The 2016 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread - Page 18

Hampshire Nanny · 04-03-2016, 04:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

I'm at 42, which puts me at 168 for the year at the pace I am going.

168 is my goal, but I'm only at 36. I'm going to have to step up the pace.

issybird · 04-14-2016, 05:59 PM

I've had a lot going on lately and my situation is changing from needs attention to horns blaring and red lights flashing.

April's half over and my situation IRT my subchallenges is becoming dire, to the point of being irredeemable.

Really just posting here as a goad to myself, as I'm in quite the hole.

orlok · 04-14-2016, 06:04 PM

As we've said before, these challenges are just that, challenges, and not do or die

. I find if I start stressing about not getting there, my reading becomes a lot less pleasurable. I very much doubt I'll make my "Something for Everyone" sub-challenge, but I'm just enjoying seeing how far into it I can get.

CRussel · 04-14-2016, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

I've had a lot going on lately and my situation is changing from needs attention to horns blaring and red lights flashing.

April's half over and my situation IRT my subchallenges is becoming dire, to the point of being irredeemable.

Really just posting here as a goad to myself, as I'm in quite the hole.

Reading challenges are never _dire_. Putting your loose change on the dinning room table to decide if you can buy milk is dire. (And yes, I've been there.)

Challenges should be about goals and a desire to shape your reading, either quantitatively or qualitatively (or both). And, if circumstances change (and goodness knows that happens to a lot of us!), change the challenge to be more in line with the new circumstances, and to be achievable with a stretch. Then it can be fun again. And that should be what it's all about.

CRussel · 04-15-2016, 11:31 AM

Speaking of challenges, I'm woefully behind in one particular of my reading challenge for this year. I have NOT been good about tracking both reads and purchases. If I look at my list, it says 39 read. But when I start adding up the ones that aren't on there, it's more like 45. I really have to buckle down. Not only do I tend to forget to enter them, especially if they were read as an Audible book (and thus not in necessarily in Calibre), but I also lose track of which ones I've bought that have been entered. That's a LOT harder to sort.

WT Sharpe · 04-15-2016, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel

Speaking of challenges, I'm woefully behind in one particular of my reading challenge for this year. I have NOT been good about tracking both reads and purchases....

Funny you should mention that. Yesterday I received an email from Goodreads congratulating me on the 6 books I'd read this year. I've read 21 so far. So last night I got busy and added in the rest, except for two: a translation of the Divine Comedy by A.S. Kline (the Cary & Longfellow translations I read in, as I recall, 2011), and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, another re-read, but this time as an audiobook narrated by Peter Bachelor. For some reason, I can get neither of these titles to show up in Goodreads.

By the way, those 21 books now put me 20 books over my yearly reading goal of one book.

WT Sharpe · 04-15-2016, 01:22 PM

Oh, joy! I was able to access the Kline translation of the Divine Comedy at Goodreads from my iPad today, and from my pc I was able to add the Peter Bachelor narration of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius to the Goodreads database. For some reason, when I tried in the past to add a book to their database I was unable. As I recall, I was told I needed certain super powers or something I didn't have at the time. Either I was doing it wrong, they've changed the process for members, or you need more seniority or something than I had at that time. Anyway, now my Goodreads are up to date, so allow me to reiterate: oh, joy!

Dngrsone · 04-16-2016, 07:42 AM

I have managed to maintain an updated list here on the forums... only because I religiously post what I just read in the 'What are you reading" thread and then paste it into my goals post.

I rarely update the "what are you reading" threads in the other forums I live in... then again, I'm almost the only person who posts in those threads as it is... I'd probably be totally behind if I tried to record everything in Goodreads.

pdurrant · 04-16-2016, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

I have managed to maintain an updated list here on the forums... only because I religiously post what I just read in the 'What are you reading" thread and then paste it into my goals post.

Me too! I also try to update my "Read" custom column in calibre.

WT Sharpe · 04-16-2016, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Me too! I also try to update my "Read" custom column in calibre.

Thanks for the reminder! I, too, have a custom "Read" field in calibre which, until I read your post, had not been updated since the end of 2015. My Goodreads list, as I mentioned earlier, was only updated after receiving a congratulatory email from them them this week concerning the "six" books I'd read this year!

issybird · 04-16-2016, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orlok

As we've said before, these challenges are just that, challenges, and not do or die

. I find if I start stressing about not getting there, my reading becomes a lot less pleasurable. I very much doubt I'll make my "Something for Everyone" sub-challenge, but I'm just enjoying seeing how far into it I can get.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel

Reading challenges are never _dire_. Putting your loose change on the dinning room table to decide if you can buy milk is dire. (And yes, I've been there.)

Challenges should be about goals and a desire to shape your reading, either quantitatively or qualitatively (or both). And, if circumstances change (and goodness knows that happens to a lot of us!), change the challenge to be more in line with the new circumstances, and to be achievable with a stretch. Then it can be fun again. And that should be what it's all about.

I think I'm keeping my sense of perspective. I do find challenges rewarding; I like the shape they give to a year's reading and the sense that I've achieved even a tiny body of knowledge. The trick is shaping them so they're a goad but not an outright whip. Ideally, I'll come close/exceed slightly my goals, since that meant they're achievable but not a doddle. I'm a bit on the cusp now and I know I'd be happy if I can pull it together, hence my acknowledging warning signs.

TL;DR: We're in agreement, here!

Thanks, guys, for the support.

orlok · 04-22-2016, 06:19 AM

My current progress stands at:

Books read = 30 (full year target = 75)
Page Total = 7,834 (no target)
Page Average = 261 (target of at least 300 pages)
Something For Everyone Goodreads Challenge = 15 categories ticked off (40 in total)

Dazrin · 04-27-2016, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I am running almost 2 months ahead of where I need to be to meet my goal and projected to get nearly 40,000 pages...

Ya, still going ok overall but trying to read Red Mars and Green Mars one after the other did not help my progress. I don't think I will hit my monthly page goal of 2,000 pages this month.

WT Sharpe · 04-27-2016, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Ya, still going ok overall but trying to read Red Mars and Green Mars one after the other did not help my progress. I don't think I will hit my monthly page goal of 2,000 pages this month.

584 pages pages for Red Mars and 592 pages for Green Mars. Evidently Kim Stanley Robinson doesn't believe in writing short novels. Yes, Red Mars kind of slowed things down for me this month as well.

How was Green Mars? Others have said that Blue Mars and Green Mars were better than the first book in the series.

June · 04-27-2016, 11:06 AM

The Red Mrs and Green Mars are in my TBR too, maybe I should try at least one next.

Doing good with my reading goal, I've read 38 books in two months, so looking good for my goal. Although most of the books are 'junk reading', oh well

My goal is 100 books in 10 months, I might raise it to 200 though.

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04-14-2016, 05:59 PM	#257
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,217 Karma: 234570739 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One, PW4, PW5	I've had a lot going on lately and my situation is changing from needs attention to horns blaring and red lights flashing. April's half over and my situation IRT my subchallenges is becoming dire, to the point of being irredeemable. Really just posting here as a goad to myself, as I'm in quite the hole.

04-14-2016, 06:04 PM	#258
orlok Close to the Edit! Posts: 9,797 Karma: 267994408 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis, Amazon Fire 8", Kindle 6"	As we've said before, these challenges are just that, challenges, and not do or die . I find if I start stressing about not getting there, my reading becomes a lot less pleasurable. I very much doubt I'll make my "Something for Everyone" sub-challenge, but I'm just enjoying seeing how far into it I can get.

04-15-2016, 11:31 AM	#260
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,290 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), iPad Air M3	Speaking of challenges, I'm woefully behind in one particular of my reading challenge for this year. I have NOT been good about tracking both reads and purchases. If I look at my list, it says 39 read. But when I start adding up the ones that aren't on there, it's more like 45. I really have to buckle down. Not only do I tend to forget to enter them, especially if they were read as an Audible book (and thus not in necessarily in Calibre), but I also lose track of which ones I've bought that have been entered. That's a LOT harder to sort.

04-15-2016, 01:22 PM	#262
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	Oh, joy! I was able to access the Kline translation of the Divine Comedy at Goodreads from my iPad today, and from my pc I was able to add the Peter Bachelor narration of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius to the Goodreads database. For some reason, when I tried in the past to add a book to their database I was unable. As I recall, I was told I needed certain super powers or something I didn't have at the time. Either I was doing it wrong, they've changed the process for members, or you need more seniority or something than I had at that time. Anyway, now my Goodreads are up to date, so allow me to reiterate: oh, joy!

04-16-2016, 07:42 AM	#263
Dngrsone Almost legible Posts: 1,457 Karma: 4611110 Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: In a high desert, CA Device: Galaxy Note 9, Galaxy Tab A (2017), Likebook P78	I have managed to maintain an updated list here on the forums... only because I religiously post what I just read in the 'What are you reading" thread and then paste it into my goals post. I rarely update the "what are you reading" threads in the other forums I live in... then again, I'm almost the only person who posts in those threads as it is... I'd probably be totally behind if I tried to record everything in Goodreads.

04-22-2016, 06:19 AM	#267
orlok Close to the Edit! Posts: 9,797 Karma: 267994408 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis, Amazon Fire 8", Kindle 6"	My current progress stands at: Books read = 30 (full year target = 75) Page Total = 7,834 (no target) Page Average = 261 (target of at least 300 pages) Something For Everyone Goodreads Challenge = 15 categories ticked off (40 in total)

04-27-2016, 11:06 AM	#270
June Addict Posts: 306 Karma: 4508151 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Scandinavia Device: Kobo Libra, Oasis 1&2 and others	The Red Mrs and Green Mars are in my TBR too, maybe I should try at least one next. Doing good with my reading goal, I've read 38 books in two months, so looking good for my goal. Although most of the books are 'junk reading', oh well My goal is 100 books in 10 months, I might raise it to 200 though.