I’ve wound up a good number of challenges over the last couple of weeks and I’ll be finishing a few more before the end of the year. I’ve done the reading, now I just need to do a bit of writing. But there are four that I have to admit now that I have failed:

Hosted by Michelle.

It should have been simple – 10 books from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die lists. But I only got to 2:

• Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
• The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

I was seduced by another list.

*****

Hosted by Jennie.

Back on 17th January the first installment of 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read arrived in our house in the form of a supplement with the daily paper. It was great fun to go through the list picking out the books I’d read, the books I wanted to read, the books I’d never heard of and weighing up the rights and wrongs.

Six more supplements, each with a different theme, arrived over the course of the week. The full set was:

17th January – Love
18th January – Crime
19th January – Comedy
20th January – Family and Self
21st January – State of the Nation
22nd January – Science Fiction & Fanatasy
23rd January – War & Travel

It was a great list and the challenge of 10 books should have been easy. There are lots I want to read but right now I’ve only made it to five:

• Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
• South Riding by Winifred Holtby
• The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmond Crispin
• The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski
• Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark

I was distractred by too many great new books and too many other challenges.

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Hosted by Jenn.

12 books from a fixed list. I did read a lot of books from my TBR, just not the ones I’d listed.

I  read five from the list:

• Invitation to the Waltz, by Rosalind Lehmann
• The Dancers Dancing, by Ellis Ni Dhuibhne
• South Riding, by Winifred Holtby
• How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff
• A Time of Angels, by Patricia Schonstein

And I ditched two that I didn’t think were ever going to speak to me:

• Descent, by Sabrina Broadbent
• Labyrinth, by Kate Mosse

The others are still waiting on the shelves.

 *****

Hosted by Gina.

A book for each season was a lovely idea. I picked a list and decided to read each one in its own season. But it just didn’t happen. I missed the first one and I never really got going.

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So what have I learned?

That I need to be just a little bit selective.

That I must remember that I will want to read some books that don’t fit any of my challenges.

That other events and challenges will present themselves as the years goes along.

AND THAT I LOVE READING CHALLENGES !!!