I'll start with a few that I really didn't do so well with.
First up: the Battle of the Prizes Challenge. I'm really upset that I didn't do better with this challenge. I enjoyed the 2009 edition quite a lot, and thought I'd just breeze through this one. The challenge was hosted by Rose City Reader and ran from February to December - so I had plenty of time to get the reading done. Of the four books I signed up for I only managed two, and only reviewed one. See my list here.
This is my one complete failure of the year (in the realm of reading challenges, anyway). For the Memorable Memoir Reading Challenge, hosted by The Betty and Boo Chronicles, I was supposed to read at least four books. And I ended up reading exactly none. That's none. Zero, zip, ziltch. I actually started reading Just Kids by Patti Smith, but never got past the first few pages (but I've still got it on my list, for this year). Shame on me. Anyway, you can take a look at my list of possible choices here.
The Support Your Local Library Challenge was originally hosted by J Kaye of the (now departed) J Kaye's Book Blog, and continued by new host Home Girl's Book Blog. I signed up for a minimum of twenty-five library books, and actually read only eighteen. However, I don't feel quite so bad about not completing this challenge, because I did read a lot more library books than I would have without the challenge. So from my point of view, I was at least partly successful. See the list of books I read here.And now a few challenges I was a little more successful with:
The Series Challenge Season IV was hosted by Kathrin of Secret Dream World of a Bookaholic. I read three of the four books the challenge called for. Not perfect, but not too bad. I had fun and my TBR stack got reduced a bit. So I'm thinking that was a pretty positive challenge experience. See my reading list here.
The Themed Reading Challenge was hosted by Caribousmom, and it was another challenge that I did pretty good with. Read four out of the five books I signed up for. Unfortunately, I didn't get them all reviewed. That's one of the things I'm gonna try to do better with in 2011. But even so, it was one of my favorite challenges of the year. My theme was "women of a certain age," and you can see my list of books read here.
The 2010 Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge, hosted by Book Chick City, was one challenge that I did very well with - with the reading, anyway (reviewing, not so much). I've always read a lot of mysteries and thrillers anyway, so this one was perfect for me. The challenge guidelines called for twelve books and I read seventeen. I've already signed up for the 2011 challenge, and my list of books read in 2010 is here.
Another one of my favorites, the Typically British Reading Challenge was also hosted by Book Chick City, one of many great challenges she hosts (don't know how she does it). I signed up to read eight books by British authors, and actually read eight books! Surprise! Well, not really - I've always been an Anglophile when it comes to reading material. You can take a look at the list of books I read here.
And finally (last, but definitely NOT least): the 2010 ARC Reading Challenge. I loved this challenge. And I really, really needed this challenge. It was hosted by Teddy Rose of So Many Precious Books, So Little Time, and it's being repeated in 2011 (I've already signed up). This challenge helped me get eighteen of my ARCs read (I had signed up for at least twelve), and I even got most of them reviewed. Still have way too many to read, though. But you can see my list of the books I read here.
OK, I think that's it for 2010. And even though I didn't do as well as I would have liked in 2010, I still think reading challenges are a valuable (and fun) way to keep myself reading. So, a big thank-you to all the challenge hosts and all the other participants for the great reviews and recommendations.
Now, on to the challenges of 2011!
