The Reading Challenge Group discussion
Personal Challenges - 2014
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Chase's 2014 52 books in 52 weeks challenge
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Good luck Chase! Can't wait to see what you pick out.
Started January 1, 2014:1st book -
Great job, Chase!
Great work, you're 1 book (1%) ahead of schedule.Woo, off to a good start! I liked Cinder more than I anticipated, but the ending was a bit more predictable.
next book starting January 3rd:
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Well done Chase! I tried to do this last year and failed miserably :( I look forward to seeing what you read!
Awesome idea! I am considering doing this as well. I am already behind though since this week is almost over! I am interested to see what books you end up reading over the year. :)
You have read 2 books toward your goal of 52 books.2 of 52 (4%)
Great work, you're 2 books (3%) ahead of schedule.
Finished Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore faster than I anticipated. It started off well but was too much of a stretch for me at the end.
Next book starting January 6th:
The White Queen (for our monthly genre challenge of course).
Mod
I loved Cinder! Make sure to check out Scarlet as well. Cress is on it's way to bookshelves very soon! I thin Feb...?
Yep it's out in February. I prefer Cinder to Scarlet. I liked the ending. I like Cinder-Kai romance and Wolf-Scarlet was very, very contrived.
Holly wrote: "Chase, I'm reading that right now! We should talk about it!"Yes, I'm about 1/2 way through. I was a bit taken back by how quick it runs plotwise, but it's interesting.
You have read 3 books toward your goal of 52 books.3 of 52 (6%)
Great work, you're 3 books (4%) ahead of schedule.
(Did not intend to be reading as fast as I have)
Next book for January 8th: Joyland
Three books in a week - great job Chase! I hope you're enjoying your reads thus far.
Finished Joyland already. I really enjoyed it.You have read 4 books toward your goal of 52 books.
4 of 52 (8%)
Great work, you're 3 books (5%) ahead of schedule.
Next book for January 10th: The Madman's Daughter
Awesome. Joyland was a pretty good read. :-)
Agreed, Joyland was pretty great. Honestly, I've only ever read anything by Stephen King last month (The Shining), but I really enjoyed the few books I have read. I have quite a few of his classics on my tbr list this year.
Awesome! Have fun reading stephen king. I've read that one with pet sematary and salems lot last year with one of his short story collections and enjoyed them. I hope to read some stephen king this year too. I've only read a few of his a year anyway. :-)
You have read 5 books toward your goal of 52 books.5 of 52 (10%)
Great work, you're 4 books (6%) ahead of schedule.
The Madman's Daughter is probably going to top my charts for most unique book this year. I had no idea what I was going into when I started. (Not for the faint of heart).
Next up: Defiance
Awesome chase! I hope you enjoy defiance. That one and deception are pretty good. The third one comes out in august.
Mod
You have read 6 books toward your goal of 52 books.6 of 52 (12%)
Great work, you're 4 books (7%) ahead of schedule.
Didn't care for Defiance as much. It wasn't my type of book.
Next up, The Goldfinch which was recommended by a friend of mine.
*whew* finished The Goldfinch. It was a dragging.You have read 7 books toward your goal of 52 books.
7 of 52 (13%)
Great work, you're 4 books (8%) ahead of schedule.
I have my work cut out for me next. I have 4 books from the library that all took me off the hold list at the same time even though I reserved them at different times.
Were you disappointed in The Goldfinch, Chase? I just picked it up from the bookstore because it looked like something I would enjoy but it seems to be getting a mixed review.
Disappointed might not be the right word for it. It is a well written book with colorful characters. There's definitely an audience there for this type of book, I just don't think I was it. It just happened to be a slow plot and not my type of book overall that made it feel like it was dragging.
You have read 8 books toward your goal of 52 books.8 of 52 (15%)
Great work, you're 5 books (9%) ahead of schedule.
Well... didn't intend to finish Insurgent as quickly as I did, but after finishing 200 pages in the first night, why not finish the rest on the 2nd? But I did not like it.
Chase wrote: "You have read 8 books toward your goal of 52 books.8 of 52 (15%)
Great work, you're 5 books (9%) ahead of schedule.
Well... didn't intend to finish Insurgent as quickly as I did, but after fini..."
I am so sorry that you didn't like it. I actually liked it better than Divergent.
Chase wrote: "You have read 8 books toward your goal of 52 books.8 of 52 (15%)
Great work, you're 5 books (9%) ahead of schedule.
Well... didn't intend to finish Insurgent as quickly as I did, but after fini..."
You didnt like it? I liked it but not as much as the first book. Are you planning on reading the third book? I havent read the third one yet and am hearing people say they dont like how it ends.
I didn't like it, but I only felt that Divergent was okay when I read that, so I didn't expect to like Insurgent. I just have huge problems with a future world divided into 5 personalities. In Divergent, I was able to overcome it because it spent a lot of the book focused on only one of the factions, but in Insurgent, the flaws became more obvious.In other news: I finished the Ocean at the End of the Lane today. My first Neil Gaiman book. I loved it!
You have read 9 books toward your goal of 52 books.
9 of 52 (17%)
Awesome, you're 6 books (11%) ahead of schedule!
Awesome Chase! I liked that one too. Neil Gaiman has some good ones like Coraline, the graveyard book, neverwhere, stardust, and odd and the frost giants. I read his book stardust as a graphic novel and it was pretty good.
Yes, I'm pretty excited to read more of his work. My friends all love him so I'm glad I wasn't disappointed. I have Neverwhere on hold at the library already, and a few more of those on my to read list.
Awesome! Hey chase, they actually made Neverwhere a BBC tv miniseries first before it became a book and it was pretty neat.
You have read 10 books toward your goal of 52 books.10 of 52 (19%)
Awesome, you're 6 books (11%) ahead of schedule!
Woohoo! 10 books in a month. I'm a bit proud of myself for that one.
And on top of that, I loved The Book Thief. Double Win! I had been avoiding that one forever thinking it wouldn't be my type of book.
The beginning and end of The Madman's Daughter is great. It's got a very gothic feel that I enjoyed. But it's got a love triangle that eats up the middle and slows it down a lot, so if you can't stand a love triangle, you won't enjoy it.
The Madman's Daughter looks interesting. Thanks for the warning about the love triangle-- I like to know what I'm getting into. And 10 books in a month definitely deserves a Woohoo!
You have read 11 books toward your goal of 52 books.11 of 52 (21%)
Awesome, you're 7 books (12%) ahead of schedule!
Just finished Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children today. I must say, I didn't care for it, and found myself glossing over too much of it.
The story just felt a bit weak to me. It didn't seem like it knew where it wanted to go and it didn't seem to know its target audience. It revolves around weird photographs, which are visually interesting, but some of the plot really stretches a bit far just to incorporate those photos.
I probably wont read the 2nd. I just couldn't get into the first one enough to want to continue.
You have read 12 books toward your goal of 52 books.12 of 52 (23%)
Awesome, you're 8 books (14%) ahead of schedule!
Loved the atmosphere and the mystery of The Thirteenth Tale. Such a beautifully written gothic novel.
Finished Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and Allegiant. The first one was okay - the young adult part of it did nothing for me but it had the right atmosphere and eerie feel. I knew I wasn't going to like Allegiant based on how I felt about the last two novels.
Just finished Rebecca today, finally. I've been wanting to read that once since October and just finally bought it. Loved it!
Mod
Finished The Notebook for the genre challenge, adequately on Valentines day. I liked it, but I think I wouldnt have liked it much if I hadn't watched the movie first.
Finished The Red Queen today. Liked it so much more than the first in the series, The White Queen. It was much more character detailed and Gregory really knows how to make you hate a character.
Whew, finished The Son of Neptune today. A long snowy/holiday weekend can really get some books in.
I really am enjoying the series, and just started the 3rd book this morning. The White Queen moves verrrry quickly though, and is read out more of a timeline. I enjoyed the Red Queen a bit more because it had a bit more personality.
I love how you self-motivate and cheer yourself on: "Awesome! You're eight books ahead of schedule."
Whew.. Finally finished The Lady of the Rivers. That one took longer because the plot line was a bit duller.
Finished Neverwhere today putting me at 20/52 today :) I honestly thought I'd enjoy Neverwhere more than I did.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (other topics)Stardust (other topics)
Coraline (other topics)
Big Little Lies (other topics)
Life of Pi (other topics)
More...
Currently: 118/100 completed
1. Cinder
2. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
3.The White Queen - January Genre Challenge
4.Joyland
5.The Madman's Daughter
6. Defiance
7. The Goldfinch
8. Insurgent
9. The Ocean at the End of the Lane
10. The Book Thief
11. Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
12. The Thirteenth Tale
13. Allegiant
14. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
15. Rebecca
16. The Notebook - February Genre Challenge
17. The Red Queen
18. The Son of Neptune
19. The Lady of the Rivers
20. Neverwhere
21. Frankenstein
22. The Kingmaker's Daughter
23. Days of Blood & Starlight - March Genre Challenge
24. Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets
25. Sex in the Title: A Comedy about Dating, Sex, and Romance in NYC
26. Graceling
27. Ender's Game
28. Deception Point
29. The Lightning Thief
30. The Sea of Monsters
31. And the Mountains Echoed
32. The Client
33. Pinocchio
34. Bossypants - April Genre Challenge
35. The Titan's Curse
36. The Great Gatsby
37. Alice in Wonderland
38. Digital Fortress
39. The Selection
40. We Have Always Lived in the Castle
41. Lolita
42. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
43. The Elite
44. The Graveyard Book
45. The Battle of the Labyrinth - May Genre Challenge
46. The Last Olympian
47. The Shadow of the Wind
48. Zoo
49. The White Princess
50. Dreams of Gods & Monsters
51. Dandelion Wine
52. Inferno
53. Something Wicked This Way Comes
54. The Book of Lost Things
55. The Golem and the Jinni
56. The Phantom of the Opera
57. The Fault in Our Stars
58. Paper Towns
59. The Handmaid's Tale
60. Queen of Hearts
61. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
62. Mr. Mercedes
63. Gone Girl
64. The Light Between Oceans
65. Brave New World
66. The Mark of Athena
67. The Language of Flowers
68. X-It
69. Outlander
70. Looking for Alaska
71. The Yellow Wallpaper
72. Shadow of Night
73. The One
74. The War of the Worlds
75. Sharp Objects
76. Captive in the Dark
77. Through the Looking Glass
78. Chasing Fire
79. Vaclav and Lena
80. Dark Places
81. Never Let Me Go
82. Anna Karenina
83. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
84. Wuthering Heights
85. The Picture of Dorian Gray
86. The Island of Doctor Moreau
87. Lord of the Flies
88. Watership Down
89. The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights
90. We Were Liars
91. The Supernatural Enhancements
92. Between the Spark and the Burn
93. Throne of Glass
94. Networking for People Who Hate Networking: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected
95. The Invention of Wings
96. Carrie
97. The Magicians
98. The Black Dahlia
99. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
100. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
101. Little Women
102. Code Name Verity
103. The Red Pyramid
104. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
105. The Assassin's Curse
106. The Name of the Wind
107. The Color Purple
108. Beloved
109. The Miniaturist
110. Life of Pi
111. A Christmas Carol
112. The Girl With Glass Feet
113. The Gift of the Magi
114. The Rook
115. Big Little Lies
116. Coraline
117. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales
118. Stardust
And so ends my 2014 adventures...