Jumpers Anonymous

[Grace Meredith]

Does anyone have a sudden urge to jump ahead in the challenge, to that one irresistible library book? This is the topic for you! Which of your books is giving you the most of a jumper urge?

[Meagan]

I received a hardbound collection of the original TMNT comic books with annotations from the creators for my birthday that I devoured on a snow day last week. So I'm counting that as my graphic novel. As for a book you can read in a day I read "The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time." It was very good, and as the main character has Aspergers, it is written at about an eighth grade reading level.

[Jody]

Me me me!

I want this challenge to be fun as well as challenging, so I'm just picking the book that I feel like reading and going with that. I've got a fair few classics/heavy books on my list, so I need to intersperse those with some easy reads so I don't get too bogged down. I do love the classics (mostly) but I enjoy something easy too - YA books are my secret pleasure.

So far I've finished books for Weeks 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 16, 20, 23, 27, 33, 38, 40, 41, 46 and I'm currently working on Week 31. I really have jumped all over the place!

[Michelle]

I'm more of a cardigan girl myself....

I am a jumper too. I have read:

1, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 26, 27, 39, 43, 46, 47, 51

So looking forward to being on schedule for the next three weeks and a few weeks after that too!

[misplacedselchie]

Aha, I did that with my mystery book. The library had a copy and it was just sitting there, staring at me and taunting me with it's book smell. Alas, I gave in ;)

[Meagan]

Jody, I just did my entire senior project analyzing themes in YA lit last summer. It was the greatest three months of my life. I'm trying to find a trilogy I haven't read yet for weeks 31-33.

[Grace Meredith]

I tend to be a huge jumper myself, so this year I'm going to try and follow a book schedule with this Reading Challengw, because I know that if I start jumping ahead, I'll eat up all the books, and then I'll just have classics. I love the classics, but I also get bogged down with them.

[Laura, Mod]

I was planning on going week by week but I've been struggling with library availability. A lot of the books I want to read are on hold so I pretty much have to read according to what is available at the time or start a book next if the hold comes through on it.

I'm reading House of Leaves for one of the weeks and it was one of the only books that I've actually ordered as a paper copy (due to the unusual format). When it came in the mail I was pretty tempted to abort what I was reading and start it. But I really want to wait until a break from school so I can really focus on it and not carry it on the train. So more practical reasons are stopping me, as opposed to trying to stick to the order.

[Ella]

I'm a jumper. When i found the challenge, it was already late in January, so i placed books i had already read wherever they fit. Then, a few weeks later, I found this group and found out that people were reading in order of the weeks. I tried to do that, but my list is all over the place because of what i already completed. Also, I'm going to jump around because of some anticipated new releases. I'm still ahead in total number of books though.

[Sigrid]

I have been a jumper all along, and I also haven't chosen all the books. I basically just find things that fit in my personal collection or in the library, and read them when I feel like it. Event though I don't really follow the Challenge every week, I find that it gives me a lot of motivation.

[Berit]

I really tried, I really did. I just cannot do this in order! I need to jump!I think I am going to take some of the books I have already read this year and plug them in to categories I haven't filled yet. I was planning on doing it in order, and doing all my side reading. Is just not working out!☺️

[Jody]

Ooh Meagan, I'd love to hear some recommendations for good YA books. As for a trilogy, it's not YA but I've just read Night by Elie Wiesel, and I believe that is the first of a trilogy. It's heavy, but an almost perfect book (in my opinion).

[.•*¨`*•✿ ✿•*¨`*•. Christine .•*¨`*•✿ ✿•*¨`*•]

I'm a jumper too :) I ready by what I'm in the mood for. I also tend to read series of books at once, so sometimes I just fit them into the categories. Also, I tend to want to get the books I know I'll struggle a bit with out of the way.

So far, I've read:

1-12, 14, 15, 18, 26, 27, 31, 37, 40 & 47

and currently reading week 30 (which I should be done today).

Picking the books that I'm in the mood for makes this a more fun challenge. I do still try to participate in the weekly discussions.

[Jody]

I'm thinking I might read my non-fiction next - I'm almost done with Lolita, and well ... I really need something different.

[Lorraine]

Well, over on the "Laggers Anonymous" thread I said that I was starting with Week 8 fresh. Giving up the previous weeks till later, but determined to finish Week 8 on time.

Sigh... nope. So I'm happy to see a "jumpers" thread because that's me. I was moving right along on my funny book, but then picked up a mystery and started that and couldn't put it down. Ended up not finish my week 8 book.

So I'm going to commit to being a jumper for the rest of the year. :p

[Rebeccah]

I've just been reading books as I find them. I'm not reading anything in 'order' (not that there is an official order'. If you put too many rules on reading, it isn't fun anymore. It doesn't matter which book you're reading, as long as you're enjoying it. This isn't a competition or a race. It's a challenge to get everyone reading things they probably wouldn't normally pick up. Just have fun doing what you're doing and don't worry if you're not on the 'right' week!

[Rebeccah]

Jody wrote:

I want this challenge to be fun as well as challenging

I completely agree. It seems like some people are taking this thing far too seriously. Just pick up a book and read it. Enjoy it without worrying which category it comes from or if you've read it out of order!!

[Ashleigh]

I started in order and have started to jump about. I'm trying to stay somewhat in order and not stray too far ahead but... it's not happening! With life going on around me, I'm reading whatever takes my interest!

What I am trying to do is complete the same amount of challenge books a month as I would if I were following strictly!

[Meagan]

Jody, I've already read Night and I'm in total agreement, it was near perfect.

As for YA suggestions, try Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce. Great reads in my opinion. I've read them both several times and I may have to use them as a book from my childhood now.

Also, the infernal devices series, by Cassandra Clare. The first three I really enjoyed, but I wish she's have ended the series there.

[Territadlock06]

I started the challenge jumping around and fitting the books I was reading into a week. but I like following the post and getting ideas from them. I just have to finish reading all the books on hold at the library. Lol.

[Jody]

I'm usually a rule-follower, but since the actual challenge wasn't 'weeked' I don't feel too bad about jumping around.

[Kaye]

You are my people...

[Ella]

I finished 3 books this week, I went back and finished 2 weeks that I had missed, and then went ahead to Week 31 because I was able to borrow that on the Kindle Lending library for the month. This week, there's a new release which I am using for a future week. Happy jumping!

[Jenna]

Yay, you guys have made me feel so much better! I was skipping around tentatively, but now I shall jump freely about!

Another incentive to jump is my recent discovery of the ereaderiq.com site. I learned about it from another discussion group here. You can import an Amazon wish list of kindle books and it will monitor for you when the prices go down (they fluctuate a lot; it provides a comprehensive price history so you can see the averages and highs and lows). Some of the books I'm meant to read around this time are at an all-time high price. It almost makes you wonder if the pricing goes up with demand, which perhaps goes up for certain types of books during certain weeks of the challenge!

[Laura, Mod]

Jenna: I've sort of wondered if demand has gone up also. It didn't seem like THAT many people were doing the challenge. But I get my books through the Ohio Digital library and I've rarely had a large problem with long holds list in the past. But some of the more popular books (Big Little Lies, for instance) and even some of the less popular ones, with few copies, have had massive holds list this year. I just figured that I hadn't notice since I hadn't had such a strong urge to read particular books before. But you never know!

[Megan]

I've been jumping since the beginning. I've taken all of my TBR books from my shelf and ordered them how I want to read them without giving any consideration to the challenge, so I just cross off whatever comes up. The problem I'm having right now is that I'm picking up and seeing new books and going 'oh that'll fit this week' but I want to complete the books I originally listed and it's tempting to rehaul the whole list but if I let myself it will change like five times before the year is up.

So far I have read weeks 3, 5, 7 (x2), 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 30, 35, 41, 44 and am currently working on week 1. Then I read a couple random books from my TBR pile, so obviously, I'm not reading anything in order. Haha!

[Peter]

I'm a jumper, but unintentionally. I'm not as fast a reader as some of the people here and have jumped around a bit due to falling behind, but also due to work and school commitments.

Originally I wanted to follow the order, but I've found that jumping around is actually more enjoyable. I find I'm looking forward to reading the books more when I jump to a category I'm interested at the time.

[Connie]

I'm completely out of order. I've read 14 of the books for my challenge and only 4 of those were for the first 12 weeks.

I blame it on the ADD. I look at the bookshelf where I house my selections for the list and just read whatever jumps out at me.

[Grace Meredith]

Yep, so far I've read 1, 8, 9, 10, 11 (trying to keep it at least a little bit in order), 17, 25, 32, 38, and 46.

[.•*¨`*•✿ ✿•*¨`*•. Christine .•*¨`*•✿ ✿•*¨`*•]

I wanted to try and get a few in order, but I tend to read series all at once. So if for example I read the I am Number Four series, the Book One was for a Book turned into a movie, Book Two was number in the title and the last book was one for Published this year. This ended up causing a lot of "jumping" around as far as weeks go, but made much more sense to me for reading flow.

[Megan]

.•*¨`*•✿ ✿•*¨`*•. Christine .•*¨`*•✿ ✿•*¨`*• wrote: "I wanted to try and get a few in order, but I tend to read series all at once. So if for example I read the I am Number Four series, the Book One was for a Book turned into a movie, Book Two was n..."

I ended up doing something similar, I asked my boyfriend to pick my next book and he chose the first in the Heroes of Olympus series and then I needed to read the rest and found myself forcing the rest of the series into different weeks because I didn't want to read that many books without having it count towards something! haha!

[Lainee]

I did the challange completely backwards. I started at the bottom of the list just to be different....

[Megan]

Lainee wrote: "I did the challange completely backwards. I started at the bottom of the list just to be different...."

Bahahaha! If there was a 'Like' button on here I'd be hitting it.

[Cait]

Lainee wrote: "I did the challange completely backwards. I started at the bottom of the list just to be different...."

That'll give you plenty of choice for the 'book published this year' then. ;-)

[Biana]

I've been working on the list pretty much week by week...only a couple weeks ahead because I get a bee in my bonnet and just read like crazy! But there are a couple that I WANT right now and some I don't want at all. (short stories? more than 100 years old? nonfiction?) I think I'm tending to skip those and just read extra on the weeks I like (one word title! mystery! friend recommendation!)

I love this challenge! It's been very encouraging to read outside of my norm. And some folks have really opened my eyes about some books I was on the fence over. Nice. Let's keep having fun!!!

[Jody]

Biana, I had a quick look through your 'read' shelf - both Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett have short story collections, so maybe those might appeal to you?

[Alina]

I'm sort of a lagger and a jumper. I'm still trying to finish reading my book for week 7 The Golem and the Jinni. It's good but I just don't have that much time to sit down and read. The other books I am finishing are mostly on audio and I listen while commuting. But I'm also a lagger as there are other books that I was able to find easier in the library. As long as I'm reading and hopefully meet my goal of reading all the books on my list this year, I'll be happy.

[Francesca]

I'm a lagger and a jumper too! I'm not a very fast reader and I get quite easily distracted by other things sometimes so it generally takes me a little while to finish a book. I'm also jumping around because there are certain books that I'm more sort of desperate to read or have the chance to read whereas there are others that I don't have around to read yet so I'm trying to read the ones I already have before buying the new ones (although I'm failing at that, I bought four new books yesterday and only one of them is in my challenge but I'm going to try and squeeze the other three in somewhere, they definitely fit some of the categories). That's the other problem I have, I keep discovering new books that I want to add to my list or squeeze on there and it's becoming tricky. I doubt I'm going to manage to read all 52 books by the end of the year but I'm just glad that this challenge has actually got me back into reading!

[.•*¨`*•✿ ✿•*¨`*•. Christine .•*¨`*•✿ ✿•*¨`*•]

Still doing a lot of jumping around with multiple reads for some weeks.

I'm currently reading a book turned into a TV show Kelley Armstrong, Women of the Otherworld Series

This series also covers the weeks for love triangle , antonyms in the title and book with magic & .

[Christi]

For the organizers of this group, assigning a topic each week gives order to a huge amount of content. It makes sense.

But for me the reader, I pick and choose my topics as I go.

I have a spreadsheet with the topics and some suggestions of books I might want to read. What I pick is based on my mood - and what's in stock at the library.

This week four books I was on the waiting list for came in. So that's what is in my reading queue now: Book published in another language, book written by someone under 30, a popular author's first book and a book based entirely on its cover.

[Francesca]

Another reason I've jumped a lot is because I got really far behind at the start of the challenge so I'm now trying to read all the slightly shorter books on my challenge list so that I can get myself caught up and then I can read the longer ones later without having to worry so much about being really far behind!

[Daisyspice]

I too felt like jumping around and reading whatever felt right at the time. I've lagged a bit behind, but some weeks I've finished two or three books so I sort of that that would at least keep me on track.

I'm checking off the categories as I read a book that fits the description and am doing so in no particular order. Maybe next year I will try to read them in weekly order so I will feel more "in sync" with the rest of the group.

[SaraFair]

Stephanie wrote: "Hello Fellow Jumpers!! I wish that I could go week by week, but I tend to be a mood reader and like the freedom of picking.... Will join the discussions, but plugging along on my own terms... :D Gl..."

I have done the same thing! When I did my best to stay true to the listed week topics, I just got too slow and felt forced. That made me unexcited about reading and that is not why I did the challenge! I then started skipping around and reading a few at the same time. Keeps with the change in my moods or what time of day I am reading, keeps my reading fun and fast. This challenge has really taught me more topics I will like to read and more about how I read!

[Christy]

I'm a jumper! I just discovered the Goodreads challenge last week, despite doing it all year. I never meant to read the books in order! I'm just having fun, reading whatever comes across!

[Grace Meredith]

Cool! I'm so glad everyone else is jumping like me, I wouldn't want to think I'm the only one! I try to stay on each week with the group just so I can participate in the discussion, but to be honest, it really just happens by chance. :)

[Meagan]

I'm on a fantasy kick right now, so I just fit into whatever week works. I haven't even been paying attention to what week I'm supposed to be on. Plus every book I've been reading it 500+ pages, so I'm in no rush

[Meagan]

I'm on a fantasy kick right now, so I just fit into whatever week works. I haven't even been paying attention to what week I'm supposed to be on. Plus every book I've been reading it 500+ pages, so I'm in no rush

[Kathleen]

I wish I could like everyone's comments on here! This is exactly how I've been feeling. I've finished about 18 weeks (can't remember which ones :( ) and it makes it so much easier and reading more enjoyable! i haven't really been able to participate in any discussions because i'm never on the same week! glad this thread exists :)

[Sarah]

I started out following the weeks, which was always my plan. I think that lasted for the first month! lol I am getting a lot of my books from the library so I read them as they come available and if they weren't on my list for this challenge I look for ways to fit them in!
The part I really like about this challenge is that I have read way more books by authors I had never thought of reading before and branched out into areas I wouldn't normally read from.

[Tanya]

I knew when the challenge started that I would be a jumper--there was no way I was going to be able to finish the 500+ page book in a week when I had several non-challenge books I had been for to show up at the library. I still haven't finished week 1 or 2! I depend on the library for most of my reading or listening material so I am subjected to the holds list variability, and I think the only time this coincided with a week on the schedule was for the Pulitzer Prize. I personally missed the deadline due to an overscheduled weekend of a activities and then a health crisis of my older daughter. Have a meeting planned with the school to work on getting a 504 due to her ongoing problems after a brain injury, but when she is symptomatic and struggling, I drop reading and knitting to tend to her medical needs. I read lots of books that are non-fiction and this challenge isn't really set up for that. But I have read about 40 books for the year and 20 qualify in one way or another for this challenge. I have modified some of the original choices I was going to read over time and this has kept the challenge fun for me and not too overwhelming. I do enjoy looking back at the weekly threads and seeing if there is a book on there that others particularly enjoyed and that I might add to my queue. I don't have a lot of time for discussion topics, but try to read on people's individual reading goals pages and comment there. I definitely enjoyed in the beginning when others would read mine and make a comment, but that doesn't happen so much as the months progressed. Do others in this thread like interjctions on their reading plan thras? Or does it feel like someone hijacked your personal thread?