2025 Reading Challenge discussion
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What to Expect in 2015
The excitement is starting! I can't wait to see the new challenges and themes. It was a slow year for me. I'm still 20 books under my goal, 10 books (2500 pages) under my last year achievement. I still can catch up a little but I won’t make it. :(I can’t wait to do better next year!
Thanks for the update, Kara! Yay for new challenges in the new year!!!
Looking forward to participating in the new year challenges!
One thing you can do to help is vote on which challenge you would like to see brought back next year. We'll have a lot of new ones, but we're going to keep a couple from this year.https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...
I only need to read 9 more books this year to reach my "goal" of 140. It's always exciting to start planning for the new year and to have new challenges!
Oh this year has gone so fast! What seems like last month it was "what to expect in 2014" and before that "what to expect in 2013".I'm very excited for the new year and new challenges, even if it feels like they've come so soon. :)
Sharon wrote: "I only need to read 9 more books this year to reach my "goal" of 140. It's always exciting to start planning for the new year and to have new challenges!"well done on your effort so far Sharon. It'll be a great feeling I bet when you've managed to achieve your goal.
I wanted to say how much I've enjoyed this group and I'm excited for another year. This is my first year and I was wondering if our members corner page gets archive or is it on going?
The corner gets archived, and you can create a new one. After the new folders are created, if you'd like to keep using your 2014 one instead, we can move it over for you.
I'm really excited about this change! I came here a month ago, so I decided not to start any challenge or request for an own corner... but I'm waiting for 2015 to do it, and start every single challenge I can apply for!
I can't believe that 2014 is basically over!I don't even have a clue as to how many books in 2015 I should read..
2014 was a difficult year for me. Lots of stress that really got me out of the reading groove. While the stress is gone, I haven't been able to get my reading groove back. I haven't kept up with my corner, updated challenges and am behind in my overall goal. Here's hoping for a rediscovery of books for 2015.
I found it very hard to choose which challenge I wanted to bring back. I loved the Listopia, Randomizer and the Monopoly challenge, even though I didn't keep up with updating them, I really enjoyed them.
It is nice to have this group to come back to. I too am determined to get out of this funk. I need a good 5 star book :)
Glad to know I'm not the only one whose experienced something like that. I, too, am hoping 2015 will be better for me as far as reading & books goes!
Jodi wrote: "It is nice to have this group to come back to. I too am determined to get out of this funk. I need a good 5 star book :)"Good luck, Jodi - I don't want to confuse this thread with recommendations, but our ratings are mostly fairly similar for books we've both read and I just compared my read books with your TBR books (https://www.goodreads.com/user/compar...). There are several that I've given 5 stars to that you have yet to read, so maybe you might find something that takes your fancy there...
Oh thanks so much Kathryn! I will take a look at your list and try to plan out some upcoming reads.
Not that I'm stalking you two, but I took a peek at that list of books, and I concur on all of the 5 star ratings! I'm sure you'd like any or all of them, Jodi.
Claire P wrote: "Not that I'm stalking you two, but I took a peek at that list of books, and I concur on all of the 5 star ratings! I'm sure you'd like any or all of them, Jodi."Good to hear, Claire!! Having said that, sometimes you can just be in the wrong headspace for a book that someone else (whose opinion you trust) might love... So no pressure, Jodi!
Kathryn wrote: "Claire P wrote: "Not that I'm stalking you two, but I took a peek at that list of books, and I concur on all of the 5 star ratings! I'm sure you'd like any or all of them, Jodi."Good to hear, Cla..."
That's true, Kathryn. For all I know, Jodi might love genres that we don't.
Just out of curiosity, I compared my books with Jodi's, we have very similar ratings on most of the books we've both read, just as you and I do, so she'll probably enjoy some of those great 5 star books we've read.
That is so good to hear Claire. I am reading a big book right now but when I am done, I will check out your book list too. Thanks!
I'm excited for 2015 I'm hoping I can read even more books than I had a chance to this year and keep up with some awesome challenges
2014 was crazy for me but a one good thing that bring me is to come back to my reading habits, I already complete my challenge of 50 books and seems I can do some more this month!!! And to think that last year I only read around 12 books!!! The challenge and the groups had been very motivating to me to catch up in my old good habit, can't wait till 2015 new opportunities.... Hope everybody keep to their goals, and even if is not possible to finish (happen to one of my challenge) still a great motivation....
So glad to know this group will continue in the new year! I just discovered Goodreads in January of this year and this was one of the first groups I joined. The people in this group were so great and encouraging and I found the challenges really helped me reach my goal of 100 books for the year!
Awesome, Caro and Kelsey! I'm glad that this group helps keep you on track for your reading goals.
Brianna, I believe we have 10 yearly challenges in the works, which we will continue to post as we get closer to 2015.
Still hoping that the Read Women or the Listopia challenge will be renewed for this year.
I think we will have the results from the poll soon. We know some will be back, one of them will surely make it in. Let's wait and see!
I can confirm that the returning challenges will be Listopia, Randomiser, and #readwomen. :)These will be posted last because most members will be familiar enough with them already.
Very happy that they will be returning. Thanks.
I was going to give it a bit of space before posting the member corners folder, but then I thought, why not? A lot of you are signing up for some of our 2015 yearly challenges, and surely you'll want to track those somewhere. Here you go! Add your 2015 members corner here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
I love the 2015 yearly challenges you've set up. I think that I'll stop at 2 though. Between The Complete Works Challenge and the Favourite Genres Challenge, I already have 65 books to read. Thank you, Mods, for all your work on this. It should be a great year!
We always get an influx of members at the end/beginning of a new year. Our current total is 4,118. By the end of the month it will probably be over 5,000! Our group is growing fast - I was wondering how long I had been a member (knew it was a while) and my profile said I joined December 15, 2011. Only 12 people have been in the group longer than me. Welcome to all our new friends!
Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Between The Complete Works Challenge and the Favourite Genres Challenge, I already have 65 books to read."Of course I choose books I can fit in as many challenges as I can... :-)
Has a "read across the country/world" theme ever been done? I thought I saw something where each book is set in a different state, but I thought a challenge where you pick a book written by an author from each state or country(example, Stephen King is from Maine). Might get some people reading authors they may not have picked up otherwise.
One of my personal challenges is to try to read books written in different languages, translated of course, along with books from different countries. I think the last time I counted I had them in over 15. Now I would only have to read them...
Kara, I would like to keep my folder from 2014 and just add to it
Is it too late to suggest a yearly challenge? What about: The Long Book Challenge
Many challenges subtlety encourage the number of books over the number of pages, and this could influence readers to chose shorter books - “I don’t have time to read an 800 page novel if I want to meet my goal.” So instead of pushing to read more books, try to read books with more pages.
This would be a challenge for people who want to read: War and Peace (1273 pages), The Count of Monte Cristo (1276 pages), A Suitable Boy (1476 pages), or Clarissa (1534 pages). Of course, what constitutes a long book is open for interpretation. A 1,000 pages would certainly fit the bill, but it might be too daunting, and there aren’t that many books that long, so perhaps scale it back to 800 or 700 pages being a long book.
Many challenges subtlety encourage the number of books over the number of pages, and this could influence readers to chose shorter books - “I don’t have time to read an 800 page novel if I want to meet my goal.” So instead of pushing to read more books, try to read books with more pages.
This would be a challenge for people who want to read: War and Peace (1273 pages), The Count of Monte Cristo (1276 pages), A Suitable Boy (1476 pages), or Clarissa (1534 pages). Of course, what constitutes a long book is open for interpretation. A 1,000 pages would certainly fit the bill, but it might be too daunting, and there aren’t that many books that long, so perhaps scale it back to 800 or 700 pages being a long book.
You're right Greg! Our challenges do make us focus on books quantity.I've been in a funk because I'm at 29 books from 48 I intend to read. I'm even 7 books under my last year achievement and I feel miserable about it. Then I look at my stats, and when I look at pages read, I'm not so far behind last year. I've read the entired Song of Ice and Fire's series this year, and though it made me late on my "number of books" challenge, I'm not doing so horrible with my number of pages. Though I feel like I read less, I might still read more than last year.
Greg wrote: "Is it too late to suggest a yearly challenge? What about: The Long Book Challenge..."Greg, I've read War and Peace, but have been considering a re-read. The Count of Monte Cristo and A Suitable Boy are on my TBR list. After reading your note, I added Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady to my TBR list, too.
I would definitely join a Long Book Challenge, whether it be an annual or quarterly challenge. If it doesn't happen, perhaps we could set up something in the Buddy Reads section?
We love this idea, guys! In fact, one of the challenges we'll be doing in 2015 is called "Let's Turn Pages" which will focus on number of pages rather than number of books.
Brenna wrote: "Has a "read across the country/world" theme ever been done? I thought I saw something where each book is set in a different state, but I thought a challenge where you pick a book written by an auth..."Brenna, a couple years ago, we had a challenge that had people read books from authors from as many different countries as possible. I'm sure we'll bring it back one day.
Tasha wrote: "Kara, I would like to keep my folder from 2014 and just add to it"All set!
Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: " If it doesn't happen, perhaps we could set up something in the Buddy Reads section? "
That might be a good idea in any event. Perhaps a quarterly Buddy Read of a really long book?
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I'm probably going to forgo officially forgo counting books, or, maybe, just drop the number by 25%, and indulge in longer books. I’ve got three 39 hour to 46 hour audiobooks queued up and a 1,000 page history of immigration, an 800 page science fiction novel, and a 700 Civil War novel ready to go, so I think I’m going to be in this thing one way or another.
Kara wrote: "We had a challenge that had people read books from authors from as many different countries as possible. I'm sure we'll bring it back one day. "
I was going to suggest something like that. Only make it a group effort to read an author from every county - there are a few hundred. A reader gets to claim a country as completed, first come first served, until all the countries are done. It might make things a little competitive as two people can’t be the first to claim France, for example. And it may be challenge in and of itself to find an author from the smaller countries like Vanuatu.
I like the page count challenge. I hope audiobooks will count: I suppose you would just look up how pages the audiobook is worth and add it to the total.
That might be a good idea in any event. Perhaps a quarterly Buddy Read of a really long book?
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I'm probably going to forgo officially forgo counting books, or, maybe, just drop the number by 25%, and indulge in longer books. I’ve got three 39 hour to 46 hour audiobooks queued up and a 1,000 page history of immigration, an 800 page science fiction novel, and a 700 Civil War novel ready to go, so I think I’m going to be in this thing one way or another.
Kara wrote: "We had a challenge that had people read books from authors from as many different countries as possible. I'm sure we'll bring it back one day. "
I was going to suggest something like that. Only make it a group effort to read an author from every county - there are a few hundred. A reader gets to claim a country as completed, first come first served, until all the countries are done. It might make things a little competitive as two people can’t be the first to claim France, for example. And it may be challenge in and of itself to find an author from the smaller countries like Vanuatu.
I like the page count challenge. I hope audiobooks will count: I suppose you would just look up how pages the audiobook is worth and add it to the total.
I am really looking forward to this long book challenge! Might have to lower my goal as well to account for that. I am planning on reading the Wheel of Time series next year so probably a good idea to make it a bit smaller to account for that!
Greg, I'm sure audiobooks would count. In one of my other groups, the page count for all books is the most highly rated English print version to keep everyone on an even playing field. In other, you report the one you read, with audiobooks and eBooks using the page count for most rated English Mass Paperback, Paperback, or Hard Cover, in that order as available. I use audiobooks all the time, with many well over 20 hours.Kelsi, I've read 11 of the 14 books of the Wheel of Time series and plan to finish early in 2015. I'm also on the 4th book of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust and will finish that early in 2015 as well.
2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The 19th Wife (other topics)The 19th Wife (other topics)
The Executioner's Song (other topics)
War and Peace (other topics)
The Count of Monte Cristo (other topics)
More...
Here's a rough schedule:
November:
- 2015 themes posted here
- Start posting yearly challenges (these will be posted one at a time over the span of a few weeks to give everyone a chance to read through them)
December:
- Create the new folders for personal challenges and member corners
- Post January challenges
- Post Q1 challenges
First week in January:
- Change group name
- Archive 2014 threads
We're really excited for 2015 and hope you are too! Let us know if you have any questions.