March 2017 Reading Wrap Up

Image from whytoread.com

This month wasn't quite as successful as February was for me, but I did finish reading everything I had planned. Here's the final breakdown: 

1. Germinal by Émile Zola (4/5 stars)

• Back to the Classics: A classic in translation
• Classics Club: #32 on my list
• Popsugar Challenge: A book by an author from a country you have never visited
• Mount TBR: previously owned

2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (3/5 stars)

• Back to the Classics: A classic with a number in the title
• Classics Club: #6 on my list
• Popsugar Challenge: A novel set during wartime 
• Mount TBR: previously owned

3. Letters from the Looney Bin by Thatcher C. Nalley (1/5 stars)

• Popsugar Challenge: A book of letters
• Mount TBR: previously owned

4. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (4/5 stars)

• Popsugar Challenge: The first book in a series you haven't read before
• Mount TBR: previously owned

5. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (3/5 stars)

• Popsugar Challenge: A book with pictures
• Mount TBR: previously owned

6. Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs (2/5 stars)

• Mount TBR: previously owned 

I read two very memorable classics this month - the socially conscious Germinal and the post-modern classic Catch 22, both of which I enjoyed. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the first book in the Miss Peregrine series. I really like the world that Ransom Riggs created in those novels and I'm glad my challenges pushed me to finally read them.

My least favorite read of the month was the disastrous Letters from the Looney Bin, an independently published novel that ended up being very sloppy. Unless I stumble across something truly awful, this will most likely be my worst read of the year. At least I got it out of the way early!

My current challenge status is:

• Classics Club: 6/100 (on track to end 12/31/21)
• Back to the Classics:  6/12
• Popsugar 2017: 24/40
• TBR 2017: 19/60

Heading into April, the plan is to keep pushing forward on my challenges, especially my Popsugar challenge. I want to finish the original 40 categories as soon as possible so I can unlock the bonus categories. One of them is to read a book that is more than 800 pages. I'm reading War and Peace for my Back to the Classics challenge this year, and I need that category to be available once I pick it up later on.