As the year comes to a close, here’s a review of how I did on my challenges — which I kept to a minimum this year, not wanting to overdo it. And I’m quite happy with how I did, so that was a success!
I finished six books for Back to the Classics:
Classic with a Name in the Title: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Classic by a Woman Author: The World I Live In
Adapted Classic: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Classic about a Family: Brideshead Revisited
Translated Classic: Le Petit Prince
Classic with Nature in the Title: The Old Man and the Sea
And kept up with the Book Blog Discussion Challenge with a post (almost) every month:
Should I read more current books?
Do you have a reading plan?
Are there too many books?
Do you like books about fighting?
Do you dislike first-person narratives?
What is your favorite (or first favorite) classic?
Can you resist free books?
Am I addicted to reading?
Am I an e-book convert?
Should memoirs be considered fiction?
What is the best of the Emerald City Book Review?
I also kept going with my Reading All Around the World project. After reading twelve books, I slacked off in the last quarter of the year, but added Danubia to my list (I think it should count, even though it’s not about a single country, but a whole empire that has now been split up into many nations).
Other goals I had this year were to read more nonfiction — I did quite well with that, judging from my Nonfiction November round-up — and to read more books from my own shelves. This was not so successful, but I did polish off a few of those.
How have you done with your challenges this year? Did they help you to discover some great new authors? Or get to some books you’ve been meaning to read for years?
The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
A busy blogging year for you then, Lory, despite all the other things going on in life, positive as well as negative! One query: if you’re doing an anthology does that mean that ECBR will no longer have an online presence, and that posts and events (eg Witch Week) will no longer be accessible?
As for my ‘challenges’ (which I’ve pretended not to be doing) I suppose two have featured:
1. I’ll not have completed my Classics Club list by the end of 2020 as hoped, so that’s delayed by another twelvemonth;
2. I’ve already exceeded my target of 60 books read and reviewed for my Goodreads Reading Challenge by completing 33% more so far, no doubt aided by self isolating and lockdowns.
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Thanks for asking about the future incarnation of ECBR, Chris. The current site will be up until June 2021, as is. After that, I hope to make an “archive” site available with all the content, provided I can find an economical way to do it. It won’t be as pretty in appearance, and may be lacking some features like review indexes, because I won’t be using the same themes and plugins. If all goes well, the transition will be seamless; and the domain name will be the same. But I’ll keep you posted if not…
All the best to you for your challenges (or non-challenges) next year and a better year overall. If you download your copy of Best of ECBR you’ll see I put you at my top of bloggers to thank in the acknowledgments. I really appreciate your being there over the years!
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I had three challenges, and I’ve completed all of them: to read three hundred books (on Goodreads ); to review one hundred books for Australian Women Writers and to read and review 24 books by Australian authors. Being retired from the paid workforce helps 🙂
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All I can say is wow! It’s a great way to use your retirement.
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Nice job with the challenges! I always appreciate your thoughtful discussion posts. I added a few new countries to my list this year as well, not as much as I’d hoped, and I barely read any classics. I’m going to post on my challenges soon. Happy holidays!
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Thanks Deb! By the way, I tried to email you because I wanted to send you a copy of The Best of ECBR as promised. I didn’t get a response, so I wonder what is the best way to reach you? Feel free to email me, lory at emeraldcitybookreview dot com …
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I admire that you made progress with Challenges. I like being more spontaneous but I did sign up for one for 2021. I am also taking two classes from Jan. through April so we’ll see how I manage my time!
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I try not to overdo it but they keep creeping up on me. I try to do only ones that I truly enjoy and that aren’t a huge effort to complete. Good luck with all your projects!
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Well done! I completed my Paul Magrsathon, reading and re-reading books by this favourite author, with one month dedicated to a guest review of a book I didn’t quite take to. I did Nonfiction November and did all the four posts and read a fair bit of nonfiction (which I do anyway) and made some new blog friends. I did All August/All Virago and 20 Books of Summer as usual. I did Heaven-Ali’s Daphne du Maurier week back in May (with a book she gave me!) and one of Kaggsy and Stuck in a Book’s year challenges – I prefer doing one-offs or months rather than long annual ones, and all of these were from my TBR or my shelves apart from a couple of Paul Magrs ones I’d have done anyway.
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One-month or one-day events are great but I tend to miss them if I’m not very organized (which I’m not, in this regard). I’d like to catch Daphne Du Maurier and Margaret Atwood next year, should make that a priority.
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Congrats on your challenges. I’m intrigued by the Book Blog Discussion Challenge. I may have to check that out.
I also read Brideshead this year. Such a sad book. Not sure I could bear to watch the new adaptation.
Happy reading in 2021
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I’ve honestly not been very tempted to watch any adaptation … I enjoyed being immersed in the story imaginatively, sad though it was. I did watch some of the BBC production and it looked remarkably faithful. I don’t think a 2 hour movie could do it justice.
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