Organizing Titles: A Reader’s Dilemma

Question: Do you ignore a, an, and the when organizing your lists, or do you include them exactly as written? 

I recently ran into a situation that made me completely rethink how I organize my reading lists. For years, I’ve ignored “the” when alphabetizing book titles, but I didn’t apply that same logic to “a” or “an.” It honestly never occurred to me that I should be treating all three articles the same way—until now.

That got me wondering how other readers handle this. Do you organize your book lists alphabetically at all? And if you do, do you file titles with the article included, or do you alphabetize based on the first meaningful word that follows it?

For example, would A Court of Thorns and Roses be listed under A or C? Does The Night Circus live under T or N? 

I’d love to hear how you organize your shelves, spreadsheets, Goodreads lists, etc.!

My 2020 Challenges!

Of course I'm participating in my own challenge! 😉

This year I am partnering with the lovely ladies from Novels and Notions, and we're doing a little something called: Read the Alphabet Challenge. What? Another challenge? Yes! Why not? We all love challenging ourselves, and this one has very unique limitations. Starting in January, you will be challenged to read books that start with specific letters, and obviously some months will be harder than others (what books start with Q, X & Z??).

The months will be organized like so:

JANUARY: AB 
FEBRUARY: CD
MARCH: EF
APRIL: GH
MAY: IJ
JUNE: KL
JULY: MN
AUGUST: OP
SEPTEMBER: QR
OCTOBER: ST
NOVEMBER: UVW
DECEMBER: XYZ

Guidelines: 

1. This challenge will run from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 (your local time). You can sign up now or in June -- it doesn't matter! The form will remain open all year (on this post and the corresponding post at Novels and Notions).
2. The goal is to read books that start with a certain letter, and each month will present a new challenge. 
3. The books can be in any format (audio, ebook, physical -- whatever floats your boat). 
4. Any and all genres count -- whoop. 
5. Re-reads are also allowed! If you read the book this year -- and it starts with the right letter -- it counts. 
6. You do not have to be a book blogger to participate! You just need a way to track your progress (Goodreads, Instagram, LibraryThing, YouTube, etc.). 
7. Create a post somewhere that states your intention to participate. If you're a book blogger, you can just grab the button from the top of the page (please give credit and list the blogs hosting this challenge), and do a quick post letting everyone know that you've accepted the RTA challenge. Sharing is caring! Competition is fun! 
8. We will do an update and a giveaway every quarter (that's once every three months: March, June, September, December), and there will be a Google form that you can fill out all year! Read a book. Add a book. There is no limit to the number of books you can read for this challenge! 
9. You have to review the book in some capacity (on any platform). It can be a tweet, an IG post, a vlog -- whatever makes you happy. You'll need to leave a link for each review that you want an entry for. 
10. Have fun! Re-read some old favorites, challenge yourself to read a title you've never heard of, or dig deep and only read books with specific letters every month. It's entirely up to you! 

Books that start with the can be used during October, or you can choose to go with the next word in the book's title. We're not going to be picky about this, just play honestly!

Don't forget to SHARE your updates on social media! Official Challenge Tags: #ReadTheAlphabet2020 #ReadTheAlphabetChallenge2020 #RTA2020 #RTAC2020

Last year I challenged myself to listen to 30+ audiobooks, and I ended the year with 43! I think this year I'll shoot for Marathoner, which is 50+ (that's only 7 more than last year, and seems totally doable). If you would like to sign up for your very own 2020 Audiobook Challenge, please visit the Caffeinated Reviewer or Hot Listens. All of the following information comes from Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer.

Challenge Details: 

• Runs January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020. You can join at any time. 
• The goal is to find a new love for audios or to outdo yourself by listening to more audios in 2019 than you did in 2019. 
• Books must be in audio format (CD, MP3, etc.) 
• ANY genres count. 
• Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed. 
• You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, Facebook, LibraryThing, etc. 
• If you’re a blogger grab the button and do a quick post about the challenge to help spread the word. If you’re not a blogger you can help by posting on Facebook or Tweeting about the challenge. 
• Updates plus a giveaway will be posted twice during the year. The first update will be June 30, 2020, and the last update will take place on December 15, 2020. 

Achievement Levels: 

• Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5 
• Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10 
• Stenographer (can listen while multitasking) 10-15 
• Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20 
• Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30 
• My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30+ 
• Marathoner (Look Ma No Hands) 50+
• The 100 Club (Audiobook Elite) 100+

I will also be participating in the 2020 Discussion Challenge hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight (two blogs that I absolutely adore)! In 2019 I challenged myself to create anywhere between 11-20 discussion posts, but sadly ended the year with 5. I'm learning my limits, and while I enjoy partaking in discussion posts, I'm terrible at remembering to actually do them. I'm dialing it down this year to Discussion Dabbler, which is 1-10 and feels more manageable.

If this sounds like your cup of tea and you want to sign up, please visit Nicole or Shannon (links above).  All of the following information comes from their two blogs, so some of the terminology is a little off (because it applies to their blogs specifically, like asking questions in the comments). However, I wanted to copy everything word-for-word, so I didn't leave anything out.

Here’s All You Have to Do: 

• Create a sign-up post announcing your intention to participate and link up below. There’s no need to say what your discussion posts will be about–just tell us you’re joining and let us know your goal. (Can be in an update post or a post with other challenges–you’re not required to make a completely separate sign-up post.) 
• Please link back to both challenge hosts and include the challenge button in your sign-up posts. Feel free to also link back in your actual discussions (we appreciate it, so more people can find us!), but that's not required.
• The challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2020. Sign-ups will remain open through December 31st, 2020. So, you can basically sign up all year long (but InLinkz will not longer allow us to keep a linky up for more than a year, so we had to end it on the 12th). Come join us!
• Share it! The more people we get to participate in this, the more awesome discussions we can all be a part of and the more fun it will be! So, invite your friends to join us! 
• On the 1st of every month, a link-up will go up on both Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight where you’ll leave your links for that month’s discussions. Every month, we’ll update this 2019 Book Blog Challenge Page with the links to that month’s Challenge linky–so you’ll always know where to find the latest link-up! 
• There will also be monthly giveaways, so make sure you check in! 
• Use the hashtag #LetsDiscuss2020 to share your progress and connect with other participants on Twitter. 
• Have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments! 

What Kinds of Discussions Can You Link Up?

Discussions can be about whatever you want as long as it’s relevant to books or book blogging! We tend to be pretty lax about our “rules” for what makes a bookish discussion, but we do have some guidelines, so please check them out:

• Please don’t link up discussions about things that are completely off-topic, like travel or fashion, etc.
• Please don’t link up month-end wrap-ups (Nicole has the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up for that, and she’d love to have you join in!)—unless you have a very specific book-related discussion topic that you include in your wrap-up!
• Please don’t link up book reviews unless it’s more of a general discussion about a topic and you’re using a specific book as an example.
• Please don’t link up giveaways unless the post is mostly a discussion that just happens to have a giveaway attached (like if you were talking about the reasons you love audiobooks and you decide to do a giveaway of an audiobook at the end).
• Linking up Top Ten Tuesday posts or other meme posts are fine as long as there’s some actual discussion involved (not just a list of books). Same with tags—they’re fine, but we’d prefer if there’s some discussion involved of why you chose the books, not just a list of books that go with the tag topic.
• A post can be about you personally if it’s a get-to-know-you type post. (We love getting to know our fellow bloggers!)

Hopefully this doesn’t make us seem like the Discussion Police—we just want to try to keep the link-ups discussion-focused since there are already a lot of places to link up those other types of posts. (And remember that we always err on the side of being flexible.) 😊

The Levels:

• 1-10 – Discussion Dabbler
• 11-20 – Creative Conversationalist
• 21-30 – Chatty Kathy
• 31-40 – Terrifically Talkative
• 41+ – Gift of the Gab

I actually made my goal of 100 books last year (ended with 105!), so I think I'll challenge myself to read 110 in 2020. Beat the Backlist 2020 is hosted by Novel Knight, and she really goes above and beyond to make her challenge a one-of-a-kind experience. It's exceptional! I cannot even begin to imagine how much time and energy goes into this one every year. All of the following information is from her blog, and I'm simply posting the highlights to give you a general idea of the challenge (some of the terminology only makes sense if you're reading it on her blog). 

Guidelines: 

• The book must have been published in 2019 or earlier to count. It can be in any format (including an ARC/eARC) as long as the release date is 209 or earlier (i.e. 2020 releases are not allowed).
• You have to start and finish the book in 2020 to count it. Any books started in 2019 and finished in 2020 do not count. Any books started in 2020 and finished in 2021 also do not count.
• The challenge runs from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 (your local time)
• Everything beyond these 3 rules is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL and designed just for fun so you can put in as much or as little as you want into this challenge. 

How to Join: 

1. POST your backlist TBR for the year somewhere online! This can be in the form of a blog post, instagram photo caption, Twitter thread, Goodreads shelf, YouTube video, whatever works for you! You are NOT locked into these books or your initial goal, it’s just something to get you started! Make sure to share a link to this page somewhere in your post so others can find the challenge! 
2. SIGN UP using the form below! Sign-ups will stay open all year long so you can join at any time. 
3. READ backlist books and knock them off your TBR! 
4. SHARE your updates on social media!

Official Challenge Tags: #BeatTheBacklist #BeatTheBacklist2020 #BTB2020

Lastly, I will be participating in the 2020 Goodreads Reading Challenge. Last year my goal was 500, and I almost made it! I believe I ended the year with 472. I'm lowering my expectations in 2020, and shooting for 365. It feels more doable, and less stressful. ;)

My 2019 Challenge Wrap-Up!

I know you're all dying to know how I did on my challenges this year, so without further ado...😉

The Audiobook Challenge was hosted by Hot Listens & Caffeinated Reviewer. I challenged myself to listen to 30 or more books, which I was able to accomplish! In fact, as of today, I listened to 43 audiobooks in 2019! That's great for me, since I wasn't always a fan of format. I've discovered a lot of really great narrators, and now sometimes search for books based on who reads them (looking at you Steve West, Shane East, Andi Arndt, and Fiona Hardingham).

The 2019 Discussion Challenge was hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight. I challenged myself to create anywhere between 11-20 discussion posts, which I was not able to do this year. Instead of being a Creative Conversationalist, I was more of a Discussion Dabbler, and will be ending 2019 with 5. 

• Q [6] Do you watch book trailers?
• Q [7] Does the age of a character's love interest matter to you?
• Q [8] Do you prefer hardcovers or paperback copies?
• Q [9] Book Anxiety: Is it a thing?
• Q[10] Do you want people to point out the flaws in your reviews?

My Goodreads Reading Challenge was both a success and a failure. I really tried to push myself this year, and thought 500 books might be doable based on how many comic and children's books I read (yes, I always count those towards my goal). Alas, I still managed to read 472, and I am totally fine with that. I hate that Goodreads doesn't count it as "completed," because we should always celebrate the number of books read. 

• I read 63,092 pages across 472 books
• Shortest book (12 pages): Mr. Snail's Counting Trails by Stuart Lynch
• Longest book (699 pages): A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3) by Sarah J. Maas
• Average length: 133 pages
• My average rating for 2019: 3.8
• My first review of the year: Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield (★★☆☆☆)
• My last review of the year: Spider-Man 2099 #1 by Nick Spencer, Viktor Bogdanovic, Jose Carlos Silva (★★☆☆☆)

Beat the Backlist 2019 was the only other challenge I participated in this year, which was hosted by Novel Knight. I challenged myself to read 100 books that were published in or 2018 or earlier, and managed to read 105! There are so many books out there, and I love that this challenge encourages me to look at the books I already own, instead of focusing on everything that's being released. 

How did you do on your 2019 challenges?

My 2019 Challenges!

Hello lovelies! I've seen Kimberly mention an audiobook challenge a few times this year, and it has always piqued my interest. I listen to a lot of audiobooks, so this challenge is perfect for me! I'm shooting for My Precious -- eeep! That's thirty or more books, which I think is doable... 

If you would like to sign up for your very own 2019 Audiobook Challenge, please visit the Caffeinated Reviewer or Hot Listens. All of the following information comes from Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer.

Challenge Details:

• Runs January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019. You can join at any time.
• The goal is to find a new love for audios or to outdo yourself by listening to more audios in 2019 than you did in 2018.
• Books must be in audio format (CD, MP3, etc.)
• ANY genres count.
• Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
• You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, Facebook, LibraryThing, etc.
• If you’re a blogger grab the button and do a quick post about the challenge to help spread the word. If you’re not a blogger you can help by posting on Facebook or Tweeting about the challenge.
• Updates plus a giveaway will be posted twice during the year. The first update will be June 30, 2019, and the last update will take place on December 15, 2019.

Achievement Levels:

• Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5
• Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10
• Stenographer (can listen while multitasking) 10-15
• Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20
• Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30
• My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30+
• Marathoner (Look Ma No Hands) 50+

I will also be participating in the 2019 Discussion Challenge hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight (two blogs that I adore)! I only posted a few discussion posts this year, but they were some of my favorites! I loved seeing what everyone had to say, and discussing things as they popped into my head. I'm looking forward to even more interesting conversations this year! I'm shooting for Creative Conversationalist. 

If this sounds like your cup of tea and you want to sign up, please visit Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction or Shannon at It Starts at Midnight! All of the following information comes from their two blogs, so some of the terminology is off. However, I wanted to copy everything word-for-word, so I didn't leave anything out.

Here’s All You Have to Do: 

• Create a sign-up post announcing your intention to participate and link up below. There’s no need to say what your discussion posts will be about–just tell us you’re joining and let us know your goal. (Can be in an update post or a post with other challenges–you’re not required to make a completely separate sign-up post.)
• Please link back to both challenge hosts and include the challenge button in your sign-up posts.
• The challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2019. Sign-ups will remain open through December 31st, 2019. (So, you can sign up all year long! Come join us!)
• Share it! The more people we get to participate in this, the more awesome discussions we can all be a part of and the more fun it will be! So, invite your friends to join us!
• Discussions can be about whatever you want as long as it’s relevant to books or book blogging (no discussions about things that are completely off-topic like travel or fashion, etc). They can also be about you personally if it’s a get-to-know-you type post.
• On the 1st of every month, a link-up will go up on both Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight where you’ll leave your links for that month’s discussions. Every month, we’ll update this 2019 Book Blog Challenge Page with the links to that month’s Challenge linky–so you’ll always know where to find the latest link-up!
• There will also be monthly giveaways, so make sure you check in!
• Every month, we’ll feature our favorite posts from one challenge participant. There will be extra options in the Rafflecopter for commenting on posts by our featured blogger.
• Use the hashtag #LetsDiscuss2019 to share your progress and connect with other participants on Twitter.
• Have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments!

The Levels:

• 1-10 – Discussion Dabbler
• 11-20 – Creative Conversationalist
• 21-30 – Chatty Kathy
• 31-40 – Terrifically Talkative
• 41+ – Gift of the Gab

This is one of the challenges I did participate in this year (check out my progress here)! I challenged myself to read 100 books from my backlist, and as of right now I've read 62. I'm actually really happy with my progress, and even found a few new favorites! Despite wanting to kick myself for waiting so long to read them, I know it's okay! Books can still be enjoyable years after their release date.

Even though there's no way I'm going to make my goal this year, I still want to challenge myself to read 100 books in 2019. I can totally do this! At the moment, I'm not participating in the Hogwarts House Mini Challenge (even though that sounds amazing and fun), because I don't think I'll be able to give it the time that is deserves. There's a lot of additional posting that goes along with that, and right now I'm lucky if I can drink my coffee without reheating it six or seven times.

If you would like additional information about this challenge, or you just want to sign up, visit Novel Knight! She's very detailed and thorough with her explanations, which I love! All of the following information is from her blog, but I'm just posting the highlights to give you an idea.

Guidelines: 

• The book must have been published in 2018 or earlier to count. It can be in any format (including an ARC/eARC) as long as the release date is earlier than 2019.
• You have to start and finish the book in 2019 to count it. Any books started in 2018 and finished in 2019 do not count. Any books started in 2019 and finish in 2020 also do not count. 
• The challenge runs from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 (your local time) 
• Please keep in mind that while this reading challenge has several different community elements to it, reading through your TBR comes down to you! I wish you the best of luck!

How to Join:

• POST your backlist TBR for the year somewhere online! This can be in the form of a blog post, instagram photo caption, Twitter thread, Goodreads shelf, YouTube video, whatever works for you! You are NOT locked into these books, it’s just something to get you started! Make sure to share a link to this page somewhere in your post so others can find the challenge! 
• SIGN UP using the form below! Sign-ups will stay open all year long so you can join at any time. 
• READ backlist books and knock them off your TBR! 
• SHARE your updates on social media!

Official Challenge Tags: #BeatTheBacklist #BeatTheBacklist2019

Lastly, I will be participating in the Goodreads Challenge again in 2019. I destroyed my goal this year of 250 books, so I was thinking I'd double it and shoot for 500! Why not?

Are you planning on participating in any challenges next year? Do you think they help you achieve your reading goals? Let me know!