2013 Reading Self-Challenge Thread

[Raja]

So, I've finished The Reader ( which I thought was quite good) and I've started on Phantoms in the Brain by Ramachandran. I've actually stopped reading more than one book at a time, I don't think I could read more than 2 at a time; unless it's a re-read or something.

[deleted01]

After finally finishing the book I was reading since Christmas, I'm now on my 3rd book of the year. Not doing brilliantly, but I'm just so busy with assignments and revision. I'm 181 pages into The Book Thief, and I hope to start The Hobbit within the next couple of weeks.

[beniowa]

I finished my seventh book last night. That makes five by men, two by women, four by authors I haven't previously read. I ought to finish my eighth tomorrow, which will be the second collection of short stories.

[Inigima]

Reporting in for January!

1. Brian Clevinger, et al - Atomic Robo, Vol. 2: Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War - Yes, despite almost never reading comics, I opened the year with an Atomic Robo trade paperback. This was okay but I didn't like it as much as either the first volume or the Free Comic Book Day that hooked me on Robo. It's darker, as you might expect from a volume set entirely in World War II, and Robo is annoying dumb in it. It also contains some bonus stuff in the back that's embarrassingly unplotted. If you're interested in the Free Comic Book Day issue that hooked me instantly, Why Atomic Robo Hates Dr. Dinosaur, it's here, and it owns.

2. Felix Gilman - The Rise of Ransom City - The follow up to The Half-Made World and set in the same world, but not a direct sequel. Enjoyable, suffers from a similar problem as its predecessor but in a different place. Where HMW needed tightening in the end as it puttered along aimlessly, RRC has a slow, directionless stretch in the middle you have to get through. Beyond that whether you'll enjoy it will probably hinge on whether you enjoy the voice of the narrator, "Professor" Harry Ransom, who plays it fast and loose with his own background and lacks much in the way of self-awareness. Most of the time I found it charming.

3. George Saunders - Tenth of December - Saunders is currently getting a lot of word of mouth, from a lot of people whose judgment I respect, but I mostly didn't care for this one. Everyone else I've spoken to about it credits Saunders with wit and satire; I found him depressing. I liken him to David Sedaris, another critically acclaimed "humor" writer, whose dysfunction I'm unable to get past to reach the wit everyone else appears to see in him. Unlike Sedaris, Saunders writes straight fiction, and works in short story format exclusively if I understand correctly. This volume contains ten stories; the ones I enjoyed most were "Escape From Spiderhead" and "Tenth of December." My least favorites were "Puppy" and "The Semplica Girl Diaries."

4. Barbara Kingsolver - Prodigal Summer - My first Kingsolver was The Bean Trees in freshman English in high school, and I didn't look at her again until last year when someone on Goodreads recommended The Poisonwood Bible to me. I fell in love and have since reread The Bean Trees, and now moved on to this one for the first time. I liked it a lot, but it's slightly uneven, and it won't be to everyone's taste. It's three separate but intertwining stories set in rural Zebulon County, Kentucky, a stand-in for farming counties everywhere that Wikipedia informs me doesn't actually exist despite Kentucky's inordinate number of counties. Chapters vary between three perspectives and there's only so much plot to go around; if you like it, it will be for the prose and the "feeling" of the book. I preferred Lusa's story to either of the others. The cover art struck me as apt more than any I can recall in recent memory.

5. John Connolly - The Book of Lost Things - A book about fairy tales that resembles a fairy tale and that isn't quite a fairy tale. It draws liberally from traditional fairy tales -- more Grimm than Disney -- to cobble together its own, but reading it as nothing more is a mistake. Smarter than it seems at first glance, especially when you read the lengthy afterword, which contains an interview with the author and an individual examination of the stories from which it cribs. Don't skip the afterword, it's worth it. Not a kids' book despite appearances.

Lengthier reviews on my Goodreads as always if you're interested. I'm on to another now but I doubt very much I'll finish it in time for it to be listed with this month. I also doubt that I will be able to maintain this pace, though I've knocked out a quarter of my goal for the year in January already.

[dornish prince]

i've read almost exclusively comics this month all of which probably aren't hardly the length, wordwise, of a short story.

supergod by warren ellis- loved the set up, was so disappointed by the ending.

locke and key vol. 1- loved every minute of it. if it weren't for saga, which i also read this month, i'd say it is the best comic i've read in many a moon.

saga by BKV- the bestest comics i've read in many a moon. love the pacing, the variety of characters, digging the art and just overall getting a major kick out of it. cannot wait for more.

Y the last man by BKV- through 15 books and finding it incredible so far. i've mentioned in the comics thread that i don't believe i've ever finished it, so looking forward to that.

Hawkeye by fraction and aja- pure fun. a little too pop-culture for me at times but that's a lame gripe. a really good comic

bookwise, i've moved closer to the endings of assassin's quest by hobb, grave peril by butcher and both continue to be very, very entertaining. along with caliban's war by james s.a. corey which i'll probably fly through, february will probably be inflated numbers wise. i've sated my comics urge for the time being, although i'm going to give waid's new run on daredevil a go and finish Y, but february should be a good month novel wise. i'm in a reading groove the last few months. there is this fun little video game called ni no kuni that has been taking some of my time and i'm rewatching fringe with my fiance julia.

i'd like a couple of xtra hours per day plz. kthnx

[Garett Hornwood]

At the end of January, I've finished 3 books out of my goal of 20 and am already a 1/3 through a fourth. That's more than double what I expected to do, so I might have to up my goal. Though I think by the time Spring rolls around my pace will so.

[Guest]

Man, some of y'all are off to robust beginnings...

I finished my 2nd book today on 2/1, so that's actually right in line w/ my goal of about 25 for the year. My concern is that these weren't too long...500 or so and 250 or so...

Well, we didn't really push too hard on length as a criteria did we?

[Anth]

I've only set myself a goal of 12 books for 2013 on Goodreads.

Partly because a portion of them will be ASOIAF [rereads] and those take a lot of time. Hopefully I'll pass it and make it to 20. Just trying to be realistic though. :)

[Biter]

I read The Circle (alright Swedish young adult fantasy book) and then finished Life of Pi (good overall, but had some boring parts) yesterday. Now I'm on to The Night Circus.

[Larry.]

For January, I ended up being slightly above the pace goal I set:

13/32 books were in a foreign language, and 5/13 were in Spanish, so good on that read 100 books in another language than English and 50 of that being in Spanish goals.

Also read 12/32 books by women for a 37.5% total, slightly above the 33% goal (considering the project re-reads/reviews in progress, this is not bad, as it would be closer to 50/50 otherwise).

[Black Wolf Smith]

Can I still get in on this? Do rereads count? Last couple years I started to try and rereading books/series I read in 10+ years ago.

I read alot over last summer, and kind of took a brake from reading thru the end of last year. I just started reading again. I have been slow starting, mostly because I don't have a new series, arthor yet. I Was thinking Jordan's Wheel of Time, but not sure where to start.

So far I have read 3 books since Jan. I guess I would try for 1 book per week, so say 52.

[Inigima]

Yes, never too late. Rereads at your discretion, this is an entirely personal self-challenge.

[Isis]

January results: 8/55 completed

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Chabon, Michael

Palimpsest - Valente, Catherynne M.

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha, #1) - Bardugo, Leigh

Some Kind Of Fairy Tale - Joyce, Graham

Among Others - Walton, Jo

The Book of Lost Things - Connolly, John

Frankenstein - Shelley, Mary

The Snow Child - Ivey, Eowyn

[Lord Tyrion]

I forgot my username on goodreads.

I think it's just my name - mike Longo

Can people add me on there so i can see other books and add more to my book list?

I have glasses and a scarf on there.

[SkynJay]

Wow, 14 books in January (though I do count rereads in my totals FWIW). A 50/50 split between Male/female authors, but 4 of the books were Terry Pratchett rereads, so new reads went 7/3.

I don't foresee a month of reading that many again though, some strange work days gave me a whole lot of extra reading time that I normally don't have.

[Inigima]

I forgot my username on goodreads.

I think it's just my name - mike Longo

Can people add me on there so i can see other books and add more to my book list?

I have glasses and a scarf on there.

Post a link to your profile or start friending people who posted theirs yourself, asking other people to do that bullshit for you is ridiculous.

[Lord Tyrion]

Post a link to your profile or start friending people who posted theirs yourself, asking other people to do that bullshit for you is ridiculous.

I wasn't really expecting people to really go and friend me. I was just throwing that out there. No idea where anyone's good read profiles are.

[Inigima]

I wasn't really expecting people to really go and friend me.

Can people add me on there so i can see other books and add more to my book list?

No idea where anyone's good read profiles are.

start friending people who posted theirs

Must be some other Lord Tyrion.

[Lord Tyrion]

Must be some other Lord Tyrion.

I really don't see the reason to be such a big douche, but okay!

[Isis]

There was a goodreads thread here a while back where lots of people posted their profiles. You should be able to find it if you search. Some people have links in their footers too.