Monday, December 13, 2010

52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge

Well, the year is drawing to a close and I'm very happy to say that I've just about reached my 52 books in 52 weeks goal. I never think it'll be a problem to read 52 books in a year....that's only one a week. Yet somehow, it always becomes a challenge. Of course, part of the reason is because I'm only counting new books, not the many well beloved books I reread through out the year.

I've noticed that I tend to go in spurts. I'll have several weeks, even months, where I won't read a new book, or even an old one, at all. Life gets in the way, a wonderful burst of writing productivity hits (I rarely read when really immersed in a WIP), deadlines hang over my head, children need attention, and that darn laundry ALWAYS needs folding. But then, I'll have a week or so where I read book after book after book, devouring them with every waking moment.

As long as I get them in, I'm happy. I've reached 50. I need just two more books....and I have about three more weeks in which to get them read. I know I'll be getting a bunch of new books for Christmas...but that won't give me much time to read by the end of the year. So, I think I'll have to browse a bookshelf or two and get in my quota for the year :) (Check out my list on my sidebar if you want to see the new books I've read this year. I loved them all!!)

Did any of you participate in this challenge (or one like it) this year? Did you meet your goal? What's the best book you've read this year?

13 comments:

Theresa Milstein said...

Congratulations! You're going to get there! I did 100 books in 2010, but didn't reach my goal. It didn't help that I joined it in July. Right now, I'm at 59. Here's the link of my list:
http://theresamilstein.blogspot.com/2010/07/reading-versus-writing-in-verse.html

Do you have a list too?

Matthew MacNish said...

This is awesome. Congrats Michelle!

I could never do this. I mean I love to read, and I certainly read usually around 30 books each year, but I would never be able to stand up to the pressure of this kind of deadline.

Stephanie McGee said...

This year I did get quite a bit of reading done, but with school in full swing for the last few months it's been impossible to get any reading time in. Off your list I've read Hush, Hush; the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series; Cinders; and Paranormalcy.

This year, I read other books though. I read Beastly by Alex Flinn. I used to use Goodreads, but have pretty much stopped that one. OH well.

Bast said...

I wanna do this actually. My friend did it last year. She was the first to get my book after I wrote it ... she counted my book as one of the 52 :)

Congrats on the 50 books! Just 2 more.

I'm the same with you when it comes to reading. I'll read a lot, non-stop, one book after another for a while. Then I just stop and don't even touch a book.

Colene Murphy said...

Wow! Congratulations!! That's huge!

Golden Eagle said...

Congratulations! Go, go, go!

I've never participated in a challenge like this one, although it sounds like fun. Maybe I will in 2011--I certainly read a lot already. :P

Melissa said...

Congrats! You are so close to finishing! How exciting. I'm doing something like this next year except I have to, basically, read two a week.

Robin M said...

Yeah for the 50 books and I know you'll manage to read a couple more to make the goal. So glad you joined this year. I'm going to throw in some extra mini challenges for 2011.

Jen said...

Wow!Good for you! That's really awesome. I would LOVE to read 52 books a year. I'm a pretty fast reader, but this year has been super stressful. I think I've read like a dozen. I know. Sad.

Best of luck in reading those final two!

Cheers!
Jen

Lindsay said...

Yay! Congrats. I think I'll join you with the challenge if you do it next year. I'm the same as you though, I don't read much when deep into a wip.

Now go kick those final 2 books into reader submission. :)

Steena Holmes said...

I did the 100 books in a year and I'm 'just' under. AUGH. BUt I still have time to read. I decided to do 2 more challenges and opened it up my fellow bloggers, a new debut challenge - to support the new authors and a reading challenge - I'm going to strive to read 100 books again.

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

I wasn't blogging this time last year so didn't participate. I'm going to check though because, like you, there were times reading is all I seemed to do. Maybe in 2011, who knows.

Anonymous said...

Woo-hoo! Go you!