Reading Challenges Update 2011

I joined quite a number of reading challenges this year (16)and worried about whether I had taken on too many.
I hoped the challenges would achieve a number of things:

• push me to read beyond my usual boundaries
• help me reduce the number of books waiting on TBR which had grown by the beginning of this year to alpine proportions
• by joining participating communities, I would learn of new books and titles that I should hunt down.

I kept a running record of my progress on Reading Challenges Update 2011
You can see from the general summary below that I completed all the challenges at the original levels that I signed up on. I'm feeling very happy with my achievements.

• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge 13/12 - target for 2011 achieved 
• Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: aiming for 142+  currently 160 - got there! Nov 12
• Historical Fiction Challenge 10/10 - Completed
• British Books Challenge 12/12 - completed at Royal Family Level.
  Now attempting to earn a Crown (50 books) - completed
  
• e-book challenge 67/100 - completed at 20, now aiming for 100
• Nordic Challenge 2011 15/11 to 20 - completed
• Aussie Author Challenge 16/12- completed
• Ireland Reading Challenge 4/4 - Completed 
• Cruisin' thru Cozies Reading Challenge 23/13+ - Completed
• 2011 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge 10/9 - Completed
• 2011 Global Reading Challenge 21/21- - Completed
• Canadian Book Challenge 2010-2011 7/7 - Completed
• Canadian Book Challenge 2011-2012 7/13 - on target!
• translated, currently 23
• New Zealand  4 - Completed
• new to me: currently 60

I did allow challenges to overlap, i.e. I could count a book for more than one challenge, although I did restrict myself to crime fiction titles. I did treat audio books as books read.
See what I've read.

Some of the challenges such as "translated" and "new to me" were personal challenges to exceed a level from the previous year.

I do think the challenges achieved what I wanted them to do, with the exception of reducing my TBR.
They did also reveal a lot about my reading choices.
For example, I was surprised that nearly one third of my reading was British crime fiction, but on reflection a number of those were audio books. I much prefer British narrators. I also have a fondness for British police procedurals.

I have decided that in 2012 I need to target more American crime fiction - those titles don't appear very often in my reading choices, more Australian, more New Zealand, and much more from my TBR both paper and e-book.

I may just focus on setting myself targets in 2012 rather than joining challenges. I haven't really decided.
Although I will be hosting the 2012 Global Reading Challenge and also the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge.