2025 Reading Challenge discussion

2018 was a great year for reading! Let's take a look back.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?

2. Which books were your favorite?

3. Which books were your least favorite?

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
- 147, but that also includes some short stories, novellas and a play or two 😉 And yes, I met my goals, woohoo...

2. Which books were your favorite?
- I gave about 10 books a 5 star rating, but 1 will stand out for a long time: 11/22/63 🤩

3. Which books were your least favorite?
- Thankfully I only read very few really bad books, and if you are Danish then don’t bother with Flere bitre mandler 😂

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
- Not new, exactly, but started reading J.K. Rowling under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Great mystery series! 👌

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
- Became a Jeffrey Archer fan many years ago, but I don’t normally follow any authors life, so I was very surprised to read his Prison Diaries. Also great books, btw... 👍

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
- Participated in a LOT of them, and enjoyed them all! But I think, I especially like prompt-challenges; then I can stretch and interpret it to fit a book, I would like to read 😄

And on that note: thanks again to all the mods and other volunteers for making the challenges possible - I LOVE IT 😍

I beat my goal of 60 books by 1. I should have read more, but I slowed down in December, knowing that I would reach my goal with no problem.

2. Looking back at what I read, there were many really good ones, but there were three books that stood out to me as the best:
Beartown
11/22/63
The Kite Runner
I can't recommend any of these strongly enough. Three great books, written by three of the best writers of our time!

3. I was a bit disappointed in a few books that had been highly recommended to me, but I only read a couple that I truly didn't like:
1. Hillari's Head
2.The Sea
The first was just too predictable, even though I'm sure the author thought it had a really surprising twist. The second was about a character that I thought was so self absorbed and unlikeable that I couldn't enjoy the author's beautifully written prose.

4. I didn't actually find him in 2018, but Fredrik Backman leapfrogged to the top of my list of favorite authors. I had read, and loved, A Man Called Ove the year before. But Beartown demonstrated his level of insight into the hearts and minds of humanity that it left me breathless at times.

5. It shouldn't have been a surprise to me, but the themes of some of the 19th century classics still resonate today. From the destructiveness of Heathcliff's obsessive love to the risks of allowing scientific knowledge to advance without ethical considerations, and many other ideas, the messages from the great writers really are timeless.

6. I participated in more challenges than ever last year. I liked all of them, and my favorite was probably the members' tasks. Not only did I learn things about lots of people in the group, the variety of ideas made the challenge so much fun!

And I second Mie's last comment. All the Admins in the group give up many hours of their time to keep things fun and organized. Thanks for all that you do!

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
I read 60 books last year! I surprised myself by passing my goal with 150%

2. Which books were your favorite?
My favorites were The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Night Circus, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Hate U Give and Becoming

3. Which books were your least favorite?
I had a very good reading year, I did not give any one star ratings. Some of the least favourite were The Old Man and the Sea (I know it earned Hemingway the Nobel Prize, but it just not for me), The Golden Compass,The Circle, To The Bright Edge of the World, and Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Oscar Wilde! I immediately bought all his works after reading The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Regarding genre, I read two autobiographies that I really like, while I always thought that this genre wouldn't interest me.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
How much I enjoyed Becoming by Michelle Obama. Totally worth the hype!

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
I led and participated in several challenges, and the Serial Reader is my favourite!

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
I read 101 books which smashed my goal of 42 and is an all-time record for me. I had some unusual quirks in my schedule that allowed for more reading time, but it's unlikely that I will have that much time in 2019.

2. Which books were your favorite?
FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2018 (5 star ratings)

Thieves Like Us by Edward Anderson


A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin


Nexus by Ramez Naam


Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze


March Violets by Philip Kerr


All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr


The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson


Provinces of Night by William Gay


The Secret History by Donna Tartt


A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

HONORARY MENTION (4 star ratings but very memorable)
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Queenpin by Megan Abbott
The Asphalt Jungle by W.R. Burnett
The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga by Jack Vance
Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K. Jerome
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Blue Room by Georges Simenon
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
IQ by Joe Ide
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald
Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
Personal Injuries by Scott Turow
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
The Best American Mystery Stories 2016 edited by Elizabeth George
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

3. Which books were your least favorite?
LEAST FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2018 (1 star or DNF)

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi


Suspect by Michael Robotham


Invader by C.J. Cherryh


Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey


Ghost Story by Peter Straub

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
NEW AUTHORS TO ME (asterisk by the ones I really enjoyed and will try to read more of their work)
Naomi Novik *
Patricia Highsmith *
Oscar Wilde *
Anne McCaffrey
Richard K. Morgan *
Martha Wells
Megan Abbott *
Christa Faust
Joe Haldeman
Edward Anderson *
Ursula K. Le Guin *
Ramez Naam *
Edwin A. Abbott
Katherine Arden
W.R. Burnett *
James S.A. Corey
Mickey Spillane *
Alistair MacLean *
Jerome K. Jerome *
John Steakley
Dennis E. Taylor *
Elliott Chaze *
Steven Hall
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Philip Kerr *
Tanith Lee
Jeffrey Eugenides *
Arthur Conan Doyle *
Anthony Doerr *
Georges Simenon *
Joe Ide *
Carlos Ruiz Zafón *
Donald Hamilton
Douglas Preston
Lincoln Child
Ross Macdonald *
Claudia Gray
Josiah Bancroft *
Brooke Bolander *
Iain M. Banks
Michael Connelly *
Franz Kafka *
Lewis Carroll
Mark Haddon
Daphne du Maurier *
Robert R. McCammon
Algernon Blackwood *
Davis Grubb *
Andrew Ross Sorkin *
Graham Greene *
Daniel Keyes
Donna Tartt *
Kristin Hannah
Peter Straub
Charles Dickens *
John Berendt *
Henry Kuttner *
Paulo Coelho
Paolo Bacigalupi
Michael Robotham

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
I think it was a surprise to me how many 4 and 5 star books I read this year. I feel like I do not give generous ratings, but I also focused on trying to read quality books this year and it definitely paid off! One big reason, I have to be honest, is that I cut down on the science fiction books and increased the number of mystery and general fiction books.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
I did not participate in any of these challenges

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
I read 20 books and that was exactly my goal:)

2. Which books were your favorite?
The Bang Bang Club is my absolutely favourite this year

3. Which books were your least favorite?
A Clockwork Orange

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Yes! Never thought I would enjoy non-fiction biographies but this year I read several and couldn't put down the book while reading.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
Discovering the world of audiobooks. Traffic jams are so much more informative now:)

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
I enjoyed Color and Pop Sugar Challenges the most.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
I just met my goal of 101 books but I read 33,000 pages which was the most of any year for me.

2. Which books were your favourite?
Artemis, Caraval, Legendary, The Night Circus and for non fiction The Outrun: A Memoir
Also La Belle Sauvage took me back to a world I was happy to revisit, Big Little Lies was the first Liane Moriarty read for me which I enjoyed, Delicacy had been on my shelf forever and Our House had me up into the night with all its twists and turns.

3. Which books were your least favourite?
The Story of Scotland was a rapid run through lots of dates without telling enough of the stories and Outlander was a disappointment.

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
I look forward to reading more Louise Candlish, Liane Moriarty and Erin Morgenstern

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
Glass was an audiobook I got from the library and it's about a guy called Gunther who becomes a window cleaner. It was funny, sweet and so much better than I could have hoped.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favourite?
All of the yearly, many of the quarterly and monthly. The Member's Tasks was probably the most challenging to fully complete and I loved the TBR jar and Pop Sugar.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
I read 24 books in 2018 — theoretically, two a month, but really, eratically five in a week and and zero in five months, rinse and repeat. I did meet my goal, just. By cheating a little bit, perhaps. I basically spent New Year's Day polishing off the rest of my last two books.

2. Which books were your favorite?
My top three were:

— Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

— A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

— Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

3. Which books were your least favorite?
I absolutely hated The Wasp Factory. Which reminds me, I need to remove that offending paperback from my apartment.

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Not really. I really liked Celeste Ng and will be keeping an eye out for her in the future, and I still really like dystopian/apocalyptic sci-fi more than I would've guessed say, three or four years ago.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
As a book, A Man Called Ove. I grabbed it from my parent's bookshelf while on holiday and almost immediately regretted it. For some reason — probably stubbornness — I decided to stick with the book anyway and did it ever surprise me. Glad to have read that one.
Looking back at the year, mostly suprised by the fact that I didn't really read any non-fiction — save for like two books. Low percentage for me.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
I tried, and I failed. I'm probably too spontaneous a reader to do any planning that most of them entail...

————

My 2019 reading adventure/ramble.

I love participating in this group - I wish I had more time to look at all the comments and posts, but I'm happy it inspires me to read and keep track of things. I signed up my 12 year old for Goodreads yesterday :)

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal? -- I only read 22 so I didn't get to my challenge, but I'll keep going and I'm keeping the same number for 2019.

2. Which books were your favorite? I LOVED Dear Evan Hansen -- I knew I would, but still so excited to be happy with it.

3. Which books were your least favorite? Mortal Engines -- I think this might be my least favorite young adult book. I read it looking forward to the movie, but decided not to see the movie.

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love? - still looking.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!) -- it was really hard for me to do the ABC Challenge.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite? - none of the regular ones. I tried the ABC Challenge and then one of the list ones - I didn't get through as well as I thought I would.

reply | flag *

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
172 books! I exceeded my goal of 150 by a fair amount and am quite satisfied.

2. Which books were your favorite?
I'll just repost the top 10 I worked out weeks ago - maybe if I looked through the books again I'd change my mind a bit but I really can't be bothered...

The Haunting of Henry Twist
Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary
Lud-In-The-Mist
Into the Drowning Deep
The Trials of Morrigan Crow
Affinity or Fingersmith
Circe
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Wives and Daughters
The Last Unicorn

3. Which books were your least favorite?
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - "Female Sheldon Cooper With Added Mental Trauma and Tendency to Stalking" is... not an appealing protagonist. Plus, she survived in Glasgow while talking like Wikipedia and thinking of everyone around her as a step up from literal cows? (Seriously, I'm fairly sure she uses the phrase "mindless ruminants".) Yeah, good luck with that mate. And it had a terminally overused "twist ending". I don't understand how it's got this immensely popular.
What Maisie Knew - 🎵It's over, isn't it? Isn't it over?🎵 ... Not yet? WHY?! 😭
Seriously, it was under 200 pages but I remember it as being more of a chore to get through than the almost 800pg Vanity Fair.
Feminists Don't Wear Pink (and other lies): Amazing women on what the F-word means to them - This wasn't bad, just disappointing. The essays were so short - 4 pages or less generally - that most of them amounted to only tantalizing tidbits of something truly interesting. The author had usually barely got into their stride before they were cut off. I think it's very much targeted at the YA newbie-feminist demographic, so maybe they'd get more from it...

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Authors: Elizabeth Gaskell, Jesmyn Ward, Virginia Woolf, Sarah Waters, J.Y. Yang
Maybe Jeff Vandermeer, Imogen Hermes Gowar and Diane Setterfield - I'll need to check out some other works of theirs.

I did find a sub-genre that I'm really liking recently, fantasy novels inspired by Russian/Eastern European folklore. Started off with The Bear and the Nightingale in late 2017 and have had a bit of a phase with it through 2018, which is continuing into 2019 as the book I'm on now would also fit the description and I'm eagerly anticipating the last volume of the Winternight Trilogy releasing soon.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
Circe and Spinning Silver, both for the same reason - I'd been fairly "meh" on each authors' previous book so was worried that these two would be a bit of a letdown. In both cases I ended up totally loving them! In the case of Madeline Miller, I also reread The Song of Achilles after Circe and didn't understand why it hadn't captivated me the first time around.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
I might've done but honestly don't remember, I'm sorry - had a lot on my plate reading-wise last year. 📚😵📚

I'm very happy with my reading accomplishments in 2018!
I'm really thankful for all the work that goes into running this forum, I love coming out here to see what everyone else has done, share what I've done, and find new challenges.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal? Yes - I read 155 books (my goal was 150) and finished the Pop Sugar reading challenge and the A-Z challenge, as well as some other quarterly and monthly challenges.

2. Which books were your favorites?
The Harry Potter series
Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen by Serena Valentino
Sold by Patricia McCormick
Digging In by Loretta Nyhan
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie by Harold Schechter
Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love by Anne Fadiman

3. Which books were your least favorite?
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
A Million Ways to Die in the West by Seth MacFarlane
B.I.S.A. (Brunei Secret Intelligence Agency): Eventually by Amir Falique

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love? a few new authors - Serena Valentino, Rowling, JK, Harold Schechter

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!) I don't read books that begin with the letter I, apparently, or authors either. And I prefer yearly challenges to monthly challenges because I'm so likely to overwhelm myself with too many.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite? I participated in all kinds of challenges, in this forum and in others. Some of my favorites: Yearly - I did the Chain Reaction, which was fun and I finished early in the year, I finished the A-Z Titles challenge mid-year, and I just barely completed the Pop Sugar challenge. Quarterly - I finished 15/20 on the prompts for the Bibliophile Challenge. Monthly - I loved Reading in Royal Lands and Royally Challenged.

2018 was a great year for reading! Let's take a look back.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal? 65

2. Which books were your favorite? The Book Thief, Half Broke Horses, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Riding Freedom

3. Which books were your least favorite? Heartburn, Main Street, Cemetery Girl

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love? Pam Munoz Ryan, Roland Merullo

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!) That I could read more books then I did in the previous year.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite? I didn't but I am hopeful to join this year. This is a supportive group and I always appreciate the emails.

7. Favorite Movie: I like to read more than I like to watch movies but Avengers: Infinity Wars was a great movie this year!

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
122. Yes! My goal was originally 75. I increased it to 100 when I easily met 75 during the summer. Then I surpassed that as well!

2. Which books were your favorite?
I rated 37 books 5 stars. (I'm a very generous rater) Here were some of my absolute favorites in no particular order:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Me Talk Pretty One Day
The Night Circus
Caraval and Legendary
Fever Dream
Big Little Lies
The Joker: Endgame

3. Which books were your least favorite?
I only rated 2 books 1 star:
End of the World Blues
Glass Sword

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Liane Moriarty. Only read one book by her but was very impressed. Will be reading more this year.
David Sedaris. Also only read one of his (on audio) and loved it. I'm currently listening to another one! He was one of my dad's favorite authors as well.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
Fever Dream and Big Little Lies were both surprises because I was not expecting to like them that much.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
I participated in 5 yearly challenges and ALL of the quarterly and monthly challenges.

Popsugar was my favorite yearly. I also liked the 2nd Quarter Bibliophile challenge. I like the prompt challenges because it's fun trying to find books to fit, or make books I'm reading fit somewhere.

Q1) How many books did you read? Did you meet your 2018 goal?

I am pleased with my 2018 reading accomplishments.YES!!! I reached and surpassed my goal of 55 novels, I read 66 novels by the end of the second week in December, while turning 16,909 pages/ 10,000 pages anticipated. My reading paced allowed me to venture outdoors more and tap into my artistic side, which I truly enjoyed and embraced!

Q2) Which books were your favorite?

Surprisingly, "Night" by Elie Wiesel, especially since I am not a reader of war/historical-based novels, but this resonated through me; it made me cry at man's inhumanity to man, a civilized society's complacency and their inaction to the evil that was going on around them, and had me fearing that the state of global nationalism will have us revisiting that horrid past, in our near future... And that is down right scary!! But on a positive note, the discovery of the "Orphan X" series by Gregg Hurwitz, these novels were gravity defying, but they left me feeling very sad for Evan Smoak (play on the word smoke as he was great at disappearing/ and appearing), the main character, as he may never know the unconditional trust of a loved one/ a friend, but I would like to think there's hope for him and Mia. The movie and book versions of "Crazy Rich Asians" by Kevin Kwan was a joy to view and read, but wished the Araminta character in the novel was more like the one portrayed in the movie. "The Silent Sister" by Diane Chamberlain, happily kept me up several nights, along with books #1 & #2 of the "Widow's Island' series by Melinda Leigh. These novellas were pure joy, unfortunately I have to wait until October 2019 to read books #3 & #4. Last but not least, was Jana DeLeon's "Dreadful", these all contributed to my 2018 reading fun!

Q3) Which books were your least favorite?

Definitely "Red Clocks" and ' A Wrinkle in Time.", I would have been one very P.O.'ed spirit if I died while reading any of those two 'novels'. Just the thought of me wasting my last cherished seconds on this mortal plane....Arghhhh!! Still trying to banish them from my memory.

Q4) Did you find a new author or genre that you love?

As stated above, my two, newly discovered authors were Gregg Hurwitz and Melinda Leigh. They both rocked my little grey neurons.

Q5) What was the biggest surprise for you?

My biggest surprise was discovering that I can still remain up reading into the wee hours of the morning, and still survive the next sixteen hours at work, functioning logically. Rereading 'Romeo and Juliet' as an adult, revealed societies' changing morals, like marrying off their twelve year old virgin daughters to old men, and that Romeo was a stalker and a pedophile!... But on a serious note, it is how man/humans refuse to learn from their history!!

Q6) Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?

Yes, I partook in the GR Yearly Book Challenge, along with 'Let's Turn Pages', 'A to Z Title', and the 'Cover Color' challenges, with my only monthly challenge being, 'January Marathon' Challenge. I was sorry I did not join the 'PopSugar' or 'The Chain Reaction' challenge as they both looked like loads of fun, but I was so inundated with the bookkeeping from prior years( that and reading over 100+ novels), I needed to destress and take it easy in 2018. The January Marathon was my favorite, as it always springs me into action for the new year.

Thanks to all the moderators and participants for their support and encouragement during the year.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?

I read 140 books, meeting my goal. Several are novellas and graphic novels though:)

I lowered my goal for this year as I am planning to conquer some big books that I avoid. I'll be starting The Passage shortly.

2. Which books were your favorite?
Into the Drowning Deep
The Female of the Species
The Others series Written in Red is the first book
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

3. Which books were your least favorite?

One of the first I read for 2018 Knight of a Trillion Stars It still upsets me even though I KNOW it's not a book one is supposed to take seriously.

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?

Still Life by Louise Penny

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)

That I finally read The Count of Monte Cristo

and how much the "made for tv" version of Jane of Lantern Hill, which is a very sweet book, did NOT follow the book (angry again). Read and watched both in 2018. There is NO ghost in the book, among a great many other changes...

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?

Yearly challenges through my Members Corner area. I didn't complete any of them, but had a lot of fun with the Pop Sugar and Alphabet challenge.

Pop Sugar looks more challenging this year and I'm giving it a go!

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?

2. Which books were your favorite?
Middlesex, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Book Thief, The Green RoadThe Goldfinch

3. Which books were your least favorite?
The Alchemist

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Although I've only read one book of his so far Middlesex has me in awe of Jeffrey Eugenides and I will definitely be reading more of his books

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
The Time of My Life was a big surprise. I was expecting silly Chick Lit but it was really enjoyable and thought provoking.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?

I like the quarterly challenges best.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
I read 324 books in 2018. That met my overall goal, but I actually proud of the fact that I set a goal of reading 48 non-romance books and I surpassed it by reading 71!

2. Which books were your favorite?
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 1/29/18 ★★★★★
The Alienist by Caleb Carr 2/26/18 ★★★★★
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli 4/22/18 ★★★★★
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See 5/27/18 ★★★★★
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides 6/17/18 ★★★★★
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena 7/16/18 ★★★★★
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang 8/15/18 ★★★★
Point of Contact by Melanie Hansen 11/20/18 ★★★★★
Think of England by K.J. Charles 12/3/18 ★★★★★
The Mystery of Nevermore by C.S. Poe 12/9/18 ★★★★★

3. Which books were your least favorite?
Per my usual, if it’s a hyped up book that everyone loves…me: not so much
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas 1/6/18 ★★
Artemis by Andy Weir 2/21/18 ★★
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 4/5/18 DNF ★
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel 5/11/18 ★★
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 6/23/18 ★★

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Like Jess, Jeffrey Eugenides really impressed me. I’ve had a few of his books on my TBR for ages but I finally read one and wow! The hype is real.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
When I started the non-romance challenge, I thought I would read a lot more Action/Adventure books since that’s used to be what I gravitated towards, but I ended up reading more SciFi/Fantasy type books (and mysteries, not a surprise). Curious if that will hold up through 2019.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
I participated in the Library Lovers Day Challenge and while I bit off more than I could read I did enjoy it. Perhaps the shorter timed challenges are not for me. I’ve signed up for several annual challenges with this group for 2019. So glad that I found this group last year! I hope to be able to actually read some of the group reads the month that the discussion takes place this year. My favorite challenge from other groups was the Yahtzee Challenge

Oh, and I really loved the movie Hunter Killer :)

1. How many books did you read?

I read 104 books exceeding my goal of 100 books by 4.

2.Which books were your favorite?

The Frozen Hours: A Novel of the Korean War , The Martian, Ready Player One, Mistress of the Empire, and NOS4A2.

3. Which books were your least favorite?

The Forever War, Your Day in the Barrel, and The Highway

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?

I read some new authors who I intend to read more of. Stewart Binns and Andy Weir were probably the best. I already read just about all genres so not likely to find a new one.

There is one "old" author that I will probably not read again for a long time. I read five books by Harry Harrison this year and I am a bit burned out on him.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you?

Probably Sam Llewellyn's Storm Force from Navarone. I don't usually like to read a series when it is picked up by another author, especially when the original author was one of my favorites, but this was an exception. I have read every book written byAlistair MacLean that I know of, so it was with trepidation that I decided to read this sequel to The Guns of Navarone and Force 10 from Navarone. I need not have worried, for it was as if Alistair MacClean wrote it. I now intend to read the fourth book about Navarone, also written by Sam Llewewllen.

6.Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Chalenges?

I participated in 6 annual challenges and successful completed 5 of them. I read 104 books to complete my challenge of 100. I read the 20 books to successfully complete the TBR Challenge and the 28 books to successfully complete the Author's Challenge. I also did all 26 books to successfully complete the A to Z Challenge. Alas, for the Let's Turn Pages Challenge I was 548 pages short of my goal of 37500 pages.

For the Serial Challenge, I started 16 new series, finished 11 series, and read 5 series from start to finish. I also read 30 books to continue various series started before 2018. In all, I successfully completed the challenge by reading all 75 books I set out to read.

In addition, I completed 5 monthly challenges and 1 quarterly challenge. So, 2018 was a very successful reading year for me.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
Goodreads tells me 84 books though there were a few at the start of the year when I wasn’t bothering to use the site. That’s 24 over the 2018 goal of 60.

2. Which books were your favorite?

In terms of impact after reading: Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

In terms of those I enjoyed most while reading: The Blade Itself, Chickenhawk, Dark Intelligence.

3. Which books were your least favorite?
The Piano Teacher, The Sea, the Sea, The Hardest Game.

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Cormac McCarthy, Joe Abercrombie

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)

I guess that my 2 year affair with the horror genre seems to be coming to an end, but I’ll have to see how that plays out.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?

The Monthly challenges, they have greater immediacy which works better for me. It was one of the ones in May I engaged most with, though I forget the name.

Also thanks to all the volunteers running this group, it is much appreciated.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
Had 70 for my challenge; read 73.

2. Which books were your favorite?
Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

3. Which books were your least favorite?
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Breathe by Kristen Ashley

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries

5. What was the biggest surprise for you?
Convinced my best friend to actually read some fiction. He's not much of a reader, but when he does read it's always science, politics, or conspiracy theory non-fiction. I loaned The Murderbot Diaries, The Girl With All the Gifts, Raptor Red, Sea of Rust, Red Rising Saga, and Dark Matter to him. Now he's asking me for more.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
No, but only because I tend to get distracted so I know I'll never finish one.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?

I read 50 (a little lower this year). I am in awe of those people that read over 100+ books. wow!

2. Which books were your favorite?

I rarely give 5 stars to a book unless it blows me totally away. Loved these books:
Beartown
Us Against You
The Alice Network
Middlesex
The Good Daughter (a new author I really like)
The Wife Between Us
Little Fires Everywhere

3. Which books were your least favorite?

Ugh, I loathed "The Woman in the Window" and can't understand its popularity;
Disappointed in "The Immortalist" Not the worst book, but thought it had potential to be so much better.

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Celeste Ng
Karin Slaughter

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)

Trying to read some older books, and read Bonfire of the Vanities. Was surprised at how timely and relevant this +30 year old book is to today's time.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite? No, but really mean to do it! Going to try to participate more this year! I'm mostly a lurker.

1- I read 18 books. Yes, I met my goal of reading 15 books. I'm actually very proud of myself :D

2- There are two books that marked me in 2018. One had a huge impact, and the other made me laugh so much. The fun thing is that they're from completely different universe, and genre. That's what fascinating about books.
The first being : Break Her by B.G Harlen
The second being : The Court of Mist and Fury

3- My least favorite book was Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I just struggle with it. I thought about DNF it so many times. Now I'm close (92%) so I guess I'll just finish, and finally be done with it.

4- All the authors I read this year were new to me. Except for Naomi Novik I loved them all deeply. Each is unique; and has her/his own beauty.
B.G Harlen - Brandon Sanderson - C.J Robert - Sarah J. Maas - M. Never - Pierce Brown and Hayes Sherri

5- My biggest surprise was to find eagerness in reading. Before 2018, I've only read 7 books in my entire life. And so last year was my little miracle. I took conscious of a passion for books that now I cherish and treasure.
There are books I read in 2-3 days and fell in love with them; isn't it marvelous?

6- I haven't participated in any challenges, I was too much excited to discover what I liked and not lol. But now that I have an idea. I can't wait to give them a try
Actually I'm doing the 2019 Personal Challenge ;)

I'm grateful for the fabulous work you're all doing, and the incredible community. You helped me to push further, and to not be too hard with myself because I'm a slow reader (Even if big books terrify me lol)

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?

I read 81 books but did not reach my 120 book goal

2. Which books were your favorite?

My top 3 (in no particular order)
1. Torn by C.J. Fallowfield *Even though it was not perfect and the heroine’s naivete really frustrated me at some parts, this story is still with me months after I read it.
2. Born of Water by A.L. Knorr *Even though she wasn’t the main character, Targa’s mother had an aloof attitude that really made this story for me. I also loved the diary entries that were included at the end and wanted to read more when it was over.
3. Ella by John Crusey *I feel like this book should come with a trigger warning for some people but it is such a good story.

3. Which books were your least favorite?

My bottom 3 (in no particular order)
1. Eternal Vows by Chrissy Peebles *Nothing about this story made sense and the confusion was magnified by setting it in some strange world.
2. All The Boys I Ever Kissed by Marilyn Kelly *The characters in this book were too perfect and their flaws were only revealed after the reader chose one of the other guys for the heroine to end up with. Also, it was clear that the author wrote the story with a particular ending in mind and just added the others as a gimmick after the fact.
3. Everett by Jenifer Ruff *Just… no.

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?

I read a few books by Selena Kitt which made me want to explore more of her stories.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)

After reading The Tetradome Run by Spencer Baum, I found that the author had turned it into a free audiobook via podcast. I am currently listening to it whenever I drive and the quality is simply amazing.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?

Many of the challenges looked interesting but I kept putting off participating.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
I surprised myself by reading 74 books! Did not think that would happen. I technically did not meet my 2018 goal since the goal was to read all of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books. Unfortunately, I got really weary of the characters and even to a point, the plot. But I did finish the goal of reading 28 books so I sort of completed my goal, sort of not.


2. Which books were your favorite?
I'm embarrassed to say this, but I can't remember most of what I read (or rather, I can't remember WHICH books I read in 2018). But I know I read some One Punch Man mangas and I loved those so I guess that counts.


3. Which books were your least favorite?
There were four that I did not finish for various reasons. I forget the titles. . . one I think was called Rhapsody, one was Mad Ship, one was Prophecy of the Sisters (I'm disappointed that I didn't care for this one. I thought I would really enjoy it), and the other was . . . okay, yeah, that one I really don't remember.

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
I wouldn't say that but it did get me pulled into Rick Riordan's books. I discovered that they were more entertaining than I thought they would be. Not sure why I didn't think I wouldn't care for them, but I turned out to be wrong.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
I think I already answered this in the previous question. Otherwise, I was very surprised to see just how much reading I had gotten done last year. It was fantastic!

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
Only the yearly personal one of 28 books. I want to participate more in the challenges but I have so far been too unmotivated to try that hard. I am doing my own version of the TBR jar challenge though which is really fun to do!

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
I just reached the book-goal of 18 books, but they included some massive volumes. I exceeded my pages-goal by 1120 pages!

2. Which books were your favorite?
The only 5-stars for this year (yes, I don't give those out lightly...)
Gone With the Wind. my review

3. Which books were your least favorite?
Red Queen my review

4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Both Eliza Crewe and Maggie Stiefvater have a new follower in me.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
When I said in my review of Cracked that the next book of the series was not available in the Kindle store for my country, I was contacted by the author who kindly donated me both other books in the series!

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
I started some of the yearly challenges but all the tracking was too much work for me. I do like the 'let's count pages' challenge as it is a good way to avoid 'cheating' your personal challenge by reading only tiny books.

Kim wrote: "1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
I just reached the book-goal of 18 books, but they included some massive volumes. I exceeded my pages-goal by 1120 pages! ..."


Wow, that was super awesome of the author to do! That must have been such a great gift to get. I hope they turned out to be very good books.

Keri wrote: "Wow, that was super awesome of the author to do! That must have been such a great gift to get. I hope they turned out to be very good books."It really was! And I really like the series as well. I finished the second a few days ago and am now devouring the third.

1. How many books did you read? Did you (or will you) meet your 2018 goal?
49/35! I read way more than I thought I would last year.

. Which books were your favorite?


3. Which books were your least favorite?


4. Did you find a new author or genre that you love?
Serena Valentino Liz Braswell

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
How much I didn't enjoy Coraline as an adult. I loved it so much as a kid and I just didn't enjoy reading the book. Kinda makes me sad.

6. Did you participate in any of our Yearly, Quarterly, or Monthly Challenges? Which was your favorite?
Clear the Shelves was my favorite but the A to Z challenge was a lot of fun.