The 2012 Annual Reading Challenge - Discussion Thread! - Page 20

issybird · 02-27-2012, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Have you done Canada? Might I suggest The Grey Islands by John Steffler. Might be hard to locate, but it's been on my potential read list and will probably get read this year. Heck you could even use it and call it Newfoundland as another country. Hang the flag, it really is a distinct place within Canada. For Canada, I'm going to suggest another book I haven't read, Tropic of Hockey or On a Cold Road: Tales of Adventure in Canadian Rock by Dave Bidini. On a Cold Road was one of the books they debated on Canada Reads.

Thank you for the suggestions, which sound very appealing. Fortunately I'm not limited to only one Canadian book! I've got Ian Ferguson's Village of Small Houses on my TBR stack; have you read it? And I'm also rationing myself on Donald Jack, so I always have a treat when I need one.

As for Newfoundland, it wasn't even part of Canada until 1949? I think. When my father was in the US Coast Guard in the mid-50s, his ship had a home berth in Placentia (They did ice berg spotting.) I wish he were still here so I could ask him about it.

I think I've only read one book set in Newfoundland, Come from Away by Dennis MacFarlane, which I loved.

Kevin2960 · 02-27-2012, 10:06 AM

I'm not going to make it ... Not by a long way

Circumstances and Life just getting in the way unfortunately !

issybird · 02-27-2012, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I have read nearly all the books I've bought this year

I tend to operate on the LIFO principle when it comes to books, also. Another reason not to pull the trigger until I'm ready to read something. I'd save money in the long run.

HomeInMyShoes · 02-27-2012, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

Thank you for the suggestions, which sound very appealing. Fortunately I'm not limited to only one Canadian book! I've got Ian Ferguson's Village of Small Houses on my TBR stack; have you read it? And I'm also rationing myself on Donald Jack, so I always have a treat when I need one.

As for Newfoundland, it wasn't even part of Canada until 1949? I think. When my father was in the US Coast Guard in the mid-50s, his ship had a home berth in Placentia (They did ice berg spotting.) I wish he were still here so I could ask him about it.

I think I've only read one book set in Newfoundland, Come from Away by Dennis MacFarlane, which I loved.

I haven't read Village of Small Houses. I am sadly under-read when it comes to my own country (thoughts begin to stir on a challenge for next year).

1949 is correct. I lived in Newfoundland for three years. An unbelievable experience. I really enjoyed Annie Proulx's The Shipping News and Edward Riche's Rare Birds which both became movies. Both are a little less historical and more fictiony with the area figuring prominently into the story.

jbcohen · 02-27-2012, 10:25 AM

I appreciate other avid readers sharing their methods for keeping the prices of their books down and in exchange I will tell them how I have managed to keep the prices of the books I have bought to a bare minimum. Fictionwise seems to be a great way to hold down the prices of the electronic books. I have become warry of the rising prices of printed books so much so lately I have set a hard limit on the price that I will pay for a book no matter how good or bad it is at $6, a lot less then the going price on the NY Times bestsellers lists where the average price seems to be around $15 for a paperback.

MrsJoseph · 02-27-2012, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

I tend to operate on the LIFO principle when it comes to books, also. Another reason not to pull the trigger until I'm ready to read something. I'd save money in the long run.

That's me, too.

And I'm having a hard time getting myself to stick to lists or not buy books. My spending is starting to get out of control this year - and I've bought most of the books I've read this year...this year.

jbcohen · 02-27-2012, 10:52 AM

I know how that is here is what I have tried to do about it. I have put myself on Gold Eagle's Reader Services program where the books come to me not the other way around and Baen's bundles, between the two I have more then I can handle each month for reading. I do not allow myself to buy from anywhere else outside those two sources which helps me 1) keep the prices down and 2) limits the growth of the to be read stack. So my advice is to find one or two sources like I did and limit yourself to those two sources.

Polished off another great action packed adventure novel from Mack Bolan called Blind Justice. At the begining of the book Mack is driving his SUV when he almost runs into a police detective on the run from a group of dirty cops. Mack then picks up the fight against the dirty cops and their boss a US Senator who is attempting to cover up a high profile murder. In the course of the book Mack leaves a trail of dead bodys behind him a mile long and rubs out the US Senator.

Yapyap · 02-27-2012, 04:46 PM

I started the year with a 100 books goal, but changed it to 120 not long into January, once I realised I was well ahead of the original plan.

Even with this, I'm now 15 books ahead of schedule, as Goodreads tells me. That's really quite shocking, especially considering that I had a week in January when I was busy moving and didn't have the time to read at all.

And while a few of these have been short stories and novellas, there's also been several 5000+ location Kindle books (as opposed to my more usual fare of 3500-4500 locations) in there, with some approaching 7000 locations, so not really extremely short books.

Granted, I've been so exhausted from work lately that all my reading's been quite, well, not very taxing - so it's fast-reading stuff. But even so, I'm pretty pleased with my current rate.

faithbw · 03-01-2012, 02:54 PM

My goal is to read 40 books this year. Goodreads says I'm two book ahead of schedule but I will confess that three of those books are children's books that I read because I used them as part of a storytime project for school.

Still, I should be on schedule. The rest of the books were novels or non-fiction. The link to my challenge is in my signature.

I do want to get my TBR list down but I'm not making any promises on that front because there's always some new book out there that will grab my interest (thank you library!). Ah, where would I be without my short attention span?

Besides making my TBR list a little shorter, I also want to get some classics in this year. I didn't read any last year and I hope to read at least 2-3 this year.

paulsalter · 03-02-2012, 05:53 AM

1 book away from my initial challenge of 50 for the year (if I include shorts)

by TBR pile seems to have grown by about 200 so far this year

jbcohen · 03-02-2012, 02:53 PM

I love that reading challenge portion of the goodreads web site, go to the challenge page once and tell goodreads what your challenge is and it will keep track of how fasr behind or in front you are at any point in time. Although the ticker widgets that it hands out are too big to fit into the signature lines of mobile read, oh well I guess one can't have everything.

MrsJoseph · 03-02-2012, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I love that reading challenge portion of the goodreads web site, go to the challenge page once and tell goodreads what your challenge is and it will keep track of how fasr behind or in front you are at any point in time. Although the ticker widgets that it hands out are too big to fit into the signature lines of mobile read, oh well I guess one can't have everything.

Yeah, I tried it too but it didn't work.

faithbw · 03-02-2012, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I love that reading challenge portion of the goodreads web site, go to the challenge page once and tell goodreads what your challenge is and it will keep track of how fasr behind or in front you are at any point in time. Although the ticker widgets that it hands out are too big to fit into the signature lines of mobile read, oh well I guess one can't have everything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

Yeah, I tried it too but it didn't work.

I had to put the html code into an online bb code converter. Just google html converter and a bunch of them should come up.

jhempel24 · 03-02-2012, 04:37 PM

My personal goal is to actually put stuff, and then actually READ the stuff on my TBR, I'm going to keep it at a length of at MOST 10 books, then add another 10 once I'm done with those.

I'm really hoping to complete a couple series this year.

My to read has been dropped to 4 books at the moment, I will re-load when I finish these:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list...ead&view=table

orlok · 03-02-2012, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by faithbw

I had to put the html code into an online bb code converter. Just google html converter and a bunch of them should come up.

Your 2012 Gooreads icon takes me to my challege, not yours

.

02-27-2012, 10:25 AM	#290
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,025 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Piper College Device: Samsung A21	I appreciate other avid readers sharing their methods for keeping the prices of their books down and in exchange I will tell them how I have managed to keep the prices of the books I have bought to a bare minimum. Fictionwise seems to be a great way to hold down the prices of the electronic books. I have become warry of the rising prices of printed books so much so lately I have set a hard limit on the price that I will pay for a book no matter how good or bad it is at $6, a lot less then the going price on the NY Times bestsellers lists where the average price seems to be around $15 for a paperback. Last edited by jbcohen; 02-27-2012 at 03:08 PM.

02-27-2012, 10:52 AM	#292
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,025 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Piper College Device: Samsung A21	I know how that is here is what I have tried to do about it. I have put myself on Gold Eagle's Reader Services program where the books come to me not the other way around and Baen's bundles, between the two I have more then I can handle each month for reading. I do not allow myself to buy from anywhere else outside those two sources which helps me 1) keep the prices down and 2) limits the growth of the to be read stack. So my advice is to find one or two sources like I did and limit yourself to those two sources. Polished off another great action packed adventure novel from Mack Bolan called Blind Justice. At the begining of the book Mack is driving his SUV when he almost runs into a police detective on the run from a group of dirty cops. Mack then picks up the fight against the dirty cops and their boss a US Senator who is attempting to cover up a high profile murder. In the course of the book Mack leaves a trail of dead bodys behind him a mile long and rubs out the US Senator. Last edited by jbcohen; 02-28-2012 at 08:00 AM.

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02-27-2012, 10:06 AM	#287
Kevin2960 YODA's Uglier Twin Posts: 974 Karma: 6295251 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Leicester, UK Device: PRS-600 and 2 Kindle 3's - and now a K4 + HTC Desire HD	I'm not going to make it ... Not by a long way Circumstances and Life just getting in the way unfortunately !

02-27-2012, 04:46 PM	#293
Yapyap Guru Posts: 861 Karma: 3543721 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Estonia Device: Kindle Paperwhite, iPad 3, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	I started the year with a 100 books goal, but changed it to 120 not long into January, once I realised I was well ahead of the original plan. Even with this, I'm now 15 books ahead of schedule, as Goodreads tells me. That's really quite shocking, especially considering that I had a week in January when I was busy moving and didn't have the time to read at all. And while a few of these have been short stories and novellas, there's also been several 5000+ location Kindle books (as opposed to my more usual fare of 3500-4500 locations) in there, with some approaching 7000 locations, so not really extremely short books. Granted, I've been so exhausted from work lately that all my reading's been quite, well, not very taxing - so it's fast-reading stuff. But even so, I'm pretty pleased with my current rate.

03-01-2012, 02:54 PM	#294
faithbw Guru Posts: 618 Karma: 1526148 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: A place where the sun always shines Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Mini 2	My goal is to read 40 books this year. Goodreads says I'm two book ahead of schedule but I will confess that three of those books are children's books that I read because I used them as part of a storytime project for school. Still, I should be on schedule. The rest of the books were novels or non-fiction. The link to my challenge is in my signature. I do want to get my TBR list down but I'm not making any promises on that front because there's always some new book out there that will grab my interest (thank you library!). Ah, where would I be without my short attention span? Besides making my TBR list a little shorter, I also want to get some classics in this year. I didn't read any last year and I hope to read at least 2-3 this year.

03-02-2012, 05:53 AM	#295
paulsalter Fanatic Posts: 579 Karma: 3243761 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle Fire HD8	1 book away from my initial challenge of 50 for the year (if I include shorts) by TBR pile seems to have grown by about 200 so far this year

03-02-2012, 02:53 PM	#296
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,025 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Piper College Device: Samsung A21	I love that reading challenge portion of the goodreads web site, go to the challenge page once and tell goodreads what your challenge is and it will keep track of how fasr behind or in front you are at any point in time. Although the ticker widgets that it hands out are too big to fit into the signature lines of mobile read, oh well I guess one can't have everything.

03-02-2012, 04:37 PM	#299
jhempel24 Wizard Posts: 2,157 Karma: 7068605 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, B&N Nook Colro	My personal goal is to actually put stuff, and then actually READ the stuff on my TBR, I'm going to keep it at a length of at MOST 10 books, then add another 10 once I'm done with those. I'm really hoping to complete a couple series this year. My to read has been dropped to 4 books at the moment, I will re-load when I finish these: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list...ead&view=table

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