2021 Bookish Challenges & Goals – wrap-up

Hi and welcome to FromBelgiumWithBookLove where today I’d like to wrap up my bookish challenges for this year!

The penultimate day of the year and this is where I ended up:

The GoodReads Challenge:
370/350

(I really don’t know what happened there but I like it!)

The Series Challenge:

Continue and finish the Dark Iceland Series by Ragnar Jónasson:
Snowblind
Nightblind
Blackout
Rupture
Whiteout
Winterkill

(Completed. I had a great time with this series and I’m sorry that it’s over, especially since the last book was my favourite (ain’t that just the way))

Continue and finish the Arc of a Scythe trilogy by Neal Shusterman:
Scythe
Thunderhead
The Toll

(Completed. I enjoyed it very much!)

Continue the Shardlake Series by C.J. Sansom:
Dissolution
Dark Fire
Sovereign
Revelation
Heartstone
Lamentation
Tombland

(I enjoyed this series very much and I’m looking forward to continuing it next year.)

The Stephen King Challenge: Read at least 5 Stephen King novels: 10/5
The Shining
The Colorado Kid
Los Ojos del Dragón (The Eyes of the Dragon)
Later
Joyland
A Good Marriage
Gwendy’s Button Box
Billy Summers
Salem’s Lot
It

(Completed. I really enjoyed this challenge and as there are quite a few Stephen King novels I still want to read, I will be continuing this challenge next year.)

The Agatha Christie Challenge: Read at least 5 Agatha Christie novels: 7/5
Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple 1)
The Thirteen Problems (Miss Marple 2)
The Body in the Library (Miss Marple 3)
Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot 17)
Crooked House
Endless Night
4:50 From Paddington (Miss Marple 7)

(Completed. I had fun with this challenge, although I do sometimes think Ms Christie is a little overrated. I found I really enjoy listening to these books though, so this is another challenge I want to carry over into the new year.)

The Spanish Challenge: Read at least 10 Spanish books: 12/10
República luminosa, Andrés Barba
Chicas Muertas, Selva Almada
Los Ojos del Dragón (The Eyes of the Dragon), Stephen King
Pelea de Gallos, María Fernanda Ampuero
Tuya, Claudia Piñeiro
El Huésped (The Host), Stephenie Meyer
Te Dejé Ir (I Let You Go), Clare Mackintosh
Los Patitos Feos También Besan (Jemima J.), Jane Green
Salem’s Lot, Stephen King
Los peligros de fumar en la cama, Mariana Enríquez
Betibú, Claudia Piñeiro
El buen hijo, You-Jeong Jeong

(Completed. I’m thrilled that I managed to read 12 books in Spanish, especially because some of these are rather chunky and I do read a lot slower in Spanish so this feels like quite the accomplishment.)

The Non-Fiction Challenge: Read the 3 non-fiction books on my physical TBR and at least 1 from my digital TBR: 4/3 – 9/1
Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, James Hibberd
The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck, Sarah Knight
Chicas Muertas, Selva Almada
I 💜 Happy Cats, Anneleen Bru
The Wahls Protocol
Road to Tara: The Life of Margaret Mitchell, Anne Edwards
The Devil You Know, Gwen Adshead & Eileen Horne
100 Ways to Understand Your Cat, Roger Tabor
Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of ’70s and ’80s Horror Fiction, Grady Hendrix
Insecten – Het geflipte leven van zespotigen en andere vreemde beesten, Peter Berx & Lieven Scheire
Hell’s Angels, Hunter S. Thompson
Fifty Words for Snow, Nancy Campbell

(This challenge took on a life of its own. I never saw myself as a reader of non-fiction but I guess this proves me wrong.)

The Classics Challenge: Read at least 4 classics / modern classics, including a Jane Austen and a Shakespeare: 18/4
My Cousin Rachel, Daphne du Maurier
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Macbeth, William Shakespeare
Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
Psycho, Robert Bloch
The Beauty and the Beast, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve
This Perfect Day, Ira Levin
Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
The House on the Strand, Daphne du Maurier
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Hell’s Angels, Hunter S. Thompson
Dracula, Bram Stoker
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

(Completed and then some. I’m so happy I set myself this challenge, I discovered so many wonderful books I might have discarded had I not had this challenge in mind.)

The FairyLoot Challenge: Read at least 10 FairyLoot novels, at least 4 of which from 2019-2020: 11/10 – 4/4
Viper, Bex Hogan
These Violent Delights, Chloe Gong
A Vow So Bold and Deadly, Brigid Kemmerer
Lore, Alexandra Bracken
Eight Will Fall, Sarah Harian
The Prison Healer, Lynette Noni
Fire With Fire, Destiny Soria
Blood & Honey, Shelby Mahurin
Gods & Monsters, Shelby Mahurin
Namesake, Adrienne Young
Defy the Night, Brigid Kemmerer

(Completed. This challenge was definitely the hardest. While I do love fantasy, it’s never my go-to genre and I really have to be in the mood for it. It also doesn’t help that most of these are rather big and therefore rather daunting. But I did it! I’m still on the fence about keeping my FairyLoot subscription. This was the hardest challenge, the boxes just don’t make me as happy as they used to, and the prices have gone up as well, first for shipping, now the boxes themselves. For now, I’m keeping it and just skipping some boxes I don’t feel especially drawn to, since buying one without a subscription is nigh on impossible and I’m clearly not read to pull the plug entirely 😄)

Well, if I’ve proven one thing to myself, it’s that I get a lot more accomplished when I set myself a clear challenge and keep record of it. Thanks for joining me today and happy reading!