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2017 Reading Self-Challenge


Plessiez

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Since Leap doesn't seem to be around right now, I'm volunteering myself to keep the 2017 iteration of this thread up to date.  (As is traditional, most of this post is copied shamelessly from Inigima's original (2013?) challenge thread.)

For those who've not seen this before: the idea of the challenge is to set yourself a target number of books to read throughout the year.  If you post your target in this thread, I'll edit this post to include your details and bold your name if and when you finish.  You're also encouraged to post regular progress updates throughout the year (since otherwise this thread would completely vanish before anybody reached their target)

FAQ:

What counts as a book?

This challenge is about setting a personal target for yourself, with no penalties or prizes, so in short it's ''whatever you think''. Common convention tends to include audiobooks, short story collections and self-contained graphic novels, but not individual short stories or comic book issues.  (I personally only count previously unread fiction, but many people count non-fiction and rereads as well.)

What should I set as my goal?

If you're looking for a target number and aren't sure what to pick, 52 (1 book/week) and 26 (1 book/2 weeks) are common, but it can be as low as 1 or as high as... something high. In addition, many posters take it a step further by setting sub-targets, such as ''no re-reads'' or ''more foreign authors''. To keep things readable, these won't be recorded on the front page, but it's a great way to make your challenge more interesting.

Can I revise my goal?

Yes, you can revise your goal upwards or downwards.  Just post your new target in this thread and I'll update it in this post. If you're revising upwards (and have already completed your original goal) your next challenge will be added in after the original. Each target you meet will be marked in bold.

When should I update this thread?

There is already a monthly reading thread for discussion of the books you have read, but please feel free to update this thread once you feel you've made some headway with your challenge. Many posters choose to update monthly; others less often. Do whatever works best for you.

As mentioned, there is already a monthly reading thread in this subforum, and detailed discussion of books should probably be posted there. This thread is not just about boring lists though, a brief review or summary of the books you've read would be great!

How can I keep track of my books?

Many posters use Goodreads. In addition to recording your reads and what you have to say about them, they have a widget that allows you to declare your own goal - and it will automatically track your progress. 

There is also a Westeros Goodreads group (with a couple of hundred members). I'm not actually a member myself, but if you're looking for recommendations from other Westeros board members it might be a place to start.

__________________________________________________________________________

Targets:

Plessiez: 72

Queen of Procrastination: 52

Hereward: 50

Roose Boltons Pet Leech: 50

TheRevanchist: 26

3CityApache: 36

Andorion: 100

Lord of Oop North: 40

Let's Get Kraken: 60

Reny of Storms End: 30

LongRider: 50

Guinevere Seaworth: 80

Garett Hornwood: 40

HelenaExMachina: 24

Starkess: 65

mashiara: 70

dalThor: 30

Isildur's Mane: 20

Red Tiger: 10

Winterfella: 20

Clueless Northman: 20 [6,400 pages]

red snow: 40

Paxter: 20

Inigima: 10

Castellan: 50

Lady of the Wind: 30

Pilusmagnus: 40

Spaßvogel: 60

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So, last year I averaged (just) over five books a month, beating my target of 60 books in the year by as much as one book.  This year, I'm setting myself a target of 72 books (not including rereads or non-fiction), which means I'll need to average six books a month.  I think it's just about achievable, but I guess we'll see...

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Participating for the first time. I haven't counted how many books I've read last year. 

My current goal is to read 52 books in 2017. This includes re-reads and non-fiction, but not books I read for my studies or book manuscripts that I beta-read for people in my writing group. 

I might adjust this goal later in the year, because I currently don't kntow how my life is gonna play out after April. 

Sub-targets: 

- I want to read at least 3 books written in French

- I want to read at least 10 books written in German. German is my mother tongue, but I've barely read any German books over the last years and I want to change that in 2017. 

Just one question: How do I count books that I've started reading in 2016 but finish in 2017?

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I managed a hundred and three books last year (target was a hundred), but I feel that sort of number favours shorter books over longer ones. No problem with shorter books, of course, but passing on stories for length reasons *is* problematic.

To alleviate this, I've decided to run with a 50/25/5 challenge: I'll aim for fifty reads total, at least twenty-five of which must be at least 500 pages, and at least five of which must be at least 1000 pages.

 

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19 minutes ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

I managed a hundred and three books last year (target was a hundred), but I feel that sort of number favours shorter books over longer ones. No problem with shorter books, of course, but passing on stories for length reasons *is* problematic.

To alleviate this, I've decided to run with a 50/25/5 challenge: I'll aim for fifty reads total, at least twenty-five of which must be at least 500 pages, and at least five of which must be at least 1000 pages.

 

PS I picked up Wise Phuul yesterday, so that will be a January book. Looking forward to it.

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I have a rather complicated book year planned out:

First of all I have set my Goodreads challenge at 80 books, but frankly I am aiming at 100.

First of all, I have a 24 book Classic challenge to tackle.

Gone With the Wind -Margaret Mitchell
Bleak HouseCharles - Dickens
The Idiot - Dostoevsky
The Divine Comedy - Dante
Ivanhoe - Walter Scott
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smity
Emma - Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Godfather - Mario Puzo
How Green was my Valley - Richard Llewellyn
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Unbearable Lighness of Being - Milan Kundera
Razor's Edge - Somerset Maugham
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
Aenid - Virgil
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Secondly, I have a few targeted authors

Finish Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow. (This is a big one)
Finish Bakker
Read at least another three books of Black Company
Read at least two books of Ursula K Leguin
Read at least two books of GG Kay
Finish Mark Lawrence's second trilogy
Finish Tad Williams' Memory Sorrow and Thorn
Finish Alastair Reynolds' Poseidon's Children trilogy
Read at least one book by China Mieville

Thirdly, read 23 books coming out this year which are continuations to existing series I am reading

Fourthly try to trim my TBR

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My goal this year is 40.

I beat my goal for 2016, but that included some shorter works like comic collections. So for this year, my goal is 40 excluding that type of reading.

My other sub goal is to get my reading pile under control, as I have a lot of unread material on hand from used book sales. There is probably 35 to 40 books in this pile alone.

 

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I did the 2016 challenge with a goal of 30 as I had no idea how many I could read.  The final total was 58 and must say I surprised myself.  This year my goal is 50 because I'm hoping to put some interest in other activities but we'll see.  Finished my first read yesterday, Wild Swans by Jung Chang, so I'm off to a good start.    :read:

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based on my reading for the latter half of this year I'm going for the conservative goal of 24 books this year. 

Sub goals are to finish and/or catch up to some of the book series I am behind with:

Daniel Abraham's Dagger and Coin - 1/5

Joe Abercrombie's First Law books - 6/7 (including Sharp Ends)

Joe Abercrombie's Half a World books - 2/3

C J Sansom's Shardlake Books - 4/6

Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library - 1/3

Aliette de Bodard's Servant of the Underworld - 1/3

 

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I (barely) hit my 60 goal last year (and thanks to some re-reads Goodreads didn't think I did!), but I didn't feel like I was having to particularly try too hard, so I'll shoot for 65 this year!

Reads for 2017:

  1. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami (translated by Philip Gabriel)
  2. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
  3. The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
  4. Shadow Magic by Patricia C. Wrede
  5. Daughter of Witches by Patricia C. Wrede
  6. The Harp of Imach Thyssel by Patricia C. Wrede
  7. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (re-read)
  8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (re-read)
  9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (re-read)
  10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (re-read)
  11. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (re-read)
  12. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (re-read)
  13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (re-read)
  14. Kingfisher by Patricia McKillip
  15. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey (re-read)
  16. Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey (re-read)
  17. The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey (re-read)
  18. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (re-read)
  19. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (re-read)
  20. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien (re-read)
  21. Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (re-read)
  22. Liar Temptress Soldier Spy by Karen Abbott
  23. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (re-read)
  24. Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
  25. Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb (re-read)
  26. Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb (re-read)
  27. Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb
  28. Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
  29. The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks (re-read)
  30. The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks (re-read)
  31. Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Volume 1 by Paul A. Tipler and Gene Mosca
  32. The Wishsong of Shannara by Terry Brooks (re-read)
  33. Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Volume 2 by Paul A. Tipler and Gene Mosca
  34. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
  35. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne
  36. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  37. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  38. The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  39. The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  40. The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  41. Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  42. A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  43. The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  44. Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  45. Drive by Daniel Pink
  46. Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  47. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan (re-read)
  48. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (re-read)
  49. The Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (re-read)
  50. A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (re-read)
  51. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
  52. Caraval by Stephanie Garber
  53. Crosstalk by Connie Willis
  54. The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
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I set my Goodreads goal to 70 books this year. Normally I average more than that but I've hit a low with my reading the past few months, I just can't seem to concentrate long enough. We'll see.

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In 2014 I had a target of 30 and finished the 30th on New Year's Eve.  I upped it to 35 for 2015 and got 6 or 7 extra books so for 2016 I went for 50.  It was an abysmal year reading for me and I only managed 24.  

For this year I'm going for a reasonable 30 books.  In the past I've set my goal and felt I had to read to get my goal.  I'm going to focus on reading what I want purely for the pleasure of doing so. 

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So I didn't make my goal last year but I'm going to have another crack at it this year. So my goal will be 20.

My sub goals will be :

1- read from the books I currently own first, then any new ones I buy (unless Winds of Winter comes out)

2- I want to read 10 books written by women

3- I want to read 5 non fiction books (finish the ones I'm reading first)

4- I want to read 5 anthologies 

5- I want to read at least 5 Children's books (not Picture Story books)

6- I want to read at least 10 novels from any genre

 

I realise that this is more than 20 but I would 20 is just something to aim for. 

 

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