Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Did you read a great book that was published in 2017? Looking for a book recommendation that starts with the letter "X"? Or maybe earned some bragging rights by increasing a goal or finishing a challenge? This is the place to discuss all things challenge related.

Every year the Pop Sugar Challenge gets more and more ridiculous. I get that its intent is to help you broaden your horizons, but I see that list as a reading slump creator....
I won't be participating in that challenge. I don't have time to find a book with a cat on the cover (lol) that I actually want to read, when my TBR is brimming with books I can't wait to get to.

I'm guessing that is not the challenge for you! Lol Some people really love it. I love trying to find books that fit, but then I always run out of time to complete it because I'm reading other books. I suppose if I set my goal at 20 for that challenge I'd finally be able to complete it.

I can understand that. I'd like to see how many I can complete because I already know I won't get them all!! Haha. Luckily my book club has many that will line up with that one, but mainly I like that it gives me some incentive to not read the same ole things :)

I'm doing the Popsugar and the 52 Books challenges.

I think I'm going to add a location specific challenge to the roster this year. Lately I've had a desire to learn more about Russia. So I'm going to do a 6 book destination challenge... A mix of non fiction, historical fiction and thrillers.

That's a great idea, ally.

Great idea...would love to know the books you choose! :-)

ally ¯\(ツ)/¯ wrote: "Every year the Pop Sugar Challenge gets more and more ridiculous. I get that its intent is to help you broaden your horizons, but I see that list as a reading slump creator....
I won't be participa..."

I am doing the Popsugar, BookRiot Read Harder, and the Around the Year in 52 Books challenges. This year I am focusing on my personal library (books, Kindle, Audible) for the book's I'll read. I will file library books if they fit - but I want to see how many books on my backlist I can fill in.

Great idea Kirsten. I am trying to work through some back log as well this year. :)

I would also like to read some of the books I own this year. I always put them aside because I figure I own them and can read them any time. Then, I never get to them which is sad because I buy the ones I most want to read.

I'm doing the Popsugar challenge, but more in a 'let's see how many I complete' way and not in an 'I need to finish them all' way. I may choose books to fill some of the tasks if I have extra time and don't know what to read (never happens), but mostly I'm just reading and seeing where it fits afterwards.

I have a question for people.
When you are doing your challenges, do you update your threads after reading each book or monthly or what?
How do you keep track of all your challenges? Especially if they are all in different places all over GoodReads.
Sometimes I feel like I am spending more time trying to keep track of stuff than reading!

Vicki - The best way I find to keep track is to keep them all in one thread. So, if you start a thread in our Yearly Challenges 2017 folder with your name on it, you can keep all your challenges together, even for other groups, if you'd like. You can see how I did mine here.

I personally cut back on challenges for a while because I found that I was spending more time updating than anything else. So, I have a private group that no one else can see and keep my challenges there in one thread, pretty much just like the one I linked above, but with more challenges and book ideas. When I finish a book, I just go down the thread and update each challenge that it applies to.

I also link all the challenges to that thread. So, for example, my A-Z challenge that is in the thread I linked for you above, I would add that link to the challenge in my private group, if that makes sense. That makes it easier to find the challenges and update them later. I update each challenge in the appropriate group after I have added a few books to it.

I keep track of everything on my trusty spreadsheet which I update as and when I finish books, and then once a week (usually a Sunday) I go through Goodreads updating.

What I find helps when doing the updating, is that as well as keeping track of the books on the spreadsheet, I also include all the GR links to my various posts on GR on the spreadsheet too.

Oh, and the spreadsheet is online so I can update from wherever.

Another thought, Vicki, is that if you don't want to or have time to add your books as you go, you can add a space to list the books that you've already read, but haven't applied to the challenges yet. That way you don't forget and can add them all when you have time.

Those are all great ideas.
I have tried to cut back my challenges or only do a particular challenge (a-z for example) in ONE club/thread.
I like the idea of a spreadsheet. lol I am sorta a spreadsheet kinda gal. I was the kind of kid who liked office supplies too.
Also, I have all my challenges listed in a notebook so when I read a book, I just go down the list and see where all it applies.
Thanks for the ideas!

Not sure if this is the proper place to bring this up, and maybe it is being discussed elsewhere, but is anyone else's Goodreads Choice Award Challenge messed up? When I click on my challenge, it says I haven't read any books yet this year even though I am up to 6 or 7 and there were 5 listed there a few weeks ago. And it is not only for this year, but I notice it now says I only read 4 books in 2016 and didn't meet my goal.

Hi Matthew, yeah we've been discussing it here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I've reported the problem on the Goodreads Feedback group, along with a lot of other people. It's a site wide problem that has happened because of the new changes regarding re-reads. Apparently Goodreads are looking into it.

Lynn wrote: "Hi Matthew, yeah we've been discussing it here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I've reported the problem on the Goodreads Feedback group, ..."

Thanks! Glad it isnt just me, but wishing it wasn't happening!

Kristie wrote: "I would also like to read some of the books I own this year. I always put them aside because I figure I own them and can read them any time.

omg, that is fantastic because it is exactly what I do! Check out this word because it is also me - exact description, lol

Tsundoku is a Japanese word that has no direct synonym in English. It means, ‘the act of leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piling it up together with other such unread books.’

Danita L wrote: "Tsundoku is a Japanese word that has no direct synonym in English. It means, ‘the act of leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piling it up together with other such unread books.’"

Ha! That's just what I do. They're all on my bookshelf just waiting to be read. Great word.