The 2022 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread

[bookaho!ic]

I plan for 120 books in 2022

[Uncle Robin]

The StoryGraph has a really interesting challenge for next year called "Read the World" - an interesting mix of countries represented.

Here are my choices - a mix of fiction and nonfiction, short and not so short

[Paperbackstash]

My 2021 reading year was pretty mixed. In 2022, planning to concentrate on physical library more, getting through more specific authors instead of genres

[Pjama]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I have some big volumes of Ms. Kael on my shelf as well!

I have been reading 5001 Nights at the Movies over the past several months, alternating between that and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

I am also reading multiple other books in between, but wanted to make sure I finish both of these.

I love 5001 Nights at the Movies, as it is not about the 'best' movies ever made, as these giant omnibuses often are, she reviews the bad along with the good, and is frequently hilarious. I will post some quotes sometime, when I figure out where the best place on here for that is.

I have just bought a book on the issues with translations of Perrault's fairy tales, with new translations, and am reading Angela Carter's book of (usually macabre) tales from around the world, while reading the Grimm Brothers. I’m in that kind of mood at the moment.

I'm reading the Kael on my Kobo and the Reich on my Kindle, which is working for me. All the fairy tale books are on my kindle, which might be why I haven’t opened the Reich book for a while. I also wanted a break from the Nazis over the festive season.

[Pjama]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

In my teens I made friends with a WWII veteran living next door who kindly lent me his copy of The Rise and Fall, a real highlight of my reading back then. I only have one French book on my TBR for 2022, based solely on its title - I hope it's as amusing as it sounds

That is very cool, how nice of your neighbor. It's a really interesting book, all the more so as the author had actually been to many of the crazy Austrian's speeches etc., so he has real first hand insight.

I love the look of that book! It sounds very funny, maybe I’ll add it to my list as well.

Last year I think all the French books I read were by Agatha Christie. I think the last French book I read by a French author was hhHh, which was tremendous. I just remembered, it wasn’t that, it was one about Mengèle escaping and living in Brazil and how he was captured. Also very good. I was reading Le Rouge et le noir, but gave up, I might go back to that as I was enjoying it pretty much. I might reread Thérèse Raquin, which I loved. I usually reread my favorite books multiple times.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Fbone

My goal for 2022 is read better books.

Right there with you. That’s the unifying factor behind all my goals.

And along those lines, I think one of my goals will be to set up a reasonable-length* reading list of quality unread owned books. That makes three and that’s enough. I’ve noticed that the more goals I set, the less likely I am to achieve them.

*Reasonable length meaning leaving room for serendipity, additions, purchases** and light reading. It also won’t include audiobooks, which are generally about a third of my “reading”.

**Of which I hope there will be very, very few, but none at all while idealistic is not realistic.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Pjama

That is very cool, how nice of your neighbor. It's a really interesting book, all the more so as the author had actually been to many of the crazy Austrian's speeches etc., so he has real first hand insight. .

A guest judge at my high school's speech contest had also 'been there and done that', and described the man in question as the best public speaker he'd ever heard in terms of live performance oratory.

[ownedbycats]

Probably a bit of a strange goal, but:

I have a terrible habit of letting chapter updates pile up on partially-read fanfics. "Oh, I'll get to it later... oh goddammit, now I have to catch up on 20 chapters."

So my goal is to not let that happen. Not sure how I'll tally that - but currently, I've got 4 fics to catch up on.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fbone

My goal for 2022 is read better books.

What do you mean by better books?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Probably a bit of a strange goal, but:

I have a terrible habit of letting chapter updates pile up on partially-read fanfics. "Oh, I'll get to it later... oh goddammit, now I have to catch up on 20 chapters."

So my goal is to not let that happen. Not sure how I'll tally that - but currently, I've got 4 fics to catch up on.

Goals are personal, so I’m not arguing. But my reaction on reading your post was that to the extent you let chapters pile up, it’s an indication that you’ve lost interest and maybe it’s time to let that particular story go? I always think of daytime soaps and how VCRs were probably an initial boon, but then maybe contributed to their downfall. At first, it meant you could keep up with your stories no matter what else was going on with your life, but eventually, if you had a couple of weeks or more of unwatched episodes, you’d realize you were done. Stefano DiMera’s evil deeds had ceased to compel.

But this is me.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

The StoryGraph has a really interesting challenge for next year called "Read the World" - an interesting mix of countries represented.

Here are my choices - a mix of fiction and nonfiction, short and not so short

This sounds like it is along the lines of HomeInMyShoes's challenges from a while back: 2014 and Goodreads. He really wanted to read books from different countries and went all out. It looks like over 70 countries in 2014 and I know he continued for a while after that.

The Goodreads link above has a map showing most of the countries (at least at the time.)

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by issybird

Goals are personal, so I’m not arguing. But my reaction on reading your post was that to the extent you let chapters pile up, it’s an indication that you’ve lost interest and maybe it’s time to let that particular story go? I always think of daytime soaps and how VCRs were probably an initial boon, but then maybe contributed to their downfall. At first, it meant you could keep up with your stories no matter what else was going on with your life, but eventually, if you had a couple of weeks or more of unwatched episodes, you’d realize you were done. Stefano DiMera’s evil deeds had ceased to compel.

But this is me.

In my case, it's more a case of the updates coming faster than I can read them - either authors updating multiple times a week (if not daily!) or waking up to find 10 "this fic you've bookmarked has updated!" emails in my inbox.

Combine that with long stretches of time when I don't read much at all because I don't have the mental capacity to really understand it and it's very easy for chapters to pile up.

[Uncle Robin]

I can't believe it took me this long to realize that the "pick a random book" feature in Calibre works on any library, virtual or otherwise. Now that I know I can use it in conjunction with my TBR, my 2022 Reading Challenge is going to be a lot more fun.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

I can't believe it took me this long to realize that the "pick a random book" feature in Calibre works on any library, virtual or otherwise. Now that I know I can use it in conjunction with my TBR, my 2022 Reading Challenge is going to be a lot more fun.

I use it a lot on my 'unread' virtual library to pick my next read.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I use it a lot on my 'unread' virtual library to pick my next read.

I have only 85 in my Calibre TBR, I try to keep it at no more100 at any one time. Sixteen of them are part of the organized challenges I'm doing at The StoryGraph, which means I can be surprised around 70 times while reading books I've prioritized out of my larger unread list. 2022 should be a relaxing fun year of reading, I hope.