The 2016 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

OK, I've decided. I'm aiming at getting my TBR below 700 by the end of 2016, and an overall budget of £240 (down from £300).

What is your TBR at now?

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

...I have planned out a list of 22 (see spoiler below) that I want to start with. I figure that I might get through all of them by the end of the year, depending on how many shiny things distract me along the way.
...

I'm sure you won't mind me stealing from your list. Especially the Tanizaki, Yoshimoto, Ono, and Kawabata.

I read Kawabata (Snow Country) and Yoshimoto (Kitchen) this year and have been thoroughly enjoying the books from Japan I've read the last couple of years. Definitely in my top-ten countries when I look for things to read.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

What is your TBR at now?

783, but I'm nearly finished with my latest book. I hope to be down to 770 or 765 or so by the end of the year.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

783, but I'm nearly finished with my latest book. I hope to be down to 770 or 765 or so by the end of the year.

Sounds like a job for an excel randomization formula. I would get analysis paralysis if I had a list that big to look at in terms of picking a book. I did a book jar one year with bits of paper in it that I let my wife draw, but it was more work than it was worth.

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I'm sure you won't mind me stealing from your list. Especially the Tanizaki, Yoshimoto, Ono, and Kawabata.

Steal away! I have a huge fondness for Japanese culture and language. The only reason I have no Murakami on the list is because I've read them all. I expanded out into a few Chinese books last year, but they just didn't have the same flavor.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Sounds like a job for an excel randomization formula. I would get analysis paralysis if I had a list that big to look at in terms of picking a book. I did a book jar one year with bits of paper in it that I let my wife draw, but it was more work than it was worth.

My method this year has been: newest book, or next book in a series, or oldest book. Depending on what I'd just read and how I was feeling.

I have unread books I bought back in 2007 (I read all the ones left from 2005 and 2006 this year), and I'm hoping to eventually get my TBR list down to the last couple of years or so. This may take some time.... I currently have 274 unread ebooks bought in 2014 or 2015.

Reducing the additions will be an essential part of reducing my TBR, which is why I'm reducing my average monthly spend for 2015. Although that have to be on average. I have about £60 of Amazon credits to spend before 31st January 2016!

[issybird]

I'm going to keep my overall goal of 120 books for next year. It worked pretty well for me this year and it's just a benchmark; I don't want a goal so large that I'm tempted not to read what I want to read.

My plan each year is to assign half my benchmark to challenge categories, so 60 of those, again. But I'm planning to repeat a mistake I identifed in an earlier year, so I'm changing my structure a bit to accomodate it.

So, my theme reads will be non-fiction books in the categories of the ancient world, Ireland (for the centenary of the Easter Rising) and the Napoleonic era (which should have been this year, for the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, but c'est la guerre). The mistake is that I've found that more than two theme reads tend to be counter-productive, so I'm assigning a total of 30 books to all three categories, so I can run with something if it truly appeals (although the point is to acquire a basic competency of sorts in all categories). I plan to include ancillary fiction, but it won't count toward my goal.

In terms of TBRs, I've two goals. The more important is to get serious about my paper books and have a real reduction in the total unread, and not just to replace them as fast as I read them (or faster, if I'm being honest). So, no paper books bought at all in the first six months of the year and twelve books net reduction in the paper TBR.

The other TBR reduction goal is really just smoke and vanity. I want to shave another 12 books off my Goodreads want-to-read category. This is smoke in that my GR wtr is the tip of the iceberg in terms of my unread accumulation and vanity in that I regret to say that I snicker a bit at some Goodreads want-to-read lists which number in the literal several thousands. My motivation is to get mine down to next to none, so no one looks at my list and thinks, "What is she smoking?"

That leaves six books, assuming you're counting and haven't moved on long ago. I decided that rather than parceling out the six among my various goals, I'd save it for a mini-goal of whatever occurs to me during the year.

I've got a long-term goal of reading all of Wodehouse in close to chronological order, but that's over several years and doesn't count toward a 2016 goal.

Th-th-th-that's all folks!

[sun surfer]

The last few years, I've done two 6-month challenges. In 2015 I did make a yearly goal of 50 books so that I could participate in the Goodreads challenge, but kept all my subchallenges (page counts and particular books and reading themes) as 6-month. I like the shorter time frame so that as the year progresses I don't get too bogged down for too long if things aren't going well. Also, I enjoy coming up with the fresh subchallenges more often regardless.

I haven't thought too much about next year yet as I still have this year's challenge to work on, which at this point will be all but impossible to finish considering what's left to read and time constraints, but which (as hope springs eternal) I will continue to toil at with the time left. That said, some ideas are swirling around for 2016. I'll stick with a Goodreads challenge, probably somewhere between 50-60 for the year. It was 40 for 2014 and 50 for 2015 so I'd like to try 60 for 2016, but I'm not even sure if I'll make the 50 for this year. I am reading some really big books for 2015, but still. I'll need to see how things are looking closer to New Year's before deciding.

I may drop having a page number goal outright. I prefer page numbers to books read because of book size variance, but since I am now doing the GR challenge it seems a bit redundant. I haven't decided if I'll keep track of page numbers anyway if I do drop the goal. I may make page count a variable weekly goal that depends on time available, and as such perhaps unnecessary to include here. One wrinkle would be audiobooks. It's easy to estimate page count for an entire audiobook but something else entirely to estimate daily or weekly page counts for an audiobook. I would have to estimate the page count beforehand and divide it into a book's total minutes to find minutes per page, then keep track of where I start and finish each day or week and calculate, which could be cumbersome. So it's still up in the air.

As for thematic or specific book subchallenges, I haven't even begun to ponder except that I'm thinking of possibly going even shorter in 2016 - to four 3-month challenges. It could help to ensure (even more adequately than 6-month goals), as my time constraints vary throughout the year on a somewhat unpredictable basis, that I choose proper subchallenges for the time frame, and I like the idea that it will give me an opportunity to refresh things basically every season. All will be decided a little later though. Good luck in 2016 everyone!

[sakura-panda]

I'm impressed by all the sub-challenges that so many people add to their challenges. My biggest challenge is keeping track of the next book to read, since I read several at once and I have specific strategies for choosing each next one.

I haven't set my goal for next year yet; so far, I'm short of my goal this year, and since I set it to the highest number of books I've read in a year, it probably will not change. (Although 15+ books in the next month is not *impossible*, just unlikely.)

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

...I have specific strategies for choosing each next one.

I am intrigued. Care to elaborate?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I have about £60 of Amazon credits to spend before 31st January 2016!

Umm. I've just checked again. Slightly over £80 in credits. £90 in credits if Amazon uses the credits earned earlier (that expire in April 2016) before the ones earned most recently (that expire at the end of January 2016).

This is a good problem to have (lots of lovely new ebooks to buy, essentially for free*!), but it looks like I won't be back under budget before May at the earliest, and probably longer. Wow. After January I'm going to have to not buy *anything* except for subscription items until June!


*No-rush shipping credits are essentially free, but I do count them against my book buying budget anyway. Otherwise I'd be greatly tempted to buy things just to get the credits!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I have about £60 of Amazon credits to spend before 31st January 2016!

That's a nice problem to have!

[HomeInMyShoes]

I could use that up in a flash. There's probably a bit of pent up book spending in me these days.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I could use that up in a flash. There's probably a bit of pent up book spending in me these days.

Ah, but I also hate to spend more than £3 on a book!

[HomeInMyShoes]

^My reading challenges make some books a bit expensive. I'm not sure how I'm going to achieve my target next year given that a couple of the books are probably $30CDN. I'm hoping inter-library loans can pull me through. I'll be starting my requests in about two weeks for the ugly ones on the list.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Ah, but I also hate to spend more than £3 on a book!

That'll make reaching your TBR reduction goal a tad difficult. Clearly you need to indulge your inner voluptuary in order to keep the accumulation in check.