I, honestly admit, I have a slight confession,… I am hereby addicted to reading challenges, read-a-thons, read-a-longs, and other blogsphere community reading events! Yes. I, Jorie, of Jorie Loves A Story, have an addiction to reading! And, of daring myself to tackle one more ‘challenge’, despite already being committed to another already in-progress! I have discovered today, that I am NOT alone.  Nor am I the only one PROUD of this affliction. Look for our ‘badge of honour’ to find us! OR, click to join, if you find your afflicted too!

I created a running list of all the particulars of each challenge or reading event that I take on under my *RALs & Challenges* page!! However, for the sake of declaring just how much of an addict I am in this regard, I shall list them in order of participation:

70 Authors Challenge: A Personal Challenge I created for myself to read 70 Authors in 24 months time; focusing on 1-5 books per author! Technically, this won’t count until the 2015 Tally, as it concludes in August 2015! Originally scheduled to be a challenge in 12 months, but I have re-considered this and extended it to two full years!

1. Austen in August: declaration of intent & Walking in Miss Elizabeth Bennett’s shoes,…
2. Bout of Books, 8.0: declaration of participation; personal goals & motivations; day one; day two; day three; day four; day five; day six; day seven; wrap-up!
3. Books of Eyre: declaration of participation; Jane Eyre;
4. Septemb-Eyre: declaration of participation; Chapters I-XI; wrap-up!
5. The Reading Hour: 3am; 5pm
6. Classics Re-Told: [focus on] 19th Century & Gothic Classics: introduction: spotlight on: pride & prejudice; Walking in Miss Elizabeth Bennett’s shoes,…;
7. Finnikin of the Rock: declaration of participation;
8. SFN Bingo Reading Challenge: declaration of participation; Collaborative blogosphere event, merging book bloggers, authors, publishers, and sci-fi enthusiasts together, for a month long celebration of science-fiction! Each blogger will have a set schedule of posts, topics to explore, books to focus on, tv series to gush about, and certain bloggers will be hosting giveaways as well! Event begins 1 November & Concludes 30 November!
9. Holiday Readathon: sign-up page; Christmas Romance Reading List;

• Wonderfully Wicked: coming in October Due to circumstances changing, my amount of free time is reduced.
• Banned Books Week: late September / early October Due to circumstances changing, my amount of free time is reduced.
• Author of the Month: september, october, november, & december Due to circumstances changing, my amount of free time is reduced.

Unless I am mistaken this will be the full list for the year! :) Ahh, alas! A Bingo Challenge steps through the ether! :)

Reflections After the Fact: {work in progress!}

Austen in August: Aside from the fact that I nearly considered this a failure in the regards of being able to accomplish what I originally set out to do, in the end, I felt confident in my ability to actually ‘read’ a work of Austen during the month of the event! My review of the book did not post until September, which I regrettably could not avoid but I felt badly that my review’s link had to be threaded in the commentary section rather than the official Austen in August linky! :( Next year, if Roof Beam Reader hosts this lovely event again I would like to wisely choose 3 Austen novels to read so that I can not only reflect on her grace of story-telling but also participate in the Romance Reading Challenge that helps to promote the romance genre! I think if I could spilt the difference and read six books total I’d be plumb happy! I did complete the challenge even if I only read “Pride” due to the fact that the challenge had no direct rules or obligations! :) In this, I drew a bit of repose,…

Bout of Books, 8.0: You could say this challenge is continuously ongoing as I have not yet resolved the posts for the event itself as right after the event closed, I was ‘up and at ’em’  as the saying goes on my blog! I was focusing on everything that was happening in my personal life as much as attempting to keep a pace on where my blog was taking me next! Somehow in those short hours of September’s opening door, I lost my footing with Bout of Books, 8.0 despite the fact that I did finish reading one of the chosen books (“Haunted”), as much as finished nearly a quarter of another (“Lark Rise to Candleford”), and a bit less than that for the rest of my selections as I purposely focused on the first twenty pages per novel which was left-over to read save two (“The Crimson Petal & the White” & “The Lady in the Attic”). In this way, despite my challenges during the event, I succeeded in not only pushing forward and keeping with the event but for proving to myself that an isolated read-a-thon has its benefits even if you fall a bit short in your accomplishments! For instance, it opened my mind and heart to authors I never had the chance to fully grasp beforehand, and it opened up the door to the bookish blogosphere in a way where I could become acquainted with new bookish bloggers & hosted events where without JLAS I was blind to knowing existed previously! I consider this a strong lesson in perhaps being overly ambitious in my reading selections but having the heart of a reader who was determined to prove something to herself even if she fell a bit wayside of the intentions of conceiving the goals originally! 

I am working towards having all the posts reading for reading and viewing by the close of the year!! I would love to even attempt to finish reading the books I had started and post the reviews to coincide with Bout 8.0! As even if they run on my blog in December, its a project that meant something to me and if I complete it even four months after the fact, the point is dear hearts, I completed it in a time frame that worked for me! :) And  isn’t that the true merit of why we join these challenges!? To endeavour to accomplish something we first feel we cannot and to rise above our doubts and take our reading lives to new heights!?

Books of Eyre:

Septemb-Eyre:

The Reading Hour: I thoroughly enjoyed my reading of “Charlotte’s Web” even a bit moreso than I originally felt that I might, as I knew the story was intrinsically sorrowful and yet, held within it a life lesson worth reading even as a thirty-something as I am now rather than the young girl I was originally! :) I followed true to the “The Reading Hour”‘s principle in reading at an hour that coincided with their main event in Australia. The only disheartening experience for me during this event is that when I attempted to contact the event hosts I did not fetch a reply by email despite how enthused I was to share my own ‘reading hour’ observation! :( I followed up reading the book by ILL’ing a copy of the live-action motion picture of the same name which starred Dakota Fanning! The ILL arrived roughly a month shy of when the event occurred but I didn’t mind the wait as the reward was too sweet to worry about the gap of time which had elapsed! I considered this one of my favourite reading challenges of the year as I tipped my hat back into my childhood and drew a breath forward into my adult years at the very same time! How oft are we able to do this?! The full effect of ‘the reading hour’ was not lost on me, and I look forward to when I have children to inspire the joy of reading to nestle into their hearts as my own Mum and Da did for me so many moons ago! :) 

Finnikin of the Rock:

SFN Bingo Reading Challenge:

Reading Challenge Addict is hosted by Bev of My Readers Block. Originally inspired into being by Cheryl of CMash Loves to Read & Gina of Hott Books! You have until 30 November 2013 to add your declaration post to count in the tally for the year! The way in which you know your such a reader is by noting the following:

• Easy as Pie: {1-5 Challenges, entered + completed}
• On the Roof: {6-10 Challenges, entered + completed}
• In Flight: {11-15 Challenges, entered + completed}
• Out of This World: 16+ Challenges, entered + completed}

By looking over the specifics of this listing, I am on the cusp of On the Roof/In Flight!! We’ll have to wait and see what befalls my interest between now and New Year’s Eve!! Laughs whilst smiling. Not bad, eh!? For a blogger whose only been ‘live’ for 10 days!! I am itching with curiosity what everyone else put on their posts of declaration, so as I’m able too I will be visiting their blogs!

What about you!? Are you addicted and afflicted by reading, too!!??!

2014 Advance Planning Sesson {which will I choose!? ooh the intrigue!}

• Lucky 14 Reading Challenge
• Read Scotland 2014
• Meet the Protagonist Challenge 2014
• 2014 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
• Finishing the Series Challenge 2014
• I Love Library Books Challenge
• New Author Reading Challenge
• Read Outside the Box Challenge
• Vintage Mystery Silver & Gold Challenge
• 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
• Plus, I have already picked quite a few already not listed!

{SOURCE: Reading Challenge Addict badge created by Jorie in Canva.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.