Winter Reading Challenge - Wrap-Up

Winter ended yesterday, and today it is spring! I woke up (when WhiteRabbit left for work) to pouring rain, and then I went back to sleep and woke up to sunshine. I guess it truly is spring!

I've done a final update on my original Winter Reading Challenge post - I ended up reading a total of 18 books, with three more currently in process - and now I'm going to answer the questions that our host Karlene has posed:

• Which book did I like best (and why)?
  
  Of the 18 books I finished, I liked American Born Chinese best. Graphic novels are a new genre to me, so I really didn't know what to expect. But this 2007 Printz Award Winner was absolutely fabulous! I've thought about it frequently since I read it; it's a book that's going to "stick" with me for a long time.


• Which book did I like least (and why)?
  
  There really isn't a book on the list that I didn't like. The ultimate impact on me of each book varies, of course, some of my reads being books that I'll want to revisit and that I'll highly recommend to others and want to discuss, while others were simply quick escapism reads of which I'll soon forget the details. But I like to read from both ends of the spectrum - and every place in between.


• Did I try any new authors, and if so, will I read more by them?
  
  Nine of the 18 books I read - that's half! - were written by authors I hadn't read before. I will definitely be looking for additional books by Philippa Gregory, Shannon Hale, Justina Chen Headley, and Gene Luen Yang - and probably from at least some of the others as well.


• What (if anything) did I learn from participating in this challenge?
  
  I continue to set challenge goals that exceed my available reading time. But I also continue to have fun both setting the goals and striving to achieve them. I love to visit the links that other participants leave of their book reviews - both to compare books and to find new books for the to-read list. I would love to have more participants comment on my own reviews.