It’s time to take a look at my final reading challenge update of the year. How did I do? Overall, not too bad (except for my TBR challenge, which I bombed).
1. 2024 Goodreads goal:
I made my initial goal of 75 books a few months ago, so I upped my number to 100. But December turned out to have way too many distractions and I lost focus, so I didn’t quite hit my goal of 100 books. But hey, it’s something to aim for next year.
2. Bookforager’s Picture Prompt Bingo:
I’m very excited that I was able to fill my picture prompt bingo card! Now I did stretch some of the prompts a bit, but I know this challenge was intended to allow readers to interpret the prompts however they like. I will definitely be doing this challenge again next year!
A healed shoe decorated with a bow = Grimm Curiosities by Sharon Lynn Fisher. The story is set in 1851 and this shoe feels like it might come from that time period.
A microscope = The Swarm by Andy Marino (lots of science in this one!)
A partially unrolled scroll and pen = A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall (the two many characters converse through hand written letters)
A land snail = Wilderness Reform by Matt Query & Harrison Query. I’m taking the meaning of a snail for this prompt, which is to say a story that was extremely slow!
An old Roman coin = A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. I’m definitely stretching this one! The story includes a money hungry woman named Evangeline.
A fern plant = The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (ferns are an integral part of the setting)
A simple crown = The Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent (“Crown” in the series title)
An armillary sphere = The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei. An armillary sphere is a representation of the skies, so I figured a space opera would be a good fit.
A seashell = Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (ocean setting)
A cannon on a gun carriage = The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden (set during WWI)
A harp = We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Koller Croft. If a harp is a stand in for “music,” then this is the perfect book for this prompt. It’s full of disco music and dancing.
Two hands making a shadow puppet dog = We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer. This book is full of shadows and deals with perception in a big way, so I thought it would work well for this prompt.
An old camera and tripod = Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates. Hey, it’s in the title…
A dog (a very good doggo) = American Rapture by C.J. Leede. A wonderful dog named Barghest is one of the characters, although spoiler alert: he dies.
A beehive = The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields (the main character raises honey bees)
Fluffy cumulonimbus clouds = Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead (clouds play a part in terraforming a new planet)
3. TBR Jar Challenge:
This challenge was a big fail, as I only read three out of twelve books. However, I did read some other owned books that aren’t on the original list, see below, so I’ll count this as a challenge half finished:-)
I’m planning on doing this challenge again next year, but I’m going to choose shorter books. A lot of these are 500+ pages and it scared me off every time I wanted to read one.
4. Alphabet Reading Challenge:
I really wanted to finish this challenge, but I wasn’t really seeking out books with the harder letters, so I ended up with five blanks. I’m definitely doing this challenge again next year, and I may work harder to find J, Q, V, X and Z books.
Well done with all your challenges, this looks like it’s been a great year of reading, especially with such a high number of books read overall.
Great job on the Alphabet challenge, you did far better than me. I seemed to find myself reading many books all beginning with the letter M so there were loads I didn’t get around to.
M is very popular! For me i kept finding S and D for some reason.
Looks like you had a pretty good reading year!
Thanks! I am happy with my year:-)
Congratulations!
Thanks Emma!
You did well. It was a busy year and with real life I didn’t read quite as much. Mostly ebooks suffered as I fell asleep instead of reading at bedtime or obsessed about politics. I figure in 2025 I’ll be doing a lot of escape reading. I think I’ll be around 275 books for the year and that’s way down since I usually break 300.
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…Top 10 Books I Want in 2025 #Top10of2024 #Top10 @SnyderBridge4 @sophiarose1816
I’m planning on lots of escape reading too:-)
Looks like you did great! Lots of good reads here.
Thanks! I did have a good reading year:-)
The release date for Onyx Storm is fast approaching so you better get on that Iron Flame read!! (I kid, I kid…read at your own pace )
LOL I know!
Will 2025 be the year you read Ninth House? I think (hope) it will be! 😛
Ha ha maybe??
You did pretty great on your challenges. I still need to assess how well I did on mine. I know there are at least two I failed at, lol.
Thanks! It’s hard to complete everything:-)
Shorter books?? What was the longest book you read this year, Tammy?
Well even if all challenges aren’t met it’s still a good year! But Tammy please listen to the audiobook of Amina Al Sirafi! You will love it!
Nice work! I hit 81% of my goodreads goal (57 of 70), which ended up being just about the same as last year.