The 2012 Annual Reading Challenge - Discussion Thread! - Page 6

sonofpendragon · 12-28-2011, 10:57 AM

Odd isn't it? For years and years, without even trying, I was reading an average of about 120 books a year. I joined in with the challenge this year . . . and trailed off badly, I think I am weighing in at around 68 /69/ 70 which obviously won't change much now in 4 days. This is very surprising as I had reached 50 odd by April. Perhaps last winter's snow allowed me to concentrate on reading more, dunno for sure but maybe it was that.

So, I will join in the thread, but I am not setting any targets. That can be a bit of a fun-killer to be honest, so will just read when I really feel like it.

SofP

Loosheesh · 12-28-2011, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I must admit that with me it's sometimes a case of setting aside time for other things apart from reading...

Same here! Since getting a Kindle, my other hobbies/interests have taken a serious backseat. I want to return to a few of these hobbies, while still hoping to read at (only) a slightly reduced pace. No idea how it'll play out

yakuzaboss · 12-28-2011, 01:49 PM

My reading goal for 2012 is to just read and enjoy. I'm looking forward to re-reading books by my favorite authors like Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follett and early Stephen King.

If I had to put a numerical value to that goal, then I'll maybe shoot for 100 again.

As for the 2011 Reading Challenge, I'm on my 100th book! I might be able to squeeze in one more before the new year but it might be tight.

RolandD · 12-28-2011, 02:11 PM

On June 2nd, 2011, I was in a near fatal motorcycle wreck and spent the better part of three months on pain killers. Even after getting off the pain killers, I found it very hard to concentrate on reading for another couple of months.

As of Dec. 27, I am less than half way through Drood by Dan Simmons. I expect to finish it by New Years, but I probably won't start anything else until New Years Day. I made it through 58 books, with a five month period where I only read three books. Not counting those five months, I averaged 8 books a month. I think I shall try again for 2012 and hopefully won't spend five months with my brain addled.

The Terminator · 12-28-2011, 08:14 PM

I'm going to set my goal at 25,000 pages, I got close to that this year so I'll try to get a bit more next year.

sun surfer · 12-28-2011, 11:25 PM

I've made my reading goal for 2012. It is basically to read 50 books, but I will be counting by page numbers instead of books read. I've averaged it out to 260 pages per book, which times 50 equal 13,000 pages as my goal for the year.

As far as a counter, I will still be counting by books to keep things simple as I'd rather count to 50 than to 13,000, though in a quirk I won't be counting actual specific books read but rather how many "260 pages" I've read. So if I read a 520 page book, by the time I get to page 260 I will have read one "book" and by the time I get to the end I will have read two "books".

Any extra pages left over I will add to the next book until I hit 260 again. And this way I can also count short stories easily and any pages I read of unfinished books.

I will not worry about any difference between types of pages. I will go by what the ebook or paper book tells me.

This year I'm also making a 2012 TBR list. First, on the list will be every selection from the general book club and the literary book club for 2012. This should make about 24 books. If a selection is made that I've already read, then I won't read it, but otherwise I plan to try to read every book selected for both of the clubs.

That leaves 26 more books. I will pick 13 now and leave 13 open to my whims during the year. Of the 13 I'm picking now, some are books I've started but not finished yet, some are books from my general TBR list, and some are part of my goal to read the complete works of Lewis Carroll.

So my 50 for 2012 are:

23 to-be-determined book club books
Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse (January general book club pick already determined)
Ulysses by James Joyce
Middlemarch by George Eliot (halfway through already)
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (halfway through already)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (halfway through already)
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
The Annotated Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll, Martin Gardner
Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded by Lewis Carroll
Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll
A Tangled Tale by Lewis Carroll
The Game of Logic by Lewis Carroll
Iliad by Homer (first whim and sooner than expected/reading group project; see a few posts down)
12 more to-be-determined books open to my whims

For me, this will be a challenging list to complete and I look forward to, well, the challenge!

Justy · 12-29-2011, 02:33 AM

My goal will be to read 100 books in 2012 the same as in 2011. The first 1/2 of the year (before my life got 'interesting' and I spent more time supporting hubby in hospital & rehab than reading) proved that I can easily read 100 books a year if life is somewhat predictable. Keeping my goal at 100 will allow me to re-read the Outlander and maybe even the Earth Children series' without worrying about 'falling behind' in my book count.

I think someone came up with 'average # of pages per book' and used that to average out the longer books with the shorter ones. Does anyone remember tha formula? I might just use it instead of actual book count this year. Either way I'll let Goodreads do the counting for me.

issybird · 12-29-2011, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sun surfer

That leaves 26 more books. I will pick 13 now and leave 13 open to my whims during the year. Of the 13 I'm picking now, some are books I've started but not finished yet, some are books from my general TBR list, and some are part of my goal to read the complete works of Lewis Carroll.

So my 50 for 2012 are:

<snip>

No Iliad?

sun surfer · 12-29-2011, 10:18 AM

D'oh! I forgot about the Iliad when making the list. OK, well now I know one of my whims!

tponzo · 12-29-2011, 10:21 AM

Quote:

I'm so antsy to get going with next year, I'm having trouble finding things to read this week. "Oh, no, I want to save that book for next year." I'm not sure what that's all about.

I'm with you. I work for a newspaper and every year they sell the books sent for review to raise money for charity. It's awesome. I uaually get several hundered dollars worth of brand new books for about $30-40. I got several books early this month which I am saving for 2012, including the new Stephen King, the new Jayne Krentz and the complete Christmas stories of Charles Dickens (alas I got it to late to read for MBR December book club). I also ordered the new Sony Reader wi-fi and it should come tomorrow. I'm really excited. So between DTB and E-books I'm looking forward to starting on my 100 books for 2012.

Happy New Reading Year everybody!

Nyssa · 12-29-2011, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

No Iliad?

Is that still starting on January 9th? How are you setting it up?

Kevin8or · 12-29-2011, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

No Iliad?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Is that still starting on January 9th? How are you setting it up?

I don't suppose I can persuade you to postpone The Iliad and instead begin with The Epic of Gilgamesh. I'd forgotten about Gilgamesh, which pre-dates Homer by a couple thousand years.

There are recent translations that are putatively superior to what was available 30 years ago. They've improved both accuracy and "readability".

issybird · 12-29-2011, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Is that still starting on January 9th? How are you setting it up?

Still starting January 9th. I plan to start a thread next Monday, January 2nd, laying out the parameters so people can get started. Hope that works for you.

Nyssa · 12-29-2011, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

Still starting January 9th. I plan to start a thread next Monday, January 2nd, laying out the parameters so people can get started. Hope that works for you.

Just wanted to know what to expect. I'm looking forward to it. I will be very proud of myself if I get through the whole thing.

issybird · 12-29-2011, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sun surfer

D'oh! I forgot about the Iliad when making the list. OK, well now I know one of my whims!

And of course you'll want to follow it up with The Odyssey, before you tackle Ulysses.

12-28-2011, 10:57 AM	#76
sonofpendragon Member Retired Posts: 56 Karma: 696290 Join Date: Sep 2011 Device: Kindle for PC	Not sure Odd isn't it? For years and years, without even trying, I was reading an average of about 120 books a year. I joined in with the challenge this year . . . and trailed off badly, I think I am weighing in at around 68 /69/ 70 which obviously won't change much now in 4 days. This is very surprising as I had reached 50 odd by April. Perhaps last winter's snow allowed me to concentrate on reading more, dunno for sure but maybe it was that. So, I will join in the thread, but I am not setting any targets. That can be a bit of a fun-killer to be honest, so will just read when I really feel like it. SofP

12-28-2011, 11:25 PM	#81
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44667380 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	I've made my reading goal for 2012. It is basically to read 50 books, but I will be counting by page numbers instead of books read. I've averaged it out to 260 pages per book, which times 50 equal 13,000 pages as my goal for the year. As far as a counter, I will still be counting by books to keep things simple as I'd rather count to 50 than to 13,000, though in a quirk I won't be counting actual specific books read but rather how many "260 pages" I've read. So if I read a 520 page book, by the time I get to page 260 I will have read one "book" and by the time I get to the end I will have read two "books". Any extra pages left over I will add to the next book until I hit 260 again. And this way I can also count short stories easily and any pages I read of unfinished books. I will not worry about any difference between types of pages. I will go by what the ebook or paper book tells me. This year I'm also making a 2012 TBR list. First, on the list will be every selection from the general book club and the literary book club for 2012. This should make about 24 books. If a selection is made that I've already read, then I won't read it, but otherwise I plan to try to read every book selected for both of the clubs. That leaves 26 more books. I will pick 13 now and leave 13 open to my whims during the year. Of the 13 I'm picking now, some are books I've started but not finished yet, some are books from my general TBR list, and some are part of my goal to read the complete works of Lewis Carroll. So my 50 for 2012 are: 23 to-be-determined book club books Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse (January general book club pick already determined) Ulysses by James Joyce Middlemarch by George Eliot (halfway through already) A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (halfway through already) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (halfway through already) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss The Annotated Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll, Martin Gardner Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll Sylvie and Bruno Concluded by Lewis Carroll Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll A Tangled Tale by Lewis Carroll The Game of Logic by Lewis Carroll Iliad by Homer (first whim and sooner than expected/reading group project; see a few posts down) 12 more to-be-determined books open to my whims For me, this will be a challenging list to complete and I look forward to, well, the challenge! Last edited by sun surfer; 12-29-2011 at 02:49 PM.

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12-28-2011, 01:49 PM	#78
yakuzaboss Groupie Posts: 171 Karma: 58 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Richmond, BC Device: Sony PRS-650	My reading goal for 2012 is to just read and enjoy. I'm looking forward to re-reading books by my favorite authors like Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follett and early Stephen King. If I had to put a numerical value to that goal, then I'll maybe shoot for 100 again. As for the 2011 Reading Challenge, I'm on my 100th book! I might be able to squeeze in one more before the new year but it might be tight.

12-28-2011, 02:11 PM	#79
RolandD Fanatic Posts: 561 Karma: 3228980 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Branson, MO, USA Device: Kindle Touch is now my main eReader.	On June 2nd, 2011, I was in a near fatal motorcycle wreck and spent the better part of three months on pain killers. Even after getting off the pain killers, I found it very hard to concentrate on reading for another couple of months. As of Dec. 27, I am less than half way through Drood by Dan Simmons. I expect to finish it by New Years, but I probably won't start anything else until New Years Day. I made it through 58 books, with a five month period where I only read three books. Not counting those five months, I averaged 8 books a month. I think I shall try again for 2012 and hopefully won't spend five months with my brain addled.

12-28-2011, 08:14 PM	#80
The Terminator Retired Posts: 2,552 Karma: 37638420 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Vancouver Island Canada Device: Kobo Touch, Optimus One (2.3), Nexus 7 (4.2)	I'm going to set my goal at 25,000 pages, I got close to that this year so I'll try to get a bit more next year.

12-29-2011, 02:33 AM	#82
Justy Fanatic Posts: 547 Karma: 27509 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Greater Vancouver Area, BC, Canada Device: Nexus 7, Sony Xperia z3 tablet, Kobo Glo, Boyue T63	My goal will be to read 100 books in 2012 the same as in 2011. The first 1/2 of the year (before my life got 'interesting' and I spent more time supporting hubby in hospital & rehab than reading) proved that I can easily read 100 books a year if life is somewhat predictable. Keeping my goal at 100 will allow me to re-read the Outlander and maybe even the Earth Children series' without worrying about 'falling behind' in my book count. I think someone came up with 'average # of pages per book' and used that to average out the longer books with the shorter ones. Does anyone remember tha formula? I might just use it instead of actual book count this year. Either way I'll let Goodreads do the counting for me.

12-29-2011, 10:18 AM	#84
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44667380 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	D'oh! I forgot about the Iliad when making the list. OK, well now I know one of my whims!