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Challenge progress report

I am doing quite well so far in the reading challenges for this year.

I have finished 3 Top Mystery Challenge books, which puts me right on schedule.
I have finished 4 out of the 6 books in the What’s in a Name challenge and have the remaining two lined up and am already reading one of them.
In the Read-a-myth challenge and Gothic Reading challenge I have not yet read any books, but I am reading my first Gothic book and have the two mythology books lined up.

It is the TBR challenge I am proudest of. Two weekends ago I met the goal of my TBR reading challenge for 2011: to get the number of TBR books in my stack below 850. This was cause for celebration, because I don't think I have ever finished a reading challenge so quickly.

I only did this partially by reading. I have finished 11 TBR books this year, which alone would not have been enough to reach the desired goal. However, the rules were that the reduction of the TBR list could be done by reading or by culling. What I did was to review the list, removing from it any books I had forgotten to remove in the past couple of years after I had read them, culling a few books, and removing some reference books that I know I will never read from cover to cover. This brought the number down from 865 to 848.

However, last week I received a package of 4 books I ordered from The Book Depository in January. I also paid a visit to the charity shop where I get most of my books from, to discover that someone had donated a number of books by Michael Innes and Patricia Wentworth, two authors whose books I enjoy reading, plus there were a couple of my wishlisted book available as well. This was too good an opportunity to miss, so out came the wallet.

Consequently, the TBR count rose again to 860 when I added these books to the list, so I again have something to work towards. However, 10 books is not a lot, and to put a check on my book buying I have decided to reset the goal to 840 books, which will give me something to work towards but still give me some leeway for book buying should I find books from my wishlist for sale cheaply.
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