Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

1. How many books did you read? Are you on pace with your goal?
23, on track :)

2. Which book was your favorite?
The Dumb House

3. Least favorite?
The Book of Lost Things - I didn't hate it though!

4. Who's your favorite new author?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
Reading The Little Prince for the first time, such an unusual and philosophical children's book!

6. What was your favorite challenge in this group if you participated in any in the first quarter?
I'm doing the I-Spy and Every Year challenges and really enjoying them :) I attempted the Past Group Reads challenge but failed miserably! Managed 2 out of 4!

Lol I had no idea, just thought Kara decided to post it.

Emily wrote:.....

This thread started in 2014, so those are proba..."

I'm glad you did! I've been following the responses for a few days. It's nice to revisit something old. Keep it going folks!

Taylor R wrote: "Emily wrote:.....

This thread started in 2014, so those are proba..."

I'm glad you did! I've been following the responses for a few days. It's nice to revisit something old. Keep it going folks!"

That's very true :) It's interesting to see what people thought and make a little summary of the year so far!

1. How many books did you read? Are you on pace with your goal?
Read 22 - 10 ahead of schedule

2. Which book was your favourite?


3. Least favourite?


4. Who's your favorite new author?
Veronica Roth


5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
That two of my three 5 star books are set in space.

6. What was your favorite challenge in this group if you participated in any in the first quarter?
February Mini Challenge - Extra Day, Extra Reading

1. How many books did you read? Are you on pace with your goal?
16 read in the first quarter, which is on pace for my goal.

2. Which book was your favorite?
Top 3: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai, and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

3. Least favorite?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig and The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

4. Who's your favorite new author?
Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven) or Daphne Du Maurier (Rebecca)

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery- while it took me awhile to get into this book, it turned into a lovely book that really got you to think about certain passages and characters.

6. What was your favorite challenge in this group if you participated in any in the first quarter?
No quarterly challenges, but working on some yearly ones.

1. How many books did you read? Are you on pace with your goal?
I'm doing the PopSugar challenge, and the GoodReads Around the Year Challenge (not part of this group). By the end of March, I had read 30 out of the 94 books needed for the year. I had figured out that I needed to read an average of 8 items per month to finish within the year, so 30 by the end of March put me about 6 books ahead.

2. Which book was your favorite?
It's hard to pick just one. The top three that come to mind are Rebecca, All the Bright Places and The Rosie Project. All for the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ ATY challenge.

As a whole, my PopSugar books so far have been a little on the disappointing side overall. Of those, the best was probably Always Watching, or Purple, Green and Yellow but that was a re-read.

3. Least favorite?
The Five Times I Met Myself from the PopSugar list.

4. Who's your favorite new author?
Kristin Hannah and Jennifer Niven, from the ATY side and Chevy Stevens from PopSugar.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
Not too many surprises yet. I've mostly enjoyed the books/prompts that I was expecting to, and didn't enjoy the ones that I didn't think I'd like. I guess the biggest surprise was the ending of Where They Found Her. It completely caught me off guard, just as I thought the book was starting to get predictable. That was also part of the GoodReads challenge, for the prompt "A book with one of the five W's in the title"

6. What was your favorite challenge in this group if you participated in any in the first quarter?
I joined this group a bit late, so I missed out on the January challenges and most of the February ones. Looking back on it, I think the Time Gone By challenge for February looks really interesting. I also find the Every Year challenge very interesting, and would love to try it in the future.

Quarter 1 - in Review - as at 1 April 2016


1. How many books did you read? Are you on pace with your goal?
24 books read, so I am just one book behind to met my goal of reading 100 books. I need to read more from my Popsugar Challenge though (only read 4 out of the 41 I set as my goal), and a little behind in my pages read goal of 40,000 (7,676 pages)

2. Which book was your favorite?
3 five star reads for me this quarter with my favourite being Bloodfever.

3. Least favorite?
I was really disappointed with Billy's Bones. Was hoping for so much more from this one.

4. Who's your favorite new author?
It has to be Karen Marie Moning!! So excited to have discovered her Fever series. And I have borrowed from the library Beyond the Highland Mist, the first book in her Highlander series.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
I am so glad that I am trying out different books this year. I wasn't sure how I would go reading from other genres, but it is working out well so far.

6. What was your favorite challenge in this group if you participated in any in the first quarter?
I didn't participate in any other challenges this quarter. But I may look at some upcoming ones for Quarter 2, if they also fit in with my Popsugar Challenge books, as I really need to make some progress there!

1. How many books did you read? Are you on pace with your goal? I read 40 books as of April 10th. I actually exceeded the goal I set for this group - though I mostly didn't count the short stories - and am 4 books ahead of the 125 I set as a crazy, pie in the sky goal I set for the GR challenge.

2. Which book was your favorite? This is a tie between Vicious and The Nightingale. Both were superb books in their own way and blew away any expectations I had before sitting down with them.

3. Least favorite? Unpopular opinion time but the show was better: Pines. I tried so hard to like it, but something about the writing was hard for me to get into.

4. Who's your favorite new author? V. E. Schwab

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!) The biggest book surprise for me was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I thought I would despise it because I actually really liked Jane Austen's book, but like a dirty little literary secret, it was kind of fun.

I was also really surprised with myself and how much I read. I only finished 8 books all of last year! It's so great to be back to reading.

6. What was your favorite challenge in this group if you participated in any in the first quarter? I have to pick only one? Really? Goodness, I guess I really liked the Every Year challenge or Recommended by Reading Challengers.

Oh, I love stuff like this.

1. How many books did you read? Are you on pace with your goal?
I read 37 of 144 in 2016 Q1. Judging by page count, I'm on track for my goal of 20,000 pages, behind for my personal stretch goal of 30,000. (But only 2600 pages behind! I could catch up!)

2. Which book was your favorite?
For new-to-me, Silently and Very Fast was a sweet surprise. Counting rereads, Annihilation for fiction and The Hollow Men for poetry. I haven't encountered any really superb short stories yet.

3. Least favorite?
Oh, golly. If I have to pick just one, it was The Castle of Crossed Destinies, which I choked down for a group read.

4. Who's your favorite new author?
Catherynne M. Valente

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
That 2016 has been such a crummy year for reading so far when 2015 was so incredibly good? Maybe I'm just a grouch, but with a few sparkling exceptions, it feels like everything I pick up is meh and more meh so far.

6. What was your favorite challenge in this group if you participated in any in the first quarter?
The boxed sets challenge was fun. I'd like to do that one as an annual challenge sometime, I think.

My first time checking in, but I've been enjoying reading others' updates, so I thought I should contribute! ;o)

1. How many books did you read? Are you on pace with your goal?
I've read 4 of 30, I am wwaaayyy behind. But I had a crazy beginning of the year, and read some really long books, so I've been picking up the pace considerably this month. I think I can get back on track.

2. Which book was your favorite?
The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir. Just loved it! I had never read anything of hers before, and I'm so glad I finally got a chance to. It was intellectual and made me think a lot about philosophy and ideas, while also engaging me in the characters.

3. Least favorite?
The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles. So long and had a hard time getting into it at all, took me forever to finish it. And I didn't find that I was really engaged in his characters at all.

4. Who's your favorite new author?
Simone de Beauvoir. I've been wanting to read her for years, and now that I have I just want to read more. Both her fiction and her non-fiction.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
Things Fall Apart - I was surprised at how much it grew on me and how much I felt for the main character by the end, since he started out as kind of a jerk. Really great book.

6. What was your favorite challenge in this group if you participated in any in the first quarter?
I haven't really participated in any yet, I've been mostly reading for my IRL book club, but in theory I love the Randomizer challenge. I love the decision being made for me! ;o)

1. How many books did you read? Are you on pace with your goal?
18. NO. Im so behind but whatever. Still enjoying myself

2. Which book was your favorite?
hmmm tough choice. I'd go with American Gods because I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did and it leaves a special place in my heart because of that.

3. Least favorite?
Highland Jade

4. Who's your favorite new author?
No one as of yet.

5. What was the biggest surprise for you? (Open to interpretation!)
That compilations of short-stories takes me longer to read than a book of the same length. My brain is still like how???

6. What was your favorite challenge in this group if you participated in any in the first quarter?
N/A