The Rest of the Wrap-Ups: 2013 Reading Challenges

2013 Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge

Hosted by Amy @ The Crafty Book Nerd (now A Bookish Girl)

I read 13 books for the 2013 Mystery/Crime Challenge, but didn't manage to review them all.  Here's my list (with links to reviews):

1. Cat on the Scent. Rita Mae Brown
2. The Lost Symbol. Dan Brown
3. Cold Remains. Sally Spedding
4. Guilt. Jonathan Kellerman
5. Fer-de-Lance. Rex Stout 
6. A Fearful Madness. Julius Falconer
7. Inferno. Dan Brown
8. Death By a HoneyBee. Abigail Keam
9. A Fatal Likeness. Lyn Shepherd 
10. The Book of Secrets. Elizabeth Joy Arnold
11. Night Film. Marisha Pessl 
12. Double Indemnity. James M. Cain
13. Evil Under the Sun. Agatha Christie

2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

Hosted by The Book Vixen

For the 2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge, I signed up at the "Out of Breath" level, and aimed to read 6-10 more books than I read in 2012.  As it turned out, I didn't quite make that goal.  But I read a total of 39 books, which was four more than I read last year; so I'm considering this a pretty successful challenge.  I won't list all the books here, but I've got a list over on my challenge blog if you want to take a look at the titles.

Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge 2013: Scattergories

Hosted by Bev @ My Readers Block

OK, I completely wiped out with this challenge.  I just never really got going with this one; never even got my "scattergories" figured out - so I'm admitting total defeat.  Sometimes these things happen.  I do apologize to Bev who did a great job of hosting.  I've already signed up for her 2014 Vintage Mystery Bingo Challenge, and I promise to try and do a better job with that one.  (Seriously!)

What's in a Name 6

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Here's what I read for the What's in a Name 6 Reading Challenge (with links to reviews):

• Category #1 (a book with up or down or equivalent in title):
  Evil Under the Sun. Agatha Christie
• Category #2 (a book with something you'd find in your kitchen in the title):
  Death By a HoneyBee. Abigail Keam
• Category #3 (a book with a party or celebration in the title):
  The Shooting Party. Isabel Colegate
• Category #4 (a book with fire or equivalent in the title):
  The Heat of the Sun. David Rain (See Review)
• Category #5 (a book with an emotion in the title):
  The Happy Hollisters. Jerry West (See Review)
• Category #6 (a book with lost or found in the title):
  The Lost Symbol. Dan Brown (See Review)

This has always been one of my favorite challenges, and I'm really sorry I didn't get more reviews written.  But I did read a book for each category, so for me it was a total success.  Especially since it helped me discover one of my new favorite writers, Isabel Colegate.

Well .... I think that's about it for my 2013 challenges.  All the hosts deserve a huge thank-you for doing such great work.  These challenges (even the ones I fail at completely) do keep me reading - my books-per-year count has definitely gone up since I've been joining them.  So I'll keep on signing up.  Which reminds me - I still have a few more sign-up posts to write!

Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge 2013: Scattergories

Hosted by: Bev @ My Reader's Block
Dates: 1 January - 31 December, 2013
See the challenge announcement / sign-up page

The goal here is to read mystery/suspense novels published before 1960.  Bev has come up with a list of 30 categories, and participants will read a minimum of 8 books (or 4 books in the mini-challenge) which fall into 8 different categories.  Read all the guidelines and see the list of categories on the challenge announcement page, HERE.

I debated about this one for a while, since it's a little more structured than the challenges I usually attempt -- I really do better when I don't have too many rules to follow.  But after thinking it over a bit, I realized there was no way I could pass up this challenge.  I love vintage mysteries, and there are hundreds of them on my TBR list.  However, I'm going to hold off on choosing categories until I can do a survey of the vintage whodunits I've already got on my shelves -- might as well read the books I've already got. Right?  Except for that freebie "Get Out of Jail" category -- I'm pretty sure I'll be using that one.

During the year I'll be tracking my progress on my challenge blog HERE.