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Time for another try. I failed quite hard last year, both in reaching my goal of 40 (I only got to 24), and in keeping up with the SA thread (I didn't.) I'm shooting for 40 again, even though it might be unrealistic. Still, I'm going to try. I'm also going for an average length of over 300 pages. Sub-goals: At least three Terry Pratchett, at least three Stephen King, and in order to keep up with my native book scene I'll try to read at least five Norwegian books, including one published this year. Bleak House has also been on my immediate to-read list for way too long, so during the summer I will aim to read that. I'll attempt to complete the challenge in the OP. Most of them I'd probably do anyway, but I'll make an effort to tick the boxes I otherwise wouldn't be ticking. I'll be adding anyone posting their Goodreads info, and feel free to add me. I always get a boost of my own when I see that others have been finishing books.
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Jan 2, 2015 20:13
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Hantama posted:How are you going to do "14. Wildcard (Some one else taking the challenge will tell you what to read)" ? Figured nothing formal, just pop whenever your ready and say you need your wildcard and someone will shout a book at you. Tsyni posted:As a challenge I'm going to shoot for at least half of them being comic books, in honour of Stravinksy being the book lord. It's between you and god and soon me when I finally figure out how to focus my chi and explode your head scanners style over cable. Aethersphere posted:I really like the idea of a challenge. How will it work? Like, I am reading 30 books, so of those 30 books, one has to be by a female author, one has to be a collection of poetry, etc.? Or would it be that I would read 30 books, and then extra books on top of that? Follow your heart, do what you feel is right. Radio! posted:Going for 52, as usual, but I'll do the Stravinsky Challenge™ too since it seems easy enough. Booklord, do you have any suggestions for books in the various categories? Especially the post-modern, absurdist, and hate/love categories. Some dudes already gave you some answers but part of my ideal is to generate some book/suggestion talk here and in recommended and specific threads all throughout tbb. ZakAce posted:Seeing as I managed to read 90 books last year, I'll start with that number. I'll probably try to widen my scope of reading as well - I'll try to read some more classics (e.g. The Count of Monte Cristo, Effie Briest, Anna Karenina). Follow your heart. Or go by the standard of would someone call him a white cracker devil. Aphra Bane posted:I met my goal of 45 last year but it was a bit of a desperate stretch towards the end, so this year I'm scaling back to 37. It seems I managed to meet most of Stravinksy's challenge criteria last year so I'm not doing too bad diversity-wise. I'm considering doing this challenge list that I mentioned in the last thread. That's a good list Blind Sally posted:You should have done this a year ago rather than bitching about what people read. Glad you're doing it now, though. 
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Jan 2, 2015 20:22
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Goodreads usually has pretty good book lists if you're looking for a specific genre. Here are a couple post-modern book lists: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/10503.61_Essential_Postmodern_Reads_Los_Angeles_Times https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/18219.Waiting_For_Classic_Post_Modern_Literature And absurdist lists: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/24776.Absurdist_Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/48227.Books_with_surreal_absurdist_jouneys
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Jan 2, 2015 21:06
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I'm just going to do the challenge; numbers are irrelevant (to me). Looking for books that will challenge me - my choices for the first (#2, female author) are Atwood - Blind Assassin Butler - Gender Trouble Woolf - The Waves Lessing - Golden Notebook Oh Booklord, I beseech thee to speak to me and command which to read ... (all happen to be on the shelves at home!)
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Jan 2, 2015 21:36
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I'm going for 24 this year, which is (sadly) an ambitious number for me, seeing as how I only got through 11 in 2014. I don't think I'll formally take on the Stravinsky Challenge, but it will be interesting to see how close I come to it naturally. Up first is a re-read of Kafka on the Shore.
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Jan 2, 2015 21:42
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knees of putty posted:I'm just going to do the challenge; numbers are irrelevant (to me). Looking for books that will challenge me - my choices for the first (#2, female author) are Go alphabetical. Read Atwood. She is great.
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Jan 2, 2015 21:45
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I'm not sure as to a number of books. I just plan to read Haruki Murakami's bibliography and The Wheel of Time at least. Also, for those of you interested, there was a pretty good thread about reading literature http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3643994. I added almost all mentioned authors and their best books to begin with to my goodreads "Want To Read" shelf if anyone would like to take a more consolidated look. I also have some authors not mentioned that were referenced in interviews, etc. Feel free to add me. I hope everyone has a fantastic new year. https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/34401180?shelf=to-read
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Jan 2, 2015 22:37
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My goal is only 50 this year. I tracked my reading for the first time last year and set the apparently impossible goal of 65 books. I will also attempt to take on the OP's 22 book challenge. For the record, I count comics and graphics novels toward my goal. If I didn't, my goal number would be much lower. Add me on Goodreads here. And... go!
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Jan 2, 2015 23:29
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I'll have a crack at the Stravinsky Challenge. In addition I'm going to try to do 52 books by authors I haven't read before.
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Jan 3, 2015 00:00
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Aiming for 30 books this year. It sounds doable, but I probably only hit about 30 last year with the help of some unfortunate sick days, so gonna try that again this year with (hopefully) less illness! I'll be tracking with Goodreads, so feel free to add me, etc. Also, I was already planning to read more more histories and female authors (and maybe actually get around to reading some Pynchon) this year, so I'll take on Stravinsky's challenge while I'm at it. Do people typically count audiobooks in this, or is that more of a 'at your own discretion' kinda thing?
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Jan 3, 2015 00:04
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CestMoi posted:Good suggestions Prolonged Shame posted:more good suggestions Thanks! I've actually got The Things They Carried on my nightstand right now but never realized it was post modern so I learned a thing. I also heartily second the recommendation for On a winter's night a traveler because it's amazing. Gonna throw out my own recommendation for anyone looking for a female/non-white author- Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death, which is a fantasy exploration of genocide, weaponized rape, and female genital mutilation/oppression of/violence against women set in post-apocalyptic Sudan.
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Jan 3, 2015 00:43
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I forgot to update my progress in the last thread for the past couple months, but I won't make that mistake again! I'm taking a hefty swing at the Stravinsky Challenge. I usually aim for a book a week, but I just recently finished going through all the series' I had in my backlog. It's time for some interesting one-offs. So yeah. Stravinsky Challenge with a soft quantity goal of 52, which I of course plan to fill with My Little Pony graphic novels and Naruto manga. (Does Machiavelli's The Prince count as philosophy? That's been on my pile for a while now)
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Jan 3, 2015 01:34
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I'm up for 60 books again this year, and will try for Stravinsky's challenge as well. My Goodreads is here and I will be counting graphic novels and comic TPBs (though not single issues), because Jeff Lemire deserves to be included in my list. Also, Stravinsky, there's a typo in the thread title, and you seem like the type of person who simultaneously does and does not give a gently caress. Knowledgeable people of TBB, can someone recommend me a poetry collection? I enjoy Raymond Carver's stories, so maybe one of his collections?
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Jan 3, 2015 04:30
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Alright, I am in for the Stravinsky Challenge. I managed to squeak by my 2014 goal of 40 with a few novellas at the end. Since I anticipate having a bit more time on my hands I have upped my 2015 goal to 42 books for the year. I'll even bookmark the thread to increase the likelihood that I will check-in here. Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/cithen
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Jan 3, 2015 05:59
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I used to be such a drat good reader. Then school and iphones happened. I want the touch back. I'm throwing my hat in for 15 books this year. Hopefully will surpass that goal. I'll knock off some of the bullet points on the challenge list, though I do read a lot of female authors. Any recs are appreciated. I'll read about the unreal, something banned/censored, and a book of poetry for sure. I already started The Rook yesterday so I'll finish it this week.
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Jan 3, 2015 06:18
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elbow posted:
What kind of poetry do you enjoy? Do you just want more stuff similar to Carver?
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Jan 3, 2015 06:50
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I barely met half my goal last year - 9 out of 18. Shameful! More shameful than usual! I didn't even post in the old thread after the beginning, it was so shameful!... or I was lazy, whatever. I considered not setting a reading goal at all this year but then I saw Stravinsky's sorta-structured challenge. I've been trying to bust outside my comfort zone - one of the things I miss about being a student was the unexpected delights from reading something I never thought I'd enjoy. I got a little taste of that in last year's challenge when I read The Man Who Was Thursday, but I still found myself going back to sci-fi and fantasy more often than not. Having a sorta-structure should help me fight this inclination, so I'm in for 2015. My goal is 24 books... ambitious, given my history these last few years, but it allows me to incorporate all the bullet points in the OP with a little room for a fix of sci-fi or fantasy along the way. I'm tempted to toxx myself for something just to light a further fire under my rear end, but I have no idea what would be a worthy toxx condition, so shame will just have to be my motivator yet again. My goodreads account, for those I haven't added over the years.
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Jan 3, 2015 07:21
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Blind Sally posted:What kind of poetry do you enjoy? Do you just want more stuff similar to Carver? Sorry, somehow I forgot to include that I've never read any poetry I've liked. I enjoy Carver's short stories but haven't tried his poetry. I'm probably looking for something fairly easy; I dislike overly ornamental language and experimental poetry.
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Jan 3, 2015 07:34
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elbow posted:Sorry, somehow I forgot to include that I've never read any poetry I've liked. I enjoy Carver's short stories but haven't tried his poetry. I'm probably looking for something fairly easy; I dislike overly ornamental language and experimental poetry. Maybe Emily Dickinson? She's the only poetry I've read and I really enjoyed it. The verse is structured and not too lengthy.
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Jan 3, 2015 07:44
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Fellwenner posted:Maybe Emily Dickinson? She's the only poetry I've read and I really enjoyed it. The verse is structured and not too lengthy. I've read a fair amount of her poetry but it didn't really do it for me. I think I'd have a better chance of enjoying something more modern, maybe from the mid-20th century.
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Jan 3, 2015 07:54
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I initially shot for 26 in 2014 but because I was sort of trucking, I bumped it up to 72. Well some career and family poo poo slipped me up around the mid/late point in the year and I only reached 54. I am determined to accomplish last year's stretch of 72. I read a mix of things last year, but this year I'd like to read more nonfiction and poetry - do you have a babby's first poetry list somewhere in SA, Stravinsky? Last year I read some Baudelaire and some Keats and that was it. The targets continue with the Booklord's Persian pet, The Blind Owl. I also want to read the entire works of Herman Hesse, read more John Steinbeck (after Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, and The Moon is Down last year were so good), more Kobo Abe, read about my country (Straya), and there's also a woman I'm interested in who is a big fan of Jane Austen and of mysteries, so more of those two. And read more female authors in general. So far I've read: 1. Australia's Best Unknown Stories by Jim Haynes 2. Not That Kind Of Girl by Lena Dunham Reading: The Last Days of Socrates by Plato 2/72 I'll give reviews/impressions of them proper at the month's summary post.
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Jan 3, 2015 09:22
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Elbow, you could try out some contemporary Irish poets and see if it's more to your liking. Seamus Heaney is the obvious go-to poet, but I've always been partial to Derek Mahon myself (A Disused Shed in Co Wexford and The Spring Vacation stand out in particular). There's also Thomas Kinsella, Medbh McGuckian, Patrick Kavanagh, Paul Muldoon, Michael Longley, and more that I can't think of at the moment. The Faber Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry is a decent anthology, but it can be difficult to find and is pretty hefty. IIRC there's another anthology that was released last year that's supposed to be good too, and covers a much wider range of poets, so that might work too if the poems you find online spark your interest. The generation after Yeats often addresses/deals with the civil conflict and its impact on cultural and personal identity, as well as the impact that conflict has had in everyday life. It's powerful stuff, and the language (at least, in the poems I've read) is usually straightforward. Also not usually happy. :V
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Jan 3, 2015 10:17
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I have been a silent participator for the last two years (succesfully!) so I think it's at the time to officially take part. I'll challenge myself to a leisurely 52 books which will hopefully give me the time to read some longer works. Also, I will tackle Stravinskys challenge but I'll take it as suggestions and will not stress myself over it: Poetry will be a difficult one. Generally I find it pretty difficult to read poetry even moreso in English (while there is little native German poetry that interests me). Perhaps something by Sherman Alexie? I recently read his short stories and they were great. I can't remember when I read the last play but I have been meaning to read Spirits of Another Sort: The Plays of Izumi Kyoka for a while. Alternatively I tried to find the TV adaption of Accidental Death of an Anarchist for a long time and might just read the play itself. Although The Blind Owl is great, I have recently read it and will therefore skip it. I take by banned or censored you mean banned or censored in its home country? I will not read some holocaust deniers musings... Also, I only found a childrens book by Stephan J. Myers named The Colour Red, you mean something else right? Right now I'm reading Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano and will probably finish it today. Makes you pretty angry. true.spoon fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Jan 3, 2015 |
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Jan 3, 2015 11:45
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I'm in for 2015 with 26 books. I could probably do more, but have a penchant for getting excited over dense non-fiction titles that take me an age to read. Case in point: book 1 for 2015 is Doyle's Oxford History of the French Revolution. Its only 500 odd pages, but is pretty dense going (there were apparently a lot of lawyers doing lawyer things during the revolution, its pretty hard to follow sometimes). I'd like to do a bit more in less-read genres for me this year too, I read mainly science fiction and non-fiction. My GR is here, feel free to add me and so on.
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Jan 3, 2015 12:07
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saphron posted:Elbow, you could try out some contemporary Irish poets and see if it's more to your liking. Seamus Heaney is the obvious go-to poet, but I've always been partial to Derek Mahon myself (A Disused Shed in Co Wexford and The Spring Vacation stand out in particular). There's also Thomas Kinsella, Medbh McGuckian, Patrick Kavanagh, Paul Muldoon, Michael Longley, and more that I can't think of at the moment. The Faber Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry is a decent anthology, but it can be difficult to find and is pretty hefty. IIRC there's another anthology that was released last year that's supposed to be good too, and covers a much wider range of poets, so that might work too if the poems you find online spark your interest. Thanks, I'll check these out! If anyone else wants to chime in with recommendations please do so, especially since it looks like I'm not the only one who is new to poetry.
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Jan 3, 2015 12:44
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Out of the poetry I've read recently, I'd recommend Warsan Shire's Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth and also the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as poetry that's not too difficult to get into. The Rubaiyat's a lot of fun. Very hedonistic. Teaching My Mother was published a few years ago. It's much more grim and personal. Both are quite short, so you're not at much of a loss if you don't end up liking them.
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Jan 3, 2015 13:25
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I'm aiming for 30 books this year. First up is Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs. There is no rhyme or reason to what I'm picking other then suggestions/walking around the bookstore. It's like nothing I've ever read before, and honestly I haven't been able to process if I like it or not. Hell, I'm not even sure I know what is going on half the time. Arrgytehpirate fucked around with this message at 14:13 on Jan 3, 2015 |
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Jan 3, 2015 14:02
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Poetry people there is a poetry thread HERE http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3608630 and it's got some stuff you could probably consider, if you want to read good poetry. If you have never read any poetry you have liked before you migth like one of the poems mentioned in the OP and some of the early posts sincd ethey're all very influential etc. If you really don't like poetry at all then I suggest you pick up a book of poems by Edward Lear and make sure you read them out loud, and you will find that actually you do like poetry.
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Jan 3, 2015 14:34
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Aphra Bane posted:Out of the poetry I've read recently, I'd recommend Warsan Shire's Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth and also the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as poetry that's not too difficult to get into. The Rubaiyat's a lot of fun. Very hedonistic. Teaching My Mother was published a few years ago. It's much more grim and personal. Both are quite short, so you're not at much of a loss if you don't end up liking them. Also those looking for poetry, Garrison Keilor has edited three volumes of his "Good Poems" series. They are phenomenal, and it gives a good variety and range to expose yourself to. Whenever I teach a poetry unit in my class, sixty percent of what I use comes from those collections.
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Jan 3, 2015 14:48
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CestMoi posted:Poetry people there is a poetry thread HERE http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3608630 and it's got some stuff you could probably consider, if you want to read good poetry. Vocalizing poetry is important?
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Jan 3, 2015 14:53
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The line breaks and punctuation in poetry aren't just there because they need to be, they give the poem a rhythm, and personally, I find it difficult to appreciate this rhythm without reading the poem aloud, at least once or twice. Edward Lear's poems are essentially just interesting gibberish with a really lovely rhythm to them, and while recommending him is sort of a joke, I think if you often look at something like The Waste Land and think it's just fruity language with random line breaks, reading (aloud) something like Edward Lear, that gets you just to focus on the feeling of poems could probably help.
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Jan 3, 2015 15:28
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ok, sign me up for 70, which is what I read this year. i think i did the whole stravinsky challenge thing last year, so i demand a prize. this year instead i'll try to read at least two 'proper' books in catalan as I'm living there & learning the language. my goodreads page is here, but i only post in latvian, so if you can't read it, too bad. Currently reading: Giles Milton - White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves Svetlana Alexievich - Время секонд хэнд (The Second-hand Time - one of her 'documental novels' about USSR; this one focuses on the collapse of the Soviet power, but the interviewees talk about a bunch of other things, too) John & Linda Friel - Adult Children: The Secrets of Dysfunctional Families (i'm a translator, and this is what i'm currently working on) and i guess i can add 'The Little Prince' to the currently reading list, but it's more of a catalan learning tool for me, so i won't count it among the 'proper' books.
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Jan 3, 2015 15:44
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Goodreads profile here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8395193-loten Aiming for 30 books again this year. I only hit 18 last year, but can totally do better this time.
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Jan 3, 2015 16:01
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Thanks everyone for the poetry recommendations!
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Jan 4, 2015 03:04
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I missed this thread for a few days... My spring semester is going to be pretty heavy, and I didn't come anywhere close to my goal last year, so I am going to shoot for 50 this year. Hopefully I don't fall into another period where I just can't seem to finish anything. I probably have 2 or 3 dozen books that I started last year and didn't finish. My Goodreads Profile
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Jan 4, 2015 03:31
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So I'll continue my slow backslide in reading quantity and aim for 20 books this year. If I can't do that I might as well just give up on life altogether. Goodreads Profile.
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Jan 4, 2015 05:07
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Currently aiming for about 52. The goal for this year is to try and get through a backlog of very heavy books and maybe revisit a few favorites. I'll try to get some stuff to match the Stravinsky challenge, as well. It's a cool idea.
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Jan 4, 2015 19:21
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This booklord challenge of yours sounds fun.CestMoi posted:I'm not going to go for any specific number of books but I'm going to try and read mostly books from Harold Bloom's Western Canon http://home.comcast.net/~dwtaylor1/theocraticcanon.html, particularly the earlier stuff in the first two categories that I haven't read much of. That 404s for me, but this works: http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtbloom.html - There are a load of great books lists on that site, some really weird like this one: http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtward.html
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Jan 4, 2015 23:41
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elbow posted:Thanks everyone for the poetry recommendations! One more recommendation just for you elbow - Elizabeth Bishop. I stole this from her poets.org bio: poets.org posted:Bishop’s poetry avoids explicit accounts of her personal life and focuses instead with great subtlety on her impressions of the physical world. Former Poet Laureate of the USA, Pulitzer Winner, and (I think) pretty accessible.
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Jan 5, 2015 04:15
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I did 66 books last year, 33 of them were graphic novels or whatever and the other 33 were actual books. So I will go for 35 non-comics and won't post about my comics here. I will also try to do the Booklord challenge thing. I have already read 2 books this year (John Darnielle - Wolf in White Van and Amy Poehler's autobiography) and I generally read a lot of books written by women and POC, I also have some post-modern and absurdist stuff waiting to be read so that's not bad. I wouldn't mind some recommendations for philosophy or poetry as I haven't gone down either of those paths too much. For poetry, I'd prefer recommendations of a collection rather than just one specific poem. I'd also appreciate some suggestions for something banned or censored. A quick google shows me that Lolita was banned in Canada at one point and I've never read it so maybe I'll read that, it's on my shelf.
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Jan 5, 2015 04:35
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