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Personal Challenges - 2014
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Kassandra's 2014 Reading Challenge
message 51:
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Kassandra
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Feb 03, 2014 04:35PM
Thanks Lorah! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I think this one is especially meaningful to me because I have an Uncle that has struggled like Charlie did so this gives me a little more insight. Plus, it's the first full length book that I have read on my iPad - very exciting!
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Started The Count of Monte Cristo tonight. I think I'm really going to struggle with reading multiple books at once - I'm reading the Count and all I'm thinking about is the book I started last night!
Today I finished The Beach Club, which I enjoyed as part of the chick lit challenge for this month. Part of my challenge this year is to read my TBR shelf so this marks 3/25 from my TBR.
Today I finished The Rescue from Nicolas Sparks and I really enjoyed it. The characters were what made this book enjoyable for me. I'll definitely read a few more Sparks novels (hopefully this month to tie in with our genre challenge)!
I'm sure that most people on this site can understand this problem that I'm having, so feel free to share your thoughts on how to overcome it!I have just finished up a book that I really enjoyed and it has left me in the mood to immediately pick up another. This is common practice for me, it seems. I just had a gander at my TBR bookshelf, which consists of something like 350 physical books and 20 more or so books on my iPad. I feel frozen with the seemingly endless possibilities (or 370 possibilities anyway) of what I can read next. Everywhere I look, there is a book that I want to tuck into. Normally, it takes me a couple of minutes to look around and find something that is really calling to me but this time...it's like they are all calling my name! I feel like I need to take a month off of work just to enjoy some reading time (wouldn't that be the life!?) but in reality, I just need to choose one of the many. What's a girl to do?!
I settled for blindfolding myself and randomly reaching for something on the shelf! It must be a sign - I still ended up with a Nicholas Sparks novel :)
I never know what to read next. What is available at the library is usually what I read next. I get stressed when I am on hold for several books and they are all available at the same time.
oh wow. I am not even sure how many I am allowed to have out from the library. When I get to 10 I start to think about that. My kids have had their own library cards since before they were in school because I don't want to have to worry about what they have out interfering with how many I can have. lol
Yesterday I finished At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks and I really didn't like it. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. It was really disappointing because the plot itself was really beautiful.
I think I will read more Sparks but I'm going to take a break for a week or so first. I've just started The Fault in our Stars so I'm excited to tuck into that before going back to Sparks.
Today I read The Fault in Our Stars. I'm so moved by this book, but the integrity and charm of Hazel, Augustus and Isaac. I loved it, every single page of it. I feel blessed to have read it.
I have been interested in The Fault in Our Stars, but I hear it is pretty sad. That's been my biggest apprehension in reading it.
Chase, I have had the book on my shelf for months for the same reason. I would recommend reading it. Although it is sad, it's not nearly as sad as I feared and the message you get from it is worth being sad for a bit.
It's a pretty good book kassandra. I'm glad you enjoyed the fault in our stars. I read that last year and it was awesome. now psyched for the film.
I'm really excited for the film too!
It's a really great read Lorah. I would recommend reading it before you see the film. I find that always provides more context and layers than the film can provide on its own.
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Lorah wrote: "I want to read The Fault In Our Stars, everyone raves about it and I feel like I'm missing out on a great read. I'd like to read it before the film comes out."It's a beautiful read!!! You're gonna love it so much!!!
I just updated my goal for the genre challenge for the year - I doubled it! I had set a goal of one book per month because I don't like to plan out my reading too much in advance (I'm a "read what strikes me when it strikes me" kind of girl)but I've been making some great progress so far. There are a few months where it will be a real struggle for me to even get one book in but I think I can do it.
I'm new to YA as well but have found some series (Hunger Games, Divergent, Harry Potter) to be excellent reads. Have you read any of those series yet?I think you're right - this group is really great at recommending books that I would have otherwise overlooked and end up enjoying tremendously!
I hope you do read the Hunger Games, I'd love to hear what you think about them!Don't give up on the genre yet. Like every genre, there are some poor samples but overall, there are some great reads.
I feel like I'm in the same boat. I keep trying YA, but I can't get into it as much. I did enjoy the Hunger Games, but everything else YA that I've been reading just doesnt reach the hype for me.
I finished How to Fall in Love today. This is an author that I have liked for several years now and has become one of my go-to authors when I need a bit of a pick me up. Overall, I enjoyed the book but for me, her writing has lost some of its charm. She is making it a habit to put in sub-plots that don't resolve and that annoys me.
Things have been really busy lately so I haven't had as much time to read as I would have liked. However, I gave myself an extra push today to get one more book read for the monthly totals. I finished off The Glass Castle today. There has been a lot of criticism about this book, but I have to say that I enjoyed it. There are a few themes in this memoir that, unfortunately, I have some experience with. From that perspective, it is interesting to see how other people have handled situations and in this case, how things could have ended up worse. I give the author a lot of credit for surviving in those conditions and coming through it not only successful, but level headed and humble.
March is not starting off well for reading for me. Only 2 books in and we're already 9 days into the month. I have to get back on the horse because I want to increase my goal for the year - I won't be able to if I don't pick up the pace!
I'm really struggling this month. I've only finished 3 books so far, horrible! I think my problem is that I'm not really a classics fan and I'm trying to read 3 of them at the moment. It's really slowing down my progress on the whole. At this rate, I'm never going to finish them!
Iasa, you're so right! Thanks for the tip. I'm off to read something I've had my eye on all month!
Even when I like a classic, it takes a little extra push for me to get through one. No way could I enjoy 3 at once. I'd have to go read something fun and then come back to one of them.
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that struggles Brenda. This is a learning curve for me as I've never attempted multiple classics at once. I don't think I will do it again!
I read a cute book today (Must Love Dogs 2) and it definitely got me back in the reading spirit! I really wish I could edit my personal challenge page from the mobile app tho.
3 Classics at once is a lot! I would never do more than one at a time and I normally read multiple books at once. I try to be in different genres when I am reading multiple books so that if one starts to drag I just switch to another.
That's a good idea, Roseanne. I will keep that in mind next time!
A sad number of books this month - I trapped myself by trying to read 3 classics at once and didn't adjust quickly enough in the month to make up for it. I'm going to try to play out April a little better to see what I can get done!
Thanks Lorah. Good luck to you too!
I only read 4 in march so didn't read much either. Hope to read some more this month too so good luck to both of you. :)
My current list for April includes:
I've not yet managed to stick to a list as outlined for the month, but I'm going to try to stick with this one as it gives me a good balance of genre and old vs. new books on my TBR.
I loved 'Still Alice', Kassandra, despite being one of the scariest books I've ever read. Good luck with your challenge!
Kiwi - I didn't expect Still Alice to be scary. I'm even more excited to read it now. Lorah - hopefully we will both enjoy it. Let me know what you think of it!
I finished I, Lucifer today. Honestly, I didn't love it and felt like it dragged a bit.I'm excited for all of the books on my list for April yet I have some others on my night table that are calling to me right now. Dang it, I think this is probably why I can never stick to a list in advance!
Lorah, I've already veered off course and it's only my 2nd book of the month - there is no hope for me to stick to that list! :)
Agreed. I veered off somewhere on day 1 and am only slowly starting to get to the books actually on my list now.
Hopefully you can make a recovery and get back to the list for the rest of the month, Chase!
Today I finished "Heaven is for Real" and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Perhaps what I liked most about this book is that for the first time in a long time, I was able to read a book cover to cover in one sitting. Life has simply gotten too busy for me to be able to do that lately and it feels great to have done it again. I have just been perusing my challenge and realized that while I'm doing well with my overall numbers, I'm really falling behind on my sub-challenge (to read 25 books from old TBR). I've only completed 6 as of today, leaving me with 19 to finish in 7.5 months. That's definitely possible, but it feels like it will be a struggle since I have had issues with doing planned reading. I'm going to attempt to come up with a battle plan for myself over the next couple of days to see how I can make this happen.
I finished the second book on my list for April - I'm really impressed with myself for actually getting through 2 on a list. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but I'm not one for planned reading and this is the most I've ever done!
Whew - I finally finished Treasure Island! It takes me ages to get through classics so I'm really happy to cross this one off my list. I'm thinking of increasing my target for the year. My current target is 65 but I would really love to increase that to 100 as that would be the ultimate achievement for me. I'm currently 10 books ahead of schedule but I don't think that's going to be enough to get me to 100, especially if I have another month like March. Any suggestions?
Hmm tough. I say if you want to try to for 100, go for it! It sounds like you could come feasibly close and you could always throw in some smaller books if you are a bit behind. Or if you don't think you'll get it, maybe raise in small increments like 75 or 80 and raise again later as needed.
Chase and Iasa - thank you for the great suggestions! I think I'm convinced, I'm going to raise the goal in a smaller chunk for now and re-assess in the summer.
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