Mary G2E's 2016 Challenge - The year in numbers

[MaryG2E]

CHALLENGE : The Year in Numbers
This challenge consists of reading a book, the title of which starts with the number which corresponds to the relevant month of the year:

JAN: One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
FEB: Two Weeks with the Queen by Morris Gleitzman
MAR: Three Amazing Things About You by Jill Mansell
APR: Four-Cornered Circle by Jon Cleary
MAY: Five Nights in Paris: After Dark in the City of Light by John Baxter
JUN: Six Against the Yard by The Detection Club
JUL: Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner
AUG: Eight Men and a Duck: An Improbable Voyage by Reed Boat to Easter Island by Nick Thorpe
SEP: Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly
OCT: Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog: Sniffing Out the Perfect Plot in Provence by Jamie Ivey
NOV: Eleven Seasons by Paul D. Carter
DEC: Twelve Days by Alex Berenson

[MaryG2E]

#1 January: One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson 4.5★s

[MaryG2E]

Michael wrote: "That is a great challenge Mary. Very creative and unique. :)"

Thanks Michael - a bit of fun!

[Neko]

Did you make up this challenge yourself or get the idea from somewhere else? I haven't ever heard of this one before so I'm just curious :)

[MaryG2E]

Laura wrote: "Did you make up this challenge yourself or get the idea from somewhere else? I haven't ever heard of this one before so I'm just curious :)"

Made it up by myself, Laura. Anyone's welcome to use the idea too.

[Carolyn]

Excellent idea Mary. I like the sound of some of those titles :)

[Elaine]

I agree with the others Mary. Great challenge. :)

[Jülie ☼♄ ]

Nice work Mary, that will make a good reference list for future challenges too :)

[Sharon]

Great challenge Mary :)

[Anna]

ooo how clever :)

[MaryG2E]

Thanks for compliments everyone.

[MaryG2E]

#2 February: Two Weeks with the Queen by Morris Gleitzman. A warm-hearted YA novel, 3.5 ★s

[MaryG2E]

#3 March: Three Amazing Things About You by Jill Mansell 4.5★s

[MaryG2E]

#4 April: Four-Cornered Circle by Jon Cleary 3.5★s

[Stef]

I think this is a cute idea. (I personally loved Two Weeks with the Queen

[MaryG2E]

Stef wrote: "I think this is a cute idea. (I personally loved Two Weeks with the Queen"

Thanks Stef. It's a bit of fun.

[MaryG2E]

#5 May: Five Nights in Paris: After Dark in the City of Light by John Baxter 4.5★s

[MaryG2E]

#6 JUNE: Six Against the Yard by The Detection Club 3★s

[Deb]

Nice challenge, very creative.

[MaryG2E]

Deborah wrote: "Nice challenge, very creative."

Thanks Deborah. It's been fun so far, and not too challenging, being only one book per month.

[MaryG2E]

#7 July: Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner 3★s

[Marianne]

doing well, Mary!

[MaryG2E]

Marianne wrote: "doing well, Mary!"

Thanks Marianne. It's a nice challenge, and do-able.

[MaryG2E]

# 8 AUGUST: Eight Men and a Duck: An Improbable Voyage by Reed Boat to Easter Island by Nick Thorpe 3.5★S

[Jülie ☼♄ ]

Going strong Mary! :)

[MaryG2E]

☼♄Jülie wrote: "Going strong Mary! :)"

Absolutely, Julie. While I may miss the target on various challenges, I'm determined to keep on keeping on with this one and the one-a-month classics...I like the diversity of it.

[MaryG2E]

I've been conscientiously working my way through this year-long challenge, but for some reason I keep forgetting to update this page. Only this month's book to go. I've greatly enjoyed this challenge of Reading The Year In Numbers.

#9 SEPTEMBER: Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly 3★s

#10 OCTOBER: Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog: Sniffing Out the Perfect Plot in Provence 3★s

#11 NOVEMBER: Eleven Seasons by Paul D. Carter 5★s

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Well done Mary! It amazes me that you've found books for each and every number!

[Veronica ⭐️]

Great challenge Mary. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for next year. No pressure :)

Spoke too soon. The next email I read notified me of your 2017 challenge.

[MaryG2E]

Veronica ⭐️ wrote: "Great challenge Mary. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for next year. No pressure :)

Spoke too soon. The next email I read notified me of your 2017 challenge."

Perhaps a bit less demanding, my 2017 personal challenge, Veronica. This year's challenge was terrific, but I had to put considerable effort into getting the titles in the relevant month. Indeed one of the reasons I have forgotten to update here is because the October book was returned many weeks late to my local library, and thus messed up my order.

[MaryG2E]

Brenda wrote: "Well done Mary! It amazes me that you've found books for each and every number!"

Brenda, I used the Advanced Search function on my local library's catalogue. Thankfully, Bendigo library has extensive holdings, and I had little trouble making up my list initially. Definitely had some trouble getting hold of a couple of the titles in the relevant month because they were not returned promptly by previous readers. I guess that's the key thing with relying on libraries.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Yes I do know what you mean. But all the same, you did very well :)

[Jülie ☼♄ ]

Well done Mary! You really did do well to find all of those...how great are these challenges? Lists are being compiled to make it easier for people to choose books to cover every kind of future challenge ;)

[MaryG2E]

☼♄Jülie  wrote: "Well done Mary! You really did do well to find all of those...how great are these challenges? Lists are being compiled to make it easier for people to choose books to cover every kind of future cha..."

I like that idea for future challenges Julie! Thanks.

[Jülie ☼♄ ]

MaryG2E wrote: "☼♄Jülie  wrote: "Well done Mary! You really did do well to find all of those...how great are these challenges? Lists are being compiled to make it easier for people to choose books to cover every ..."

Yes that's where we...well I do anyway...get ideas for future challenges, we look at each others' book lists. So you might save those in your tbr's under a search heading like "titles with numbers".
Lol that's why my tbr list under "my books" is so long, because I try to cover every query.

[MaryG2E]

I've finished this year-long challenge with a couple of weeks to spare, thank goodness. It was a terrific challenge, which gave me not only a great deal of satisfaction, but also pushed me to read books beyond my usual fare. This is a challenge I'd happily recommend to other AR readers.

#12 DECEMBER: Twelve Days by Alex Berenson 4★s

[MaryG2E]

CHALLENGE : The Year in Numbers

This challenge consisted of reading a book, the title of which starts with the number which corresponds to the relevant month of the year. Here's how the year's reading panned out:

JAN: One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson 4.5★s
FEB: Two Weeks with the Queen by Morris Gleitzman 3.5★s (AA)
MAR: Three Amazing Things About You by Jill Mansell 4.5★s
APR: Four-Cornered Circle by Jon Cleary 3.5★s (AA)
MAY: Five Nights in Paris: After Dark in the City of Light by John Baxter 4.5★s (AA)
JUN: Six Against the Yard by The Detection Club 3★s
JUL: Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner 3★s (AA)
AUG: Eight Men and a Duck: An Improbable Voyage by Reed Boat to Easter Island by Nick Thorpe 3.5★s
SEP: Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly 3★s
OCT: Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog: Sniffing Out the Perfect Plot in Provence by Jamie Ivey 3★s
NOV: Eleven Seasons by Paul D. Carter 5★s (AA)
DEC: Twelve Days by Alex Berenson 4★s

[Jülie ☼♄ ]

Well done Mary! That would have been difficult to source books, not only with the relevant numbers, but which you might also enjoy reading! ;)

[MaryG2E]

☼♄Jülie  wrote: "Well done Mary! That would have been difficult to source books, not only with the relevant numbers, but which you might also enjoy reading! ;)"

Thanks Julie. I'm fortunate to have a very large library almost on my doorstep, and the on-line catalogue allows for finely filtered searches. There was no shortage of titles which fitted the challenge. As you rightly say, the biggest challenge (apart from the actual reading) was to identify books that I would enjoy reading. That was definitely the most time-consuming aspect of all. Well worth it though. It was a delightful challenge.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Congratulations Mary! An excellent challenge :)

[MaryG2E]

Brenda wrote: "Congratulations Mary! An excellent challenge :)"

Thanks Brenda.