I did it you guys. I completed the 2015 POPSUGAR 50-book challenge in less than 24 books.

When I started this challenge back in February I didn’t think I’d ever actually get them all. But once I realized I could do it, I had to do it. Here’s what I read in 2015:

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler
A non-fiction book

Walden by Henry David Thoreau
A book more than a 100 years old

Twlight by Stephanie Meyers
A book that became a movie
A book with nonhuman characters
A book by a female author
A book at the bottom of your TBR list
A book with bad reviews
A book with a love triangle
A book set in high school
A book with magic
A book by an author you’ve never read before
A book with a one word title

Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon
A memoir

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
A book your mom loves

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
A book from your childhood
A book that made you cry
A book with a number in the title

Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore
A book a friend recommended
A book you can finish in a day
A graphic novel

The Martian by Andy Weir
A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to go

The Wizard of Seattle by Kay Hooper
A book that takes place in your hometown
A book by an author who had your same initials
A classic romance (I don’t know what they mean by ‘classic romance’, but this was a romance novel and I was never going to read Pride & Prejudice)

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
A book with a color in the title

Little Murders by Jules Feiffer
A play

All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen
A book based entirely on its cover
A funny book

Divergent by Veronica Roth
A book written by someone under 30
A popular author’s first book

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
A book set in the future

Allegiant by Veronica Roth
A Trilogy

Postsecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God by Frank Warren
A book with antonyms in the title

Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs
A book published this year
A book based on or turned into a tv show
A mystery or thriller

Beloved by Toni Morrison
A Pulitzer Prize winning novel
A banned book

Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman
A book published the year you were born

On the Road by Jack Kerouac
A book based on a true story
A book that scares you
A book you were supposed to read in school and didn’t
A book you own but never read
A book you started but never finished

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
A book set in a different country
A book that was originally written in another language
A book set during Christmas

The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl
A book with short stories
A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet
A book with more than 500 pages

For those keeping track, I completed my challenge in only 22 books, however I kept my goal of at least 24 books for the year with a couple of the books I read during BookTubeAThon that didn’t fit into any of the POPSUGAR challenges.

I really loved doing this challenge, but I am definitely not doing the 2016 version. As much fun as it was, there’s a whole list of books I’m dying to read that don’t happen to fit into these categories, and my TBR list is getting too long for my tastes. I’d also like to focus more on books that I actually own, since I’m trying to slowly reduce the size of my personal library.

If you’re interested, check out the 2016 POPSUGAR challenge for a list of next year’s categories. Or maybe try out the New York Public Library’s challenge. Or this one from Book Riot. Personally I’m giving myself only two challenges: read 24 books in a year, and read (almost) exclusively from my TBR list.

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Ever since I completed the mini BookTubeAThon challenge last December, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the full challenge in July. And I guess I’ve decided I can’t wait anymore, because I’ve just accepted a year-long challenge that I can start right now.

After much back-and-forth about what I should choose as my goal number for 2015, I settled on 24 books. If I kept up my book-a-month pace and finished seven additional books in July for the BookTubeAThon, getting to 24 would only require a little extra effort. Plus the GoodReads page shows your books for the year in rows of six, so I wanted to hit an even multiple.

This was all well and good. I had my goal, I had some books on my shelf and a few I planned to grab at the library. And then the other day my friend Kristina told me about the Popsugar 2015 Reading Challenge. Because so many avid readers and booktubers choose 50 books as their yearly goal, Popsugar released a set of 50 challenges for what kind of books they should read. This is exactly how BookTubeAThon works, but on a much larger scale. I asked Kristina if you were allowed to double up on challenges (fulfill two challenges with the same book). She said the recommendation was to do that no more than three times, and she was going to try to get through the list with no doubles at all. I looked at the challenges.

“I bet I if I doubled up on every one, I could hit all 50 challenges and still only read 24 books.”

“You have to try that,” she told me.

Agreed.

So what are my challenges? Here’s the entire list:

1. A book with more than 500 pages
2. A classic romance
3. A book that became a movie
4. A book published this year
5. A book with a number in the title
6. A book written by someone under 30
7. A book with nonhuman characters
8. A funny book
9. A book by a female author
10. A mystery or thriller
11. A book with a one word title
12. A book with short stories
13. A book set in a different country
14. A non-fiction book
15. A popular author’s first book
16. A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet
17. A book a friend recommended
18. A Pulitzer Prize winning novel
19. A book based on a true story
20. A book at the bottom of your TBR list
21. A book your mom loves
22. A book that scares you
23. A book more than a 100 years old
24. A book based entirely on its cover
25. A book you were supposed to read in school and didn’t
26. A memoir
27. A book with antonyms in the title
28. A book you can finish in a day
29. A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to go
30. A book published the year you were born
31. A book with bad reviews
32. A Trilogy
33. A book from your childhood
34. A book with a love triangle
35. A book set in the future
36. A book set in high school
37. A book with a color in the title
38. A book that made you cry
39. A book with magic
40. A graphic novel
41. A book by an author you’ve never read before
42. A book you own but never read
43. A book that takes place in your hometown
44. A book that was originally written in another language
45. A book set during Christmas
46. A book by an author who had your same initials
47. A play
48. A banned book
49. A book based on or turned into a tv show
50. A book you started but never finished

For better or worse, I’ve already read one book and started on three more, so my first four books are set no matter how few challenges they meet. So between four books, I only got five challenges (and not very hard ones).

How to Read a Book
A non-fiction book

The Forgotten Desert Mothers
A book by a female author
A book set in a different country

Blue Highways
A memoir

Walden
A book more than a 100 years old

The other night I spent at least an hour looking at the challenges, the books on my shelf, and the books on my To Be Read list. I found a few winners that can hit a number of challenges. The only one that doesn’t hit at least two is In a Sunburned Country. My main reason for wanting to read it anyway is that I’m currently editing my own travel memoir book, and it’s helpful to look at similar books in the genre when making cuts.

In a Sunburned Country
A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to go

Wolf in White Van
A book with a color in the title
A book by an author you’ve never read before

Post Secret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God
A book with antonyms in the title
A book you can finish in a day

Midnight Assassin
A mystery or thriller
A book based on a true story

The Best of Roald Dahl
A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet
A book with more than 500 pages
A book with short stories

Monstrous Regiment
A book you own but never read
A funny book
A book a friend recommended

Walk Two Moons
A book from your childhood
A book with a number in the title
A book that made you cry

Beloved
A Pulitzer Prize winning novel
A book with a one word title

Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant
A Trilogy
A book written by someone under 30
A book set in the future
A popular author’s first book
A book that became a movie

The Wizard of Seattle
A book by an author who had your same initials
A book that takes place in your hometown

On the Road
A book you were supposed to read in school and didn’t
A book you started but never finished
A book that scares you

After working my way down the list, I suddenly found myself staring at a set of nine challenges I could fulfill with a single book. Might not be the best choice, But I couldn’t resist.

Twilight
A book with nonhuman characters
A book at the bottom of your TBR list
A book with bad reviews
A book with a love triangle
A book set in high school
A book with magic
A banned book

A few things have been left undecided. I found three good contenders for a book published the year I was born (Ender’s Game, Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman, and Contact) however that would be the only challenge any of them fulfill. Ender’s Game would be worth it for the cultural knowledge, Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman was already on my To Be Read list, and Contact is one of my favorite movies of all time. I’ll leave it undecided for now.

This leaves me with nine challenges and only five books to capture them all:

• A classic romance (what exactly does this mean anyway?)
• A book published this year
• A book your mom loves
• A book based entirely on its cover
• A graphic novel
• A book that was originally written in another language
• A book set during Christmas
• A play
• A book based on or turned into a tv show

Will I manage to hit all 50 without going over 24 books? It’s possible, but unlikely. Then again that’s not really the point. Part of the reason silly reading challenges like this are fun is that they force you out of your reading comfort zone. Let’s face it, if left to my own devices I was probably never going to read a book like The Wizard of Seattle, but now I’m actually excited about it.

So while I’ll do my best, I don’t intend to stress about this challenge. I probably can’t get them all. Or maybe my mother has a favorite book that’s a classic Christmas romance originally written in another language and made into a TV show. Either way, I’m reading more, and that’s got to be worth something.