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I made it to 60 last year but I'm going to slow my roll and do 50 this time.
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Jan 3, 2014 06:37
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Put me down for 78 Star Wars novels please.
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Jan 3, 2014 06:51
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Got my first book down: 1) Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire, trans. Richard Howard I'm actually kind of underwhelmed. I knew that it wasn't going to have the same edge that it did in its own context, but I also felt like most of the poems lacked rhythm, whether because they lacked rhythm in the original French or because Howard's translation is inept. The constant references to breasts were also very annoying, but that's also to be expected. With all that being said, I did like certain poems, phrases, images, etc., and it's always interesting to read iconoclasts. It also got me noticing that I shouldn't fill my reading challenge full of short books, so I'm going to try to have at least 30 of the books I read this year be over 300 pages long.
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Jan 3, 2014 07:49
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Whalley posted:Finished #1, and it turns out my eBook contained more than the actual book. This book is so totally sweet. Yeah, I'm going to try for 50 this year. Just pulling a number out of my rear end since the length of books vary wildly and we have another baby on the way. I've been a voracious reader all my life but never tried logging or taking any kind of notes before. 1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. About 80% done at the moment; another pretty sweet collection of short stories.
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Jan 3, 2014 08:17
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I'm in for 70 again... my goodreads is here.
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Jan 3, 2014 09:02
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I've been reading around 1 book a year for a while now, but since I am not in school at the moment let's go for 26 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/14931931
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Jan 3, 2014 13:42
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I'm two (edit: 3, I'll slow down when life begins again on Monday) books down, having finished a couple I started right at the tail end of last year. The weather here frightens me right now, so it's great tea and reading weather. 1) The Telstar - Samuel Addison A neat piece of time travel based, philosophically aware darkly comic sci-fi about artificial intelligence, causality and determinism. Full disclosure, the author is a friend of mine and I hadn't had a chance to read this yet, but I'd recommend it regardless. 2) Point Close All Quotes - A Quietus Anthology A compendium of writing from various contributors to The Quietus website. Although the site often covers more than music, the book is entirely comprised of music based pieces. Some very well written, thoughtful pieces in here but the site does sometimes get (not entirely unfairly) accused of pretentiousness. 3) This is the Way the World Ends - James Morrow An affecting sci-fi fable with the most depressing, frightening account of a nuclear attack I've encountered outside 'Threads' or 'Barefoot Gen' Disco Pope fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Jan 4, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 15:23
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Going for 30 books this year. Last year I read 56, but last year I also went on a "let's see why people like comics" bender and counted those. I estimate I read around 30 "regular" books last year, so I'll set that as my target and see where I end up. I'm in the middle of two of them, but they are going to take me a while to finish, especially the nonfiction one. Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5605419-rob
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Jan 3, 2014 15:38
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My goal for 2014 is 35 books, and I've started the year off right with 1. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
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Jan 3, 2014 16:39
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Put me down for 26 since apparently all I read last year were comic books, good lord. Here's my Goodreads profile. Went ahead and added a bunch of folks too.
Doc Fission fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 16:44
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Going for 60, I... Sort of hit my goal last year? 
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Jan 3, 2014 17:24
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Going to try for 40. Already got one down! 1. REAMDE, Neal Stephenson 2. Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Jenny Lawson 3. The Mallet of Loving Correction, John Scalzi 4. Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein 5. For The Win, Cory Doctorow 6. Promise of Blood, Brian McClellan 7. The Ghost, Robert Harris 8. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig 9. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson 10. The Human Division, John Scalzi 11. The Alloy of Law, Brandon Sanderson 12. The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson 13. Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn 14. Dark Force Rising, Timothy Zahn 15. The Last Command, Timothy Zahn 16. Sheriff of Yrnameer, Michael Rubens 17. Old Man's War, John Scalzi 18. Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson <- this is where all of April went 19. The Crimson Campaign, Brian McClellan <- and this is a lot of May 20. The Martian, Andy Weir <- god drat if this wasn't an incredible loving book in the most excellent way 21. Elantris, Brandon Sanderson 22. Foundation, Isaac Asimov 23. Transmetropolitan (counting the entire series as one book), Warren Ellis 24. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke 25. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins 26. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins 27. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins <- depressing, this also ends my foray into YA for a while 28. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein 29. Nimitz Class, Patrick Robinson 30. HMS Unseen, Patrick Robinson <- 3/4 of the way there with only two weeks to spare 31. Neuromancer, William Gibson 32. A Fire Upon The Deep, Vernor Vinge 33. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke 34. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke 35. Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey 36. Caliban's War, James S. A. Corey 37. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho 38. The Man in the White Suit, Ben Collins 39. Abaddon's Gate, James S A Corey FAILED BY ONE. Only got halfway through Shogun before the new year hit. wintermuteCF fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Jan 2, 2015 |
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Jan 3, 2014 18:39
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Made it to 70 last year, but put me up for 52 again. Not sure if I'll have as much time to read this year...
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Jan 3, 2014 19:42
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I had a goal of 52 last year, hahaha, yeah didn't even come close and really didn't read at all for the middle part of the year. But I was making it through a book or two a month when I was reading, so I'll try for 20 this year. Here's my Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/15961052-mitch
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Jan 3, 2014 21:49
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First one down: Last Light by Alex Scarrow. Terrifyingly plausible is what the dust jacket said and it did not lie. The logical part of me recognises that conspiracy types stuff of this nature isn't realistic - but also that the points made about the interdependency of the global economy are concerningly valid. And it was a well-written, pacy and interesting story to boot. Well worth picking up.
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Jan 4, 2014 00:41
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Reading took a backseat to a new job last year; didn't even get halfway to my goal of 35. I'm feeling good about this year though, and setting a goal of 25. Goodreads!
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Jan 4, 2014 01:53
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I didn't post when I hit my goal, but I hit my goal of 20000 pages well before the end of the year, with a grand total of about 32000 pages. This year, I'm going for 52 books, but setting an extra goal of writing a brief report on the books I read, so I will feel more motivated to post. goodreads GarbiTheGlitchress fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Jan 4, 2014 |
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Jan 4, 2014 02:36
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My goal is going to be 26 books this year. Went for 24 last year and came up a bit short.
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Jan 4, 2014 03:56
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My goal is 30 with no work related books in the mix. So on that note: 1. Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution It's an interesting look at the French Revolution from the angle of fashion history. My biggest complaint is that the kindle version doesn't have good plates (or at least my version doesn't) so it's harder to visualize the clothing and see what the author is really getting into. I'm working on Tampa but uh it's not working out so good so I'm probably going to give up on it move onto something else.
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Jan 4, 2014 06:16
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Think I'll go for 40 books or 20,000 pages, like last year. Out of 45 books last year only 3 were women authors, down from 4 out of 42 the year before, so I'll follow what many in this thread are doing and really ramp that up.
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Jan 4, 2014 06:37
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I'm in for 52 books. So far: 1) Screenwriting 101 - Film Crit Hulk A significant portion of the content was reworked from his columns on the internet, but I still find his sincerity engaging. It might seem a strange choice of books when I have absolutely no intention of becoming a screenwriter, but Hulk's focus on character and narrative means that a lot of it is broadly applicable to stories of all kinds.
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Jan 4, 2014 08:38
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I failed last year and got to 28, still more than double the amount I read in 2012! So I'll be less ambitious this year and go for 29! My Goodreads, feel free to add me as I always need more friends
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Jan 4, 2014 08:46
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Augster posted:Think I'll go for 40 books or 20,000 pages, like last year. Out of 45 books last year only 3 were women authors, down from 4 out of 42 the year before, so I'll follow what many in this thread are doing and really ramp that up.
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Jan 4, 2014 08:47
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This year I'm making my goal 100 books.
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Jan 4, 2014 11:39
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I almost made it last year. Put me down for 35 books this year. Please feel free to add me on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3602618-fritzov fritzov fucked around with this message at 13:20 on Jan 4, 2014 |
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Jan 4, 2014 13:17
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I think I'll make a goal of 25 books, since I didn't keep track last year, but work is keeping me pretty busy. But I started a book club with my friends - so here's to a new year with a recommitment to reading more diverse and interesting books. So I started a goodreads, to give me a tracking and organization tool.
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Jan 4, 2014 14:25
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I decided to start this year with a web serial rather than an actual published novel - it had an entry on goodreads, so I figured it counted. It's called Worm, and the author is called wildbow. It's about a girl named Taylor who is being bullied at school and has the power to control bugs. With heroic self-restraint, she doesn't go Carrie on everyone with a horde of brown recluse spiders. Instead, she sets out to become a superhero. After her first fight goes wrong, though, she's helped out by a gang of teenaged supervillains called the Undersiders who mistake her for another up-and-coming bad guy. (It's understandable. Her superpower is bugs.) They offer her a spot in their team, and Taylor decides to sign up as a mole. Things escalate, and then escalate more; loyalties and allegiances shift every which way; a kaiju attacks the city and a million people die; things continue escalating. The prose is a bit clunky at the moment, but it's a web serial that came out over two years, so I'm assuming that will improve. The worldbuilding is fantastic, and the author's creative with the superpowers. The main characters are all unique, and while there's a number of the standard flying bricks, they're all distinguished somewhat in how their powers work exactly and what their specialisation is. There's a difference between the flying brick who's a brick because of their near-impenetrable forcefield and the one who grows backup internal organs when you blow their torso open. The action only very rarely slows down even for a minute. The characterisation is the real strength, though; there's nobody that's purely good or evil, whether they're the city's greatest superhero or the appropriately-named Bitch. What I love most, though, is that Taylor's smart. Compared to the guy who turns more and more into a dragon as a fight goes on, or one of the flying bricks, she's not exactly a powerhouse, but she still thinks of clever tricks to pull out a victory. The trouble is, I didn't know before I started reading it that it was 1,500,000 words long. Imagine stacking up fifteen copies of the Hobbit. I'm still about a third of the way in. I'm not going to stop reading it, though. I don't think I can. Last night I stayed up until three in the morning because I thought, I'll just get to the end of the kaiju arc so I know if any characters I like died, and then more terrible things happened, so it was just like, Oh my God. One more chapter. ... Oh my God. There is not a point in the first ten arcs that I haven't been terrified for a character I like or, suddenly and unexpectedly, one I really, really hate.
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Jan 4, 2014 15:36
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Last year I made it to 52/40 "books" by cheating and adding comic books at the last second to pad out my list. This year I'll make my target 60 books, but with certain sub-goals to achieve. 60 total books -35 in English -10 in French -5 military history Comic book rules: Individual arcs of comic books series no longer count. However, the entire run of a substantial series (ex: Akira, Nausicaa, Y: The Last Man) can count as a book. Stand-alone graphic novels (ex: From Hell, Footnotes In Gaza, Jimmy Corrigan) count as a book. Let's do this, guys. Here's my good reads: https://www.goodreads.com/BigLemons
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Jan 4, 2014 17:21
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Shooting for 52. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6576568-cody
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Jan 5, 2014 03:04
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I am going to read 17 books this year to make up for falling short last year. Will it work? Probably not, but it's worth a try.
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Jan 5, 2014 05:50
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All Nines posted:It also got me noticing that I shouldn't fill my reading challenge full of short books, so I'm going to try to have at least 30 of the books I read this year be over 300 pages long. I had the opposite problem last year, when I realized I shouldn't fill my reading challenge full of long books. I read Infinite Jest and the drat thing took most of January and all of February to read. 1 book of my goal of 52. (I should have counted it as five books, or something, aw well).
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Jan 5, 2014 06:19
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my goal this year is to read 4-3books/month, so roughly 36-48
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Jan 5, 2014 06:39
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I'll bite. Going to attempt 20 books this year. Starting small since I read so infrequently, but that is something I hope to change.
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Jan 5, 2014 07:30
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Blind Sally posted:I had the opposite problem last year, when I realized I shouldn't fill my reading challenge full of long books. I read Infinite Jest and the drat thing took most of January and all of February to read. 1 book of my goal of 52. (I should have counted it as five books, or something, aw well). There's that, too, yeah; I know I also plan to read IJ this year, having really enjoyed DFW's shorter pieces. I think I'll save that for the summer. I'm also using this first week of January, while I'm still on winter break, to read Anna Karenina, since I know it would have otherwise taken me all semester, like Jane Eyre last semester. And I'll probably want to read War and Peace this summer, too.
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Jan 5, 2014 07:56
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As a warning his longer pieces are pretty different from his shorter stuff. I really liked just about all of his essays/short stories but by the time I got around to the Pale King I was kind of over his novels (although in fairness to him I guess that wasn't really finish, and I think he's still one of the best writers of his generation). Anyway, I'm in for 104 books, including essay collections as one book and every 200 pages of academic articles as one as well. At the moment I'm reading: 1) The Red and the Black by Stendhal. The 'first' psychological novel, I'm beginning to suspect it's more important for what it did for literature in general than, you know, any inherent quality, but it's interesting at least. 2) Queering Anarchism by a bunch of people with badass names like "Jane Volcano". Really cool. I know nothing about anarchism, so seeing it through the lens of queer theory which I know a good bit about is a great way to get into it. 3) Perdido Street Station by China Mieville My goony selection for this week. Really cool sci-fi, he really has created an amazing world. Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/27355637-david-ryan foutre fucked around with this message at 13:09 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 13:06
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RIP ZEEZ
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ridiculous dinosaur posted:I am going for 36 books this year. This is my Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8411056-brittny I finally graduated last month so I actually get to read for fun again. I am also in a time of mini-employment so I have an incredible amount of time to read. I'm going to preface the extensive amount of young adult literature you are going to find on my list with the fact that I'm an English teacher and it is for the kids (but also I really just like the stuff). So far I have 3 down: 1. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros . I semi-stole this during student teaching because the freshman honors class will be reading this for their summer novel. Last year they read Matched by Allie Condie (it is on my list to read). I wasn't incredibly impressed by Mango. To be more specific, I wasn't too impressed by Mango for a freshman honors book. I feel it would be better suited and engaging for the lower level classes (it is a 6-8th grade reading level, after all). But, this high school only reserved boring white people literature to the lower level classes. I think it was some sort of ploy to "whiten" the 98% African American school. 2. Multiplication Is for White People": Raising Expectations for Other People's Children by Lisa Delpit I also apologize for the massive amount of boring educational books that will be on my list. This books basically says what other books like Trouble with Black Boys and kind of what Framework for Understanding Poverty will tell you about teaching students of minority, but through a different lens. Lisa writes well and brings some interesting arguments-- my favorite of which was how she broke down Payne's "culture of poverty" argument. She writes that culture would never hurt a race: culture enhances race. So, therefore, we aren't seeing the results of a poverty culture, but a response to life-long oppression. It was kind of mind blowing at the time. The last 50 pages were like mud to get through, though. I think after reading the same educational material you are kind of screaming I GET IT ALREADY at the end. Good stuff. Would recommend. 3. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel My friend gave me this after I gave this long, passionate rant about how Blankets by Craig Thompson was one of the best drat things I've ever read. Fun Home is like Blankets but a little gayer. I say this lovingly, because Fun Home was exceptional and beautiful. I felt it was one of those books you don't read, but experience. Fun Home was a great experience. Would do again. A+ I'm almost nearly finished with Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? . I've been listening to it on audio book during my commute to/from work (which is the most boring 45 min you will ever experience). It is a slightly more awkward, but less funny Bossypants. There are times, similar to watching The Office, where it gets so embarrassingly awkward that I have to pause my Ipod and brace myself for the terrible consequences that are about to unfold. This is the reason why I probably haven't finished it yet.
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Jan 5, 2014 14:54
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I've never officially participated in this because I'm afraid of failure, but after setting low goals the past two years and breezing through them, I think I'll try for 52. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3692191-rhea-shell If you want to add me. I don't really have any specific plans for my challenge because I tend to read a variety anyway. I think I'll more make a guideline to try and be more involved. Since I'm not the best at expressing my thoughts, it'd probably be good practice to review more books and maybe actually participate in things! I should probably get started soon.
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Jan 5, 2014 18:10
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Put me in for 52 books again this year. Here's my Goodreads.
No major goal this year, but here's some minor goals:
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Jan 5, 2014 19:23
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Hit at least 52 the last 2 years so I'm going for 52 again.
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Jan 5, 2014 20:47
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In for 75 books.
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Jan 5, 2014 23:27
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