The 2014 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread!

[pdurrant]

1st of November, two months to go, and I'm currently UNDER budget for the first time since sometime in January!

OK, I have some subscriptions coming later in this month that will take me back over budget, but just at the moment, I am UNDER budget again!

Wow.

[jbcohen]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

1st of November, two months to go, and I'm currently UNDER budget for the first time since sometime in January!

OK, I have some subscriptions coming later in this month that will take me back over budget, but just at the moment, I am UNDER budget again!

Wow.

I would think that one of the reading services would help you stay within budget for books. Kindle Unlimited has helped me put a lid on the book spending so I have dollars for other hobbies, such as digital photography.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

1st of November, two months to go, and I'm currently UNDER budget for the first time since sometime in January!

OK, I have some subscriptions coming later in this month that will take me back over budget, but just at the moment, I am UNDER budget again!

Wow.

I hope you're duly grateful to Kobo policy changes which have been so helpful in achieving this!

Seriously, good on you.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

1st of November, two months to go, and I'm currently UNDER budget for the first time since sometime in January!

OK, I have some subscriptions coming later in this month that will take me back over budget, but just at the moment, I am UNDER budget again!

Wow.

Well, that didn't last long. My Grantville Gazette subscription turned up right on time, and I'm now slightly over-budget again. But for a few splendid hours, I was UNDER budget!

The worrying thing is that I now need to get under budget and stay there for all of December!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I would think that one of the reading services would help you stay within budget for books.

It would, if I wanted a subscription service, and it had the books I want. The latter is probably more of a problem than the former.

[Tarana]

But for a few splendid hours, I was UNDER budget!

Oh, but I am sure it was fabulous. You should have celebrated with an appropriate sugar injection.

I agree about the subscription services. I am joining Amazon's for a few months, but whether you find any selection depends on your interests. There are lots of westerns and old detective novels (which I love), but little fantasy or scifi. Doesn't matter if they have 100,000 ebooks available if your genre is not well represented or contain any current authors.

[DrNefario]

I have enough books that I probably don't need to buy another one for at least a decade. That doesn't stop me wanting to buy more all the time, and I don't see how a subscription service is going to fix that when it has such a limited range. I already have access to many of the same books through the Prime lending library. I am restricted to one a month, but I've been struggling to find one a month I want to read.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

I have enough books that I probably don't need to buy another one for at least a decade. That doesn't stop me wanting to buy more all the time, and I don't see how a subscription service is going to fix that when it has such a limited range. I already have access to many of the same books through the Prime lending library. I am restricted to one a month, but I've been struggling to find one a month I want to read.

I haven't had trouble finding books in the KLL. In fact, I started a special private wishlist of only the books I want to borrow. I am, however, in the same situation as you. I think I have enough books to keep me reading for the rest of my life. But I still browse the library's catalog a couple of times a week; and I have a wishlist that is hundreds of books long.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Still reading, but definitely into garbage time for my challenge this year now. Finished my 74th book of the year last night and am trying to decide what to read now.

[Xanthe]

I've been reading on three different ereaders over the past few months, and I really need to go through them and update my list with my already-read books. I think that I'm still pretty much on pace, though my book counter here doesn't reflect it.

I've got a lot of new, interesting non-fiction to read but I'm sort of in a comfort book phase and am re-reading a lot of the urban fantasy series that I enjoy.

I'm finding that having an actual Kindle device is a very evil thing, because I now check the Daily Deals and the various special sales at Amazon every day, which I never did before, and am also pre-ordering ebooks which I didn't used to do.

I just managed to lift the .apk packages for Moon+ Reader Pro and Mantano Essentials from my Nook HD, so I'm going to see if I can sideload them onto the Fire HDX and upgrade the free versions I currently have on there. I managed to put Dropbox on it to facilitate transferring things.

[Rev. Bob]

There is no way I'm going to make my original 150-book target. Writing a novel has positively devoured my free time; I'm kind of surprised I've managed to break triple digits at all. 45 more books in under two months...not happening.

On the plus side, I just cracked 88K words on the novel, out of an estimated 135K total. (Maybe 150K if you count two planned tie-in shorts.) That translates to 16.5/26 chapters done, and the people who've seen it have been saying good things. I'm actually a bit spooked that the most negative comment I've gotten is "it's not the sort of book I'd normally read" - which I don't consider a negative. I feel the same way about lots of genres, but it's a matter of taste, not a judgment of quality. (Besides, it isn't a book I'd normally read...)

[sakura-panda]

I haven't been keeping my list up to date. I was discussing my books on another site (scrapbooking), and then copying that list over to here, but that forum has closed and I don't keep track at all anymore, except in Goodreads (who says I am one book behind schedule.)

I want to update my list, but I don't know if I feel like going through the work for the 80+ books I've read so far.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^I fell behind too. I just made a notepad document and updated it and then pasted it in. Works better having it that way.

I finished book number 75. I might even get a couple more countries in by the end of the year.

[jbcohen]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

^I fell behind too. I just made a notepad document and updated it and then pasted it in. Works better having it that way.

I finished book number 75. I might even get a couple more countries in by the end of the year.

Not me I am way ahead of the game this year. I have past this years goals by approximatly 10,000 pages and I am not going to stop now. I am going to see if I can get to the 100 book mark. I recall the original chalenge which was to read one hudred books, I have never seem to be any where close to being able to meet that challenge, I think that I might be able to get there this year. And Kindle Unlimited is helping me by putting a lid on the book costs. So far this month I have download approximatly $107 worth of books from that library for $10.

[Stephjk]

I'm slightly ahead with my main challenge to read 52 books but I've completely abandoned the sub challenge to read all book club selections - they were making reading too arduous.