The 2012 Annual Reading Challenge - Discussion Thread!

Nyssa · 12-17-2011, 06:20 AM

Welcome to the 2012 Reading Challenge Discussion Thread.

Have a plan for 2012?

Maybe you want to read 15,000 pages, finish 50 books, concentrate on a specific genre or deplete your ever-growing TBR list.
Maybe you’re looking for ideas or you just want to see how far you can go…

This is the thread where we can share our personal goals and strategies or ask for suggestions and support.

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.

You can keep track of the books you have read here: 2012 Annual Reading Challenge List Thread

Plus, to discuss a particular book please participate in the Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading? thread and share your thoughts about the book with others.

pdurrant · 12-17-2011, 06:57 AM

My aim is to get my TBR list below 300. It increased in 2010, and in 2011 I will have only reduced it by about 15 to 20 books. I need to do a lot better in 2012!

Many thanks to Nyssa for being in charge of the threads this year. It's more work than one might think!

JSWolf · 12-17-2011, 07:08 AM

I'm going to go for 100 books again this year. I'm hoping GoodReads will have their challenge up again for 2012 because it's just so easy to keep track of how I am doing.

Nyssa · 12-17-2011, 07:18 AM

Thank you pdurrant.

I was, initially, going to lower my goal from 100 to 50 (which seemed more attainable) but as I thought about all of the books I really wanted to read, my list shot right back up! So here is my very ambitious (for me) challenge in 2012:

I want to read the following series in full, which includes rereading the earlier books in preparation for the ones that are new to me:

1. Dresden Files & bonus stories (I've read 1 & 2) ~ Completed Apr. 27th

2. Rachel Morgan/The Hollows & bonus stories (I've read 1 - 5 or 6, I don't remember)

3. Honor Harrington & bonus stories (I've read 1 - 9 and part of 10)

4. Black Dagger Brotherhood series (I've read 1 - 6)

5. Percy Jackson (I've not read any)

EDIT (3/20/12): Book Club selections are no longer part of my primary goal. They will be bonus works instead.

EDIT (7/06/12): Scaled back goal once again. Will concentrate on finishing the series and # of pages goals.

Bonus material:

The Iliad - over a 4 to 6 week period starting January 9th (suggested and to be organized by issybird)

Select works by Charles Dickens

(a) I'd like to read all of The Mobile Read Book Club Selections (depending on price & availability)

(b) The following Literary Book Club selections: February-Time Period, May-Region, June-Short Stories & December-Open (also depending on price & availability)

pdurrant · 12-17-2011, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I want to read

[snip list]

I'm not sure how to sum all of that up into one challenge, though.

Suggestions welcome!

How about:

Goal: Fully read favourite series, and the choices of the MobileRead Book Clubs.

Nyssa · 12-17-2011, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

How about:

Goal: Fully read favourite series, and the choices of the MobileRead Book Clubs.

That works for me!

Thank you again!!

JSWolf · 12-17-2011, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Thank you pdurrant.

I was, initially, going to lower my goal from 100 to 50 (which seemed more attainable) but as I thought about all of the books I really wanted to read, my list shot right back up! So here is my very ambitious (for me) challenge in 2012:

I want to read the following series in full, which includes rereading the earlier books in preparation for the ones that are new to me:

1. Dresden Files & bonus stories (I've read 1 & 2)

2. Rachel Morgan/The Hollows & bonus stories (I've read 1 - 5 or 6, I don't remember)

3. Honor Harrington & bonus stories (I've read 1 - 9 and part of 10)

4. Black Dagger Brotherhood series (I've read 1 - 6)

Plus:

(a) I'd like to read all of The Mobile Read Book Club Selections (depending on price & availability)

(b) The following Literary Book Club selections: February-Time Period, May-Region, June-Short Stories & December-Open (also depending on price & availability)

(c) The Iliad - over a 4 to 6 week period starting January 9th (suggested and to be organized by issybird)

*Bonus material: select works by Charles Dickens

I'm not sure how to sum all of that up into one challenge, though.

Suggestions welcome!

Goal: read Dresden Files, Rachel Morgan, Honerverse, Black Dagger Brotherhood series, MR BookClub and Literary BookClub when possible, some Charles Dickens, and be able to get a good night's sleep by trying to read The Iliad.

Nyssa · 12-17-2011, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Goal: read Dresden Files, Rachel Morgan, Honerverse, Black Dagger Brotherhood series, MR BookClub and Literary BookClub when possible, some Charles Dickens, and be able to get a good night's sleep by trying to read The Iliad.

Accurate but a little long!

JSWolf · 12-17-2011, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Accurate but a little long!

How about this then...

Goal: read some series, BookClub books, Charles Dickens, and that sleep aid known as The Iliad.

Shack70 · 12-17-2011, 09:44 AM

Lowering my goal from 100 to 50 books in 2012. I'm going to make my goal of 100 books in 2011 but there are some longer books I avoided in 2011 I want to read. I will be keeping track of my books on Good Reads again. Good Reads makes it so easy!

treadlightly · 12-17-2011, 10:28 AM

I've been thinking about what this year's goals should be. My 2011 goal was 100, which I didn't think I'd reach, but I ended up with 160+. I'm not sure that reading *more* would be a healthy goal. Maybe I'll shoot for 150. I read for entertainment, so these aren't literary tomes, mostly urban fantasy.

Namekuseijin · 12-17-2011, 12:53 PM

well, my humble goal for 2012 is to finish reading 3 very nice Omnibus available here in MR: Sherlock Holmes, H.P.Lovecraft works and the D'Artagnan Romances. Since I'm already at them, I don't think I'll be entering this challenge, but the reading will definitely carry on until next year...

ATDrake · 12-17-2011, 04:02 PM

Yay, individual challenges and personal reading goals are official! I love it when my suggestions get adopted.

Anyway, no actual reading goals for me, since I'm already well past 200 for 2011 and I pick and choose based on what looks interesting that I'm in the mood for (or have due Real Soon at the library, which is actually the deciding factor in most cases).

But my individual challenge for 2012 will to be to contribute at least 13 (one for each province and territory) brand-new never-before-appeared hand-formatted e-books to our Patricia Clark Memorial Library, which will consist of a minimum 30% Canadian Content (as per CRTC regulations*), since we seem to have surprisingly few of the eligible Life+50 works uploaded, despite having a Canadian-based server primarily so MR could host Life+50 uploads.

But that may be simply because most of the uploaders seem to be non-Canadian and are therefore more inclined to hit up the main Gutenberg for the well-known older classics which are public domain everywhere, or the weirdo US-non-renewed copyright newer stuff.

In any case, hopefully on a schedule of once per month, you'll be able to expect a nifty new ePub‡ chock-full of

a) Canadian-authored or
b) Canadian setting/subject matter or
c) Canadian public domain availability or
d) all of the above

This, of course, will require that I read them in order to proofread them to do the best job.

And I realize that this is all probably of little benefit to our non-Canadian members (or at least those living outside Life+50 countries), but frankly the authors are all long since dead and I'm sure they wouldn't mind you reading their works if you should happen to come across them in some way, rather than falling into total international obscurity.

* This is funnier if you're Canadian. Which you may not be. But possibly you'll get the joke anyway†.

† Half an hour later in Newfoundland.

‡ Other formats may or may not be produced, depending on how annoying KindleGen's quirks get for the basic "improved over the plain text" formatting I'd like to apply.

Loosheesh · 12-17-2011, 05:05 PM

My frightfully ambitious reading challenge for 2012 is to:

(a) read at least 5 of a select list of 10 titles per month (reading all 10 per month would be ideal

)

(b) read at least 15 Georgette Heyer books (which would be just about half of those I bought earlier this year

)

(c) read at least 15 Agatha Christie books (I've already read 5 from the Miss Marple series, so I'll continue from there)

(d) continue with Stephanie Laurens' Cynster Family series, and read at least 10 books from there

(e) attempt completion of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time (12 books)

(f) try to complete (or bring up to current status) some series I started this year; these series are represented by a shortlist of 25 books

Number-wise, I'm looking at a range of about 140 to 200 books.

2011 was an experiment in recording every book I read (a very interesting and eye-opening experience); 2012 will be an experiment in disciplining myself to read from a specific selection of books. Random books, though, are not ruled out -these may prove to be my saving grace

Rumpelteazer · 12-17-2011, 05:25 PM

I've decided not to try and read an X number of books in 2012, in 2011 I avoided certain books (long book or ones I thought would be a slow read). My first goal is to read 10.000 pages, this should be easy enough (192 pages a week) and is more about finding out how much I actually read in a year.

My second goal is to try and bring down the number of series I'm reading. I'm currently reading 11 series, plus there are several I'm up to date with and will read any new releases and there are several series I will only read when I'm in the right mood. I want to bring down the number of series I'm "actively" reading down to 4 or 5. So my goal for the moment is not to start any new series until I've finished two that are on my list. This will be very hard because there are so many series I want to try out!

12-17-2011, 06:20 AM	#1
Nyssa Series Addict Posts: 6,180 Karma: 167189477 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Florida, USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite (2nd Gen)	The 2012 Annual Reading Challenge - Discussion Thread! Welcome to the 2012 Reading Challenge Discussion Thread. Have a plan for 2012? Maybe you want to read 15,000 pages, finish 50 books, concentrate on a specific genre or deplete your ever-growing TBR list. Maybe you’re looking for ideas or you just want to see how far you can go… This is the thread where we can share our personal goals and strategies or ask for suggestions and support. 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. You can keep track of the books you have read here: 2012 Annual Reading Challenge List Thread Plus, to discuss a particular book please participate in the Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading? thread and share your thoughts about the book with others. Last edited by Nyssa; 12-20-2011 at 08:41 PM.

12-17-2011, 07:18 AM	#4
Nyssa Series Addict Posts: 6,180 Karma: 167189477 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Florida, USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite (2nd Gen)	Thank you pdurrant. I was, initially, going to lower my goal from 100 to 50 (which seemed more attainable) but as I thought about all of the books I really wanted to read, my list shot right back up! So here is my very ambitious (for me) challenge in 2012: I want to read the following series in full, which includes rereading the earlier books in preparation for the ones that are new to me: 1. Dresden Files & bonus stories (I've read 1 & 2) ~ Completed Apr. 27th 2. Rachel Morgan/The Hollows & bonus stories (I've read 1 - 5 or 6, I don't remember) 3. Honor Harrington & bonus stories (I've read 1 - 9 and part of 10) 4. Black Dagger Brotherhood series (I've read 1 - 6) 5. Percy Jackson (I've not read any) EDIT (3/20/12): Book Club selections are no longer part of my primary goal. They will be bonus works instead. EDIT (7/06/12): Scaled back goal once again. Will concentrate on finishing the series and # of pages goals. Bonus material: The Iliad - over a 4 to 6 week period starting January 9th (suggested and to be organized by issybird) Select works by Charles Dickens (a) I'd like to read all of The Mobile Read Book Club Selections (depending on price & availability) (b) The following Literary Book Club selections: February-Time Period, May-Region, June-Short Stories & December-Open (also depending on price & availability) Last edited by Nyssa; 07-08-2012 at 09:41 PM. Reason: Moved Book Club selections under "Bonus Material".

12-17-2011, 04:02 PM	#13
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Yay, individual challenges and personal reading goals are official! I love it when my suggestions get adopted. Anyway, no actual reading goals for me, since I'm already well past 200 for 2011 and I pick and choose based on what looks interesting that I'm in the mood for (or have due Real Soon at the library, which is actually the deciding factor in most cases). But my individual challenge for 2012 will to be to contribute at least 13 (one for each province and territory) brand-new never-before-appeared hand-formatted e-books to our Patricia Clark Memorial Library, which will consist of a minimum 30% Canadian Content (as per CRTC regulations), since we seem to have surprisingly few of the eligible Life+50 works uploaded, despite having a Canadian-based server primarily so MR could host Life+50 uploads. But that may be simply because most of the uploaders seem to be non-Canadian and are therefore more inclined to hit up the main Gutenberg for the well-known older classics which are public domain everywhere, or the weirdo US-non-renewed copyright newer stuff. In any case, hopefully on a schedule of once per month, you'll be able to expect a nifty new ePub‡ chock-full of a) Canadian-authored or b) Canadian setting/subject matter or c) Canadian public domain availability or d) all of the above This, of course, will require that I read them in order to proofread them to do the best job. And I realize that this is all probably of little benefit to our non-Canadian members (or at least those living outside Life+50 countries), but frankly the authors are all long since dead and I'm sure they wouldn't mind you reading their works if you should happen to come across them in some way, rather than falling into total international obscurity. This is funnier if you're Canadian. Which you may not be. But possibly you'll get the joke anyway†. † Half an hour later in Newfoundland. ‡ Other formats may or may not be produced, depending on how annoying KindleGen's quirks get for the basic "improved over the plain text" formatting I'd like to apply.

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12-17-2011, 06:57 AM	#2
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 72,512 Karma: 309063598 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Voyage	My aim is to get my TBR list below 300. It increased in 2010, and in 2011 I will have only reduced it by about 15 to 20 books. I need to do a lot better in 2012! Many thanks to Nyssa for being in charge of the threads this year. It's more work than one might think!

12-17-2011, 07:08 AM	#3
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 76,402 Karma: 136466962 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I'm going to go for 100 books again this year. I'm hoping GoodReads will have their challenge up again for 2012 because it's just so easy to keep track of how I am doing.

12-17-2011, 09:44 AM	#10
Shack70 Guru Posts: 776 Karma: 1043626 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: York, Pa Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11th Generation	Lowering my goal from 100 to 50 books in 2012. I'm going to make my goal of 100 books in 2011 but there are some longer books I avoided in 2011 I want to read. I will be keeping track of my books on Good Reads again. Good Reads makes it so easy!

12-17-2011, 10:28 AM	#11
treadlightly Wizard Posts: 1,370 Karma: 6957792 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Ottawa, ON Device: Kobo H2O	I've been thinking about what this year's goals should be. My 2011 goal was 100, which I didn't think I'd reach, but I ended up with 160+. I'm not sure that reading more would be a healthy goal. Maybe I'll shoot for 150. I read for entertainment, so these aren't literary tomes, mostly urban fantasy.

12-17-2011, 12:53 PM	#12
Namekuseijin affordable chipmunk Posts: 1,290 Karma: 9863855 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Brazil Device: Sony XPeria ZL, Kindle Paperwhite	well, my humble goal for 2012 is to finish reading 3 very nice Omnibus available here in MR: Sherlock Holmes, H.P.Lovecraft works and the D'Artagnan Romances. Since I'm already at them, I don't think I'll be entering this challenge, but the reading will definitely carry on until next year...

12-17-2011, 05:05 PM	#14
Loosheesh Wizard Posts: 1,678 Karma: 3111989 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Jianghu Device: PW1, PW5, iPhone SE 2016, iPhone 13 Pro, iPad Pro 9.7, iPad Pro 2021	My frightfully ambitious reading challenge for 2012 is to: (a) read at least 5 of a select list of 10 titles per month (reading all 10 per month would be ideal ) (b) read at least 15 Georgette Heyer books (which would be just about half of those I bought earlier this year ) (c) read at least 15 Agatha Christie books (I've already read 5 from the Miss Marple series, so I'll continue from there) (d) continue with Stephanie Laurens' Cynster Family series, and read at least 10 books from there (e) attempt completion of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time (12 books) (f) try to complete (or bring up to current status) some series I started this year; these series are represented by a shortlist of 25 books Number-wise, I'm looking at a range of about 140 to 200 books. 2011 was an experiment in recording every book I read (a very interesting and eye-opening experience); 2012 will be an experiment in disciplining myself to read from a specific selection of books. Random books, though, are not ruled out -these may prove to be my saving grace

12-17-2011, 05:25 PM	#15
Rumpelteazer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,210 Karma: 27117938 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Utrecht, the Netherlands Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition	I've decided not to try and read an X number of books in 2012, in 2011 I avoided certain books (long book or ones I thought would be a slow read). My first goal is to read 10.000 pages, this should be easy enough (192 pages a week) and is more about finding out how much I actually read in a year. My second goal is to try and bring down the number of series I'm reading. I'm currently reading 11 series, plus there are several I'm up to date with and will read any new releases and there are several series I will only read when I'm in the right mood. I want to bring down the number of series I'm "actively" reading down to 4 or 5. So my goal for the moment is not to start any new series until I've finished two that are on my list. This will be very hard because there are so many series I want to try out!

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