Part way through the year I compiled myself a list of prompts and stipulations as reading challenges. Now that we’re at the end of 2019, it’s time to see how I did!

Core Challenges: 5 points each

• A book with ‘cat(s)’ in the title: ‘If Cats Disappeared from the World’
• Set in space: ‘The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet’
• Set in Scandinavia: ‘The Twisted Tree’
• Published this year (2019): ‘I Know Everything’
• Published before you were born: ‘The Wasp Factory’
• A ghost story
• A story with dragons
• A non-fiction book: ‘We Should All be Feminists’
• A comic or graphic novel: ‘Wolverine: Infinity Watch’
• A translated book: ‘If Cats Disappeared from the World’
• A book you know nothing about: ‘I Know Everything’
• A book someone recommended to you personally: ‘The Wasp Factory’
• Tagged LGBT on Goodreads: ‘They/Them’ & ‘The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet’
• A debut novel: ‘The Wasp Factory’
• A sequel: ‘Head On’
• …with a two word title: ‘Ghost Wall’
• An audiobook: ‘Lock In’
• …from an author from Asia, Africa or Latin America: ‘If Cats Disappeared from the World’
• A book over 500 pages long: ‘Killing Floor’
• …that is also (or shortly will be) a movie/TV Series: ‘Sharp Objects’

TOTAL: 90/100

Bonus Challenges: 10 points each

• A multi-author book (translators don’t count): ‘They/Them’
• …in a genre you don’t normally choose
• Read more than one translated or International book during the year: ‘If Cats Disappeared from the World’ & ‘We Should all be Feminists’
• A book you’ve owned for more than 5 years (and haven’t read yet): ‘Play Dead’
• A “book to read before you die”

TOTAL: 120/150

Know Thy Enemy Ultra Challenge: 50 points

• Read a book by an author you actively dislike

GRAND TOTAL: 120/200

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The two ‘Core’ challenges that I didn’t get done (ghosts and dragon) I will put into the list of prompts for a 2020 Reading Challenge along with whatever else I can think of or lift from other people’s challenge lists.

I did have an author in mind for the Ultra Challenge and may try and read them next year.

Overall I think I will ditch the multi-tiered approach with different point values and go for a much simpler, single list for 2020 as while 90/100 sounds good; 120/200 doesn’t sound as good.

My Goodreads Reading Challenge target is 24 books and I’m going to pick 5 or 6 titles that I will say I definitely want to tackle in 2020. I plan to do a separate post delving more into the new challenge list and my reading aims for the year as I’ve got a couple of reading-related ideas to explore too. Good luck to everyone else out there with your reading goals for 2020!