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And Then She Kissed Him

~ Regency romance redrawn with Author Cora Lee

And Then She Kissed Him

Tag Archives: Cora’s TBR Challenge

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

29 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by Cora Lee in Books, TBR Challenge

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Cora's TBR Challenge

We’re one month into a new year, fellow readers! Has your 2021 TBR Challenge started with a bang or a whimper?

Mine is somewhere in between, lol. I have a research book going that I started last year and a textbook for a class I’m taking, both of which are being read bits at a time. I started a Tudor-era romance early on in the month, but put it down to go do something else and just never wanted to pick it back up again. In all fairness, I don’t think there was anything wrong with the book–I just didn’t have any focus or concentration–but I DNF’d it and took it off my Goodreads Currently Reading shelf so it didn’t feel like something left on my To Do list. Maybe I’ll give it another try in a few months. Maybe it will go in the donate bin and I’ll try a comfort read instead 🙂

I’m interested to see how the rest of the year goes with respect to my reading time, though. I’ve finally landed a new day job so I’ll be back to working full time again soon, and I’ve got at least one book to write this year. I also need to relocate for the new job, and have promised to stay on as Treasurer of Regency Fiction Writers for one more year, so I won’t have a ton of free time. I suppose I’ll be putting my vacation time to good use 😉

Cora’s 2021 TBR Challenge

04 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by Cora Lee in Books, TBR Challenge

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Cora's TBR Challenge

We’re a few days in to 2021 and I’m in the process of getting organized in writing, reading, and around the house. I started a modified bullet journal last year, but it didn’t work out so well–too much work. This year I’m going back to a regular monthly planner so I can keep all my To Do lists and calendars and appointments in one place. Seems like I get all the organization of a bullet journal that way, with none of the extra set up 😉

One thing I did manage to get organized was I my TBR Challenge conditions for this year:

1. How many books from your TBR pile will you read?  I’ve decided on an overall goal of 30 books for my Goodreads challenge, and 20 of those must be from my TBR list. It doesn’t seem like a lot–especially when I was regularly reading over 50 books a year a few years ago–but it’s more than I read in 2019, and I struggled to meet this same goal in 2020 so I figured I’d give it a try again. Plus I always have the option to change it later if I feel like I need to.

3. How will you hold yourself accountable? Like years past, I’ll post here once a month to share my progress and see how you all are doing. I found that creating a Goodreads shelf and the dedicated page on this website to be enormously helpful, too, so I’ll do both again. I’m a very visual person and being able to see the collection of books that I’ve read gives me a nice sense of accomplishment, which makes me want to read more TBR books when I’m able.

4. What about adding more books to the pile? Like previous years, I’m going to keep track of how many books I purchase with another Goodreads shelf. I’ve found it really helpful to have an exact number readily available that I can compare to how many books I’ve read. By the end of the year, I’d like to have read more books than I bought (though that hasn’t been the case…ever!).

So that’s my set up for this year. What plans do you all have? Anybody feeling really ambitious? Cautiously optimistic? Reading to comfort yourself through hard times? Let me know!

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

31 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by Cora Lee in Books, TBR Challenge

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Cora's TBR Challenge

We have reached the final day of 2020, fellow readers. How did you fair in your TBR Challenge?

I fell short, reading just 12 TBR books this year out of the 20 I’d set as my goal. I fell short of my overall Goodreads goal, too, reading 22 books out of the 30 I’d pledged. And I acquired 65 new books, so my TBR pile had a net gain.

But you know what? That’s okay.

This year was bad in a lot of ways and when my energy ran dry, reading was one of the first things I put aside. Fiction helps me cope with real life, and has pretty much since I learned to read. But this year I got my fiction fix more often from my TV, which requires less energy. It was easier to lay down on the couch or stretch out on my bed and grab the remote than to decide which book to read and keep myself (and my dwindling attention span) engaged in it.

In this year of abject misery, easy is what I needed. So that’s what I did 🙂

And I got through it. We got through it. Hopefully 2021 will bring peace and energy and lots of reading time, but if it doesn’t, we’ll get through that too ❤

courtesy of Jbuatti via Wikimedia Commons

TBR Challenge Check-In

30 Monday Mar 2020

Posted by Cora Lee in Books, TBR Challenge

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Cora's TBR Challenge

We’re a quarter of the way through 2020, fellow readers. Are you a quarter of the way through your TBR challenge?

Weirdly enough, I am 🙂  Books have become a refuge for me again, helping me thing about something other than all the things I have to worry about. And it’s been a lot of fun reading historicals set in different places and time periods again! Regencies make up the bulk of my TBR books, but I’ve also been visiting Civil War-era America and a steampunk version of China during the Qing Dynasty. We’ve got a historical romance book club in The Regency Salon, too, which checked another book off the TBR list for me. I bet that won’t be the last one, either 😉

I’ve just gotten started writing a new novella–more on that soon!–so we’ll see if I can keep up the reading pace while I work on that. I usually can’t, but I’m going to try not to stress about it if my reading slows down for a bit. There are too many other things going on in the world right now; worrying about how many books I’ve read shouldn’t be one of them.

Stay safe, everyone! And thank you to all the people working to keep us healthy, fed, and functioning ❤

courtesy of Jbuatti via Wikimedia Commons

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

07 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by Cora Lee in Books, TBR Challenge

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Alyssa Cole, An Extraordinary Union, Cora's TBR Challenge, Darcy Burke, To Love a Thief

Happy August, fellow readers! Are you getting in a lot of summer reading?

I’m still woefully behind, as has become usual for me 🙂  And I had an e-reader mishap, in the bargain–somehow An Extraordinary Union got reset back to the first page, and I have no idea where I was! I suppose I’m going to have to start that one over, but the first half was so good I don’t think I mind too much.

I’ve also begun reading Darcy Burke’s novella To Love a Thief, which has been languishing in my TBR for nearly 7 years! So progress is being made, and my working/writing schedule has become less frantic for a bit so I’m confident that this progress will continue, at least for a while 🙂

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

28 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by Cora Lee in Books, TBR Challenge

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Alyssa Cole, Cora's TBR Challenge, Richard Armitage, The Year Without A Summer

We’ve hit the end of February, fellow readers. How is your TBR Challenge going?

I, predictably, am a little behind. And just when it looked like I was going to get caught up, Mr. Migraine became a regular visitor when our weather got weird. And now I’m trying to get the books I’m judging for the RITAs this year finished in time. So I’ll likely be behind for a little bit longer.

But I have three books to go back to once my RITA reads are completed. I started listening to The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, read by Richard Armitage. It’s a short book, but I keep getting distracted by the narrator, lol, so I need to try again with a better attention span. I also started reading The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History, which has been interesting so far. I’m about halfway through Alyssa Cole’s An Extraordinary Union, too, and I can’t wait to get back to it!

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

31 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by Cora Lee in Books, TBR Challenge

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Cora's TBR Challenge

It’s the last day of 2018, fellow readers! Did you meet your TBR Challenge goal?

I didn’t even come close this year. Goodreads says I only read 14 books from my TBR pile out of the 36 I’d hoped to read, and only 19 books overall. I feel bad about that–I love books and reading, and this is the lowest total I’ve had since I started keeping track. But I know exactly what happened. I didn’t read enough during the first half of the year, and the second half was very stressful: writing deadlines, my own health issues, expensive car repairs, and Max’s trips to the vet wore me out. When he was diagnosed with lymphoma a few weeks ago, that did me in. I was/am just too tired to read.

I also purchased 52 books this year, so not only did I not get my TBR pile down much, but I added a considerable amount to it! I have been periodically culling the herd, so to speak, by deleting books from my ereader that I know I’ll never read and boxing up paper books for donation to my local library. That makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something, at least–even if I’m not reading those books, I’m getting them off my list  🙂

Happy New Year to all of you! I’ll be back later in the week with a new TBR goal for 2019.

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

30 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by Cora Lee in Books, TBR Challenge

≈ 8 Comments

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Cora's TBR Challenge, The Duke of Darkness

We’ve made it through two-thirds of the year already! Are you two-thirds of the way to your TBR Challenge goal?

I am one-third of the way to may goal, lol–behind again this year. This month writing deadlines are mostly to blame: I’ve got more work than I’d like to admit left on The Duke of Darkness, and a Christmas novella due tomorrow (yikes!). Things have also been picking up at the Day Job, and I’ve had a few gifts to crochet for weddings and babies on rather short notice. I’ve gotten a lot done, but very little of it has been reading.

I’m not terribly optimistic about my reading time for September or October, though I’m hoping not to fall too far behind. It looks like I’m going to be sprinting to the finish again this year, reading the bulk of my TBR Challenge books in the last two months!

Photo credit: ginnerobot via Flickr

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

27 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by Cora Lee in Books, TBR Challenge

≈ 7 Comments

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Cora's TBR Challenge

Month seven is coming to a close–how is your TBR Challenge going?

I have finally made some progress on mine, though I still have a long way to go. I’m up to 7 “old” (acquired before August 1, 2017) books read and 4 “new” (acquired in the past 2 months) books read for a total of 11. That gives me 25 left to go!

I’m not liking the decision to read half of my TBR books within two months of acquisition, though. Rather than reminding me to read books sooner and not let them languish on my e-reader or in a bin, it’s kind of stressing me out. Reading books is supposed to be fun, and the within-two-months stipulation made it feel more like a chore. So I’m ditching that part of my challenge 🙂  I’m sticking to my original goal of 36 books from my TBR pile, but for the rest of the year any book acquired before 2018 will count. And I’ll get to the books I bought this year as fast as I can!

Cora’s TBR Challenge Check-In

30 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by Cora Lee in Books, TBR Challenge

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Anne Edwards, Cora's TBR Challenge, Max, Radu Florescu, Vanessa Riley

Happy Spring, fellow readers! We’re one third of the way through the year. Are you one third of the way through your TBR Challenge?

Goodreads tells me I’m 6 books behind, but given my slow start this year, and the time I spent reading books for the RITAs (which I didn’t count toward my goal), I’d say that’s not too bad. Plus, I’ve got three books going right now: Dracula, Prince of Many Faces (research), Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor (audiobook), and The Bargain: A Port Elizabeth Regency Tale (fun). Finishing those three relatively soon will get me closer to being back on track. The meteorologists are all forecasting beautiful weather for most of this week, too. So perhaps I’ll be able to sit outside with a book when I get home from the day job and enjoy the sun 🙂

A small aside: we celebrated Max’s “birthday” this week, otherwise known as Gotchya Day or The Day He Came Home From The Rescue. He got a couple of new toys and snacks, and lots of attention at the day job (he comes to work with me every day). He was also bouncing around as if he’s not a 10-year-old German Shepherd with severe arthritis, so I’m guessing he had a good time!

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