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 have just over a week left!
As The Hub Manager, I’m not officially participating in The Hub Reading Challenge– but I am reading along for fun, and I love the books I’ve encountered so far! I just finished reading the Printz Award winner, Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick, and can’t stop thinking about it. I had no idea what to expect, and it was absolutely captivating. Too, I had read Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park before the challenge, but I re-experienced it via the Odyssey Honor winning audio format, and fell in love with the story all over again.
So, with the challenge deadline of June 22 approaching, how’s your reading going? Have you read anything that particularly surprised you? A few of you have signed up in the last few weeks with the intent of powering through, which I think is awesome and admirable. Update us in 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 one last check-in post next Sunday morning, 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.
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 have read three since my last check in – Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, Dogs of War and The Testing. I enjoyed all three. I was pleasantly surprised at how good The Testing was (The Hunger Games comparisons scared me). I came into the other two with no expectations and ended up enjoying both (extremely different) graphic novels. This brings me to 16 books total, and I think I have to resign myself to the fact that I’m not going to make it to 25 by the deadline. I’m still going to finish the challenge for my own personal satisfaction. Now that school is finally out for summer I’ll be able focus and should make it to 25 by mid July.
It’s been so long since I last checked in that I don’t remember what I had just finished reading the last time, but with The Kingdom of Little Wounds finished, I’m read 26! You can see everything I’ve read here, at my library’s blog: http://ucplbookchallenge.blogspot.com/search/label/hub%20challenge
Part of me wants to try and read one more, but I don’t think that’s going to happen… we’ll see!
Finished Charm & Strange (#27). I found it traumatic and lyrical at the same time. And at the end, I was amazed that such a thin book had so much packed into it.
#24 this weekend was Out of the Easy- hands down the best book I have read of the challenge and I think the best book I have read so far this year. I have Between Shades of Gray to be my #25 and I can only hope it is as good. I am recommending Out of the Easy to everyone I know. Hurray for the challenge this year, definately helped to expand my horizons. Can’t wait for next year.
Whew! I was busy since my last check-in! I read Beauty Queens (I was afraid it would be too much like Lord of the Flies, but I loved every last bit of biting satire!), Boxers and Saints, Winger, Better Nate than Ever, Charm and Strange, and listened to Eleanor and Park.
I’ve started both Navigating Early, and Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (my last two!), and would also like to read Midwinterblood and The Death of Bees if I have a chance. It’ll be close, but I think I can do this!
This week I read:
Mind MGMT: definitely compelling. It took me a while to warm up to the art. When I first finished it I didn’t know whether I was going to want to read the others but after letting the first one sit for a few days I do want to see what happens.
All The Truth That’s In Me: One of my favorites of the challenge so far.
Dogs of War: As other participants have said, the first two stories didn’t do much for me, but I loved the third one!
Oops, forgot to say my current total. I’m at 22, so I have three more to go. I’m going to finish! Also, general question: is there any particular place we can access the approved titles of challenges from previous years?
I finished my 25 last week and filled out the form – still have seen anything for a reader’s response??? But happy to report that I completed one more before the challenge is over – The Book Thief – wow! I really really enjoyed this book .. Really became connected with the characters .. Very mpressed by the writing / story. I think my favorite from the challenge. I have not seen the movie .. Is it worth it? Usually the books are better, and I don’t want to ruin what I love about the book if the movie does not live up to it .. Any opinions on this? So my grand total for the challenge will end at 26! Really loved doing this .. And have accumulated a stack of 30 books to read this summer at my bedside because of this challenge – thanks!
Read two more since my last check in (#17… oops). First, Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick. I can kind of see why this might not be a hit with teens, but I really enjoyed putting all the clues together and seeing all the ways they found each other over the years. Definitely well-done.
Next, I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. Beautifully written, engaging. Not as effective, for me personally, as The Book Thief, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t going to be for someone else.
That brings me to 24/25 (I’ve read 34, but I wanted to read 25 on top of the Nonfiction/Morris winners)! I’ve got Audrey, Wait! ready to start. Next week!
Just finished Audrey, Wait! I really liked it, it was funny with a lot of serious themes behind it. Done now!
I just finished my last one, Navigating Early! Earlier this week I set aside Yaqui Delgado in favor of the audiobook of Better Nate Than Ever so I could do housework before we had guests, but wow, I made it! Still tons of good books on the list to read, but so glad I did this challenge.
My last book was Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan. It amazes me that two books with the same title would be published so close together. It further amazes me that both books cover such unusual subject matter in such a powerful manner. I enjoyed both of these titles very much.
This brings my total for the year to 61. I am disappointed that I was unable to top or match the 65 titles that I read last year. But, in my locality it is difficult to find the graphic novels and audio books on the challenge list.
Graphic novels are just not my metier. I would have read three more – I found the first three volumes of the Strobe series, I started them, but I just hated the process so much that I decided not to finish them. I also did not finish Freakboy because I just wasn’t in the mood for a novel in verse. I may give it another chance in the future.
I really enjoy the Hub Challenge and look forward to seeing what makes the cut next year.