Sunday Salon: 2026 Reading Challenges

The end of one reading year and the beginning of a new one means thinking about which challenges you are going to be participating in. So today I am sharing the challenges that I will be participating in for 2026, and some I am contemplating joining. I am very much committed to making the challenges fit my reading as opposed to specifically reading for a challenge. The ones that I am thinking about joining would be more things that I would have to find books to read for it. 

Of course I am going to start with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. All the sign up details are in this post. If you love historical fiction or if you are just exploring the genre, we would love to have you join us as we read through history. 

New Release Reading Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog - Do you love reading new releases or older books. I love both! When you do review a new release book, all you need to do is add your link to the link post! This year I read just under 100 new releases, so I think I am going to aim for New Release Veteran, which is 61-100 books per year! All the sign up details are here. 

Bookish Books Reading Challenge hosted at Bloggin' Bout Books- I love reading books about books, so this is another challenge I enjoy. This year I read 17 books which counted towards this challenge, so I am going to aim for the Picking and Perusing level which is for between 11 and 20 books! All the details are here. 

Japanese Literature Challenge hosted at Dolce Bellezza - The Japanese Literature Challenge runs through out January and February and I am going to try and read a couple of books at least. I am also going to try and do my own January in Japan theme, but I am not sure how well that will go! Here's the link for the review site.

Tying in nicely with that is the Books in Translation challenge hosted at Introverted Reader. I will be aiming for the Bilingual level which is 7 to 9 books. This year I read 9 books, most of which were Japanese but with a couple of French ones thrown in for good measure. You can find all the details for this challenge here. 

In terms of the challenges I am contemplating joining, top of the list is Classics Spin. I did a Top Ten Tuesday post recently of Classics I Haven't Read so that would be 10 of the 20. Just need to add another 10 to the list. 

I am going to try and do the additional Goodreads challenges, depending on the themes that are chosen. In terms of my goal for how many books to read, I am going to choose 104 again. This year I read a lot more than that but it was mostly thanks to the fact that I wasn't working for the first half of the year. 

I am also still thinking about joining two of the challenges that Shelleyrae from Book'd Out is hosting. One is the Non-Fiction Reading Challenge. I read very little non-fiction. This year I only read three, but I am half way through another at the moment, which would fit with one of the categories! You can find all the details here.

The other one is the 2026 Speccy Fiction Challenge. Again, I don't read a lot of pure sci-fi or full on fantasy but I do love some magical realism and do read a bit of that, particularly in food related fiction. I just had a look at the categories and one is called Spectator where you are invited to "Read & review any speculative fiction book. Set your own goal, or none at all, just share what you read through the year". This sounds perfect for me, so no more contemplating. I am joining up for this one! Here are the details

I feel like I should add some kind of bingo type reading challenge but if I do it will probably by the Rachael Johns book club one.

In terms of other events of course I am going to be joining in on Paris in July. I am also going to be reading and cooking for Cook the Books, linking up to Foodies Read whenever I read something relevant and participating in events like Six Degrees of Separation, Sunday Salon and Top Ten Tuesday. I really enjoyed being part of Twenty Books of Summer/Winter this year so I will join up for that one again. I will also try to read something for Aussie Author August, Women in Translation and probably something for November (novella/non-fiction etc) on Instagram

I feel like that will keep me busy enough for the year.

Do you like reading challenges? What ones are you doing in 2026?

 I will be sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and with A good book & Cup of tea monthly link party hosted at Boondock Ramblings

2025 challenges!

The beginning of a new reading year means thinking about which challenges you are going to be participating in. 

I am very much committed to making the challenges fit my reading as opposed to specifically reading for a challenge. Of course, the first challenge I am going to mention is one where I will go exactly opposite but never mind!

The first I am going to mention is Japanese Literature Challenge 18, hosted by Dolce Bellezza. I have several books in mind to read during January and February for this challenge!  I am also intending to post a few other things during January about all things Japanese which will be for my own January in Japan, but we will see how we go!

The next challenges are all year long challenges. 

The first is the Bookish Books challenge hosted by Susan at Bloggin' Bout Books

The levels are

Toe in the Door: 1-10 books read
Picking and Perusing: 11-20 books read
Lost in the Stacks: 21-30 books read
Living in the Library: 30+ books read

And I am choosing Picking and Perusing!

The challenge is the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog, where you can add any books you read that have been released in 2025.

The levels are

1-30 books per year – New Release Newbie
31-60 books per year – New Release Pro
61-100 books per year – New Release Veteran
101-200 books per year – New Release Enthusiast
200+ books per year – New Release Obsessed

And I am aiming for New Release Veteran

Of course, I need to also participate in my own challenge, the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge! You can find out more about the challenge here.

The levels are

20th Century Reader - 2 books
Victorian Reader - 5 books
Renaissance Reader - 10 books
Medieval - 15 books
Ancient History - 25 books
Prehistoric - 50+ books

I am aiming for Ancient History!

 I reserve the right to add more challenges at any time. I am also declaring now that ,of course, I am going to be participating in Paris in July when the time comes!

Oh, and I have set my Goodreads Challenge at 104 books!

What challenges are you participating in this year?

Signing up for more challenges

 I am signing up for two three more blogging events, but I am posting about them together because o of the three are kind of linked in my mind. 

First up, I am signing up for the Books in Translation challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader. 

The levels are

Beginner 1-3 books

Conversationalist 4-6 books

Bilingual 7-9 books

Linguist 10 books

I am aiming for the conversationalist level. I feel like by the time I read a couple of books for Paris in July and some for the following challenge this should be achievable. I will add the challenge image once I figure out how!!

I am also going to participate in the Japanese Literature Challenge which is being hosted by Dolce Bellezza. Even though this is the 17th time that this challenge has occurred it will be my first time of participating

I already have one post ready to post in a couple of weeks, and I am already reading another book for the challenge so far!

The final one is the What's In a Name challenge hosted at Carolina Book Nook


Double letters
An NFL team
A natural disaster
A virtue
A shape
Footwear

Click on the links for examples that would qualify

I think that will be it for challenges for this year, although there will be a couple of other events that I will participate in such as Paris in July.

This week....

I'm reading...

This week my middle of the night read was The Secrets of Saffron Hall by Clare Marchant. I love a good dual timeline book, especially one where there is an old building filled with secrets, so this book ticks all my boxes. What I had forgotten between the time when I requested this book and when I started reading it was that this is a novel that is set in Tudor times. Back in the day I used to read a lot of Tudor books until I got to the point where I was all Tudored out and it has become much rarer for me to choose to read a book set in this era. This isn't set in the court of Henry VIII but rather in a wealthy Catholic merchant's home, so I assume we are going to be learning more about the dissolution of the monasteries. So far I am enjoying it. I will confess that ones of the reasons I wanted to read this book is because of the cover!

I finished my last audiobook, so I thought that I would listen to the new audio short story that has been released by Dervla McTiernan. It is called The Roommate, and it features a very young garda Cormac Reilly as he investigates a young woman's murder. There is another of these short audio stories available on Audible called The Sisters which I read a while ago now. It's a good way to get a taste of Dervla  McTiernan's writing and to put yourself back in Cormac Reilly's world for just a couple of hours. 

I guess I need to line up my next audiobook given that this one is only just over 2 hours long.

I'm watching...

I mentioned last week that we had started watching a South African series called Trackers. Originally we were just going to watch each new episode weekly as they were released,but we were looking for something else and found the whole series on yet another streaming service. We therefore watched the whole series, and I have to say it was really good. The first episode was a bit slow while they introduced all the characters but after that the series moved at a good pace. The end of the series is definitely set up for a second season, which I guess is par for course these days. I would definitely watch a second series though. I had read one of the books that this series is loosely based on but I would like to read more.

After finishing that we were looking for another series to watch, and we ended up on deciding to start watching series 2 of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and ended up watching three episodes. We did particularly enjoy watching the first two episodes which were partially set in Paris. Felt a bit like an extension to Paris In July.

This week....

The bad news this week was that we have had to cancel our trip to Uluru in mid September. We booked this weekend away months ago because it is a place that neither of us have ever been to before and it is on our must do list.  We will rebook when we can but for now we don't really have any idea of when we are going to be able to leave our state again as a lot of the state borders are closed to Victorians right now. Luckily the hotel was super quick in refunding. I still have to contact the airline as I think they will only offer vouchers but we will see what happens.

Despite not being able to leave home due to being in Lockdown2.0 we did still have a good weekend. I attended a number of Melbourne Writers Festival sessions and I have a few more to attend this week. I also tried something new this week. I made macarons. I've never done that before so it was a bit nerve wracking, but overall I am happy with how they turned out, even if they do look a little bit like minions!

The other thing that happened this week is that I reached my Goodreads Reading Challenge total! This has surprised me because I haven't reached this number of books for years. I have now revised my target to 75, which is still a long way from my reading hey day of around 250 books in a year, but you know what, I am happy with that. My life is a lot more balanced than it previously was.

Don't forget you can now follow my blog on Facebook here.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Colour in the Title
Bookish Quotes: Real Art
Weekend Cooking: P is for Pizza
Review: Tiny White Lies
Sunday Salon: MWF Digital Week 1

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

2020 Reading Challenges

Back in the day I was a sucker for a reading challenge. But when you aren't really reading and you  are most definitely not blogging there doesn't seem to be much point in challenges.

I am, however, going to sign up for two challenges for this year. The reading part isn't actually an issue for either challenge, but the writing a review part is! They might just be mini reviews, there might be no reviews, we'll see how it unfolds.

The two challenges I am joining are:

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - back in the day we used to host this challenge but when we decided to call it a day Amy from Passages to the Past now does a sterling job of hosting it.

Australian Women Writers Challenge -This is a no brainer for me as about half of the books I read are by Australian Women authors.

Sunday Salon: May Reading Reflections

I was very nearly tempted to not worry about doing my May wrap up post until the end of June, but I think I am glad that I changed my mind because I looked at this list of the books that I have read and found myself thinking was it really only 6 or so weeks ago that I read some of these books? Feels like much longer!

Here are the books I read in May:

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay 4.5/5
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie 4.5/5
Yellowcake by Margo Lanagan 4.5/5
Little Paradise by Gabrielle Wang 4/5
Bumped by Megan McCafferty 4/5
Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts 4.5/5
Emily by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 4.5/5
The Vampire Narcise by Colleen Gleason 4/5
The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 3/5
Nightsiders by Sue Isle 4/5
Angelique in Love by Sergeanne Golon 4.5/5
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley 5/5
The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn 4.5/5
The Homecoming by JoAnn Ross 3.5/5

In terms of the challenges that I am participating in Yellowcake, Little Paradise, Nightsiders and Love and Romanpunk are all by Australian authors and I have therefore now completed the Aussie Author Challenge for this year.

Little Paradise, Russian Winter, Emily and The Dark Enquiry all are books that I have read for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I now have 7 books left to read in order to reach my commitment level for this challenge.

Yellowcake, The Rose Garden, Love and Romanpunk and Nightsiders all qualified for Once Upon a Time V so that challenge is now complete too!

TSS: The I'm behind in everything edition

I am so far behind in everything! I have a couple of reviews to write that should already be posted, I have only done limited blog hopping for the last couple of weeks, I have library books that I am returning unread by the handful, a few other posts that are running around in my head, I haven't even thought about what posts I am going to write for BBAW which is this week, and I still haven't done my August round up! No pressure!

I guess I can only cross one thing at a time over the list, so here is my August reading round up. The books I read were:

A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin 3/5
The Hypnotist by M J Rose  4/5
The Love Knot by Elizabeth Chadwick 4/5
The Reincarnationist by M J Rose 4/5
Upon the Midnight Clear by Sherrilyn Kenyon 3.5/5
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis 5/5
The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White 4/5
Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas 4/5
Zack: Armed and Dangerous by Cheyenne McCray 4/5
The Queen's Pawn by Christy English 3/5
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner 4.5/5
Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich 3/5
The Dead of the Night by John Marsden 4.5/5
My Fair Mistress by Tracy Anne Warren 4/5
The Night Villa by Carol Goodman 3/5
Emma Vol 5 by Kaoru Mori 4/5

August ended up being my best reading month since March purely in terms of the number of books read. So how did I do with the challenges I am participating in.

Firstly, I had one last book to read for the LJ Smith Reading Challenge, but couldn't manage to fit it in. I do intend to read that book (Reunion) but it was one of the books that I ended up having to return it unread in the last few days. Expect to see it turn up as reloot in a Library Loot post soon.

My August read for the Year of the Historical reading challenge was A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin.

Upon the Midnight Clear by Sherrilyn Kenyon was my 20th and final read for this year's Romance Reading Challenge.

I read The Dead of the Night by John Marsden for the Aussie Author Challenge. I just have one more book to read to complete this challenge.

I didn't realise it until just now, but as at the end of August, I had actually read 99 books towards this year's 100+ Reading Challenge, which means I actually finished it on 1 September! I had signed up to read 100 or more library books for the Support Your Local Library challenge. I am not 100% sure that I am going to make it, but at this stage I have managed to read 73 so far, so I might do!


I did join one new challenge at the end of the month - Carl's Readers Imbibing Peril (RIP) V. In a way I am looking forward to the end of the year when lots and lots of new challenges get announced! I am not reading the books required to finish the challenges I am already signed up for, but some new challenges wouldn't go astray!

June Reading Reflections

After a slow reading month in May, unfortunately things didn't really pick up all that much for me in June. Last month I attributed the slow month to the fact that I was reading Brothers of Gwynedd. This month I am still reading that book, and have added War and Peace into the mix as well, and so yes, not that many books finished! The sense of accomplishment will be so worth it when I finish both of those books! So what did I finish?

Emma Vol 3 by Kaoru Mori 4/5
A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware 4/5
Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos 5/5
The Making of a Duchess by Shana Galen 3.5/5
The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley 5/5
The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey 4/5
Mort by Terry Pratchett 4/5
For the King by Catherine Delors 4/5
Fire by Kristin Cashore 4/5

Less books read means less progress on challenges as well unfortunately!

Let's start with the Period Drama Challenge. When I signed up for it, I said that I would watch 4 movies/series etc in one year. Shouldn't have been that difficult really. In the end I managed to watch one whole movie which was Sense and Sensibility and started to watch North and South (the US mini-series starring Patrick Swayze not my normal North and South). I think I watched the first disc but I definitely didn't finish it!

The book that I read for the Year of the Historical in June was Emma Vol 3 by Kaoru Mori, and that was one of my final reads for this years Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, along with Yellow House by Patricia Falvey. I have now finished this challenge!

I haven't been reading very many romances over the last few months, and I actually am beginning to feel like I NEED to read one. The only book that I read this month that counted for the Romance Reading Challenge was The Making of a Duchess by Shana Galen.

I finally got to read books for challenges that I hadn't previously started. For the King counts for the French Historical Reading Challenge, and The Yellow House counts as one book read for the Ireland Reading Challenge.

In addition Burned counts for the Vampire Reading Challenge, and Mort was a book that I read for the Terry Pratchett Reading Challenge.

I also joined in a new challenge this month - the Amy Einhorn Perpetual Reading Challenge. I have got my next read from the library for this one.

The final challenges to update are the 100+ Reading Challenge, of which I have now read 69 books, and for the Support Your Local Library Challenge I have now read 47 books.

Challenges Update

I have recently finished a couple of challenges, and so wanted to do the wrap up posts for them.

The first challenge is the Once Upon a Time which I actually finished about nearly a month ago, but I don't think I have posted about yet. The books that I read for this challenge were:

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop
When Twilight Burns by Colleen Gleason
The Fury by L J Smith

The second challenge that I have completed a couple of days ago is the Pub 2010 Challenge. The aim of this challenge is to read 10 books that are being published in 2010. Actually, now that I am getting this post together, I realise that I actually finished the challenge a while ago now, but because I can't count, I have now read 12 books for this challenge! Oh well.

The books that I read for this challenge are:

Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale
Roses by Leila Meacham
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham
Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff
The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
The Endless Forest by Sara Donati
Within the Hollow Crown by Margaret Campbell Barnes
To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick
Uncertain Magic by Laura Kinsale
A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware
The Making of a Duchess by Shana Galen

The other challenge that I finished today is the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I was actually all ready to declare that I had finished this challenge about 6 weeks ago, when I realised that I had only read 12 of the required 20 books, so I am not sure what I was thinking there. The books I read for this challenge were:

The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex
Roses by Leila Meacham
The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig
Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland
The Champion by Elizabeth Chadwick
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark
The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham
Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff
The King's Favorite by Susan Holloway Scott
The Endless Forest by Sara Donati
Within the Hollow Crown by Margaret Campbell Barnes
Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati
To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton
Emma Vol 3 by Kaoru Mori
The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey

Finally, I am going to make my participation in the Amy Einhorn perpetual challenge official. I don't usually follow specific imprints of books, but I have enjoyed the two that I have already read (The Postmistress and The Help) so I will give this challenge a go, which is being hosted over at Beth Fish Reads

May Reading Reflections

I haven't really been paying much attention to how much I have read this month, mainly because I got off to such a slow start due to having to slog through the first part of The Brothers of Gwynedd without being able to call it a book that is finished! So, I have started this post, and now I am going to check my spreadsheet and hope for a pleasant surprise! And the answer is .... no, not in terms of the number of books read, but looking at the grades it is probably my best month in ages!

The books I finished in May were:

Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati (5/5)
To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick (5/5)
The Fury by L J Smith (4/5)
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (4/5)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (5/5)
Uncertain Magic by Laura Kinsale (3.5/5)
Hero at Large by Janet Evanovich (4/5)
The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton (4.5/5)
The Knife of Letting Go by Patrick Ness (4.5/5)

So time for an update on my challenges!

Year of the Historical Challenge - Into the Wilderness was a reread for me. As I was reading The Endless Forest at the end of last month, I kept on thinking how much I really wanted to read through the series again, so I did speed my way through the first book, and enjoyed every moment of it!

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - Into the Wilderness, To Defy a King, Shanghai Girls, The Help and The Winthrop Woman.

Chunkster Challenge - Into the Wilderness was also my final book for the Chunkster Challenge for this year.

Pub 2010 - To Defy a King and Uncertain Magic.

LJ Smith Reading Challenge - The Fury

Romance Reading Challenge - Uncertain Magic and Hero at Large

Once Upon Time IV - The Fury

Vampire Series Challenge - The Fury

100+ Reading Challenge -Read 60 out of the 100 required to meet this challenge.

Support Your Local Library Challenge -Read 41. It's going to require a big effort to get to 100!

Challenges that I didn't make any progress on this month - Period Drama, Harry Potter, Aussie Authors, Tudor Reading Challenge, In Death Reading Challenge, Terry Pratchett Reading Challenge, Art History Reading Challenge, French Historical.

March Reading Reflections

It's been a busy month here at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. It is still a surprise to me to get emails saying that I have received a comment from that blog name, after having been Reading Adventures for so long, but I like it! Not only was there the makeover here and at Historical Tapestry but we also managed to get a few days away. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will get a few photos up. Maybe.

Reading wise, I continue to surprise myself by managing to read more than the eleven or twelve books that I figured I would be able to read each month when I was looking at my goals for the year in January. This month I managed a respectable total of 15 books:

Lord Sunday by Garth Nix (4/5)
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett (4/5)
Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer (5/5)
Dance of Seduction by Elle Kennedy (3.5/5)
The Struggle by L J Smith (4/5)
Then Comes Seduction by Mary Balogh (4/5)
Tempted by PC Cast and Kristin Cast (4/5)
Dance Upon the Earth by Nora Roberts (4/5)
The Champion by Elizabeth Chadwick (4.5/5)
A Duke of Her Own by Eloisa James (4.5/5)
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake (4.5/5)
The House on Tradd Street by Karen White (4.5/5)
The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen (4/5)
Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff (4/5)
The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham (4/5)

I actually managed to read quite a few books for challenges this month, so let's see what progress I made, or didn't make as the case may be.

Yet again, I made no progress with the Period Drama Challenge or with the Harry Potter Reading Challenge. The Pacific is about to be shown here though so I am going to make a special effort to watch that, which will count for the first of those two challenges! The other challenges I made no progress with were the French Historical Reading Challenge (although quite a bit of The Champion was set on the tourney fields of France so I did think about counting that book for the challenge), the Art History Reading Challenge, the Tudor Challenge, In Death Reading Challenge, the Ireland Reading Challenge, but I should be able to do something with those in the not too distant future...hopefully. The Champion does however qualify as a chunkster so I am now half way through the Chunkster Challenge.

Another challenge that The Champion qualifies for, along with Susan Higginbotham's The Stolen Crown, is the Tournament of Reading. In theory I have now met the challenge requirements for this challenge, but I the first book I read for it only just qualified (should have a medieval setting where medieval is quantified as occuring between 500-1500 AD) I might read another book just to be sure!

The Struggle is the second book in the original Vampire Diaries series, which means that I am halfway through The LJ Smith reading challenge. This book and Tempted also counted for the Vampire Series Challenge, so I am third of the way through that challenge now.

Lord Sunday is by Australian author Garth Nix, so that book counted towards the Aussie Authors Challenge, which I am have now read 5 out of the 8 books required to finish this challenge.

The book that I have used as my Year of the Historical read for March was Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer, which is also the book that I reviewed when the Classics Circuit came to visit earlier this month. This book also qualified as a read for the Romance Reading Challenge, along with Dance of Seduction, Then Comes Seduction, Dance Upon the Air, and A Duke of Her Own. I only have two more books to read before I have completed the Romance Reading Challenge.

Another challenge that I only need to read another couple of books before I can say I have completed it is the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. This month The Champion, The Book of Unholy Mischief, The Postmistress, The Stolen Crown and Fireworks Over Toccoa all counted towards this challenge. Those last three book were all published this year and so also count towards the Pub 2010 Reading Challenge as well.

The new challenge I joined this month was Once Upon a Time IV, and The Girl who Chased the Moon qualifies for that challenge, so I am on the way for that one too!

Phew! That's a lot of books for challenges, or challenges for books, whichever way around you want to see it! All that is left is to update my progress on the 100+ Reading Challenge (I have read 42 out of the 100+ I am aiming for), and the Support Your Local Library Challenge where I have read 35 out of the 100 books I was aiming for.

On Sunday I will be posting about Reading Our Own Bookshelves, which is going to put a bit of a dent in my library reading, but I am very excited about participating in!

TSS: February reading round up

This week's unofficial Sunday Salon post is my February reading round up, although I am still wondering how on earth can it possibly be the end of February already. I know it is a short month, but it really should still only be near the middle of the month, maybe the 21st, not the end of the month.

The biggest casualty of the fact that the end of the month is upon us is my LOTR Readalong book, The Fellowship of the Ring. My intention was to read 100 pages a week, but I am still stuck on page 160 having not read anything for a couple of weeks at least! And, I haven't even requested the next book from the library so it isn't like I would be ready for the next month's readalong anyway!

So, if I haven't been reading the Tolkien book, what have I been reading? This month I read 12 books, which is not bad, especially considering that two of those books were chunksters.

The books I read were:

If His Kiss Is Wicked by Jo Goodman (4.5/5)
Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex (4/5)
First Comes Marriage by Mary Balogh (4/5)
A Distant Shore by Peter Yeldham (4.5/5)
Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander (3/5)
Graceling by Kristin Cashore (4.5/5)
Emma Vol 2 by Kaoru Mori (4/5)
Remember When by Nora Roberts/J D Robb
Roses by Leila Meacham (4.5/5)
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (5/5)
Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig (4/5)
Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland (4/5)

And how did I go with my challenges?

I had several books which covered multiple challenges this month. I love it when that happens! The book that I read for the Year of the Historical challenge was Jo Goodman's If His Kiss Is Wicked (excellent dialogue) also qualified for the Romance  Reading Challenge as did First Comes Marriage.

The books that I read for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge this month were Leonardo's Swans, Roses, The Betrayal of the Blood Lily and Mistress of the Sun. I am making good progress through the Historical Fiction Reading challenge having read 6 of the 20 books required to get to the Obsessed level of achievement. Karen Essex's Leonardo's Swans also qualified for the Tournament of Reads (just), and Mistress of the Sun for the French Historical Challenge.

I am happy to report that I am still doing okay on the Aussie Authors reading challenge. This month I read A Distant Shore by Peter Yeldham, and I am currently over half way through Lord Sunday by Garth Nix, the final book in the Keys to the Kingdom YA series.

So far I have read 27 books for the 100+ Reading challenge and 22 books for the Support Your Local Reading Challenge. I did notice that there is new reading challenge called 100 Books in a Year that is being hosted by Reading with Sea which runs from March 2010 to February 2011. I am still deciding whether to sign up or not for that challenge. It does seem to be a duplication 100+ challenge that I am already participating in, but covers a different period, so I might still sign up.

I made a start on the Chunkster Challenge this month by reading Roses by Leila Meacham and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (excellent, excellent book). Roses also qualified for the Pub 2010 challenge.

I also read a book for the In Death Reading Challenge. Remember When is a bit of a strange book really. The first half of the book is written in the style of Nora Roberts, and the second half is J D Robb featuring Eve Dallas from the In Death books. Nora Roberts and J D Robb are the same person writing under different names but it was still a bit strange to read.

The challenges that I didn't make any progress on this month include the Harry Potter Reading Challenge, the Vampire Series Challenge (which I kind of surprising - a whole month without reading a vampire novel. I can't remember the last time that happened), the Tudor Book Challenge, the L J Smith reading challenge and also my own Terry Pratchett Reading Challenge. I am planning to put a post up for the Terry Pratchett Challenge this week. Actually, I have been planning that for a while now, but this week I will actually do it!


No progress on these challenges doesn't stop me from joining new challenges. This time I am joining Carrie at Books and Movies in her Ireland Reading Challenge. It runs from February to November and I am planning to meet the Luck O' the Irish level of achievement by reading 4 novels that are either set in Ireland, written by Irish authors or involving Irish history or Irish characters

January wrap up

How is it that when we were kids a month would take forever to pass? Now, a month is over in a blink of an eye, tomorrow the boy goes back to school after the Christmas holidays, and it is time to do my January reading roundup! Before I get started, I should make a note about the photo I am using for this post. I was searching around on Google for some kind of image to decorate the top of this post, when I had a sudden brainwave! I had a couple of photos on my phone which I took at the beach a couple of weeks ago. The main reason I took them was to be mean to Stephanie who was talking about all the snow she could see out of her window, when I was going to the beach! Luckily we have been friends for a long time!

In my December Reading Roundup, I talked about the fact that I thought my days of reading 18-20 books a month were over, and that I expected that my new normal would probably be closer to 11-13 books per month. So of course, I had to go and make a liar of myself and get through 18 books in January, and that's with only finishing one book in the last week of the month. Who knows what my new normal is, because I really, really don't!

One of the reasons why this month was a bit odd was the fact that I reread 3 books in January. Last year, I reread three books in the whole year. In 2008, I only reread one book, in 2007 I had no rereads and in 2006 there was only one. It's fair to say that I am not much of a rereader, so the fact that there have been three already in the first month of this year is a bit unusual. There was another odd thing as well. At one point this month I had four books on the go (not all that unusual), and not one of them was a library book. I can't remember the last time that happened.

So here is my list of reads for January, along with my rating out of 5:

The Sharing Knife: Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold 4/5
Love at First Bite anthology 4/5
The Awakening by L J Smith 4/5
Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong 4.5/5
Rumour Has It by Jill Mansell 4.5/5
The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien 4.5/5 (reread)
Hunted by P C Cast and Kristin Cast 3.5/5
Bravo Mr William Shakespeare presented by Marcia Williams 4/5
The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters 3.5/5
Shadowfae by Erica Hayes 3.5/5
The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French 4/5
A Dangerous Love by Sabrina Jeffries 4/5
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett 4.5/5 (reread)
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford 4/5
Disco Boy by Dominic Knight 4/5
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett 3.5/5 (reread)
Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale 4.5/5

One of the highlights of January blogging wise was Bloggiesta. Some times that bit of encouragement to get things done is exactly what is required. One of the challenges was the commenting challenge that was being hosted by Pam at MotherReader. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that it turns out that I didn't have a problem commenting on blogs, but I was surprised to find that in the last three weeks I have commented around about 285 times and that is without going out of the way to do anything out of the ordinary. In fact, if anything I have managed to do less blog hopping in that three weeks that I normally would. I would never have thought that I would have commented anywhere near that many times, but apparently I have. I am going to stop keeping track now, because it is a bit time consuming (and not to mention a bit anal to sit there and record every comment made!) but it was a useful exercise to do as a once off.

One thing I was pleased with in January was that I managed to get quite a few books read for the challenges that I signed up for. Not enough to finish any of them, but a substantial start at least!

Not only did I manage to read for a challenge, I also managed to watch something for a challenge as well! For the Period Drama Challenge, which I have been terrible at participating in, I watched and enjoyed all three parts of the mini-series adaptation of Larry McMurtry's Comanche Moon. I also watched another movie that I haven't quite decided if it qualifies as a period drama or not, and that was the movie Grey Gardens which stars Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange amongst others.  The movie covers the period from the late 20s through to the 60s or 70s, so might qualify. I am going to count it for now!

I also, finally, managed to start the L J Smith reading challenge by reading the first book in the Vampire Diaries series, The Awakening. I currently have the second book out of the library so look forward to more progress on that challenge!

I am pleased with the start that I have made for both the 100+ Reading Challenge and the Support Your Local Library Challenge, with 15 books and 11 books read respectively.

Historical fiction and historical romance are among my favourite type of books to read - anything with a historical setting and I am happy! So, when I looked at my list of reads in January and realised that half way through the month I hadn't read one that qualified for the Year of the Historical Challenge, I was a bit surprised. In the end I had a few books to choose from as the book for this challenge, but I think I will stick with The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French. This book is a YA/time travel/historical fiction novel which was set during one of the most famous and influential events in Australian history - The Eureka Stockade. I do have a post half written about this book, so will hopefully be able to finish that post shortly and post a bit more about the book and the event.

I managed to read three books for the Romance Reading Challenge that is being hosted a Royal Reviews. The most pleasing thing about that is that I was able to read across subgenres. I read Shadowfae by Erica Hayes (paranormal/erotic), A Dangerous Love by Sabrina Jeffries (historical) and Virgin River by Robyn Carr (contemporary).  Given that I very rarely read contemporary romance except by Nora Roberts, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Virgin River, and will be trying to locate the next books in the series. It is kind of strange really. My library has the first book in the series, and then every book from the fourth book on, but not the second and third book. To be honest I am not quite sure how that happens so regularly. Next time I go to the library I am going to try to remember to ask for them. I know that they are available through interlibrary loan if my library isn't prepared to purchase the missing parts of the series.

Another challenge hosted by Royal Reviews is the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. A lot of the books that I read for this book will cross over into a couple of the other challenges I am reading for as well. This month, the books that I read that qualified for this challenge are The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French and The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I am hosting the blog tour for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet over at Historical Tapestry early in February, so I need to hurry up and write the review for the book!


 

The challenge that I made the most pleasing progress on this month (for me personally anyway) is the Aussie Author Challenge. Every year one of my goals is to read more Aussie authors. So far this year, I have managed to read three books by Australian authors - The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French, Disco Boy by Dominic Knight and Shadowfae by Erica Hayes. It is fair to say that that is a pretty eclectic mix.

One challenge that I do every year, but always make a slow start on is the Pub Challenge. This year's is the 2010 Pub Challenge, where the challenge is to read books that are originally published in 2010. The one book that I read in January that qualifies for this challenge is Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale. If you like your romances historical, then this is one to look out for!

I should probably mention that I managed to read some books for my own challenge this month! (Very nearly forgot). After having not read any books for the Terry Pratchett reading challenge in it's first month, this month I managed to read two, and I have the next book in the series requested from the library. I also discovered some of the books that I don't own on my brother-in-law's bookshelf. I think we may have had a conversation about being Pratchett fans many years ago, but I can't remember talking about it any time recently.

You would think from looking at that list that I have more than enough challenges to keep my going, but apparently not! I am therefore going to confirm my sign up to two more challenges today as well. The first is for the French Historical Challenge: Oh-la-la! being hosted by Lucy from Enchanted by Josephine. I am aiming to reach the La Princesse level, by reading three historical books set in France

The last challenge that I have signed up for (so far) is The Michener Challenge, which is being hosted by Michelle from True Book Addict at The Michener Challenge blog. I have really fond memories of reading some of James Michener's epic novels like Mexico and Hawaii, and I would like to revisit some of them as part of the challenge. This is a perpetual challenge, so no levels, or time frames! I am looking forward to finding some books to read for it.

All that remains now for this month's reading round up is to award myself my NaJuReMoNo award! I read twelve books that qualified for NaJuReMoNo this year (rereads don't count, and neither do books that you had started before 1 January):

 

Phew! After finishing this challenge update I am ready to go for a lie down and read. In theory, I am going to write a Sunday Salon post today for the first time. Originally I was planning for this post to be that Sunday Salon post but then I remembered that I actually wanted to post about something else!