The 2014 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread!

[CRussel]

That's a bit of a problem. My bundle receipts don't show which ones I already have. Just a list of which ones are in the particular bundle. No price or previous purchase information.

Ah, well, I'll work through it over time. It's easy to keep track of current purchases, it's getting the history sorted that's difficult.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by CRussel

That's a bit of a problem. My bundle receipts don't show which ones I already have. Just a list of which ones are in the particular bundle. No price or previous purchase information.

Ah, well, I'll work through it over time. It's easy to keep track of current purchases, it's getting the history sorted that's difficult.

I meant that I worked through my receipts in date order, starting from the oldest, and that when I started, none of my books had a price entered. That means I could easily tell when I already had one and when I didn't.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I count it as a book -- after all, it's no longer on my TBR pile. But I do mark it as 'Abandoned'.

I use DNF (Did Not Finish), which is pretty much the same thing. (I also have dnf-backburner for those books I think may get a 2nd chance).

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I meant that I worked through my receipts in date order, starting from the oldest, and that when I started, none of my books had a price entered. That means I could easily tell when I already had one and when I didn't.

Ah, that makes more sense! I might well try that. It seems really the only way to manage it at this point in time.

[jersysman]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I just abandoned my second book of the year. Not sure how to list that in my book list. I spent enough time on it that I feel like I deserve "credit" for it, but I certainly didn't finish it. (I know, credit is a silly concept here, there's no contest and no one's keeping score. But it still feels that way.)

Since I count pages as well as books, I would just count the pages on that one.

[orangedotgreen]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I did enjoy reading the Falco books some years ago. Now if they came up as a special offer, I don't think I could resist.

A special offer would be great I have the rest of the series on my price watchlist, but there haven't been any significant price changes lately.

Yesterday I finished The Gunslinger. It took me several months to read the first 100 pages (I kept reading a few pages then abandoned it for a few weeks) and then finished the book in 3 days.

[Tarana]

Now to decide how to cost out books gotten as part of Baen Monthly Bundles

Did you look on your order page on the website? It usually shows prices as well as the booklist there.

Books I abandoned go under a 1 rating along with books I hated or books that simply weren't to my taste. I rarely abandon a book before it's half read unless I hate it.

Did you know that you can make a shelf called 'abandoned' that has the same qualities as Read, To Read and currently reading in Goodreads? Go to edit Bookshelves and click on EXCLUSIVE for that shelf. Then it won't count in your Goodreads totals for the challenge. You can choose to rate or put into a category if you want. I did this for Short stories and novellas because I wanted them listed in my Goodreads, but not counted for the challenge.

[CRussel]

Thanks, Tarana. I don't do Goodreads, primarily because I barely have time for Mobileread, and don't want to start at yet another place. And yes, I can see what a given book cost on the Baen site, but what I can't see there is whether I already owned the book when it shows up in a bundle. I can usually figure it out with a few clicks. But it all takes time which is in short supply right now. I've managed to add in Source and Cost information for the most recent 129 books so far, but that still leaves >1600 still to do.

Interesting numbers in the most recent period. For a total of 129 books cataloged so far, the average cost is $2.19. In large part because the single biggest source has been the Library, and the second biggest source is Baen, where my average cost is $2.82.

[DrNefario]

I think I'm going to have to totally revise my sub-challenges. I have now signed up to five other 12-book challenges, and although I'm hoping for quite a lot of crossover, I think I'm going to cut back my award challenges.

[CRussel]

OK, so what to do with today's read -- an 18 page short story. I'd like to record it, but I hardly think it's a full book's worth of reading. I usually group a bunch of short stories together, but that doesn't always work out and today's is like that. Well, I think I'll leave it off the list. But keep it in the back of my head and use it to count towards a full book when I get some other shorts to add to it.

[Waylander]

I have now read seven books, yay!

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by CRussel

OK, so what to do with today's read -- an 18 page short story. I'd like to record it, but I hardly think it's a full book's worth of reading. I usually group a bunch of short stories together, but that doesn't always work out and today's is like that. Well, I think I'll leave it off the list. But keep it in the back of my head and use it to count towards a full book when I get some other shorts to add to it.

Which is why I went to a page count goal instead of a book count. (Of course there are other issues with that, like how do you determine page count, etc...)

I would at least list it in your challenge, maybe in a different list, or as an unnumbered bullet, or with a notation, so you don't lose track. Something like this:

1. Book 1
2. Book 2
   • Short Story 1
3. Book 3
4. Book 4

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by CRussel

OK, so what to do with today's read -- an 18 page short story. I'd like to record it, but I hardly think it's a full book's worth of reading. I usually group a bunch of short stories together, but that doesn't always work out and today's is like that.

I count it if it was published separately, on the grounds that it helps balance out my longer/denser books.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I count it if it was published separately, on the grounds that it helps balance out my longer/denser books.

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I would at least list it in your challenge, maybe in a different list, or as an unnumbered bullet, or with a notation, so you don't lose track. Something like this:

1. Book 1
2. Book 2
   • Short Story 1
3. Book 3
4. Book 4

Hmmm. I think I actually like Dazrin's suggestion here. I'm not going to go to a page count, but at least having it on the list somewhere works. Maybe a separate list completely? Or Dazrin's interspersed list. Not sure which, but I think I'll do it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[VictoriaP]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I count it if it was published separately, on the grounds that it helps balance out my longer/denser books.

This is pretty much how I'm tracking stories as well, though I don't have a specific book or page count I'm trying to reach. Similarly, I just finished a bundled set of three novels; since they were also published individually, I counted them separately, not as one "book".

Then again, I'm really less interested in exact figures at this point, more in getting an overall idea of how much I'm reading. I can see where many of the people participating would want to see more specific data on their reading habits than I care to track myself.

(15 books so far, plus one audiobook. And two new-to-me authors out of a goal of 12 for the year.)