How many have you read? (Reading the books on our group bookshelf) Showing 1,151-1,200 of 1,453

[Sara, New School Classics]

That is often what saves me, the ones I have already read.

[Renee]

July 2016 19/152 = 19% (When I first joined)
July 2017 69/189 = 36%
Dec 2017 89/201 = 44%
Dec 2018 125/240 = 52%
July 2019 139/263 = 53%
Dec 2019 146/278 = 53% (52.5 rounded up) So even with my reading slump this year, I've been able to keep pace a little. Here's to a better reading year next year! I'll check again in July to see where I'm at!

[Renee]

There are a few on the shelf I really don't have much interest in reading, but usually I'll at least give it a try if I can get hold of a library or cheap kindle copy. Whether I finish it or not is another story. I figure if I can get through Ulysses (which was not a favourite) then I can get through, or at least try almost anything :)

[Lynn]

My goal for 2020 is to read 40 books/short stories that are nominated by the group or from the group's bookshelf. I also want to reach 50% on the percentage read and keep it at least that high.

July 2018 67/227 = 29.5%
Dec 31, 2019 127/276 = 46.0%

I am using the 276 number for book because that is the number finished by Dec. 31. I am not including any of the to-read books (January or February 2020)

Also as a year - end review, I read 41 books/short stories from the shelf in 2019!!

[Renee]

Lynn wrote: "My goal for 2020 is to read 40 books/short stories that are nominated by the group or from the group's bookshelf. I also want to reach 50% on the percentage read and keep it at least that high.

Ju..."

I didn't count those either, and came up with 278. Maybe I subtracted wrong. Good luck with your goal for 40 books from the group shelf! I'm trying to catch up on the shelf too. Haven't set myself a goal, just want to read what I can, and try to raise my percentage read.

[Lynn]

Renee wrote: "Lynn wrote: "My goal for 2020 is to read 40 books/short stories that are nominated by the group or from the group's bookshelf. I also want to reach 50% on the percentage read and keep it at least t..."

You always keep a nice steady pace. I'd like to be where you are.

[Terris]

OK, my official count as of 1-1-20, I have read:

248/282 = 88% -- I'll keep this as a baseline measurement.

Hoping to add a few more this year! :)

[Renee]

Terris wrote: "OK, my official count as of 1-1-20, I have read:

248/282 = 88% -- I'll keep this as a baseline measurement.

Hoping to add a few more this year! :)"

I don't think I'll ever get that high! With all the books added every month, it can be hard to just keep up!

[Terris]

Renee wrote: "Terris wrote: "OK, my official count as of 1-1-20, I have read:

248/282 = 88% -- I'll keep this as a baseline measurement.

Hoping to add a few more this year! :)"

I don't think I'll ever get tha..."

Yes, it would be hard to just start at the beginning of a list and try to read that many books! I'm guessing that you are not quite as old as I am -- I've probably been reading Classics for fifty years!!! After all that time they start to add up!
P.S. I actually probably read Little Women when I was 11, so now you know how old I am!! ;)

Just Keep Reading -- you'll get there!!! :)

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name]

So starting 2020 I have two books on the shelf I need to read and one I’m currently reading. One I need to read I’m just dreading-House of the Spirits. I dont know why I’m avoiding it so much. The other one is from February. The one I’m currently reading is the Chernobyl book and it’s breaking my heart.

[Terris]

BAM wrote: "So starting 2020 I have two books on the shelf I need to read and one I’m currently reading. One I need to read I’m just dreading-House of the Spirits. I dont know why I’m avoiding it so much. The ..."

I don't think you should be dreading The House of the Spirits. I think you might like it! I'm the one who doesn't like magical realism, and I didn't think it was half bad ;)
I think you should just do it. You may be surprised!

[J_BlueFlower]

June 2017 81 out of 186 = 43.54 %
Aug 2017 86 out of 192 = 43.54 %
Oct 2017 88 out of 198. = 44.4%.
Dec 2017 93 out of 205 = 45.3%
Feb 2018 96 out of 208 = 46.1%
April 2018 100 out of 214 = 46.7%
June 2018 109 out of 222 = 49.1%
Aug 2018 112 out of 230 = 48.7%
Oct 2018 120 out of 237 = 50.6%
Dec 2018 128 out of 244 = 52.5%
Feb 2019 134 out of 250 = 53.6%
April 2019 137 out of 256 = 53.5%
June 2019 143 out of 263 = 54.4%
Aug 2019 147 out of 269 = 54.6%
Oct 2019 154 read and 121 unread (including Nov’s books) out of 275. That is 56.0%
Dec 2019 159 read and 123 unread (including January’s books) out of 282. That is 56.4%
Feb 2020 166 read and 122 unread out of 288 = 57.6%

I try hard to resist going actively after 60%. I rather read some of the fatter books I never got around to. (Yes, Moby-Dick, I am looking at you).

[Lynn]

Today is 2/8/2020. The read books right now are 279. I have stayed even the last month, but that's about it. My goal is still to hit 50% and try to stay at that level.


July 2018 67/227 = 29.5%
Dec 31, 2019 127/276 = 46.0%

Feb 8, 2020 131/279 = 46.95%

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Link to our Group Listopia Bookshelf

I have just brought our list up to date. I can't swear that it is perfect. Feel free to scan it and check for errors. There is one error for sure, the Listopia list says we have 293 books, when we actually have 292, at least for a few more days. At the time I worked the list book #265 Denemeler or The Complete Essays by Michel de Montaigne is on the Listopia list but is not a group read.

With some of the extra sitting at home time we currently have, take a few minutes and check out our list and vote for your favorites, just click the above link.

We have 8500+ members but only 133 voters.

[J_BlueFlower]

Bob wrote: " At the time I worked the list book #265 Denemeler or The Complete Essays by Michel de Montaigne is on the Listopia list but is not a group read."

I have deleted it from the list.

Would love to read some Montaigne with the group though.

[Sue]

It's time for my quarterly update. I'm only including 287 as the total because I don't include the 4 new in April.

June 2016 14/148 - 9% (when I started the group)
Dec 2016 44/168 - 26%
Dec 2017 85/201 - 42%
Dec 2018 137/244 - 56%
Dec 2019 180/278 - 65%

March 2020 192/288 - 67% still moving the needle!

[Erin]

Oct 2018: I’d read 30 of 236, for 12.7%.
Mar 2020: I’ve read 41 of 292, for 14%.

I lost ground in 2019, but still progress overall, and I’m planning to finish three more from the group bookshelf this next month and at least several more in the course of the year. =)

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

J_BlueFlower wrote: "Bob wrote: " At the time I worked the list book #265 Denemeler or The Complete Essays by Michel de Montaigne is on the Listopia list but is not a group read."

I have deleted it from the list.

Wou..."

Thank you!!

[Sara, New School Classics]

My latest stats are 237/292 which equals 81%

So many of the books this year have been books I have already read that I am increasing my percentage without currently reading many of the books. The list of books I have not read has, unfortunately, remained much the same. I really need to concentrate on catching up on the books I have missed here but do intend to read...maybe we will eventually revisit some of them. :(

[Luke]

I'm at 167/292, 57%. However, at this stage, I've read so many classics that haven't yet been voted into this group's stacks by the Powers That Be that I'm waiting for the group to catch up to me.

[Sara, New School Classics]

lol. I hadn't thought of it that way, Aubrey. I have also read many that the group hasn't. It all equals out in the end.

[Terris]

I think I'm still at 87% (255/292). I'm like you, Sara. I've read so many that they've chosen recently that I often don't have to read the monthly selections! However, I did just finish The Lover and I want to get to Death on the Nile very shortly, so that's two more to add to the list!
But so many of the ones I haven't read I just don't want to read -- so there's that :/

[DaytimeRiot]

LMAO my percentage is a paltry 24%. But honestly, I see no reason to try to improve it.

Generally I try to avoid lists when it comes to reading because inevitably they disappoint. Like The Color Purple, A Farewell to Arms, To Kill a Mockingbird, or anything written by Tolkien (to list just a few) will never be classics to me, regardless if they're declared to be so by the general public or, far worse, academics, simply because the reading experience was so painfully bad and/or boring.

And then are so many books that I have read which clearly are classics but they don't even make the list. H.P. Lovecraft and H.G. Wells but no Thomas Bernhard? A writer could have made a significant contribution to a genre of fiction and still be pedestrian on the page. There's nothing pedestrian about Bernhard, but he is a challenge. There's no reason to waste time reading more of Wells because his work is labelled "classic" and makes the list at the expense of writer as good as Bernhard who hasn't.

[Erin]

DaytimeRiot wrote: "LMAO my percentage is a paltry 24%. But honestly, I see no reason to try to improve it.

Generally I try to avoid lists when it comes to reading because inevitably they disappoint. Like The Color ..."

I agree with your general sentiment and only use lists to inform and make my own. I too am frustrated by how many authors seem to have gotten their entire oeuvre on the lists while writers at least equally worthy are excluded entirely.

[Lynn]

My goal for 2020 is two-fold: to read 40 books/short stories from the shelf this year and to hit the 50% mark. Using the "read books" number here at the end of March:

July 2018 67/227 = 29.5%
Dec 31, 2019 127/276 = 46.0%
March 30, 2020 = 133/282 = 47.16%


Two books that I had already read The Mayor of Casterbridge and The Thornbirds were voted in, so I will be getting a "bump" so to speak next month. This month I am rereading Anne of Green Gables, so it all evens out.

[Sue]

DaytimeRiot wrote: "LMAO my percentage is a paltry 24%. But honestly, I see no reason to try to improve it.

Generally I try to avoid lists when it comes to reading because inevitably they disappoint. Like The Color ..."

We don't adhere to any lists here so feel free to nominate Thomas Bernhard for New School if you wish.

This is also a completely personal challenge. It's not a competition so staying at your percentage is completely fine, as is lowering it. Some people have a goal to get to 100% but most of us don't. I said that I only wanted to get to 50% and figured I'd say stay there, by reading the short story every month and one other. Now that I'm considerably above 50 % I'm content to increase my total rather than my percentage. I do have a stretch goal of 75% but I won't be reading books I know I won't like to get there.

The bottom line is that anything goes.

[Sue]

Aubrey wrote: "I'm at 167/292, 57%. However, at this stage, I've read so many classics that haven't yet been voted into this group's stacks by the Powers That Be that I'm waiting for the group to catch up to me."

love love love it Aubrey!

[Sue]

Terris wrote: "I think I'm still at 87% (255/292). I'm like you, Sara. I've read so many that they've chosen recently that I often don't have to read the monthly selections! However, I did just finish [book:The L..."

Terri and Sara - it's great that you have so many that pop up that you've read. I never expected that to happen to me since I barely read classics before this group (and I don't include one's read in high school or prior that were forced through school), but it has started to happen here and there already because of Buddy reads and seeing what people like you guys are reading and becoming interested.

[Sue]

Lynn wrote: "My goal for 2020 is two-fold: to read 40 books/short stories from the shelf this year and to hit the 50% mark. Using the "read books" number here at the end of March:

July 2018 67/227 = 29.5%
Dec ..."

Great job Lynn, you're almost there!

[Ila]

DaytimeRiot wrote: "LMAO my percentage is a paltry 24%. But honestly, I see no reason to try to improve it.

Generally I try to avoid lists when it comes to reading because inevitably they disappoint. Like The Color ..."

I'm not a fan of lists either but I cannot deny that they've helped me read a few personal favourites which I wouldn't have otherwise. All too often though, lists are plain disappointing.

I am at 34% and while I certainly intend to raise this, there are some books I probably won't read, usually the science fiction and the children's books.

[J_BlueFlower]

DaytimeRiot wrote: "H.P. Lovecraft and H.G. Wells but no Thomas Bernhard?"

There is an easy way to fix this: Head over to the new school tread and nominate! I have already spend my second, but otherwise I would definitely have supported Correction or Wittgenstein's Nephew.

I keep a long list of books I would like to nominate. I have added Correction. Don't just sit back and wait for it. My to-nominate shelf has 65 books.

[J_BlueFlower]

June 2017 81 out of 186 = 43.54 %
Aug 2017 86 out of 192 = 43.54 %
Oct 2017 88 out of 198. = 44.4%.
Dec 2017 93 out of 205 = 45.3%
Feb 2018 96 out of 208 = 46.1%
April 2018 100 out of 214 = 46.7%
June 2018 109 out of 222 = 49.1%
Aug 2018 112 out of 230 = 48.7%
Oct 2018 120 out of 237 = 50.6%
Dec 2018 128 out of 244 = 52.5%
Feb 2019 134 out of 250 = 53.6%
April 2019 137 out of 256 = 53.5%
June 2019 143 out of 263 = 54.4%
Aug 2019 147 out of 269 = 54.6%
Oct 2019 154 read and 121 unread (including Nov’s books) out of 275. That is 56.0%
Dec 2019 159 read and 123 unread (including January’s books) out of 282. That is 56.4%
Feb 2020 166 read and 122 unread out of 288 = 57.6%
April 2020 168 read and 127 unread out of 295 = 56.9%

[[deleted user]]

Erin wrote: "DaytimeRiot wrote: "LMAO my percentage is a paltry 24%. But honestly, I see no reason to try to improve it.

Generally I try to avoid lists when it comes to reading because inevitably they disappo..."

I stand at 36% read. I agree that the winning books are not an absolute reading list. Some books don't interest me for various reasons. Lately, I am using all the nominated books for reading suggestions.

[Sara, New School Classics]

I also add many of the nominations to my tbr, Don. I have found many good books that way.

[Lynn]

It feels like the bookshelf numbers are running so much faster than I am!!!

At the end of May 2020 the read books on the shelf will be 293 I believe. So that puts my count at


July 2018 67/227 = 29.5%
Dec 31, 2019 127/276 = 46.0%
March 30, 2020 133/282 = 47.16%
May 31, 2020 139/293 = 47.44%

My goal remains to achieve 50% and maintain that.

[Sara, New School Classics]

Keep plugging, Lynn. One day, without any warning, you will pass 50% and keep on going.

[Antonomasia]

Including individual short stories, 163 or 164* plus some bits.
Bits being: 1/4 of the Once and Future King tetralogy, some poems by Poe that will be in the collection you guys shelved, an abridged version of The Three Musketeers, at least a couple of plays watched but not read.

* I am not sure if I actually finished Sun Tzu's Art of War. It was a long time ago.

55%, currently 298 books on the shelf

[Darren]

time for my mid-year report

since I last reported 55.4% last December:

24 more books have been added
17 of which I have bagged:

5 more were chosen that I'd already read (easy life!);
(HeartIsALonelyHunter, ThroughTheLookingGlass, LiaisonsDangereuses, SpyWhoCameInFromTheCold, ThereWillComeSoftRains)
7 I read with the group (one per month, happy with that);
(ConnecticutYankee, CaskOfAmontillado, Stoner, MyCousinRachel, DivineComedy, PassageToIndia, Meditations)
5 were Catch-Ups
(BodySnatcher, GreatExpectations, IslandOfDrMoreau, Kidnapped, MagicShop)
making

171/302 = 56.6%

so maintaining gradual increase...

[Adrian]

Darren wrote: "time for my mid-year report

since I last reported 55.4% last December:

24 more books have been added
17 of which I have bagged:

5 more were chosen that I'd already read (easy life!);
(HeartLone..."

Still on the way up Darren, but the main thing is the wonderful books you have read.

[Darren]

absolutely!
I'd even go so far as to recommend four of the above 17:
My Cousin Rachel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses,The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and The Magic Shop

[Sue]

I love how you classify read with group vs read prior vs catch up Darren. I'm too lazy to do that for now

[Sue]

It's time for my quarterly update. I'm only including 298 as the total because I don't include the 4 new in July

June 2016 14/148 - 9% (when I started the group)
Dec 2016 44/168 - 26%
Dec 2017 85/201 - 42%
Dec 2018 137/244 - 56%
Dec 2019 180/278 - 65%

March 2020 192/288 - 67%
June 2020 205/298 - 69%

It looks like I'm averaging a 2% increase per quarter lately. I don't know if I can keep that up, but I'll take it for now!

[Kathleen]

So impressive, Sue!

I, on the other hand, continue at my snails pace of about 1% a year. Up to 45% now--131 out of 293 as of end of May, or 135 out of 301, if you include what we plan to read through July. Still 45%, barely.

Still, more "read"'s than I usually see on a listopia list!

[Sue]

Kathleen wrote: "So impressive, Sue!

I, on the other hand, continue at my snails pace of about 1% a year. Up to 45% now--131 out of 293 as of end of May, or 135 out of 301, if you include what we plan to read thro..."

You probably have a better idea of what you like in terms of classics Kathleen. I'm having that kid in a candy store affect still because I didn't read many classics until I started this group. I'm trying everything.

[Adrian]

Darren wrote: "absolutely!
I'd even go so far as to recommend four of the above 17:
My Cousin Rachel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses,The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and The Magic Shop"

Thanks Darren. Some great recommendations. I might even get back to reading/ proposing as a buddy read The Golden Days one day

[Sara, New School Classics]

My six months stats have not changed much. I have read 237/293. 80%. 41 books on my TBR list.

[Lynn]

Sara wrote: "Keep plugging, Lynn. One day, without any warning, you will pass 50% and keep on going."

Ha!! Maybe so....

[J_BlueFlower]

Last report: April 2020 168 read and 127 unread out of 295 = 56.9%

Currently (including August books)
175 read and 130 unread out of 305 = 57.4%

Read with group:
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
The Country of the Blind
Dr. Faustus
White Fang

Catch-up:
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Add books, I have already read:
2001: A Space Odyssey (I may re-read it. It has been about 30 years since I read it)
There Will Come Soft Rains

[Lynn]

My goal for 2020 is two-fold: to read 40 books/short stories from the shelf this year and to hit the 50% mark. Using the "read books" number here in mid-September:

I have read 23 books or short stories from the shelf so far this year. (included are 2 rereads) That is lagging a bit.

July 2018 67/227 = 29.5% (when I joined the group)
Dec 31, 2019 127/276 = 46.0%
March 30, 2020 = 133/282 = 47.16%
May 31, 2020 139/293 = 47.44%
Sept 12, 2020 148/302 = 49.0%

My goal remains to achieve 50% and maintain that. So if everyone would be so kind as to vote in several books I have already read...LOL Honestly, I did get a bump that way this month.

[Sara, New School Classics]

Great progress since 2018, Lynn. I mainly maintain now through books that I have read that the group votes in, so your strategy is a good one. lol.