2012 Reading Challenges summary

My 2012 Reading Challenges goals were kind of a big bust!  Of seventeen challenges I committed to, I only succeed in five of them!  Eeek!  Of course, has that stopped me from considering a badrillion more in 2013? NOPE.

A-to-Z (26 books) : Only made it to 'O' and I have at least one letter with an outstanding review. Ooops!

Bloomsday Readathon : Fail!  (I got the book, but didn't open it.)

Books in Translation (3 books) : Fail! Only read 1.

Clarissa Group Read : Fail! (Didn't even get the book! :/)

Dewey Decimal Challenge (5 books) : Victory!  Read 12.

E-books (25 books) : Victory! Read 29.

Edgar Awards (3 books) : Super epic fail. ZERO.

Europa Editions (2 books) : Super epic fail. ZERO.

Fearless Poetry (1 book) : Super epic fail. Zero.

Forever Amber Readalong : Fail! Bought the book though!

Gothic Fiction in October : Super epic fail.

Historical Fiction (20 books) : Super epic VICTORY!  Read 63!  Beat out last year's best, too!

Immigrant Stories (3 books) : Victory! Read 15.

NetGalley (10 books) : Victory! Read 20.

RIP VII (4 books) : Fail. ZERO.

Victorian Challenge (2 books) : Victory.  Read 5.

Witches and Witchcraft (5 books) : Fail.  Read 3.

Comments

  1. I'm impressed that you signed up for so many challenges! I signed up for two, participated for a couple of months, then promptly forgot about them. Thus I think I won't sign up for any for 2013!

    ReplyDelete

  2. I saw 6 victories! That's better than my record with challenges.

    ReplyDelete

  3. I haven't looked at my numbers yet...trying to put that off for as long as possible :p

    ReplyDelete

  4. Hahaha, that's hilarious! I love it. This is why I don't assign myself specific challenges, so I can just be like:
    I read these things: VICTORY!

    ReplyDelete

  5. awww :-) are you going to give Europa another try in 2013? I hope so!

    ReplyDelete

  6. 8 challenges in which you didn't read one, versus 9 that you at least attempted and read something for is pretty good for the large number of challenges you joined. Congrats! I posted my wrap-up today and the poetry 2013 challenge for 2013 yesterday.

    Hope you have a great end of year!

    ReplyDelete

  7. I gave up on formally signing up for reading challenges because I could never accomplish them (or then those weren't actually a challenge!), so I think you did great:-)

    ReplyDelete

  8. Some of these challenges sound like fun!! I am signed up for the Immigrant one already...that AtoZ sounds good...but the link back to the creator doesn't seem to work...are you doing that one again this year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Krystyn -- I was going to but also saw that the creator's webpage doesn't work so I guess not! :/

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Winter 2017 Bloggiesta To Do Post

Image
I love Bloggiesta for reminding me to brush up and take of my blog, and doing it "in community", so to speak, makes this housework a little more fun.

Given my earlier whining about feeling out-of-it with my blog, I'm really excited there's a mini-event this coming weekend in which I can do some backend work here.

My to do list is pretty simple:
make a top 10 of 2016 post (even if it is just a list!)review the book I just finished!I'd like to start 2017 without a backlog of reviews, so it feels important I keep up. We'll see if I'll tackle my 2016 backlog. (Perhaps for another Bloggiesta!)
Read more

Interview with Mary Sharratt on her newest novel, Ecstasy

Image
I'm an enormous Mary Sharratt fan; her novels are rich, detailed, evocative, complicated, lush, and compelling. (See my reviews for Illuminations and The Dark Lady's Mask.) I'm sharing my review of her newest novel, Ecstasy, tomorrow, but needless to say, it'll be all gushing praise. Sharratt's portrait of Alma Mahler, Gustave Mahler's beautiful, talented wife, is so good. I couldn't say I liked Alma's choices, but Sharratt allowed me to imagine why she would have made them.

I'm delighted to share my interview with Ms. Sharratt about Ecstasy. There's also a giveaway at the end, too!

How did Alma's story cross your path?

I’ve always been a huge Gustav Mahler fan. I adore his music and he appears like the perfect tragic hero, rising up from rural obscurity and facing insurmountable struggles in his life, and meeting his untimely death with great courage and dignity. But then I became intrigued by the figure of his wife, Alma, especially after …
Read more

Weekend reads and wow, it's been a while...

Image
Yikes, it's been a while.

Winter did a number on me, as it always does; although I can say that while I wasn't reading much (and clearly not blogging about it), I've been filling my time. This year I've finished six knitting projects, which is a record for me given that I normally only manage one piece a year!

A few weeks ago, we adopted two cats since Unabridged Kid and I had reached our limit of cat-less living. After bickering over names for two weeks, we finally reached agreement: Gus, from Gus's Garage, and Stanley, from Stanley's Garage. (Notice a theme?)

I've fallen terribly behind on my novel; I pretty much stalled out after the winter holidays, and I've just gotten back into a morning writing habit (one hundred-ish agonizing words a day, le sigh).

This weekend I'm starting Mary Sharratt's Ecstasy, a historical novel about Alma Mahler. Gifted in her own right, she put all that away for her marriage, and I'm kind of shoulder tense i…
Read more

Book Review: Ecstasy by Mary Sharratt

Image
First line: Nineteen years old, Alma Maria Schindler longed body and soul for an awakening.

I knew, from the previous novels of Sharratt's that I've read (the astounding Illuminations and fascinating The Dark Lady's Mask) that I would love Ecstasy -- even though I feared the story of Alma Mahler's life would frustrate me. However, I should have trusted that Sharratt would somehow manage to make me not just enraptured of/with Alma but also the people in her life, including the frustrating Gustave Mahler.

Alma Schindler is beautiful and clever, growing up in Vienna's glittering world of art and intellect. She composes and wishes to devote herself to music, but aspires to a passionate love as well. She eventually marries Gustave Mahler, a genius who demands she give up her composing and devote her entire self to his art. The cost, unsurprisingly, is enormous.

This probably sounds miserable, but Sharratt somehow manages to make it deeply compelling and kind of understan…
Read more