Still 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! You only have two weeks left!
Fourteen days and six books. That is where I find myself in The Hub Reading Challenge. We have just two weeks to go, and I have read nineteen books on the list. Since my library just opened a new Teen Center, and I’m building up a Teen non-fiction collection from scratch, I think I’ll focus my final reading push on the non-fiction titles on the list. Branded by the Pink Triangle, Dogs of War, March, and The President Has Been Shot! all sound like good candidates for my fortnight of reading.
How are you doing? Are you close to finishing? What are the final few titles that are piquing your interest? Let us know in the comments here, or share your thoughts on social media using the #hubchallenge hashtag.
The 2014 Hub Reading Challenge runs until 11:59 PM EST on June 22nd. We’ll have another check-in post next Sunday, so you can share your thoughts about the book(s) you read/listened to this week and share links to any reviews you post online. If you want to share your thoughts immediately, use the social media hashtag #hubchallenge, or join the 2014 Hub Challenge group on Goodreads. We will be compiling posts from various places online into a Storify collection. You can see the social media conversation so far below!
If you 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, 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/listening to 25 titles.
I totally haven’t been keeping up on logging books here, but I’ve been doing it on Twitter (@hari_vert). Does that work?
Here’s what I’ve read so far, and I’m continuing on. :) These books have been pretty darn good, even the ones that I wasn’t too fond of.
#1 Beauty Queens, by Libba Bray
#2 The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
#3 Audrey, Wait!, by Robin Benway
#4 All the Truth that’s In Me, by Julie Berry
#5 The Testing, by Joelle Charbonneau
#6 Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, by Kristin Cronn-Mills
#7 Maggot Moon, by Sally Gardner
#8 Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, by Meg Medina
#9 Far Far Away, by Tom McNeal
#10 The Death of Bees, by Lisa O’Donell
#11 Proxy, by Alex London
#12 Belle Epoque, by Elizabeth Ross
#13 The Adventures of Superhero Girl, by Faith Erin Hicks
#14 Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, by Lish McBride
#15 Carter Finally Gets It, by Brent Crawford
#16 Swim the Fly, by Don Calame
#17 Ash, by Malinda Lo
#18 The Universe Versus Alex Woods, by Gavin Extence
#19 Out of the Easy, by Ruta Septyz
#20 I am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
#21 Midwinter Blood, by Marcus Sedgwick
#22 Navigating Early, by Clare Vanderpool
#23 Golden Boy, by Tara Sullivan
#24 Help for the Haunted, by John Searles
#25 Etiquette & Espionage, by Gail Carriger (audiobook)
#26 Lexicon, by Max Barry
Finished Dogs of War by Sheila Keenan & Nathan Fox–loved it. Hoping to read Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During World War II to finish out my 25!
I’m up to 21 since my last check-in — #20 Jedi Academy and #21 Eleanor and Park audio. Just waiting for a few more ILL’s to come in and then I can finish!!
How to Speak Dog. One book to go.
This week I listened to:
Viva Jacquelina- If I was rating it purely on the basis of the audio narrator I would give it five stars! She really is fantastic. But I didn’t like the book that much. Kind of rambling. I liked Jacky herself but thought the plot was lackluster. Still, I will probably listen to more audiobooks in this series.
and read:
Audrey Wait!- I like it in the beginning but got bored.
So now I’m up to 18. Having this many books to read in the next two weeks feels like my undergrad English degree all over again!
If we filled out the form for being done last week, how long will it be before we hear from HUB for the reader’s response? I just realized that the email in my “leave a reply” is different than the email I used for getting a response from the Challenge. Will this be an issue? I just want to make sure I don’t miss it! Thanks!
Still trying to finish Hold me Closer, I have to speed up cause I am running out of time! If only I didn’t have to cook, clean, work, sleep…. I would have it made!
I’ve read 2 since my last check in, brining my total to 24. Almost done!
#23 Better Nate Than Ever –I read it in book form; I know this is one that is eligible in multiple formats. It took me a while to warm up to Nate, but I liked it overall.
#24 The Adventures of Superhero Girl—I enjoyed it.
Hmm, looks like I only did one again this week: Killer of Enemies. I liked the story, in general, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing. I felt like we were just dropped into the middle of the story, in part. There was some background spread throughout the book, but I still felt like this was the second part of a series. This puts me at 60 for this year. Disappointing since I read 65 last year, without the Morris/Non-fiction head start. I have one more series title at home and two more on order, but it doesn’t look like I’ll get them in time to count them for this year. I keep thinking I’ll spend an afternoon at B&N reading some of the graphic novels, but so far, no motivation for that has appeared.
I finished the challenge about two weeks ago now. My book shelf is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/966742-becky?shelf=2014-hub-challenge
My favorite was easily Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian. I also really enjoyed Strobe Edge, Better Nate Than Ever, The Nazi Hunters, and I am the Messenger. I’m not sure I can say I enjoyed Scowler, but I thought it was excellent as well.
I filled out the form about two weeks ago and haven’t received an email. How long does it usually take?
Oh man, it’s been a while! I picked up Two Boys Kissing this week, and got back into the swing of things. I had a hard time getting into it, as it was entirely too jumpy for my tastes, and then I got distracted by the latest How to Train Your Dragon book and Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw (oh, the hilarity), but I gained momentum and plowed through the rest of it in an afternoon on the porch. Still not a huge fan of having the narrative broken up that frequently, but I liked it more than I thought I would after the first attempt. Not as awesome as Every Day or Invisibility, though!
Sitting on my shelf for the next 2 weeks (wish me luck!) are:
Beauty Queens
Boxers and Saints
Eleanor and Park
Winger
Yaqui Delgado wants to Kick your Ass
Navigating Early
Better Nate than Ever
The Death of Bees