I think this is the first time I've tried to do 2 reading challenges at once. One thing I love about Erin's challenge is that it is 4 months long, so I really don't feel super rushed to finish the books right away (and this is why I also prioritized my reading for the summer book challenge first). Last week, I finished the Semi Charmed Summer Book Challenge (see list below) and I'm still working on Book Challenge by Erin 5.0 (I'll post about that another time!)
5 points: Freebie! Read any book that is at least 150 pages long. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (243 pages, 3/5 stars, see review here)
10 points: Read a collection of short stories or essays. I amended this to Stars Above by Marissa Meyer (400 pages, 4/5 stars) because Summer Days & Summer Nights hasn't been ordered by my library yet.
10 points: Read an adult fiction book written by an author who normally writes books for children. Summer Sisters - Judy Blume - (416 pages, 4/5 stars)
15 points: Read a book set in Appalachia. - Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (304 pages, 3/5 stars, see review here)
15 points: Don’t judge a book by its cover! Read a book with a cover you personally find unappealing. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer - (328 pages - 5/5 stars)
20 points: Read a book that you have previously only seen the film (movie) of. - Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen (409 pages, 5/5 stars, see review here)
25 points: Read a book with a punny title. The title can be a play on another book title, movie title or a common expression. Examples of such titles include The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (373 pages, 4/5 stars)
30 points: Read a microhistory. (Try this list or this one for ideas.) As you Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes (259 pages, 4/5 stars, see review here)
30 points: Read one book with a good word in the title, and one with a bad word. Sleepless in Manhattan by Sarah Morgan (464 pages, 3/5 stars, see review here) and The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (352 pages, 5/5 stars, see review here)
40 points: Read two books that contain the same word in the title, but once in the singular and once in the plural. Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell (320 pages, 3/5 stars, see review here) and The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages, 5/5 stars, see review here)
Total points: 200
This challenge really broadened my summer reading. There were a few books that felt like a little bit of a slog, but I enjoyed them in the end. I was quite surprised by how much I liked some of the books that I'd put off reading for awhile, so that was nice!!
7 comments
Thanks for reading my blog! I would love to hear what you think of this post! I reply to comments via e-mail unless you are a no-reply blogger, and if that is the case you can check out this post to fix it!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yay! So glad that you finished!! I will not be able to, but am definitely reading some cool books as a result of participating. Still hoping to start Erin's as well... mayyybe I can finish that one! We'll see how it goes. I have had a lot less time for reading recently. XO - Alexandra
ReplyDeleteSimply Alexandra: My Favorite Things
Good job completing the challenge! I skipped this one because there were a couple categories I couldn't think of anything I wanted to read in, like micro history, but now that I see what you chose for it, I think I just wasn't creative enough! How did you like The Eyrie Affair? I don't think we already talked about it...
ReplyDeleteman, i have tried multiple times over several years to read Jane Austen but I just can't. maybe i'm just not that smart!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely some good books on this list! I read The Happiness Project years ago and plan to reread this fall or winter along with her newest that I haven't quite gotten to yet. Congrats on finishing!
ReplyDeletehave i mentioned i love that you loved the grand sophy? makes me want to read it again!
ReplyDeletei'm failing both challenges miserably haha
Congratulations on finishing! So many of these are still on my list to read. I should have looked into Summer Sisters, I tried to read In The Unlikely Event for that category and couldn't get into it for some reason. I ended up finishing with 110 points-- still so far away, haha.
ReplyDeleteNice job!! And I love that the unappealing cover ended up being a 5-star read for you - unexpected favorites are the best. :) Hope to see you back in the winter! Thanks for playing along.
ReplyDelete