Well, here we are. It is time for our first checkpoint of Reading Challenge 2012!

I’ve been excited to get comments and emails from different ones, sharing reading goals and I’m sure that 2012 is going to be another great year for reading.

According to my goodreads reading challenge widget, I’m ahead a little in my reading. The truth is, I’m pretty much right on track. I only had two chapters left in Beneath the Lilacs, a book I started in 2011, and so it doesn’t exactly count. I’ll be reviewing Relentless very soon. It has been a good, challenging sort of book, and I’m looking forward to sharing more about it!

While my completed book list doesn’t exactly reflect it yet, it has been a great reading month for me! I currently have no less than four books in progress and I should be finishing one this weekend. It is a book from my childhood that my parents brought over with them when they visited us at Christmas time, and I’m having fun reliving some of the happy days I spent reading as a child. Books have always been like friends to me.

Right now my reading stack is like a rainbow of categories: Semi Fiction (children’s book), Self Improvement ( a book on writing) and Spiritual Encouragement (about never giving up). I also have a history of hymns in there. This is a pretty good example of what my stack often looks like. I like reading more than one book at a time because it gives me enough variety to choose from that I’m never lacking for just the right book to fill the various moments of my life with. If one category is too light, or too heavy, there’s always something else to choose from. My mom always said I was a little crazy, but I guess that’s just the way I read.

By the way, I am sure I am not the only one here who reads more than one book at a time. If you are one of those people, tell me why you read several books at a time.

There is one thing, though, that I’m particularly excited about, and that much of February revolves around for me, and that is YLCF’s upcoming March of Books! It is probably my favorite event on Young Ladies Christian Fellowship, and the inside scoop is it is going to be one of the best this year! You can certainly expect to be hearing a lot more about that in the days ahead.

But now, it is your turn! What have you read this month?  You can leave a comment or write a post and link up below. I’m looking forward to hearing all about it!

As always, if you are reading about this for the first time, and would like to join, check out some of the guidelines here and drop me a note. It is never too late to jump in.

It is the first day of 2012. I’ve spent some quiet time thinking and praying and scribbling down thoughts and hopes for this new year, and I’ll be sharing some of those later on.

For now, I’m excited to announce the beginning of Reading Challenge 2012! This is the fifth year that we’ll be doing the challenge, and I’m looking forward to another great year of sharing the love of good books with so many of you here on the blog.

So what can you expect in the 2012 Reading Challenge? Well, I’m keeping it simple this year and instead of changing it up a lot, I’m just going to strive for more excellence and timeliness in sharing the monthly checkpoints and in sharing book reviews.

Someone had a wonderful suggestion: instead of a monstrous, repetitious post, I’ve made a special page this year for all the important information about our Reading Challenge. If you are interested in joining us this year, and want to know more about it, you can read all the important stuff about the challenge on this page.

I cannot believe how quickly 2011 sped by, and how full of unexpected interruptions it was. My original goal was to read just 12 books, but half way through the year, I decided to up that to 24 books in 2011. Well, life happened and reading didn’t happen quite as much as I hoped, but I did manage to squeeze in 18 books last year, and I feel pretty content with that.

I think that I’m going to be realistic about the upcoming year and set my personal reading goal for 2012 at 18-20 books. I already have a little list of books I want to read this year, and I’m planning on reading at least one book about writing this year. Since becoming a better writer is one of my goals for this new year I figure reading a couple books about it is a great place to start. I also have inspirational books, gardening books and a few old fashioned story books on my to-read list. I’m also hoping to read my Bible again in 2012. I can’t wait to get started!

What are your reading goals for 2012? If you think you’d like to join us in the reading challenge this year, leave me a comment  or drop me an email and let me know! Just like last year, I’m making a little list of all our participants so that we can keep in touch and encourage each other in reading well again in 2012.

Just remember that you don’t have to be a blogger to join, and you don’t have to set big goals to be a part of this challenge. It is about enriching our lives with good words, and not a competition to read the most books in a year.

Some Fun Extras
- Spread the word! If you’d like to share this reading challenge with your friends or family, feel free! You can share a link on Facebook, write something on your blog, use the graphic on the bottom of the guidelines page (copy and paste the code into the html view of your post. It should show up automatically) in your post or on your site. You can use the #ReadingChallenge2012 hash on twitter to tag your tweets about this reading challenge!

-  Keep on Track! I discovered a really neat little widget on Good Reads last year that helped me track my progress on my personal reading goal. It was a lot of fun, and I’m excited because they have one for 2012 up. If you are on goodreads, you should get one, too!

Looking forward to Reading Challenge 2012 and sharing it with you all yet again.

2012 Reading Challenge

Chantel has read 0 books toward her goal of 18 books.

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It has been a very long month for me. There’s a lot going on behind the scene and a lot on our hearts and minds. And…yes, I am behind yet again: behind on reading and behind on posting reviews. I think behind is a word that I’ve had to  use all too often in the past six months. I’m still trying to decide what exactly I need to do about it, because it is a word I’d rather not have to use for a while now.

Even though the days between November’s Reading Checkpoint and this one have felt long on one hand, they have also slipped by all too quickly, at least when it came down to trying to catch up to my goal of 24 books in 2011! Let’s just say that I am pretty sure that I won’t be reading 6 books between now and January first.

According to my reading challenge ticker over on goodreads, I’m 18% behind. I have really slowed down my pace with reading as mornings have been cooler and darker and I haven’t had as much time to read in the car before work as I did this summer. It will be interesting to see how many—if any—books I can read before Christmas! My goal is to finish up the ones I’ve started, at least!

I didn’t finish a book in November, but I read fairly steadily, even if it was very slowly!

I picked up a copy of the Love & Respect Devotional earlier this year and finally got around to reading it. It is one I’ll be reviewing, so I’ll just say that I came away with some real gems and feeling encouraged that we’re on the right track with our marriage. I’m looking forward to sharing more about it soon! (we hope?)

Since this is technically the last checkpoint before the end of the year, I just want to say thank you to those of you who have put up with my tardy posts and sometimes rather boring rambles about the books I’ve (attempted) to read this year. I’ve had a great time,and read more books than I have for a long time. I may not meet my goal, but that’s okay. I feel like it has been a good year, and I’ve read some pretty great books.

As this year draws to a close, I am already thinking ahead to Reading Challenge 2012. Anyone think they may be up for this again?

If you think you want to join me again this next year, stay tuned and spread the word. My graphic editor has died on me, but I’ll be working on a new banner and will have a post up about it hopefully before the new year!

Until then, I’m looking forward to hearing about the books you’ve read in November and a quiet, long weekend to curl up and catch up on reading my own little stack of books.

Enjoy the holidays and I hope we all have time for tea and good books in the weeks ahead!

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I decided to try to break the late streak I’ve been having lately when it comes to posting updates about the reading challenge and get one almost-on-time before the year is out.

My good reads reading challenge tracker is continuing to kindly remind me that these past few months haven’t been very full of reading by telling me that I am now a full three books behind schedule. I’m beginning to wonder when and if I’ll be able to get back on track before January (Didn’t we just start this, like, yesterday?). I guess time will tell.

Regardless of what the ticker is saying, I feel like October was actually a pretty good month for me. I finished two books—Growing Up Amish  and Getting Back Up When Life Knocks you Down. I’ll be reviewing both of these books here, hopefully later this month!

I even got a new book in the mail the other day that I’m going to start reading tomorrow morning. It is another marriage book, and I’m curious how it will compare to the last one I read, Love & War.

I know November is going to be a very busy month for all of us, and I’m not counting on any extra time to read, but I’m still trying to make the most of my few moments of reading time before work, and am already thinking about next year and how to be a little less scattered and more prepared for the season I am in for now.

I’m ready to read about your month and what you’ve been reading lately, so leave a comment or write a post and link up below! Once again, Happy Reading!

I never meant to get so far behind. It just sort of…happened.  This is what happens when I put things off even a day longer than I should; almost with out fail, life suddenly gets very interesting and time becomes incredibly scarce and I don’t get a chance to write at all. But, late is better than never. At least that is what they say, right?

August found me still getting into the swing of working full time and some extra long days, but I did finish Love & War, and reviewed it.

September was a little bit crazy, thanks to our moving into a different rental, but I did manage to read a little. I almost always have a few spare minutes when I park my car while I wait for the van at work, and have been using that time to read. It helps me feel like I am doing something profitable with my time and gives me something to do, rather than feel antsy about waiting. I read most of the book I just reviewed yesterday, It couldn’t Just Happen, in September, and it really made me wish that I could tutor homeschoolers again. I miss that job, and inspiring children with a love for learning!

October is definitely speeding by, but I am really, really close to finishing and reviewing Growing Up Amish, and am at least half way through Under the Lilacs. I don’t know that I’ll finish both of them before November, but I’m definitely going to try so that I can get back on track with my reading goal of 24 books this year. I have some other books I’m anxious to start, and am hoping that with moving out of the way, and the weather cooling down, I’ll be able to read a little more again.

So how have you done since the last checkpoint? Write your posts and link up below. I’m looking forward to getting back in touch and reading about the good books that you have read in the past few months!

If the fact that I typed July Checkpoint several times before I finally got my fingers to type the world August is any indication of how ready I am for this month and for this checkpoint, I would need to say little else. When I wrote about seeing what sort of excitement July had in store for us, I didn’t know that within days we’d both have jobs and how very crazy it really would be for us. It has been good excitement, but I’m still working on juggling my time and didn’t get a lot of reading done after all. In fact, I’m not more than half way through Love & War, despite my hopes of finishing it and posting a review like I try to do at least once a month. I am going to try very hard to make sure that it is finished in the next couple weeks.

I did, however, get two new books in the mail this month and put them in my to-read pile. They are It Couldn’t Just Happen  and Getting Back up When Life Knocks You Down. I’m looking forward to reading and reviewing them at some point—hopefully before this year and challenge are over! I don’t know how much time I’ll actually have for reading in August, either. But, I’m making the most of my few minutes here and there and sometimes reading slow isn’t so bad.

If you found time to read in July, I’m looking forward to hearing about it! You can link up below as usual.

It is July and we’re almost half way through the 2011 Reading Challenge! I’m coming out from being buried in threads and fabric to finally report to you all on how I did this past month with reading.

I really am amazed that I’ve somehow managed to keep up so far, and I am glad to report that I finished my 12th book in June, and have already started and finished one in this first week of July, bringing my total to 13 books and counting!

I finally finished reading both Jack & Jill and One Thousand Gifts. Both were good, for very different reasons.

I liked Jack & Jill because it is a typical Lousia M. Alcott story with a good moral and little tidbits to ponder along the way. I’m glad that Elisabeth told me to read it, because it really is a sweet story, even if I do think Little Women and An Old Fashioned Girl may still be my favorites, at least by a little bit.

I enjoyed the first part of One Thousand Gifts, but there are a few chapters near the end that are the ones that really got my attention. I’m still thinking about recapturing joy, and what it means to not live life with the many unimportant expectations we tend to put on it as we leave childhood and become adults, and why it is so easy to let the cares of this life keep us from what is most important.

I’m also starting out this month with only one book in progress. I usually have at least two going, so this may be a good indication that July is looking like it may not have much time for reading. I’m pretty sure I’ll be spending a large portion of my free time behind the sewing machine working on these quilts, but hopefully, somewhere in there, I’ll finish up “Love & War” by the Elderiges. I’ve heard very mixed reviews on this and other books that they’ve written, so I’m curious to see what I think of this one. I’d also love to start one of the next two books on my pile: The Waiting Place and Growing Up Amish, but we’ll see how the quilting goes and how much excitement Life has in store for us in July.

In the mean time, I’m ready to hear what you’ve been reading! Add the link to your July update and be sure to check out how everyone else is doing.

According to my little gadget on goodreads, I’ve gone from being behind to being one book ahead of my goals for this year’s reading challenge. This isn’t because I’ve necessarily read a lot more in May than I did in April, but I did finish up a couple of books this month that I’ve been working on for several months now, and that feels so good! I’ve updated my book list for the month and I have several new books that I’ve added to my “to be read” pile.

Those include Love & War by the Eldredge’s—a book that I must admit I’m a bit leery of reading and reviewing, but figure it is worth a shot, Rascal—which I have not read since I was young, and a book called Growing Up Amish, which sounded intriguing and I’m hoping is good. Add that to the two I’m still finishing up (Jack & Jill as well as One Thousand Gifts), and I think I’ll be busy for a good while yet. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even actually read my 24 books before Christmas rolls around.

However, I’m not going to hold my breath. These next few weeks may hold more unknown adventures for Scott and I and I’m not counting on a lot of peaceful reading times, just in case. If you think of it, pray for us and the decisions we have ahead.

The one thing I am not happy about this month is my bible reading. While I’ve been reading this year, but it has been one of those times where I’ve had to stop and go back and read again a lot, and that is okay. I’d like to make more progress, but I’d rather stick to getting substance than just turning pages. Still, my goal this month is to really spend extra time reading my bible. I know it’ll be good for me.

So that’s the scoop for me. How did you all do in May? Even if you didn’t read a book, I hope your days have been filled with good things, and I’d like to hear about what is happening in your life.

As usual, feel free to link up with our linky here and report on your readings and your life in May. “See” ya’ll in June for our next checkpoint!

Someone told me once that late is better than never, but being late is one thing that I really, really don’t like, especially not ten whole days late. But April ended and May 1 came and it went, and every day I meant to write about the Reading Challenge, and somehow it never quite happened. Until today, anyways, where I am crawling out of the woodwork at last to make a confession.

Last month, I read three books and this month my updated book list is telling a very sad story: unless you count the half dozen or so times I read this little book to Shayla in the past few weeks, I didn’t finish a single book in April. Not a single one!

On that same book list, you will see that I added one book to March that I’d forgotten about, and you’ll see all the books that I’m part way through. I put them under May to remind myself not to start anything new until I finish those! As it is there’s one missing from the list. I started reading Jack & Jill in the car one day on a mobile device that I no longer own. I need to find it and read it on my computer, I guess.

I’m afraid May isn’t looking so much better as far as time and reading goes, but I’ve decided to finish at least one book this month, and push for two. Of course, with all of those half or more read, I may be able to play catch up and finish more, but I’m not counting on it at this rate.

Hopefully the rest of you have fared better than I as far as reading goes this Month, and I’m looking forward to reading your updates about it.

And just a note about the link up: I’ve decided to just use the same one instead of creating a new one each month, since not everyone has time or actually does link up each month. So if you would, add the month to your title (example: Chantel – May) to keep it easy to navigate and see what is new.

But, this next month be sure to take time to enjoy springtime, even if you don’t read as many books. It only comes once a year, after all!

I’ve been a member of goodreads for a while now—probably since early 2008, and have logged in half a dozen times here and there, and never really felt overly impressed .

It seemed like just another thing to keep track of, another thing to do in this already over connected generation. I even sort of “voted against it” when it came up on YLCF, but I’m glad that my vote didn’t hold sway, because I think I’m going to have to change my mind about this one!

This past week, since ylcf has launched its own goodreads group, I’ve been browsing around a little more actively than I have for years and have been making all kinds of discoveries and enjoying the fact that some of the things I didn’t like about goodreads have been changed along the way.  It is a good thing that “changing her mind is a woman’s prerogative”, right?

There was one new discovery, though, that got me particularly excited:  it is a Reading Challenge tracker, complete with the book list and a reading meter! I’m pretty sure it’ll be a perfect way to keep an eye on how I’m doing this year and how far I have to go. I do admit to being mostly thrilled with the reading meter, but that’s beside the point. There’s also the reading stats. Mine is definitely not accurate, but it also thrills the techy part of my heart.

Some of you have already made the discovery, but if you haven’t, do stop by goodreads and check it out! And be sure to join the YLCF group, too, because Jeannie has a lot of good things planned and I’m sure you don’t want to miss out! I know I don’t.