2021 Reading Discussions

[Milena]

Alicia wrote: "I’m reading count of Monte Cristo too!!! But finally had the baby so everything is going to switch to audio at least for the rest of the year"

Congrats, Alicia!

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Congratulations to everyone who is finishing, or even close to finishing! And if life intervened (like a new baby!!), that is perfectly fine too. Nobody posts your grades here or judges the participants. Most of use end up reading more than we would have if we didn't have the challenge, which is great.

[Alicia]

I just noticed this year's Goodreads Awards don't include a Picture Book category. Anyone know why?

[Kendra]

Alicia wrote: "I just noticed this year's Goodreads Awards don't include a Picture Book category. Anyone know why?"

According to Goodreads, they 'consolidated' several of the categories that didn't get as many votes - so they just have one category for kids - picture & middle grade all rolled into one. They also got rid of the cookbooks and the science & tech categories.

They used the 'only a small number of users used this feature' excuse to get rid of the write-in round too.

[Alicia]

You’re right, I forgot about the science & tech category.

That’s too bad. They may not be as popular as others, but if people are voting I don’t see the harm in keeping them. Seems low stakes for them

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

That was my thought too Alicia... especially with the write-in round, which made members feel like they had more of a say in the nominees.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Hello everyone! Mod question: Do y'all like the one thread for the entire year, or would you rather a monthly thread like we did in 2020?

The monthly threads got a bit annoying when a conversation was happening and had to stop to switch months, but I feel like people participated more in the monthly threads than the year-long one.

What do y'all think?

[Jillian]

I’d like to go back to the monthly thread but not have them be locked.

I stopped posting because I generally had more to say at the end of the month rather than the end but since it would just get locked I stopped. I got behind with the yearly thread and did not join after the start of the year.

[Pam]

I like the monthly thread since you could either post about what you are planning to read or look back on the month and reflect on what you had read. The month in the title is a good reminder to check in. Otherwise, it’s just a “What are you reading now?” thread, which is easy to overlook.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Good feedback, thank you!

[Bana AZ]

Jillian wrote: "I’d like to go back to the monthly thread but not have them be locked.

I stopped posting because I generally had more to say at the end of the month rather than the end but since it would just get..."

I agree with this. Monthly but not locked.

[Ray]

I need to side with Reed and finish the books I already have and haven't read rather than buying more books xD

[Ray]

How is everyone's reading challenge so far?

[Reed]

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[Bana AZ]

Ray wrote: "How is everyone's reading challenge so far?"

Sooo behind. I've only read 34 books and would need to finish 18 more to complete the ATY challenge. So I'm personally only aiming to finish 40 books total (just 6 more to go), but even that seems like a stretch, unless I only read short stories. There are only 7 days left of 2021!!!

[Ray]

Almost there Ana! That's still a great amount of books read though! Being a little late to the challenge I'm glad I still got to a decent goal, I started in September and managed to read 11 books when I started my goal at 4.

[Pam]

I’m glad to have finished the challenge a few weeks early and now doing some free reading. I plan on starting reading for the 2022 challenge on Jan 1, with no pre-reading with one exception - The Count of Monte Cristo, which I still have ~500 pages to go! That’s like 2 books. Does anyone have their first book of 2022 picked out?? I’m planning to start with The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper and Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I finished the challenge twice over this year and have read more books in 2021 than I ever read in a single year, which is wild to me. I feel like I've been in a slump the last few months since moving homes, but I guess audiobooks really saved me.

Pam, I've been agonizing over what to read first in 2022. I'm doing the challenge in order, but I'm not super pumped about any of the books I have lined up for prompt 1, and I put so much pressure on myself about the first book of the year being AMAZING. I'm thinking I'll read The People We Keep for prompt 1, but I'm undecided if it will be my first book of 2022 or if I'll do a side read first then start the challenge after.

[Chrissy]

I’ve got ONE book left to finish the challenge, but a different book is due tomorrow at the library so it jumped the line! Tomorrow is Jólabókaflóðið - lots of reading time. I should be able to get through most or all of that final book, Hollow Kingdom.

[Jillian]

Overall, I did great with reading, 122 books and I hope to finish 3 more. I hit a bit of a slump this summer and just read a lot of easy kindle unlimited books which set me back on some other groups challenges. It is going to take me through January to finish them. Starting in January I have quite a bit of academic reading to do so the ATY challenge is really my only planned challenge until the summer.

[Pam]

Emily - It's so funny the things that we agonize over! Next year, I'm focusing on doing group reads in a classics group so my reading will be driven partially by their reading schedule.

I don't know how anyone reads 100+ books a year but congrats to those of you who do, plus everyone, regardless of how many books you read, who participated in the challenge this year! I have 2 recently published books that I finished in December and highly recommend - The Lincoln Highway and Cloud Cuckoo Land. I have one last book I plan to finish this year - Roadside Picnic, a Soviet Sci-Fi classic.

[Milena]

I have not yet decided what my first book of 2022 will be, but I do want it to be something fun.

[Ray]

I'm currently starting my book for 2022, it's Crescent City: House of Blood and Earth by Sarah J. Maas. I decided to get a head start on it not only because I was eager to read it but also because it having over 800 pages it's gonna be a minute before I finish it hahaha

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

I also read way more books than ever before, even than 2020, which was way more than before. I have done the ATY challenge twice in 2020 and 2021 but next year I think I will only do it once and then make up a challenge list from rejects that appeal to me. (Sometimes the prompts that appeal to me turn out to be the hardest ones to fill!)

[Bana AZ]

I have The Kite Runner for the first prompt of 2022 (Character with A, T or Y in the name), but who knows if that's really the first one I'll read. It's been on my TBR for ages though, so I would like to tackle it.

[Joyce]

This year I did a Bottom Votes Challenge of the thirty books that were eliminated by coming last in the vote. It was no harder than the regular challenge apart from “A book involving getting ‘the band’ back together, either literal or figurative” which required a bit of a cheat.

My first book for 2022 will be Stay Another Day because it’s Christmassy and I didn’t want to wait until next year’s holiday season.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

For those of you looking for some discussion,

Best books of December: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Goals for 2022: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Best Books of 2021: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

End of the Year Survey: https://forms.gle/t1z9MuD8uW91SdFi6