The 2013 Annual Reading Challenge - Discussion Thread!

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I would probably use the standard "week numbers" in my calendar app just so that I have something automatic to tell me which week number it is.

In my case, I use Google Calendar and they show week 1 as Monday, Dec 30th through Sunday, January 5th. Outlook appears to show Week 2 as the week starting either the 5th or the 6th depending on how you have your calendar setup (Sunday or Monday starts the week).

Another friend of mine also suggested starting on Monday - 1. To start towards the beginning of the week (so easy to track) and 2. To keep the weekend intact like Rev. Bob mentioned.

I use the Apple Calendar since it syncs between my iMac and my iPhone. I did not see an option to count the weeks.

[DrNefario]

You don't want to be reading exactly one book a week, surely? You'd need a lot of similarly-long books. You'd just want it average out to that rate. I've just read a book that took 3 weeks followed by a book that took 3 days (and which completed the last of my sub-challenges. Yay!)

I like the idea of having smaller separate challenges, that might not even last a year. It feels a bit more flexible. Two of mine run on into next year anyway, and there's another award list I want to add. I think I'll go without an overall target again in 2014.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

You don't want to be reading exactly one book a week, surely? You'd need a lot of similarly-long books. You'd just want it average out to that rate. I've just read a book that took 3 weeks followed by a book that took 3 days (and which completed the last of my sub-challenges. Yay!)

I like the idea of having smaller separate challenges, that might not even last a year. It feels a bit more flexible. Two of mine run on into next year anyway, and there's another award list I want to add. I think I'll go without an overall target again in 2014.

ITs just a goal. I've been falling short, especially when adding add'l challenges, so I wanted something simple for next year.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

So, I haven't done well with my reading goals the last two years and I've decided to make it as simple as possible for next year: 1 book a week; 52 books for the year.

As usual, my OCD tendencies have kicked in and I'd like some advice...
Should I start counting my weeks from:

Wednesday, January 1st to Tuesday, January 7th
or
Sunday, December 29th to Saturday, January 4th

Sunday to Saturday is easier to track, but Wednesday to Tuesday is more "correct". Either way I get 52 weeks therefore 52 books read.

[this is x-posted on my 2014 thread @ GoodReads]

I think I'm with @DrNefario on this one. As long as you read (at least) 52 books next year (this was my challenge this year, actually) then surely the start and end of the week doesn't really matter? If you really plan on reading one a week, then finish it in two days, would you have to wait until the start of the next week before being able to read your next book ?

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by orlok

I think I'm with @DrNefario on this one. As long as you read (at least) 52 books next year (this was my challenge this year, actually) then surely the start and end of the week doesn't really matter? If you really plan on reading one a week, then finish it in two days, would you have to wait until the start of the next week before being able to read your next book ?

No not at all.. My goal is to keep reading throughout the year. Using the week, and a total of 52, helps me set perimeters for that goal. If I happen to go over that, then Yay, more power to me!

[Yapyap]

I'm now officially just one book short of my 120 book goal for this year. I think it's safe to say I'll make it.

Instead of raising the goal, I think that once I'm done - not sure yet what my next book will be - I'll attempt to tackle something longer and meatier, without having to worry about it taking up too much time (not that I actually do, but I'm a goal-oriented person, so I've been wanting to get that done first!); perhaps The Luminaries or perhaps even a paper book.

[treadlightly]

I finished Part A of my challenge - 20 books/series from NPR's Top SF&F nominations list! This turned out to include a total of 33 books, with 13/20 of the choices from the Top 100. I have added some new favourite authors to my list: George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Neal Stephenson and Connie Willis.

I have one more book to go to fulfill Part B of my challenge - 5 Mystery Series. Then I'll continue to pad out the remaining books in the mystery series on that list to try to reach Part C - 150 books. Right now I'm at 117. That part of my challenge is in jeopardy.

[jbcohen]

Where will you set your goal for 2014?

I will most like dispense with the number of books to read and focus on the number of pages instead. Where ever I wind up 2013 at is where the goal posts for 2014 will be, probably 25K pages, since I like keeping track of the books so much I will no doubt have a list again but the number of pages will make the difference.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Where will you set your goal for 2014?

I think I might aim at a maximum spend on ebooks. (I'm happy with the amount I read. It's the amount I buy that I have a problem with.)

This year I tried for a maximum number of ebooks bought, and failed rather spectacularly, buying (so far) 50% more than my target.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Ouch. 50% more?

I've already got my challenge up on Goodreads. Victim of Geography.

I'm eagerly awaiting the map I ordered to show up and I've already got a few books on my shelf to start with.

As for this year:

Years Completed: 44/44
Books Read: 65
Pages Read: 20,037
Distinct Authors: 57
New Authors: 36
Paper Books: 48
E-Books: 17

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

^Ouch. 50% more?

I've just checked. It's worse than that. I set my limit at 120. I've already bought 207 with another four to six pre-ordered for December, taking my total for the year to at least 211, over 75% more than my limit.

It was a combination of amazingly good deals at Amazon, astonishing discounts at Kobo, and a resumption of buying the Baen Monthly bundles (since they started making them a time-limited offer).

The 32 books I get by subscription shouldn't have been a problem.

[Yapyap]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I've just checked. It's worse than that. I set my limit at 120. I've already bought 207 with another four to six pre-ordered for December, taking my total for the year to at least 211, over 75% more than my limit.

It was a combination of amazingly good deals at Amazon, astonishing discounts at Kobo, and a resumption of buying the Baen Monthly bundles (since they started making them a time-limited offer).

The 32 books I get by subscription shouldn't have been a problem.

You still did better than I did with that part - I was sort of also aiming at not buying more than 120 books this year, i.e. same as my to-read challenge, and now it's mid-November and my spreadsheet tells me I've bought 270 ebooks (for myself; I'm not counting the ones I've bought for mum, which I may or may not eventually read myself) + a few dozen paper books.

Still, compared to last year's 436 bought (i.e. non-free) ebooks, it's a marked improvement, I'd say.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

You still did better than I did with that part - I was sort of also aiming at not buying more than 120 books this year, i.e. same as my to-read challenge, and now it's mid-November and my spreadsheet tells me I've bought 270 ebooks (for myself; I'm not counting the ones I've bought for mum, which I may or may not eventually read myself) + a few dozen paper books.

Still, compared to last year's 436 bought (i.e. non-free) ebooks, it's a marked improvement, I'd say.

Wow. Well, on the bright side, that it an improvement.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do next year. For 2010-2012 inclusive, I read 545 books and bought 609. Including 2013 to date, the figures are 728/816.

So I suppose that overall, that's an increase in TBR of only 22 books per year.

But I really do need to reduce my TBR pile. I think that restricting the amount of money I spend on ebooks is probably the best thing to try in 2014. If I can keep it at about a fiver (£5) a week, that would be good. That comes to about $400.

Hmm… Let's see. Analog, Asimov's, F&SF come to $90/year. Grantville Gazette is another $27. It's the Baen bundles that are the big ticket item. 12*$18 =$216. So that's a total of $333, leaving just $67 or $5.58 per month for discretionary spending. Hmmm…. perhaps I can manage that next year.

[Yapyap]

I could perhaps make 200 bought-for-myself ebooks my goal for next year. That should be ... doable, as I'm actually already finding it hard to find books to spend Kobo coupons on, and my wish lists are filling up at a slower rate than they used to.

In any case, I have now completed my primary challenge for 2013, which was 120 books read.

That does include ten Doctor Who anniversary series short stories, each bought and counted individually; on the other hand, I read one 600 page book twice (counted as one) and one 260 page book twice (counted as one), and on the higher end, there was Great North Road (1100 pages in hardback). So all in all, I think it evens out well enough.

I think my minor challenge for the rest of the year will be to make sure I've read everything I've bought this year (as far as ebooks go) that cost over $5. As far as I can tell, that's currently two books, one of them pre-ordered but not received yet, and one other. And I'd like to get done with at least 2-3 of the ARCs I've got but haven't managed to read yet.

Next year, I should try and tackle the ones bought in 2012, which cost over $5 each and which I still haven't read - that's going to be much harder as it looks like there are still 51 of those left (discounting the Harry Potters, which I've read several times on paper but not the ebooks). I'm not going to force myself to read those I don't currently feel like reading, but it's something to keep in mind whenever I have trouble choosing the next read.

[fantasyfan]

I managed to reach my reading challenge! I'll relax and just read for the month of December and then start another challenge in 2014 but add five more books.