I'm happy to report that I've nearly filled out my card (I have two blank squares left). Admittedly I've interpreted some of the criteria pretty loosely, but doing the card has really helped inspire me to read! I've finished more books this year than I think I have read in the past five years combined, so I'm very grateful!

It helped that I became obsessed with the Red Rising series. :D

I've been finding more time to read this year, so I already finished one card and am almost halfway through another. (This is less impressive than it sounds, as I think ~13 of those squares are works under 200 pages.) The first card is all hard mode (sans the Cozy Read square), and the one I'm working on now is (almost) all normal mode. (I didn't want to read Harry Potter or A Man Called Ove, so those two squares are going to default to hard mode.)

Normal-only is surprisingly challenging in places (LGBTQIA+ Lead without a significant romance? Steppin' Up with an MC that does become a ruler?).

No bingo yet, but if I finish the book I'm about 30% through, I can claim the top row^*^. That one seems to be easy mode for my reading strategy (I read what I want, at the pace I want, and think and occasionally comment about if and where it fits.) A few other squares scattered about, and some unscored reads that if applied to free space or alt prompt gets close in other directions.

^*^Considering the content of his novels, I've deemed it within the spirit of the rules to call Frank Delaney an Irish author, even though he eventually moved to my continent.