2016 Reading Challenges Update: February

So another month has come and passed me by, and I have to admit: it wasn’t all that, reading wise.

2016 Reading Challenges February Updates

School started again in the second week of February, and I’ve basically just been trying to catch up on study work ever since – I have to present my master’s thesis at the end of March, and I’ve basically frozen up out of pure stress – I haven’t even read any fanfiction in a week! (and if you know me at all, you’ll know that that’s a huge deal).

So what have I been reading then? Read on to find out!

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First of all, the books I did manage to get read this months all counted for my Goodreads reading Challenge – so that’s something at least!

Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens: 4/5
Sleeping Beauty, Jenni James: 1/5
Snow White, Jenni James: 1/5
84 Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff: 5/5
Beatrix Potter, The Complete Tales, Beatrix Potter: 5/5
The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side, Agatha Christie: 4/5
USA, 1927, Paul Morand: 4/5
4.50 from Paddington, Agatha Christie: 5/5

And let’s all praise university, and specifically my professor of French-written Literature, because USA, 1927 got me, like 5 places for the Reading Around the World Challenge!

What’s more, I actually did manage to get some of the “goals” for the mini-challenges done: I’ve now been to 6 from the 50 states, I’ve got 16 of the 26 letters down in the A to Z challenge ànd, thanks to Beatrix Potter, I’ve now been to 3 places I’ve visited myself, via books!

Of course, then there’s the “normal” challenges: although I haven’t gotten any further on the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge, I did manage to cross of “A book recommended by your local librarian or bookseller” from the Modern Mrs Darcy Reading Challenge.

For the PopSugar Reading Challenge, I got three more goals done:

A book you can finish in a day: 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
A murder mystery: The Mirror Carck’d from Side to Side, Agatha Christy
A book of poetry: USA, 1927, Paul Morand

I also got to use that last one for the STXRY Reading Challenge, for the same goal even, and I got 3 more done!

A book filled to the rim with magic: Sleeping Beauty, Jenni James
A book of poetry: USA, 1927, Paul Morand
A book from a random recommendationalist: Snow White, Jenni James (the “recommendationalist was a random book-vlogger I came across one day, and I can’t even remember what their name was)
A book that you own that is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen: The Complete Tales, Beatrix Potter

If you don’t believe that the last one really is “the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen”, just read my “Reviewing the Classics”-post I did on it!

Also, I’m really happy that those two Jenni James books were good for something in these reading challenges, because I have to say: horrible. Just horrible. They were so in your face – overly goodie two shoes – let’s slap the religious intake in their faces that I had to fight to even just get through the second one. I might just go back and read the other ones – because, quite honestly, Snow White wasn’t quite as bad as Sleeping Beauty, but let me tell you – I have nothing against a religious take on things (I was raised catholic, after all) – but you couldn’t get two phrases into the story without there being some sort of mentioning of God, and Grace, and Blessed, Blessed, Blessed – it was enough to put anybody of the books immediately!

(And I’m especially sad about that because I loved the idea behind these works! Oh well, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be…)

Either way, there you have it, my February update to my reading challenges! How about you? Have you read any of these books yet? How are you doing on your reading-goals and -challenges for 2016? Be sure to let me know below!

-Saar