The 2021 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread

[issybird]

Gee, this thread was started exactly a year ago! Tempus fugit.

Looking forward to space to discuss next year’s goals. I’m desperately in need of a revamp after a disastrous year (see how I brought that around to topic?).

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

Gee, this thread was started exactly a year ago! Tempus fugit.

Looking forward to space to discuss next year’s goals. I’m desperately in need of a revamp after a disastrous year (see how I brought that around to topic?).

I too am ready for a reset. I've gotten some good reading in at the end of the year, though, to get a running start on 2022.

Issy - I really liked The Magician.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I too am ready for a reset. I've gotten some good reading in at the end of the year, though, to get a running start on 2022.

Issy - I really liked The Magician.

Thank you. I’d like to clear the decks of what I’m currently reading to the extent I can by the end of the year, but I’ll frontload that for January; I appreciate the strong endorsement. And I’ll keep it in mind as I attempt to formulate some goals for next year.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

Thank you. I’d like to clear the decks of what I’m currently reading to the extent I can by the end of the year, but I’ll frontload that for January; I appreciate the strong endorsement. And I’ll keep it in mind as I attempt to formulate some goals for next year.

I went into it knowing next to nothing about Thomas Mann. Made for a fascinating ride for me.

My first book up in 2022 is going to either be Ada Palmer's Perhaps the Stars, if I don't get to it before year's end, or Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World.

[Uncle Robin]

If I can finish Montalbano 1, La forma dell'acqua, in the next 10 days, I will have accomplished all the goals on my 2021 Reading Challenge list here. The StoryGraph is kicking off 2022 with a page-a-day read-along challenge, which would be a nice leisurely start to 2022 compared to the 41 books & 17,859 pages I read in January 2021

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I went into it knowing next to nothing about Thomas Mann. Made for a fascinating ride for me.

In my mind, The Magic Mountain is one of my favorite books of all time, mesmerizing, but I haven’t read it in decades. I plan to reread it - someday - but haven’t got to it. Sadly, his Buddenbrooks didn’t hold up for me when I reread it for the Lit Club years ago. I did discover that I preferred the original translation by H.T. Lowe-Porter to the highly touted John Woods translation.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

In my mind, The Magic Mountain is one of my favorite books of all time, mesmerizing, but I haven’t read it in decades. I plan to reread it - someday - but haven’t got to it. Sadly, his Buddenbrooks didn’t hold up for me when I reread it for the Lit Club years ago. I did discover that I preferred the original translation by H.T. Lowe-Porter to the highly touted John Woods translation.

I went to my local and bought The Magic Mountain half way through The Magician.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by issybird

Gee, this thread was started exactly a year ago! Tempus fugit.

Looking forward to space to discuss next year’s goals. I’m desperately in need of a revamp after a disastrous year (see how I brought that around to topic?).

I can take a hint!

[pdurrant]

The new List Thread and Discussion Thread are now available. Claim your spot! Ponder your goals!

[issybird]

I had a lot of reading dissatisfaction this year; my average GR rating plunged to 3.1 from 3.3. I thought KU accounted for this in part and it turns out I was right. My average rating on KU books was a dismal 2.5 and if I take them out of my rating for the year, it improves to 3.2. Still a drop, and there’s rounding going on also, obviously, but it’s telling. No KU book got a rating over three and that’s the acid test.

I did know KU wasn’t my thing.* I don’t regret it, however; it let me read several books on a topic of interest that I never would have paid for (and quite right at that).

*A KU promotional membership was a required element in a deal I wanted. And the joke’s on me - when I quit, I was offered three more months for $1.99 and I took it. I figured if I read only one book I’d come out ahead. However, I’m going to be very picky over this period; the whole “life’s too short to read bad books” thing.

[Uncle Robin]

:AND THAT'S A WRAP!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Read twice as many books as I buy.

[Copied from the 2022 Challenge List Thread]

This makes me feel a little better about my disastrous year on many fronts this year. Because while my TBR went up, for the first time in years, I in fact read three times as many books as I bought this year.*

Thanks!

*Alas, I’ve finished all my purchased books only through May and I’ve read just a third of them overall.

[Dazrin]

It looks like I won't be able to finish anything else this year so I've updated my list post.

I'd encourage anyone who got behind on that to either update their 2021 posts, even just a summary is nice if a complete update is too daunting. I know I always enjoy browsing them a bit at the end of the year.

[Tarana]

My reading took a dive since Mom broke her foot, but I also bought hardly anything since then, so feel good about that. My main goal of reducing total TBR won't change. Just like weight loss, eventually I will succeed!

[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 December:

• Total Books: 75 - 100% of goal, 75% of stretch goal - GOAL MET
• Total Pages: 24143 - 97% of goal - GOAL FAILED but I was a lot closer than I thought I'd be
• Gender Goal: 58% Female, 1% Nonbindary, 41% Male - GOAL MET
• Country of Origin Goal: 42% USA, 58% out of US - GOAL MET
• E-TBR Reduction: +1 - GOAL FAILED
• Print TBR Reduction: -48* GOAL FAILED
• Short Stories: 35, 67% of goal - GOAL FAILED
• Books Recommended by my wife: 10 - 100% of goal GOAL MET - This is the one I am the most pleased about completing

*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.

September was a horrible reading month for me. We closed on the house, took possession, spent a frantic few days painting, and then moved in at the end of the month. Hope to get back on track, but i can see that I might not hit some of my goals.