2017 Reading Challenges January Update

The first month of these challenges is always both the easiest and the hardest. The easiest, because just about every single book I read lends itself to something in some challenge. The hardest, because for these last 6 years, January has meant exams. Yay. Anyways, here’s what January reading got done for my 2017 Reading Challenges – in spite of school 🙂

1. Goodreads Reading Challenge

1. Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom (review)
2. The Railway Children, E. Nesbit (review)
3. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz (review)
4. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (review)
5. Good Wives, Louisa May Alcott
6. 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
7. Thursday’s Children, Rumer Godden

I’ve been focusing largely on re-reads this month, if nothing else, then because that allows me to get through books quicker. Luckily, though, I kind of “cracked” the Goodreads system. Basically, they still haven’t a way to add a “reread” to any given book, but you can review a different version of a certain book along side the other version you’ve already read. So, yeah, I’ve supposedly read, like, 5 editions of some books. At least I’m getting those challenges, right? I actually also read some fanfiction, but unfortunately those don’t count for Goodreads 🙁

Also: I actually wrote a review on every single one of those – can we just take a moment to appreciate that? So what if some of them haven’t been published yet? (They are coming though, I just wanted to make sure not to overwhelm you all! 🙂 )

2.Challies.com 2017 Reading Challenge

1. A classic novel: Good Wives, Louisa May Alcott
2. A book about history: 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
3. A book about theology: Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom
4. A book with at least 400 pages: You are my Density, Robst
5. A book about Christian living: Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
6. A book more than 100 years old: The Railway Children, E. Nesbit
7. A book for children or teens: Thursday’s Children, Rumer Godden
8. A book of your choice: Don’t Look Back in Anger, Robst
9. A book about a current issue: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz

I’m basically trying to do this the right way, and make sure I have as many of the “light” section of this section before I move on to the next one. So far so good, basically, although now I do only have, like 6 books left in that category. Oops?

Another fun fact: both You are my Density and Don’t Look Back in Anger are actually fanfictions – and some pretty darn amazing ones, at that! If you’re a Harry Potter fan who likes some Harmony? Go check out the author’s page on fanfiction.net – this is honestly one of the few authors of whom I’ve liked just about all the fics, including the three I read this month!
As for how I got to ‘more than 400 pages’? I just took the number of words, and divided that by the largest average number of words on a page (500). So this one probably had more than the 474,386 pages I came up with, but, oh well. Playing it safe, I guess? 🙂

3. Popsugar Reading Challenge

1. A book of letters: 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
2. A book by an author who uses a pseudonym: You are my Density, Robst
3. A bestseller from a genre you don’t normally read: Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom
4. A book involving travel: The Railway Children, E. Nesbit
5. A book you’ve read before that never fails to make you smile: Knowledge is Power, Robst
6. A book you loved as a child: Thursday’s Children, Rumer Godden
7. A book by an author from a country you’ve never visited: Good Wives, Louisa May Alcott
8. A novel set during wartime: Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
9. A book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz

Another challenge where I got to use all the books I read this month – and yes, that’s a bit of a theme, basically 🙂

4. Modern Mrs Darcy Reading Challenge(s)

• Reading for fun

1. A book set somewhere you’ve never been but would like to visit: Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
2. A book you’ve already read: Knowledge is Power, Robst
3. A book about books or reading: 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
4. A book in a genre you usually avoid: Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom
5. A book recommended by someone with great taste: The Railway Children, E. Nesbit
6. A book about a topic or subject you already love: Don’t Look Back in Anger, Robst

• Reading for growth

1. A book in translation: Thursday’s Children (Maar ik wil dansen), Rumer Godden
2. A book published before you were born: Good Wives, Louisa May Alcott
3. Three books by the same author: Knowledge is Power, Don’t Look back in Anger, and You are my Density, by Robst
4. A book by an #ownvoices or #diversebooks author: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz

I mean, you know, the two parts of this challenge together require a grand total of 24 books and I’ve already done 10 of those. So I guess this probably couldn’t have been too shabby of a reading month, even if it definitely felt like that?

5. The United States of YA

For this one, I’m just going to point you straight towards the overview of all my reading challenges, because that’s where I’ll be keeping track of this one!

6. Read Around the World Challenge

You make your own conclusions 🙂

7. The Rory Gilmore Challenge

And there’s no changes on this one, again, unfortunately…

And there you have it, that’s what I’ve been reading this month! How about you? What books have you been loving or hating? And how are you doing on your reading challenges? Be sure to let me know below!

-Saar