2008 Challenges Recap / Update

With 3 months from the end of the year I thought I should go and recap my challenges to make sure I'm on track to complete them. Some have been more successful than others but they have been fun nonetheless.

In no particular order:

Triple 8 Challenge:

I think I'll be missing the mark with one of my categories.
The one I always have problems with - Anthologies.
I have read three of eight and I have three months to go. Not very promising.

I completed the Audiobook category in no time. I have listened to 35 audiobooks as of today so the 8 the challenge required was not much of a challenge.

The romantic suspense is 5/8 at this time. This category proved to be more difficult than I expected. For some reason some of the books I thought of categorizing as rom. suspense really weren't (too much suspense, no romance or too much romance, no suspense). I recently selected Midnight Rainbow by Howard to be my last Rom. Suspense but I'm not sure if it will fit the bill – When I read it I'll decide if I’m keeping it in the pool.

Paranormals... no problem. I seem to move in that direction lately so I finished this category fairly early although I have not reviewed the books I have read, I'm done with this category.

Done with the category for books published before 2000 as well. I found great titles that are just as enjoyable today as they were 8+ years ago.

Just finished Series Romance with the last two titles being picked up from my yahoo groups AOM (Amy Fetzer) and Suzanne Brockmann's Body Language. I read many Suzanne Brockmann's for this category. The woman can definitely write a good Short.

In the Young Adult category I have just one title to read and I'll be taking care of that by the end of the year. I typically pick up a YA or two over the year but this year I have read several and I must admit being a bit envious of the kids today. Most YA books tended to be category/serial books when I was growing up but with authors like Brian Jacques, Tamora Pierce and Stephenie Meyer out there, today's YA have more substantial reading material. Wonderful choices out there.

And then the New Authors category... With my Yahoo group sponsoring an AOM program, I didn't think this one would be very difficult to complete and I was right. Although I did notice that many of the books I read were in my TBR list and not necessarily a recommendation from my AOM group.

So in total I am 9 books away from completing the Challenge.
5 - Anthologies
3 - Romantic Suspense
1 - YA

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TBR challenge:

I realized that this one was a bit more of a challenge. The fact that you create your list upfront and MUST follow it was a killer for me. The Triple 8 challenge allowed me to change my mind on the books as long as I kept the categories I felt good. I use the lists as guide by not as set in stone.

Still I have been holding my own. With three months left in the year, I have 3 books to complete.
I have kept to my main list and not had to tap into the Alternates but I think that will change in October since I challenge my self to read only Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Paranormal genre in October. I'm happy that I have a book that I can tap into, allowing me to continue the book a month rhythm I have developed on this one.

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Classic Romances:

Another one that is on track to be completed in December.
I am 3 books away from this one and I'm doing well. Some of these were a hit but others where complete flops so I think I'll skip this one next year.


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Book A Month challenge:

This has been the most challenging of all the Challenges I signed up for.
The theme for the month is not announced until the first few days of the month and some of them have left me stumped to find a book.

I have missed 3 books so far. The month of January (signed up a bit late), May (theme: Mother) and July (theme: Independence) so I'm six books behind and just 3 months to compete.

Any suggestions on the topics from these missing months?

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I completed the PUB 08 challenge reading more than the required books published in 2008. As of today I have read a total of 15 books published in 2008.

I also completed the Stephenie Meyer Mini-Challenge and the Chunkster challenge (This was an unofficial challenge since I discovered the challenge a bit late and couldn't sign up for it).

And last but not least the 100+ Reading Challenge.

I will complete this one without a problem; I have read a total of 92 books as of today. This puts me at 8 books to reach the 100 book goal. I've been reading an average of 8-10 books a month this year and if I continue on that vein I will be at around 113-115 for the year, about 12 books below last year. I think I'll see if I can get a few more reads here and there so I can meet last years numbers.

Anyway, I'll be posting my yearly report card in January and we'll see how things wrap up.