READ 100 BOOKS IN 2011

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Wow. Based on what was discussed regarding "what counts as a book" in this challenge it was around 200 pages to count as a book so short stories and novellas don't count. If you are aiming for 50,000 pages that would come out to 250 books for this year! I am impressed.

Well, I enjoy reading lengthier books so my total number of books will be far fewer than 250 (thankfully!). I think the longest book I read clocked in at 1100 pages.

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

There is no way to get a reliable number of pages for ebooks, and frankly, I don't care. I'm at book #70 at the moment (slightly behind, alas), and while there were some shorter ones most had 250+ pages. The important thing to keep in mind, for me, is that I'm not challenging anybody but myself.

For the page number challenge I decided to use the MMPB as standard for any ebooks I've read. Challenging yourself is the ultimate goal and the most important of all!

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Are you thinking about doing a challenge again next year? (Hard to believe just how close that is!) I, and a few others I think, have decided to do a different challenge for 2012. Since I found myself passing over longer books this year (500+ pages) I've decided that I'm going to focus on total page count next year instead of total books. I think I'll take this year's page count and add 10% for next year's goal.

I'll probably just stick with read 100 books concept even though I'd never reach it. But I'm going to toss in an odd way of selecting books to keep me exploring new and unknown authors. I'm thinking an alphabet challenge:

A is for Paul Auster
B is for Dave Bidini
C is for Italo Calvino
...
Z is for Markus Zusak.

I think I'm stuck on Q not being a good letter, so if anyone has any suggestions.

[Rumpelteazer]

I've finished my 100th book earlier this week. Although I did list some short stories and novellas I also read several book with more than 700 pages, so I think my average is over 200 pages per book.

Because I noticed I also have been avoiding long books this year I'm going to count pages next year (either the number of pages my Kindle says a book is or the MMPB), but I'm not setting a goal. I just want to see how much I read when I read like I did before this year.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Crusader

There is a total page count challenge still ongoing for this year. I misplaced the link, but it should be found with a search.

I'm aiming for 50,000 pages. So far I'm at 38,301 and 91 books.

Your 50,000 pages challenge is over here.

All this talk of pages has impelled me to add page counts to my book list. But it's slow going. I've only added page counts to my books read in Jan-April so far, giving totals of 25,658 pages and 71 books.

I'm taking the page counts from paperback (or hardback if necessary) editions where I can find them, and guesstimating otherwise.

[Nyssa]

I'm staying with the 100 books (at 150+ pgs) challenge next year. My biggest issue is figuring in short stories & novellas. I was originally counting 3 short works as one book, but that didn't really work out well. I don't want to leave shorter works out all together becuase many series include them as prequels or bonus stories.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

My biggest issue is figuring in short stories & novellas. […] I don't want to leave shorter works out all together becuase many series include them as prequels or bonus stories.

Maybe consider them as supplementary "pages read" but not books for the purpose of the count?

I include novellas/series shorts, graphic novels, mixed-author anthologies, and re-reads on my official list in the other 100 Books challenge thread, but I use roman numerals/letter subscripts to the most recent qualifying book read to set them apart from the new, full-length works I've picked up this year.

That way I can keep track of All-New, All-Different! stuff without having to wonder about whether or not I should count the stuff which is my umpteenth time reading an old favourite, or finishing up that title I got halfway through last year and remembered I had on my Kindle this year, or whether that 1200 location novelette is near enough to a short novel, or that nice shiny picture book has enough words in it.

It helps save the quibbling and decisions for the end of the year once the challenge is officially over.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Maybe consider them as supplementary "pages read" but not books for the purpose of the count?

I include novellas/series shorts, graphic novels, mixed-author anthologies, and re-reads on my official list in the other 100 Books challenge thread, but I use roman numerals/letter subscripts to the most recent qualifying book read to set them apart from the new, full-length works I've picked up this year.

That way I can keep track of All-New, All-Different! stuff without having to wonder about whether or not I should count the stuff which is my umpteenth time reading an old favourite, or finishing up that title I got halfway through last year and remembered I had on my Kindle this year, or whether that 1200 location novelette is near enough to a short novel, or that nice shiny picture book has enough words in it.

It helps save the quibbling and decisions for the end of the year once the challenge is officially over.

So :

Originally Posted by ATDrake

I. The Wizardry Cursed by Rick Cook P R ∂ $ 7/10 ♥ √
II. The Wizardry Consulted by Rick Cook P R ∂ $ 6.5/10
III. The Wizardry Quested by Rick Cook P R $ 7.5/10 ♥♥ √

does not officially count for 2011?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I'll probably just stick with read 100 books concept even though I'd never reach it. But I'm going to toss in an odd way of selecting books to keep me exploring new and unknown authors. I'm thinking an alphabet challenge:

A is for Paul Auster
B is for Dave Bidini
C is for Italo Calvino
...
Z is for Markus Zusak.

I think I'm stuck on Q not being a good letter, so if anyone has any suggestions.

Ellery Queen.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

So :

does not officially count for 2011?

Nope. I've had those III as paper books for ages, and then I got the e-book editions for a few last year from the Baen Free Library when I got my Kindle and re-read them then, and then I re-read them yet again for the umpteenth time this year and probably skimmed over a lot of the actual text to just reread the favourite scenes/good bits.

Technically for the purposes of the challenge, I'm just counting from never-read-before book #14 Bitter Seeds to never-read-before book #15 A Marked Man, with a brief stop in-between for the Rick Cook re-reads and never-read-before story #14a What Dr. Gottlieb Saw, which was a freebie tie-in thing to Bitter Seeds.

A little over-picky, I know, but it's nice to be able to easily total up all the genuinely new stuff I've "discovered" this year.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Nope. I've had those III as paper books for ages, and then I got the e-book editions for a few last year from the Baen Free Library when I got my Kindle and re-read them then, and then I re-read them yet again for the umpteenth time this year and probably skimmed over a lot of the actual text to just reread the favourite scenes/good bits.

Technically for the purposes of the challenge, I'm just counting from never-read-before book #14 Bitter Seeds to never-read-before book #15 A Marked Man, with a brief stop in-between for the Rick Cook re-reads and never-read-before story #14a What Dr. Gottlieb Saw, which was a freebie tie-in thing to Bitter Seeds.

A little over-picky, I know, but it's nice to be able to easily total up all the genuinely new stuff I've "discovered" this year.

Ah.

Your count is complex but very impressive. I love the legend!

I don't mind counting rereads as its usually a minimum of 2 years between reads and feels like I'm reading them for the first time.

I do like how you list the prequels/bonus stories, however.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Ellery Queen.

Awesome. Duly noted under potentials. It'll probably be fall next year before I get to Q, but looks like fun in a genre I rarely read.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I don't mind counting rereads as its usually a minimum of 2 years between reads and feels like I'm reading them for the first time.

In my case, it's just a by-product of my reading style. Sometimes I commit myself fully to a re-read, sometimes I just skim a DIY "good parts" version. The latter tends to happen more often unless I really loved everything about the book, so it seemed a bit more fair to put those on the "glass half-empty" side of the balance sheet.

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I do like how you list the prequels/bonus stories, however.

Like you, I felt that they should definitely be included in some way, but wasn't sure how they should count. And enough short stories do add up to a full ->

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

In my case, it's just a by-product of my reading style. Sometimes I commit myself fully to a re-read, sometimes I just skim a DIY "good parts" version. The latter tends to happen more often unless I really loved everything about the book, so it seemed a bit more fair to put those on the "glass half-empty" side of the balance sheet.

It is a very rare book that holds me that close. The closest I can think of is The Hobbit. I'm not sure, but I think it is at the top of my most times reread list. The funny thing is that only 2 of the rereads were to prepare me for rereading TLOTR.

Granted, there are other stories that I like, but I never really reread them more than once.

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Like you, I felt that they should definitely be included in some way, but wasn't sure how they should count. And enough short stories do add up to a full ->

The question being the magic number. I decided to track my books via Goodreads so that I wouldn't have to remember to write everything down, but there isn't really a way to separate short stories from full novels; they all get an equal count.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

The question being the magic number. I decided to track my books via Goodreads so that I wouldn't have to remember to write everything down, but there isn't really a way to separate short stories from full novels; they all get an equal count.

That does make things trickier. Maybe the "X pages challenge" people have the more sensible approach, going by words read* rather than format length.

The optimal solution would seem to be to read 100 obviously long-enough-to-be-books, and after that how to weigh in the shorter stuff will be a moot point.

Or maybe just use the locations/pages count on one's reader and compare the numbers for the short stories to those of known 150 page+ books.

"Hmm... This novella is 1000 locations/80 pages on the 3rd size font setting. Most of my Agatha Christies are about 2250 locations/175 pages long. I guess I'll count this as half a book, and that set of 400 location 'what happened next' bonus epilogues from that fantasy series as 1/5th each."

* Or maybe they're fallen prey to quibbling over the definition of an e-reader "page", especially if the font size is set really large.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

That does make things trickier. Maybe the "X pages challenge" people have the more sensible approach, going by words read* rather than format length.

The optimal solution would seem to be to read 100 obviously long-enough-to-be-books, and after that how to weigh in the shorter stuff will be a moot point.

<snip>

True. I can actually make that work for short stories in anthologies, because I'd just have to finish the whole collection for it to count. Novellas, on the other hand, will just have to be asterisked.