The 2024 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread

[DNSB]

For my 2024 reading goals, not too bad so far.

• I am 293 books into my total books (1000) for the year.
• I have added 23 authors that I had previously not read.
• I have read 11 non-fiction books out of my goal of 50 for year.
• I have not DNFed any books so far this year.

So far though, my project to have my spouse take more responsibility for purchasing and managing their ereader and book collection has been a resounding failure. "You're the techie and that is techie work". 5 decades of inertia is hard to overcome but I will keep trying.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I have not touched a book all month due to a massive family medical emergency, but I have a fresh bottle of Hibiki and a plan to do nothing but sit and read tonight!

This might be the longest time I've ever gone without reading a book in my life

I posted this, and within a week the my OTHER parent, who was not the source of the initial medical emergency and 36 day ICU stay, died very suddenly.

Life finally got back on its horse at the end of March and I've finished 5 books since then!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I posted this, and within a week the my OTHER parent, who was not the source of the initial medical emergency and 36 day ICU stay, died very suddenly.

Life finally got back on its horse at the end of March and I've finished 5 books since then!

Oh, I'm so sorry. For both the hard and sorrowful march and the loss of your parent. I'm sure you've still got a lot on your hands with your surviving parent with their health issues and perhaps loss of partner. It's rough. My condolences.

[Apache]

My condolences also.
Apache

[astrangerhere]

Y'all don't need to be sorry. I've been disowned for 20+ years. I only got dragged back as I'm the only adult left in the family to deal with such matters.

[Tarana]

Did ok with my July goals. On track for books and pages read goals. Only 1 of 4 books in the over 600 pages category so need to work on that. Way behind on Storygraph Mobile Reads Challenge. As to my TBR reduction, no chance on anything but magazines although I read more than I bought in July.

[Tarana]

Did well with August goals although I set aside Storygraph goals temporarily. I should be able to keep up with current monthly goals and then go back and try to pick up those I had skipped. I'm almost done with a second 600+ book, so still on track for that.

60 books: 39
20,000 pages: 13,286+500
Storygraph Mobile Reads Challenge: 3/12
4 books over 600 pages: 1

[Dazrin]

I've just passed 10,000 pages for the year, it shouldn't be hard to hit my 12,000 page goal at this point since my current book is about 900 pages and should be done in the next week.

My main sub-goal for this year was to catch up on the Stormlight Archive before the December release of book 5, Wind and Truth. I didn't start this sub-goal till June and now the last 2,880 pages have all been me trying to catch up. I've caught up on books 1, 2, and 2.5 which account for all of my progress in July and August. I have 3 more to go, including the second novella Dawnshard, before December.

I've also almost completely stopped with listening to audiobooks, including short stories. Not really sure why other than that I've not been travelling much. I have been listening to some longer podcasts but I don't typically count those unless it's something like LeVar Burton reads or Classic Tales.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

March got me. 19 purchases, mostly a Cory Doctorow bundle, and a freebie. TBR up by 9.

But I'm still happy with all the purchases. Hmm....

At the end of August, my TBR was down 8 on the start of the year. I haven't had as 'bad' a month as March since.

I bought 8 in April, 5 in May, 14 in June, 11 in July and 16 in August, a total of 54, but I've read 71.

[DrNefario]

Even with rampant cheating* I dont think I have a chance of meeting my main goal of reading twice as many books as I buy. I've just been less concerned about expenditure this year. Comparing reading to some of my other hobbies, it seemed unfair to be penny-pinching here, when I get a lot more out of it for a lot less money.

I'll probably downgrade my goal, as I did last year, but next year I think I'll drop that target.


*I didn't count the 125-book + 5 magazine Battletech bundle towards my purchases. My previous rules should have meant it counted as 24 purchases + 101 freebies.

[Tarana]

Still on track for my main goals - should still make 60 books and 20,000 pages. The rest are mostly beyond hope. On the plus side, my acquisition rate is down- only 1 more book than read this month.

60 books: 46
20,000 pages: 16,598
Storygraph Mobile Reads Challenge: 3/12
4 books over 600 pages: 2

TBR Down 10 for each category:
Ebooks: +44
Audiobooks: +53
Magazines: 0

[Dazrin]

I just completed my 2024 page goal with Devolution by Max Brooks. Yay!

I enjoyed the book a lot, although I'm still processing the ambiguous ending. I wish it had wrapped things up more conclusively. I did enjoy the narration, I don't always enjoy audio books with a full cast, but it worked well for me here.

[Tarana]

Continuing progress on my goals. Still think I will make 60 books and 20,000 pages which are my main goals.

[Uncle Robin]

Of all the goals I set myself, I'm only going to miss one, thanks to discovering that my Hindi needs more repair work than I realsed. Other than that, not a bad year.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

At the end of August, my TBR was down 8 on the start of the year.

At the end of October, my TBR was down 9. 117 books bought this year. I'm not sure I regret any of them. But I clearly need to be even more cautious about buying.

OTOH, if I bought NO new books, I only have enough books in my TBR for somewhere between four and five years of reading....