, so you guys can vote and help me narrow down some of my options as well. Here are my top TBR choices for this month and how I did last month… March Progress Another good month of TBR-related progress! I read or started SIX of the books I chose ahead of time. I am super proud of myself for this. Okay, one of them was a DNF, but still. I’m happy I at least got to six of them. A couple were disappointing and one (WHAT TO SAY NEXT) blew me away, so I suppose that’s not bad. And I banged out three Netgalley reviews out of these! On Deck for April Personal Challenge: Owned Book April This month I’m focusing on reading books I own physical copies of. This can definitely include ARCs (especially if the pub date has already passed) and other already-published physical copies I haven’t read yet. I came up with this idea before making my March TBR (which included a lot of borrowed books) so I decided to focus on it for April instead. My goal is to read 75% books I own. The other 25% can include ARC tour books that come in, audiobooks I listen to, […]

March Netflix and Books Challenge Check-In

Posted March 25, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features / 2 Comments

Erica from Diving Under the Cover and I introduced our Netflix and Books Challenge for 2017 as a way of making progress on books we want to read and TV shows we want to watch. The TBR lists were chosen by matching books up to various TV shows based on characters, plots, etc. You can learn all about the challenge and join in anytime here! Don’t forget, you can also still participate in our Netflix and Books Tag that we debuted in 2016; it’ll give you some points in this challenge too! Reading Progress No news to report here! I’m still in waiting mode for a few books to be released from my TBR. I also haven’t really been in the mood for my rereads on here either (The Great Gatsby and Gossip Girl). I’m afraid that GG will create a whoooole binge of the series and I have too many review copies to read instead haha. I wish I had those books in audio form… Completed books so far: January Book main character has the same name as a TV show MC: Book: Take the Key & Lock Her Up TV Show: Will & Grace Connection: MC named Grace February Still to read: TV Watching Progress LOL so yeah no progress here either. I just have been watching very few shows aka mostly Friends. We’ve watched some random other shows, plus Shameless as always, so we’ll see when these final get banged out. I think the most likely one will be Bob’s Burgers […]