Challenge Update, May 2020

What a good month for reading! Picking up my training has increased it though I’ve been getting outside for my bikes more and more with the nice weather which is a bit less listening time. I’m still happy with how this has gone. You can look at my progress at any time on my challenge page.

Books finished in May:

The Starless Sea // Erin Morgenstern (4/5)
The Bookseller // Cynthia Swanson (3/5)
Viola In Reel Life // Adriana Trigiani (3/5)
The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky // Mackenzi Lee (4/5)
White Oleander // Janet Fitch (4/5)
Wayward Son // Rainbow Rowell (4/5)
The Lola Quartet // Emily St. John Mandel (3/5)
The Great Believers // Rebecca Makkai (4/5)

I’m a bit behind on reviews but should be caught up by next week. Hopefully.

When Are You Reading? Challenge

7/12
One more which is all the progress I really need, right? I marked off the 1700-1799 time period with The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky by Mackenzi Lee. It’s such a short book that it feels a bit like cheating, but it also feels good to knock off the time period so I’ll roll with it.

Goodreads Challenge

29/55
Seven ahead. I feel like I’m dreaming, I’ve never been this far ahead of the challenge before. I’m loving the cushion. I’m not at all nervous about what happens if I start a longer book. And yes, I do really get anxiety about that.

Book of the Month

I’m wondering if it’s a recency bias, but I think The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai might be my book of the month. I loved this story about love and friendship. The 4.21 rating on Goodreads is helping me reinforce that this is a solid choice. I’ll be reviewing this next week to explain what it is I liked so much.

Added to my TBR

I’m gobsmacked that I’m down to 46! This seems almost impossible after how high this number was even a year ago. It’s been a lot of work getting it down but it feels really amazing.

• Nothing! Nothing added this month. Man, it’s shrinking fast.

Personal Challenge

I’m gearing up again to track personal goals here. This is a great way to keep me accountable and to tell you about me outside the wide world of books.

• Triathlon Age Group National Championships: Well, I’m doing the training. With the COVID19 pandemic, this is really likely to be canceled so I’m not holding my breath but I’m going to put in the work. We’ll see what happens in the coming months.
• Submit my novel: Ha, that’s funny. I’ll post again tomorrow about how the submission process has been going. I’m not optimistic that this goal will be one I feel I can really check off this year.

How are your challenges going so far? I hope you’re off to a good start. If you love historical fiction, give some thought to my challenge for this year, it’s fun!

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

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