2014 Reading Challenges

I know I'm kinda late to the party, but better late than never. I missed signing up for reading challenges at the beginning of the year because I was taking a blogging break. I figured I'd actually challenge myself this year though I'm not sure how this will all play out. We shall see!

2014 Debut Author Challenge

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and Books Devoured

Even though this challenge is to read 12 books by debut authors published this year, I'm going to aim for 10 since I'm already behind. Maybe, just maybe, I'll make it to 12, but I'm not promising any miracles. Here's some of the debuts I'm interested in reading:

• Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen
• Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
• The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (reading now)
• Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• Far From You by Tess Sharpe
• Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas
• Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang
• The Break-Up Artist by Philip Siegel
• Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis

Personal Challenge

I am challenging myself to finish at least 10 book series, whether it's a series I've already started or a new one, before the end of the year. I start way too many series and then leave them unfinished, and that is unacceptable. Now this could mean finishing an entire series or just all of the books that are currently released for that series. Some series I'd like to finish or start...

• The Monstrumologist series
• Jessica Darling series 
• Study series
• Curse Workers series
• Fire and Thorns series
• The Chemical Garden series
• Penryn & the End of Days series
• Shatter Me series
• His Fair Assassin series
• Divergent series
• Matteo Alacran series 
• Lunar Chronicles series 
• Necromancer series 
• Maze Runner series 
• A Song of Ice and Fire series 
• Shadowfell series 

These are all possibilities, but some of them, I will admit, are low priority. I may not have liked the first book as much, or I'm not sure I'll like the later books because of bad reviews. And obviously, I will not be finishing all of these this year. I am a mood reader so it's just not happening. But I definitely plan on getting some serious reading done this year.

Have you read any of these series? Or are there any 2014 debuts you loved or look forward to reading? Let me know in the comments!

Take Control of Your TBR Pile Read-a-Thon: Wrap Up Post

Take Control of your TBR Pile Read-a-Thon is the first read-a-thon I've done ever, and it will definitely not be my last. I'm ashamed to admit that I did not make as much progress as I had anticipated. I had hoped to read at least 10 books this month, which should have been a piece of cake. But things came up, and I found myself in a reading slump for a little, and well, it seems nothing goes as planned. 

Did I enjoy this read-a-thon? Well, as always, I had fun reading. I'm going to be honest. I really didn't participate as much as I should have. If anything, I was just testing myself and seeing if I could handle following a list of books to read instead of my usual spontaneity. It was tough, and I know I could have changed the books I intended to read, but I stuck to it. I also desperately needed to concentrate on some books that have been sitting on my bookshelves, just gathering dust, for much too long, and I'm happy to say I finally see an end to my TBR pile. Hopefully, there will come a day when there's no unread books on my bookshelves but I remain skeptical. 

I struggled writing reviews for some of the books. Like I said, I was definitely going through a reading/blogging slump for awhile. Here are all the books I finished: 

-Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

-Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

-White Cat by Holly Black

-Red Glove by Holly Black

-Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

-The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

-The Swan Kingdom by Zoë Marriott

-Sweetly by Jackson Pearce

Wow. It looks like such a short list, and I wish I had read more. I also kind of cheated and read The Clockwork Princess even though it was published this month, and all the books for this read-a-thon were supposed to be published before March. But I'm not counting that book towards the read-a-thon.

I cannot wait to do a read-a-thon again. Maybe not right away, but definitely sometime in the future, and I hope to read many more books for the next one.

2013 Reading Challenges

Alright, I've finally decided on my 2013 Reading Challenges. I'm not going to be doing many because I prefer to read whatever I want, whenever I want. That's why I'm not accepting books for reviews or doing any blog tours again. At least for awhile. It frustrated me having any sort of schedule with my books because I want to read them purely for enjoyment and not because I need to read them by a certain date or need to read a certain number.

Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge

I'm trying to be as realistic as possible so I challenged myself to 90 books this year. I hope to go over that and maybe even over 100, but we shall see. With work and such, I may not be able to read as many as I'd like. I'm already at 4!

The Stephen King Project

I'm so excited to hear that The Stephen King Project is continuing into 2013. I started blogging way too late in 2012 to participate, and I was afraid they wouldn't continue the project. Basically you spend the whole year reading Stephen King. You can include other non-bookish things, like reviews of the movies and so on. I look forward to reading even more Stephen King since he is my favorite author!

And that is all I'm participating in. It's not much, but I'm happy with it because then I am free to do whatever I want. I'm not one for challenging myself. I just sit back and read with a mug of hot tea. But I do want to participate in a Read-A-Thon sometime. Bring it on!