2015 Reading Challenge [Closed] discussion
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Laggers Anonymous
Fellow lagger, here. I did join late, which is a good excuse, but I still hate being behind. I feel like I'm late turning in homework! I'm currently reading for weeks 4,1,and 2.
Yes and no. I feel behind, but I think for the most part I am on track. Though I kinda give up on my choice for week 1 at nearly half way through. I just couldn't take it anymore. So I guess not finishing that one technically puts me behind :/
I just caught up yesterday, otherwise I'd been behind since week 2
Well . . . I'm technically always going to be behind, since I skipped the first week; unless I double-up later on in the year, which is possible, I suppose. I don't see the challenge as a new year resolution or anything else to succeed or fail at. I see it as simply a way to focus my reading interests more, to stretch my reading practice just beyond my current comfort level, and maybe find a few like-minded people out here in the "interwebs." I'm not competing (and I don't think anyone else here is, either).
Yes, that would be me. I *know* it's all supposed to be fun, and I *know* it's not a competition, and blah blah blah... But still, my competitive nature wants to read each book during each week. Or at least catch up at some point! lolI'm STILL working on "Pride and Prejudice" (week 2) because I don't really like it. And I'm STILL working on "The Hobbit" (week 3) because I've been so busy this past couple of weeks and haven't had much time to read. And "The Bookshop Book" is my week 4 book and it hasn't even arrived yet! lol (last I checked the tracking it was in West Virginia with a delivery date of February 22... I'm in Virginia and I could *walk* to WV and back in less time than that, so who knows...)
Anyway, When I first realized that "The Bookshop Book" wasn't going to get here by week 4 I thought I could use the time to finish the others. But I haven't finished them. lol.
My week 5 book is "A Tale of Two Cities". I'm doomed. roflolol
So far the only book I've finished is my Week 4 book... and that was finished during Week 1. Haha. I'm still working on Weeks 1-3. I know I'll get at least one of them finished this week, and I'll get caught up on the rest soon. But it is a little frustrating being behind.
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Beth, I wasn't meaning it as a competition and that is why I had behind in quotations. This was meant to be a fun little thing for whoever may be coming in late or even reading out of order.I finally finished The Princess Bride, go me! And I'm nearly halfway through Gone With The Wind now. I may start week 5 early or skip to whichever week I picked Water For Elephants for ;)
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Laura, I am really enjoying it. At first I was having a hard time because Scarlett can be super annoying, but I am loving watching her change and grow. I am about halfway through now.I have heard a lot of good things about Water For Elephants and, to my understanding, it is a NaNoWriMo book so that is a done deal. I picked it for the week with a love triangle :)
I am both behind and not behind, lol. I started doing the Challenge before I joined this group, so the books I've been reading have not been in numerical order. In terms of following along with everyone else, I have only managed Week 2. I have however, already done Weeks 5, 6, 23, and 40. A part of me wants to catch up with everyone else doing Weeks 1-4, but another part of me would rather read according to my mood, heh heh.
I am behind about two weeks.I'm trying to do the topics in order and I'm reading slower then I usually do.I am confident I can catch up soon though
Lorraine wrote: "Yes, that would be me. I *know* it's all supposed to be fun, and I *know* it's not a competition, and blah blah blah... But still, my competitive nature wants to read each book during each week. Or..."Oh my - I can understand as I too had a difficult time with Pride and Prejudice. The writing was tough to get through and frankly I thought it was boring. I thought The Hobbit was going to be a quick and easy read but it was difficult too- maybe all the characters? I liked the Hobbit movie much better than the book.
I joined late so I am very behind & I'm also doing the challenge out of order. My friend who I'm doing it with has a small child & a newborn so for her to read 1 book a week is out of the question. I don't want to jump ahead of her either. I'm almost onto a third book! Yay. This challenge will no doubt move in to 2016 for me! Considering I never used to read I think it's a good effort for me!
I am a bit behind as far as this group . I won't be for long though. I do read a lot. I am in a couple of different reading groups and am such a reader I refuse to read a book and count it for more than a one group read. Hence 52 books here and 52 in the second group plus the last readathon where I read 2 plus (finished that that third one0 and what I will read during the National Readathon I will have read well over 100 books during 2015.
Hello Everyone!The only book I finished is the book for Week 5 so I am behind by four weeks.
Lou, over 100 books. WOW. Good luck with that.
Maria I read everyday and I have a book within feet of me all the time. I have been doing this since a youngster so I will probably exceed that before the end of the year. I am just fortunate that unfortunate circumstances allow me that mych time with books. I am a stay at homer who helps care for an autistic great grandson and an ailing husband, so a lot of quiet and or down time.
Lou, Oh I see. What other challenges are you doing?
I was keeping up pretty well until week 3. Then I kinda started reading other books I had checked out of the library and forgot to read the ones for this challenge! This did stress me out a little but then I realized that I had still read 8 books in January and I might be able to put some of the on the list for this challenge later on. I am stuck on week 5, I am 73% done with 1984 and I am not sure I will finish it at this rate.
I've done the same thing Sarah. I held a few books I knew I wanted to read as well as ones for the challenge at the library, and unfortunately I keep getting books out of order. But I'm enjoying myself when I find the time to read.
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I was doing good after I finally got Gone With The Wind out of the way....and then the library didn't have a copy of Red Rising available. /sighs.
I have fallen behind, week five was 'The house of the Seven Gables' and I am still trying to get through it, but I'm finding it tedious and amazingly easy to do anything but read it, I have only started week six 'The Bell Jar' and have two days to read that but I'm already enjoying it so who knows I may get there. I'm going to keep picking up each week and reading the older ones as I go along, hopefully I will get caught up before I have to read a big book, these are only little ones.
I was a bit behind in week 3, but I read week 4 quickly and caught back up. Now weeks 5 and 6 are kicking my butt. I'm struggling with both of them.
I'm lagging too, a little, and jumping around. I had a crappy January, plus my Week 1 book was Moby-Dick which, although I absolutely loved it, was a fairly laborious read.I'm also skipping Week 4 for now, as I'm waiting for a bigger selection of 2015 books to be released.
So far I've finished Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7 (hmmm, I see a pattern there!) and 27. And I'm about 80% through my Week 2 book.
Ok Ok I know I have been lagging, or so it may seem. We have ben having some fierce weather here in the great Northeast. I even lost the internet, not due to weather but due to water main breaks. LOL I have had 3 in the one square block in my neighborhood this past week. The first of whick took out some of the underground cable, hence no internet. During this time of being homebound I finished many of the books I was currently reading. I will be posting and getting my reviews in this evening with any luck. Missed the group a whole bunch!
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Just joined this group about four seconds ago, so I'm waaaaayy behind! I don't even have a fully formed list yet and I don't know if I'll be able to read the books in the "proper" order. I've never been one for doing things in order, whoops...So, hey y'all, just popping in to help everyone feel better about how behind they may be! At least you've all gotten somewhere!
Laura no I am not in Boston. I am in the Capitol Region of NY. We are not as bad off as you but at my age I am having a bit of difficulty with the weather this year. Old bones I guess. That is along with wondering if heat will go ot etc. have a working fireplace but cannot use it as husband is on oxygen. Fire and oxygen wont mix. At least that is what my school science taught me. LOL Then wondering if the water will go out while repairs are made and a hubby who wants his tv while I am on internet makes for a frustrating time. I want to shoot a ground hog! What genre would you put that novel in? LOL
Raeann wrote: "Just joined this group about four seconds ago, so I'm waaaaayy behind! I don't even have a fully formed list yet and I don't know if I'll be able to read the books in the "proper" order. I've nev..."hahahaha Raeann, I joined this group way back in the beginning and I *still* don't have a fully formed list. lol. :p I figure I'll work on it bit by bit as I get closer to a particular week. I can't commit myself to some titles because I know I'll change my mind once I see suggestions and ideas from other people here.
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I joined a few weeks ago but put more time into picking books than reading them! I'm not doing mine in order but I'm on my second book, The Call of the Wind, almost finished, I think it'll be The Rosie Project, Peter Pan or The Hiding Place next....
Laura wrote: "Lou: We've gotten an incredible amount of snow and are struggling with some public transit woes but I think people may blow it out proportion. Some have struggled with power outages and roof collap..."Laura, isn't it fun being in Boston this time of year? Haha. You're right that it's more of a nuisance than a real problem most of the time, but it gets pretty annoying.
I have been able to use some of my snowed-in time to get some extra reading done, though, which is nice. Still, I'd give anything to see Spring right now! :)
Lorraine wrote: "I can't commit myself to some titles because I know I'll change my mind once I see suggestions and ideas from other people here. "I think that will end up being a challenge for me, too! There are just way too many good books out there, and sometimes you end up more motivated to read the cool new book you just found out about than the one you've been planning on. Silly humans! ;P
I was doing good, but then other challenges and book commitments got in the way.I was planning on doing this all in order, but that is not going to happen. I will try to stay as close to the order as possible, however I do not want to drive myself crazy! :-)
Me!! My first book was Tess of the D'Urbervilles and it nearly put me off reading for good - I actually AVOIDED my kindle. I was already way behind so skipped week 2 (Wuthering Heights) as I just couldn't face another 'classic'Can't even remember what week I am on but its The 39 Steps for the number in the title. I'm not finding the challenge as fun as I thought I would as the books are very different to what I would usually read, which was my aim really. Not got a full list yet either and might start reading a bit out of order just to make it a little easier on myself.
Susan, if I were you I would just find books you want to read and fit them into the categories. I am not a fan of the classics, and if they turn someone off from rating, that is a really bad thing. There are so many really amazing books out there worth reading. :-)
Susan-If you really want to use classics, maybe give audio versions a try. I find I get bogged down in the print versions of certain books thanks to really long, detailed descriptions, but the audio forces me to focus and I can do mindless tasks around the house at the same time.
Berit, I think this is what I will do. I have now decided I too am not a fan of the classics :)I still have some on my list. I'll see what happens x
Audra, I have tried audio before and I find I don't listen, my mind wanders. The hardest part about Tess was the language. I had to really concentrate on that which took away from the story somewhat. ...
I totally agree with Berit, Susan - if you aren't enjoying them, don't read them. :) That is, I think, the beauty of the challenge. You really can tailor almost all of it to your own tastes, excluding a few weeks. I actually love reading the classics, but even so I can't read them back to back as they usually take a bit more of my occasionally limited brain power to read.
Okay, I'm throwing in the towel on weeks 1-7. lol. Tomorrow starts week 8 and I'm going to start that book and leave the others that I haven't finished. (I have finished a few weeks so it isn't every week from 1-7 that I've lagged!) Then I'll go back and work on the unfinished weeks little by little. But my goal is to start off this new week with a clean slate, and to do my best to keep up!
Susan, at least you know it doesn't work for you. :-) Luckily, there are thousands of other books out there that are probably more enjoyable. Best of luck!
oh! How good each of you have made me feel...I am lagging behind...reading something now that I cannot decide if it even fits in a category...but the book was calling me from my shelves...A Circle of Wives by Alice LaPlante...mmm mmm good...anyway...kudos to each of you for making me realize that lagging behind is ok and I am not alone in my lagging...
I have decided not to read in exact order. I have not yet read anything for "published this year" and "books with nonhuman characters" but saving them for later for various reasons (mainly other group challenges I'm in; but I've decided what to read for them). But I've completed weeks 11-14, 27, 37, 41, and 43 already, so not that much behind.
I can't get through Outlander (my week 2 book), and I'm still reading a couple of other books. I'm definitely behind. Hoping to catch up in the next few weeks.
I am definitely behind, and sad about it. I really did want to do the 2015 Reading Challenge, but to find time to read anything more than a text message is really a challenge in my life right now. So far I have only sort-of read one book for Week 1 (The Book Thief, 500+ pages) and made no progress at all towards any of the others. I am a bit bummed out about it. Hopefully soon I can get back on track!
Hey I wouldn't beat yourself up about it! Reading is supposed to be fun, and life happens.
Jenna wrote: "I can't get through Outlander (my week 2 book), and I'm still reading a couple of other books. I'm definitely behind. Hoping to catch up in the next few weeks."Don't worry, Jenna! First of all, you started with the most massive book ever! :-) Second - I, too, ran up against a book I just can't deal with right now, so I had to skip it and I plan to go back later once I have finished more books. I am not behind on the challenge so far - but I have had to rearrange the order of the books/weeks because I've had the flu and some of the literary fiction I had planned was just too intense with my flu-addled mind!
2015 Reading Challenge [Closed]
Books mentioned in this topic
Pride and Prejudice (other topics)1984 (other topics)
The Hobbit (other topics)
Atonement (other topics)
Gone with the Wind (other topics)
More...
Yeah, right now the only one I finished so far is Elantris. I'm currrently (in a semi-frantic state) reading through Gone with the Wind and The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. And I am totally skipping Week Four right now (but that is a matter of principle really).
So who else out there is "behind"? It is okay, don't be shy ;)