Reading Challenge Update

Earlier this year I posted about trying a reading challenge with specific categories. I took the challenge to read fifty books with ideas ranging from "Friend Favorite" to "Written over 100 years ago" by the end of 2015 to coincide with my Goodreads challenge to simply read 50 books in a year. I'm on track with the Goodreads count (24 of the 50) but not so much on the other one. With CampNaNo coming in a couple of days, reading time will be severely limited. Then the new semester starts in September where my instructors choose most of my reading until December. As it is, I've completed only these seven categories:

• Number in the title - One of Chuck Wendig's writing guides
• Female Author - The Whole Cat and Caboodle by Sofie Ryan
• Short Stories - Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories (a cool anthology from the '80s)
• Story with Magick - Spell Booked by the Lavenes (see review on this site)
• New-to-you Author - If You've Got it Haunt It by Rose Pressey (CMM review coming soon)
• Book you can finish in a day - Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (FABULOUS BOOK)
• Recommended by a friend - Wind-Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (MUST READ for everyone)

As you may have noticed, I have several cozies on the list so far. They're quick and easy to read so they fill the list better than more serious fiction. I plan to read only two more cozies (the latest two Magical Cats mysteries by Sofie Kelly). The rest will take me out of my comfort zone to include several literary titles I should've already read and lots of things I'd never heard of or considered. Since I've completed so few I'll just continue reading until I've read them all, challenge or not. Next on my list? A book that got bad reviews - The Great Gatsby. This fact surprised me quite a bit. A literary classic on pretty much every school reading across the country got bad reviews. But then so did To Kill a Mockingbird. I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and can't wait for the sequel in July (filling the category of book published this year). It just goes to show you shouldn't always buy into the reviews (mine included) if something sounds good to you.