The 2021 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It's the end of the Month! How are we all doing?

I did well. 13 books read and only two bought!

My TBR is now at 835. Perhaps I'll get under 800 this year after all.

July already? Four bought and three freebies added. Only ten read. So my TBR only dropped 3 to 832.

At least it's the right direction...

[Uncle Robin]

A quiet June, just 4 books and 1518 pages read. An average rating of 3.81/5, so no real duds at least. Twenty purchases though, but 12 of those were single shorts, so I'm not too bothered

[astrangerhere]

Length Goals:

• Total Books: 75 (stretch goal of 100) (up from 50/75 last year)
• Total Pages: 25,000
• E-TBR Reduction: 25
• Print-TBR Reduction: 10

Substantive Goals:

• Read at least 51% non-American authors
• Read more female/nonbinary authors than male
• Read at least 52 short stories
• Read at least 10 books across all our collections that are my wife's or that she wants me to read.

Cumulative Totals Through End of June:

• Total Books: 44 - 58% of goal, 44% of stretch goal - ON TARGET
• Total Pages: 14559 - 58% of goal - ON TARGET
• Gender Goal: 61% Female, 0% Nonbindary, 39% Male - ON TARGET
• Country of Origin Goal: 38% USA, 62% out of US - ON TARGET
• E-TBR Reduction: +11 - ON TARGET
• Print TBR Reduction: -28* OFF TARGET
• Short Stories: 30, 57% of goal - ON TARGET
• Books Recommended by my wife: 4 - 40% of goal ON TARGET

*My wife continues to buy 1-2 books a week from our local independent bookstore and will do until they are able to fully open again post-covid. I expect this to skew my PTBR list all year long, but its for a good cause.

[Rumpelteazer]

Six books and 1742 pages read in June. The worst month of the year so far. At the moment if I don't love a book it'll take me longer to read, even if I do like the book. Oh well.

For July I'm going to do a mini challenge: I let Calibre pick my books. I set up a virtual library of all my unread books in Calibre and use the "pick a random book" button to choose me next read. There are some rules: if it picks a book in a series I'm already reading I read the first unread book in the series, even if Calibre picks another in the series. There are several series I want to read but I want to wait until I finish series I'm already reading. And if it picks a book I did not finish (I don't mark those as read, but tag them as DNF) and don't want to read I can skip it. And finally I get a maximum of three passes if Calibre picks a book I don't want to read for any other reason.

[Catlady]

I started out the year alternating fiction and nonfiction, then modified it to alternating current fiction with nonfiction or classic. I stuck to this pattern through the end of June, then decided to liberate myself from that rigid schedule and just read whatever I feel like reading for the rest of the year. That decision is based in part on the flood of new books from favorite authors this summer, and in part on NINETEEN library holds coming through on one day last week (about half of them books I'd recommended long ago and had either obtained from other libraries or purchased, but still a heck of a lot of new reading).

Though I'm glad I forced myself to read more nonfiction and more classics, I feel so much better without the self-imposed restrictions.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Though I'm glad I forced myself to read more nonfiction and more classics, I feel so much better without the self-imposed restrictions.

Having LONG ago decided not to feel guilty about not reading any "must read" books, I've realized that nonfiction can help me meet one of my Reading Challenge goals here. I really can't be bothered reading any of Dickens' "must read" works of fiction, so I'll meet my self-imposed "read some Dickens" goal by reading some of his nonfiction instead.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Having LONG ago decided not to feel guilty about not reading any "must read" books, I've realized that nonfiction can help me meet one of my Reading Challenge goals here. I really can't be bothered reading any of Dickens' "must read" works of fiction, so I'll meet my self-imposed "read some Dickens" goal by reading some of his nonfiction instead.

I wasn't forcing myself to read books out of guilt; they were books I genuinely wanted to read that kept getting pushed to the back of the line. For the last month or so, though, with the arrival of lots of shiny new books by my go-to authors, I found myself seeking out classics/nonfiction primarily by length--the shorter the better!--so I could quickly get back to the new releases. Which was just dumb.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I found myself seeking out classics/nonfiction primarily by length--the shorter the better!--so I could quickly get back to the new releases. Which was just dumb.

I found myself in a similar position last week, trying to get back to an average of 3 days per book to finish my target for the year. I read several quite appallingly bad novellas simply to get back on track. Ugh.

[Tarana]

I'm currently choosing a lot of shorter books as well as switching up older and newer unlistened/unread books in my TBR. So two Pre-2021 books, one book bought this year, then 1-2 short books, then repeat. August will be all Harry Potter, so no TBR until I'm done with the series (I don't own the series so not part of my TBR). I just have to decide if it will be Jim Dale or Stephen Fry.

I found myself in a similar position last week, trying to get back to an average of 3 days per book to finish my target for the year. I read several quite appallingly bad novellas simply to get back on track.

If they were in your TBR, they are out now.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I'm currently choosing a lot of shorter books as well as switching up older and newer unlistened books in my TBR. So two Pre-2021 books, one book bought this year, then 1-2 short books, then repeat. July will be all Harry Potter, so no TBR until I'm done with the series (I don't own the series so not part of my TBR). I just have to decide if it will be Jim Dale or Stephen Fry.


If they were in your TBR, they are out now.

I absolutely has to be Stephen Fry. I've sworn off good ole Harry, but IMO, Fry's recording was the best.

[Paperbackstash]

I've been reading a lot, but behind on updating here. I didn't do an update for June, will for July probably in August. Busy few months, but overall I'm happy about progress. now if only I quit add new "yearly goals" every other month.

[Tarana]

Oops, I mean August for HP readathon (starts July 31). I am doing well with my reading goal. One more book and I will have reached my 3,000 page goal for the month. HUGE improvement! Also 8 down on audiobooks, but still a long way from my end-of-year goal.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

now if only I quit add new "yearly goals" every other month.

Ha, guilty! I started the year with a goal of 156 books and 55,000 pages, and it's gone up 3 times now to 225 and 80,000. REALLY going to try to leave it at that now.

[Tarana]

July I went well over my goal of 3,000 pages. Only goal I made as I overbought ebooks (not even counting the cats Storybundle) and audiobooks (mostly whispersync James Bond). So my goal in August is to buy nothing.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

July already? Four bought and three freebies added. Only ten read. So my TBR only dropped 3 to 832.

At least it's the right direction...

Only four bought in July (and 1 freebie) , and 11 read. Still the right direction.

Currently at 825, as one bought already in August.

And yes, the numbers don't quite add up, but I think they're right now.