Not signed up for YALSA’s 2014 Hub Reading Challenge? Read the official rules and sign up on the original post. Anything you’ve read since February 3 counts, so sign up now!
I’ve spent the past week catching up on the wonderful discussion happening over at the Goodreads 2014 Hub Challenge Group which you should definitely investigate if you haven’t already. So many insightful comments and lots of diverging opinions–be sure to check it out if you want to talk books with your fellow reading challenge participants.
I’ve really enjoyed reading those Goodreads threads, but I confess I’m not making much progress with the challenge itself. I’m close, though, and there’s still time. To be honest, I haven’t even attempted a challenge book since finishing Max Berry’s Lexicon a couple weeks ago, because I’ve been reading interview-related titles in preparation for upcoming One Thing Leads to Another posts. Thank goodness for the two 2014 reading challenges (this one and the Morris/Nonfiction) which shortened my interview reading list considerably and exposed me to authors and titles that I might have missed otherwise.
What about you? Are you still making progress? Stuck in a rut? Taking a break? Have you completed the challenge? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to join the social media conversation by checking out the Goodreads 2014 Hub Challenge Group and the #hubchallenge hashtag. Here’s some of the awesome tweets we’ve collected over the past week:
The challenge ends at 11:59PM EST on June 22nd so you still have plenty of time to finish, even if you’ve stalled out like I have. Check in with us each Sunday as we count down the home stretch and let us know how you’re doing.
If you are have already completed the challenge by reading or listening to 25 titles from the list of eligible books, be sure to fill out the form below so we can send you your Challenge Finisher badge, get in touch to coordinate your reader’s response and, perhaps best of all, to notify you if you win our exciting grand prize drawing! Be sure to use an email you check frequently and do not fill out this form until you have completed the challenge by reading 25 titles.
I didn’t get to complete any titles this week, but I’m very close to my 25 and will continue over the summer to read the Morris finalists and Printz finalists.
WHOO HOO! DONE! I got held up on Mind MGMT, but finished this morning. It was fun (the challenge, not Mind MGMT), and I can’t wait until next year so I can try it again!
Only finished one this week. The boy on the wooden box. I liked it and marvel every time I am exposed to it, how incredibly cruel we human beings can be to one another. I am at 59 read so far. I want to beat my number for last year and it is definitely going to be close.
Over the past two weeks, I finished three books. Winger was much better than I expected, with loveable characters, emotional twists, and a satisfying ending. I’m not surprised to hear that a sequel is due out in January, but it was still a good stand-alone story. I also listened to Zombie Baseball Beatdown, which was a fun story for younger listeners, and Etiquette and Espionage, which was a book I may not have enjoyed reading but was a great listening experience. Only one book to go before completing the challenge!
No books read for the challenge this week. I am #2 on the list at the library for The Kingdom of Little Wounds – my last book (#83).
About 3 chapters away from finishing Carter Finally Gets It. Close to finishing the challenge (only the 25 books) but yet so far .. once Carter is done, 3 to go .. I want to make it! I will keep trying!!!! Been a great challenge and I have a lot of the books lined up for the rest of the summer so I am ready to give the high schoolers good book recommendations next school year!
I finished! I’m unabashedly proud of myself. I have a one year old and was unable to complete the challenge last year, so I set the goal again this year, but I was worried. My reading time is reduced compared to what it once was so I wasn’t sure I could handle it. But I did! And I read some amazing things!
#24 – Out of the Easy – One of my favorites of the challenge. I loved Josie and the colorful side characters. I’m so drawn to New Orleans and enjoyed spending time there in my imagination (even though it wasn’t exactly painted in the most positive light).
#25 – Etiquette and Espionage – I agree with a previous post – I’m not sure I would have loved this if I had been reading it, but I really enjoyed the audio version. The story was creative and I love the spirit of Sephronia.
My Challenge Top 5:
1. Eleanor & Park
2. All the Truth That’s in Me
3. Out of the Easy
4. Help for the Haunted
5. The Testing
Can’t wait until next year!
I finished the challenge this weekend with “Charm and Strange”. Wow, some really great books! It’s hard to pick my personal favorites, as there is such a variety, but I especially loved:
The Universe versus Alex Woods
In the Shadow of Blackbirds
Courage Has No Color
The Nazi Hunters
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass
Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets
Winger
(ok, that’s a lot…)
I also really loved “Eleanor and Park” and “Rose Under Fire” but I read them before the challenge. Now that I have completed 25, I will probably read a few more titles from the list, but if my library doesn’t have something I am much less likely to read it. In general though, it was a great challenge for making me pick up things that I never would have ordinarily!
I only have three more books to go after I finish All the Truth That’s in Me, I’m about half way through with that. I have Dodger, Adventures of Superhero Girl, and Freakboy. I’m planning on finishing Freakboy this week, so I’ll just have two more for next week. Getting so close.
I’m late updating my progress because I was on vacation. This past week I listened to:
Dodger: Think I would like it better in print, there was a lot of nice witty moments I think I would have appreciated more if it wasn’t doing things like cleaning and driving and could give them my full attention.
and read:
The Testing: really quite underwhelmed by this…and yet I may read the next books in the series so I can’t have disliked it all that much…
So now I’m at 16 books and come Hell or High Water will make it to 25 in time!
Read this week: Mother, Mother by Koren Zailckas; Help for the Haunted by John Searles.
For me the Zailckas was too obviously a Mom Is Evil book. I enjoyed the ambiguity of the Searles much more.
So close yet so far away, listened to Scowler last week, creepy, I might read it now to see if the audio and book make me feel the same way. About half way through Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, which I have never read before and am really enjoying. So right now I am at 22.5, and I am determined to finish, Spark a Reaction will not win!
Submitted my finishers form & left off Imprisoned, but oh well. I made it through 27 titles & still have Beautiful Music for Ugly Children & Far Far Away in my TBR pile. Ready for the 48 Hour Book Challenge next!