This post and subsequent updates will be linked at 2019 Reading Assignment Challenge Page (link coming soon).

It looks like there has been a nice new twist to the Reading Assignment Challenge for 2019!  And while I'd been still considering joining this challenge, I was kind of wary of how I'd go about it.

But with these new changes, I have to admit, I'm kind of fired up!

From Because Reading:

And to add onto that, we get three different Professor's courses we can register for:

Reading Levels are now known as either Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced Classes, but the concept is still the same.

And this time we will get graded per semester for each class:

Once again, I'm pretty fired up about this new change in the Reading Assignment Challenge.  And while I had considered just dipping in and doing the Beginner Class for all three Professor's courses, I decided to go all out and dive right into 2019!  Well... sort of.

For Professor AuthorLuv's Course, I will take the Intermediate level Class.
For Professor Genre's Course, I will take the Advanced level Class.
For Professor Mix-It-Up's Course, I will take the Beginner level Class.

This will guarantee that I will need to read at least six books each month, which, in the past, would have been small potatoes.  And if I can stumble my way out of my reading slump, I'll be able to achieve this, so it's more motivation than anything.  I might be over-stepping, but at least it will only be for the first five months, and then I can re-enroll if I'm feeling overwhelmed...  Or advance to higher classes if I'm feeling super confident!

And also... I think I could use a bit more motivation this coming year.  I've been in the mother of all reading slumps since January (yes, a whole year!), with brief moments of improvement, though sparse.  I'd been trying to play it laid back all year so as not to overdo it, but maybe what I really need is some direction...

Maybe.

So we'll see how the year goes.  Or at least how this first spring semester pans out!

For more details, visit the 2019 Reading Assignment Challenge sign up post (linked here and at the beginning).

Professor AuthorLuv - Intermediate Class (credits: 2):  I will be reading books by Amanda Quick.

Professor Genre - Advanced Class (credits: 3):  I will be reading historical fiction books of any sub-type genre (general historical fiction, historical romance, historical mysteries, etc.).

Some of the authors I plan on reading from include: Courtney Milan, Tessa Dare, Kelly Bowen, Anna Lee Huber, and I especially plan on reading Deanna Raybourn's newest installment of her Victoria Speedwell series, A Dangerous Collaboration.

Professor Mix-It-Up - Beginner's Class (credits: 1):  Below is my finalized reading list for the spring semester.

I am going to try not to overlap books between courses.  Since I chose to read Amanda Quick books for Professor AuthorLuv's course, I will not count any of this author's books towards Professor Genre's course until I've completed my assignment that month.  So if I've read two Amanda Quick books towards Professor AuthorLuv's course, a possible third Amanda Quick book will go towards Professor Genre's course to fulfill my requirements there.

As for Professor Mix-It-Up's classes, I've purposely chosen books that cannot count towards either of the other two courses--non-historical and non-Amanda Quick.  In fact, all five of the books on this list are books I already own, if only because I feel like I need to get to reading stuff already on my physical and digital shelves.  Five isn't a whole lot, but it's a start, and I don't want to give myself too many restrictions.

I might be getting a bit over-strict, but I feel like I'd be cheating otherwise.  But in the long run, I feel like I've created a pretty good fail-safe for myself, considering I'm a huge fan of Amanda Quick, and and I've been very much enjoying historical romance novels by the very authors I've listed above.  It's less overwhelming, I feel, when I'm committing myself to books I plan to read anyway!

Anyway, I'm SO ready to get started!

Wish me luck!

My last participation was Bout of Books 19 in May 2017.  That feels like a long time ago.

I know why I don't always participate in these week-long readathons, even though they seem like the most likely readathons I'd join.  I don't really take part in any of the challenges, mini-games, giveaways, and don't really care about any grand prize.

So whether or not I'm participating, I'm still reading.  I think the reason why I participated in the past was just because it seemed fun, and also it served as a way to post and blog about my reading on an almost daily basis without resorting simply to "this is just a general reading update."  And also, the fact that the readathon is happening is constantly in the back of my mind, so I consciously make myself reach for a book in order to accumulate a more impressive number of books read, or number of pages read, in one week than what I would usually get otherwise.

Anyway...  Moving right along.

This year, my main goals are pretty simple:
1) Post regular updates, daily... or every other day, maybe.
2) Read at least 3 books.

In past years, it looks like my highest number of read books was six while my lowest number was two.  So I'm going to try to meet myself in the middle somewhere and go for three since it sounds like a reasonable enough number of books read for one week.  I hope.

So... unless my reading slump holds for a while longer, I should be able to complete my goals quite readily.

If I can overshoot my goals, then that's a bonus!

I don't have an exact plan for what I will be reading for this week.  I'm probably going to mood read, and so it's too early to really set a "schedule" per se of my reading.

For January, however, these are books that I am planning on, so I'm hoping to at least get to these if I haven't already read it by the time the readathon starts.  There are books rolled over from this year, 2018, that I hadn't gotten to and would like to finish reading, and then there are books that will count towards my 2019 Reading Challenge.

Meanwhile, I will already be starting these two books as soon as the first of January rolls around, so I might still be reading/listening to them, or not.  We'll see how my progress is by the time the readathon actually starts.  These are both books that will be counting towards my 2019 Reading Challenge, specifically.

***

I'm going to try to have as much fun as I can.  If anyone else is interested in joining the read-a-thon, the badge at the top of this post will take you to the Bout of Books official website.  The link under the picture takes you directly to the sign-up post. Let's all have some fun for this week of a read-a-thon!

I'm pretty geared up for 2019, reading-wise, and I'm hoping that this fire keeps right on burning.  Every year I always start off with a bit of a reading slump, a slump that rolls over from the last two months of the previous year.

In spite of the fact that I've read 100 books in 2018, it still felt like I was in a massive reading slump for most of the year, especially towards the beginning of the year wherein I my average number of books read per month dropped by half my usual average.  In May, even, I only recorded one book read.  My best month would have to be October, with a recorded 17 books read, wherein I was on a mission to finish reading all the books I'd picked out for Halloween Bingo!

For some more summaries, progress, and updates of 2018's challenges, here is the link to my 2018 Reading Challenges summary page.  It's not entirely updated at this moment, and so I will be going back to get it finalized and updated when the end of the year rolls around in a few days.

For another look at some of my reflection for 2018's reading year as well as a brief glimpse at my 2019 goals, here's the link to the 24 Festive Tasks: New Year's Eve Tasks Update.

As for 2019, I would say that I want to stick with my Laid Back Reading Plans that I'd been trying so hard to manage the past couple years.  But being me, I still ended up dropping into a slump and diving gung ho into reading challenges, projects, and readathons.

So...

I'm just going to go all out and participate in all the challenges I want and all the projects I plan on creating for myself.  I'm going to try not to stress about completing projects, even though I know I probably WILL do as much at some point.  But for the most part, after having NOT gotten full marks on some of my reading challenges in 2018, and realizing that it wasn't the end of the world...  Well, I'm going to probably just approach my challenges as projects or suggestions--rather than making it my goal to complete my challenges with perfect scores, I'm just going to treat them as "reading suggestions" that give me a direction as to what book I may want to pick up next.

If that makes any sense, you know.

So, once again, just make the goals.  Then see where the year takes me.


Goodreads Reading Challenge

My Goal:  150 books
GR shelf:  2019 Reading Challenge

I participate in a numeric challenge every year, and I will be doing so again in 2019 via GR since, for me, it's easier to track books there.  I'm going to keep a 150 book goal this year, just as I'd started with in 2018.  It's a big motivator, and I'm fired up to make it in 2019, even if 2018 I fell short of 50 books... which doesn't show on my GR challenge page because I decreased my goal halfway through the year...

GR doesn't have its page up yet, so I'll update with a logo and a link later.


2019 Reading Assignment Challenge

hosted by Michelle and Berls @ Because Reading is better than real life
My 2018 Reading Assignment Challenge Summary Page
Spring Semester Goals:

• Professor AuthorLuv - Intermediate Class (2 books/month) - Amanda Quick books
• Professor Genre - Advanced Class (3 books/month) - Historical fiction
• Professor Mix-It-Up - Beginner's Class (1 book/month) - pre-chosen list

Fall and Summer Semester Goals:  TBR
GR shelf:  2019 Reading Assignment Challenge

I have participated in the Reading Assignment Challenge since 2015, starting with the most difficult level for the first two years, but cutting down to easier levels the past two years.  But 2019 has a new spin that I really like, so I'm sort of going in with a mediocre/high difficulty level.

Links coming soon when I get my summary page and announcement post finalized and published.


2019 Mount TBR Challenge

hosted by My Reader's Block
My Goal:  Mount Vancouver -- Read 36 books from your TBR pile/s
GR shelf:  2019 Mt TBR Pile Challenge

As per usual, books read must be owned prior to the start of the year.

I seem to have the best luck with Mount Vancouver, and since I'm not exactly an ambitious climber, and also because I DO enjoy borrowing books from the library, I'll stick with this goal.  Even though the goal  If I can claim Mt. Vancouver and advanced toward's Mt. Ararat (48 already owned books), that will be a bonus.


2019 Personal Series Challenge

My tentative book list and challenge announcement
Goal #1:  Finish/Catch Up With 10 series, already started
Goal #2:  Read/Catch Up With 10 series, new to me
Goal #3:  Read 10 1st in a series books

The Personal Series Challenge is more of a project for me than an actual challenge.  It's been one of my biggest goals to finish reading series I'd already started... so it doesn't help if my challenge also involves reading new to me series or reading a 1st in a series.  So I keep my Goal #1 at 10 books to remind myself to get series completed.

After all, there's no way I won't read new to me series, nor will I ever stop starting new series, so why not incorporate these into this challenge as well just to feel a bit of progress?  =D

I will be updating with links to my summary page and tentative series list announcement soon.

In other news, I will also be participating in a lot of as yet announced reading games and challenges, such as Halloween Bingo and the Festive Tasks games if they happen for 2019!  Also, Because Reading also hosts a Can You Read a Series in a Month? on a random month each year that I also plan on joining, even though I failed pretty badly this November.

Meanwhile, I also plan on participating in the following readathons.

Each year I join 24in48 without hesitation, with hopes that I will someday be able to actually reach 24 hours of reading.  My highest number of hours spent reading so far was 16.5 hours, and I'm really hoping to surpass that for the next 24in48.

The next 24in48 is coming up soon, and I've already signed up!  I'll have an announcement post out soon.  And lookie there!  They even have a brand new logo!

I have not signed up for Bout of Books yet, and I haven't really been participating in all of them.  But I'm going to go for it this year, and it looks like the next one starts soon.  I'll be working on an announcement and sign up post soon.

I may or may not look up some other challenges as a "suggestion" of sorts for what books to read throughout the year.  And if I'm feeling up for it, might even sign up to participate officially.

But otherwise, this is kind of what I'm looking at for 2019!

SO.  MANY.  UPDATES!

I was bound and determined to finish at least one task for each door and I got there.  I skipped a week of updates, but I was also hoping to get each door's main post published before coming up with an almost-final tally.

I don't think I'm going to mention everything I've updated since the last update post, but mainly, I've managed to finish non-book tasks for Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's, Hogswatch, and Epiphany.  At least five books have been completed since the last update!  And I'm currently reading one more book, Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts which looks like it'll have to slide into the Bon Om Touk book task, having water on the cover.

If I can finish Shelter in Place, I may jump into Cold Dark Places by Kylie Brant for the St. Lucia's Day book task, for a book released in November or December of this year.

But otherwise, I may or may not complete a couple more tasks given time and my motivation to update.

The Festive Card:

Peek-a-Boo Penni Claus = Completed Book Task

Magnetic "Elfin" Monkey = Completed Non-Book Tasks

My Progress:

Overall Total Points Earned:  75
Books Read:  12
Tasks Completed:  63

Update Posts:
24 Festive Tasks | Ani's Tracking Post Randomness
24 Festive Tasks | Update #1
24 Festive Tasks | It's Monday! Style - Random Book Update #1
24 Festive Tasks | Update #2
24 Festive Tasks | Update #3
24 Festive Tasks | It's Monday! Style - Random Book Update #2
24 Festive Tasks | Update #4
24 Festive Tasks | Update #5

**For my own sanity purposes, I will link the main post for each door at the top of each table.  All tasks listed under 'My Activity' will more than likely be found at the main post; otherwise, the link will be included for that particular task if a separate post is published outside of the main post, such as book reviews.  Thanks!**

Updates

12/29/2018:  Completed Tasks 1 and 2 for now.  I'm wanting to include a couple more tasks, but we'll see what I can manage by the end of the game!  2 points for now!

Task 1

Tell us: What’s your favorite trilogy?
-- COMPLETED 12/28/2018 --

Hmm... I knew this one wouldn't be easy--choosing a favorite often isn't.  Of course, I thought it would be a matter of choosing between one trilogy or another.  Instead, my dilemma is more that most of my favorite series have been either duologies or four-book series.  And I especially have had some favorite ongoing series.  Maybe I can list one duology and one four-book series and average it out to a trilogy?  Is that how book-math works?

Just kidding.  I just wanted to show off some fave series with pretty covers.  =D

I DO have some trilogies that I particularly loved.  I'd say the closest to my favorite trilogy might be the following.  Although Robin LaFever had announced the addition of two more installments, so it's technically NOT a trilogy anymore... but the next two books start a new chapter with a new sub-series title... so this is still kind of a trilogy?

Task 2

Chalking the door is an Epiphany tradition in some places, to bless a home for the coming year. Different patterns exist, with different meanings.  If you could create your own pattern to bless your house next year, what would it look like?
-- COMPLETED 12/28/2018 --

I think I'd go with the design on one of my t-shirts.

Just kidding.  It took a little bit of thought, but I think I'd like the chalk a design of the lucky cat onto our home's door.

Either one of the above cats would do.  The first is a bauble head lucky cat that sits atop my desk.  I added some lucky stars for decorative effect.  The characters are in Japanese and translates to "invitation of good fortune" (maneki shiawase).  The second one is a picture I found online, and I LOVE it and want one--the characters are Chinese for "good health fortune" (jian kang yun).

Task 3

Compile a post containing one image for every gift mentioned / added in each new verse of The Twelve Days of Christmas (lyrics here: https://www.41051.com/xmaslyrics/twelvedays.html).
-- WORK IN PROGRESS / OR SKIP--

Whichever comes first...

Task 4

Prepare your favorite spicy dish or holiday drink containing spices and share a photo.  Also sharing the recipe is optional but welcome!
-- WORK IN PROGRESS --

With only a few days left of the month, this one may not take place, but I'm reserving the right to come back and update later if I end up making anything this weekend.

Book Task

Read a book with three main characters; OR a book about traveling on a journey to a faraway place; OR a book that's part of a trilogy; OR with a star on the cover; OR with the word "twelve" or "night" in the title; OR concerning kings or spices
-- SEARCHING --

I have books picked out.  Getting them read is another matter altogether...