The 2021 Annual Reading Challenge List Thread

[pdurrant]

2021 Reading Challenge List Thread

Welcome to our 12th Annual Reading Challenge!

The Annual Reading Challenge is neither a race, contest, nor an “exclusive club”, anyone can join! This is just a fun activity that some of us have enjoyed doing in the past. Many of us have found reading challenges to be an entertaining way to set goals for ourselves, get ideas for books, and see what others are reading.

This thread is for you to keep a running tally for your chosen challenge. Please state your goals at the top of your post (in the title line if you can), and then start your list in the body of your post. As you read books, edit your post to update your list of books read, or other challenge status.

Please Remember: No discussion posts in this thread. Please use the other thread for that. Non-List posts will be deleted or moved to the other thread.

Discussions & Ideas can be found here:

2021 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread

Post #2 of this thread is dedicated to a Table of Contents for all participants in this thread. Names will be added to this TOC in alphabetical order with a link to that individual’s post number from this thread.

Previous threads were for 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010

[pdurrant]

Table of Participants

1. astrangerhere - Post #5
2. bookaho!ic - Post #19
3. bs10000 - Post #14
4. Byrdie - Post #30
5. Dazrin - Post #8
6. Dngrsone - Post #22
7. DrNefario - Post #11
8. frailtyy - Post #21
9. hildea - Post #31
10. HLS - Post #25
11. Hollow Man - Post #16
12. Indio77 - Post #20
13. irishmac473 - Post #34
14. issybird - Post #7
15. jbcohen - Post #17
16. jselby - Post #26
17. JSWolf - Post #18
18. library addict - Post #10
19. Luffy - Post #4
20. Mikou - Post #33
21. Musicman - Post #15
22. Paperbackstash - Post #24
23. pdurrant - Post #3
24. Polarpenguin - Post #28
25. PurpleStar - Post #9
26. rfog - Post #6
27. sakura-panda - Post #23
28. sun surfer - Post #29
29. Tarana - Post #13
30. Uncle Robin - Post #12
31. Waylander - Post #27
32. Xanthe - Post #32

32 Participants .

[pdurrant]

My goal is to buy fewer books than I read. And so end up with fewer unread books.
Last year I managed to reduce my TBR pile by 117 books!

I start 2021 with 901 books on my TBR pile.

Books removed from TBR

Read and Reading

1. December 31st, 2020: Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy L. Sayers - £0.33 - 4/5 - 239pp
   A collection of short mysteries. Some racial stereotypes, but on the whole good fun.
2. January 4th: Charlotte's Web by E. B. White - £0.99 - 5/5 - 111pp
   Excellent childen's book. Memorable characters, good story.
3. January 6th: Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer - £0.99 - 4/5 - 211pp
   A most enjoyable re-read, provided one remembers it is complete fantasy.
4. January 9th: Fantasy Magazine #4 edited by Wallace and Tremblay - £0.31 - 2/5 - 181pp
   My taste clearly doesn't match that of the editors. Abandoning the remaining 53 issues.
5. January 12th: James Potter and the Curse of the GateKeeper by G. Norman Lippert - Free - 4/5 - 457pp
   Quite fun. An interesting fan-fic sequel to Hary Potter.
6. January 18th: Strip Jack by Ian Rankin - £0.99 - 5/5 - 259pp
   A really good story, and the characters are getting better. I think the series is really getting into its stride now.
7. January 21st: All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot - £0.99 - 5/5 - 454pp
   Still delightful.
8. January 26th: The Wandering Earth Collection by Cixin Liu - Free - - 444pp

Books added to TBR

Freebies

1. January 5th: Some of the Best from Tor.com 2016 by Tor.com (unread)

Bought

• January (2/£1.98): Charlotte's Web, Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident
• February (0/£0.00):
• March (0/£0.00):
• April (0/£0.00):
• May (0/£0.00):
• June (0/£0.00):
• July (0/£0.00):
• August (0/£0.00):
• September (0/£0.00):
• October (0/£0.00):
• November (0/£0.00):
• December (0/£0.00):

Analysis
TBR: 843
Books read: 7 (including 1 freebies, 0 re-reads, 0 abandoned)
Books otherwise removed from TBR pile: 54 (0 read previously, 54 discarded)

Books removed from TBR pile: 61
Books added to TBR pile: 3 (including 1 freebies, 0 omnibus counted as 0)
Removed/Added: 20.0
Net reduction for 2021: 58

Non-free books read: 6 (including 0 re-reads)
Total cost of books read: £4.60
Average cost of books read: £0.77

Non-free books bought: 2 (including 0 omnibus counted as 0)
Total cost of books bought: £1.98
Average cost of books bought: £0.99


Rating System:
1: Bad.
2: Poor. (Or just not to my taste.)
3: Satisfactory.
4: Good.
5: Excellent.

Pages are as given by the ADE algorithm in Calibre, or from the Amazon web page.

[Luffy]

10/100

Currently reading

The Age of Faith (The Story of Civilization #4)

An Old Chester Secret

A.B.C. contre Poirot (Hercule Poirot #13)


Read

01. 01st January 2021 Red Velvet Revenge (Cupcake Bakery Mystery, #4) 4/5 stars

02. 02nd January 2021 Going, Going, Ganache (Cupcake Bakery Mystery #5) 4/5 stars

03. 02nd January 2021 Chocolate Surprise & Murder (An Oceanside Cozy Mystery #41) 1/5 stars

04. 04th January 2021 Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4) 1/5 stars

05. 08th January 2021 Fleshmarket Close (Inspector Rebus #15) 2/5 stars

06. 10th January 2021 Mardi Gras Murder (Cajun Country Mystery, #4) 2/5 stars

07. 17th January 2021 The Mysterious Benedict Society (The Mysterious Benedict Society, #1) 3/5 stars

08. 21st January 2021 Pride and Prejudice 5/5 stars

09. 21st January 2021 Berried in the Past (Cranberry Cove #5) 2/5 stars

10. 26th January 2021 Moscow Rules (Gabriel Allon, #8) 2/5 stars

[astrangerhere]

Length Goals:

• Total Books: 75 (stretch goal of 100) (up from 50/75 last year)
• Total Pages: 25,000
• E-TBR Reduction: 25
• Print-TBR Reduction: 10

Substantive Goals:

• Read at least 51% non-American authors
• Read at least 51% female/nonbinary authors than male authors
• Read at least 52 short stories
• Read at least 10 books across all our collections that are my wife's or that she wants me to read.

BOOKS 6 of 75

Spoiler:

1. Takekurabe by Natsu Higuchi
2. The Incindiaries by R.O. Kwon (dropped)
3. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
4. Claudine by Riyoko Ikeda
5. Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeline Albright
6. City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

SHORT STORIES 5 of 52

Spoiler:

1. The Million Dollar Bond Robbery by Agatha Christie
2. Roman Fever by Edith Wharton
3. God's Fools by Mary Roberts Rinehart
4. The Flight of Betsey Lane by Sarah Orne Jewett
5. A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell

BOOKS SELECTED BY MY WIFE 1 of 10

Spoiler:

1. City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

[rfog]

# Listado de libros leídos en 2021

My goal: read Pratchett and some old Pulps

## January
1.

## Other


## Not read
-

[issybird]

I’m going to limit my objectives for 2021 in hopes that the fewer, the likelier I’ll achieve them. The past few years have been characterized by mostly fails other than total books read.

I will set my usual benchmark, not a goal, of 120 books read.

I’ll read a non-fiction book a month about the Dark Ages or the Middle Ages.

This one’s something of a stretch, but I’d like to read a play a week, rounding to 50 over the course of the year. I reserve the right to end it early with honor if I hit the wall at the half year mark, or cut it back to two per month. Because that’s a lot of plays.

I’d like to make some inroads into my GR WTR, let’s say six books, which is 20% of the current number. I’m keeping it low because the reality is that most of those titles have languished for years and while I want to read them, it seems evident I don’t want to read them, not enough.

As always I link to Goodreads because I’m lazy. I won’t bother to create a link to my WTR, as my success will be measured by absence.

And that’s it, although I reserve the right to tweak, especially if I start off the year falling into an unforeseen topic.

[Dazrin]

I'm going to reduce my goal to 6,000 pages for 2021, an average of 500 per month. With my dedicated reading time completely gone this should be possible but will be much more difficult than in past years.

---

Page Goal: Read 6,000 pages in 2021.
Status as of January 24: 1,110 pages read, 6 books/short stories completed.

---

Current and Upcoming Book(s):

• The Two Towers (LotR 2) - J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Return of the King (LotR 3) - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Network Effect (Murderbot 5) - Martha Wells
• Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre - Max Brooks
• Peace Talks (Dresden 16) - Jim Butcher
• Battle Ground (Dresden 17) - Jim Butcher
  

Completed books:

Spoiler:

Ordered by finish date

1. The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice 1) - John Flanagan
2. The Burning Bridge (Ranger's Apprentice 2) - John Flanagan
3. Tales from the Folly (Rivers of London anthology) - Ben Aaronovitch
4. The Queen of Spades - Alexander Pushkin - Classic Tales Podcast #715
5. The Tragedy in the Forest of Morgues - Maurice Leblanc - Classic Tales Podcast #714
6. The Icebound Land (RA 3) - John Flanagan

Progress Charts:
Press Shift-Refresh if the images below don't show up.

---

Other list posts: 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011

[PurpleStar]

I guess I'll say read 20 books again and hopefully more than that! I'll keep track here as well as Goodreads. Hopefully I'll read more per month than I have been!!!!

January:

1. One by One by Ruth Ware
2. Star Trek: Agents of Influence by Dayton Ward.

February:


March:


April:


May:


June:


July:


August:


September:


October:


November:


December:

[library addict]

I have a mix of reading goals for 2021, including:

1. Read a complete series by a new-to-me author
2. Finish reading two completed series I’ve started but let slide
3. Pick 10 “Must Read” books for the year from my huge digital TBR mountain (not including any new releases)

January 2021

February 2021

March 2021

April 2021

May 2021

June 2021

July 2021

August 2021

September 2021

October 2021

November 2021

December 2021

[DrNefario]

Read twice as many books as I buy.

Bought: 3
Borrowed: 0
Free: 2

Read: 4

Books read:
1. Blackfish City - Sam J Miller (k) - 325
2. The Problem with Men - Richard Herring (k) - 120
3. A Stranger in Olondria - Sofia Samatar (e) - 301
4. Wilma Tenderfoot and the Case of the Frozen Hearts - Emma Kennedy (k) - 262

Monthly Breakdown:

Spoiler:

January
Bought: 3 (£4.97)
Borrowed: 0
Free: 2
Read: 4 (£3.61)
Pages: 1008

Achievements:

1. Buy It, Read It. Start at least 80% of the books I buy.
Current total: 0/3 (0%)

2. King of the Mountains. My 5 longest books should total over 3000 pages.
Current total: 1008

Spoiler:

325 - Blackfish City - Sam J Miller
301 - A Stranger in Olondria - Sofia Samatar
262 - Wilma Tenderfoot and the Case of the Frozen Hearts - Emma Kennedy
120 - The Problem with Men - Richard Herring

3. Morningstar Crescent. An ongoing challenge to read all books shortlisted for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award. No specific target now the award has been closed down, but I do want to read the lot eventually. There are 14 remaining, so let's aim for 7 books.
Current total: 0

Spoiler:

Shortlisted:
2010 - Lamentation - Ken Scholes
2011 - Tymon's Flight - Mary Victoria
2013 - Irenicon - Aidan Harte
2013 - Stormdancer - Jay Kristoff
2014 - The Path of Anger - Antoine Rouaud
2015 - The Mirror Empire - Kameron Hurley
2015 - The Godless - Ben Peek
2015 - Age of Iron - Angus Watson
2016 - Starborn - Lucy Hounsom
2017 - Infernal - Mark de Jager
2017 - Duskfall - Christopher Husberg
2017 - Snakewood - Adrian Selby
2017 - Hope and Red - Jon Skovron
2018 - The Court of Broken Knives - Anna Smith Spark

4. Paper Chase. Reduce my paper book collection.
Out: 0
In: 0
Net reduction: 0

5. Indiana Jones and the Bundle of Doom. My goal last year was demolished by the late purchase of a large Storybundle. This year I will read at least 10 books from that bundle.
Current Total: 0

Spoiler:

6. Never Gonna Be Respectable. Read a classic or literary award adjacent book.

7. He Scores. Read a book by Nevil Shute. This is a bit of an annual tradition since I inherited my father's collection, so I thought I would make it official.

Note: My new rule for bundles is that they count as 1 purchase per £ (if there are more books than pounds). So if I bought a bundle of 15 books for £7.50, that would count as 8 purchases and 7 freebies.

Legend:
Book title: read,own,don't own
(p) paperback, (h) hardback, (k) kindle, (e) epub, (i) ibook/pdf, (a) audio

[Uncle Robin]

• Read not less than 130 books
  
  Spoiler:

  26 completed so far, 20% done in 20 days
• Complete the "Multilingual Dreams" Challenge at The StoryGraph
• Pick a Dickens to finally give him a go.
• Embrace my "read for fun" mantra.
  
  Spoiler:

  Off to a good start with Piccadilly Jim. Melissa Miller's Field Sisters series proving to be fast and fun, too.
• Something from each of the Five Eyes.
  
  Spoiler:

  1. England: Poetry from World War One.
  2. New Zealand: Puna Wai Kōrero - English poetry by Māori poets
  3. Australia
  4.USA The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll
  5. Canada Best Canadian Poetry 2019
  
• Something English from indigenous Africa.
  
  Spoiler:

  Born A Crime - Trevor Noah
• Read more poetry.
  
  Spoiler:

  
  Poetry from World War One.
  Best Canadian Poetry 2019
  Puna Wai Kōrero - English poetry by Māori poets
  Two Urdu anthologies started as well
  The Best of Faiz
  Beloved Delhi: A Mughal City and her Greatest Poets
• Try reading poetry in non-L1/L2 languages.
  Spoiler:

  
  Reading Urdu poetry highlights the differences between Urdu and Hindi, so for L3, I'm counting these (since the poems are in Urdu, even if the commentary etc is in English):
  The Best of Faiz
  Beloved Delhi: A Mughal City and her Greatest Poets
• Read at least one short story anthology.
  
  Spoiler:

  Blandings Castle ... and Elsewhere is another twofer - short story collection AND reading for fun
• Complete The StoryGraph Onboarding Challenge
  
  Spoiler:

  Four out of five prompts completed already
• Read at least 20 more books than I buy.
  
  Spoiler:

  Progress: 4 books bought, 14 read.

[Tarana]

2021 Goals

3,000 pages per month: Jan;
Ebooks - TBR Reduced by 10; Current: +10
Audiobooks - TBR Reduced by 10; Current 1
Magazines - TBR Reduced by 10; Current 0
Book over 600 pages/month:

Magazines Read So Far: 0

Spoiler:

1.

2021 Purchases Read:
Ebooks Bought: 13 Read: 3
Audiobooks Bought: 06 Read: 4

Spoiler:

January
Wayward - Blake Crouch (audio+ebook) $2.13+1.92
The Last Town - Blake Crouch (audio+ebook) $2.13+1.92
Death Beside the Sea - T E Kinsey (audio) $2.13+2.13
In Farleigh Field - Rhys Bowen (audio+ebook) $3.74+1.06
Hushed Up - Elizabeth Spann Craig (ebook) $3.35
Tuesday, the Rabbi Saw Red - Harry Kemelman (ebook) $1.06
One Fine Day the rabbi Bought a Cross - Harry Kemelman (ebook) $3.20
My Favorites - Ben Bova (ebook) $1.06
Alien Wars - Vaughn Heppner (ebook+audio) $1.06+$2.13
Believe The Lie - Elizabeth George (ebook) $2.13
Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connelly - Felix Savage (audio) RETURNED
The House Guest - Mark Edwards (audio) $6.53
Someday The Rabbi Will Leave - Harry Kemelman (ebook) $3.20
The Ragman's Memory - Archer Mayor (ebook) $1.06
The Fireman - Joe Hill (ebook) $3.20
Murder in An Irish Pub - Carlene O'Connor (ebook) $1.03


Free
Not One of Us - Debbie Herbert - Amazon First
The Shadow Box - Luanne Rice - Amazon First
Some of the Best from TOR 2020 - TOR
Over the Dark - Harry Turtledove - Phoenix Pick

Short Stories, Novellas, Short Dramas: 1

Spoiler:

01. 4/5 Zero (prequel Hal Spacejock series) - Simon Haynes
02.

Books
January - Pages Read:3138
01. 5/5 A Quiet Gentleman - Georgette Heyer (audio)

Martin/Gervaise interactions are so hilarious. Love this.

02. 5/5 Pines - Blake Crouch (audio+ebook)

Reread. Lots of suspense. A bit violent, but not excessively so.

03. 5/5 Wayward - Blake Crouch (audio+ebook)

Lots of action going on.

04. 5/5 The Last Town - Blake Crouch (audio+ebook)

Suspense at a rapid pace.

05. 5/5 McNally's Secret - Lawrence Sanders (audio)

Reread - still love this guy. Cozy featuring a playboy Floridian

06. 1/5 Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connelly - Felix Savage (audio)

Quit after an hour. YA? I'm clearly not the intended audience.

07. 5/5 McNally's Luck - Lawrence Sanders (audio)

Archie is such a treasure. A potential disappointment to his parents, yet succeeds

08. 5/5 Edited to Death - Elizabeth Spann Craig

A manuscript is stolen from Myrtle's house; author is then murdered

09. 5/5 The House Guest - Mark Edwards (audio)

Two Brits housesit in NYC accept that a woman is a friend of the owners.

10. 4/5 Hushed Up - Elizabeth Spann Craig

Florist is murdered after Wanda's warning.

* - unowned
=======
TBR = owned books
TBR (audio) Jan 1: 1012 (includes freebees)
TBR (ebooks) Jan 1: 1513 (includes magazines, no freebees)
Audiobooks listened: 8 (including 00 freebies, 0 abandoned, 2 re-reads)
Books Read: 4 (including 0 freebies, 1 abandoned, 1 re-read)
Books otherwise removed from TBR: 0


Book Rating/Comments:
1: Awful, or did not finish
2: So, so, or not to my taste
3: Good book
4: Very good book; possible reread.
5: Wonderful book! A keeper.

[bs10000]

Read 52 books in 2021
Read one TBR for every 4 books read
Complete 2 ongoing series

January
Kris Longknife - Emissary *.5
The Midnight Library ***.5
The Fatal Flying Affair - ***

[Musicman]

January
1) Noble Beginnings (Jack Noble Series #1) - Author L.T. Ryan
2) The Law of Innocence - Author Michael Connelly
3) Recursion - Author Blake Crouch
4) A Deadly Distance (Jack Noble #2) - Author L.T. Ryan
5) Photographing the Dead (Nameless) - Author Dean Koontz - Short Story