Annual Reading Goals

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How many books do you want to read this year?

0-10
1
8%
11-20
3
23%
21-30
3
23%
31-40
0
No votes
41-50
0
No votes
51+
4
31%
I haven't set a goal
2
15%
 
Total votes: 13

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johntm
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Annual Reading Goals

Postby johntm » 2014-06-23, 23:26

How many books do you want to read this year? Have any of you set certain goals, if so, how many and how strictly are you holding yourself to that goal?
Myself, I originally set out to read 30 this year because I have never done anything like this before. Once I got to about 15 (I'm keeping count on goodreads), I figured if I could keep the pace up I could hit 52 at least, so a book a week. So I upped it, and currently I've read 27/52. Granted, there were a couple shorter ones in there to boost my number if I was getting in danger of falling behind, but it's things I would've read at some point anyway. I'm finding it's a lot easier than I originally thought to read this much. Especially if you work on multiple books simultaneously and have pdfs on your phone to read when you don't have a physical book around.
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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby linguoboy » 2014-06-23, 23:52

I don't have a set goal as such, but I figure I should be able to knock off a novel every couple of weeks or so, which works out to 25+ titles a year. Not sure how far along I am on that since when I'm done reading a book, I tend to put it different places depending on whether I want to (a) keep it; (b) give it to a specific friend; or (c) donate it.

(This is in addition to any nonfiction or short fiction I read, as I approach those books differently.)
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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby Halfdan » 2014-06-24, 0:13

It's hard to say just how many books I intend to read. At the moment I'll make a goal of 20 books of 200 or more pages, as well as various other shorter works of prose that I won't count in my tally.
So 20 for me.

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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby Yasna » 2014-06-24, 0:42

Ideally I like to read a book a week, but I always fall short because of other responsibilities and the fact that a good deal of the books I read are in whatever language I am currently trying to improve, which means I spend a fair amount of time looking up words and expressions.
Ein Buch muß die Axt sein für das gefrorene Meer in uns. - Kafka

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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby johntm » 2014-06-24, 2:10

linguoboy wrote:I don't have a set goal as such, but I figure I should be able to knock off a novel every couple of weeks or so, which works out to 25+ titles a year. Not sure how far along I am on that since when I'm done reading a book, I tend to put it different places depending on whether I want to (a) keep it; (b) give it to a specific friend; or (c) donate it.
This is about half the reason I joined goodreads, to keep a record of what I've read in one place. Because if the book's a physical copy, it could be somewhere in my room, given to a friend or family member, or I'll probably take the ones I don't care to read again towards the end of the summer and trade them in for credit at a local used bookstore. And pdfs I've read are scattered in various places on my computer and phone. So it's nice to have a list of what I've done and a list of shit I'd like to read (which has grown pretty damn big pretty damn quickly).

(This is in addition to any nonfiction or short fiction I read, as I approach those books differently.)

Care to elaborate?
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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby linguoboy » 2014-06-24, 15:28

johntm wrote:
(This is in addition to any nonfiction or short fiction I read, as I approach those books differently.)

Care to elaborate?

I don't tend to read those books cover-to-cover. A lot of the nonfiction I own is linguistic works. Generally, there'll be a particular subject I'm curious about, so I'll read those paragraphs or chapters and leave the rest for later. Some of them are collections of essays or conference papers, so there's generally only one or two I'm interested in at a particular time.

Short stories I tend to read when I'm between novels, I have several hefty collections by multiple authors that I come back to again from time to time. Or I'll just read one at bedtime when I need something to get my mind off the concerns of the day and I don't want to get caught up in a longer narrative.
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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby Prowler » 2014-07-21, 22:14

Between 20 and 30, I guess. Fiction and non-fiction. Still haven't read anything this summer, though. That's what happens when your backlog gets too big. It leads to indecision.

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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby johntm » 2014-07-21, 23:15

Prowler wrote:That's what happens when your backlog gets too big. It leads to indecision.

I know the feeling, when that happens I generally have 3 or 4 I want to read first so I randomly pick one from those. Maybe flip a coin or something?
I've read 38/52 so far this year. Currently splitting time between 3 books.
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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby Prowler » 2014-07-26, 21:40

johntm wrote:
Prowler wrote:That's what happens when your backlog gets too big. It leads to indecision.

I know the feeling, when that happens I generally have 3 or 4 I want to read first so I randomly pick one from those. Maybe flip a coin or something?
I've read 38/52 so far this year. Currently splitting time between 3 books.

I'll eventually end up making a decision. Don't like the idea of flipping a coin or throwing a dice since I'd rather pick the book myself.

The thing is, I can read several books in one month and then spend a handful of months without picking up one. Same goes for movies, tv shows, games, etc.

I get into routines as easily as I drop them.

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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby Varislintu » 2014-07-30, 6:25

I'm a slow reader, so I keep a minimum goal of 12 per year in the back of my head, and anything on top of that is a plus. If I spent less time reading stuff like blogs online, I could probably do better. :P

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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby johntm » 2014-07-31, 22:35

Varislintu wrote: I spent less time reading stuff like blogs online, I could probably do better. :P

I spend my fair share of time reading online blogs and articles about various things too. Less so now than in the past, and nowadays I normally just read them on my phone when I have time during the day.

43/52 for the year, ~58 pages away from finishing another. Luckily I'm a pretty fast reader (and I've had fuck all to do this summer besides work out, read, and work).
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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby Car » 2014-08-01, 19:59

My goal is 30 and I've already read 26. I should finish my current e-book next week and I'm progressing faster than I thought with the one in print as well. This was the first time I set a goal, so I preferred to be conservative.
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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-08-01, 23:35

I really don't have any reading goals, and personally I believe that setting numeric goals is quite worthless, I mean, what does the number of books we read tell us? IMO almost nothing. I'd be much more proud if I managed to read only one book like Ulysses by Joyce or la Recherche du Temps Perdu by Proust rather than 50 or even 100 YA novels.

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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby johntm » 2014-08-05, 0:52

Car wrote:My goal is 30 and I've already read 26. I should finish my current e-book next week and I'm progressing faster than I thought with the one in print as well. This was the first time I set a goal, so I preferred to be conservative.

I started with 30 but ended up going a lot faster than I anticipated. Especially since I didn't have much to do this summer.

IpseDixit wrote:I really don't have any reading goals, and personally I believe that setting numeric goals is quite worthless, I mean, what does the number of books we read tell us? IMO almost nothing. I'd be much more proud if I managed to read only one book like Ulysses by Joyce or la Recherche du Temps Perdu by Proust rather than 50 or even 100 YA novels.

No one claimed all books were equal. It's simply something of a motivator/goal to shoot for if you're slacking off. I don't simply read stuff to boost numbers, the stuff I read is stuff I'd read anyway. Well, I did fall a bit behind at one point and read some shorter books to catch up, but like I said, they were still books I was going to read anyway (probably this year).
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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby linguoboy » 2014-08-05, 15:14

IpseDixit wrote:I really don't have any reading goals, and personally I believe that setting numeric goals is quite worthless, I mean, what does the number of books we read tell us? IMO almost nothing. I'd be much more proud if I managed to read only one book like Ulysses by Joyce or la Recherche du Temps Perdu by Proust rather than 50 or even 100 YA novels.

Those are the kinds of books that add a little star to your number.
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Re: Annual Reading Goals

Postby Hoogstwaarschijnlijk » 2014-08-13, 17:21

I haven't set a goal, but in the years before this year I tried to read 100 books at least, and I still think that 50 would be the least to read this year. I mean, that's less than one book each week!

(oh, and I read a lot of YA indeed, that's true, I wouldn't be able, nor want to, read more than 50 very literary books each year :))
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