12-31-2015, 05:31 PM | #511 |
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I finished The Three Musketeers with 4 days to spare! I've read The Count of Monte Cristo numerous times, but a paper copy of TTM was my airplane book for years. Several books in my 2014 reading referenced TTM, so I bought the excellent Pevear translation as an ebook and started it at Thanksgiving. d'Artagnan didn't do much for me, but Athos was more fun and Milady clearly escaped authorial control.
I read one series that had languished on my physical TBR shelf for 15 years, but didn't make as much of a dent as hoped beyond that. Of my new 2015 reading, my favorite book was probably Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor, which I re-read twice, then read two of her excellent short story collections (Addison is a pen name for Sarah Monette). Favorite non-fiction: Jordan Ellenberg's How Not to Be Wrong. |
01-01-2016, 12:19 PM | #512 |
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Well, I almost made it to my stretch goal of 150 books, coming in at 143 for the year, finishing up with an excellent Miss Silver book. I also managed to do quite well at keeping track of what I spent and how many books were bought. While I wasn't perfect, I definitely did better at it, and am encouraged going into the new year.
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01-01-2016, 01:11 PM | #513 |
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Time to take stock. I had three challenge areas for 2015.
-My first was to read 50 books in 2015. I did that! I was very far behind heading into mid-December - I was at 40 out of 50 read. But I battened down the hatches and even pulled a partial all-nighter on the 30th because I was on my 50th book and determined to finish it out. So, I read a fifth of my year's books in the last half month, heh. It's not quite as grand as it sounds though. I read some really long books earlier in the year and I'd focused on the longer subchallenge books first and purposely left many of the shorter and easier ones for the end knowing I could go through them quicker. After finally finishing Les Miserables midway through December everything went much faster. Still though, they weren't all short and easy reads the last few weeks and I had to really focus and put in time and effort at the end to complete it. I do now know that, judging by my pace the last few weeks, it's theoretically possible for me to have a 100+ year. -My second was January-June subchallenges. I outlined my final progress on those mid-year but suffice to say that I completed them all. -My third was July-December subchallenges. This included reading 8,000 pages, which I'm almost positive I did even though I haven't tallied it all up yet. This also included a variety of specific books and themes: 6 Partially Read. Spoiler:
Status: 5/6 completed. Everything but A Brief History of Time. I'd even already newly bought the special illustrated version in pbook in preparation but alas, I just ran out of time. It would've been the very next one. I purposely benched it though when on my final mad reading dash because, though short, I knew I might get bogged down in it as I did the first time I tried to read it years ago.
3 Young Adult. Spoiler:
Status: 3/3 completed! When I said above that I saved easier ones for the end, that included these and so I breezed through all three in the last week or so. The Maze Runner was my 50th book and the one I pulled the partial all-nighter for on the 30th.
2 Print Pile. Spoiler:
Status: 1/2 completed. I never got to Start Your Own Business and I didn't decide to nix it without reading which I'd allowed myself the possibility of. I almost started it a few weeks ago but, it being long and dry, decided that I needed put it off to better my chances of reaching my main goal of 50 books read.
1 Tome. Spoiler:
Status: 2/1 completed! I planned on it being Les Mis, but I read a tome in Dhalgren for the book club first so that's how I ended up with two. If I had taken the easy way out and skipped Les Mis entirely, I probably would've finished all my challenges completely. As it is though, I'm very glad I read Les Mis anyway.
1 Club Nominee. Spoiler:
Status: 0/1 completed. I planned on The Martian but I preferred to work on specific subchallenge books first at the end and so didn't get to this one.
All in all, I read 10/13 of my subchallenge books for July-December. Those three unread were the only thing I missed completing for the entire year so I'm happy anyway. Overall, as for my three challenge areas, I completed two. As a wise man once said, and I agree with him, two out of three ain't bad. |
01-01-2016, 05:14 PM | #514 | |
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Quote:
I read 57,588 pages toward my secondary goal of 50,000 pages. (I set the page goal to keep myself from getting to the total number of books by reading short books.) Stats: Total books read: 200 (100% of goal) Total pages read: 57,588 (115.2% of goal) Format: eBooks: 160 audiobooks: 15 DTB: 24 By genre: Adventure: 4 Fantasy: 21 Historical Fiction: 2 Mainstream: 22 Mystery: 79 Non-Fiction: 3 PUF: 21 Romance: 6 SciFi: 41 Library books: 100 (+ 8 KLL, + 6 KU) Progress toward series challenge: 36 of 36 books Eclectic Reader Challenge: 12 of 12 books/categories |
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01-01-2016, 07:23 PM | #515 |
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2015 In Review
I had a very good year quality-wise even though it was lacking in quantity.
The absolute best read for me this year was The Martian by Andy Weir! I absolutely loved it! The most disappointing read was the Clover Omnibus by CLAMP. Unfortunately, the story was never completed, yet CLAMP was fine publishing the collection unfinished. It felt like a complete waste of time. I read a lot of manga this year, which I've come to really enjoy (and that I definitely prefer to watching Anime), plus, I cemented my love of all things Ilona Andrews by being introduced to the series The Edge and by finally starting their Kate Daniels series. All in all, despite my terrible long reading drought (about 8 months all told), I would give this year a 5/5 for what I did manage to read. So, I guess I can't complain too much about that. I wish everyone a very Happy, Healthy, and Fulfilling New Year! |
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01-02-2016, 03:32 AM | #516 |
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I reached my goal a couple of months back, and good thing too, since the last two months turned out to be slow reading months.
My goal was 60 books, and I completed 65. I also had a sub-goal of 5 non-fiction, and I read 8. Overall, I am happy with my reading year. I was on a break from work in January and read lots of easy reads and books I've read before, as my mind was not in the right space for long, complex books. Two of my favourite fiction books in 2015 were The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper and The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman, and two of my favourite non-fiction reads where Rape: A South African Nightmare by Pumla Gqola and Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend by Arianna Stassinopoulos. I started reading more paper books this year than last, partly because I started using the library again and partly because I moved back home and was reunited with hundreds of paper books I had not seen for years. For short reviews on my five favourite fiction books, go here, and for my five favourite non-fiction books, go here. |
01-02-2016, 04:01 AM | #517 |
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I didn't reach my goal this year. I wasn't so interested in reading and felt pressured by the goal I set, so in 2016 my only goal is to keep track of what I read.
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01-02-2016, 01:46 PM | #518 |
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I tallied my pages read and I ended up at 8,254 out of my goal of 8,000 for July-December. It was closer than I thought. Added to the 8,164 from January-June, I ended up reading(/listening to) 16,418 pages in 2015.
Though working toward the same 8,000 pages goal each time helps to explain it, I'm still surprised by how similar my pages read were between the two six month periods - only 90 pages difference! Here is my full MR list of books, ratings and short reviews for what I read in 2015; it feels like I read the first book, Under Fire, years and years ago, not just last January, heh. |
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