The Not a Book Club Club discussion
2014 Reading Goals
My main goal for next year is to read the Wheel of Time. It will be my first foray into series. There aren't too many other fantasy books coming next year that are must reads for me so I think this will take up quite a bit of my fantasy quota for 2014 (its a soft quota)The rest of the books I read will just be whatever sci-fi and mystery books that come up during the year.
-Hawkwood and the King is a rather fast read, the books aren't that big and they are fast paced ( and quite entertaining).-City of Golden Shadow on the other is quite a time investment ( but well worth it in my view).
My first reading goal is definately to keep up with the reading pace/time I developed over the last couple of months, so I might be able to tackle 75-100 books next year.As I've already started around 35 series at the moment, one goal is to finish/catch up a few of those. In my german group we're doing a "serial killer" challenge, where we aim at finishing at least twelve series in 2014.
I have a few series, where I'm only one book shy of completion or have read the first of a trilogy, so that should be doable.
As my "big" series project for 2014 I want to tackle the "Shadows of the Apt" series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I read the first book Empire in Black and Gold and currently there are 9 books in the series with the tenth and final volume might be making a 2014 release. So it would be a perfect series to read back to back, maybe a book each month.
As I tend to read a lot of fantasy, I also want to get more into other speculative fiction genres. So I would like to increase the amount of SF, UF and Steampunk books I read. I'm thinking about 10 per genre.
And lately I saw a lot of interesting historical fiction added here by some of my GR friends, so I think I will dip my toe in this genre as well, maybe with 2-3 series.
And last, but not least, I'm thinking about booktubing a lot lately. I enjoy this format a lot, but the majority of booktubers I know are women, who focus a lot on YA, Romance and the occasional fantasy book. So, it's not definite and I don't have a camera or any editing experience, but at least I'll keep this idea in mind.^^
Mod
^_^
Mod
Malazan goes through May though, so I won't be taking on any big series before then.
Rob wrote: "Stop what you are doing/planning and go read Dresden Filed. Now.^_^"
I'm already on that, cause I decided to stick with them on audio for my nighty-night sessions. This will mean a slow progress, but I hope to be able to listen to a new Dresden every 4-6 weeks. :)
Mod
I have about 40 series to finish or continue so going to work on those. Series at the top of the list are:Wheel of Time
Chronicles of Amber
Vlad Taltos
Dresden Files
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Shadows of the Apt
Elric Saga
Chronicles of the Black Company
I have two challenges for next year. As they are massive I will spare you their full length here (the posts would be VERY long) and instead link to them. Not so much fantasy there, perhaps, but... probably (hopefully) excellent reads.Challenge 1
Challenge 2
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Rob wrote: "Well seeing how I mostly read fantasy still that makes me sad because I miss your comments. Maybe I'll have to find something from your challenges to join in on."I miss discussing with you as well Rob.
There are a few fantasy on there, but most (if not all?) of them are already read by you. :(
(And if you find one or two you want to join in on - let me know! I'd be happy to buddy read with you!)
Mod
Checking...
I do! Let me know when you read that one. Might be some others. You have quite a list already.
Rob wrote: "I think I might have bought Stardust...Checking...
I do! Let me know when you read that one. Might be some others. You have quite a list already."
Awesome, I will!
And Mpauli - what is this booktubing thing you mentioned? It's new to me.
Alex wrote: "Bill and Mpauli, your series impress/intimidate me! I'm too OCD to leave them unfinished, so I'll usually read them straight until I finish a series before beginning a new one. The exception is obv..."Alright Alex, I'll let you know as well :)
@Kat: Booktubing is the term, when you do video reviews of books you read and put them on Youtube.All kinds of people do it, there are some pretty amazing ones with very entertaining reviewers. Others lack that kind of personality, but make some very insightful reviews nonetheless.
But the majority seem to be women in their 20s, which review a lot of YA, Paranormal Romance and contemporary fiction.
I looked up like 10-12 books I read this year and only a third of them had reviews at all and mostly only on 2-3 channels.
The weirdest thing I encountered was a woman doing a review of Boneshaker while doing a striptease...now I've seen everything.^^
So that might be something interesting to get into. If you reach a critical mass of subscribers, you can start to do little advertisments before the video and make some money with it.
But most of all, there's really a lack of good and consistent SFF booktube channels.
@Alex: Sometimes it's intimidating to me as well, but I'm kind of a tv series guy. I watch a gazillion shows, so I see one episode per week and watch 20 shows at the same time.
Same is true for reading. I'm perfectly fine with reading book 1, buying book 2-3, but waiting two years between each book.
It helps that I have a good memory. I have some books that I start, put down in the middle of a sentence after 150 pages, read something else and get back to it a year later right in the middle of the sentence as if no time had passed.
I can really blame Goodreads for all of the open series. I use to read series straight but since I joined Goodreads I have explored a lot of new authors and series. I also have a really good memory so I can jump around easily. I also joined my local library this year so I have had to wait for books to be returned before continuing certain series.Here is a breakdown of the status of my open series:
15 - waiting on next book to be released
21 - started this year
4 - started years ago and never finished
I also plan to start another 4 series this year. Dark Tower, Bobby Dollar, Acts of Caine, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.
Rob wrote: "There has been some talk about reading the Black Company series next year.Malazan goes through May though, so I won't be taking on any big series before then."
I will pass on that. I read it 15 years ago or so and while it was decent and I have forgotten most of it, the books weren't so good that I would want to re-read them over reading new books.
Alex wrote: "I see what you mean with the TV analogy. It's a good way to explain reading multiple books at once to non-readers, since almost everyone watches multiple shows at once.My problem is that I don't ..."
I'm with you, I try to limit how many opened series I have ongoing. For a while I was actually only reading series that were completed but recently with GoodReads I have been tempted to try new series ( and Amazon kindle sales have done a good job forcing my hands there too).
Mod
1) Read Every Sword & Laser Pick
2) Read Next Book in series:
Skin Game
Words of Radiance
The Crimson Campaign
The Shadow Throne
Firefight
3) Finish Malazan:
Toll the Hounds
Dust of Dreams
The Crippled God
4) Finish Rainwild Chronicles
City of Dragons
Blood of Dragons
5) If they come out (not holding my breath)
The Winds of Winter
Untitled Rothfuss #3
The Thorn of Emberlain
6) Audio Re-reads
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
7) Misc
The Aeronaut's Windlass (because I'd read Twilight Fan Fiction if Jim Butcher wrote it!)
8) And now I plan to read Stardust with Kat!
I'll buy Stardust and read it with you guys.My goal is to finish the Malazan series and read more sci-fi,
Alex's comment about series got me worried so I went back and looked at how many opened ongoing series I had and it's not so pretty but it could be a lot worse I guess. besides each serie I listed whether they were completed by their author or still ongoing.( * means ongoing but each volume is self contained and doesn't end in a cliffhanger)1) Wheel of time. Completed .
2) Wars of Light and Shadows. Ongoing
3) The Dagger and the Coin. Ongoing
4) Reckoners. Ongoing *
5) Powder Mage. Ongoing
6) Bobby Dollar. Ongoing *
7) Mercy Thompson. Ongoing *
8) Demon Cycle. Ongoing
9) The house war. Ongoing
10) Gentleman bastard. Ongoing *
11) Sword of Shadows. Ongoing
12) A Song of ice and Fire. Ongoing
13) Safehold. Ongoing *
14) Honor Harrington. Ongoing ( used to be self contained, not really the case recently though)
15) The Expanse. Ongoing *
16) Discworld. Ongoing *
17) LightBringer. Ongoing
18) Temeraire. Ongoing *
19) Vorkosigan Saga. Ongoing ?
Good news is that for half of them I am caught up and have read every published volume. The half I am not caught up I am sadly far behind ( Wheel of time pretty much needs a restart, so does Wars of Light and Shadows and I am 6 books behind for Safehold..)
Mod
I've read book one of Bobby Dollar was pretty meh. I haven't read book 2.
Finished WoT in January.
I may start:
8,15,16 next year
and Temeraire this month as it's the Alt Pick for S&L.
Must admit I have loads of urban fantasy series which I started this to finish off. So lots to read next year.
Alex wrote: "Wow Aildiin!See, I would count series that I've read, but am just waiting on more book as "completed." (e.g., Gentlemen Bastards, Leviathan Wakes, A Song of Ice and Fire). I guess that I wouldn't..."
I can do that for series where each volume is self contained ( like Discworld) but a serie where you are left wondering how the current plot will resolves itself doesn't feel completed at all to me, I know for sure I will get back to it.
Rob wrote: "So I don't have an extensive plan. I usually plan 1-2 months in advance, but tentatively I plan to:1) Read Every Sword & Laser Pick
2) Read Next Book in series:
Skin Game
[bo..."
Forgot to mention [book:The Fool's Assassin|18658063] coming out in August.
Mod
Hi, for 2014, I hope to do more reading (MAN I have definitely missed out on a LOT of reading in 2013), especially reading more Sci- Fi (Have started loving Sci-Fi movies)If you do have any recommendations for any top 5 great Sci-Fi books for a beginner to read, let me know !
Thanks, and sorry for invading the discussion forum :)
I'm playing with the thought of reading through the Hugo awarded novels that I haven't read. I think that sums up to 45 books which sounds doable. But maybe I'll cut that in half to be able to read all those wonderful books from this group (and others) as well.
I've always wanted to go through the Hugos as well, although it's so Heinlein-heavy, and I've never read Heinlein...
Andreas wrote: "I'm playing with the thought of reading through the Hugo awarded novels that I haven't read. I think that sums up to 45 books which sounds doable. But maybe I'll cut that in half to be able to read..."What about the Nebula? I think the Nebula always get the short end of the stick when comparing to Hugo or other Science Fiction Awards, even though I think it is the second biggest Science Fiction award out there.
To me, the Nebula award is like the Golden Globes as the Hugo is to the Oscars.
Kevin wrote: "What about the Nebula?"Nebula is the quality stuff whereas Hugo is the crap voted for by the masses :D
Another difference would be that Hugo has got a broader timespan since it started 1953, Nebula in 1965, summing up to 62 Hugos and 49 Nebulas.
But many won both!
If you want to go for something other, you should look elsewhere. Why not the Kurd-Laßwitz award? ;)
Been v v lazy I know BUT have gone with a Hot50 list of books to read next year PLUS it helps to push to the top some of the bttr seelctions from the trl!https://www.goodreads.com/list/user_v...
I WILL of course be continuing with Harry! FINALLY gonna making a start on Wool & Alex Verus series as a must, plenny of catch-up to do compared to many on some series, will be reading more of the Steampunk genre next term as well.
Good range of genres keeps it interesting.
Aye fellah, I likes to chop n change it rather than overdosing on one genre/series, keeps 'em fresh..... there again i'll likely go n read through the Dresden series next year!
My goal this coming year is to finish series. I have a big problem starting series. Liking them. But never finishing them. Reading ADD. My biggest goals are to read and finish the Wheel of Time books and Stephen King's The Dark Tower. Both series are favorites that I never got to finishing.
Wheel of Time was my first epic fantasy series. And I almost feel as though I have to finish it for closure. My goal is to read it straight thru from beginning to end. I loved the Dark Tower books. Or atleast the first four. I stopped after Wizard and Glass and never continued. Roland remains one of my favorite characters regardless. And my favorite Stephen King character.
My first series was harry potter series, then i went for sookie stackhouse and vampire mystery series after that i jumped to A song of Ice and fire and now i am reading malazan.
Mod
I mean to read Guy Gavriel Kay and China Miéville. For the first, it never seemed the right moment; and for the second I read Kraken, which wasn't really my kind of book, and I somehow got stuck there.
And I will obviously welcome any Jim Butcher and Patrick Rothfuss I should find in my way.
I wouldnt give up on China jus yet Simona cause of the Kraken, having not read it myself but recommend you give him another dash with Perdido Street Station which many say is his best, thought it an excellant read if maybe the first 150pgs of scene setting was at times "heavy maintenance"
Andy wrote: "I wouldnt give up on China jus yet Simona cause of the Kraken, having not read it myself but recommend you give him another dash with Perdido Street Station which many say is his best,..."got to go with Andy on this one, he told me to start with this one and he is correct.
Thank you, I will do that. I already own the book, it's lurking on my Kindle and trying to make me feel guilty.
So more than halfway through the year and doing terrible on my "reading goals" for the year. This is what I had: I have about 40 series to finish or continue so going to work on those. Series at the top of the list are:
Wheel of Time
Chronicles of Amber
Vlad Taltos
Dresden Files
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Shadows of the Apt
Elric Saga
Chronicles of the Black Company
And so far the only series I have continued from this list is the Dresden Files. This is mostly due to using the library instead of buying books.
I have managed to finish four series so far: Ties That Bind, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Codex Alera and Inheritance.
Revised goals are:
Read Skin Game
Read at least a couple Wheel of Time novels
Finish Farseer, Chronicles of the Raven, Chronicles of the Black Company, Magicians and Dark Tower series.
How is everyone else doing?
Mod
I also caught up on expanse and started discworld, but not Demon Cycle.
I've also made some progress on other series I had started, but started a bunch of new ones as well.
Bill wrote: "So more than halfway through the year and doing terrible on my "reading goals" for the year. "It's basically the same for me. I had a huge plan laid out of what I wanted to finish and start and then I did a lot of other things, which aren't "reading", like gaming, tv series etc.
So apart from a brief reading spree in March/April, now is only the second period of the yearm where I'm actually reading constantly and get some progress done.
My initial goal was to read 75 (haha) books this year, so far I've read only 13.
So it depends how long this reading period lasts, so I would say in the end I would be glad to end up somewhere near the 44 books I did last year.
I also wanted to try out more SF and Steampunk this year. So far I read 2 novels of both genres, which isn't a lot at all.
So I tried something new, something that works great for me since 10 years for scheduling my tv shows. I use a slot system.
So, instead of reading at only one book a day, I'm reading 3 and each is from a different genre. At the moment this works great and this technique already helped a lot with a dry middle passage of the SF novel. So, I'll guess I'll keep this up.
And I'll try not to plan too many scheduled reads and read more of what I'm in the mood for.
Mod
Rob wrote: "Oh yeah, and my reading goal was 75, and I hit that a few weeks ago."Congratz! That's already really awesome and I hope there's been a lot of great novels in those 75 books.
Mod
The Not a Book Club Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Emperor's Soul (other topics)Elantris (other topics)
Flash Boys (other topics)
Sword & Laser Anthology (other topics)
Perdido Street Station (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Guy Gavriel Kay (other topics)China Miéville (other topics)
Jim Butcher (other topics)
Patrick Rothfuss (other topics)
Jim Butcher (other topics)
Right now I am hesitating between two others huge series :
- Wheel of time re-read and completion
- Curse of the Miswraith re-read and completion.
In both cases I read the first few books in those series ( well more than a few for Wheel of time I think I read the first 9) when they came out more than 12 years ago and then I stopped before the end. I think it's time I got back to one of those...
On top of that I want to finish catching up on the fantasy authors I missed the last 10 years or so ( I used to read a lot till 2000, then read very little from 2000 to 2010 and I am back to reading a lot)so this means catching up on things like The name of the Wind.
Thirdly I want to catch up on some urban fantasy, probably catch up on the Merry Thompson books and finally start to read Dresden since it's so well recommended by most of you.
Fourthly expand my horizons in crime/mystery books ( I have the latest J-K Rowling as well as some David Baldacci to discover).
Finally keep expanding my comics and french bandes dessinees collection and delve more into manga!.
That should be more than enough to keep me busy ;)
PS : and of course read the latest entries on the current series I am following. I can't wait for The Crimson Campaign and others...