Summarising 2013, looking forward to 2014

Well, as my 2013 Reading Challenges Update shows, I had a pretty good reading year in 2013, even though I didn't reach all my reading challenge targets.

The reading challenges do help to give my reading choices some structure although I don't allow them to restrict me.
I ended up reading 137 books, just a little less than in 2012 when I read 140, and certainly less than the 150 I aimed for. 

I read fewer books on my Kindle than I had thought I would, less translated books and fewer Nordic/Scandinavian books.

During the year I ran a Crime Fiction Alphabet challenge, a monthly carnival for the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, another year of the Global Reading Challenge, a Pick of the Month meme, and a New-to-me authors meme.

There are a couple of things I have let slide, like collecting people's top reads for 2013, but I ahve found I've had to prioritise a bit.

My challenge results:

• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge  - ongoing - 12/12 this year - completed for 2013
• 2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: aiming for 150 
  actually read: 137
• 2013 e-book challenge : 29
• Nordic Challenge 2013  9
• 2013 Aussie Author Challenge  42/20 - completed
• 2013 Global Reading Challenge  21/21 - completed
• Canadian Book Challenge 2012-2013- 8/13 - not completed
• Canadian Book Challenge 2013-2014 - 1/13
• Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge   8/8 - - completed
• 2013 Historical Fiction Challenge at Historical Tapestry  7 - finished
• British Books Challenge  51 - completed
• Australian Women Writers Challenge   21/10 - Completed

 Personal reading challenges

• American authors:  15/20
• translated,  13 - last year 27
• New Zealand,  2/4
• new to me: currently 59 -  48
• not crime fiction:  9

I've decided that my challenges for 2014 will not be very different.

I am managing the following challenges:

• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge/ Blog Carnival 
• USA Fiction Challenge: State by State in 2014 
• Global Reading Challenge for 2014

And I'll continue to collect

• Pick of the Month
• new-to-me crime fiction authors (quarterly)

The State of Things - halfway through the reading year

Now is the time to assess how I am coping with the various reading challenges I set myself at the beginning of the year.

Well, the truth is that some are progressing well, some are finished, and others barely started. Overall I'm happy, but not sure I am going to reach an overall target of 150. 140 is probably more realistic.

Here's the summary. The full story can be viewed in the Reading Challenges Update for 2013.

The confession

• I haven't used my Kindle much this year, hence the low count in e-books.
  I've been borrowing quite a bit from the library as well as reading a number of review copies provided by authors and publishers. 
• I've had a bit of a focus on Australian and British authors.
• I need to think a bit more about the Global Reading Challenge (particularly South America, Africa, Asia and New Zealand)
• I've neglected American and New Zealand crime fiction. It is not that I don't have the books, just that I need to read them. Ditto for translated crime fiction.
• I'm doing really well on new-to-me authors.
• I didn't complete the Canadian Reading Challenge for 2012-13 (1 July to 30 June), but I'm off to a flying start for 2013-2014

My achievements so far

• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge  - ongoing - 5/12 this year
• 2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: aiming for 150 
  currently: 72
• 2013 e-book challenge currently: 12
• Nordic Challenge 2013 currently 6
• 2013 Aussie Author Challenge currently: 25/20 - completed
• 2013 Global Reading Challenge currently 14/21
• Canadian Book Challenge 2012-2013- 8/13 - did not complete
• Canadian Book Challenge 2013-2014 - 1/13
• Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge  currently 5/16 
• 2013 Historical Fiction Challenge at Historical Tapestry currently 7
• British Books Challenge currently 29 - completed
• Australian Women Writers Challenge  currently 12/10 - Completed

 Personal reading challenges

• American authors: currently 4/20
• translated, currently 5 - last year 27
• New Zealand, currently 0/4
• new to me: currently 37 - last year 48
• not crime fiction: currently 4

Challenges I'm joining in 2013

2013

I've basically decided to go with the challenges that I worked on last year. The challenges are mainly to give my reading some structure and some are much more challenging than others. I reserve the right to abandon  a challenge during the year, or to pick up a new one.

The list looks a bit formidable at present but it isn't really as so many of my challenges overlap, even though I restrict them almost totally to crime fiction.

The reading challenges I've joined

• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge  - ongoing - 
• 2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: aiming for 150  currently: xx
• 2013 e-book challenge 
• Nordic Challenge 2013 
• 2013 Aussie Author Challenge  
• 2013 Global Reading Challenge
• Canadian Book Challenge 2012-2013 - 3/13
• 2013 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge  
• Historical Fiction Challenge at Historical Tapestry 
• 2013 British Books Challenge
• 2013 Australian Women Writers Challenge

 Personal reading challenges

• American authors: currently x/20
• translated, currently x - last year 27
• New Zealand, currently x/4
• new to me: currently x - last year 48
• not crime fiction: currently  

My Update page will show throughout the year how I'm going in each challenge.