+11 in '11 Reading Challenge

[Jay]

I am 5 books ahead but unlike many, my summer actually gets busier because I run a community swimming pool so my reading time gets diminished. I will basically be keeping pace via graphic novels which isn't all bad because I haven't been reading that many as of late and focusing more on regular prose novels.

[Juny]

I am 6 books ahead of schedule...getting rid of the tv was the best idea I ever had, but it also means I never know what weather will be.....

[Louise]

I'm 8 books ahead on my 25 book goal (don't know how many I read last years, but Goodreads is definetly increasing my pace :-)
With a full time jobs, two small kids and a household to run I'm reading a lot less than I used to, but I'm hoping to reach 30-35 books this year.

[Michael]

I'm 5 books behind... yikes! I'm currently reading A Game of Thrones, which I'm loving, but it's a big book, so it has slowed me down a bit. I may have to follow that up with some short books and/or graphic novels!

[Ashley]

Michael wrote: "I'm 5 books behind... yikes! I'm currently reading A Game of Thrones, which I'm loving, but it's a big book, so it has slowed me down a bit. I may have to follow that up with some short books and/o..."

I'm having the exact same problem. Game of Thrones, Freedom, and a re-read of The Passage have all put me behind on my goal. I plan to catch up with a handful of shorter books for the rest of this month.

[Danelle]

I'm all late but reading 11 more books than i read last year shouldn't be hard >.> 21 isn't a big number. I was slacking.

[Peggy]

I've not counted the number of books that I have read in a year but I guess that will be my goal for 2012. I know that I read quite a few books in 2011 but it is now almost the middle of October so I think that my goal will to read 11 books by the end of this year.

[Cory Day]

I didn't notice until recently this was on here. I actually set my goal as lower than last year's total, which was 258 (I think). So this year my goal is 200, in the hopes that a) I do more things out of the house and off the couch, b) I read a larger proportion of more substantial books, and c) I read slightly slower so as to better appreciate the subtlety of language, etc. So far I'm pretty much on track to almost exactly hit 200, but I'm not sweating it either way :)

[Jaime]

I bet I have read twice as many books this year vs last year

[Juny]

I'm two books away from reaching my goal for this year....I'm very proud. Unfortunately, I can't say I read a lot of fantastic books. My 2 favorites this year Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones and State of Wonder by Anne Patchett.

[Dawn]

Very excited that I'm only six books away from my goal! I started with a goal of 52 - then 70 - and now I'm going to make the ambitious (for me) goal of 80! Which is definitely at least 11 more than last year. And that those 80 include War & Peace, all of Tolkien, all five Song of Ice & Fire books, plus some big nonfiction makes me sure I can do a little more next year!

[Dennis]

I'm only 4 books away from +11. I think I'm gonna make it.

[Amy]

Hit my goal yesterday - 70 books so far this year! And that doesn't include re-reads.

[Dawn]

Is it cheating that at this point (three books to go) - I won't pick up anything over about 400 pages until I reach my goal? I'm dying to dig into The Last Werewolf or The Passage - both are waiting on my nook.

[Linda]

No,

And I'm not that close, Dawn. I'm so far away the only way I'm going to make it is to find more books like I discovered the other day .

Because of the volunteering I do, my past as a mother and a teacher I love children's books and find very profound delights and refuse to stop reading them and since I read them - they count!

[[deleted user]]

Dawn wrote: "Is it cheating that at this point (three books to go) - I won't pick up anything over about 400 pages until I reach my goal? I'm dying to dig into The Last Werewolf or The Passage - both are waiting on my nook."

If it makes any difference, I read The Last Werewolf (by Glen Duncan) on my nook in three-and-a-half days... It's a page turner! That should give you plenty of time to pick up two more shorter books before the end of the year :-)

[Dawn]

Thanks Tanya! I'm in the middle of two books now that I should finish within a week. Then I think I'll make The Last Werewolf my goal-reaching read for 2011! After that - anything goes!


Tanya/dog eared copy wrote: "Dawn wrote: "Is it cheating that at this point (three books to go) - I won't pick up anything over about 400 pages until I reach my goal? I'm dying to dig into The Last Werewolf or The Passage - b..."

[Kate]

I am three behind, with 11 to go....may not make it with the holidays coming up. Have been too busy and am reading The Invisible Bridge for book club which is Monday night and will be embarrassed if I can't finish it. That would be the first time I didn't complete a book in time to discuss (except for Hemingway which was on purpose:) ).

[Jessica]

Dawn wrote: "Is it cheating that at this point (three books to go) - I won't pick up anything over about 400 pages until I reach my goal? I'm dying to dig into The Last Werewolf or The Passage - both are waiti..."

I'm doing the same thing. I only have one more to go and North and South was next up on my list. I bypassed it. Kinda feels like cheating but I'm still reading :)

[Gnoe]

I'm right on track: 35 books read of the 40 planned. I've been having my ups and downs so I still don't know whether I'll actually make it... But I do know I won't let it influence my choice of books -- up until the very end at least. ;)

[Gnoe]

Dawn wrote: "Very excited that I'm only six books away from my goal! I started with a goal of 52 - then 70 - and now I'm going to make the ambitious (for me) goal of 80!"

Wow! You're not just 6 books away from your goal (probably less by now) but reached it twice already! :) Way to go!

[[deleted user]]

My original goal was 103. When I reached that, I went to 111. When I reached *that*, I went for 121 (11x11). Now that I'm there, I think I'll just round it up to 125 and see if I can't squeeze in 4 more titles before the end of the year. Those last four books will be tough though with the holidays and travel plans!

[Dawn]

Look at you go! Of course you're going to make 125! Impressive!

Tanya/dog eared copy wrote: "My original goal was 103. When I reached that, I went to 111. When I reached *that*, I went for 121 (11x11). Now that I'm there, I think I'll just round it up to 125 and see if I can't squeeze in 4..."

[Dawn]

Was looking for something in the "my books" section yesterday and realized I hadn't put a "finished" date on one of the books I read last month. I didn't even think about the fact that it would bump me up in the challenge. So it means that I'm halfway through book #80 - which is my goal!
I think I'll go with Tanya though - and maybe round up to 85? It's probably going to happen anyway. :) Then again, I do worry a bit about the possibility of +12 in '12??? I've had an awful lot of reading time this year, not sure that's always going to be the case ...

[Linda]

Tanya/dog eared copy wrote: "My original goal was 103. When I reached that, I went to 111. When I reached *that*, I went for 121 (11x11). Now that I'm there, I think I'll just round it up to 125 and see if I can't squeeze in 4..."

Envy, envy, envy.

I knew this was going to be climbing Everest for me. I broke a record last year because of a job I had and this year, so far, I'm hitting a low - because of a job I had.

Now that I am gladly unemployed, I am relishing all the great titles I haven't been able to find time for before.

[[deleted user]]

I finished my 142 book goal last night. Whew. By the end of the year I should be between 150 and 155, perhaps.

[Dawn]

I am humbled.

Greg wrote: "I finished my 142 book goal last night. Whew. By the end of the year I should be between 150 and 155, perhaps."

[Karen]

I've now completed 84 of the 85 books for my +11 in '11 Reading Challenge! However, I still have 713 pages of "War & Peace" to read in order to finish my challenge. Really want to complete this by the end of the year....

[Sandi]

I've finished 132 of my 135 books. Even with the holidays, the other 3 should be easy. I have to admit that audiobooks have greatly increased my book consumption.

In retrospect, I think that next year will be devoted to getting some longer works read that I've been avoiding. I'm just going to read and not worry about the number of books.

[Readnponder]

I've completed 144 of the 151 needed for the challenge. I think it is doable since my holidays tend to be quieter with more free time. However, unlike some of you heroic folks, I set aside War & Peace until after Jan 1 (currently 1/3 of the way through). I knew it would have to be one or the other in 2011. If W&P was one of my 151 books, I simply would not meet the goal.

[Robin]

I am 86 out of 100. The pressure is on!

[Beth]

I've read 77 of 81

[Tracey]

I've read 79 of 83...and I've been at a standstill because work and life keep getting in the way of my reading time. I'm hoping things will open up in the next week and I'll have more time.

[Melissa Wiebe]

I am at 41 of 50; about 4 books behind. Should be able to make it, but I don't know

[Jay]

I have completed my 110 books for the year so for the month of December I have set a goal of 31 comic tradepaperbacks/graphic novels in 31 days while still trying to get a couple more novels read as well.

[Julie]

Sandi wrote: "I've finished 132 of my 135 books. Even with the holidays, the other 3 should be easy. I have to admit that audiobooks have greatly increased my book consumption.

In retrospect, I think that n..."

Yes, I agree - next year maybe we should count the number of FULL pages - that would give us a better sense of comparison/accomplishment! Or is that too competitive sounding? I've got 43 under my belt for 2011, well above my 11+ goal, so I'm content.

[Janny]

Ok, I'm in. My goal this year was 45 books and I'm gonna make it. I'm quite sure it will one more maybe even two. I'll let you know.

[Gnoe]

Janny wrote: "Ok, I'm in. My goal this year was 45 books and I'm gonna make it. I'm quite sure it will one more maybe even two. I'll let you know."

Yay, good for you Janny! :)

[Janny]

Gnoe wrote: "Janny wrote: "Ok, I'm in. My goal this year was 45 books and I'm gonna make it. I'm quite sure it will one more maybe even two. I'll let you know."

Yay, good for you Janny! :)"

thx. Can read a lot since there's nothing very special on television anymore ;-)

[nancy]

I'm 4 books ahead and may finish another two before the end of the year. BOTNS and Goodreads have definitely helped me increase the amount of reading time I put it....and I love it. The challenge this year (+ 11 in 2011) was great. I read a lot of the books preparing for Booktopia 2011 and hope to do so in 2012.

[Cindy]

[I keep hitting some key and losing my post. If this is a repeat, I apologize. Getting used to a Mac after 30 years on PC products isn't easy.) My original goal of one book per week was met in early November. Upped the goal to 60 which I hit last week. Now up to 65, but my primary end-of-year goal is to finish War and Peace. Will this reading challenge be repeated in 2012? I'm retiring mid-year and expect to have more time to read. Maybe set a goal of 100 books for 2012?? So many books, so little time.

[Linda]

Cindy wrote: "[I keep hitting some key and losing my post. If this is a repeat, I apologize. Getting used to a Mac after 30 years on PC products isn't easy.) My original goal of one book per week was met in e..."

Next year, Cindy, it's +12 in '12

And I'll be glad to help with Mac transition.

[Cindy]

Thanks, Linda for the offer of Mac help. Actually I work in IT and my staff has been giving me a hard time for being too PC-centric so when my new computer came this summer, it was a Mac. Good for my character (they tell me). So by the time I retire, I will be ambi..... computerest?? I hope we can have a 12 in '12 .... if I make 65 books in '11, then that will mean 77 in '12. Sounds like a great goal. I'm planning a reading vacation just after I retire. A cottage on a lake or at the ocean ... just me and a big box of books (and my Kindle). Heaven on earth.

[Bobbi]

Cindy wrote: "Thanks, Linda for the offer of Mac help. Actually I work in IT and my staff has been giving me a hard time for being too PC-centric so when my new computer came this summer, it was a Mac. Good fo..."

Cindy, your post-retirement reading vacation is a marvelous idea! I wish you long, leisurely days beside whatever body of water you choose, a comfy chair, a cool breeze, and an icy glass of something festive beside you . . .

[Michael]

Jay wrote: "I have completed my 110 books for the year so for the month of December I have set a goal of 31 comic tradepaperbacks/graphic novels in 31 days while still trying to get a couple more novels read a..."

Nice! enjoy Jay!

[Michael]

Linda wrote: "Next year, Cindy, it's +12 in '12"

I was kind of joking when I said +12 in '12 for next year, but what do you all think? Should we do it?

I'm not sure I'll be able to do it, but I'm game to try!!

[Michael]

I'm 2 books ahead, at 59/61, thanks to three graphic novels I read this weekend. But I should finish a 500 page book in the next few days, so that balances things out!

[Rita]

I didn't post too often, but I did do +11 from last year.

I am up for a +12 challenge.

[Beth]

I'm 75% finished with my last book! My goal was to read 81 books this year. I had a very slow start-at one time I was 6 books behind-so it feels great to be 4 books ahead.

[Kate]

I've read 58 out of 64 and don't think I'll make it, but I'm not completely unhappy, as I've read more this year than in past years and I read some different types of books. I think I may keep the same number for next year and see if I can do it.