Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Rules for my Overflowing Challenge in 2020

1. Upper limit of 6 books purchased between 1 Jan 2020 - 30 Jun 2020, excluding remaining books in series that I already started

2. 5-to-1 challenge

3. Reduce number of TBR-owned from 52 to 35 by 30 Jun 2020

4. Reduce to 3-to-1 challenge whenever TBR is down to 35.

2020 Challenge Status

Initial TBR Bookshelf (as of 1 January 2020):
1. SF&F books : 31
2. Non-fiction books : 22
Total number of books : 53

Current TBR Bookshelf :
1. SF&F books : 19
2. Non-Fiction books : 10
Total Number of Books : 29

Books read for Challenge :
1. SF&F : 22
2. Non-fiction : 14
Total books read : 36

Books bought : 6 / 6
1. Kellanved's Reach
2. Mage's Blood
3. The Lathe of Heaven
4. Retribution Falls
5. The Midas Touch: World mythology in bite-sized chunks
6. Arcadia

BONUS purchased books:
1. Eon
2. The City in the Middle of the Night

Reserved

(view spoiler)[

2018 Challenge Status (as of 16 Dec 2018) - FAILED
1. SF&F books : 37
2. Non-fiction books : 18
Total Number of Books : 55

Current Challenge Status - 21 / 26 Overall

Books Read:
1. The Fractal Prince
2. Deathless
3. The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England
4. City of Blades
5. Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs
6. Stiletto
7. City of Miracles
8. The Handmaid's Tale
9. The Boy Who Lost Fairyland
10. The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home
11. Blindsight
12. The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind, Survive Everyday Parenting Struggles, and Help Your Family Thrive
13. The Traitor Baru Cormorant
14. Waking Gods
15. The Poppy War
16. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors
17. The Bonehunters
18. Redshirts
19. Dragon's Egg
20. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
21. The Forever War
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
(hide spoiler)]

This name is so true. Good luck with your challenge ! (I wish I could have a goal like "reduce to 50"... or even reduce to 300, to be honest.)

Lol. Thank you and good luck to you too. I thought I was pretty bad, but yeah. Apparently, after looking at a few Overflowing challenges, I'm not half bad haha. I gotta tell my mom who kept asking me why I always seemed to be buying more and more books while growing up haha.

Though, I don't count mangas and a few older books that I've lost interest in reading.

The worst is that I'm also only counting non graphic-things, and I'm cheating in non counting a lot of free e-books that I don't know if I will ever get to, or old books that I'm not so sure about as well. But I still have something like 500 books to read...
(my mom still says that every time she sees I've bought new books. Still being at my parents has advantages, but also flaws xD)

Oh dear, I only lasted 15 days (failed if it's during Lent lol!). Sea of Rust was on sale in kindle on the weekend, and my finger moved on its own (excuses!). Also, I found 1 more book that I missed out when I was inventorying lol.

@ Elinor : lol! Yeah, another positive is you get a free storage space for your books too. I also shuttle my read books back to my parents' house at least once a month. Don't have enough space in our apartment lol. I guess some time in the future I ought to choose which ones I should sell to used bookstores or online. But, I'm such a bookhoarder that I couldn't even bear to sell those books that I didn't like haha.

I just had to laugh (miserably) when I saw this thread. I've been 'clean' for 17 days and it is super hard especially because of those evil deals. Good luck!

Is there such a thing as Compulsive Book Buyers Anonymous?

In my defense, I usually forward people these links wrt to their overflowing bookshelves

http://scottberkun.com/2013/buy-books...

https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03...

Sigh ... Oathbringer was on sale yesterday! Of course my finger had to click buy.

So, still struggling to try to reduce the number to below 50 before buying a book ... again.

I thought I had been doing ok, not buying any book since Nov 2. But, then Dec 16 happened. There was a pretty large selection of SFF kindles on sale and my fingers just couldn't help themselves.

So, that's the third strike for my book buying ban challenge. And I've come to the conclusion that I don't have the willpower to prevent myself from buying books on sweet deals.

Moreover, I think a complete book buying ban may not be beneficial for two reasons: sometimes I find that I lack the necessary knowledge at my job, so I don't want to be stuck unable to buy some books that I think might help me with work-related stuff. Another reason is I think I'd be stupid if I pass on a sweet deal on a book that I'm interested in reading, just to follow the arbitrary rule that I set myself. $ is $ haha.

So, I'm going to start 2019 with a modified Overflowing Challenge.

Barry's 2019 Overflowing Challenge Rules:

1. Upper limit of 6 books purchased between 1 Jan 2019 - 30 Jun 2019, excluding remaining books in series that I would've already started during the period (so for example, I won't count any future Malazan universe books as new purchase, because I'm already in the middle of the series).

2. Start with 5-to-1 challenge

3. Reduce number of TBR-owned to 50 by 30 Jun 2019

4. Reduce to 4-to-1 challenge whenever TBR is down to 50.

Due to recent purchases, my TBR-owned has ballooned up to 64 books. But, I'm confident I can reduce that number to my target of 50 using the new rules.

Log #01

1. Reaper's Gale
2. Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com
3. Jade City
4. Playful Learning: Develop Your Child's Sense of Joy and Wonder
5. The Romanovs: 1613-1918
Reward : Ancillary Justice

Ooh I like the new rules. Good luck!

Thank you. Your links to the daily deals actually forced me to revise my rules hahah.

Log #02:

1. Ancillary Justice
2. Assassin's Apprentice
3. Death's End
4. Pawn of Prophecy
5. The Way of Kings

Reward : Doomsday Book

Log #03:

1. The Martian Chronicles
2. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
3. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk
4. Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
5. Queen of Sorcery

Reward : The Gods Themselves

Barry wrote: "Log #03:

1. The Martian Chronicles
2. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
3.
4.
5.

Reward : The Gods Themselves"

But you read the reward already?

Well my rewards are really the limit of number of books that I could buy before June 30. I realized that I couldn't do an honest 5-to-1 book buying ban challenge, but I can try to limit my book purchase through this challenge. Sorry for the confusion.

I see. It sure is hard to not buy isn't it. My tbr unknowingly had swelled to 40 before I realized it. Haha

Log #04

1. The Gods Themselves
2. The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible
3. Return of the Crimson Guard
4. Words of Radiance
5. Magician's Gambit

Reward : When Gravity Fails

Log #05

1. When Gravity Fails
2. Sea of Rust
3. Toll the Hounds
4. Doomsday Book
5. Castle of Wizardry

Reward : October: The Story of the Russian Revolution

Log #06

1. Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness
2. Rosewater
3. Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
4. Oathbringer
5. Enchanters' End Game

Reward : Ringworld

Re-starting for 2020

Log #01
1. Bandit Saints of Java: How Java's Eccentric Saints Are Challenging Fundamentalist Islam in Modern Indonesia
2. Your Two-Year-Old: Terrible or Tender
3. Assail
4. Beyond Redemption
5. The Curse of Chalion
Prize : Kellanved's Reach

Log #02
1. Mind of My Mind
2. Alif the Unseen
3. Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig
4. Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia
5. The Mirror’s Truth
Prize : Mage's Blood

Log #03
1. Among Others
2. Clay's Ark
3. Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization
4. Mage's Blood
5. Patternmaster
Prize : The Lathe of Heaven

Log#04
1. The History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium
2. The Basque History of the World: The Story of a Nation
3. The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe
4. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
5. Luna: New Moon
Prize : Retribution Falls

Log #05
1. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
2. The Lathe of Heaven
3. Nusantara: Sejarah Indonesia
4. Retribution Falls
5. Annihilation
Prize : The Midas Touch: World mythology in bite-sized chunks

Log #06:
1. World Mythology in Bite-sized Chunks
2. Grit
3. Reamde
4. The Shadow of What Was Lost
5. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
Prize : Arcadia

Log #07:
1. Ringworld
2. All Systems Red
3. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Prize : Eon

I also got free copies of the Murdebot Diaries series, which I'm not counting as purchased books. But, they will be added into my TBR list.

Log #08:
1. Artificial Condition
2. Rogue Protocol
3. Exit Strategy
Prize : The City in the Middle of the Night