The 2022 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread

[astrangerhere]

I have spent a lot of the last few weeks of the month lost in The Selected Letters of Willa Cather. I am reading the book on paper and taking as much time with it as I like.

Length Goals:

• Total Books: 50 (stretch goal of 75)
• Total Pages: 15,000
• E-TBR Reduction: 25
• Read from Print-TBR: 10

Substantive Goals:

• Read at least 51% non-American authors
• Read more female/nonbinary authors than male
• Read at least 52 short stories
• Read each Poem of the Week (52) posted by The Guardian
• Read at least 10 books across all our collections that are selected by my wife. It's a great way to read things I would not ordinarily do, and I almost always end up enjoying them.

Cumulative Totals- End of July:

• Total Books: 35 - 70% of goal, 47% of stretch goal - ON TARGET
• Total Pages: 9728 - 65% of goal - ON TARGET
• Gender Goal: 37% Female, 5% Nonbindary, 58% Male - OFF TARGET - trending in the right direction now at least.
• Country of Origin Goal: 47% USA, 53% out of US - ON TARGET
• E-TBR Reduction: + - 6 - 24% of goal ON TARGET
• Read from Print TBR: - 23 - 230% of goal GOAL MET!
• Short Stories: 15 - 29% of goal - OFF TARGET
• Poems 5 - 9 % of goal - ABANDONED
• Books Recommended by my wife: 7 - 70% of goal ON TARGET

[HLS]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

I think issybird's response nailed it, and I'm a good example. I work from home, and only part-time. 60-70% of my work is night shift work in a call centre type job that is not very busy, so I have a lot of time in which reading helps me stay awake. I also dislike noise (no audiobooks for me) and in consequence have been reducing the amount of TV I watch. So reading light fiction - mysteries and Regency romances mostly, has become my main leisure activity.

That, coupled with my slightly obsessive fixation with all the delightful stats on reading available at the StoryGraph have me about to reach 100K pages and 300 books for the year so far. It says nothing at all about my intellect, reading ability or character. All it says is that I have a lot free time and enjoy passing it in silence.

For me quarantine and work from home made it harder to read. At office, I would read and hour at lunch. now I am addicted to streaming Hulu lol. Part of my problem this year is finding a book I like. I chose quite a few books this year that turned out to be painfully slow moving to where I could not even finish the book. I also have a short attention span. I am trying to train my mind to be more focused when I do read. I like wordrunner on amazon fire devices. I wish it was available on the kindle app.

[Rumpelteazer]

August has been a good month; 11 books and 2808 pages. I haven't read this much since April 2021. I was able to do so because during summer break it's always quiet in the store, especially with the hot weather we've had. I was able to do a lot of reading between customers. But from last week it started to get busier and this week two big shipments are coming in, so I'll have less time to read. Still, I'll try to keep it up.

As a challenge I didn't allow myself to put any new books on my Kindle in August (I actually started this in the last week of July). To be honest I can't wait to put a couple of new books on my Kindle, plus buy a couple for my vacation in September.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I was going at about double the pace I need to meet my goal through May but then June brought things to a crashing halt. I only managed to complete one short story in June.

Things should pick up a little here in July (I've already beat June) but I'm completely swamped with work so I don't know how much I'll be able to read. I am traveling a bit more this month so I should be able to get at least one audio book completed.

I went from "I should finish this in June" to "I hope I finish this in September" over this summer. Oh well.

Less than 300 pages to go. I should be able to finish in September. :crosses fingers:

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Seven bought and 18 read (4430pp). A good month!

7 bought and 11 read (2476pp). I need to read more and/or buy less

But still a net reduction in TBR. Going the right way.

[Uncle Robin]

54 read (18k pp) and only 5 bought. Solid progress on tackling my TBR, although my wishlist at Amazon(!) is growing thanks to Kobo's shrinking appeal.

[HLS]

I am impressed with everyones stats. I got more reading done than expected for August. I think I got 5 books in but one was very short and one I never finished.

[HLS]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

7 I need to read more and/or buy less

Same, I have probably 1700 ebooks between Nook, kindle and kobo. I don't need to buy any more unless its a new release from my fav authors.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by HLS

Same, I have probably 1700 ebooks between Nook, kindle and kobo. I don't need to buy any more unless its a new release from my fav authors.

I have almost that many unread according to my spreadsheet (includes Nook, Kindle, Kobo, Baen, Humble bundle, Storybundle). I don't count free books. That total doesn't include my audiobooks either. With 4 old kitties needing more vet care, my budget is pretty darn low but I'm always tempted by a $2.99 deal. I'm just limiting it now to my chosen authors.

August was 8 bought, 5 read. So not great, but not accumulating so much either. This month may be a little slow as I'm reading a Peter F Hamilton series and anybody who has read his books knows what doorstops these are. Lots and lots of pages.

[Tarana]

Didn't make any goals, but did get close to my 2,000 pages for the month.

Edited to add: It turned out that I did surpass my 2,000 page goal for September. I rely on Goodreads and one of my books lacked the page count. Fixed that (I'm a librarian) and now 2,083. Yay!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

7 bought and 11 read (2476pp). I need to read more and/or buy less

But still a net reduction in TBR. Going the right way.

Six bought one freebie, and only nine read. I need to read more.

[HLS]

i finally got a head of my self and passed the 40 novel for the year. i am reading God Emperor of Dune and its way way to long of a read

[Aleron Ives]

I'm currently reading 'The Brothers Karamazov', which is about twice as long. Wanna trade?

[HLS]

Funny how people don’t update the other thread with what they read. I update everything I read. I wish I could read more. I would love to hit 100 a year. 40-50 is usually what I hit

[HLS]

I am finishing Bag of Bones by Stephen King. Very good book. A very mild ghost story but mostly about a sweet little girl and a custody fight. I find it to be one of his better books.