2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion
ARCHIVE 2021
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Lilac's 2021 Corner
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Read in 2021
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1. Sense and Sensibility - ★★★☆☆ - 11/01/21
2. The Penguin Book of Welsh Short Stories - ★★★☆☆ - 13/01/21
3. On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts - ★★☆☆☆ - 19/01/21
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - ★★★★★ - 04/02/2021
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - ★★★★★ - 30/03/2021
6. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - ★★★★☆ - 16/04/21
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - ★★★★★ - 23/04/2021
8. Alanna: The Song of the Lioness - ★★★☆☆ - 25/04/21
9. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two - ★★★★☆ - 05/05/21
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - ★★★★★ - 10/05/2021
11. The Tales of Beedle the Bard - ★★★★★ - 22/05/2021
12. I, Robot - ★★★★☆ - 26/05/2021
13. Catching Fire - ★★★★★ - 03/06/2021
14. A Column of Fire - ★★☆☆☆ - 30/06/21
15. It was snowing butterflies - ★★★☆☆ - 03/07/21
16. Vanity Fair - ★★★☆☆ - 09/07/21
17. Rising: After the Thaw - ★★★☆☆ - 15/07/21
18. Breaking: After the Thaw - ★★★☆☆ - 17/07/21
19. Falling: After the Thaw - ★★☆☆☆ - 23/07/21
20. Reckoning: After the Thaw - ★★★☆☆ - 08/08/21
21. Rebecca - ★★★★☆ - 25/08/2021
22. Party Shoes - ★★★☆☆ - 25/08/21
23. Caligula - ★★★★☆ - 31/08/2021
24. Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman - ★★★★★ - 12/09/2021
25. Catch-22 - ★☆☆☆☆ - 19/09/21
26. The Sunken Road - ★★★☆☆ - 26/09/21
27. A Short History of Time - ★★★☆☆ - 30/09/21
28. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - ★★★★★ - 14/10/2021
29. Cress - ★★★☆☆ - 16/10/21
30. The haunted house - ★★★☆☆ - 03/11/21
31. The Outsiders - ★★★★☆ - 11/11/2021
32. A Suitable Boy - ★★★★☆ - 15/11/2021
33. Crime and Punishment - ★★★☆☆ - 29/11/21
34. Room - ★★★★☆ - 05/12/2021
35. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - ★★★★★ - 13/12/2021
36. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: and Through the Looking Glass - ★★★☆☆ - 21/12/21
37. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - ★★★☆☆ - 26/12/21
The Extremities Challenge
January 1st - December 31st
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To tackle my massive collection of unread books we’re going for the extremities!
Longest (1,488 pages): A Suitable Boy - ★★★★☆ - 15/11/2021
Shortest (56 pages): On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts - ★★☆☆☆ - 19/01/21
Oldest publication date (120): Caligula - ★★★★☆ - 31/08/2021
Newest publication date (2017): Winter
Best rated (4.40): Alanna: The Song of the Lioness - ★★★☆☆ - 25/04/21
Worst rated (3.12): The haunted house - ★★★☆☆ - 03/11/21
Most ratings (2,631,346): The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - ★★★☆☆ - 26/12/21
Least ratings (12): A Short History of Time - ★★★☆☆ - 30/09/21
Added most recent (Oct 2020): Vanity Fair - ★★★☆☆ - 09/07/21
Added least recent (2012): Cress - ★★★☆☆ - 16/10/21
Challenge progress 9/10
Challenge Completed in 2022
Clear the Shelves by the Decade
January 1st - December 31st
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My own little twist on this, I’ve got so many classics stacking up on my shelves that I though I’d get through some methodically! I’ll read 20 books, one from each decade of the last 200 years, and as a reward I’ll be allowed to buy and read a new book from published in 2020/2021 as I don’t currently own any!
Progress 17/21
1820s: On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts - ★★☆☆☆ - 19/01/21
1830s: It was snowing butterflies - ★★★☆☆ - 03/07/21
1840s: Vanity Fair - ★★★☆☆ - 09/07/21
1850s: The haunted house - ★★★☆☆ - 03/11/21
1860s: Crime and Punishment - ★★★☆☆ - 29/11/21
1870s: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: and Through the Looking Glass - ★★★☆☆ - 21/12/21
1880s:
1890s: Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman - ★★★★★ - 12/09/2021
1900s: The Hound of the Baskervilles
1910s: The Secret Garden
1920s: Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises
1930s: Rebecca - ★★★★☆ - 25/08/2021
1940s: Party Shoes - ★★★☆☆ - 25/08/21
1950s: I, Robot - ★★★★☆ - 26/05/2021
1960s: Catch-22 - ★☆☆☆☆ - 19/09/21
1970s: The Penguin Book of Welsh Short Stories - ★★★☆☆ - 13/01/21
1980s: Alanna: The Song of the Lioness - ★★★☆☆ - 25/04/21 (1984)
1990s: A Suitable Boy - ★★★★☆ - 15/11/2021
2000s: A Short History of Time - ★★★☆☆ - 30/09/21
2010s: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - ★★★★☆ - 16/04/21
2020s: The Sunken Road - ★★★☆☆ - 26/09/21
Listopia Challenge
January 1st - December 31st
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When I first joined this group in 2012/2013 there was a challenge going around called the Goodreads 100 Challenge, based on a static listopia. I’ve been absent from the group and from goodreads but many years but I’m back and ready to kick off right where I left off!
Goodreads 100 Challenge
End of 2012: 25
End of 2013: 43
End of 2014: 58
…
End of 2020: 64
End of 2021: 69
Challenge progress 5/6
A modest goal because I’m determined to try to read books I already own, giving me 8 choices!
27. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - ★★★☆☆ - 26/12/21
36. Sense and Sensibility - ★★★☆☆ - 11/01/21
54. Crime and Punishment - ★★★☆☆ - 29/11/21
59. Catch-22 - ★☆☆☆☆ - 19/09/21
65. Rebecca - ★★★★☆ - 25/08/2021
Completed in 2022
BBC 100 Books
Ongoing - Just for Fun
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Bold - owned unread
Italics - read parts
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien (read first book)
6. The Bible (read parts)
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman (read first book)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (read some)
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
80. Possession – AS Byatt
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
Completed 55/100 (59 if part series/works are counted)
Progress in 2021: 4
2022 Challenge Planning
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(view spoiler)
Possible Yearly Challenges
✔️ Clear the Shelves (view spoiler)
✔️ Let's Turn Pages (view spoiler)
❔ TBR jar (view spoiler)
✔️ Serial Reader (view spoiler)
❔ Colour Challenge
✔️ I Spy (view spoiler)
Shelfies message 42
✔️ Shelfies: Door stoppers (view spoiler)
❔ Shelfies: Booker Prize shortlist
❔ Shelfies: Goodreads 100 Listopia (view spoiler)
❔ Shelfies: Book to screen adaptions (view spoiler)
Probably Not (yet)
❌ Give us a Clue
❌ Magical Mystery Tour
❌ Penguins and Polar Bears
❌ Popsugar
❌ Hindsight is 2022
❔ Genre Bingo
❔ Diversity in Reading
❔ A-Z Challenge authors
Ongoing - just for fun
✔️ BBC 100 Books
✔️ One million ratings books (view spoiler)
✔️ Every Year Challenge (view spoiler)
Reading Stats 2021
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Author gender
Male: 17
Female: 20
Age group
Children: 10
Young Adult: 8
Adult: 19
Length
Very Short (<100 pages): 3
Short (100-249 pages): 5
Medium (250-499 pages): 17
Long (500-799 pages): 10
Very Long (800+ pages): 2
Publication date
<1800: 1
1800-40's: 4
1850-90's: 4
1900-10's: 0
'20's / 30's: 1
'40's / 50's: 2
'60's / 70's: 3
'80's / 90's: 4
2000s: 8
2010s: 5
2020s: 5
Physically Owned
Reread: 8
Owned before 2021: 19
Purchased in 2021: 3
Not owned: 7
Books Purchased this year:
- Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
- A Prayer for Owen Meany
- Cloud Cuckoo Land
- Journey to the River Sea
- And the Mountains Echoed
- One Hundered Years of Solitude
- Love in a Time of Cholera
- Graceling
- The Snow Child
- Cress (read 2021)
- Winter
- Outlander
- Dragonfly in Amber
- I, Robot (read 2021)
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (read 2021)
- Forever
Books gifted this year:
- Twnety One Tales
- Harry Potter 1 illustreted edition
Net owned book = -4
2021 in Review
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Did you (or will you) reach your 2021 reading goal?
I met my yearly book and page goal but I didn't finish any yearly group challenges, although I made good progress!
Books: 37/36
Pages: 14,976/12,000
Will you be increasing or decreasing your goal for 2022?
I'll be keeping my pages goal the same but reducing my book goal to focus on some longer books.
What were your favorite books this year?
My absolute favourite was Tess of the D'Ubervilles. I also really enjoyed A Suitable Boy and felt that I lost a friend when it was finished.
What were your least favorites?
I couldn't stand Catch-22, I nearly DNF'd so many times!
What is one book you would recommend to everyone?
It would have to be Tess, although I know it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.
Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
I don't often read books other than novels so The Penguin Book of Welsh Short Stories was a nice change.
Did you discover any new genres or authors?
Plenty of new to me authors including Isaac Asimov, who I image I'll read more of.
Did you lead a challenge for the group? How was your experience? Would you like to in the future?
I didn't, I don't think I would just because of the commitment at the moment!
Did you join any of the monthly or quarterly challenges, is there one you would like to see again in 2021?
I didn't join any of the shorter ones as I only read ~3 books per month so making these fit to challenges might remove some of the choice. I might join future open-prompt quarterlies.
If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?
Clear the Shelves is a favourite because it helps me to read books I already own!
Is there a challenge from years past that you would like to see brought back?
I think there was a book to screen challenge once, that might be fun as a quarterly or yearly challenge. Also a challenge to read books that will be eligible for the Goodreads Choice Awards.
Do you like having visitors in your reading corner or challenges area?
It's nice to have visitors!
What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year?
I have mostly done yearly challenges this year, I want to join in with buddy reads starting next year.
Is there something you would like to see more of?
Not that I can think of!
2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (other topics)The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (other topics)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (other topics)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: and Through the Looking Glass (other topics)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (other topics)
More...
To read in 2021
Yearly Challenges
TBR Jar Challenge – Extremities
Clear the Shelves by the decade
Listopia: Goodreads 100 Challenge
Longer Term Challenges
BBC 100 Books
2022 Corner