I have to admit, I didn’t do nearly as well this time around as I thought I would. Surprisingly, a few of my fiction books every remained unread, which has never happened to me during a challenge. But rather than ramble on, I’ll use a few of my suggested questions to let you know how Fall Into Reading 2008 went for me.

Did you finish reading all the books on your fall reading list? If not, why not?

Sadly, no. I read almost-4 out of the 5 nonfiction books I selected (I’m almost done with Write Away and I haven’t even touched How Doctors Think), and I only read 5 out of the 7 fiction books I picked (I haven’t read Pride & Prejudice or Violet Dawn yet). You can click over to my original list to see which books I did manage to cross off.

So why didn’t I finish all my books? In part, because my kids and I had illness after illness for a while, and I just didn’t have the energy to hold up a book some nights. (During those times, I relied on my iPod to “read” a couple audiobooks to me, which weren’t on my original list.) And in part, because I didn’t set aside enough extra time for reading. I read before bed, as always, but didn’t set aside much time during the day for additional reading, which is what I need to do if I intend to finish one book per week.

Did you stick to your original goals or did you change your list as you went along?

I left my original list the same, but I listened to 3 audiobooks that weren’t on the list and I read an extra novel or two for blog tours.

What was your favorite book that you read this fall? Least favorite? Why?

My favorite: The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. This book is just incredible. I very rarely read memoirs or books on history, but since I already knew much of Corrie’s story and had read parts of the book before, I wanted to give it a try and am so glad I did. The book — which portrays unshakable faith, inspiring hope, and a God who does miracles…even in the midst of horrible and heart-wrenching world events — gave me a much-needed eternal perspective on things. It’s so easy to get caught up in my “troubles,” but reading this book made me step outside my own problems and see things much more clearly.

My least favorite: Probably Three Bags Full. This book had a lot of potential. Mystery-solving sheep? Excellent idea. And I admit the book made me laugh out loud more than once at the sheep’s antics and attitudes. But the author seemed to have an axe to grind against Christianity, God or both, and I felt that the antagonism was overdone at times and really detracted from what was otherwise a delightful and entertaining story.

Did you learn something new because of the Fall Into Reading challenge?—something about reading, or yourself, or a topic you read about?

I learned (or maybe re-learned) that it’s good to step outside my reading ruts every now and then and try something new. I read several memoir-type books this fall and enjoyed them all. I often use reading challenges to push myself to read something other than “the usual” for me, and I’m (almost) always glad I did.

What was your favorite thing about the Fall Into Reading challenge?

Checking out everyone’s reading lists, and hearing from all of you a few times during the fall. I’m amazed at how much reading some people managed to get in this fall, and how disciplined many of you are at writing reviews of the books you read!

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Check out the main wrap-up post to find out how everyone else did with their reading goals this fall.