2016 Book Challenges Wrap-Up

If 2015 was busy, 2016 feels like it was even more so. Which is odd considering I had less official responsibilities outside of my regular job. But inside my regular job, I took on quite a bit because we were short 90 staff hours for about 5 months. And then someone amazing came along in October that brought reading almost to nil. If it weren't for those Picture Book reading binges to prep for storytimes and the joy of audio (especially now that I have a smartphone and could listen to them while mowing the yard, etc. besides just in the small car trips or my few hours off desk), very little would be read.

As a reminder, here was our points system for the S-n-H Challenge:

1. Each book must be at least 100 pages to count. (Under 100 equals .5 points.)
2. The first book in a category is worth 10 points. The rest are worth 5.
3. Any book you own is worth 25 points.
4. Any books on your goodreads "to-read" list previous to 2015 is worth 25 points.

For 2016 we altered the 2015 challenge to be a bit more doable, and picked categories that might have a bit more appeal with a few that would still be a challenge. 34 categories. That seemed much better than the previous 51. And it was the age I was turning, so I liked that. Because of that certain amazing man I met in October, who I ended up becoming engaged to in December, my reading not only dropped down significantly, but I was sure I was down in some categories. So it is to my great amazement that I not only completed all 34 categories, but actually completed a few of them twice!

I will admit that I moved a couple around to earn as many points as I could. ;-) But otherwise, here are my results. Please forgive me that even though I followed the instructions on how to save an Excel sheet as a JPEG, it is uploading with a black background. What in heavens?!? Also, I noticed after I had gone through all that trouble that I counted a book in 2 categories! Oops!!! So...Yeah. I'm, like, 10 points difference? 20? Letting it go.

AND don't forget my random A to Z Scrabble Challenge--because it intrigues me! This year I didn't care about who I was reading or the points. Just intrigued to see what I read. Scoring goes as follows:

 1 point: A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T, U
 2 points: D, G
 3 points: B, C, M, P
 4 points: F, H, V, W, Y
 5 points: K
 8 points: J, X
 10 points: Q, Z

(Bonus point for each of "my" letters--H and T.)

Picture Books

 Set 1 (1st 10 categories)

Set 2 (2nd 10 categories)

 Set 3 (3rd 10 categories)

Set 4 (last 4 categories)

 Extra books in established categories

Totals

 Books under 100 pages

COMPARISON TIME!

2013 Total Books: 287
2014 Total Books: 299.5
2015 Total Books: 182
2016 Total Books: 172 (3/4 of that being picture books)

2013 Total Pages: 29,584
2014 Total Pages: 24,656
2015 Total Pages: 15,766
2016 Total Pages: 12,749

2013 Points: 1152.6
2014 Points: 1429.9
2015 Points: 1043.2
2016 Points: 968.3

For A to Z:
2012 Titles: 246
2013 Titles: 223
2014 Titles: 79
2015 Titles: 51
2016 Titles: 41

2012 Title Letters not read: Q, X, Y, Z
2013 Title Letters not read: G, J, K, N, Q, X, Y, Z
2014 Title Letters not read: K, Q, U, V, X, Z
2015 Title Letters not read: J, K, N, U, V, X, Y, Z
2016 Title Letters not read: E, J, K, Q, V, X, Z

2012 Highest Scoring Title letter: H (30 points)
2013 Highest Scoring Title letter: H (35 points)
2014 Highest Scoring Title letter: B (27 points)
2015 Highest Scoring Title letter: W (24 points)
2016 Highest Scoring Title letter: tie for F and W (12 points)

2012 Authors: 210
2013 Authors: 254 (whoa! Go me!!)
2014 Authors: 64
2015 Authors: 39
2016 Authors: 36

2012 Author Letters not read: N, Q, U, X, Z
2013 Author Letters not read: E, I, Q, U, X, Y
2014 Author Letters not read: I, N, Q, R, U, X, Y, Z
2015 Author Letters not read: G, I, K, L, O, Q, R, X, Y
2016 Author Letters not read: A, J, N, O, Q, U, X, Y, Z

2012 Highest Scoring Author letter: W (28 points)
2013 Highest Scoring Author letter: Tie! B and H (30 points)
2014 Highest Scoring Author letter: H (35 points)
2015 Highest Scoring Author letter: J (16 points)
2016 Highest Scoring Author letter: H (25 points)

2012 Grand Total: 456

2013 Grand Total: 477 (wow. higher even with reading less.)

2014 Grand Total: 346

2015 Grand Total: 233
2016 Grand Total: 188

The numbers tell it all. I may have actually tied with last year if the last 3 months of 2016 hadn't been filled with someone amazing--who may distract me from some reading in 2017 due to planning a wedding.