The 2015 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread

[Dazrin]

This year is now 2/3 completed so time for my update.

My goal is 24,000 pages for the year and I have completed almost 20,000 so far. That should put me at about 30,000 by the end of the year which will essentially tie my record.

For unusual stats this time around I looked at publication dates. In an average year I read books that were published in 33 different years. This year I have already read that many, hopefully that means I am reading a more diverse set of books. Lost Horizons (1933), West with the Night (1942), and The Quiller Memorandum (1965) all stand out as excellent books from years I haven't read before (and 2 of those I found because of the book club). Normally I tend to read more books from one specific year than any other years, the worst case for me was 2012 when I read 23 books from 2011 and the second place year only had 9. This year the most I have read is 4 books from 2005, 2012, and 2015.

[bfisher]

I had a great month in August - read 25 books, got some traction in my sub-challenges, finished a book I've been struggling with for a year (but it was worth it).

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by bfisher

I had a great month in August - read 25 books, got some traction in my sub-challenges, finished a book I've been struggling with for a year (but it was worth it).

25!

[pdurrant]

Well, here we are, eight months gone, four months to go.

My goals for 2015:

1. To read my 54 unread ebooks from 2005 and 2006.
2. To spend no more than £25/month on ebooks on average over the year.
3. To reduce my TBR list in calibre to below 700.

1. I have just one left from 2005, and none from 2006. I'm going to try to also read my unread books from the first half of 2007.
2. I've done well here. I've only spent over £25 in three of the eight monrhs, and on average, I am under my £25/month target.
3. This is where it all falls down. My current TBR is 756 books, six up on the start of the year. I shall have to do very well over the next four months to hit 700 by the end of the year.

[issybird]

OK, two-thirds of the year gone and I'm in pretty good shape. Overall, my numbers are good and my total even leaves me some wiggle room. Where I fall down is in my sub-challenges, which are to me the meat of my challenge; the overall figure is just a benchmark. The numbers are good on the face of it, but two categories are a tad lacking in substance. I've read a few too many challenge-lite books. So I need to buckle down and use that wiggle room to get serious.

[CRussel]

Well, at the 2/3rd mark, I just hit 100 books read. And what a book to do it with -- a re-read of my very first Kindle book The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. Just as compelling the second time around.

[Rumpelteazer]

I'm doing well so far this year.

I'm two books ahead of last year, but I'm behind on page count. However, last year was a very good year and I'm still ahead of 2013 and 2012. I expect to finish this year having read less pages than in 2014 and 2015. In those years I managed to read a lot during the vacations I took in November. This year I've planned a more active vacation in September and I don't expect to be reading a lot.

In August I challenged myself to read at least 5 horror/ghost novels. Which I really liked. I've decided to do something similar in 2016. I've made a list of 20 themes (genres, countries, regions, new, old, etc) and each month I have to pick (at least) one theme and read 4 books relating to that theme. To encourage me to also pick longer books I've decided that for this challenge books over 800 pages count as two books and books over 1200 pages count as three books.

[HomeInMyShoes]

General Statistics
books read 50
pages read 14,542
authors 36
new authors 25
countries 14
new countries 4
paper books 41
electronic books 11
money spent $0.00

Books read by country
United States 15
United Kingdom 12
Canada 10
Japan 2
Austria 2
Azerbaijan 1
Denmark 1
Iceland 1
Ireland 1
Italy 1
Mexico 1
North Korea 1
Pakistan 1
Togo 1

[jbcohen]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

General Statistics
books read 50
pages read 14,542
authors 36
new authors 25
countries 14
new countries 4
paper books 41
electronic books 11
money spent $0.00

Books read by country
United States 15
United Kingdom 12
Canada 10
Japan 2
Austria 2
Azerbaijan 1
Denmark 1
Iceland 1
Ireland 1
Italy 1
Mexico 1
North Korea 1
Pakistan 1
Togo 1

Excellent stats Home, why so many printed books? I have gone all digital now with the proding of some mobile read members.

I have exceeded my original goal of 25,000 pages read so I have set up the next goal posts at 28,000 pages. I shall soon see if I am in a poisition to make that my the end of the year. Anyhow my goals for 2016 will be where I wind up 2015.

[HomeInMyShoes]

On e-Books:

• no Overdrive lending to Kindle in Canada
• loan periods and renewals are more difficult due to availability with eBooks. I can't guarantee getting through a book in two weeks
• many titles I read are not available as an eBook (and certainly not in my library system)
• paper works better in sub-zero temperatures which is half the year here
• my book budget necessitates using the library a lot (see most of the above reasons)
• outside of long books, I still kind of like paper (heresy I know)
• I find I generally pay better attention to paper (psychosomatic probably, but it is what it is)

Executive Summary: eBooks for my reading list have just not proven to be convenient or affordable in most cases.
Executive-Executive Summary: CANADA.

I know it is heresy on MobileRead, but it is what it is. I always look for eBooks that I can lend to my phone (Overdrive works on Android), but I don't like reading on my phone that much and I am too lazy to want to download the ePub to my device and strip the DRM just so I can then copy it to my Kindle to read it. I've thought about buying another eReader, but I don't want any more devices.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Excellent stats Home, why so many printed books? I have gone all digital now with the proding of some mobile read members.

2014 is the first time for me that the number of eBooks has exceeded the number of books printed on paper. I toyed with eBooks 'way back when (primarily from Baen), but didn't like reading on my PC screen. Then, I purchased the first Kindle, receiving my device in February of 2008.
2008: 56 ebooks, 40% of 140
2009: 42 ebooks, 30% of 138
2010: 26 ebooks, 16.3% of 160
2011: 35 ebooks, 35% of 139
2012: 45 ebooks, 29% of 154
2013: 49 ebooks, 32.9% of 149
2014: 101 ebooks, 65.6% of 154
2015: 103 ebooks, 77.4% of 133 (so far!)

And the turning point for me was the availability of eBooks through the library. Since I have at multiple readers (3 of them e-ink as well as the reader apps on my iPad and iPhone), I don't have a problem if a particular book isn't available in Kindle format.

[bfisher]

So far this year I am running at about 65% ebook, which is the best I've done so far - it's usually under 50%. I read a lot of non-fiction, which tends to be more expensive, and less often discounted, and my public library is more likely to have the titles I want to read in print than in ebook.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

2014 is the first time for me that the number of eBooks has exceeded the number of books printed on paper. I toyed with eBooks 'way back when (primarily from Baen), but didn't like reading on my PC screen. Then, I purchased the first Kindle, receiving my device in February of 2008.
2008: 56 ebooks, 40% of 140
2009: 42 ebooks, 30% of 138
2010: 26 ebooks, 16.3% of 160
2011: 35 ebooks, 35% of 139
2012: 45 ebooks, 29% of 154
2013: 49 ebooks, 32.9% of 149
2014: 101 ebooks, 65.6% of 154
2015: 103 ebooks, 77.4% of 133 (so far!)

And the turning point for me was the availability of eBooks through the library. Since I have at multiple readers (3 of them e-ink as well as the reader apps on my iPad and iPhone), I don't have a problem if a particular book isn't available in Kindle format.

Through the library would be a turning point for me. While CRussel kindly reminded me that DRM removal is quite simple, I am old and curmudgeony with respect to that. I shouldn't have to do that. If I hadn't won the K3 I would have bought a Kobo just for Overdrive library support in Canada. That whole issue is beyond stupid. Anyway...

Paper to electronic ratios since I got my K3 in 2011:

2011: 22/20 48%
2012: 62/21 25%
2013: 51/20 28%
2014: 67/17 20%
2015: 39/11 22%

There was an initial time when I read lots on the device but now it's 20 to 25% of reading. Part of this is the library issue, part of this is my reads have tended to be obscure making them really expensive as eBooks or just not available at all. 2014's challenge certainly had that issue.

[sakura-panda]

I am 7 books behind "schedule" (according to Goodreads) and nearly 20 books behind where I was this time last year (and I didn't reach my goal then either).

I do most of my reading in the summer, but I haven't been doing as much this year, so I suspect this will be one of my lowest count years (since I started tracking.)

On the other hand, it should be easy for me to pass this year's numbers *next* year, right? LOL

I don't think I've read a single paper book this year.

[din155]

I totally forgot about tracking my goals
Glad to see others on target. Nice stats HIMS