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Darren's "Shelf Clearing" 2017 Old & New Challenge
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Oh nice to hear about the 5 stars. This one has been on my shelf for a long while.
finished Porterhouse Blue - very funny, 4 Starscurrently reading Therese Raquin - going well so far...
September is The Time Machine, which I may even finish in September! :oO
October will be A House for Mr. Biswas which I have been putting off for ages, but am now looking forward to!
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Great progress Darren. I have to put Porterhouse Blue on my list. I need to read more funny books!
Progress!Therese Raquin - I'm sure this was groundbreaking/shocking in 1867 but not enjoyable for me - 2 Stars
The Time Machine - Small (actually wanted it to be longer!) but perfectly formed - 4 Stars
so (don't panic!) I am on track, and don't even have to start A House for Mr. Biswas for a couple of weeks if I don't want to :op
Wow, you've caught up?! I'm just falling further and further behind. LolI should probably be less ambitious in the planning stage.
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it's my Personal Challenge ("The Sensible 60") that is woefully over-planned/under-read ;o)it was dragging this OANC down with it, but I seem to have at least managed to "uncouple" them, so that this one is looking healthy!
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Glad you've managed to uncouple this from your personal challenge and catch up. Sorry to hear that Therese Raquin wasn't enjoyable, I'm yet to try it.
Zola's writing itself was very good though, so will try more - probably La Debacle or Germinal...but in 2019 at earliest ;o)
La debacle and Germinal are both better than Therese Raquin, which I thought was okay, but dark.
Competition is intense wrt "Author More" slots in my planning ;o)e.g. there is only one author (Paul Auster) that I read in 2016 that I planned to read another book by in 2017 (although a few have crept in by virtue of group reads: Huxley, Hemingway, Elmore Leonard, Shirley Jackson)
a two year wait is actually quite good - I have a shed-load of authors from 2016 (and 2015!) that I'll only be getting back to in 2018 (Kafka, Conrad, Nancy Mitford, Le Carre, Bulgakov, Eugenides, Iris Murdoch, Orwell, Chandler, Calvino, Woolf, DeLillo, Pynchon, Angela Carter, Graham Greene, Magnus Mills, Jeanette Winterson, Gaiman, Austen, Dickens, Dostoevsky, Jim Thompson, Willa Cather, Twain, Wodehouse), and they're the ones I was keen on in the first place!
tbh 2019 is filling up fast (won't bore further with that list!)
so Zola will more likely be looking at 2020...
You are organised! LOLI only plan for a year at the time, otherwise I would despair at the reality of how many books I'm unlikely to get around to in the coming decade. Or lifetime.
although planning for 2018 is effectively complete, I haven't actually started planning 2019 yet (honest!)
but I do have a colour-coding system in my spreadsheet (oh yes) which allows me to easily see which author-mores are lurking...
:oD
Actually, that idea I like. I sort of know what authors I'd like to read more of, or all of, but I should really make colour coded lists! Because... lists! :D
Wow. I have a hard enough time picking tomorrow's reads, let alone 2 years from now!
Darren, you are an inspiration. Your color-coded spreadsheet sounds like so much fun! Hmm. The fun of planning versus the despair Leni speaks of. Such decisions ...
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I place books that I am going to read next on a certain shelf, and then keep adding others anyway. Now I have started making mental and physical lists, which helps a bit. Of course, I keep going to the library anyway.You are an inspiration, Darren, planning two years in advance. Good luck on your plans.
Colour coding I like the sound of, I colour code my reading spreadsheets, but don't plan years ahead! Talk of 2019 or 2020 authors, that is some dedicated planning. I like the sound of all the authors you mention, many are personal favourites or people I've been meaning to read myself.
Melanti wrote: "Wow. I have a hard enough time picking tomorrow's reads, let alone 2 years from now!"Ditto!
At the moment though, various group reads (from various groups) are planned or have already started that I want to join in on, so my reading plans are currently a little more structured than usual. Which is exactly why I joined this and other groups :)
(Personal challenges?? Forget it!)
so, I finished reading A House for Mr. Biswas over a month ago(3-Star btw - very well written, but more memoir-y than novel-y)
I then gummed up my "Main Gutenberg" slot with Tale Of Genji and Woman In White, which I have had to admit defeat on finishing in 2017...
and so finally (today!) started Of Human Bondage...
hopefully can still finish both that and Père Goriot such as to complete this challenge...
Are you, like some record collector's, a "completest" with any authors? I don't mean authors that have only written 5 books, but authors with 10 or more that you just feel compelled to read everything. If so, which author's books have you, or would you, read all of?
Tammy - good question!strangely, although I generally have a "collector's" mindset, I've never felt desperate to "complete" an author
I like to vary what I read too much to "overdose" on one author
in the past, the only authors I've "prioritised" like that have been Iain Banks and Philip K. Dick
but my more recent reading has pointed me towards a few that I have every expectation of (eventually!) working my way through their "oeuvre":
Magnus Mills
Murakami
Conrad
Auster
DeLillo
Pynchon
Elmore Leonard
finally finished Of Human Bondage - not overly impressed - probably should've picked something else (shorter!) as my first Maughamanyhoo... 5 days to finish Père Goriot and this Challenge will be DONE! ...
I love Goodreads and I am glad it is filled with people who make reading plans! I saw your author (more) and other categories in your personal challenge last year, and tried to do something similar, but new books and authors seem to catch my eye like shiny objects and my list expands. There are so many books I want to read, and authors, and challenges, it's just ridiculous. I have a spreadsheet somewhere that I prefer not to look at! So instead I bungle about, one year at a time and try to spread my attention evenly between competing reading interests. I was so glad to find this site, because I used to have paper lists and paper scraps reminding me of books and authors I needed to not forget.
Planning into 2019? Awesome.
planning for 2018 started in July and was refined through 5 successive WorksheetsI despaired as various times
the turning point came when I hit on the idea of the "Yellow Rectangle" - which involves surrounding a fixed number of cells (to contain the books slated for the upcoming challenge) with yellow-filled cells and then invoking a "zombie-attack" scenario - in which titles vie to remain safe within the rectangle, while other possible titles mill around the outer edges and try to break in!
anyone who can understand the above method is free to use it! ;o)
Darren, this definitely wins the award for most creative book-choosing strategy. And the more I think about it, the more I like it ...
I don't understand it -- but I love it! I love that you get into your planning that much, Darren!! I hope you enjoy reading as much as you enjoy planning!! ;) Happy 2018!
I don't quite see how the yellow triangle works, but I love it. LolIn my mind now I have this animation where your book titles turn each other yellow but can't get past a perimeter fence. Whatever works works!
Leni - rectangle not triangle! ;o)and yes, a perimeter fence a la Day Of The Triffids!
here is a screenshot:
Ah, yes, rectangle makes more sense from a spreadsheet point of view. I was wondering how you managed the warning triangle. Lol!
Day of the Triffids! The cult classic spoofing cult classics! Your post gave me a good out loud laugh, Darren.
Thanks for the graphic! I still don't understand it, but it looks like you had fun figuring it out. Also, Day of the Triffids is now on my TBR! ;)
Oh I like the spreadsheet! I have one too but a bit different, and a database of my books, and lists too - I am a geek after all :0)Being curious - what did you say about Triffids? I really liked it and ended up reading quite a few of John Wyndham’s books
the Triffids thing was just what I remember from the film, with an electrified perimeter fence holding them back.meanwhile, my 2017 Old And New Challenge is complete!
Of Human Bondage slowed me down a bit, but I flew through Père Goriot (excellent btw) to finish up all 12 with 1 day to spare!
overall I am very happy to have cleared these 12 titles from my TBR list
most were pretty good, with 2x5-Stars: Maltese Falcon and The Red And The Black
my 2 reserves (Odyssey and Portnoy's Complaint are carried over to "definites" in my 2018 O&NC
Darren wrote: "the Triffids thing was just what I remember from the film, with an electrified perimeter fence holding them back.meanwhile, my 2017 Old And New Challenge is complete!
Of Human Bondage slowed me ..."
Congrats, Darren!!! Job well done!!!
Congrats on finishing your challenge, that's a great achievement!
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
Père Goriot (other topics)Père Goriot (other topics)
A House for Mr. Biswas (other topics)
Père Goriot (other topics)
Of Human Bondage (other topics)
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Porterhouse Blue is next up for July
and August will be Thérèse Raquin...