Reading Goals for 2011

[Abraham]

I have a ongoing desire to read through the entire dune corpus (including the fan fiction by his son). I read the dune canon seven times as a teenager, now twenty years later, I want to see if my view on it has changed.

[John (john)]

I read slowly, so want to spend more time reading by decreasing web and TV time. Also want to read some of the non-fiction titles that I see every year and think, "I gotta read that" but never do. And, not spend money buying a book that I haven't read a year later.

[Will]

I know I'm not going to get through all the books on my to read list. I at least want to get caught up on The Walking Dead, read The Mistborn Trilogy, and read The Millennium Trilogy.

[Brent]

my new year's resolution is simply to read more. i haven't been reading nearly as much as i used to for the past 6 years or so since i finished graduate school. i'm hoping that getting involved here with the sword and laser will help.

[Gordon]

It's certainly helped my reading. Having a Kindle has really increased my reading as well. Having a library with you everywhere you go encourages you to make use of it.

[Alexander]

Hey, people, how often do you re-read favorite novels?

[terpkristin]

Gord wrote: "It's certainly helped my reading. Having a Kindle has really increased my reading as well. Having a library with you everywhere you go encourages you to make use of it."

Indeed, but I still get into points where sometimes, I just don't want to read (my day job is an engineer so there are days where I really want nothing more than to NOT use my brain when I get home). But having the Kindle and the app for my iPhone makes it easy to read a little here, a little there, especially with all the doctor appointments I end up having (I'm also a klutz).

On a complete side note, everytime I get a GR email when Gord replies to a thread I follow, I read the title as "Comment from God." Throws me off EVERY time. :D

[terpkristin]

Darth wrote: "Hey, people, how often do you re-read favorite novels?"

Depends. I've re-read the Wheel of Time series twice in preparation for the latest entries to the series. Ditto for A Song of Ice and Fire.

I have some "old standby" audiobooks I listen to when I want to fall asleep:
Wheel of Time books
Harry Potter books, especially #3 and #5
Ender's Game
Ender's Shadow
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (read by Stephen Fry)

I re-read The Alchemist every other year or so...it helps me stay grounded. But other than those, I don't re-read books too often...mostly when a new entry to a series is coming out (I expect I'll re-read The Name of the Wind in the near future, before the 2nd book comes out).

[Eric]

My goals for the year, other than getting started, finally!, with Sword and Laser, go new years resolution, include reading The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton and I have signed up for Audible in an attempt to listen my way through from the start of Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (and Brandon Sanderson) to the end for the first time. Additionally, I wouldn't mind finally getting around to reading H.P. Lovecraft's stuff.

[Dan]

terpkristin wrote: "Indeed, but I still get into points where sometimes, I just don't want to read (my day job is an engineer so there are days where I really want nothing more than to NOT use my brain when I get home)..."

That is my problem exactly too, and anything that helps me unwind is usually what I go for after work. Playing some games sometimes helps, as long as I don't need to invest to much time learning it. I almost always have to read something before bed, however, or I won't fall asleep easily. That said, I would like to increase my reading time to get through some bigger books faster this year.

[Jared]

Darth wrote: "Hey, people, how often do you re-read favorite novels?"

Not very often, for me, but I'm really intending to get around to re-reading Shadow & Claw and Sword & Citadel this year. Enjoyed them so much, then turned to the internet and realized I missed or misunderstood so much that I'm really excited to hit it again.

[Mike]

I usually try to read 20-25 books a year, but I'm not really that strict about it. More often there are specific books or genres that I aim to read.

Here are some goals for this year:

1. Read The Name of the Wind
2. Finish The Hunger Games series (I've only read the first)
3. Finish the Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set
4. Read something with S&L. I've a read a bunch of the novels that they have chosen, but never at the same time. They have given me so many good recommendations too. I definitely want to read along with them at least once this year.

[Gordon]

terpkristin wrote: "Gord wrote: "On a complete side note, everytime I get a GR email when Gord replies to a thread I follow, I read the title as "Comment from God." Throws me off EVERY time. :D "

I read quickly but not nearly quickly enough to be a God of Reading. :) That's too funny!

[Matthew]

My goal for this year; stay on schedue. I had way too many books that I finished a month or more behind schedule and had to readjust my reads to find shorter books.

[Jason]

Will wrote: "I know I'm not going to get through all the books on my to read list. I at least want to get caught up on The Walking Dead, read The Mistborn Trilogy, and read The Millennium Trilogy."

If you have not read the Night Angle Trilogy I must also recommend you add that.

[Richelle]

Veronica wrote: "Quicksilver"

Uh, yeah...I have to try this one too. Again. For the third time...

[Richelle]

I read plenty, but my goal is to be better at recording my reading. I've always wanted to keep a book journal or something. Maybe I can use the "private notes" section here, as well as the reviews to create that kind of thing.

[Eric]

My reading goals for this year are to try to at least get one book a month read. I'm not the quickest reader (never have much time to read) and so this will be a goal I think I can reach. I plan on trying to get through the Hunger Games series, The Mistborn Trilogy and the Millennium Trilogy hopefully. I would also like to start the Wheel of Time and Discworld series since I haven't ever got around to them. Alot to read, but really looking forward to it.

[John]

Last year I renewed my love for reading after a real long drought of maybe 3 or 4 books (maybe) a year. This year I'm keeping my goal simple: Read/listen to 24 books. Any size or shape will do as long as it can be called a book (so menus and wine lists don't count).

[Will]

Jason wrote: "Will wrote: "I know I'm not going to get through all the books on my to read list. I at least want to get caught up on The Walking Dead, read The Mistborn Trilogy, and read The Millennium Trilogy...."I will add this to my list :)

[Elton]

My reading goal this year is to read all of the Hugo Award winning novels. I've read a lot of them already but it's a great chance to reread old books and find new books.

[Steven]

Having gotten to the point over the past 5 years of only reading about two books per year I'm setting out to make 2011 the year I return to doing some serious reading. I requested, and got, a Kindle as my Christmas present and I'm already just about to finish my second book since Dec 24th so things have defiantly improved!

As well as keeping up with some series I am reading (Will Adams, and I also read the first book in the Wheel of Time in 2009) I'm looking to try out a few new authors as I've been very focused in during these 5 years on mainly keeping up with Terry Pratchett! My hope is I'll be getting some excellent suggestions from everyone here over the coming months :)

[Andre]

My goal is to read about 50 books this year which should be do-able for my typical reading pace. I'd also like to read the bible all the way through once this year. I don't think I've ever read it all the way through. I'd also like to move along further on my To-Read list which mostly consists of Pulitzers, National Book Awards, Nebulas, Hugos, some Sword & Lasers, and lots of random additions.

There are three series that I'd like to keep moving too, Outlander, Dune, and Song of Ice and Fire.

[Virginia]

David wrote: "Maybe get threw Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I tried the audio book once, but it isn't the best thing to listen to while driving. Nearly put me to sleep a few times.

Really I just ..."

I listend to the entire 35 hours back when it first game out. The ending was definitely a let down. I don't recommend it as a worthwhile endeavor!

[terpkristin]

Ginger wrote: "I listend to the entire 35 hours back when it first game out. The ending was definitely a let down. I don't recommend it as a worthwhile endeavor!"

I agree! I was completely disappointed by that book.

[Kevin]

The only reading goal I have is to enjoy it all!

[Curt]

Chris wrote: "Snokat wrote: "Vikz wrote: "I plan to read as many Terry Pratchett novels as possible. Any ideas where I should start?"

Just start at the beginning, they're all good and get better a..."

Eh, lots of people have had trouble with The Color of Magic. I bounced twice before I finished it. TCoM which rolls right into The Light Fantastic are parodies of classic fantasy. Conan, Pern, Lovecraft, Faffard and the Gray Mouser all get a whack of the parodists hammer.

I generally recommend Guards! Guards! as my favorite starting point. I think it is the best first book in the four main threads of Discworld books. Small Gods is a stand alone that explains the Omnians- a major DW religion. The Wee Free Men (Tiffany Aching, #1) is another fine place to start.

Go back and read TCoM to be sure but It makes you appreciate how much better a writer Terry Pratchett got to be.

[Luis]

I'm going to try to read 15-20 books. I'm also going to try and not buy anymore books, other than maybe some indies that come out. But I don't have any specific in mind at this time.

[Michael]

Curt wrote: "I generally recommend Guards! Guards! as my favorite starting point. I think it is the best first book in the four main threads of Discworld books. Small Gods is a stand alone that explains the Omnians- a major DW religion. The Wee Free Men (Tiffany Aching, #1) is another fine place to start. "

Absolutely agree. I also recommend Mort or Wyrd Sisters depending on who I'm giving the recommendation to but the guards are my favorite sub-series (so excited about the next one).

P.S. I was saddened that when I mistyped discworld into wikipedia that there doesn't seem to be a discoworld. I feel that someone should remedy that

[Paul]

Michael wroteP.S. I was saddened that when I mistyped discworld into wikipedia that there doesn't seem to be a discoworld. I feel that someone should remedy that "

brilliant! it's obviously the homeworld of Disco Stu...

i reckon that Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic are good, but Pratchett really finds his own voice in the next few books - although I do believe some of the novels from the mid-teens to mid-twenties are best avoided - Maskerade, Hogfather, Fifth Elephent - and most of the others around that time are pretty lacklustre, then he seems to find his feet again with The Amazing Maurice, which is for my money one of his best books (and being completely stand alone can be read immediate, so go and get it!)

i expect polite disagreement, or possibly flaming...

[Michael]

Paul wrote: "...then he seems to find his feet again with The Amazing Maurice, which is for my money one of his best books..."

I'm not sure why but I think I have never actually read this book. Whenever I start it I get this weird deja-vu and I feel like I have read it but because I don't remember what happens next I assume it was boring and I stop but then it turns out that I haven't actually read it before. And now, after doing this several times, I suspect that the effect is caused because I HAVE read the beginning several times and I can't remember the rest of the story because I've never read it before.

This tour through the mind of Mike is bought to you by caffeine, lack of sleep and the letter Q.

[Paul]

Michael wrote: "This tour through the mind of Mike is bought to you by caffeine, lack of sleep and the letter Q. "

L iterally
L augh
O ut
L oud

[Anne]

My reading goal is the same as always for the past few years: Read a total of 52 books, one each week. I'm currently a little bit behind and I didn't make it each year, but it's a nice goal, doable while still challenging.

As for specific books I want to read (or re-read) the books for the Sword and Laser book club (just found it, so I was too late for Shadow and Claw). Next book on the list is definitely Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind.

I usually like a mixture of non-fiction and fiction (more fiction, but still), new stuff and classics. Throw in a comic book and some YA stuff and I'm happy.

[Gordon]

My goal is 100 for the year, and I'm falling behind fast. It's a lot of fun to try though.

[Kevin]

My goal is to 365, which averages to a book a day, but that is definitely not the case.

[Wayne]

I did a book a month in '08 & '09. Trying to bring that back this year.

[Elie]

I've still got to finish the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series. My goal is to finish it by the end of the year. I'm currently on book 7 of 10. And I read about one every few months. They are very exciting books, and I can read one through in less than a week, but I still want to resolve the story.

I also want to read Mike Resnick's Santiago and Widowmaker series'.

[Colin]

I want to finish Gormenghast. It has been mocking me for 7 years. It is my Count of Monte Cristo.

[Jlawrence, S&L Moderator]

Well, my ambitious reading goals for 2011 may be partially undone since A Dance with Dragons is actually supposed to come out -- because now I will be reading A Feast For Crows and it, which will likely bump some things off the list I had earlier. It's a *good* problem to have, though.