Dymocks 52 Challenge Refined: RESULTS

So last year I of course took it upon myself to read 38 books from the Dymocks Top 101 in the remaining 38 weeks of the year.

I failed.

In the end, I managed 28 books out of the 38, which is an effort I'm still pretty proud of. My downfall was just reading so many other books that weren't on the list.

I found that, as I got through the list, the books that were left didn't quite interest me enough to choose them over the other enticing books I had waiting for my attention. It also meant buying quite a few that I didn't own, and by the end of the year my book budget was maxed out.

So here's some final stats:

Books read: 28

Pages read: 11,611

Average # pages: 415

Shortest: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (212 pages)

Longest: A Little Life (720 pages)

Rating Breakdown:

 5 stars: 3 books

 4 stars: 10 books

 3 stars: 7 books

 2 stars: 7 books

 1 star: 1 book

Average rating: 3.25

Most popular GR review: The Final Empire

Least popular GR review: Mythos

Oldest book read: Jane Eyre (pub. 1847)

Newest book read: Becoming (pub. 2018)

Most popular on GR: Becoming (4.57av)

Least popular on GR: Nine Perfect Strangers (3.50av)

Most pleasant surprise: Ready Player One

Least pleasant surprise: Fight Like a Girl

Good as expected: Nevernight

Bad as expected: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

DNFs: 1

Aussie Authors: 10

Books I'm glad this challenge forced me to read: The Final Empire, Jane Eyre, The Happiest Refugee, Boy Swallows Universe, The Historian

And, finally, here's the list:

1. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (AA) (28) 3*
2. The Happiest Refugee - Anh Do (AA) (12) 4*
3. Jasper Jones - Craig Silvey (AA) (5) 2*
4. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
5. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (20) 4*
6. The Light Between Oceans - M. L. Stedman (AA) (17) 3*
7. The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan (AA)
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (13) 2*
9. Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy) - Robin Hobb (14) 2*
10. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
11. The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty (AA)
12. The Martian - Andy Weir
13. My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Series) - Elena Ferrante (11) 2*
14. The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (3) 4*
15. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (25) 5*
16. Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts (AA)
17. All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven (22) 2*
18. Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty (AA) (10) 3*
19. Reckoning - Magda Szubanski (AA)
20. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara (21) 3*
21. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - Mark Manson (24) 4*
22. The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova (27) 4*
23. The Final Empire (The Mistborn Series) - Brandon Sanderson (6) 5*
24. Wool - Hugh Howey
25. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman (2) 4*
26. Boy Swallows Universe - Trent Dalton (AA) (16) 4*
27. Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicles) - Jay Kristoff (AA) (1) 5*
28. Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli (4) 4*
29. Fight Like a Girl - Clementine Ford (AA) (19) 1*
30. Circe - Madeline Miller (7) 2*
31. Mythos - Stephen Fry (23) 3*
32. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart - Holly Ringland (AA)
33. Becoming - Michelle Obama (15) 4*
34. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness
35. Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan (26) 3*
36. Scrublands - Chris Hammer (AA) (9) 4*
37. Normal People - Sally Rooney (18) 3*
38. Nine Perfect Strangers - Liane Moriarty (AA) (8) 2*

(AA = Australian Author)

You can read all the reviews here and please feel free to let me know your thoughts!

Overall I had a lot of fun with this challenge and will be starting the next Dymocks challenge soon! :)