The year thus far

I'm not sure when the last time was that I got so little reading done. So far for the month of August I have read three books. (To be completely fair to myself I also read The Metamorphisis by Kafka and several magazines. But still!) Of course, I have also been in the midst of a crazy move into a time and money pit, put on a conference, and got my daughter happily and beautifully married.

I was already far off pace this year because of the craziness that has been my life, but August was the topper. So, where am I with my challenges? With the year almost 2/3 over, I have read 59 out of 100 books for the 100+ challenge. I have read 6/10 for the Gothic Challenge. I knew that the Mystery and Suspense Challenge would be easy, and even at my relatively slow pace this  year I've read 11/12. The Victorian Reading Challenge is proving to be the most difficult. I need to make a point to pick out a couple of books by Victorian authors to read over the next months. Right now I have read two of the five to nine I need to read for the challenge.

I have made fairly decent progress on my five year Filling in the Gaps Challenge. I have read 13 of those books. To be on pace I really need to have read 20 by the end of this year.

I like what the challenges do to my reading. They stretch me. They make me commit to variety and to reading some specific books. Here's hoping the coming months afford me some time to catch up.