I thought I would take a look back on the year and see how I did with my 2014 Reading Challenges. The goals:
- Read 75 books for the 50 Book Pledge
- Complete both Reading Bingo cards
- Follow along with the Tournament of Books, and read the winner
To be frank: I failed on all fronts. Here’s what I actually accomplished:
50 Book Pledge
I ended up reading 52 books – almost 53 (I only have a few chapters left of Yes Please, but couldn’t knock it out before the new year; at least the first book of 2015 is almost in the bag!). Clearly I did not reach my goal, but at least I managed to clear the 50 book mark. My progress was slowed by a couple of longer books (The Luminaries; We Are Not Ourselves) that ate up my reading hours. However, one shortcoming of the 50 Book Pledge is that it doesn’t count non-book reading: if I was able to count all the comics, magazines, and fanfics I read last year towards my goal, I’d have definitely surpassed it. Seeing as I’m planning a Lord of the Rings reread this year, I’ll have to strategize to stay on pace.
Reading Bingo
As you can see, I nearly finished the “regular” Bingo card, and completed a decent number of squares on the “YA” card – at least I struck through a row! There’s no double-dipping on either of these cards, or I might have been able to check off a few more. You can see the list of books that I counted for the bingo cards here andhere.
The Tournament of Books
Well, I neither followed along with the tournament, nor read the winning book, which was The Good Lord Bird by James McBride. I think I was overly optimistic about my interest in this challenge, but the idea of this tournament is an interesting one.
Coming soon: My top books of 2014, and my 2015 reading goals. Will I set more reasonable goals? What was my favourite book of last year? Stay tuned to find out.