Closing out the 2017 Reading Challenge

I'm not going to lie...I really stopped tracking my reading challenge.  Turns out I'm still resistant to being told what to read!  I did read end up reading something like 70 books during the year, they just didn't all fall into neat little categories as suggested here.  But here's what DID apply (and now that I'm actually writing it out, I hit most of the categories!). 

The 26-book 2017 reading challenge

1. A book you read in school - Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
2. A book from your childhood - On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. A book published over 100 years ago - Dracula, by Bram Stoker
4. A book published in the last year - The Magnolia Story, by Chip and Joanna Gaines
5. A non-fiction book - In Cheap We Trust, by Lauren Weber
6. A book written by a male author - Stranger than Fanfiction, by Chris Colfer
7. A book written by a female author - The Sage Stone Prophecy, by NS Wikarski
8. A book by someone who isn’t a writer (think Paul Kalathani or Richard Branson) - Scrappy Little Nobody, by Anna Kendrick (and I think this is a strange choice, because, if you've written a book, doesn't that automatically make you a writer???)
9. A book that became/is becoming a film - Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly
10. A book published in the 20th Century - On the Way Home, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
11. A book set in your hometown/region -
12. A book with someone’s name in the title - Caroline: Little House, Revisited, by Sarah Miller
13. A book with a number in the title - One for the Money, by Stephanie Plum
14. A book with a character with your first name -
15. A book someone else recommended to you -
16. A book with over 500 pages - Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon
17. A book you can finish in a day - Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
18. A previously banned book -
19. A book with a one-word title - Ghosted, by J.M. Darhower
    
20. A book translated from another language - A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman
    
21. A book that will improve a specific area of your life - 10% Happier, by Dan Harris
22. A memoir or journal - Talking as Fast as I Can, by Lauren Graham
23. A book written by someone younger than you -
24. A book set somewhere you’ll be visiting this year - Black Hills, by Dan Simmons
25. An award-winning book -
26. A self-published book - 

So, I'm not going to do another reading challenge this year.  I will, however, continue to track my books on Goodreads.  I'm also going to give myself permission to not finish books I'm really not enjoying.  Case in point - Fire and Fury.  I was able to get it from the library within a few days of its release date.  Read a couple of chapters, and decided I didn't want to give the subject that much of my time and attention.  So, I returned it.  Someone else will enjoy it far more than I would, I'm sure...

Happy reading in 2018!