I’ve read the following for the Back to the Classics challenge (titles link to my reviews) hosted by Books and Chocolate:

1. A 19th Century Classic –  Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. (Finished 2/22/16)
2. A 20th Century Classic – The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (Finished 6/3/16)
3. A classic by a woman author. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, part of the Little House series. (Finished 2/15/2016)
4. A classic in translation (originally written in a language other than your own): Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (French) (Finished 3/15/16)
5. A classic by a non-white author. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. (Finished 2/29/16)
6. An adventure classic – can be fiction or non-fiction. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Finished 4/29/16)
7. A fantasy, science fiction, or dystopian classic. The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White (Finished 3/24/16)
   
8. A classic detective novel. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (Finished 4/18/16)
9. A classic which includes the name of a place in the title. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. (Finished 3/8/16)
10. A classic which has been banned or censored. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (Finished 6/23/16)
11. Re-read a classic you read in school (high school or college). The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. (Finished 3/26/16)
    
12. A volume of classic short stories. (One complete volume, at least 8 short stories, single or multiple authors). Great British Short Stories: A Vintage Collection of Classic Tales (Finished 7/5/18)

We’re allowed three children’s classics for this challenge, and I have two: The Wind in the Willows and Little Town on the Prairie. A few of the others later had children’s versions made of them and came to be thought of as children’s stories, but according to my research weren’t originally written as children’s stories.

Participants are eligible for prizes with a certain number of entries for books read. Since I read all twelve categories, I’m eligible for three entries. Yay!

I believe I listened to all of these via audiobook, but with some I got a free Kindle version because I wanted to read parts over.

I actually finished back in July: it helped that many of these were short, which I didn’t realize when I picked them. I could have read/listened to more and have accumulated more through sales, but I wanted to save them for next year’s challenge.

I’ve mentioned that I somehow missed being exposed to a lot of classics growing up, and I have made it a mission to seek them out and educate myself as an adult. Some of these I probably would not have chosen on my own, but I am thankful this challenge caused me to diversify my reading a bit. I enjoyed all of them in their own way, but probably the one I enjoyed most was Wind in the Willows.How did I get to be on the far side of 50 before reading that?!

Thanks, Karen, for the challenge! I am looking forward to next year!

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The Mount TBR Reading Challenge (to read books one already owned) has checkpoints every quarter where we can report how we’re doing. I read 9 books for this challenge during the first quarter of the year (listed at the first checkpoint here) and 12 more by checkpoint #2.

The books I’ve read for this challenge this quarter are:

1. Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pamela Smith Hill
2. Thin Places: A Memoir  by Mary E. De Muth
3. The Methusaleh Project by Rick Barry
4. C. S. Lewis’ Letters to Children edited by Lyle W. Dorsett and Marjorie Lamp Mead
5. Ten Fingers For God about Dr. Paul Brand by Dorothy Clarke Wilson
6. I’m No Angel: From Victoria’s Secret Model to Role Model by Kylie Bisutti
7. Be Faithful (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon): It’s Always Too Soon to Quit! by Warren Wiersbe
8. Be Mature (James): Growing Up in Christ by Warren Wiersbe
9. Be Hopeful (1 Peter): How to Make the Best Times Out of Your Worst Times by Warren Wiersbe
10. Home to Chicory Lane by Deborah Raney

That brings me up to 31 books, halfway up Mt. Blanc, the second level of Bev’s challenge. I’m about 5 books short of the next level, Mt. Vancouver. But I think I’ll easily get there before the end of the year. Plus these selections complete my original list of goals for the challenge.

Bev always includes some fun questions for the checkpoints:

A. Who has been your favorite character so far? And tell us why, if you like. Out of all the books read for the challenge, not just this quarter, Emile de Bonnery from Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser. The book follows him from the age of 14 through adulthood, with his having to find his way amidst confusing and conflicting issues and memories. I just found him a very sympathetic character.

B. Pair up two of your reads that are opposites. C. S. Lewis’ Letters to Children and The Methusaleh Project; also Pioneer Girl and I’m No Angel: From Victoria’s Secret Model to Role Model.

C. Which book (read so far) has been on your TBR mountain the longest? Was it worth the wait? That would be hard to say for sure without going back and checking the buy dates, but off the top of my head, I think The Reunion by Dan Walsh. I’ve had it on my Kindle app since 2012, and it has turned out to be my favorite Walsh book read so far.

On to the last legs of the challenge!

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The Mount TBR Reading Challenge (to read books one already owned) has checkpoints every quarter where we can report how we’re doing. I read 9 books for this challenge during the first quarter of the year (listed at the last checkpoint here). So far this quarter I have read (each title links back to my review of it):

1. A Slender Thread by Tracie Peterson
2. The Reunion by Dan Walsh
3. True Woman 201: Interior Design: Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss
4. What Follows After by Dan Walsh
5. The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life’s Hard by Kara Tippetts
6. Beyond Stateliest Marble: The Passionate Femininity of Anne Bradstreet by Douglas Wilson
7. One Perfect Spring by Irene Hannon
8. Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits by Mary Jane Hathaway
9. The Renewing of the Mind Project by Barb Raveling
10. Don’t Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees: The Adventures of an American Surgeon in Nepal by Thomas Hale
11. Chateau of Secrets by Melanie Dobson
12. Eight Twenty Eight: When Love Didn’t Give Up by Ian and Larissa Murphy

That’s 21 books so far, taking me up to Mont Blanc, the second of Bev’s challenge levels. Four of them (True Woman, Stateliest Marble, P&P & Cheese Grits, and Renewing the Mind) are from my original list of goals for the challenge. Only two more from that list to go!

I had only signed up for the first level, but I think I’ll probably pretty easily make the third by the end of the year.

Bev also lists some fun questions for this checkpoint. We’re not required to do all of them – but I did because I thought they were fun:

A. Choose two titles from the books you’ve read so far that have a common link. Chateau of Secrets and Searching for Eternity are both set during WWII in both France and America.

B. Tell us about a book on the list that was new to you in some way–new author, about a place you’ve never been, a genre you don’t usually read…etc.  Irene Hannon and Thomas Hale (this quarter) and Marilynne Robinson, Chad Williams, and Chris Fabry (last quarter) were all new-to-me authors. I didn’t like Robinson’s Gilead as much as I had expected to but still want to try some of her other books. I love Chris Fabry’s Not In the Heart and have already read another book by him and bought one or two more.

C. Which book (read so far) has been on your TBR mountain the longest? Was it worth the wait? Or is it possible you should have tackled it back when you first put it on the pile? Or tossed it off the edge without reading it all? Of what I’ve read so far, that would be The Reunion by Dan Walsh, bought in October of 2012. It’s one of my favorites of his books, and I wish I had read it sooner!

Thanks, Bev, for the spur to get into some of the books that I have been wanting to read (for years in some cases!)

The Mount TBR Reading Challenge (to read books one already owned) has checkpoints every quarter where we can report how we’re doing. So far for this challenge I have read (each title links back to my review of it):

1. What Are You Afraid Of? Facing Down Your Fears With Faith by David Jeremiah (Finished 2/22/16)
2. The Bronte Plot by Katherine Reay (Finished 2/2/16)
3. Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser (Finished 1/16/16)
4. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (Finished 2/22/16)
5. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain (Finished 3/8/16)
6. Big Love: The Practice of Loving Beyond Your Limits by Kara Tippetts (Finished 2/14/16)
7. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Finished 1/13/16)
8. SEAL of God by Chad Williams and David Thomas (Finished 1/24/16)
9. Not In the Heart by Chris Fabry (Finished 3/26/16)

The levels, or “peaks,” for this challenge are met with every 12 books read, so I am well on my way to the first one. I had only committed to the first one, but it looks like I may reach the second one by year’s end as well.

Only five of these were on my original list, but I don’t think that matters. I do still plan to read the rest of them plus others if I can. In fact, I am nearly done with one of them and partway into another one.

Bev (our hostess) also suggested some other things we could share about the books we’ve read, like a favorite book cover or character. I think for me the favorite book cover would go to Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser.

When I’ve mentioned reading challenges recently, a couple of people have commented that they prefer to be free to read whatever they want whenever they want. Believe me, I understand the appeal. That’s how I’ve read for most of my adult life. And there is nothing wrong with that approach.

I’ve found for myself, though, that there are some books I never get to unless I make specific plans to incorporate them into my reading. For instance, I don’t usually read non-fiction, except for biographies, unless I “make” myself, even though I have greatly benefited from them.

I’ve found over the last few years that reading challenges really help with some of those books “I’ve been meaning to get to.” But there has to be a balance: some years I had so many challenges going on that I felt stifled all year. I like to be free to pick up a new release or something on a friend’s recommendation as I feel led without feeling I can’t because of other deadlines. Last year was pretty well balanced, so I am hoping to achieve that again this year. The challenges can overlap, so that helps (one book can be read for different challenges, but not for different categories within a challenge).

There are a few month-long challenges for the year. I’ll be hosting the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge in February; Carrie is not hosting her Classic Reading Club this year but will host the Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge in January and the Narnia challenge in June or July. For the LMM challenge I am planning to read the last of the Emily books, Emily’s Quest. If I have time I may read one of LMM’s stand-alone books. There is also an Emily of New Moon TV series I’d like to try to find on Netflix or somewhere. I honestly didn’t like Emily very well in the second book and I am curious to how her story has been translated into film.

As for year-long challenges, I’ll only be participating in two:

The Mount TBR Reading Challenge has the goal to read books that you already have on hand prior to 2016 (thus no library books or loans: it’s meant to get to those books you’ve had but haven’t started yet). You can chose different levels, each named after a mountain. I am only going to commit to “Pike’s Peak,” or 12 books, but we’ll see how it goes – I may add more. I’m sure I have enough books on hand and in my Kindle app to go another level or two, but I want to leave some breathing space. Here are the books I am planning to read for this challenge:

1. True Woman 201: Interior Design by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss (Finished 4/16/16)
2. The Renewing of the Mind Project by Barb Raveling (Finished 5/28/16)
3. Beyond Stateliest Marble: The Passionate Femininity of Anne Bradstreet by Douglas Wilson (Finished 5/2/16)
4. Ten Fingers For God: The Life and Work of Dr. Paul Brand by Dorothy Clarke Wilson (Finished 8/26/16)
5. What Are You Afraid Of? Facing Down Your Fears With Faith by David Jeremiah (Finished 2/22/16)
6. Home to Chicory Lane by Deborah Raney (Finished 9/18/16)
7. The Bronte Plot by Katherine Reay (Finished 2/2/16)
8. Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits by Mary Jane Hathaway (Finished 5/23/16)
9. Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser (Finished 1/16/16)
10. Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pamela Smith Hill (Finished 7/11/16)
11. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (Finished 2/22/16)
12. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain (Finished 3/8/16)

As I finish each one I will link the title to my review of it)

You can read more about the rules for the Mount TBR Challenge here; the deadline to sign up is Nov. 1, 2016.

The second is the Back to the Classics challenge. I’ve been doing this one for the past two years and have really enjoyed it. I’ve mentioned before that I somehow wasn’t exposed to many classics in my education, and have been making a point to read several in recent years.

Karen has made a list of the following categories and we can choose to read 6, 9, or 12 classics for 1, 2, or 3 entries in a drawing at the end of the year. For this challenge, all books have to be at least 50 years old. The categories and my choices are :

1.  A 19th Century Classic – any book published between 1800 and 1899. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. I love a couple of Dickens books very much and have been on a quest to read the rest of his books that I am not familiar with. (Finished 2/22/16)

2.  A 20th Century Classic – any book published between 1900 and 1966: The Wind in the Willows. I don’t know that I ever read this, either on my own or with my children. I think we saw part of a video of the story once, and I totally disliked Toad and didn’t finish it. But learning that it was one of C. S. Lewis’s favorite stories and reading some of his remarks about it have encouraged me to give it another try. (Finished 6/3/16)

3.  A classic by a woman author. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, part of the Little House series. (Finished 2/15/2016)

4.  A classic in translation (originally written in a language other than your own): Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (French) (Finished 3/15/16)

5.  A classic by a non-white author. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. (Finished 2/29/16)

6.  An adventure classic – can be fiction or non-fiction.Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Finished 4/29/16)

7.  A fantasy, science fiction, or dystopian classic. The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White (Finished 3/24/16)

8.  A classic detective novel. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is said to be the first English-language detective novel, at least according to this post. (Finished 4/18/16)

9.  A classic which includes the name of a place in the title. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. (Finished 3/8/16)

10. A classic which has been banned or censored. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (Finished 6/23/16)

11. Re-read a classic you read in school (high school or college). The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. (Finished 3/26/16)

12. A volume of classic short stories. (One complete volume, at least 8 short stories, single or multiple authors). Great British Short Stories: A Vintage Collection of Classic Tales (Finished 7/5/18)

After spending way too much time looking at lists of classic titles in different categories, I decided to just commit to 9 rather than 12. Thankfully we don’t have to declare exactly what we are going to read, though we’re encouraged to, so I will see how it goes with what I have so far and maybe add the other categories later if I feel inspired to do so and have time. I did end up completing the challenge!

Up to three children’s classics may be included. The rest of the rules and information are here. Karen also has links to book list ideas for some of the categories.

The deadline to sign up for the Back to the Classics challenge is March 1, 2016;

If you are interested in reading challenges, Tim Challies has one with different levels here. I’m still thinking about it – there would be some overlap between what I am planning to read and the different categories on his list. Also, someone has put together a list of several here. The rereading and new release challenges appeal to me…but I think I am going to just stick to these for now.

Do you make reading plans for the year, the month, the season? Jennifer had a good post about How to Make Reading Resolutions. The main key is to plan for what interests you and works with your schedule yet provides a bit of a challenge as well.

(Sharing at Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books)

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