How did you do in your 888 Challenge? Tell us!

AS 2008 is drawing to a close, I was wondering how everyone did in their 888 Challenge. Please share your thoughts with us.

1. Did you complete it? Did you overlap or not? What percentage did you complete of your total goal? If you did not complete it, why not?

2. Are you doing the 999 Challenge for 2009? If not, why not?

3. Do you have any new categories in your 999 Challenge? What are they?

4. Which categories did NOT work for you in your 888 Challenge? Why not?

5. Have you found other LTers who share your passion for a particular category since the 888 Challenge began? Which category? Who are your fellow LTers who also share your passion for that particular category?

Good luck to everyone in the 999 Challenge ... and have fun!

I just barely finished without overlaps. I am doing the 999 challenge. I added a category for humor and tried to have more general categories. See you in 2009.
--BJ

Haha, I did terribly. I'd say I read less than half of what I intended to read, probably because I was overly ambitious about the number of huge, serious books I could really digest in a year. As sad as that sounds. I got into a number of YA series books this year, so I had no problem completing that category. I found that the categories and reading lists immediately felt restrictive & no matter how I changed them, I just couldn't stop rebelling against them. But that's my own issue.

I am not sure if I will do the 999 Challenge. I've been toying with it & reflecting on the lessons learned from the 888 Challenge to see if I can make it work, but I think fundamentally I just cannot read from a list, even if its a list of categories. We'll see though.

I finished. Luckily I had an extra category, and the two I was having trouble with could be combined. Since then I'm at rather loose ends since I want to save several books I just got for 999. I think I've added two new categories with the idea that I can combine again if need be, but with a whole year, I don't anticipate any problems. (I started 888 in July.)

Oh yes, the classics category is already mostly filled with Jane Austin books sitting waiting to be read.

I like reading from categories. I read enough that I have no problem adding books that don't fit, and I think this helps balance my reading so that I do read some serious stuff between the light ones, and not all of that in the same direction.

I'm not overlapping so will continue through 2009 with filling in the blanks. I have 11 more books to go (out of 64). (See note at the bottom of this post)

My hangup was that I chose LT Early Reviewer books and thought that was a problem because I won so few. I just realized that my category can include those other people won - if I have a copy of the books - which I do!

I'm raring to go with the 999 Challenge and plan on working both the 888 and 999 list at the same time but with different books.

I have some new categories for 999. I have Bookcrossing books - which are practically all of my books that are not library books, CDs, or books borrowed from friends - so that category will be easy. I am going to try Books by LT Authors. I also made a special category for Books of Jewish Interest. I added Books On My TBR List for More Than One Year because I just have to whittle that list down a bit. I added Books Translated Into English for fun, but may later have to change that into books about other cultures. I also added LibraryBooks or CDs because that's a great catch-all category with many books.

I had to get rid of Short Stories or Essays in the 888 Challenge because I didn't read as many of those books as I expected.

I found a great group of LTers who will be working with me on my Books of Jewish Interest in our 999 Challenge to the point of sharing some of our books. Thanks, biblioholic13! What fun!! Other LTers, such as break and avatiakh, will also be working with me on that category.

Edited 12/28/08:
I spent some time overlapping my books today so that I can start afresh with the 2009 Challenge without having to still "tend" my 888 Challenge. At least all of my books had been started before the end of 2008.

I changed my LT Early Reviewers category to LT Early Reviewers or LT Authors today as well! :)

Here are the results for my 888 Challenge.

Well, I did terrible. I think I only completed 20 books on my list although I did read about 60 books this year. Unfortunately, most of the books that I did read didn't fit any of my categories. I do intend to do the 999 Challenge but I have only listed categories this year and have not pre-designated books in those categories. Hopefully, that will make it a bit easier to complete the challenge.

I did great, finishing right on schedule in mid-December. This year I read 90+ books, and I counted 57 of them toward the 888.

1. I overlapped 7 books. In my opinion, overlaps are a sign of efficient planning and are highly desirable. But then I don't do these challenges with a goal of reading x-number of books in a year.

2. Yep, I'm in for 999, though I plan to crank up the number of overlaps in order to complete it. Based on what I've read in previous years, I know I'll read at least 81 books, so reaching that goal isn't relevant to me.

3. New categories: Women Writers, Non-fiction, Prize Winners.

4. The category that was a failure was Books for My Book Club, because it depended on other people and I couldn't control it. I scrapped it during the year and replaced it with something I could control (Plays).

The 999 Challenge looks like a big hit. Interesting to see how everyone will do.

Well, I'm going for the photo finish: 63 books down, no overlaps, 45% of the way through book #64. With a little focus, I may be popping the Champagne (or a lambic, the Belgian version) early on New Year's Eve!

1. I can confidently say I either will complete it or come really close. Either way, I consider it a successful go at the challenge.

2. Yes, definitely. About two months ago, I started thinking about what categories I wanted to use for 2009, so it took me very little thought to sign up for the 999 challenge.

3. They're almost exclusively new, though some of them are wrinkles on previous categories. I split up my Spanish-language category into two categories: one devoted strictly to Argentine fiction and another to authors from the rest of Latin America. I did a category of Gothic classics for the 888, but for the 999 it's going to be modern gothics along with weird fiction, which it kind of overlaps with. The closest to a repeated category is that Horror and Horror-like fiction became Straight Horror.

4. I wouldn't say any didn't work, though some were certainly more challenging than others. I had a Longtime TBR category to read some books that were sitting in my library for ages. Then I ended up having to put most of my books in storage, so they were no longer staring at me from the library. Long Books seemed like a neat challenge, but I ended up sort of resenting it, since lots of books in other categories ended up being pretty long anyhow. (This is partially my fault since I was stubborn about not using overlaps.) There was also one category I had designated as a sort of general speculative fiction catch-all (horror, sci-fi, fantasy) which I ended up making a mostly horror category, since I read more horror than SF/F.

5. I don't know about passion for any of my categories. wandering_star did seem to like that I was considering an all-Thuggee category for 2009. (Pared down to mostly Thuggee for the 999.) eario and I shared some thoughts on Latin American writers. billijean and I exchanged some comments on Stephen King and Thomas Tryon.

I set myself an additional goal of finishing by 8-8-08 and I was able to get that one done. I did change my categories a little - from science to science and history, so I could include some books I discovered that I really wanted to read.

The one thing I want to do better on in the 999 challenge is seeing who else is reading the same books as I am. I want to keep a closer eye on what others are saying about their books. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage that yet.

--> 9

I want to keep a closer eye on what others are saying about their books. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage that yet.

Take a look at post #3 of this thread. That's how I'm going to try to manage this issue.

I also want to wish you a hearty congratulations on getting so many people interested in participating in the 999 Challenge. Good job!

Thanks! And I like your idea. I'll have to sort through some posts and come up with my own list.

#9- The one thing I want to do better on in the 999 challenge is seeing who else is reading the same books as I am. I want to keep a closer eye on what others are saying about their books. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage that yet.
------------
Easy-schmeezy. Go to the LT page for the book and click on "conversations" along the left-side of the page. You will get links to every mention of the book on an LT thread.

Oh, thanks, Nickelini! I knew there had to be a way!

Congratulations to all of you who completed the Challenge!

1. I didn't really complete the challenge. I read 63 books in 2008, and fiddling with my categories enabled me to come up with 7 categories of 8 (plus an extra book) and 1 category of 6 (which could be 9 if I count books of the Bible). However, one of the 7 categories was just a catch-all for the extra books I read in the other 6 filled categories.

The reason I didn't complete the challenge was simply that I read what I wanted to, whether or not they fit into my categories.

I didn't overlap. It did occur to me that if I kept fiddling I might be able to find 8 categories of 8 by using overlaps, but in the end it didn't seem worth the time when there's a new challenge for the new year.

2. Yes, I'm definitely doing the 999 Challenge. Despite my lack of success, the 888 was great fun and I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts.

3. My 999 categories are mostly very general at this point, so that (if I want to) I can later make them more specific without having to totally reorganize. A totally new category is "4 & 5 Star Books" -- intended as an overlap category, since it's highly unlikely that I'll read 81 books this year.

4. Most of my original 888 categories didn't work. With all the sci-fi / time travel books (11), Margaret Maron books (13), and old children's books (17), I just never got to Contemporary Children's Books, Native American or Shakespeare. I think it's better for me not to make the categories too specific until I see what direction my reading takes me.

A whole category of non-fiction wasn't realistic for me. I'm actually proud of myself for completing 6 books of non-fiction, two of which I may not have read/finished if it hadn't been for the challenge. Any non-fiction I read in 2009 will be incorporated into other categories.

5. My biggest passions of the moment are old (pre-1950) children's books and 21st century fiction. LOTS of people share my passion for contemporary literature, but I have yet to find anyone who's reading the old children's books.

See you all at the 999!

I read 55 out of 64 (one of them is an overlap, so I really read 54 out of 63) for 85.94%.

I read 94 books this year, it's just that lots of them weren't challenge books. I seriously fell down on Classics and 1001 Books. Oh well, at least I had a great reading year.

I had lots of fun, read books I wouldn't have read otherwise, and am all pumped up for the 999 challenge. We'll see if I learned enough from the 888 challenge to make the 999 challenge successful.

The absolutely worst category for me was one that, in hindsight, was probably doomed to failure - Books Started but Never Finished - it turns out there was a reason I never finished them. Every one I tried to pick up again I put down. I changed it out. Now all I have to do is get rid of those books started but never finished.

OK, finally posting my end-of-challenge post:
1. Did you complete it? Did you overlap or not? What percentage did you complete of your total goal? If you did not complete it, why not?

I added too much for this challenge. I completely covered 6 categories with no overlap. Three more categories had 7 books completed in them.

2. Are you doing the 999 Challenge for 2009? If not, why not?
Yuppers

So, in short, I think I did pretty well, though I didn't focus my reading, which isn't a bad thing. I started dating again in August, which seriously put a dent in my reading, but worse things can happen in life. Let's see how 999 goes!

Unfortunately, I did not finish. Too many things happened in 2008 that infringed on my reading time. (That, and I had a habit of picking up the first book in a series and would then go on to reading more in that series even if they weren't on my list.)

I am trying the 999 and hoping for the best. My categories are different - based on how my reading interests are at this point. Still trying to fill in the blanks.

The absolutely worst category for me was one that, in hindsight, was probably doomed to failure - Books Started but Never Finished - it turns out there was a reason I never finished them.

Yes! I also had an Already-Started category, in which I read a grand total of zero books. I don't think I'll try that one again....

My challenge was sort of a failure, but I'm still pretty satisfied.
Without crossovers, I read:
8/8 Children's/YA Fantasy
8/8 Children's/YA Fiction
7/8 Dewey Decimal Challenge
7/8 Historical Fiction
6/8 Just Because
3/5 Ancient World
1/8 Math/Science
0/8 Already Started

With crossovers, I could also finish Ancient World and Just Because. So that's 4/8 categories....

I really should have finished the final books in the Dewey Decimal and Historical Fiction categories, but I let myself read whatever I wanted for most of December and just ran out of time in the end--I finished the Historical Fiction book yesterday. Oh well. I still enjoyed seeing how my reading was structured, and I'm definitely planning to try the 999.

I finished mine! I gave myself a lot of license to edit which books were in my categories, but I didn't allow myself any overlaps.

Congratulations, anatomist!

I crossed over a little into January but still finished in just under a year of days by making my last book an easy short one so as to finish without using my possible overlap book.

I feel pretty good about this challenge because I read a lot more nonfiction than usual and my range of reading was the greatest it has probably been since finishing college (decades ago!). Since that was in fact my main goal I'm pretty well satisfied and am definitely going to start the 999 this weekend.

Also, after a quick look, if I use the 'extra credit' fiction categories then I read about twice as many long books as short ones and a number of fiction books that I might not have attempted in previous years. The habit of picking up the same old thing had gotten quite ingrained and now I have a more open mind about what I might enjoy. In fact some of my favorites this year were by authors I had never read or hadn't read in a long time.

My 999 categories will be very similar to my 888 ones with the addition of a 'doesn't fit anywhere else' one.

1. Did you complete it? Did you overlap or not? What percentage did you complete of your total goal? If you did not complete it, why not?

I did complete it, without using overlaps, although many of my books could have counted in two or more categories. I only started the challenge in July but counted the few books I'd read earlier in the year in the challenge to make it easier.

2. Are you doing the 999 Challenge for 2009? If not, why not?

Yes, I am because I enjoyed the 888 so much.

3. Do you have any new categories in your 999 Challenge? What are they?

I have changed many of my categories. Because I started late last year, I did make it easy on myself and fitted the categories around what I'd already read, but I've put more thought into my 999 challenge and I expect it will be more of a challenge. My new categories are:

Around the World - read 9 books each from a different country. I realised that I mainly read things set in the UK or USA and wanted to change that.

Dystopia - something I've always been vaguely interested in and after enjoying Never Let Me Go I changed one of my categories to this.

Retro, 1960s, Beats and Counterculture - I write for a retro website and am fascinated in particular by the 1960s without actually having read much outside of magazines and websits about it. This will be a mixture of fiction and non-fiction.

Themed Title - Animals. I wanted something quite random and realised that I already had a few books I wanted to read that had animals in their title.

Completed Works of T C Boyle - I've enjoyed two of his books and he has the right number of books remaining for me to complete a category, but this is the category I'm least certain about.

I'm keeping 1001 Books to Read Before You Die, Authors New to Me and Non-Fiction. Crime & Detectives is also staying in, but modified so that I read books set in different countries rather than just reading a series by one author.

4. Which categories did NOT work for you in your 888 Challenge? Why not?

In the end they were all good, but I certainly found it harder to complete the Prize Winners category and the Book Club was too dependent on others.

5. Have you found other LTers who share your passion for a particular category since the 888 Challenge began? Which category? Who are your fellow LTers who also share your passion for that particular category?

I didn't for the 888 challenge as I joined late but for the 999 challenge I've picked out a few that I'm following and hope that I will be more interactive this year.

1. Like others who've posted here already, while I read more than enough books, I didn't manage to read the right books in the proper categories. I finished with 43 books read out of the 64 (4 were overlaps), although I actually read 80 books in 2008. Sigh. The main reason is that I'm a children's/YA librarian so the majority of what I read is in that range, although only 2 categories I had addressed it.

2. I'm planning to do 999 in 2009.

3. I haven't decided my categories yet, but I'll probably keep Canadian Authors, Books I Own, and Graphic Novels. The other 6 will be new.

4. The only 2 categories that didn't work for me were Nonfiction and Classic Literature, which are two categories that I wanted to read more of. Well, so much for that. ;)

5. No, but that's probably because I didn't most much (as witnessed here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/26934). I just updated my lists and didn't provide any feedback. Hopefully I'll be a little more committed in 2009!

I didn't complete mine but I read several more books than just 64 (or 56), so I feel like it was a success! I liked that the categories helped me to broaden my reading so much, however I sucked at choosing categories. LOL I changed several titles, too, and had a few overlaps.

I'm doing another 888 list in '09 because I don't see the point in adding one more category to do 999 for myself. I don't *limit* myself to the books on my list anyhow. It's just a guide.

One thing I noticed is that I gravitate towards certain genres out of pleasure and some sense of comfort, too. So, it was difficult to put aside my mystery/crime/thriller novels because I felt like I needed to read a classic or a biography. BUT it was good for me! I'm going to try to do 4 categories that really stretch me and 4 comfy categories that I'll try not to zip through too quickly. lol

I have a Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic category, a New York Times Bestsellers category and one for books Based On... or Inspired By... (history, true events, another work of fiction, life of someone, etc.)