Which category have you enjoyed reading the most? And which the least?

Of the categories you selected, is there any one that stands out as being the one you enjoyed the most. And any that you've not liked reading so much or have struggled to complete?

For me, my favourite category was "Authors that are new to me" mainly because I just picked things that sounded interesting and fancied reading. It turned out that I enjoyed all of the books here and found several authors who I want to read more by. It was also the first category I completed.

My least favourite category may have been my Book Club reads. I've still only read five in this category (I'm in two book clubs so should still complete it) but there have been a couple in this category that I've really struggled to complete.

I've also not particularly enjoyed my Prize Winners category as I couldn't see what was so great about some of the award winning books.

My favorite category has definitely been 1001 Books. I liked every book that I read for that. Second Runner up was Children's/YA. The one with some books that I really didn't like, surprisingly, was Religious. However, I did not carefully select these books and read some that I had just hanging around too long. The ones I liked, I loved. The second toughest category was Poetry. But I am kind of getting into it now. I liked books in every category. I did find that I had too many nonfiction categories and had to change around to accomodate my reading habits.

This is a fun challenge and I am hoping to finish in time. :)
--BJ

I extended my challenge, so it'll end up being a true 888 by the time I'm done with it LOL.

My favorite category was my About Language and Literature category-I've been on a kick of reading about children's lit. Surprisingly (given that), the one I've dreaded the most or avoided the most has been my Education section. Go figure.

I think my favorite category has been Gothic Classics. I've found it very rewarding to have a specific theme to pick from, as opposed to a broad category. I'll probably do a somewhat smaller challenge next year, so I can make my categories more focused and still have plenty of room for reading whatever may come my way.

I didn't really have a category I disliked. I've been neglecting my Longtime TBR category, but not because I haven't enjoyed the stuff on it. In fact, I just started For Whom the Bell Tolls and am really digging it.

First I want to say that my personal 888 challenge was for 8 books in 8 categories in 8 years. I'd never finish 64 books in one year! :)

My favorite books, surprisingly, turned out to be in the Biography category.

My least favorites, sadly, were the Early Reviewer books. Although I was delighted to receive so many over the course of this year, I only really liked three out of the six I read so far. That was disappointing.

I have decided not to force myself into reading books by category with every individual book choice, but rather to simply add books to these categories when I can. Eventually (2018?), I might finish this challenge and do the 999 challenge! :)

Most: New Authors and Group Reads. I have recently just been wandering through the library randomly finding books to read and I've discovered some great authors. Group Reads - actually these also fall under the New Author category for the most part.

Least: Everything else.

I think I'm abandoning my list, and coming up with an entirely new set of categories. I've found that actually I am quite likely NOT to read something if its on a "to do" list of any sort. Probably some form of avoidance behavior? I think SquekyChu's idea is good - add things to categories after reading them if they fit anywhere.

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add things to categories after reading them if they fit anywhere.

I think I'll add even more categories to my original list and see if I can come up with 8 lists of 8 books among the many more categories I will be creating. Who knows how long that will take? I certainly don't care! :)

Like you, brlb21, if I know I *have* to read something, for sure I'll postpone doing it. My way is stress free. :D

I'm really happy with the categories I picked. I guess my favourite must have been 1001 Books, because I completed it first. The only category that didn't work was Books for My Book Club because I was at the mercy of what happened in my book club, which included cancelled meetings and skipping some of our reads (because I'd already read the book). I picked my categories at the beginning of the year, but didn't pick the books. I like to read spontaneously and decide what to read as I go, and fit it into a category if I can. Picking books in advance sounds about as much fun as sticking a sharp pencil in my eye.

Favorite: Animal Protagonist. I was surprised I finished this category first, since it was more of an afterthought. Probably my favorite book in the bunch was The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.

Least favorite: TV/Movie Tie-Ins/Novelizations. I created this one mainly because I have so many unread Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files books. However, the books just can't compare to watching it on TV.

I don't know if I had a most/least favorite, exactly. Definitely the easiest was the reread category. I finished that one in under a month. And the hardest was the science/history category. Mostly because I picked big books for that, and one of them was A Brief History of Time, which just about blew my mind.

I suppose my favorite category was the category I didn't know I was doing until recently: reading (and re-reading) books by Beverly Cleary. I went to Oregon this summer and went on a real binge of her books before my trip I was putting them in a category of children's books, but then I realized I had almost read a whole category worth of her books. Perhaps I'll read Judy Blume next year?

#11: What a great idea! :) I love the Ramona series, but especially Beverly Cleary's autobiography, A Girl from Yamhill. Good luck with finishing her books. And good luck with Judy Blume next year, too. She's one of my favorite teen/adult writers. I love re-reading her books.

I haven't finished yet, but so far I've really enjoyed my Southern books (which was a no-brainer because I already knew I love Southern lit!). New-to-me authors have been fun to discover. I've enjoyed the Mysteries more than I thought I would, and have discovered at least one series that I want to read all of, which is fairly rare for me.

I'd say so far my least favourite is Historical Fiction, but mainly because I keep putting them off and some of the ones on that list are books I'd had hanging around on the TBR list for a long time, so they can't compare with exciting new finds.

They should take at least a year off from publishing completely so I can make a start on getting caught up! :)

I was surprised that the first category I finished was non-fiction, because the vast majority of the books I read are fiction. Maybe I am getting better at picking books that will actually interest me, or maybe it's just because I intentionally picked mostly short books!

My random science fiction/fantasy category filled up pretty fast, too. No surprise there!

The category that gave me the most trouble was historical fiction. I have some on my TBR, but for the most part they are very long (Michener and Rutherford) and I wanted to make sure I could finish the challenge so I tended to avoid doorstops for the most part. (Especially after spending half of January reading Cryptonomicon, after which I figured I needed to pick up the pace!)

Great idea for a thread!

My favourite category was Dewey Decimal Challenge books. It managed to feel both very broad and very specific at the same time--I had a vast number of books to choose from, but each one accomplished a tiny goal. This was the most rewarding category by far.

My least favourite category (and one that I got rid of partway through the year) was Adult Fiction. I had a Children's/YA fiction category, so I figured I needed an adult fiction category to go along with it. But it just felt so pointless. There was nothing interesting or noteworthy about it.

My other least favourite category was Already Started. It's not so much that I dislike it as that, for some reason, I just haven't managed to read a single book in it!

So, my goal for next year is to make categories that are specific enough to be worth having, while still being doable. A tall order....

#15 - So, my goal for next year is to make categories that are specific enough to be worth having, while still being doable. A tall order....

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I agree with your strategy, but I don't think it's such a tall order. As you said, broad yet specific . . .

Here are some suggestions for others who want to give it a try:

Books from the library
Books from my TBR pile
The oldest books from my TBR pile
Women writers
British writers (or European, African, etc), or even more broad, books by writers from other countries
20th century books
Books recommended on LT

. . . let me know if you need more ideas . . .

>16 Nickelini:: Amazingly for me, books on my TBR pile is one of the hardest for me to do. I guess there's a reason they haven't floated to the top of the pile yet...

I've enjoyed the category for recommendations by friends and family (and LT!) and also the new authors category best. I'm having the hardest time with my "First in a Series" category because I originally listed several that I've been wanting to try but they've been extremely difficult to find for some reason! (Some are, admittedly, older books but I don't think out of print...) Also, I keep putting off my non-fiction categories...LOL Big surprise.

13 - TLL, I totally agree. I was just complaining about how the library keeps getting new books! It's not my fault I keep bringing home more and more books. If only the writers would stop writing! At least until I catch up.

I remember hearing about some figure from history, it might have been Isaac Newton, but I could be way off, who was the last person to read every book published to date. Can you imagine? I couldn't even read everything my library has before they get new books, or everything on this one site!