2016 Challenges Complete - Round One

'Tis the season for finishing up reading challenges. I participated in 6 challenges this year, which is way less than usual but slightly more than I originally planned. I'm pleased to say that I have completed all of them! Three of them, I'm even still making progress on, so I'll put those "challenge complete" posts up later in the month. Here are the three I've completed so far​.

Hosted by Book Date
Goal: Making Inroads (20-40%)

​Books Bought in 2016
1.  Cress by Marissa Meyer (read in February)
2. All the Stars in the Heavens by Adriana Trigiani (read in February)
3. In Scotland Again by H.V. Morton
4. The Greater Journey by David McCullough
5. Glitter & Glue by Kelly Corrigan (read in April)
6. Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein (read in July)
​7. Winter by Marissa Meyer (read in April)
8. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
9. Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin
10. A Hilltop in Tuscany by Stephanie Grace Whitson (read in October)
11.  Cross Country by Robert Sullivan
12. The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure
13. On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz
14. Irresistible North by Andrea Di Robilant (read in November)
15. The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde
16. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne (read in August)
17. Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
18. Further Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
19. A Hope Undaunted by Julie Lessman
​20. A Heart Revealed by Julie Lessman
21. City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling
22. Sylvester by Georgette Heyer
​23. The Highlander's Last Song by George MacDonald

Percentage Read:​ 35%

This is the most effective thing I've found yet to curb my book buying. I bought 23 books in 2016?? That's a third of what I bought in 2015, and a fifth of what I bought in 2014. Apparently my solution to keeping my percentage within the goal range was not to read more books, but to buy less. Hey, whatever works, right?

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Hosted by Smiling Shelves (that's me!)
Goal: Spinelli (30-44 points)

1.  Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (3 points)
2. The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander (2 points)
​3. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder (2 points)
4. By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder (2 points)
5. The High King by Lloyd Alexander (3 points)
​6. The Giver by Lois Lowry (3 points)
​7. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder (2 points)
8. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (3 points)
​9. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (2 points)
10. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder (2 points)
11.  Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (3 points)
12. Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (3 points)
​13. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (3 points)
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Point Total:​ ​33

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Hosted by: Rose City Reader
Goal: Five Star (5 books)

1.  The Tale of Hill Top Farm by Susan Wittig Albert (England)
2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (France)
3. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (Italy)
4. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Russia)
​5. The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley (Norway)
​6. Irresistible North by Andrea di Robilant (Iceland & Greenland)
7. Istanbul:​ Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)