The 2021 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread - Page 6

Paperbackstash · 01-31-2021, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HLS

I just finished The Goldfinch Pulitzer prize winning book by Donna Tartt. It is really good. beyond words. only downside is its 774 pages long but it moves along well.

I still haven't gotten to that one, heard mainly good things. Glad you enjoyed!

Paperbackstash · 01-31-2021, 04:01 PM

JANUARY 2021 UPDATE

I'm going to update on the last day of the month since I have time today, and don't see myself finishing another book before tomorrow.

Overall I think I did great this month with volume and enjoyment, but not all the goals. Spent a little bit of extra money compared to some months due to series and other tidbits.

Book count is higher due to being in a big reading mood and reading a lot of series binges of books easy to get through, many of them under 300 pages. Page count does not include books I read on, but did not finish, such as 25% of the Stand, some of 2 audio, etc. I don't pay much attention to page count, so I don't feel like counting pages of non-finished works as well as tracking all the other stuff.

Read Count - 32
Page Count of finished - 8,741
Most read Genre: Urban Fantasy
Re-Read Just 1, Arc - 1
Money Spent on books (not all read) and services: 61.82
Primary source was Amazon (80%), mainly series instead of stand-a-lones.

Majority was indie and self-published at 75%. Besides Urban Fantasy, read a drama and some mysteries, and a few romance.

Diversity Stats - None: 59%; Foreign: 3%; Mental Illness 3%; Combo 6%; Disability 25%; LGBTQ 3%. For romance books only - Straight is 88.9% and LGBT is 7.4%, with one reverse harem.
Age group is 95% Adult with one Middle Grade
Country setting is mainly, as always, with United States at 65%, with 25% in the United Kingdom, 1 in Scotland, 5% marked as unknown

Services Goals -
To not let KU dominate reading, failed that in January. I did have success on second goal to use rental services enough to make cost worth it - Used KU and Scribd enough to justify expense.

Kindle Unlimited: 18 (justified expense)
Scribd: 3 (justified expense)
Audio: 4
E-Book: 26
Paperback: 2

Author Goals -
I did finish one Perry Mason novel by Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Cautious Croquette. I have the goal of finishing 8 of these this year. I previously listened on Audio via Scribd but have a few paperbacks purchased to read and re-read.
I did not meet other author goals; however, I have been re-reading The Stand as my Stephen King goal and am currently at 25%. I also am still working on The Rage by F. Paul Wilson.

Genre Specific Goals -
Did not meet any goals or make progress

Other Goals Listed -
Did not meet any of these goals or make progress

Thoughts on books read

I read a lot of Helen Harper through some series, one purchasable and the rest on KU. I got annoyed at several books but they are like chips you cannot stop consuming until the series is complete. 3 series total and easy reads. I am taking a break from Helen Harper for now other than the original series I read by her, Firebrand, which is the most enjoyable and the only one still in progress of the three series I read (Firebrand, Bo Blackman, Blood Destiny). The next book in the Firebrand series does not have a release date, but the series has spawned a spin-off series that I'm looking forward to. I believe it may be a trilogy. The release date is early February, pre-ordered this one.

I started the year binge reading an Urban Fantasy series by Lindsay Buroker (Death Before Dragons and Secrets of the Sword), and read the first 8 in the series. There is one final book in this series being released in 2021, Secrets of the Sword III, which I am looking forward to. It's set to be released February 2021, I have pre-ordered.

With audio I did the Middle Grade book for a challenge on Twitter - Nightbooks by J.A. White. I also finished The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley - both were good audio. I listened to The Woman on the Orient Express by Lindsay J Ashford for 75% of the book, then read the rest of it. The narrator is fine but the story was dragging on and I can read quicker than listen, was ready to be done with it. The other Audio was radio stories, Vincent Price Present Volume 4 - it was 2 hours and very fun, I plan to continue with these fun releases on Scribd.

Uncle Robin · 01-31-2021, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

Interesting. Those are pretty nifty. I keep seeing mentions of StoryGraph. I am pretty tied into Goodreads, although less active than I used to be - I am going to import my info into Storygraph from GR and check out the site to see if it holds my interest for random updating.

Edited to add - it looks like they are pretty limited with the custom shelves, and like GR, did not have a default wishlist.

What do you mean by "custom shelves"? You can create any tags you like, and they serve the purpose of shelves, unless I'm missing something. Also, what is a default wishlist? The recommendations generated by completing the profile survey are pretty good in my experience, A large number of them have been added to my TBR there.

Paperbackstash · 01-31-2021, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

What do you mean by "custom shelves"? You can create any tags you like, and they serve the purpose of shelves, unless I'm missing something. Also, what is a default wishlist? The recommendations generated by completing the profile survey are pretty good in my experience, A large number of them have been added to my TBR there.

I may have misunderstood. The tags probably act like Goodreads does where you can set new shelves, which are technically tags. With Wishlist, I remember people were annoyed Goodreads did not add it as a regular shelf by default for new members. Goodreads said the to be read was the wishlist, but for me and others to be read meant books we already had and needed to read. It's not a big deal either way as long as you can create your own shelves and are not forced to only use the 3 options.

I am trying to test it to see, but cannot figure out the spot to add custom shelves so far.

I see the tagging option on a book I added, but not a way to have tag shelves, so the site wouldn't suit my purpose. I section my books off differently than the options they seem to have. I haven't played with the site much but from what I can it keeps things pretty basic.

Uncle Robin · 01-31-2021, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

I may have misunderstood. The tags probably act like Goodreads does where you can set new shelves, which are technically tags. With Wishlist, I remember people were annoyed Goodreads did not add it as a regular shelf by default for new members. Goodreads said the to be read was the wishlist, but for me and others to be read meant books we already had and needed to read. It's not a big deal either way as long as you can create your own shelves and are not forced to only use the 3 options.

I am trying to test it to see, but cannot figure out the spot to add custom shelves so far.

I see the tagging option on a book I added, but not a way to have tag shelves, so the site wouldn't suit my purpose. I section my books off differently than the options they seem to have. I haven't played with the site much but from what I can it keeps things pretty basic.

So, if I understand correctly, creating a tag called "wishlist" would address that particular issue? But for the other issue, you're looking a being able to group books by multiple tags, e.g. one "shelf" might be: "wishlist", "debut authors", "poetry", "African" - is that more or less right?

Paperbackstash · 01-31-2021, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

So, if I understand correctly, creating a tag called "wishlist" would address that particular issue? But for the other issue, you're looking a being able to group books by multiple tags, e.g. one "shelf" might be: "wishlist", "debut authors", "poetry", "African" - is that more or less right?

I group my main library by To-be-read, Wishlist (which is large), read. I was curious if a default shelf could be created that is wishlist - Goodreads allows this, but did not see an option on this site. If they do not allow a default shelf to be something like Wishlist, then it would have to be put on another shelf (like TBR, which is not accurate, read - which is not accurate) and just have a wishlist tag, which wouldn't help me at all because my read or tbr numbers would be skewed.

Edited to add --- Unless, unlike Goodreads, they allow you to tag a book without adding it a shelf. Such as just adding a wishlist tag to a book without shelving it at all. I didn't see an option to do this, though.

Uncle Robin · 01-31-2021, 07:09 PM

Tanks for patiently trying to explain. I guess I'm not tech savvy enough to grok what the functional difference between a tag and a shelf is. I thought it was just a different term for effectively the same thing, that tagging a book "wishlist" would be the same as putting it on a shelf called "wishlist", but obviously I'm missing something.

Paperbackstash · 01-31-2021, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Tanks for patiently trying to explain. I guess I'm not tech savvy enough to grok what the functional difference between a tag and a shelf is. I thought it was just a different term for effectively the same thing, that tagging a book "wishlist" would be the same as putting it on a shelf called "wishlist", but obviously I'm missing something.

No problem, and this isn't something everyone wants - some don't have large wishlists either way. It does look like a neat site, I'm mainly too lazy to sort through my books when moving the full library over there, but it would be useful for me to just track current year read stats perhaps.

Luffy · 02-01-2021, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byrdie

Anybody else having trouble with their challenge count on Goodreads? I just went in to add my current books and it was showing three of the ones I'd finished. Marked today's as read and left a review, which made four on my done list. Or should have ... except half of them disappeared after I added a missing one from a week ago that finally turned up when I searched for it. So now it's trying to tell me I'm 3 books behind when actually I'm right on schedule, because I have read 5 this month despite their counter page insisting on showing just 2. What the heck is up with that? The books that seem to be going missing from people's lists, as far as I can figure out, are from the Prolific Works Winter giveaway.

It's only you, I think. Try to contact them.

issybird · 02-01-2021, 11:18 AM

January turned out to be a rough month. Started off well enough, but I failed to tackle my specific challenges and after spending the last week traveling/away from home (not by choice!), I’m even off my benchmark pace, which isn’t usually an issue for me. According to Goodreads, I’m already four books behind.

So I plan/hope to catch up my benchmark total in February and at least tackle my specific challenges, although they may be already out of reach. I may just cross off January in that regard and go for a new start this month.

bookaho!ic · 02-01-2021, 12:23 PM

Books Read 10
Books given up on 3
Books bought 35 oops

Tarana · 02-01-2021, 02:37 PM

January wrapup:
Good stuff: Made 3,000 pages. Finished 10 books plus novella.

Ebook TBR up 12 books and audiobook TBR up 5 books. There is some crossover due to Whispersync. Most are parts of series/authors I'm already reading, which was a goal. A couple were strong recommendations from Mobilereads members (Joe Hill, Archer Mayor). A couple were replacements for paper books I used to have and really enjoyed.

No magazines read. Changed from 1 600+ page book per month to a straight 12 books for the year (currently the Dreaming Void by Peter F Hamilton).
Overall - I'm mostly irritated with myself that I went over budget for the month. None of my ebooks are more than $2.99 and the audiobooks $2-5 (except Hobbit which was I think $6.95), but they just add up piecemeal.

astrangerhere · 02-01-2021, 04:25 PM

Length Goals:

Total Books: 75 (stretch goal of 100) (up from 50/75 last year)
Total Pages: 25,000
E-TBR Reduction: 25
Print-TBR Reduction: 10

Substantive Goals:

Read at least 51% non-American authors
Read more female/nonbinary authors than male
Read at least 52 short stories
Read at least 10 books across all our collections that are my wife's or that she wants me to read.

January Totals:

Total Books: 9 - 12% of goal, 9% of stretch goal - ON TARGET
Total Pages: 2483 - 9.5% of goal - ON TARGET
Gender Goal: 73% Female, 0% Nonbindary, 27% Male - ON TARGET
Country of Origin Goal: 43% USA, 57% out of US - ON TARGET
E-TBR Reduction: +3 - ON TARGET
Print TBR Reduction: -6* OFF TARGET
Short Stories: 6, 11% of goal - ON TARGET
Books Recommended by my wife: 1 - 10% of goal ON TARGET

*My wife continues to buy 1-2 books a week from our local independent bookstore and will do until they are able to fully open again post-covid. I expect this to skew my PTBR list all year long, but its for a good cause.

Paperbackstash · 02-01-2021, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

January turned out to be a rough month. Started off well enough, but I failed to tackle my specific challenges and after spending the last week traveling/away from home (not by choice!), I’m even off my benchmark pace, which isn’t usually an issue for me. According to Goodreads, I’m already four books behind.

So I plan/hope to catch up my benchmark total in February and at least tackle my specific challenges, although they may be already out of reach. I may just cross off January in that regard and go for a new start this month.

Sorry January ended up a rough reading month - sounds like it was a busy one.

Paperbackstash · 02-01-2021, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bookaho!ic

Books Read 10
Books given up on 3
Books bought 35 oops

And I thought I spent too much in January

01-31-2021, 04:01 PM	#77
Paperbackstash Wizard Posts: 1,613 Karma: 20091216 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Central Florida Device: Oasis 3, PW 3, 4, 5, Fire HD 2012, Fire HD 8 (8th Gen)	JANUARY 2021 UPDATE I'm going to update on the last day of the month since I have time today, and don't see myself finishing another book before tomorrow. Overall I think I did great this month with volume and enjoyment, but not all the goals. Spent a little bit of extra money compared to some months due to series and other tidbits. Book count is higher due to being in a big reading mood and reading a lot of series binges of books easy to get through, many of them under 300 pages. Page count does not include books I read on, but did not finish, such as 25% of the Stand, some of 2 audio, etc. I don't pay much attention to page count, so I don't feel like counting pages of non-finished works as well as tracking all the other stuff. Read Count - 32 Page Count of finished - 8,741 Most read Genre: Urban Fantasy Re-Read Just 1, Arc - 1 Money Spent on books (not all read) and services: 61.82 Primary source was Amazon (80%), mainly series instead of stand-a-lones. Majority was indie and self-published at 75%. Besides Urban Fantasy, read a drama and some mysteries, and a few romance. Diversity Stats - None: 59%; Foreign: 3%; Mental Illness 3%; Combo 6%; Disability 25%; LGBTQ 3%. For romance books only - Straight is 88.9% and LGBT is 7.4%, with one reverse harem. Age group is 95% Adult with one Middle Grade Country setting is mainly, as always, with United States at 65%, with 25% in the United Kingdom, 1 in Scotland, 5% marked as unknown Services Goals - To not let KU dominate reading, failed that in January. I did have success on second goal to use rental services enough to make cost worth it - Used KU and Scribd enough to justify expense. Kindle Unlimited: 18 (justified expense) Scribd: 3 (justified expense) Audio: 4 E-Book: 26 Paperback: 2 Author Goals - I did finish one Perry Mason novel by Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Cautious Croquette. I have the goal of finishing 8 of these this year. I previously listened on Audio via Scribd but have a few paperbacks purchased to read and re-read. I did not meet other author goals; however, I have been re-reading The Stand as my Stephen King goal and am currently at 25%. I also am still working on The Rage by F. Paul Wilson. Genre Specific Goals - Did not meet any goals or make progress Other Goals Listed - Did not meet any of these goals or make progress Thoughts on books read I read a lot of Helen Harper through some series, one purchasable and the rest on KU. I got annoyed at several books but they are like chips you cannot stop consuming until the series is complete. 3 series total and easy reads. I am taking a break from Helen Harper for now other than the original series I read by her, Firebrand, which is the most enjoyable and the only one still in progress of the three series I read (Firebrand, Bo Blackman, Blood Destiny). The next book in the Firebrand series does not have a release date, but the series has spawned a spin-off series that I'm looking forward to. I believe it may be a trilogy. The release date is early February, pre-ordered this one. I started the year binge reading an Urban Fantasy series by Lindsay Buroker (Death Before Dragons and Secrets of the Sword), and read the first 8 in the series. There is one final book in this series being released in 2021, Secrets of the Sword III, which I am looking forward to. It's set to be released February 2021, I have pre-ordered. With audio I did the Middle Grade book for a challenge on Twitter - Nightbooks by J.A. White. I also finished The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley - both were good audio. I listened to The Woman on the Orient Express by Lindsay J Ashford for 75% of the book, then read the rest of it. The narrator is fine but the story was dragging on and I can read quicker than listen, was ready to be done with it. The other Audio was radio stories, Vincent Price Present Volume 4 - it was 2 hours and very fun, I plan to continue with these fun releases on Scribd.

01-31-2021, 07:09 PM	#82
Uncle Robin Diligent dilettante Posts: 3,441 Karma: 49052774 Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: in my mind Device: Kobo Sage; Kobo Libra H2O	Tanks for patiently trying to explain. I guess I'm not tech savvy enough to grok what the functional difference between a tag and a shelf is. I thought it was just a different term for effectively the same thing, that tagging a book "wishlist" would be the same as putting it on a shelf called "wishlist", but obviously I'm missing something. Last edited by Uncle Robin; 01-31-2021 at 07:18 PM.

02-01-2021, 04:25 PM	#88
astrangerhere Professor of Law Posts: 3,667 Karma: 66000002 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Chapel Hill, NC Device: Kobo Elipsa, Kobo Libra H20, Kobo Aura One, KoboMini	Length Goals: Total Books: 75 (stretch goal of 100) (up from 50/75 last year) Total Pages: 25,000 E-TBR Reduction: 25 Print-TBR Reduction: 10 Substantive Goals: Read at least 51% non-American authors Read more female/nonbinary authors than male Read at least 52 short stories Read at least 10 books across all our collections that are my wife's or that she wants me to read. January Totals: Total Books: 9 - 12% of goal, 9% of stretch goal - ON TARGET Total Pages: 2483 - 9.5% of goal - ON TARGET Gender Goal: 73% Female, 0% Nonbindary, 27% Male - ON TARGET Country of Origin Goal: 43% USA, 57% out of US - ON TARGET E-TBR Reduction: +3 - ON TARGET Print TBR Reduction: -6* OFF TARGET Short Stories: 6, 11% of goal - ON TARGET Books Recommended by my wife: 1 - 10% of goal ON TARGET *My wife continues to buy 1-2 books a week from our local independent bookstore and will do until they are able to fully open again post-covid. I expect this to skew my PTBR list all year long, but its for a good cause.

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02-01-2021, 11:18 AM	#85
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 20,589 Karma: 225000000 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: H2O, Aura One, PW5	January turned out to be a rough month. Started off well enough, but I failed to tackle my specific challenges and after spending the last week traveling/away from home (not by choice!), I’m even off my benchmark pace, which isn’t usually an issue for me. According to Goodreads, I’m already four books behind. So I plan/hope to catch up my benchmark total in February and at least tackle my specific challenges, although they may be already out of reach. I may just cross off January in that regard and go for a new start this month.

02-01-2021, 12:23 PM	#86
bookaho!ic Evangelist Posts: 463 Karma: 5575734 Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: UK Device: kobo Aura H20 2nd Ed	Books Read 10 Books given up on 3 Books bought 35 oops

02-01-2021, 02:37 PM	#87
Tarana Wizard Posts: 4,004 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	January wrapup: Good stuff: Made 3,000 pages. Finished 10 books plus novella. Ebook TBR up 12 books and audiobook TBR up 5 books. There is some crossover due to Whispersync. Most are parts of series/authors I'm already reading, which was a goal. A couple were strong recommendations from Mobilereads members (Joe Hill, Archer Mayor). A couple were replacements for paper books I used to have and really enjoyed. No magazines read. Changed from 1 600+ page book per month to a straight 12 books for the year (currently the Dreaming Void by Peter F Hamilton). Overall - I'm mostly irritated with myself that I went over budget for the month. None of my ebooks are more than $2.99 and the audiobooks $2-5 (except Hobbit which was I think $6.95), but they just add up piecemeal.

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