Even as I busily try to finish up my 2023 reading for challenges, book awards judging, and reviews (ha ha), I'm already thinking ahead to what I want to read in the new year. One of my favorite ways to add fun and variety to my reading is through reading challenges. I'll do a wrap-up of my reading challenge progress for 2023 in a few weeks, but here's a spoiler alert for you: I have finished all of them (even the one with 109 prompts) except for one. Huzzah! I don't take reading challenges super seriously, but I'm still proud of myself for this accomplishment. Go, me. 

Since I've rocked my challenges so hard this year, I'm going to do another dozen in 2024. Since today's Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie, I figure it's the perfect time to tell you all about them. First, though, click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl and give our TTT host, Jana, some love. 

Update: I totally forgot about the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I do this one every year and my goal is always 200 books. I've already surpassed it for this year, but I'm still going to keep the goal of 200 for 2024. 

1. Bookish Books Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)—This is a no-brainer since I'm the host! It's a fun, laidback challenge that focuses on reading books about books. Join me, won't you? I'm going for the "Living at the Library" level, which requires reading 30+ bookish books. I've read 33 so far in 2023, so it shouldn't be a problem to reach that goal again next year.

2. Literary Escapes Reading Challenge (hosted by Dollycas @Escape With Dollycas Into a Good Book)—I do this one every year. You "travel" to each of the 50 states in the U.S., plus Washington, D.C., by reading a book that is set there. You also get bonus points for each country you "visit" in your reading.

3. POPSUGAR Reading Challenge—This annual challenge can be tough. In fact, this is the first year I've completed all the prompts. We'll see if I have continued success with the 2024 version.

4. The 52 Club's Reading Challenge—Prompt challenges are my favorite kind, so I love this yearly challenge. It has 52 (natch) reading prompts to complete.

5. Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge (hosted by Dollycas @Escape With Dollycas Into a Good Book)—This is the only one of my reading challenges that I haven't yet completed for 2023. I'm close, but it's highly unlikely that I'll get there by December 31. Oh well, I'll try again next year! In this one, you read cozy mysteries. I'll be joining at the Peckish level, which requires reading 1-25 cozies. I should be able to handle that.

6. Booklist Queen Reading Challenge—Another prompt-based challenge, this is one I have fun with every year. This one also has 52 prompts.

7. Historical Fiction Reading Challenge (hosted by Marg @The Intrepid Reader and Baker)—This one really isn't a challenge since I already read a ton of historical novels, but it's still fun to link up with other hist-fic lovers. I signed up at the Ancient History level (25 books) this year; I think I'll go for broke and do the Prehistoric level (50+ books) in 2024.

8. Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge (hosted by Rick Mills)—Even though it's a little macabre, I enjoy doing this challenge every year. You read mystery novels and count up the dead bodies you find in their pages. I'm in 12th place at the moment. We'll see how many more toe tags I can tie before the year ends!

9. Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge (hosted by Rick Mills)—This is a new challenge that Rick came up with for 2024. Thankfully, it involves no actual physical exertion! You are "running" a reading marathon where each mystery you read counts as one mile and the number of pages in the book equals the number of steps taken to reach that mile. When you hit 26.2 miles, you're at the finish line. I read a ton of mysteries every year, so this one's another no-brainer.

10. 13 Moons Reading Challenge (hosted by Read N Buried)—I've never done this one before, but it's (yet) another prompt-based challenge. There are 13 prompts in each of 13 categories. You can join at different levels that require completing a certain amount of categories or you can go for the "Total Lunar Eclipse" level and do all the prompts, which is what I'm planning to do.

11. Build Your Library Reading Challenge—I enjoyed doing this challenge in 2023 even though its theme (nature) was a little outside of my reading interests. This year's theme is Reading Through History, which is much more to my liking. The challenge consists of 40 prompts, all of which have something to do with history (at least loosely).

12. Don't Get Fined! A Library Adventure Game (Goodreads)—Thanks to Bev, I just got introduced to Goodreads reading challenges. I didn't realize these were a thing, so I went down a very long, dark rabbit hole checking them out. I resisted the urge to join ALL the challenges and just went with this one since it sounded fun. It's a perpetual challenge with no end date—you're done when you reach the end of the "gameboard." You roll a dice after each book you read, which determines which space you land on, which then gives you a reading "task," which tells you what kind of book to read next. I started the game a few days ago and am currently on my second task.

As you may or may not know, I started a blog a few years ago where I kept a running list of reading challenges. I did it because the one I usually relied on went dark and I didn't know about any others. I've since discovered three blogs with this same goal. There's no reason to duplicate other people's efforts, so I will be deleting mine. If you're looking for reading challenges to join, look no further:

What are your thoughts on reading challenges? Do you love them? Hate them? Which are your favorites? Which ones are you planning to join in 2024? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog. 

Thank you so much to everyone who helped to make the first year of my Bookish Books Reading Challenge a rousing success! It's been fun to talk bookish books with you throughout 2023. I definitely want to keep the party going in 2024. Hopefully, you do too! You can officially join the challenge by using the linky at the bottom of this post. 

Here's everything you need to know:

Because it wouldn't be a challenge without a *little* bit of pushing, I created some levels just to make it more fun:

I'm not sure how this happened exactly, but somehow we're in the last month of 2023. Crazy! Things around here start moving in fast forward once Halloween is over, making for a lot of holiday busyness. I hope you're surviving your end-of-the-year-chaos and even finding some time to relax with a good bookish book. 

My November reading was focused on books I needed to read in order to finish out my 2023 reading challenges. Surprisingly, that included these six bookish books, which I've listed in order of most liked to least liked (links will take you to my reviews on Goodreads, since I've been a complete slacker this year about posting them on my actual book blog):

  

With Thanksgiving barely behind us and Christmas looming right ahead, you'd think I'd be able to come up with something festive for today's Top Ten Tuesday. You'd be wrong. Instead, I'm going to take a more summery slant on our prompt du jour—Top Ten Books Set in X (Pick a setting and share books that are all set there. This could be a specific continent or country, a state, in outer space, underwater, on a ship or boat, at the beach, etc.)—and go with the suggested boat/ship setting. Even though I get terrible motion sickness, especially on water vessels, this is a setting I actually quite enjoy in books. Something about the combination of feelings that ensues just appeals to me: the excitement of an impending voyage, the wonder and fear of what lies below in the fathomless depths of the sea, the claustrophobia of being trapped in a floating tin can with a group of strangers you don't know if you can trust, etc. This summer will find me and my husband on our first cruise, traveling to Alaska, and I don't know what to expect. Hopefully, nothing like what happens in the books on my list (most of which are mystery/thriller novels)!

If you're not aware, TTT is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Click on over and give her some love, won't you?

1. Those We Drown by Amy Goldsmith—I've talked about this YA fantasy/horror novel before. It's about a group of students who are enrolled in a semester-at-sea program aboard a luxury cruise ship. Liv can't believe it when she's selected to participate. While on board, however, she discovers that she was only chosen for the trip because the girl who was supposed to be there has mysteriously disappeared. When other participants start vanishing and other strange things begin happening on the ship, Liv begins to believe in a supernatural explanation. Just what kinds of monsters lurk under the sea below her? Which type lives above?

2. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann—I'm probably the last person in the book blogosphere to read this non-fiction account of the strange tale of the titular ship. The patched-together vessel floated into Brazil in 1742 carrying a crew of starving English sailors who had been shipwrecked and marooned for months. Although the men were hailed as heroes, another vessel arrived in Chile with a few more of The Wager's survivors. These men had a very different tale to tell...

3. Seven Days in May by Kim Izzo—Based on the author's own family history, this historical novel sounds intriguing. It's about two American sisters who board the Lusitania, knowingly risking the perils of traveling during World War I, but never imagining just how perilous their trip will soon become.

4. The Last One by Will Dean—This thriller has been featured on a few of my TTT lists this year. It's about a woman who embarks on a cruise with her new boyfriend. After a whirlwind night on board, she awakes to find Pete missing from their room. When she steps out of her cabin, she discovers that everyone has vanished. She is the only one aboard the ship, which is floating in the middle of the sea with no land in sight. What happened to all the passengers and crew members? How is the last one going to save herself now?

5. Maiden Voyages: Magnificent Ocean Liners and the Women Who Traveled and Worked Aboard Them by Siân Evans—This social history about how women's lives were changed by their journeys aboard luxury liners during the early twentieth century sounds fascinating. It tells the stories of a number of female travelers, from celebrities in first class to immigrants in steerage to stewardesses and other crew members who bustled about the ships making sure everyone was safe and comfortable.

6. The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish—This British thriller concerns a group of people who commute to work in London via riverboat. The shared experience has created a community of riders who intermingle while cruising up and down the Thames. When one of them is murdered and another is accused of killing him, the commuters' lives are all upended. Who killed Kit and why?

7. The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor—The lives of two women collide on the high seas during World War II as they desperately try to save themselves and two children after their ship is torpedoed by Nazi U-boats, leaving them stranded in the last available lifeboat. This harrowing survival story is based on  real events. 

8. A Stranger On Board by Cameron Ward—I've mentioned this murder mystery before as well. It's about an ex-marine who is looking for a new start and finds it working as security on board a luxury superyacht. As they head out to open sea, someone goes missing. It doesn't take long to figure out there's a killer on board. It's up to Sarah to find them before they pick off all the other passengers one by one...

9. The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton—In 1934, two women embark on a round-trip voyage from New York to Cuba. One is posing as a wealthy heiress. The other is dead. At least that's what everyone thinks. In reality, she's very much alive and on board to get revenge on the person who wronged her. As the fates of the two women collide, they will find themselves risking everything to make sure justice is finally served.

10. Lying in the Deep by Diana Urban—Like #1, this is a YA thriller featuring a group of students enrolled in a semester-at-sea program. After being betrayed by her boyfriend and her best friend, Jade is looking forward to getting away from it all and losing herself in foreign lands and adventures. She isn't expecting the couple who ruined her life to be on board as well. As her fury at them builds, a murder occurs on the ship. Then more of the students begin to suffer similar fates. There's a killer on board, but who is it? Jade has to find out before more people end up dead.

There you are, ten books with boat/ship settings that I want to read. How do you feel about boats/ships? Which books have you enjoyed with this theme? Which are on your TBR? What setting did you pick for your list today? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on yours. I also reply to comments left here, although I am a week behind at the moment.

(While preparing my list, I came across this one with the same theme posted by the lovely bloggers over at Beyond the Bookends. Thanks for the help and recs, ladies!)