The Sword and Laser discussion
What Else Are You Reading?
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Reading Goals/Challenge for 2013?
I'm doing the same as Kim in that I am also part of another book club (Literary Exploration) and it's challenge is to read 12,24, or 36 books each one of pre-selected genres. I'm doing the 36 challenge. This year I started my goal at 40 and am finishing up 60 later today. My plan is to do the 36 (mostly 300+ page novels) and then all my other comic reading outside of those I've selected. I'm hoping that with comics (either individual or by series) to reach 60 again. I also like to read cookbooks and so I'm sure those will help. Here are my selected novels for 2013:
I'd love to try a 100 book challenge, but being a full time student kind of kills that. I want to try and read as much as I can, and if I hit somewhere near 100, then I will be ecstatic! I'm trying to read all the books on my shelf and my kindle, so I have plenty of material in various lengths to read. I think the page count is an awesome idea, something I might have to look at. Audio book length would be interesting too, since The Hobbit was an 11 hour book to listen to.
Melissa wrote: "I'm doing the same as Kim in that I am also part of another book club (Literary Exploration) and it's challenge is to read 12,24, or 36 books each one of pre-selected genres. I'm doing the 36 chal..." Can I just say that I've read a several of the titles there and you're going to have a ball. There's some fantastic titles there.
Matty wrote: "Melissa wrote: "I'm doing the same as Kim in that I am also part of another book club (Literary Exploration) and it's challenge is to read 12,24, or 36 books each one of pre-selected genres. I'm d..."I'm pretty excited. Most of them were on my to-reads list for a while and since it is about 600+ books it is time to get that number lower! I am actually going to start tonight at midnight!
Darren wrote:And nor should you care. I do, but that's me. I like knowing when I read a book for the first time. I don't see why they just can't add a "re-read" box to tick when you finish a book. Then you could also get a count for how many times you have read certain books.
You can tag "read count" in your shelf settings, so it will show in your shelves ;)
As for myself: I noticed I had a tendency to read shorter books for my reading challenge in 2011, so for 2012 I didn't set the goal to a number of books, but number of pages. That being 32000 pages.
To my own amazement I reached it with pages to spare!
This year my goal is to read more books of British authors, and to read less manga.
I may be overdoing it with challenges this year, but I can't resist...Since I gloriously completed, for the first time, my Goodreads challenge to read 100 books (I managed 103 but a few of those I didn't finish because they were so bad), I set myself a goal of 105 books this year.
I'm also participating in the Worlds Without End challenge to read female genre writers. The goal is to read one book each by 12 different female authors new to you during the year - and review them.
Then there is the German book forum "Literaturschock" with its annual TBR challenge for which I set myself another 15 books.
Some of these challenges overlap, of course, but it does sound a bit daunting now.
More specifically, I intent to read everything by Cat Valente, more China Miéville, more Guy Gavriel Kay, and - this goes without saying - the new Neil Gaiman coming out this year, as well as The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch.
Linguana wrote: " More specifically, I intent to read everything by Cat Valente, more China Miéville, more Guy Gavriel Kay, and - this goes without saying - the new Neil Gaiman coming out this year, as well as The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. ..."I love Valente so much that I've intentionally not read a few of her works yet. You only get one fit first time...
NMC wrote: "Well, the 2013 reading goals is up. I went ahead and put in 80. Now let's see if I can do it. Infinite Jest, here I come."
I haven't read that yet and it is starting to bow my shelf. Is there a readalong this year that you know of?
I kept my the same as last year, 52. That a book a week and even though I read 56 in 2012 quite a few were novellas and chapter books to my kids at bed time, so they accounted for the overages. I also only count new reads.
I joined in July last year so only put 12 books down in my challenge. As I managed 80% of that challenge between July and August alone, this year I have set myself the challenge of 24 books for 2013 =]
I'm starting with a 24 books goal this year. But last year I started with a 15 books goal and end reading 59 books
I'm setting a lofty goal of 50 books for the year. Of that I'm aiming to read:
- all the Hugo & Nebula winners I haven't read going back to 2000
- at least 6 Giller or Aurora winners
- 12 non-fiction
- 6 books of poetry
- all the Hugo & Nebula winners I haven't read going back to 2000
- at least 6 Giller or Aurora winners
- 12 non-fiction
- 6 books of poetry
I have a life so my goal is 12 books (one a month) with some shorts in between.
I set my goal at 30 which at my current pace is conservative. I'm at about a book per week right now.
I think my goal has to be to read the whole of the Wheel of Time series, now that the last book is about to be released
James wrote: "I have a life so my goal is 12 books (one a month) with some shorts in between."I work, go to school, party every weekend with my friends, and keep up with at least 20 tv shows at a time and I still have plenty of time to finish 36 books.
You can always do more, that's why it's a challenge!
I set my goal for 40 because I hope to get back into the workforce this year after being laid off for most of last year, but considering its the 5th of January and I started on the first and already knocked off two books, maybe I will shoot for 50.who knows?
I'm aiming at around 24, 2 books a month. In reality it's probably going to be between 30-40
Mod
Melissa wrote: "I'm doing the same as Kim in that I am also part of another book club (Literary Exploration) and it's challenge is to read 12,24, or 36 books each one of pre-selected genres. I'm doing the 36 chal..."I spy Cinder and The Fault in Our Stars!
My goal for 2013 is 100, not counting any rereads. If I don't push myself, I have a habit of just reading my fave books over and over again.
Best of luck with your goals, everyone!
I read 50 books in 2012...just barely. I squeaked the last one in on December 31, and it was a short one. But it counted, damn it!So of course, I'm going for 60 in 2013. Why not? If I got married in 2012 and still made it to 50 books, surely I can knock out 10 more this year! And it's not like they send in the Big Men With Guns (tm) if you don't make it, right?
Anyone?
UH Oh. Better get reading.
I've set my goal this year at 53.For me thats a very humble number, 'cause it's les than half of what I read last year and the year before that.
But I'll be focussing more on British books and no manga.
That said, it's also true that my time to read has reduced considderably.
I think I'm going to go more for a book type then number this year. For every new book not already on my shelf that I read I will read one "classic", and one book in my to be read list.
Being a full time student (and television lover, hehe), I can't be quite as ambitious as 100+. My goal is a bit more simple- on my "fiction" bookshelf (aka, my largest one), there are 43 books I have yet to read. My goal for the year is to finish all of them. Of course, being an English Lit student, I will certainly read more that 43. I'm also allowing myself to "lem" a few if I find them too tedious to get through. I'm currently on Ender's Game and absolutely loving it!
Meghan wrote: "I think I'm going to go more for a book type then number this year. For every new book not already on my shelf that I read I will read one "classic", and one book in my to be read list."One year I do want to read one book from each Nobel prize winner.
I read 43 books last year for the Reading Challenge, but it was loaded with Walking Dead Volumes. With a child now, I've lower my goal to 30 for 2013 with hope to increase as I find free time to read.I'm going to try to focus on must read books that I've just never gotten around to reading. Books like "The Hobbit" and "Ender's Game" will start my year off so I can get those 'I can't believe you haven't read that' people off my back.
It's thanks to S&L that I found GR to begin with, so I'm fairly new around here. I started my 2012 goal of 50 books in Aug which I'll admit was a stretch considering how long I had to reach it. But I ended up at 27 books by years end, so as long as there is always a book in my hand I think I can safely set this years goal to 75.
I have a goal of about 24 books in 2013, but I´m hoping to get at least 30. This includes listening to audiobooks. If I reach this goal, then this is the most books i have read in a year. I hope I can read more, but as a part time student, a tv-lover and boardgamer take much of my time.
My 2013 goal is a modest 30.I own a company and, on top of that, I'm starting law school. So reading time will be very limited.
I can't but be flabbergasted about how many books people read. At 21 books, last years saw me being up late night trying to accomplish my reading goals. Until I stopped myself and said, "This is not the cure for cancer... got to bed!"Is this a case of "my list is longer than your list?" Cause let me tell ya, at 25 books, my list is long enough... hehe.
Seriously though, how can anybody find time to read so many books.
Pablo, I at least don't see it as "my list is longer than your list" at all. All I feel on this thread if people sharing their passion, happy to read and challenge themselves. If anything, the most I see is "my new list is longer than my older list".As for time, some people are just addicted to reading, and read really fast. I'm a fast reader (5 books so far this month), and I'm slow compared to some people I know. They can read easily twice as fast I as do.
Lastly, it all depends on the book. Page counts vary. Some books will be 200 pages, while others will be 600. Although, when you read 300 books, some kind of average is expected. (People who love statistics could have a field day here).
The reading challenge is mostly you trying to outdo yourself, which is why so often people mention what they count was for last year.
Beth wrote: ""On a side not, dear god people. 50, 60, 85 books!?! How in the hell do you find the time?"If it wasn't for my Xbox, I would have read more than the 47 books I've read so far this year."
My Xbox red-ringed in November. I anticipate lots of additional reading time in 2013. hahaha
Rejo wrote: "Ala wrote: "Just skip 8-10 and you'll be alright."Oh. Not a rousing endorsement! Good thing that'll probably cut around 2500 pages from the series, at least."
If you choose to skip those books you can always read the 're-read synopsis' that is posted over on Tor.com That way you won't miss anything.
Rob wrote: "Rejo wrote: "I'm for some soul-crushing pain, too. But is the pain something the characters go through? Or will I go through it reading a tedious book?"Both."
Agreed. But personally, I felt it was worth the pain. I'll likely re-read the entire series at some point.
Pablo wrote: "I can't but be flabbergasted about how many books people read. At 21 books, last years saw me being up late night trying to accomplish my reading goals. Until I stopped myself and said, "This is not the cure for cancer... got to bed!"Is this a case of "my list is longer than your list?" Cause let me tell ya, at 25 books, my list is long enough... hehe.
Seriously though, how can anybody find time to read so many books."
Speaking for myself, this isn't about topping anyone. I don't read fast enough to do that. I think I read 28 books last year and 60 the year before that.
That's why my personal challenge is 52 books, 2 from each letter of the alphabet. Of course, I'm including graphic novels which are easy to knock off in an afternoon. If I get desperate, I'll throw in a couple Dr. Seuss tomes. ;)
50 books a year sounds like a lot though. I think I might stay at a comfortable 25 and see if I can improve my reading speed this year.
I figure a book a week is doable, especially given the graphic novels. I've already knocked off two of those this month.
a book a week? I don't know, graphic novels just don't do it for me. If it's not proper books with out pictures I feel cheated somehow.
Leslie wrote: "Rejo wrote: "Ala wrote: "Just skip 8-10 and you'll be alright."Oh. Not a rousing endorsement! Good thing that'll probably cut around 2500 pages from the series, at least."
If you choose to skip ..."
But, I'm not a fan of skipping books in a series. I always feel like I'm cheating myself and short-changing the author. I'd actually been thinking about this and have decided to read the entire series. Pain or not. Besides, I'm sure there're cool moments in each of the skippable novels.
Pablo wrote: "a book a week? I don't know, graphic novels just don't do it for me. If it's not proper books with out pictures I feel cheated somehow."I was being slightly facetious, but it does edge into the question of "what counts as a book?" That one guy at Slate claimed to read a book a day, but he included graphic novels and audio books, neither of which I count as a real book. Certainly not what we mean colloquially when we use the term.
If you're 4, then Dr. Seuss would count as a book, but not if you're 40.
Trike wrote: "Pablo wrote: "a book a week? I don't know, graphic novels just don't do it for me. If it's not proper books with out pictures I feel cheated somehow."I was being slightly facetious, but it does ..."
Two of the audiobooks I've listened to were 40 plus hours long. If it's an unabridged reading of a book, I'm counting that as a book. Graphic novels count also, but my 60 book goal is allowing for the fact that a third of those will be graphic. I'd commit to far fewer books otherwise.
It seems like most of you guys are aiming really high. I would love to read 30-50 books in a year, but honestly I don't really see how I would find the time or the money to read and purchase so many books. I've set my aim at 15. I feel it is an achievable amount that I can adjust up if I need to. I'll probably surpass it by the end of the year, but I think it will force me to only read books I really want to read or should have read long ago ;)
Like Anita said, it is important to read for pleasure and not to read because you need to attain a goal. Still, and back to the question at hand... I don't think either audiobooks or graphic novels should count to the read count.
Pablo wrote: "Like Anita said, it is important to read for pleasure and not to read because you need to attain a goal. Still, and back to the question at hand... I don't think either audiobooks or graphic novel..."I kind of agree with you Pablo, I don't want to sound elitist or like a book snob, but graphic novels and audio books just don't count in my personal opinion. I love graphic novels, they are works of art in their own right, but I just can't justify it as a "book".
That's just my personal opinion of course and I'm sure there are plenty of people who will both agree and disagree with me :)
It depends on what you're reading for, if you're doing challenges to try and read more books by women, or by non-anglophone writers or whatnot I don't see why audiobooks or graphic novels wouldn't count.If you're doing it to challenge yourself or for bragging rights (it's hard to see exactly which one the Slate writer was going for) then going for easier reads or listens is charting in a way.
My goal is set at 100 books, I'd like all these to be written books over 150 pages to actually count, but for my sub-challenge to read at least 12 non-fiction books audio is totally fine for my purposes, which is just to know more stuff.
I'm already going to have 5 books done before the end of the this month, so I'm pretty happy with my pace so far. I honestly think it is because I set my goal ahead and chose my books ahead of time that I have the drive to really push through these novels so I can read all the others I wanted to add to my list.
Right now my goal is 25 books, I'm really interested to see how many pages I end up reading compared to the 21 books I read this year.
As for the expense question, fully 1/2 of my books come from the library, sometimes more.
I don't count audio books because I don't think you're giving a book your full attention if you can do something else at the same time. If you're driving and listening, that doesn't feel like reading to me. It's something else. It's more like a radio show.That's the main reason why I think "read a book" has a certain connotation.
As for "book", it does have to be a certain length for me. I think a sufficiently dense and large graphic novel could do it, but you're talking the giant Thor by Walter Simonson Omnibus or something akin to that, numbering close to 1,200 pages counts. Maybe that one counts as two.
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Full Moon (other topics)Green Eggs and Ham (other topics)
Prepare to Die! (other topics)
Ex-Patriots (other topics)
Hell House (other topics)
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Count me in! *Starts dancing like a geography teacher!*