The Sunday Salon: Epic Fails and Great Successes

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  I thought that today's Sunday Salon would be a perfect time to look back at the challenges that I committed to in 2011.  Some were a success, others not so much, but I'm sure I'll be updating my tab soon so that you can see that I will be committing myself again.

So, here they are:

FIRST, the challenges that I FAILED (so that we can end on a positive note):


The most epic of my failures was the Murakami Challenge. I read NO Murakami this year, although I did recently purchase 1Q84, and I might sign up again next year.

I also read NOTHING for the Victorian Challenge hosted by Subtle Melodrama.

My third incomplete goes to the East and Southeast Asian Reading Challenge, for which I read one book, Banana Yoshimoto's, The Lake.  However, if Indian Literature had been included, I would have completed it I think:)

Incomplete again:  The Chunkster Challenge.  I signed up for the Chubby Chunkster, and declared 2011 the year of the chunkster for me, and then I only read one.  However, the one, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, was one of my favorites of the year.  This ended up being a year of shorter books, but this is another one I might sign up for again.


Then there is the Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much.   I am already signed up for this challenge again next year.  I really want to read more books not recently published.  I read three of the eight books for the challenge this year,  and two of those were published in the 21st century.  The third was a reread.  BOO! But, on to next year...


AND TO MY SUCCESSESS!

These are the challenges that I did complete:

http:brokeandbookish.blogspot.com

My List:

Culture:Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There'd Be Cake

Art: Jay-Z, Decoded

Medical:Schwarz and Gladding, You Are Not Your Brain

Travel:Lucy Knisley, French Milk

Memoir: Joyce Carol Oates, A Widow's Story

Science/Nature: Susan Casey, The Wave

My favorite from this challenge:

 

http://graphicnovelschallenge.blogspot.com/

My List:

1. Maira Kalman, And the Pursuit of Happiness
2. Seymour Chwast, Dante's Divine Comedy
3. Lucy Knisley, French Milk
4. Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
5. David Small, Stitches: A Memoir
6. Craig Thompson, Blankets

My favorite from this challenge:

 

But it is really hard to choose.  I loved all these books and loved reading graphic novels again.  Now I don't feel like I need a challenge to keep going.

http://gothicreadingchallenge.blogspot.com

My List:

1.Daphne DuMaurier, Rebecca

2. David Small, Stitches
3. Bret Easton Ellis, Imperial Bedrooms
4. Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
5. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

My Favorite:

http://teawithmarce.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-want-more-book-challenge-2011.html

My List:

1. Chuck Palahniuk, Survivor

2. Bret Easton Ellis, Imperial Bedrooms 

3. Banana Yoshimoto, The Lake

4. David Levithan, A Lover's Dictionary

5.J. Courtney Sullivan, Maine

My Favorites:

MAINE is on my top ten of the year, but I also totally dug The Lover's Dictionary.

So, THAT'S ALL FOLKS.  How about you?  Do you usually join challenges?  Do you finish them?