Challenge: 50 Books discussion

Hi Everyone!

Can you believe that there are so few hours left in 2013? Who is done reading for the year? Who has one more book that they intend to finish before the clock strikes 12:00 on December 31st?

Whether you made it to your reading goal this year or not, congratulations on your reading successes this year! How did your year of reading go? What was your favorite book? Biggest disappointment? Biggest surprise? Inevitably, the end of the year is a time to reflect so whatever your reading reflections are for 2013, please share them with us here.

Happy New Year!

Total and utter failure, as far as number of books goes. Haha. I had set my goal for 75, but so far have only read 61. I'm in the middle of a few and hope to have two more read by the end of the year, but still. Poor showing. Going to set my goal for 75 again next year, though, so hopefully I'll make it this time around.

I did read some good ones this year. Favorites include:
Whistling Past the Graveyard - had a very To Kill a Mockingbird feel to it
Burial Rites - an amazing debut, really interesting historical fiction
MaddAddam - much better than the two previous in the trilogy, in my opinion
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - such a fun, quick read
Under the Dome - they should have actually followed the story when they made the tv series, would have been so much better
Locke and Key, Vol. 5: Clockworks - I'm just about dying for February when the final volume comes out

Biggest disappointment was The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Not a bad book, but I had heard great things about it and was just left feeling kind of blah about it.

Not a bad reading year, as far as books go, though. Read some really great ones. Just disappointed in myself as far as the number.

Hope everyone had a great year and happy reading!

Kate: 61 is still a pretty impressive number. nothing to sneeze at :)

my goal is the same in 2013 as it was in 2012 and will probably be the goal for 2014 ..... 52 books a year. one per week.

I know my capacity.

I have read 117 books this year and I may get one more in before the month is over.

My favorite book in fiction this year was Joyland by Stephen King. I was absolutely enchanted by it. In nonfiction, I'll have to go with Wild by Cheryl Strayed, which I found to be an enthralling read.

Biggest disappointments were Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, it had great reviews, but I didn't care for it all. Also When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, I loved her previous novel, Mudbound, so my expectations were high for her follow up, but I found it to be ho-hum at best.

I'm hoping to find some true treasures for 2014!

I have read quite a few books for 2013, however haven't kept track of how many I read. I just joined this club less than a month ago and am excited to set a challenge of 50 books for myself for 2014! I'm finishing up Dean Koontz's "The Bad Place" and then the count begins!

I'm mot gonna make it. I've read 24 so far and my goal is 30. But to me my year will be a success if I finish Les Miserables by when the clock strikes midnight on new years eve. I've been reading it since the beginning of June and I have about 250 pages left. never reading it again! Too many french words I don't know and too much historythat isn't needed in my opinion..

I started with 50, but have managed to read 92 so far, but I'm cr*p at keeping my records up to date.

I've read heaps this year, but 2014 is not shaping up to be a year where I can do the same again. I'ld like to try for 100 this year, but with it being the 28th and lots of unfinished projects to try and complete I'll be lucky to finish one book.

That will be my challenge next year to keep on top of my log and read 50 books.

Happy New Year

I'm at 45, and I'm not sure I'm going to finish much more before the new year. Maybe 2 if I'm lucky (I have 2 books already started that I could probably finish).

My favorite of the year is Never Let Me Go. My fiance just finished it, and we're recording a podcast about it soon.

Biggest disappointments were: The Anne Rice book and Changes. I just couldn't get into them and they took my far too long to finish.

I'm going to stick with 50 books being my goal for the year. I either hit it or just miss it so it seems like a really good number for me.

To be honest I far exceeded the plan. I planned on reading 75, but ended up reading 126 books.
A couple of honorable mentions would be Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, and all of Michael J. Sullivan's books. His books are quite addicting. I finally read Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, and loved it.

The only book I didn't like was the Reluctant Fundamentalist.

I believe I read a good mix of Fantasy, Mystery, YA, Classic, History and Contemporary authors.

I only hope I do as well next year.

My goal for 2013 was 85. Right now I am at 81, with one more that I am sure I will finish. So, close but no cigar. I read many, many great books this year: The Golem and the Jinni, A Tale for the Time Being, Flight Behavior, The Interestings, The Son by Philipp Meyer, Life After Life, And the Mountains Echoed, TransAtlantic, and others.

I haven't been active in this group (sorry!) but I just wanted to share I have finished 50 books!! That is the first time I've actually achieved this goal in the 6 years I've been Challenging. Maybe I had some shorter ones this year and some that I technically needed to read for research (a.k.a. work!) but anyway, I read them and can't help feeling just a little proud of myself and wanting to share the good news with some people who understand.
Looking forward to 2014, definitely count me in.

Only made it to 37 this year. I might be able to finish the one I'm in the middle of for 38. I'll try again for 50 next year. If I concentrate more on actual books and less on online fan fiction, I might do it. Problem is, I got involved in a new fandom this summer that has a very healthy online presence, and I can't stop myself from reading the fan fic.

I also want to set a goal for next year of no re-reads. That isn't always possible though, because if I want to read the second book in a series, sometimes I have to go back and re-read the first. I had 13 re-reads this year, and only 3 of them were because of wanting to read on in the series.

I don't often have dissapointments when I read, because if I'm not liking a book, I don't finish it, I move on to another. That being said, I did have a series I read that I wasn't thrilled with the ending. I wont say the name, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but it was told from the supposed "bad guys" pov. That's hard, because I became all invested in these characters, and by the end of the book, most of them died because they were the bad guys.

My favorite read this year was "A Sorcerer's Treason" by Sarah Zettel. A couple of strong female characters, magic, alternate dimension. and I still have three books in that series that I think I'll dig in to in 2014.

My favorite re-read was "Fire Rose" by Mercedes Lackey. Oh I love this book. Elemental magic, a strong female character, a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, it's very exciting, and I re-read it every couple of years.

i only finished 6 this year... not impressed at all

I was able to read 51 this year my planned number was 50. I plan on staying with 50 for next year. I am entering a certification program that has a fairly heavy reading load so not sure if I will be able to make it but I will give it a go. My boys (husband included) were so funny as this year was wrapping up. How many books are you at mom?? 45, you can do it! I have challenged my teens to read 12 books next year in addition to their school work. Hopefully they will find the same joy in reading!

My favorite book was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Least favorites were The Magicians and The Handmaiden's Tale. Just not my cup of tea.

Longest, a toss up between The Game of Thrones and The Winds of War. One I read and one was Audible. But I read both when I had surgery this summer and had to keep going back and rereading. Pain meds did not help the matter!

My goal was 75 this year, and about two hours ago I met that goal. I had a really great schedule set out for this year so I wouldn't feel like I was scrambling and have plenty of time to read. I stuck to that schedule until about October, and then I kind of didn't do anything.

So I made up for it during December. I read some smaller classics to get myself to the end.

My favorites of the year were:
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Under the Dome by Stephen King
The Stand by Stephen King
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

I read more series this year than I usually do. I started and finished some, and I have a few left that I didn't get a chance to wrap up, that might have to wait for awhile since I don't particularly want to spend another year reading a lot of series.

My biggest disappointment came in the form of one book in a series. The series wasn't all that great, but it was available to read and mildly interesting.
Shakespeare's Trollop by Charlaine Harris as part of the Lily Bard Mysteries left a sour taste in my mouth.

Biggest surprise? Hmm, oh well that would be Warm Bodies. I did not expect to like it as much as I did. That was probably my favorite book of the year overall, and I did not see it coming.

Even though I read, what I feel was a lot of mediocre books, I don't regret reading them.

Next year I am dropping back down to a goal of 50 and hopefully I can read better books in 2014.

I met my goal of 50 and am even on 53! Pretty good considering I work fulltime, have a husband who works F/T and is in school and 2 young kids :). I owe it to all the series I got hooked on this year; they really fly by.
My surprising reads were Warm BodiesIsaac Marion and Savages Don Winslow. Both phenomenal in their own ways! Totally let down by most of the YA I read (not a big fan to begin with so I don't know why I choose them).
Next year my goal is still 50 but I plan to read less series and more individual books- my Kindle is full of books just waiting. Can't wait!

Didn't make my challenge of 50 books. (Read 34.) Ah well. I'm almost done with one more book but it is a slow read for me so I might not make it before the end of the year.

The biggest surprise was Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. It was not the love story I had expected but, I'm glad I read it.

This challenge has compelled me to discover and read more books this year. Thanks!

Edit:

One more addition. That makes 35!

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone and Happy New Year (almost!) I managed to pass my goal of 50 and ended with 75 which I'm pretty happy about. My favorite and most surprising book this year was A Confederacy of Dunces. I really didn't expect that. I also really enjoyed Whistling Past the Graveyard and The Fault in Our Stars. The biggest disappointment has to be The Silver Linings Playbook. I expected so much more from that book. Can't wait to start off the new year with a new book!

Karen wrote: "To be honest I far exceeded the plan. I planned on reading 75, but ended up reading 126 books.
A couple of honorable mentions would be Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, and all of Mi..."

I'm your twin, Karen! My goal was also 75 and I ended up with 126!

I had a great reading year (don't ask about the housework or other projects I neglected!) As mentioned in the last message to Karen I read 126 books. Some standouts:

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, an American Town
Beautiful Ruins (maybe my favorite of the year)
The Remains of the Day
The Woman in White
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
W is for Wasted

I had too many 4-stars to list. My two "big" accomplishments of the year were:

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany and Les Misérables (I liked them both a lot.)

I also made good progress on my goals to read all the Newbery Medal winners (read 19 this year) and a good number of the '1001 Books to Read Before You Die' (read 23).

Am going to set my goal for 75 again in 2014. I expect to be busier than this year, so we'll see what happens.

Happy New Year, everyone, and many hours of happy reading in 2014!

I managed to complete and better my 52 book goal and there were some really great books in there. Best book of the year was Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, I read it all in a few days and I'm now working my way through her entire collection.

Worst book was Fifty Shades of Grey. I finished it but it was the biggest pile of rubbish and I won't be reading the follow ups.

Biggest surprise was Pretty Little Liars I didn't expect it to be as good as it was and I really enjoyed it.

For 2014 I'm going to aim for 60 books, its a lot but I'm up for the challenge. Happy new year everyone!!

Ginger wrote: "Hi everyone and Happy New Year (almost!) I managed to pass my goal of 50 and ended with 75 which I'm pretty happy about. My favorite and most surprising book this year was A Confederacy of Du..."</i>

Totally agree with you about [book:The Silver Linings Playbook It had been hyped so much I was expecting something amazing, it left me wanting more though.

I totally made my goal! 50 for 2013! And I'm so happy, since I didn' think I was going to make it (I'd only read like five books by May). But 25 books in June and July made up for it.

I've definitively made a few new favorites this year, mostly because I've been following a few people on booktube and reading a lot of bookblogs.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (and every other John Green book, but whatever)
Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

I have the same goals for next year as well, and I'm hoping to read some classics (I think the goal I set was ten).

Have a happy new year everyone!

I only made it to 21, easily the worst of the four years I've done this challenge. BUT, I spent significantly more time reading with my kids, and I'm happy to see how much their love of books and reading has grown this year. It won't be too long before they'll be reading on their own. I can get back to reading more for myself then. :)

Favorites: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, City of Women and Eleanor & Park

My goal is still 50 for 2014. We'll see...

Happy New Year, and happy reading!

My goal is still 50.

You have read 13 books toward your goal of 50 books.

13 of 50 (26%)
I forgot some biographies I had read early in the yr.

I made it with 61. Will go for 50 next year, but I am working on a hard certification for work and trying to get my own children's book done and illustrated. I'm not sweating if I don't get it. In the past 5 years, there would be 2 I didn't hit 50 if I don't do it in 2014 so that's pretty good.

Currently down to the wire, I have 1 more book to consume to make my goal of 75 - which I will do again next year (as it was challenging to so many books, but thoroughly enjoyed reading most of them).

Happy New Year to all of you - Happiness and much success in your reading next year!

Admittedly there were some duds in group that I read, but here are my best reads for 2013 so far: (no particular order)

The Power of One by Bryce Courtney (re-read)
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (re-read)
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Inside by Alix Ohlin
One Good Hustle by Billie Livingston
The Emperor of Paris by C.S. Richardson
The Town That Drowned by Riel Nason
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Marie Semple
The Mortal Instruments Boxed Set: City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
Ablutions: Notes for a Novel by Patrick deWitt
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Thanks for sharing your favorites as I have some on my TBR shelf to read (hopefully sooner than later), but I am always curious to see what other people read and what books they like. :)

I was confident at the beginning of the year that I would make 50, since I am a fast and voracious reader but i had never counted how many I've read in a year before.

So, with 6.5 hours (EST) left in 2013 I've read 100 2/3 + 3/4 books. Which is a complicated way of saying I finished 100 books (fiction and non-fiction), abandoned one 2/3's of the way through, and am 3/4 of the way through Travels with Charley: In Search of America.

I'm most happy that I joined a few groups on Goodreads so i read some classics I had not read before and was introduced to some new authors that i like very much. I made my way through Anna Karenina - this may be my biggest achievement (I've started and not finished in the past).

The waste of time (and paper!) is Wideacre. I could have read more than 100 if i hadn't wasted so much time trying to like that book. Oh well!

Here's to another year of reading!

Well I had to spend most of the day reading but I finished my 100th book/story today on the last day of the year....
I read/listened to a wider variety than in the past some big books Atlas Shrugged and Voyager as well as some classics Anna Karenina as well as new releases Life After Life as well as my go to mystery series.... and I love how goodreads lets me keep track and record my thoughts about them....

I started out with a goal for 50 books in one year. I've never kept track or strove for a certain goal before, so this was kind of interesting to do. I met my goal and surpassed it, which was exciting for me. I read 69 books (not including cookbooks or children's, etc).

I can never pick a favourite of anything, so of the ones I read, the books I enjoyed the most include, in no particular order:

Johannes Cabal The Necromancer and Johannes Cabal the Detective, by Jonathan L. Howard
Home to Woefield, by Susan Juby
The Likeness, by Tana French
The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein
Headhunters, by Jo Nesbo
The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman
Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff

I also joined a group called Around the World in 80 Books, which introduced me to many new authors and books set in locations around the world I never would have heard of before. Hopefully 2014 will bring many new authors to discover and more books to enjoy.

Happy New Year!

happy new year. 14 books read this year. could do better, 2014

Carol wrote: "Well I had to spend most of the day reading but I finished my 100th book/story today on the last day of the year....
I read/listened to a wider variety than in the past some big books [book:Atlas ..."

did you like atlas shrugged? On my tbr shelf

I was both surprised and elated to have finished 158 books. In April on a whim I joined the GR challenge by setting my goal at that, though admittedly I never expected to realize success due to the everyday demands of life.
Among my favorites are (in no particular order are:
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kozinski
Calendar Quest by Jennifer Johnson Garrity
Etta by Gerald Kolpan
Catherine The Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K Massie
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Abhorsen series by Garth Nix
Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
War Horse by John Keating
The Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherford (#1 & #2)
Joan of Arc by Mark Twain
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I know there were others but this is a great sample. I look forward to 2014 and all that awaits me.

You have read 15 books toward your goal of 50 books.

15 of 50 (30%)
At your current pace, you're 34 books (70%) behind schedule.

VWrulesChick wrote: "Currently down to the wire, I have 1 more book to consume to make my goal of 75 - which I will do again next year (as it was challenging to so many books, but thoroughly enjoyed reading most of the..."

Great List!! I'm stealing it for 2014. ;D

Achievements: 1) The Forsyte Saga
I have had this on my shelf for a couple of decades, but finally got to it this year due to the GR Book Group called Readers Review. Yay!
2) I've read all the novels and nearly all the short stories about Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Worst: Damned

Best: Wonder
Eleanor & Park
Never Let Me Go
The Giver
Ready Player One
Ender's Game
The Book Thief
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I'm fascinated to find that all of my favorites from 2013 are essentially Young Adult titles. And, four of these are futuristic. Just goes to show that good writing is good writing. :)

I hope to make 75 this year. I think I would also like to try some classics but we will see. Happy New Year to everyone!!

While I finished one print book today and will finish one audiobook tomorrow, I'm still counting them as part of 2013. Reason being, I read the majority of these two books in 2013. So, my total for last year was 52 books.

Favorites included Luck or Something Like it by Kenny Rogers, The Autobiography of Mrs Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin, The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern, The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard, Trusting God by Jerry Bridges, Here is Where by Andrew Carroll, Manson: the Life and Times of Charles Manson by Jeff Guinn, and Map of Time by Felix J. Palma.

The book about Charles Manson was probably the biggest surprise of my year. I learned more than I thought I would about Los Angeles in the 60s and 70s. My biggest disappointment was the one I started about the secret service. I thought I would learn what it was like to be part of the Secret Service. Instead, it was just dirty gossip about past presidents. I didn't even bother to finish it.

My final tally was:
52 books
Total hours listened to date: 175.99 hours
Total pages read to date: 9,307 pages

It was a good reading year. Looking forward to 2014.

I made it to 122 in total so I'm pretty happy. 73 of those were novels and 49 were manga and graphic novels.

lisa wrote: "Hi Everyone!

Can you believe that there are so few hours left in 2013? Who is done reading for the year? Who has one more book that they intend to finish before the clock strikes 12:00 on Decemb..."

Originally I started with a goal of 60 books with over 180 pages and no pictures (to exclude short stories and art books). Then I upped it to 80.

In the end I ended up finishing 77, exceeding my original goal but falling 3 short of my new goal (although I started reading all three).

For 2014, I am knocking my goal down to 50 books that meet those criteria. I picked up a second seasonal job so I won't have as much reading time in the first half of the year as I did last year.

My 2013 stats->
books total: 77
pages total: 32756
pages average per book: 425.4

My favorites for 2013 were:


There were only 2 huge disappointments, both books with amazing reviews that elicited negative emotions and dislike on my part. They were:

I didn't reach my goal but I read more books in 2013 than I have in a long time!! Here's to 2014!!

I set myself a goal of 50 books this year but as i reached it (and every other goal I set) I kept increasing it. I think the final goal I set was 140 and I finished 190. I've set myself a challenge of 95 books this year as I'm hoping to reread a few classic fantasy series I haven't read since my teens.

My favourite books this year:
Warm Bodies
Ready Player One

My favourite graphic novels:
I Kill Giants
Kick-Ass
Honorable mention to the Scott Pilgrim series

Biggest disapointment:
Sexing the Cherry

Well that's it. Happy new year and good reading for 2014

just added my first 2014 book whoo hooo.

there are some great books listed here. some i've read. some i have on my to read list. i think my favourite of the year is one from a few years ago that -despite the attention and praise it got - i just never got around to until this year.

My favorites were Gone Girl, Captive in the dark, I'm Down, Maybe you never cry again, and Richard Paul Evan's books.

The most disappointing to me were Anna Karenina, The Lover, and Why did I ever.

I fell short of my personal goal for 2013, ending up with only 39 books. One of my favorite books was Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Another reader mentioned it as a favorite. In general, I was more disappointed with the books I read in 2013 than in the previous year. My least favorite was The Light in the Ruins . I wish I had never read it.

I read 122 books this year and 122 last year! Now, some are kids books, YA, and professional books. I need to read and want to read them for work. But I did read a lot of history books that I loved.

I put some biographies on my "to read" list for 2014; they go quick for me, esp. true crime ones.

I didn't make my goal of 50 books, but I read 36 which is the most I've ever read in a year. Trying for 50 again in 2014!

Favorites from 2013 were the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (I'm behind, I know) and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak!

Least favorite was definitely Fallen by Lauren Kate. I have no idea how I even managed to finish it...

Sonya wrote: "Carol wrote: "Well I had to spend most of the day reading but I finished my 100th book/story today on the last day of the year....
I read/listened to a wider variety than in the past some big book..."

Definitely! and it is so amazing that it as written in the 50's