2024 Read All The Books 11: Prime Reading Time

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

11 years of the Read All the Books Challenge! The first two digit prime number reminds us it's prime time to read all the books on the group bookshelf! You can find eligible books here on Goodreads, by following the Ancillary Mod account or checking our public spreadsheet , updated montly. Let us know if you pass any prime numbers in your quest to read everything SFFBC!

Find all the different ways to see what's on the group shelf in Current Events.

Sign up for the challenge here on January 1st.
Personal challenge threads here.
Other challenges in Current Events.

[CBRetriever]

Ah, this one was easy to set up from my list for 2023

Haze by L.E. Modesitt Jr. = NO
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
The Stand by Stephen King
Jade City by Fonda Lee
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty = ADD

and that will wipe out all but one of my TBR pile in the group shelf

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

nice!! that's gonna feel great!

[CBRetriever]

I've been putting the Stand off for years, so that will be a big weight (albeit digital) off my chest

[DivaDiane]

I think I might try for 17! I am up to 14 for this year, but maybe I'll set the bar low at 11, and raise it to 17 if I need to.

These are the past books I'd most like to focus on this year:

The Sword of Kaigen
Reap the Wild Wind (finish)
The Once and Future King (finish)
The Vanished Birds
The Immortality Thief
The Traitor Baru Cormorant (finish)
Gideon the Ninth (finish)
The City & the City

The rest I'll leave open for the Group reads I'll inevitably want to join in on.

Tally:
1. The Terraformers
2. My Real Children
3. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
4. Ship of Magic
5. Gideon the Ninth
6. Ship of Magic (reread)
7. Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach
8. The Tusks of Extinction
9. Strange the Dreamer
10. Lonely Castle in the Mirror

[Tawallah]

Potential 2024 picks that I already owned

Aim: 12
Target reached:

Books to choose from
A Half-Built Garden
The Raven Tower
Blackfish City
Daughter of the Forest
Velocity Weapon
Cage of Souls
The Bone Shard Daughter
Recursion
The Once and Future King
Planetfall
Babel-17
Six of Crows
Too Like the Lightning
The Passage
The Aeronaut's Windlass
Seveneves
City of Bones
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Hobbit
The Golem and the Jinni
The Caves of Steel

[CBRetriever]

Tawallah wrote: "Potential 2024 picks that I already owned

Aim: 12
Target reached:

Books to choose from
A Half-Built Garden
The Raven Tower
Blackfish City
[book..."

suggestion: even though you might be tempted to read all of them, save some for next year

[HeyT]

My goal for the challenge is officially 15 to match every other year I've participated but barring reading slump/mood read insanity my goal is to actually read all the group reads for 2024 + 2 from the backlist (chosen by RNG) each month.

[CBRetriever]

oops - taking out The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and adding Alliance Space (Company Wars #2) by C.J. Cherryh which contains 40000 in Gehenna since it's part of two other challenges

[Meredith]

I'm in again. I'll embrace the prime theme and set a goal of 17 books. I'll split my reads among some I already own (which I am trying to match up with other challenges at the same time), new group picks and going back through previous years..

[CBRetriever]

and another change:

adding The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi and removing Haze

[Lance]

I'm aiming for 11 books!
They are:

Parable of the Sower
Ninefox Gambit
Caliban's War
The Fifth Season
The Ghost Bride
Black Sun
She Who Became the Sun
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Gideon the Ninth
Winter's Orbit
Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Wishing everyone a great 2024!

[Banshee]

Since next year will be a year of big changes for me, I'll try to be realistic and set a lower target in 2024: 10 books.

Most likely candidates:
Gardens of the Moon
The Neverending Story
The Final Empire
The Bone Shard Daughter
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Power
A Memory Called Empire
The Martian
The Blade Itself
The Night Circus

[Gabi]

Having neclected the group shelf for the last 2 years I cautiously try to do better next year.

I'm aiming at the titular 11 -My selection is dependent on what is available for me without me having to buy more books and might change, because some of the books are e-books and I haven't managed to actually read a book (instead of listening to it) for quite a while.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi - done 4 stars
My Real Children - done 4 stars
Way Station - done 4 stars
The Children of Gods and Fighting Men - done 5 stars
The Thief - done 3 stars
Neom - done 3 stars
Spirits Abroad - done 3 stars
Legends & Lattes - done 3 stars
The Witch's Heart
The Steerswoman
The City We Became - done 3 stars

extending to 17

The Sword of Kaigen
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
Ancillary Sword
Ancillary Mercy
Lord of Light
+ one of the next BotM

[Anna]

Nice to see you back Gabi! ^_^

(I was just thinking of you as I read the final installment in Maja Lunde's Climate Quartet.)

[Nicci]

I'm aiming for 7 books:


Nettle & Bone
Recursion
The Collapsing Empire
Witchmark
The Last Policeman
Foundation
Ancillary Justice

[Rose]

I'm not sure if I'm grokking this challenge right, hope it's ok to ask about it on this thread?

Is the idea to read books from the group shelf outside of the group reads/buddy reads? Or are they included?

And it it meant to be books you read for the first time, a re-read, or both?

And it is ok if you don't plan in advance, but just track things as you go?

Any other tips? Thanks in advance!

[Meredith]

Rose wrote: "I'm not sure if I'm grokking this challenge right, hope it's ok to ask about it on this thread?

Is the idea to read books from the group shelf outside of the group reads/buddy reads? Or are they ..."

Any read of a book from the group shelf counts, however you like to do it. Any books you read from the group bookshelf, either during the year when they are picked, or from past years are okay. We also vote for bookshelf re-reads during the year and those are additional (optional) reads. Plus, any you just read on your own count! I usually don't plan my reads ahead, I just count as I go along (though I do try to get in some that I already own). Others, as you see, plan ahead based on what they currently own.

[Rose]

Gotcha, thanks a lot!

[Kaia]

I have 13 books from the group shelf selected between the TBR and Zodiac Challenges, and I figure I'll probably read at least a few of the books of the month, so I'm going to set a goal of 17.

[Netanella]

I will set my goal for 11, and adjust up to 13 as needed. I will add my books as I go along with the year.

2024 SFFBC Read All The Books 11: Prime Reading Time

Books Read: 0/11

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[Gabi]

@Anna: I hope I'll be back for good. and thanks for the heads up to Maja Lunde. Instantly bought the 4th book, totally forgot to check ^^'.

[Anna]

Gabi I was sure you'd already read it since the German translation came out earlier than the Finnish one! In fact I avoided looking at your profile to see if you'd read it, because I didn't want my expectations to be set at any level :D

[a.g.e. montagner]

This year I read the grand (and prime) number of three books from the group's bookshelf, but I also started in late spring.

I don't usually join in challenges, but this might be easy to fill up just from the reread program.

Let's start with the Broken Earth trilogy:
01. The Fifth Season (Broken Earth #1)
02. The Obelisk Gate (Broken Earth #2)
xx. The Stone Sky (Broken Earth #3)

And proceed with Le Guin:
03. The Lathe of Heaven
04. The Left Hand of Darkness
05. The Word for World Is Forest
06. The Dispossessed

07. Babel-17 (incidentally, also a prime number) and
08. This Is How You Lose the Time War ...

Update after Q3 re-read poll, the Imperial Radch trilogy and more from Ann Leckie:

09. Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1)
10. Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch #2)
11. Ancillary Mercy (Imperial Radch #3)
12. The Raven Tower

Plus a few strays such as Ubik and Piranesi... I should be able to reach 11.

[Anna]

Excellent list of books! (Stone Sky is not on the shelf tho so won't count towards this challenge.)

[a.g.e. montagner]

True.
Besides, do rereads count in this challenge?

But I'm confident that more excellent picks will crop up along the year. After all, none of the books I read in 2023 were programmed in advance!

[Anna]

Yes absolutely! All books count as long as they're on the shelf. It depends on what your goals are, some people don't want to count books they've already read, but the fact that it's a *group* reread doesn't change anything!

[CBRetriever]

a.g.e. montagner wrote: "True.
Besides, do rereads count in this challenge?

But I'm confident that more excellent picks will crop up along the year. After all, none of the books I read in 2023 were programmed in advance!"

I count rereads if they're my first read in a different format as in first read was a hard copy and second read is a Kindle read

[a.g.e. montagner]

Ok...
That sounds complicated!

I actually haven't read any of the books I listed, apart from the Left Hand of Darkness.

[CBRetriever]

bunch of books on our shelf on the Deal of the Day on Amazon in Kindle version

Foundation
Neuromancer
Ready Player One
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Martian
Slaughterhouse-Five

[Olga]

I think that I will try to adopt a systematic and thorough approach to reading all the books from the shelf. I'm going to start with 2008 books and move on year by year.

Among the 2008 books these are the ones I really want to focus on first:
Slaughterhouse-Five
A Wizard of Earthsea
✅ Childhood's End
Storm Front
Stranger in a Strange Land
A Night in the Lonesome October
The Gunslinger

Plus I hope to read at least one BOTM and one reread each month.
Sounds pretty ambitious, but I think I can make it.

So, the tentative goal will be 30, I'll revise it mid-summer, I think.

Update. It's mid-summer and I just reached the goal of 30 books. But only one was from 2008. Hmmm... somewhere I miscalculated.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Wowza! That's an impressive goal and a delectably logical way to approach it ^^ Can't wait to see how it goes!

[Steve]

Another copy and paste of much of my 2023 list since most I didn't read!

Legends and Lattes I read alongside the group earlier this year so removed that!

Adding the Space Between Worlds and The Magician's Guild :) Will try to read 10 of these.

The Magicians' Guild
The Space Between Worlds
Nettle & Bone - T Kingfisher
Blackfish City - Sam J Miller
The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2) – Brandon Sanderson
Uprooted– Naomi Novik
Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik
A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers, #2) – Becky Chambers
The Mere Wife - Maria Dahvana Headley
Too Like the Lightning – Ada Palmer
An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon
Pawn of Prophecy (Belgariad #1) – David Eddings (finally!)
Sea of Rust– C Robert Cargill
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn #1) by Tad Williams

[Bonnie]

Olga wrote: "I think that I will try to adopt a systematic and thorough approach to reading all the books from the shelf. I'm going to start with 2008 books and move on year by year."

Love it, systematic!

The early ones I need are
Terry Pratchetts
His Majesty's Dragon
Storm Front
Wizard's First Rule

[Ivan Darryl]

Since I'm not that really much particular about different book titles, I'll only include the ones that I've already heard before and that are famous. For 2024, I'll just keep it safe and concise for now.

Sphere
Neuromancer
A Wizard of Earthsea
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Colour of Magic
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
Among Others
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Mort
The Tombs of Atuan
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia
Kindred

[Marc]

that list is remarkably similar to last year...

Oh well... * = read this year

1) Legends and Lattes - Travis Baldree *
2) Nettle & Bone - T Kingfisher *
3) A Master of Djinn - P Djeli Clark *
4) All the Birds in the Sky - Charlie Jane Anders *
5) Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky *
6) Uprooted - Naomi Novik *
7) the Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham *
8) Old Man's War - John Scalzi *
9) Boneshaker - Cherie Priest *
10) A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K LeGuin *
11) Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K LeGuin *
12) Farthest Shore - Ursula K LeGuin *
13) Many-Colored Land - Julian May *
14) Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood *
15) Six Of Crows - Leigh Bardugo *
16) Long way to a small, angry planet - Becky Chambers *
17) Jade City - Fonda Lee *
18) The Spear Cuts Through Water - SImon Jimenez *

[Aga]

I’m aiming at 12 again. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi,Legends & Lattes and Jade City for sure. And then I’ll go with the flow.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

What list is remarkably similar to last year's, Marc?

It's so nice to see folks finding beloved books every year!

[Kaa]

I was unintentionally very successful in reading group books in 2023, so I'm going to actually set some goals for 2024. I'd like to finish 11 group books again, including re-reads. I have a preliminary list of things I'd like to read, but I expect I'll end up reading at least some of the 2024 picks instead:

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
The Aeronaut's Windlass (upcoming read for another group, so this one is pretty certain)
The Forever War (re-read)
Slaughterhouse-Five (re-read)
Too Like the Lightning
Blackfish City
Mexican Gothic
Velocity Weapon
Deeplight
Alphabet of Thorn
The Last Wish

[Economondos]

Since I am a recent member, maybe it will help me if I read books that I already have - some on the TBR shelf already! If I read them all it is 29, so a prime target. Here is my list to read in 2024:

Island in the Sea of Time
Against the Tide of Years
On the Oceans of Eternity
A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
The Color of Magic Read 4/24
Mort
Guards! Guards! Read 4/24
Pawn of Prophecy
The Silent Tower
The Hobbit Read 3/24
The Fellowship of the Ring
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text Read 2/24
Assassin's Apprentice Read 1/24
The Princess Bride Read 1/24
Old Man's War Read 1/24
Those Who Hunt the Night Read 3/24
The Way of Kings
I, Robot
Foundation
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Leviathan Wakes
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Warrior's Apprentice
The Mote in God's Eye
The Lathe of Heaven Read 1/24
The Left Hand of Darkness Read 3/24
Magician

[Netanella]

Economondos wrote: "Since I am a recent member, maybe it will help me if I read books that I already have - some on the TBR shelf already! If I read them all it is 29, so a prime target. Here is my list to read in 202..."

A mix of old and new classics, @Economondos. Nice!

[Steve]

Steve wrote: "Another copy and paste of much of my 2023 list since most I didn't read!

Legends and Lattes I read alongside the group earlier this year so removed that!

Adding the Space Between Worlds and The M..."

Right, 2024 has begun! Opted for 10 from this list but if I surpass it I'll challenge myself to 15. Starting this year's reading today with Temeraire (the UK title for the first book in the same series, it isn't called His Majesty's Dragons here, ha).

[Trude]

I'm a careful creature and don't like to chew over more than I think I can swallow - besides I want to read other things as well. Therefore my 12 picks for 2024 from the list is:

The Name of the Wind; Rothfuss, Patrick
Red Rising; Brown, Pierce
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia; Le Guin, Ursula K.
Gideon the Ninth; Muir, Tamsyn
Dawn; Butler, Octavia E.
The Handmaid’s Tale; Atwood, Margaret
Station Eleven; Mandel, Emily St. John
Solaris: The Definitive Edition; Lem, Stanisław
The Quantum Thief; Rajaniemi, Hannu
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars; Paolini, Christopher
Babel-17; Delany, Samuel R.
Artemis; Weir, Andy

Except for the last, I have all the books on Kindle, Audible, or in my book shelves, so it will be a clean-up of sorts.

Good luck to the rest of you on your challenges!

(Titles with strike has been read)

Additional books read - by chance more than by planning:
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Solaris by Stanisław Lem
Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Sign up for all 2024 SFFBC challenges here.
Personal challenge threads here.
All challenges, old and new, in Current Events.

[Dj]

I am going to stick with a generic 25 and worry about the titles as I go along. It seemed to work out well last year.

[Sarah]

I'll aim for a minimum of 12. Probably what I read will end up being a mix of 2024 and past years, subject to change as I go!

My Real Children
The Terraformers
Severance
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Klara and the Sun
The Way of Kings
The Grace of Kings
Lock In
The Passage
Dune
The Handmaid’s Tale
Kindred

[Dj]

Sarah wrote: "I'll aim for a minimum of 12. Probably what I read will end up being a mix of 2024 and past years, subject to change as I go!

My Real Children
The Terraformers
[boo..."

Looks like some nice choices

[Jan Mc]

Going for at least ten of those listed here.

Across the Nightingale Floor by Liam Hearn - completed 2/1/24
Armada by Ernest Cline - completed 3/16/24
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie - completed 1/13/24
The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart - unfinished 3/5/24
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett - completed 5-25-24
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Legend (The Drenai Saga #1) by David Gemmell - completed 3/13/24
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree - completed 3/14/24
Armada by Ernest Cline - completed 3/16/24
The Power by Naomi Alderman - unfinished
The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher
The Silent Tower by Barbara Hambly - completed 6/27/24>
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell - unfinished
The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein (Kindle) - completed 6/2/24

[KelB]

2024 Read All The Books
Progress: 5/17

✅ 1. Red Rising — 1/27/24
✅ 2. Jade City — 5/2/24
✅ 3. Annihilation — 8/26/24
✅ 4. The Calculating Stars — 10/9/24
✅ 5. The Three-Body Problem — 10/31/24
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. The Power —
12. The Killing Moon —
13. Sea of Rust —
14. The Book of Phoenix —
15. A Memory Called Empire —
16. The Traitor Baru Cormorant —
17.

[Saar The Book owl]

2024: Read All The Books.
Progress: 1/15

Legends & Lattes
Piranesi
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
We Are Satellites
The Way of Kings
Spinning Silver
The Poppy War
The Invisible Library
The Bear and the Nightingale
The Night Circus
The Obelisk Gate
The Passage
The Fifth Season: finished 02/06/24.
The Girl with All the Gifts
The Golem and the Djinni