Wednesday, January 01, 2014

2013 Reading Challenges Wrap Up Post

Since I'm already flooding my blog with reviews right now, and sign ups for 2014 challenges, I thought it would be easier to compile the wrap up posts for my 2013 challenges in one quick and handy post.
 
 
2013 Color Coded Challenge @ My Reader's Block
 
 
I completed all nine categories.
 
 
 
Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2013 @ My Reader's Block
 
http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2013/12/mount-tbr-final-checkpoint.html
 
These are the books I read that qualified for the challenge.
 
1. The Passage by Justin Cronin
2. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
3. When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman
4. The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney
5. Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
6. The Whites of Their Eyes by Jill Lepore
7. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
8. The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
9. Collapse by Jared Diamond
10. The Traitor's Wife by Kathleen Kent
11. Black Hearts by Jim Frederick
12. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
13. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier
14. Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
15. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
16. The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
17. A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King
18. City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte
19. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley
20. The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt
21. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
22. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
23. The Winter of the World by Carol Ann Lee
24. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
25. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
26. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
27. Home: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews
28. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
29. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
30. The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar
31. Hood by Emma Donoghue
32. The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan
33. Vlad: The Last Confession by C.C. Humphreys
34. A Journal for Jordan by Dana Canedy
35. Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
36. Honolulu by Alan Brennert
37. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
38. Day After Night by Anita Diamant
39. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
40. Aces High (Wildcards II) edited by George R.R. Martin
41. Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago
42. Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
43. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
44. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
45. Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay
46. Blueprints for Building Better Girls by Elissa Schappell
47. The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
48. The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
49. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
50. Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams
51. The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry by Bryan Sykes
52. Time and Again by Jack Finney
53. The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer
 
1. I signed up for Mt. Vancouver, 36 books.  I ended up reading 53, which is five books above the next level of Mt Ararat.
2. "My Life According to Mount TBR: Using the titles of the books you read this year, please associate each statement with a book read on your journey up the Mountain."
 Are you male or female? The Woman in White
 Describe Yourself: The Lost Hero
 Describe Where You Currently Live: The Demon-Haunted World
 If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Honolulu
 Your favorite form of transportation: The Passage
 What's the weather like? The Winter of the World
 Favorite time of day: The Distant Hours
 Your relationships: Time and Again
 You fear: The Winter Ghosts
 What is the best advice you have to give? Turn Right at Machu Picchu
 If you could change your name, you would change it to: Vlad
 My soul's present condition: Dreams of Joy
 
European Reading Challenge 2013 @ Rose City Reader
 
 
The goal was to read books set in Europe or written by Europeans.  Each country and author could only be used once, and the challenge included 50 eligible countries.  I signed up for the highest level, which was Five Star (Deluxe Entourage) with at least five books.

I ended up visiting 16 countries.

1. The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart - set in the UK and the author is from the UK
2. Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield - set in ancient Greece
3. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak - set partially in Turkey and the author is from Turkey
4. The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo - set mostly in Norway and the author is from Norway
5. Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada - set in Germany and the author is from Germany
6. The Tiger's Wife - Serbia (unnamed war torn country, author originally from Belgrade)
7. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante - set in Italy and author is from Italy
8. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera - set in Czech Republic and author orginally from there (technically Czechoslovakia but I'm counting it as Czech since Prague is now part of the Czech Republic)
9. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell - set in Sweden and author is from Sweden
10. Hood by Emma Donoghue - set in Ireland and the author is from Ireland
11. The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen - set in Denmark and author is from Denmark
12. The Expats by Chris Pavone - set in Luxembourg
13. The Dinner by Herman Koch - set in the Netherlands and author is Dutch
14. Purge by Sofi Oksanen - set in Estonia; author is Finnish-Estonian
15. The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - set in Spain and author is from Spain
16. The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan - set in France
 
 
2013 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge @ Historical Tapestry
 
http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.fr/2013/12/2013-historical-fiction-reading.html
 
I signed up for Medieval (15 books), but ended up getting way over the amount to qualifiy for Ancient History (25+) with a total of 43 read.

1. When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman
2. Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
3. The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
4. Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristina McMorris
5. Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith
6. The Traitor's Wife by Kathleen Kent
7. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
8. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier
9. A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King
10. Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman
11. The Winter of the World by Carol Ann Lee
12. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
13. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
14. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
15. Vlad: The Last Confession by C.C. Humphreys
16. Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
20. The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
21. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
22. Day After Night by Anita Diamant
23. Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago
24. Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
25. Unraveled by Courtney Milan
26. The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley
27. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
28. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
29. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
30. Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
31. Vinegar Hill by A. Mannette Ansay
32. The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett
33. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
34. The Gods of Gotham by Lindsay Faye
35. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
36. Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal
37. Purge by Sofi Oksanen
38. The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruis Zafon
39. Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford
40. Joyland by Stephen King
41. Time and Again by Jack Finney
42. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
43. Devil's Brood by Sharon Kay Penman
 
2013 Monthly Keyword Reading Challenge @ Bookmark to Blog
 
monthlykeywordchallenge
 
The goal was to read at least one book per month with one of the keywords (or a derivative there of, for example "mother" for "family").  Below is the list of all the books by month, and number totals by month.  I ended up reading a total of 55.
 
January (winter, snow, silver, white, cold, shiver, smoke, fire, freeze, breath): Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield, The Whites of Their Eyes by Jill Lepore, The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
Total: 3
March: (luck, wish, gold, rainbow, green, mountain, valley, magic, farm, treasure): The Magicians by Lev Grossman, City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte, Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Total: 3
September (shade, cry, blow, memory, kiss, space, fast, storm, blue, club): My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares, Blueprints for Building Better Girls by Elissa Schappell
Total: 2
October (witch, haunt, murder, death, phantom, inside, fear, weapon, trapped, ghost): The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo, The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockridge
Total: 3
Book Bingo 2013 @ Reading in Winter

2013 Bingo Challenge Button-01

I mostly signed up for this one because I liked the idea of scratching things off on the card.  I got a total of 6 bingos, and considering my lack of rereading, that was basically the best I could do.

My Bingo Card:



First Bingo Done!  Or "That's a Bingo!"
Read 1 Book from Your TBR Pile (Complete):
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Read 2 Books from Your TBR Pile (Complete):
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney
Read 3 Books from Your TBR Pile (Complete):
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
The Whites of Their Eyes by Jill Lepore
The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
Read 4 Books from Your TBR Pile (Complete):
Collapse by Jared Diamond
The Traitor's Wife by Kathleen Kent
Black Hearts by Jim Frederick
The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
Read 5 Books from Your TBR Pile (Complete):
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte
A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

Read 1 Book That is Part of a Series (Complete):
Agent 6 (The Child 44 Trilogy) by Tom Rob Smith
Read 2 Books That are Part of a Series (Complete):
The Passage Trilogy:
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Twelve by Justin Cronin
Read 3 Books That are Part of a Series (Complete) - Bingo 6!:
Henry II and Eleanor Trilogy:
When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman
Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman
Devil's Brood by Sharon Kay Penman
Read 4 Books That Are Part of a Series (Complete):
A Letter of Mary by Laurie King
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
Read 5 Books That Are Part of a Series (Complete):
The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo
Nemesis by Jo Nesbo
The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
The Leopard by Jo Nesbo

Second Bingo!
Read 1 Book That is Released in 2013 (Complete):
A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time, Book 14) by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Read 2 Books That are Released in 2013 (Complete):
The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma
The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Free Square (Complete):
Unraveled by Courtney Milan
Read 4 Books That are Released in 2013 (Complete):
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
The Ocean At the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Dear Girls Above Me by Charles McDowell
Read 5 Books That Are Released in 2013 (Complete):
The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan
Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan
Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett

Fifth Bingo!
Read 1 Book Everyone But You Has Read (Complete):
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Read 2 Books Everyone But You Has Read (Complete):
The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Read 3 Books Everyone But You Has Read (Complete):
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
Read 4 Books Everyone But You Has Read (Complete):
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Read 5 Books Everyone But You Has Read (Complete):
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
The Dinner by Herman Koch
The Gods of Gotham by Lindsay Faye
Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Reread 1 Book (Complete) - Bingo 3+4:
The Odyssey by Homer

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love it! You did so many challenges! I love that they're all in one post. Fun wrap up.

Gilion at Rose City Reader said...

Congratulations on reading so many for the European reading Challenge. You made it to the Honorable Mention list for reading more than 10 set in different countries.

The main wrap up post listing you as one of the Honorable Mention participants is here: http://www.rosecityreader.com/2014/02/2013-european-reading-challenge-wrap-up.html