The 2014 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread!

[Fbone]

Read 3 books this year which puts me slightly ahead of schedule. Bought 2 books so far this year at 75% discounts. Happy with my results at this moment.

[pdurrant]

Six weeks in and I'm not doing too well. I'm currently 34.91 over my $80 budget for Jan/Feb. Counting books I know I'm going to be buying over the next months, it'll be June before I'll fully back under budget, if i can resist more purchases.

On the plus side, I have read 35 books so far this year, which is four more than last year. Commuting has some advantages.

Also on the plus side, I am making some progress with my TBR pile. Two of those 35 books were calibre-merged sets of short stories purchases from Fictionwise years ago. If I was counting the individual short stories, I would have finished 88 books so far this year!

So at the moment, my TBR is down two for the year, because (see budget above) I have been tempted by some very good special offers, such that my bought count for the year stands at 87 bought for $114.91, and average price of $1.32. And that's novel-sized books, not short stories!

So I suppose that really my TBR is now much longer, since I've read lost of short stories, but added in novels. But I'm counting titles, and I now have two less in my TBR than I did at the start of the year!

[Rev. Bob]

I'm wincing in advance of a purchase ten days from now, when three books I'm after come out on the same day. One of them's listed at $16 in ebook form...and of course, it's from one of the Big Five.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I'm wincing in advance of a purchase ten days from now, when three books I'm after come out on the same day. One of them's listed at $16 in ebook form...and of course, it's from one of the Big Five.

So, you happily read along in your TBR pile until the price drops to a sane level

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

So, you happily read along in your TBR pile until the price drops to a sane level

Exactly! It's been a long time I've worried about getting the next in a series the instant it appears.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Exactly! It's been a long time I've worried about getting the next in a series the instant it appears.

LOL. I learned it the harder way with computer games.

"I want it, I want it, I want it, when is it releeeeaaaaseeeed!"
"Grrr.... HEY, I'M WAITING HERE!"
"Must have it...."
*release*
"YEAH!"
*insta-buy @ €49.95*
*install, play 5-10 hours*
*Enjoy game*

And then I don't have enough time to actually FINISH the damn thing, get sidetracked by other stuff, lose track of the story, give up on that particular playthrough, and then the game ends up waiting on the hard drive.

Then, a year (or 2, or 3... or 10... Sorry, Icewind Dale II) later, when I actually get around to playing it, the price has dropped to €6.95 or even less :X

I stopped buying games (or anything else) on the time of release. My TBP (to be played) pile is high enough already, because of GOG.com. (Wel... yesterday I got the old Dungeon Keeper Gold, and Dungeon Keeper 2, for FREE and $1.49 respectively. Couldn't pass that one up. Still had to replace the boxed versions )

I'm tracking Project Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera, both due to be released somewhere in the beginning of 2015, but I wouldn't be surprised if I only buy them somewhere in 2017...

[CRussel]

I'm doing well so far. Bought a few more than I should have, but mostly doing OK on that, and I'm getting a good bit of reading done. I've read (or abandoned) 17 books, and 2 shorter works, which puts me pretty much on target. And I'm doing fairly well at keeping my list up to date. But it's hard - I missed one I'd read a couple of books ago and just realized I needed to add it in. If I don't get it added in the very next day, it's easy to let it get completely out of control.

[Yapyap]

I've had a few impulse buys this month, so I'm a little concerned about the buying goal for the month, but with 7 books bought out of the maximum of 10 per month that I'm allowing myself, I hope to manage for the rest of the month.

On the plus side, I'm still somewhat ahead in the "read more than buy" challenge, i.e. 22 separate books read (that does include three individual short stories, but those were also all bought separately), 17 bought this year.

[Tarana]

One of them's listed at $16 in ebook form.

I sympathize for the price, but if you get $16 worth of enjoyment, and actually READ IT when it comes out, then nothing wrong with it. I don't preorder because I don't usually drop everything else to read or listen to that new book. I wait for sales or deals. Invariably, if I preorder, when the book becomes available, I can't read it for some reason right away anyway.

I just found out that the main branch of my library is going to be CLOSED for nearly 3 months with the collection there in storage. Egads! I still get a fair number of my audiobooks from CDs at the library, so I might have to abandon my Goodreads book clubs for a few months.

[CRussel]

Try a 3 month subscription to Audible - the intro subscriptions are cheap and you can quit when the library is back online.

[Katsunami]

I started a 350 book last monday, and read almost 200 pages that same day due to 5 hours travel time. Now it's monday again, and I haven't finished it yet. I'm getting distracted again.

Bleh. Bad.

[Xanthe]

I've been reading a bunch of $3.99 Kindle books via the Kindle app on my Nook HD lately; seemingly innocuous purchases that are starting to add up: "Oh, there's a sequel? Let me just get that!"

LOL @ myself.

[Tarana]

Try a 3 month subscription to Audible

Been a member of Audible since 2008. I only get audios that I think I will listen to again - after all, they cost $14.98 each unless you get a good sale. I don't know very far in advance what books I need for the Reading Clubs. For my Buddy Reads with the JD Robb group, I'll have to rip 2 of them in advance (I own one on Audible) to stay caught up. Picking them up tomorrow along with the latest Robin Cook audio (Cell). Have to put off Dresden again to listen to this one as I'm sure it's on a 10 day loan.

Currently listening to book 2 of Diskworld called The Light Fantastic. Tomorrow, I'll be getting on to the 2nd half of Day of the Jackal on my Kindle. It's very suspenseful now and I needed a big block of time, rather than an hour here, a half hour there, to read it. Otherwise, it breaks up the thread of the plot.

edited to add: Finished both The Light Fantastic and The Day of the Jackal, both excellent books. Currently listening to Witness in Death by J D Robb as part of a buddy read. Then I will have to flip a coin - Dead Beat or Cell. Dead Beat or Cell.

[Xanthe]

I am going like a house-afire right now, reading-wise. I'm up to 29 so far, which is extremely good. I'm munching those series books like they are chocolate bon-bons.

I was stuck in traffic trying to get home from the shore yesterday (highway was narrowed down to one lane for multiple sections due to water/gas line repairs from Hurricane Sandy damage, and the temps were in the 60's so a lot of people took a ride down the shore) so a drive that would normally take me an hour took me four hours. In order to stem road rage (and to ignore my bladder), I popped "March Upcountry" by David Weber and John Ringo into the CD player for what will probably be my third listen. Thank God for audiobooks!

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

I am going like a house-afire right now, reading-wise. I'm up to 29 so far, which is extremely good. I'm munching those series books like they are chocolate bon-bons.

I was stuck in traffic trying to get home from the shore yesterday (highway was narrowed down to one lane for multiple sections due to water/gas line repairs from Hurricane Sandy damage, and the temps were in the 60's so a lot of people took a ride down the shore) so a drive that would normally take me an hour took me four hours. In order to stem road rage (and to ignore my bladder), I popped "March Upcountry" by David Weber and John Ringo into the CD player for what will probably be my third listen. Thank God for audiobooks!

It's funny but it's true. I don't mind traffic snarl-ups nearly so much if I'm listening to an audiobook.