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My 2012 Reading Challenge
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For my reading challenge, since I am not a very fast reader, I will stick with one book a month; with the intention of keeping up with the Sword & Laser discussions.If there is not a book during a particular month that the group is reading which I am interested in, I'll throw in one of a couple below
The Hunger Games
The Dragon Reborn
Cryptonomicon
Blood Rites
The Way of Kings
We'll see how I keep up over the year!
I said that I want to read 20 books. I'm not the fastest reader, so I think a lot of those will be graphic novels.
Will wrote: "I said that I want to read 20 books. I'm not the fastest reader, so I think a lot of those will be graphic novels."Wow, a lot of people are going to dislike you for doing that because many do not think Graphic Novels as books, as I have read a lot at the end of last year, and people hate me for that.
The Writer and Critic announced in their last show that they'll be reviewing House of Leaves and Infinite Jest next December, since I've just finished House of Leaves my one and only goal for the year is to read Infinite Jest.I've thrown 52 down as my challenge number, because I can make it easily and I don't want to stress myself.
Kevin wrote: "Will wrote: "I said that I want to read 20 books. I'm not the fastest reader, so I think a lot of those will be graphic novels."Wow, a lot of people are going to dislike you for doing that beca..."
Kevin if anyone hates you because of a reading challenge they really need to get their priorities straight. However, it seemed like people had less of an issue with your graphic novels and more of an issue with you counting multiple editions of the same book. Either way you and anyone else can do the challenge however they like. If people are going to make a big deal about it that's their problem.
Jenny wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Will wrote: "I said that I want to read 20 books. I'm not the fastest reader, so I think a lot of those will be graphic novels."Wow, a lot of people are going to dislike you for d..."
No, there are people who finds kids books like picture books or graphic novels are really not books, since they take less time to read.
Kevin wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Will wrote: "I said that I want to read 20 books. I'm not the fastest reader, so I think a lot of those will be graphic novels."Wow, a lot of people are going to d..."
My point is, you, Will, and anyone else should be able to do the challenge however they want. If other people don't agree that's their problem.
Jenny wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Will wrote: "I said that I want to read 20 books. I'm not the fastest reader, so I think a lot of those will be graphic novels."Wow, a lot of people ar..."
I agree!
Won't be participating, because this year I am undertaking a video game challenge. :)
Been wrote: "Doing the Goodreads reading challenge last year was fun, but it felt a little empty by the end. As I mentioned in the 2011 reading challenge topic I ended up passing over books I really wanted to ..."Yeah I am with you. I put down 36 as a rough goal for 2012, but I more concerned with knocking off at least half of the 20 books that I have on my 'To Read' list.
I noticed a couple on your list are first books in trilogies. In ascending order of magnitude those are:
The Golden Compass
The Blade Itself
Ship of Magic
City of Golden Shadow
The last one is actually a tetralogy that runs 3,500+ pages. Good luck :)
My goal this year is 52 books.My side-goal is to read (or at least attempt to read) every S&L pick. Even if I think it sounds stupid, I want to give each choice at least 3 chapters (and finish it if I like it, give up if not).
My goal is 25 books and I am going to try to have at least five of those be non fiction. That was the goal last year as well and I only ended up reading a couple non fiction books, so I guess we will see.
AndrewP wrote: "Been wrote: "Doing the Goodreads reading challenge last year was fun, but it felt a little empty by the end. As I mentioned in the 2011 reading challenge topic I ended up passing over books I real..."Yeah, I'm not sure if I'll end up reading the whole series or not (I probably will if they're all as good as people say), but I want to read at least the first one to get a taste for the author's style. I've probably given myself a challenge some 45 books long if I read every single one of them though...
I set my goal high -- 100 books! I bought myself a Kindle over the holidays and found it improves my reasonably fast reading speed quite a bit. That, coupled with my newfound penchant for quick reads like romances, mysteries, and YA, I think I can definitely meet my goal. I'm also trying to knock out a bunch of scifi/fantasy classics that I missed along the way, using top 100 lists and recommendations from friends.Most importanly, I'd really like to keep up with all the 2012 S&L picks. Always wanted to be in a geek book group! ;)
I increased my goal to 50 books this year. Last year was 30 and I read 43. I have started to place books on a wish list that I would like to read. I'm trying for a wide spectrum of books. I'm monitoring the discussions for books that I might not have read otherwise.However, one side part is continuing to read all the Doctor Who books I have in order. I had stopped for a couple of months, but need to pick it up again. Won't finish them this year that is for sure.
Last year my goal was 50 books and I comfortably read around 60ish so I set my goal to 75 for this year. I did quite a few re-reads because I broke my kindle(I've learned my lesson) and didn't replace it for half the year. So my extra-goal this year is to not accidently break my kindle and to only count books I haven't read before.
...I have way too much time on my hands, and I read pretty fast, so my goal is the same as what I upped it to last year. 175. (Like I said, way too much time on my hands.) I cleared that easily last year, so I don't think it will be a problem, but I have every intention of adjusting if my free time situation changes. ^_^;But really, my bigger goal is to read more Japanese language books. I'm shooting for at least 5 this year, and not putting one aside and letting it sit for several months like I did last year.
What a great thread!I know how you feel, I stepped into the same trap last year (even with very short novel-quickies it was impossible to reach my goal, though, but I tried). So I have a few must-reads for 2012:
Damned by Chuck Palahniuk
I normally devour his books and this is one of the three I haven't read yet.
Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron by Jasper Fforde
This and the "Last Dragonslayer" books, cause I love this guy. I've met him and read all of the Thursday Next books. Hope he never stops writing.
3 books in French
This is conveniently vague. I haven't read enough French books last year and I only noticed a while ago at work when I had to take care of a French customer, how rusty I'd become. So, I'm saying 3 novels in French and I'd love one of the to be part I of "Les misérables"...
1 book in Swedish
Yep, gotta keep up with the languages I study. This'll be a children's book. Astrid Lindgren, maybe. Or another of Paddington Bear's adventures (I have all of these in Swedish, "inherited" by a Swedish friend)
More Science Fiction:
Hyperion
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Ringworld
Snow Crash
The Windup Girl
Stranger in a Strange Land
More Stephen King:
Well... I got almost all of his books on my new Kobo, so I'll just work my way through.
Man, I wanna read so many more like the "Mistborn" books and some German Fantasy by Bernhard Hennen and of course, I'm in the middle of a Harry Potter reread (I'm in Goblet of Fire right now). It's gonna be a long 2012. :)
Kevin wrote: "Wow, a lot of people are going to dislike you for doing that because many do not think Graphic Novels as books, as I have read a lot at the end of last year, and people hate me for that."People get annoyed at the strangest things! Let's see: paper, ink, bound together. Yep, looks like a book to me. I confess I sometimes to read graphic novels if my concentration is a bit low, but that could equally be said for a lot of fiction. I'd say there's more substance to many graphic novels than to a lot of the 400 page books you see in the best seller lists.
This year I've set my target number at 104, the same number I read in 2011 and four over target. I was tempted to increase it but I plan to do more writing.
For the first time I am actually planning some of the books I intend to read, other than some new releases I'm aware of (Angelmaker and Black Opera). I've joined the Book Addicts 12+2 challenge (a book a month, with two alternates, all chosen from books you've owned for at least a year to try and eat into the TBR mountain). Mine are:
The Winter King
Black Dog
Antarctica
Furnace
Dead Air
The Shockwave Rider
Being Dead
The Intruders
Nathaniel's Nutmeg
Cosmos
The Secret River
On
Mapping the Edge
Darwin's Radio
I also intend to carry on with a few series I've started and have fallen beside the wayside, such as Gwyneth Jones Albion books.
I've set my Goodreads goal to 25, though my real goal is to cut through a lot of the unread books I have in storage. Most haven't even made it to my to-read shelf here yet. In order to do that, I have to cut back on purchasing more though, which is where the real challenge will be. I will be purchasing the Memory of Light when that comes out though. That's already on the exception list!
Mod
The Neverending Story
Hyperion
A Canticle for Leibowitz
The Name of the Rose
Paprika
In the Night Garden
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
Sophie Scholl and the White Rose
Kaputt
Dubliners
Heir to the Empire
Neverness
Below the Root
Cloud Atlas
Garden, Ashes
I'm creating a '2012 Reading Challenge' goodreads shelf for these.
I signed up for 40 books this year, but SWTOR is already eating into my reading. Then again, it's getting me interested in the SW books which are very quick reads too so it might work out. :)
Jlawrence wrote: "I was 22 shy of my 2011 Goodreads Challenge goal of 60, and don't think I'll do that "reach this total" kind of challenge this year. I really like the suggestion here of making the 2012 goal a lis..."Read Hyperion first! :D
Bree wrote: "Read Hyperion first! :D "Hyperion is good, but Name of the Rose and Cloud Atlas are two of my favourite books
Paul 'Pezski' wrote: "Bree wrote: "Read Hyperion first! :D "Hyperion is good, but Name of the Rose and Cloud Atlas are two of my favourite books"
I really liked Name of the Rose, too, but it didn't have a murderous time-traveling knife monster in it.
Mod
Hyperion is good, but Name of the Rose and Cloud Atlas are two of my favourite books...."
Well, this is how nerdy my approach to Hyperion is going to be: I want to re-read some bits of the Canterbury Tales before I read it (it's been a long time since that college course ;) ).
I put up 150 for my reading challenge (not as bad as it seems, I'm sure I read at least that much a year). I'm gonna try to read all the S&L picks I think (I really need something to break me out of my rut right now, I keep reading the same basic thing over and over) the problem here is that I am a highly distractable reader, and as such have problems sometimes when things get boring or I don't like them.
My other challenges
Read Songs of Ice and Fire, none of my friends can actually believe that I haven't read these yet
Read Lord of the Rings ditto (strangely I love and keep up with Shanarra which in the beginning was a poor copy of tolkien) no promises though, I have been attempting this about every 18 months for the past 15 years.
Finish all the books on my kindle that I am at like 50-80% (there's about 30 of them, sometimes I just get distracted by something else)
And re-read the death gate cycle (lost the paper books in a flood years ago, miss them)
I'm planning a Mayan challenge, reading 10 books on the theme of the world ending before the 21st of December.I've created a shelf for the challenge (http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...), but haven't picked the ten books just yet.
I'm also considering a Dragon challenge, as it's the Chinese year of the dragon, but haven't decided whether I will or not yet.
I just remembered I have to reread the whole Wheel of Time series for the last release, I'm waiting on a release date for Memory of Light to plan when I'll need to start that.Haven't even looked at Infinite Jest yet.
My reading list this year consists mostly of re-reading series that have books coming out this year (The Wheel of Time, The Gentlemen Bastards), some China Mieville (pretty much everything other than Perdido Street Station and The Scar), The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and a few others here and there (Blood Meridian, Midnight's Children, some Gaiman). All told, there are 35 books in my liste
Is there a way to filter what the goodreads site challenge considers a book? I guess I don't consider something long enough to be apart of the challenge if it isn't at least 200 pages long. Anything shorter feels like cheating.EDIT: Guess I shouldn't care. I'll probably read more than a few 1000 page plus books which should make up for the shorter reads.
Hey, how are people doing on their reading challenges? I had some moments of doubt about hitting 100 books this year, but once I got into the swing of it, I seem to be staying on track. I think I'm even a book ahead of schedule! It definitely has taken some intentional setting aside of time to read, though . . .
I wish I had time to read 100+ books this year! But two little kids and a full time job...yeah, I set my challenge number to 20 books.
Nick wrote: "Is there a way to filter what the goodreads site challenge considers a book? I guess I don't consider something long enough to be apart of the challenge if it isn't at least 200 pages long. Anyth..."One way to work around it is to put the "Finished Reading" date in a different year. If you're really pedantic about wanting all the correct dates then set them to something like 1901 for the year (but same day and month) and put them on another shelf to remind you to change them come 2013.
I've finished 7 books already this year, but only one of them was from my reading challenge listed in the first post. I'm currently going through The Golden Compass, and with the way it's going I expect I'll be finishing the entire series before starting another book.
What an awesome thread - picked up some more titles to add to the ever growing list on goodreads of TBR. I'm only getting back into reading over the last couple of months and am a slow reader but with the aid of audiobooks (which I listen to about 2 hours a day - thanks daily commute!) I've set my goal at 40. S&L picks, more of the Wheel of Time audiobooks, Bryant and May series (again in audiobook) and the rest I could easily make up from to-reads on my book shelves!
Last year I set myself the challenge of 75 books and just sneaked over the line, but I did not start until mid Feb. This year I have increased it only slightly to 80 books and initially had a great start to the year. Part of the problem is that I am trying to mix fiction and non fiction and find that non fiction takes me so much longer to read. I need to find another Dresden files type of series as these were both highly enjoyable and I could on the kindle just quickly move from one to another.On that point I believe the only reason my book count is so high is that I always have something else to read on the Kindle or can get it very quickly. This prevented the situation where the beginning of the book takes a while because you are getting your reading muscle in gear. you then hit top speed and find that you have finished the book. Previously unless I had brought books in blocks I would then waste a few days either waiting for delivery on until I went to the book shop. With the kindle no sooner do I finish than I start another book. Top speed for longer.
I wish Goodreads had a Page Count challenge. They give you your page count in the stats section... I set myself a page count goal since I am reading A Clash of Kings and I also want to read Reamde, and I think at 900 pages those should each count as 2 normal sized books. Someone reading 52 books at 900 pages each has a much harder challenge than someone reading 52 books at 450 pages each (twice as hard in fact!)
My goal is 7000 pages (~20 pages a day - I'm a super slow reader).
Nels wrote: "I wish Goodreads had a Page Count challenge. They give you your page count in the stats section... I set myself a page count goal since I am reading A Clash of Kings and I also want to read Reamde,..."If you click on "My Books" -> "Stats" (next to the search bar in the upper-right) then you can view how many books AND pages you've read each year. You may not be able to set it a number as an official challenge, but there's no reason not to go ahead and set an amount for yourself anyway.
Fight the power, break out of the mould, etc, etc.
I think it's kind of amusing to use the page numbers stat to figure out your average book length.
I've been keeping my own booklists since 1988 . . . um, yeah.What I've found is the average book length, for me anyhow, seems to be around ~320 pages give or take.
Makes sense since most novels (and yes, there are lots of exceptions) seem to clock in around 100,000 words, a bogey I think publishers use for return on investment vs publishing costs of paperbacks.
With the advent of e-books though that number is likely a thing of the past, though maybe it still applies?
I like to set myself a goal of at least 20,000 pages/year. Nailed it or better most years.
The only problem with the Goodreads page count is that if you pick the e-book edition it's usually shown as zero pages. Some, like the current S&L read The Lies of Locke Lamora, show an incorrect number of pages for the kindle edition.
I managed to beat my goal last year of 50 books by 4, so I figured 60 would be a good number this year. Although somehow I have managed to read almost half of my goal in the last couple months, so I might need to re-think my number...
Nels wrote: "I wish Goodreads had a Page Count challenge. They give you your page count in the stats section... I set myself a page count goal since I am reading A Clash of Kings and I also want to read Reamde,..."To add to the pain, I have a four book set of A Song of Ice and Fire. I am somewhere in Clash of Kings, but it will only count as one book! Makes me look like I'm way behind, instead of just behind.
Will wrote: "I said that I want to read 20 books. I'm not the fastest reader, so I think a lot of those will be graphic novels."That is exactly my goal as well. If you get any hate, send 50% my way, I'm doing the same!
Kate wrote: "The Writer and Critic announced in their last show that they'll be reviewing House of Leaves and Infinite Jest next December, since I've just finished House of Leaves my one and only go..."House of Leaves is my all time favorite book. It blew my freakin mind.
I have started Infinite Jest a few different times and just can't get into it.
This is the first year I've kept track of the number of books I've read, so I decided to shoot for 100. I'm only at around 13 so far (a couple of books behind) but my average length is more than 400 pages...so I still feel pretty good about myself. I think the challenge for me is to resist temptation to read books that are really quick just to try to make the goal.
75 books for me this year and I expect it to be easy to meet. I tried a 100 book challenge last year, but gave it up when I found myself not reading for pleasure, but reading to make the monthly quota.I'm (secretly) hoping to read a lot of epic fantasy this year.
Patrick Rothfuss
Brent Weeks
Robert Jordan
Glenn Cook
Peter V. Brett
Joe Abercrombie
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Infinite Jest (other topics)The Lies of Locke Lamora (other topics)
The Golden Compass (other topics)
Below the Root (other topics)
A Canticle for Leibowitz (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Brent Weeks (other topics)Patrick Rothfuss (other topics)
Joe Abercrombie (other topics)
Robert Jordan (other topics)
Peter V. Brett (other topics)
More...
Storm Front
City of Golden Shadow
Ship of Magic
Skulduggery Pleasant
Cryptonomicon
Dune Messiah
Speaker For The Dead: Ender Series, book 2
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
1984
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Golden Compass
The Blade Itself
Anyone else got any books this year they want to make a point of finally getting down and finishing?