Reading Challenge Update: November & December 2019 + Roundup

Happy 2020! I fell a little behind on posting due to holidays, a vacation with my best friend, and getting immediately addicted to Fire Emblem: Three Houses on my return. However, I wanted to present an update for my Reading Challenges for November and December 2019, as well as do a roundup of how many categories I hit throughout 2019 and how I felt about each challenge. (I had to adjust a few books I categorized earlier into different ones to make these fit, but I managed it! Didn’t lose a single book in the process.)

Will I be doing a reading challenge for 2020? Read on to find out!

The Five-Star Favs

Finished: 11/1/19 | Rating: ★★★★★

Challenges met:

• A book becoming a movie tv show in 2019 – PopSugar Reading Challenge 2019
• Published the decade before you were born – Pingel Sisters 2019 Reading Challenge

I was born in the 90s, so by being published in the 80s, Watchmen is a classic that definitely fits the bill. We’ve already had a film about it, so I wanted to acknowledge the tv series inspired by the comic that came out this year instead. I haven’t watched it yet (ha!), but I’ve heard nothing but good things and am looking forward to it.

Reading Challenge Update: September & October 2019

What up, y’all? Sooooo, I’ve been all over the place the last two months and totally had no time to do any Reading Challenge updates until now. I’m not too bothered by it, though. I’ve been to some work events, seen some awesome concerts, spent time with great friends at NYCC, moved to a house with some of my best friends, and gotten completely obsessed with Death Stranding. It’s been a good time, but now it’s time to get back to some books.

Let’s give a look at what books I read in September and October!

The Five-Star Favs

Finished: 9/8/19| Rating: ★★★★★

Challenges met:

• A LitRPG book – PopSugar Reading Challenge 2019
• A book about organized crime/the mob – @MommyMannegren’s 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge 2019

The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story by Kazushige Nojima probably isn’t a LitRPG book in the strictest sense of the word, but it is a book based on the classic JRPG Final Fantasy VII, focusing on the Turks, a mob-like, fictional organization, and a slew of original characters. And Kadaj, let’s not forget that. I’m still stunned by how amazingly written and in-character this translated book was. [Review]

Reading Challenge Update: August 2019

Hey there! How are you today? I have some good news in regards to the reading challenges I set myself this year and wanted to share with you guys before I get started.

The entire point of these reading challenges is to encourage you to read more than you normally would. As I’ve done for the past few years, I set a goal of reading 50 books a year, and thanks to the Fruits Basket volumes I’ve been rereading, I recently accomplished this goal! If I take away the manga, however, my real read count is 40 out of 50 books, but that’s still really good for me! I definitely think doing these reading challenges has sped my reading up, not dramatically, but enough to make a difference, so I’m super happy about that.

As I stated in the last challenge, I won’t be including the Fruits Basket volumes anymore in the challenges because they’ve fulfilled all the challenges they could possibly fill, but let it be known that I read eight entire volumes in August. Yiss!

Onward to the books!

The Five-Star Favs

Finished: 8/17/19 | Rating: ★★★★★

Challenges met:

• An author who uses a pseudonym – @MommyMannegren’s 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge 2019

While not writing under a pseudonym for Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Seanan McGuire has penned books under the name of Mira Grant and will soon write a book under the name of A. Deborah Baker. This book raised the bar from Every Heart a Doorway, exploring a world I’d grown fascinated with in that story, the Moors. It was dark and gruesome, and I came to understand Jack and Jill much, much better. I do wish more about the Master and Dr. Bleak had been explored, but there’s only so much you can do with a novella.

Reading Challenge Update – July 2019

Hello, hello! I hope you’re doing well and not melting when you go outside. It’s gotten stupid hot where I am; so glad summer decided to finally show up, I guess.

Today, I’m going to be reviewing how I did on my reading challenges for July. I, uh, actually skipped June because I started a lot of books that month but didn’t finish enough to warrant a post, oops! Sorry if you noticed, but if not, that works for me. I’m just going to include the two I did finish here.

The Five-Star Favs

Finished: 6/17/19 | Rating: ★★★★★

Challenges met:

• A book published by HarperCollins – @MommyMannegren’s 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge 2019

Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, published We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia, but there’s honestly so much more to say about it than that. It’s gay, it features Latinx culture and characters, and it’s the better version of The Handmaid’s Tale, imo. [Review]

Reading Challenge Update – May 2019

Hey, all! I’m back with the roundup of my reading challenge updates for May. Admittedly, this month was much less of a success than previous months have been. I blame my birthday, a work conference, and the fact that this month felt so short to me—it’s no wonder I lost track of time.

So what did I read (or attempt to) this month?

The Great

Finished: 5/26/19 | Rating: ★★★★☆

Challenges met:

• A book about a hobby – PopSugar Reading Challenge 2019
• A speed read – @MommyMannegren’s 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge 2019

Once I actually got time to sit down and read my ARC, Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim flew by so fast; it was so easy and enjoyable to read, minus a few hangups. Maia strives to be the greatest tailor in the land, despite the fact that she’s a girl, and though this talent she has is less a hobby than a sense of being and livelihood, I think it still fits the category because of how focused the story is on clothes-making. [Review]

Reading Challenge Update – April 2019

Hey, I’m back with a new reading challenge update! April was a slower month for me, mostly because I hit a book slump toward the beginning of the month because something I was reading just wasn’t doing it for me.

I wonder if you can guess which one it was. 😉

The Five-Star Favs

Finished: 4/3/19 | Rating: ★★★★★

Challenges met:

• A book you think should be turned into a movie – PopSugar Reading Challenge 2019
• Gothic fiction novel – @MommyMannegren’s 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge 2019

Wicked Saints has solidified itself as a modern gothic fiction novel—it has that romantic horror vibe to me—and I’d love to see certain scenes on the big screen, namely That One with Serefin. [Review]

Reading Challenge Update – March 2019

Hey, everyone! Before I get into this reading challenge update, I wanted to thank everyone who has followed my blog recently. It’s so heartening to see, and I just want to express how happy I am about it every time. You guys are awesome!

This one’s going to be a little smaller because I was in a reading slump? Or something? It happens. I was also playing a lot of Yakuza Kiwami 2 and watching Queer Eye, so I honestly can’t be too mad about that. It was a good time.

The Great

Finished: 3/1/19 | Rating: ★★★★☆

Challenges met:

• A book revolving around a puzzle or game – PopSugar Reading Challenge 2019
• A book set in another country – Pingel Sisters 2019 Reading Challenge
• An ugly cover – @MommyMannegren’s 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge 2019

Wildcard still features the fictional AR game Warcross, though in a lesser capacity than in the first book, and the setting is still in Japan. And I know that the term “ugly” is subjective, but I’ve loathed this cover ever since it dropped, especially when compared to the first book’s. Sorry!

Reading Challenge Update – February 2019

February is gone, and so is another month of reading challenges! February felt like a long month to me, despite its shortness, but at the same time, the last week barely existed. Isn’t time strange?

This month was a great success for me. While I didn’t get to everything I wanted to read (who does?), I did accomplish a great deal: Seven books during the shortest month, five of them ARCs! Catching up on ARCs has been a huge goal for me, so I’m happy to be doing it, and I’m finding some great books to be excited for release besides.

Let’s check them out!

The Five-Star Favs

Finished: 2/1/19 | Rating: ★★★★★

Challenges met:

• A book with a plant in the title or on the cover – PopSugar Reading Challenge 2019
• Cover with your favorite color – Pingel Sisters 2019 Reading Challenge
• A fairy tale – @MommyMannagren’s 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge 2019

Plants are a feature of both the title and that sexy black cover of The Language of Thorns. Leigh Bardugo has crafted a short story collection full of original fairytales inspired by our own but applied to her fictional Grishaverse, and they’re all amazing. I’m always super impressed with people who can create new fairytales like this and make them feel like we’ve forgotten them but are now remembering them because that’s never easy.

Reading Challenge Update – January 2019

Hello, everyone! We’re all still hyped for the new year and our goal settings, and I am no exception. Honestly, I’m surprised, but so far, I’m getting a kick out of doing these reading challenges. Let’s see how I did this month:

The Five-Star Favs

Finished: 1/3/19 | Rating: ★★★★★

Challenges met:

• A book with no chapters, unusual chapter headings, or unconventionally numbered chapters – PopSugar Reading Challenge 2019
• A book with more than 500 pages – Pingel Sisters 2019 Reading Challenge
• Military-related: fiction or nonfiction – @MommyMannagren’s 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge 2019

Clocking in at 604 pages, Illuminae is told in various files such as mission reports, ship logs, IMs, interviews, and other formats, with civilian characters and civilians-conscripted-into-soldier characters on board a military warship as they attempt to escape annihilation from an enemy warship. In space. Talk about stressful. [Review]