Reading with Style discussion

A place to post your personal reading goals, 2019 style.

I will continue the long term goals I have for reading the centuries and the two authors for whom I want to be a completist.

1. Trollope. I've missed my goal each of the last two years, so I keep paring it down. Five for 2019! [1/5 (All time 38/47)

2. Balzac. I squeezed in some short stories to fill in at the end of one season, maybe I can do that again this year. Five for 2019![4/5] (All time 45/98)

3. 20th Century Women. Last year was so successful, I am leery of trying to be so ambitious this year. Read 15 titles by women pub'd in the 20th Century (unread years). [17/15]
Long Term: Each year of 20th C for women authors, but count starts 1/1/17. [63/100] all time. (Started the year at 46/100)
Bookmarked: 20th Century women writers

4. 19th Century. I didn't make my goal last year of 15 titles, but I'll point myself in that direction again, and see how I do. Read 15 titles pub'd in 19th Century (unread years) [5/15]
Long Term: Each year of 19th C for all authors, but count starts 1/1/17 [26/100] all time. (start the year at 21/100)
Bookmarked: 19th Century Writers

Formalized goals (essentially the same as every year! ha, ha....):

1. read 100 books

2. read at least 1 big fat classic - I have one on my Classic Author challenge list, so hopefully this will happen this year!

3. the A-Z classic author challenge - this year I have subverted the challenge again (!) and made it as mystery focused as possible. I'm quite excited about this, since it is my fave genre and there are lots of 'lost classic mysteries' that I haven't read.

4. This is the MOST problematic goal, but I am not giving up! => read at least 40 of the piled up books (I now have approx. 86!!! that can't fit on my real life shelves) **AND** donate to spring + fall book sales

5. series:
a) catch up with most recent installments in Jussi Alder-Olsen Dept. Q series, Elly Griffiths Ruth Galloway series
b) read books 8 to 16 of Alexander McCall Smith No. 1 Ladies Detective agency
c) continue with Louise Penny Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series

6. read at least 2 non- fiction per quarter

I will continue to participate in way too many challenges. You can see my thread at https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

But my primary goals will be to:
Read at least 125 books in 2019.
Read at least 30 books from Boxall's 1001 list.
Complete the Pop Sugar Challenge.
Complete the 52 Weeks Challenge.
Complete the Classics Author A to Z challenge.
Complete the A to Z Titles Challenge.
Complete the read a book published in each year since 1900. (I have only a few more years to go)
Finish the year with having read no less than 40% of authors being women. (I'm failing badly in this goal in 2018.)

I am doing un-goals again this year - they worked out really well in 2018.

- I will not set a hard number of books or pages to read.

I'll put a number in my Goodreads challenge as a gauge of my pace but I have no problem changing it.

- I will not join any challenges that dictate what books to read (with one exception).

RwS is the one exception. :)

- I will not hold myself to these goals if they’re not working for me.

Every year I aim to read at least 30% books by marginalized authors. This year I'm over 40%. My 2019 goal will be that 40%, but I'm (not so secretly) hoping for closer to 50%.

I am in awe of many of you who have true reading goals...women authors, classics, etc. My reading goals are more mundane.

I often work on challenges and games even when they are done, since I have a strong need to finish what I start. SO...my reading goal this year will center on RwS-15 challenges since 2015 that I have started but not completed.

Goals:
1. Finish RwS-15 challenge plans:
♦ Dominoes W15 - 4 books
♦ Five Years S16 - 1 books
♦ Awards Sp17 - 4 books (second plan)
♦ Counting S17 - 6 books
♦ Globally F17 - 5 books
♦ Living Authors W 17 - 3 books + 6 books (I had two plans.)
♦ Decades Sp18 - 7 books
♦ Listopia S18 - 7 books
♦ AbBY F18 - 6 books
Total = 43 books (some are repeated)
2. Use as many of these old game books as possible in 10 and 20 point slots or new Rws-15 games throughout the year.
3. Post as I read.
4. Read or DNF books I have started but not finished:
♦ Christmas Books
♦ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
♦ In Praise of the Crone
♦ A Game of Thrones
♦ The Rabbi
♦When Mourning Comes

EDIT: Revised my numbers above and added to my goals.

I will continue with my "1001 books" goal.
Right now I'm on 565, so can I make it to 600 in 2019???

My goal is to read books from at least 25 different countries and at least five different continents.

My main goal this year is to read books I own. I will probably add some more as I go, so I'm saving the space.

Here is a more formal version of my goals:

Karen Michele’s 2019 Quality Over Quantity Plan

For 2019, I'm keeping most of my 2018 Goals.

Goal 1: Read Books I Own

I’m trying hard to downsize my book collection, but I see great books on Goodreads that my library doesn’t have and I end up buying more. This wouldn’t be such a problem if I would actually read what I buy, hence this is my first goal.

I'm going to double down on this one!

Goal 2: Reading with Style Challenge and Projects

Goal 3: Other Challenges and Games

*Classics Challenges:
Old and New / Bingo / Women's Century
*The Novel Participation
I'm not even close to finishing, so I'm going to continue on.
*Mount TBR
*Roundtable Bingo
*The Challenge
The Roundtable Challenge always leads me to quality books!
*Literary Fiction by People of Color
The group reads and discussions in this group keep me in touch with the wider world and with current issues in the US.
*Precinct 81
This is a private group with a lot of game challenges and is based on a love of mysteries and thrillers. I’m led to quality books through this group and the group reads.
The Morning News Rooster ToB
The Mookse and the Gripes ToB

Goal 4: Many Moods Reading

This is an important section of my plan. I need to let myself go back to the reading days where I grabbed something and read it just because it fit my mood at the time, not because it fit into my challenges, so that’s where these categories come in.

*10 Best of 2018 Lists
I like keeping up with current books and so I will choose books I haven’t read from some of the 10 best lists floating around and those posted at the Roundtable.
*Series Satisfaction
I have lots of series in progress that I want to continue or finish. Many of these are Scandinavian mysteries, a definite favorite.
*Author Oeuvres
When I find an author I enjoy, (both living and classic writers) I tend to want to complete the author’s oeuvres which can be a challenge depending on the extent of their body of work. This goal is to keep me on track with these completist efforts.
*Prizes
I enjoy reading books from prize shortlists and winners each year, specifically The Man Booker Prize, The Pulitzer, The NBA, and also translated book awards, other members’ recommended award lists from around the world, women’s prizes and some YA prizes.
*I Like Big Books
A big part of the idea of “Quality over Quantity” is remembering how satisfying a big book can be. I have many on my list to get to and must give myself permission to take the time.

I will try to read books I own. I like to finish my wheel of bookshelves challenge. It has been my goal for the past few years to read 52 books in a year.

I'm reading around the USA, reading a book for each state, and I still have 15 states left. I plan to finish this challenge in 2019. I've done this challenge twice before, and it's one of my favorites.

I would also like to read more books that I own. Every time I think I'm making a dent in those books, my library has a used book sale and I feel I should support their wonderful programs.

Update: I decided to also do a Biography/Memoir/Autobiography challenge, and hope to read around 10 books for it during the year.

Two weeks into the year, I'm revising my goals. No new goals for this year, and instead, I'd really like to finish my 20th century reading project. I have 28 books to go; that's twice as many books than I read for the project in 2018, but I think I can accomplish it with some mindfulness.

Annual/Continuing Goals

* Read at least 5 books from the Tournament of Books shortlist.

* Read 28 books to complete my 20th century project.

* Read deeply. 50% of what I read is by authors I'm already familiar with (backlist! gaining a deeper understanding of favorite authors! etc.!). I think I'm nearly at the point this happens naturally, but I want to prioritize it via tracking for at least another year.

I've never set a reading goal before (other than the minimum number of books that I want to complete in a year), but after seeing everyone else setting goals I thought 2019 might be my year...
but I'm gonna set my sights low ;-)

I haven't been extending myself as far as my reading goes--I tend to stick to fiction/non-fiction/poetry from exclusively the mid-late-20th Century/21st Century. I stepped outside of that a little bit this past season, but I want to step it up next year.
My goal is to read at least two books per "Age" from Bloom's Canon.
I'm starting small...like, really small.
Oh! And I want to complete a Mega Finish at least twice in 2019. I would say all four seasons, but I don't want to set myself up for failure and imagine that I'll be lazy at least half of the year.

A. Theocratic Age, 2000 BCE - 1321 CE (previously read 11 from this list)
1. The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
2. The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anonymous
B. Aristocratic Age, 1321-1832 (previously read 11 from this list--although that number is counting the complete oeuvre of Shakespeare as "1")
1. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
2. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
3. As You Like It by William Shakespeare
C. Democratic Age, 1832-1900 (previously read 51 from this list)
1. Hard Times by Charles Dickens
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
D. Chaotic Age, 20th Century (previously read 62 from this list)
1. Westward by Amy Clampitt
2. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

In another group I set out my 2019 reading goals as follows:

"As always, I will set my usual goals relating to certain literary prizes. But next year I am also going to:

Sign up for as many challenges as I want, because I love love love the planning part....but not stress if I don't complete them in time

Read the books I want to at any particular time even if they don't fit any challenges .....but give myself a pat on the back if they do

Allow myself to buy as many books as I want to even if my TBR goes up and up..... because I will be supporting authors and publishers and I'll be happy about that.

I predict 2019 will be my most satisfying reading year EVER!!!! "

I think the "not worrying about my TBR" could be a game-changer.

Lagullande wrote: "In another group I set out my 2019 reading goals as follows: ..."

But just in case I get more focussed...

1. WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION: Finish reading the winners

2. BOOKER PRIZE: Complete the shortlists for 3 years

3. NOBEL: Read something by 3 new-to-me winners

4. DICKENS: Read 2 group reads in my GR Dickens group

5. GROUP READS: Read 25% of the group reads in my GR groups

6. BOOKER ELIGIBLE: Read top 10 on Man Booker Prize Eligible 2019

7. WOMENS PRIZE ELIGIBLE: Read top 10 on Women's Prize for Fiction 2019 Eligible Books

(6. and 7. are my way of keeping up with newer releases)

8. LOST 2019: a challenge to read the 10 books that have been on my GR shelves the longest (after the 2017 ones, see below) - LOST 2019

9. MOVING MOUNTAIN 2019: a challenge to shift some more from my TBR - Moving Mountain 2019

10. CLASSIC WOMEN AUTHORS: a challenge to read 10 female authors published in 10 consecutive years from the Golden Age of Crime - 2019 Quest for Golden Women of Crime

11. SERIOUSLY SERIAL '19: a challenge to make progress with some series - Seriously Serial '19

And I have a few left over to finish from previous years:

A. 2018 QUEST FOR WOMEN AUTHORS: women published in each decade from 1810s to 1900s - 2018 Quest for Women Authors

B. LOST 2017: still reading the 10 that had been on my GR shelves the longest on 1 Jan 2017 - LOST 2017

C. SERIOUSLY SERIAL '18: still a way to go to complete this challenge relating to books in Series - Seriously Serial '18

D. TRIM THAT TBR 2018: complete this challenge by reading the largest, the most popular or the least popular books on my TBR - Trim That Tbr 2018

Mine are the same as they have been... I've had varying levels of success in the last few years. The only one I make sure to hit is the first.
1) Read at least 50% books written by non-white authors
2) Track and read more books by and about people with disabilities
3) Track and read more books by and about people who identify with religions other than Christianity
4) Read at least 3% translated books
5) Read at least 12 non-fiction books (1/month)

I want to go back to tracking my books read. I deliberately didn't in 2018 because I felt burned out on a lot of it, but I have enjoyed it in the past. And reviewing them as well (even when it doesn't give extra points in challenges :) ).

Beyond that, I want to stay very casual. I own many physical and electronic books to read, selected for various reasons including prize-winners, diversity, and appropriate non-fiction. I'll keep reading those. I will aslo read at least one book a challenge that is something I wouldn't have planned to read otherwise, that I might not have even taken a second look at, even if I choose to not participate in the whole challenge.

I revised my plan...actually decided on specific goals and revised numbers.

Sorry, I cant seem to find a general chat thread.

I am new, and just trying to figure out this group...please point me in the right direction....I am lost!!!

Abbie DiscoSuperFly wrote: "Sorry, I cant seem to find a general chat thread.

I am new, and just trying to figure out this group...please point me in the right direction....I am lost!!!"

General Questions about this season's game is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Otherwise, reading the FAQs and Rules & Guidelines may help.

Abbie DiscoSuperFly wrote: "Sorry, I cant seem to find a general chat thread.

I am new, and just trying to figure out this group...please point me in the right direction....I am lost!!!"

Thanks for that pointer, Bea. Welcome, Abbie. The general chat thread is here.

I barely was able to read 20 books this year. 🙈 So ashamed because I’ve been more easily distracted. So!

This year my goal is to read: 22 books (roughly one every two weeks).

1. I can read 12 books for just pleasure (fantasy is my absolute favorite genre, but I’ve gotten stuck)

2. I will read 10 books that are outside of my normal range. That includes:
-1 Science Fiction
-1 Contemporary
-2 Historical Fiction
-1 A poc non-American writer
-2 non-fiction historical text
-2 non-fiction titles about interesting topics
-1 “self-help” (i.e. leadership, cooking, what have you)

Let’s see how this goes!

I added more to my post #9 goals spot.

Goal #1
I really need to clear out some of the books I have setting on my real bookshelves as they are overflowing. I have a tendency for the challenge to go with e-reader books and audiobooks because they travel easier and can be read in the dark.

Goal #2
I'd also like to catch up on mystery series I've been reading since the first book.

Goal#3
There a still a couple of the modern classics I feel like I should read. examples The Tin Drum, Alas, Babylon, Gravity's Rainbow

Goal #4
Some time back I had decided to read all the Pulitzer's for fiction. I did do it but have gotten behind on the latter ones.
Some other lists I'd like to complete are
1.Pulitzer for Non-Fiction
2.Pulitzer for History
3.Pulitzer for Biography
4.Pulitzer for Drama
5.The Man Booker Award
6.The National Book Award
7.The Pen Faulkner Award
8.The National Book Critic's Circle Award

Goal #5
Read at least one work by every Noble Prize winner for Lit

So, I thought I should review my original goal plan.

Goal #1: Finish reading books for RwS Sub-challenges 2015-2018. I had 43 books on that list. I have read 18, which is 42%. (EDITED: I have completed 18; however, that is only 10 separate books as there are 33 left on the list. This is due to duplications - multiple listings for the same book.)

Goal #4: Read or DNF books I have started but not finished. I listed 6 books, although since then I have found a few more. However, of that 6, I have read 3 (50%).

The other two goals are not as measureable, but I am still working on them. I am pleased with my progress.

I just finished the 10th book this year of my 20th Century women's challenge, and have several more planned this season. I was surprised to see me doing well on that, because I had just one book the entire Spring challenge! I am not doing so well on the Balzac and Trollope bits, failing to even get started and, frankly, have just a couple of Balzac short stories planned. Perhaps the moderators will find a task or two come fall and winter to rectify that.

Ok my personal goals are, and warning there are too many to be realistic!! :

1. I play a Bingo - I have three more Bingo squares to do this year. Still to read: An Asian Classic, A Classic set in South America, and a 21st Century potential Classic.

2. I also do a 12 book - a book a month - challenge that you list exact books at the beginning of the year. I have read 6 out of 12 so far. I am currently reading Jane Eyre this month for that challenge.

3. I would like to Megafinish this summer. My school year starts the last week of July - much too soon. I am trying to read as much as I can in June and July because my personal reading drops drastically during the Fall semester. Also, teaching 8th grade means I do not read much in the classroom that can apply to any of my personal challenges.

4. I set 125 books as my goal for my Goodreads challenge. I have read 60/128 5 ahead of schedule, so this one is easy. I do always include on Goodreads the short stories and plays we use in the classroom. I really started Goodreads as an extension of my lesson plans to keep up with what I teach. Then it expanded to something much more. Oh I assign independent reading and book reports, so each year I try to read a few of the most popular books that the students are reading from the library. It helps when grading. The students try to find books I have not read to write about, hehe.

That's it, but I am unsure if I will have time to Megafinish.

Here is my 12 Book Challenge:


1899 and earlier
1. Jane Eyre reread (1847)
2. The Scarlet Letter reread (1850)
3. Heidi reread (1880) 3/29/2019 ✔️ 5 stars

1900-1999
4. The Haunting of Hill House (1959) 4/27/2019 ✔️ 4 stars
5. To the Lighthouse (1927)
6. The House on Mango Street (1984)

My Wild Card Six
7. From the Earth to the Moon (Old School) (1865) 1/19/2019 ✔️ 4 stars
8. Rebecca (New School) (1938) 2/18/2019 ✔️ 5 stars
9. Snow Falling on Cedars (New School) (1994)
10. The Hound of the Baskervilles (New School) (1902) 3/25/2019 ✔️ 4 stars
11. The Pillars of the Earth (New School) (1989)
12. The Catcher in the Rye (New School) (1951)

Alternates
A-1. A Christmas Carol (Old School) (1843) 4/19/2019 ✔️ 5 stars
A-2. To Kill a Mockingbird (New School) (1960)

@Lynn I have read 7 books off of your bingo list.
1) Jane Eyre
2) Heidi
3) The Hound of the Baskervilles
4) Rebecca
5) Catcher and the Rye
6) A Christmas Carol
7) To Kill A Mockingbird

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "@Lynn I have read 7 books off of your bingo list.
1) Jane Eyre
2) Heidi
3) The Hound of the Baskervilles
4) Rebecca
5) Catcher and the Rye
6) A Christmas Carol
7) To Kill A Mockingbird"

Cool! My "theme" for this year was to read books that most everyone agrees upon are Classics, but that I somehow missed along the way.

Completed one of my more difficult challenges early:

2019 A to Z Title challenge:
26/26

A- (4)-And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 1/7/19; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 3/9/19; Afghanistan's Blue Treasure: Lapis Lazuli by Lailee McNair Bakhtiar 6/22/19; As You Like It by William Shakespeare 7/4/19
B-(1)- Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote 1/20/19;
C- (6) Calypso by David Sedaris 1/10/19; The Curriculum Vitae of Aurora Ortiz by Almudena Solana 2/15/19; Concrete by Thomas Bernhard 2/22/19; Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell 6/24/19; Crossing the Mangrove by Maryse Condé 6/29/19; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming 7/15/19
D-(3)- Daniel Deronda byGeorge Eliot 1/19/19; The Double by José Saramago 2/9/19; The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde 5/18/19
E-The Emperor and the Elephants: A Peace Corps Volunteer's Story of Life During the Late 1970s in the Central African Empire by Richard W. Carroll 7/27/19
F (3)- From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan 1/12/19; The Forty-Five Guardsmen by Alexandre Dumas 1/22/19; Felicia's Journey by William Trevor 1/24/19
G (4)- Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish by Richard Flanagan 3/26/19; Ghachar Ghochar- Vivek Shanbhag 3/29/19; Xinran- The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices 4/11/19; Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm 5/27/19
H- (3)-How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays by Umberto Eco 2/19/19; How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff 3/1/19; Heidi by Johanna Spyri 5/17/19
I- (5)In Morocco by Edith Wharton 1/27/19; In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan 6/9/19; Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence 6/10/19; In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower by Marcel Proust 6/14/19; In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson 6/17/19; In Search of a Smile by Keegan Longueira 6/27/19; An Ideal Husband; A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde 7/12/19
J- Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf 6/19/19
K- Kim by Rudyard Kipling
L- (4)-A Lost Lady by Willa Cather 5/6/19; Loitering with Intentby Muriel Spark 5/22/19; Lab Girl by Hope Jahren 6/26/19; A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett 7/9/19; The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo by Germano Almeida 7/10/19
M-(5)- The Map Thief by Michael Blanding 4/23/19; Moab Is My Washpot by Stephen Fry 5/9/19; Agatha Christie- Murder at the Vicarage 6/4/19; Moonraker by Ian Fleming 6/6/19; My Car in Managua by Forrest D. Colburn 6/30/19
N- The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck 4/6/19
O-(4) Out of the Woods by Chris Offutt 1/11/19; Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 3/19/19; The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens 4/14/19; Operation Shylock: A Confession by Philip Roth 7/7/19
P- (2)-The Private Dining-room and Other Verses by Ogden Nash 4/9/19; The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks 5/3/19
Q- The Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton 6/21/19
R- (2)-The Radiant Way by Margaret Drabble 1/26/19; Ru by Kim Thúy 3/15/19
S- (5)-The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss 2/20/19; Skinswaps by Andrej Blatnik 2/25/19; Sergeant Getúlio by João Ubaldo Ribeiro 3/24/19; Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan; Shame by Salman Rushdie 5/1/19
T- (8)-Tintin in the Land of the Soviets by Hergé 1/9/19; Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy 2/5/19; A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain 2/13/19; These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner; Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll; A Tangled Tale by Lewis Carroll 3/17/19; Time and Tide: The Islands of Tuvalu by Tony Wheeler 6/1/19; Toubab by Rob Coughlin 6/23/19
U- (2)-An Unobstructed View: A Personal Journey from Illinois to Arizona by Mark Johnson 5/13/19; Under the Net by Iris Murdoch 6/8/19
V- The Vicious Vet by M.C. Beaton 7/15/19
W(5)- Where the Lilies Bloom by Vera Cleaver 1/9/19; Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El-Saadawi; Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 3/6/19; Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee 4/2/19; Wise Children by Angela Carter 5/11/19
X-(3)- Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson 4/4/19; Xala by Ousmane Sembène 7/1/19;
Y- The Year of the Hare- by Arto Paasilinna 3/22/19
Z-Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell 6/11/19

Good job!

Wow, Ed ----- that's fantastic!

Seeing Ed's update made me think I should do a mid-year review!

So far:

1. 73/100 books read. On track here - yay!

2. Well, I guess it depends on how I interpret this goal - I've read one really big fat contemporary classic (1000+ pgs) and one biggish classic (500+ pgs).
-> Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
-> The Moonstone

This is better than I initially thought before I reviewed my books read. I still have The Wings of the Dove coming up, so this goal is in hand.

3. 7 left out of 26 letters. I'm very pleased with my progress on my A-Z classic author challenge. The last couple of years I wasn't keeping a close eye on the list vs time left. This summer season was particularly good for fitting these books in.

4. This is a struggle. In all honesty I don't think I can say I've made a serious dent in the pile and in fact, have probably added to it. :( This summer season has helped me a bit though, and I've managed to move 5 books to the donate box.

5. Oh my goodness. This is another goal I've lost sight of. In fact, I've started even more series! Yikes. Oh well, there is still more than 5 months left - maybe I can squeeze these specifically identified series in??!!

6. First quarter = 2 NF read
Second Quarter = 3 NF read
Third Quarter = 0 so far (two weeks in)

So, as usual a mixed bag of nuts. It's good to see where I've got to pick up the slack!

Congratulations Ed! It is so early in the year. Way to go.

Lynn wrote: "Congratulations Ed! It is so early in the year. Way to go."

Thanks Lynn!

Reached another 2019 goal-

Read at least 25 more books on Boxall's list in 2019

1. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot #288
2. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote #289
3. Felicia's Journey by William Trevor
4. The Radiant Way by Margaret Drabble #291
5. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy 2/5/19
6. The Double by José Saramago 2/9/19- #293
7. Concrete by Thomas Bernhard #294
8. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 3/9/19 #295
9. Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll 3/9/19 #296
10. Kim by Rudyard Kipling 3/9/19 #297
11. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 3/19/19 (this is a re-read for me so doesn't change my total.)
12. Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee 4/2/19 #298
13. Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson 4/4/19 #299
14. Shame by Salman Rushdie 5/1/19 #300
15. The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks 5/3/19 #301
16. Under the Net by Iris Murdoch 6/8/19 #302
17. In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan
18. Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf 6/19/19 #304
19. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit byJeanette Winterson
20. Wise Children by Angela Carter 5/11/19
21. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell 6/24/19 #307
22. Operation Shylock: A Confession by Philip Roth 7/7/19 #308
23. The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter -8/11/19 #309
24. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells-192p.-8/13/19 #310
25. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller 8/27/19 #311

I finished the Around the World in 52 Weeks challenge- https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Now I have to really get to work on the Pop Sugar Challenge

*****COMPLETED 11/5/19*****

Around the Year 2019
1/1/19-12/31/19

52/52
✔1. A book that was nominated for or won an award in a genre you enjoy - Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish by Richard Flanagan 3/26/19 - Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction (2002),
✔2. A book with one of the 5 W's in the title (Who, What, Where, When, Why)- Where the Lilies Bloom by Vera Cleaver 1/9/19
✔3. A book where the author’s name contains A, T, and Y - Nancy E. Turner- These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 3/3/19- also fits #38
✔4. A book with a criminal character (i.e. assassin, pirate, thief, robber, scoundrel etc)- Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El-Saadawi 2/11/19- the MC is on death row for murder.
✔5. A book by Shakespeare or inspired by Shakespeare- Wise Children by Angela Carter 5/11/19
✔6. A book with a dual timeline - Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 3/6/19
✔7. 2 books related to the same topic, genre, or theme: Book #1- Felicia's Journey by William Trevor 1/24/19- woman left adrift after an out-of-wedlock birth.
✔8. 2 books related to the same topic, genre, or theme: Book #2- Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy 2/5/19
✔9. A book from one of the top 5 money making genres (romance/erotica, crime/mystery, religious/inspirational, science fiction/fantasy or horror) -Fantasy- Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll 3/9/19
✔10. A book featuring an historical figure - Mark Twain is a historical figure and the MC in his travel account- A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain 2/13/19
✔11. A book related to one of the 12 Zodiac Chinese Animals (title, cover, subject) White Rabbit is a character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 3/9/19
✔12. A book about reading, books or an author/writer- Moab Is My Washpot by Stephen Fry 5/9/19- autobiography of a writer
✔13. A book that is included on a New York Public Library Staff Picks list- Lab Girl by Hope Jahren- 6/26/19
✔14. A book with a title, subtitle or cover relating to an astronomical term - The Curriculum Vitae of Aurora Ortiz by Almudena Solana- Aurora 94 is the name of an asteroid.
✔15. A book by an author from a Mediterranean country or set in a Mediterranean country - Italy- The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde 5/18/19
✔16. A book told from multiple perspectives - Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson 4/4/19- the story is told through several people...some of whom may be the same person centuries later.
✔17. A speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy, scifi, horror, dystopia)- How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff 3/1/19
✔18. A book related to one of the elements on the periodic table of elements - on Kindle- Atomic Number Sixty by Dave Johnston 11/5/19
✔19. A book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 3/19/19
✔20. A book featuring indigenous people of a country- In Morocco by Edith Wharton 1/27/19- Wharton extensively discusses the Berbers in Morocco.
✔21. A book from one of the polarizing or close call votes-From poll #2- A book by an author from an island- The Maid's Tragedy by Francis Beaumont- from Great Britain
✔22. A book with a number in the title or on the cover-The Forty-Five Guardsmen by Alexandre Dumas 1/23/19
✔23. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #1 Something Old- very old maps stolen in The Map Thief by Michael Blanding 4/23/19
✔24. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #2 Something New- Ru by Kim Thúy 3/15/19- story about Vietnamese immigrants NEW to Canada.
✔25. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #3 Something Borrowed- in The Double by José Saramago 2/9/19 one of the MCs borrows the items of his "double" to impersonate him.

✔26. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #4 Something Blue- blue cover- by Donal Ryan 1/12/19
✔27. A book off of the 1001 books to read before you die list- Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote 1/20/19
✔28. A book related to something cold (i.e. theme, title, author, cover, etc.) most of the action takes place in Lapland in The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna 3/23/19
✔29. A book published before 1950- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 1/7/19
✔30. A book featuring an elderly character - The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo by Germano Almeida
✔31. A children’s classic you’ve never read - Tintin in the Land of the Soviets by Hergé 1/9/19
✔32. A book with more than 500 pages - Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm 5/27/19
✔33. A book you have owned for at least a year, but have not read yet- The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens 4/14/19
✔34. A book with a person's name in the title - Daniel Deronda by George Eliot 1/19/19
✔35. A psychological thriller - Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan 4/20/19
✔36. A book featured on an NPR Best Books of the Year list- Calypso by David Sedaris 1/10/19-
✔37. A book set in a school or university- Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf 6/19/19- much of the book is set at Cambridge.
✔38. A book not written in traditional novel format (poetry, essay, epistolary, graphic novel, etc)- The Private Dining-room and Other Verses by Ogden Nash 4/9/19

✔39. A book with a strong sense of place or where the author brings the location/setting to life- Out of the Woods by Chris Offutt- most of the stories are set in Kentucky and the others feature Kentuckians out of state longing for home. 1/11/19
✔40. A book you stumbled upon - Xinran- The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices 4/11/19
41. A book from the 2018 GR Choice Awards- ordered I Am Enough by Grace Byers
✔42. A book with a monster or "monstrous" character- Sergeant Getúlio by João Ubaldo Ribeiro 3/24/19
✔43. A book related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) [fiction or nonfiction]- A Tangled Tale by Lewis Carroll 3/17/19
✔44. A book related in some way to a tv show/series or movie you enjoyed (same topic, same era, book appeared in the show/movie, etc.)- The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss 2/20/19- was inspiration for tv show Lost in Space
✔45. A multi-generational saga - ordered CD copy of There There by Tommy Orange
✔46. A book with a (mostly) black cover- Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence 6/10/19-
✔47. A book related to food (i.e. title, cover, plot, etc.) - How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays by Umberto Eco 2/19/19

✔48. A book that was a finalist or winner for the National Book Award for any year - The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck 4/8/19
✔49. A book written by a Far East Asian author or set in a Far East Asian country - India- Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag 3/29/19
✔50. A book that includes a journey (physical, health, or spiritual) -Kim becomes a disciple to an aged Tibetan lama who seeks a river of spiritual healing in Kim by Rudyard Kipling 3/9/19
✔51. A book published in 2019- Toubab by Rob Coughlin 6/23/19
✔52. A book with a weird or intriguing title- Skinswaps by Andrej Blatnik 2/25/19

oops.... just realized I have one more book to go....waiting for it to arrive from the library.

Seeing Ed's updates always makes me check how I'm doing! ha, ha...

1. this goal is done (overdone), so far = 122 read

2. read at least 1 big fat classic - achieved - the two as noted above, plus I did read The Wings of the Dove - which was a real chore but at least I can say I did it!

3. the A-Z classic author challenge - I only have 2 left here, so this should be doable.

4. This goal is hopeless, and I am not going to put in on my list for 2020. It's worse now that I'm at the library with access to delisted books or advance readers!!!! Argh......

5. series: still falling down on this goal, although I did manage to read a few Louise Penny's

6. read at least 2 non- fiction per quarter:

First quarter = 2 NF read
Second Quarter = 3 NF read
Third Quarter = 3 NF read

I love seeing the reports of goals accomplished, or nearly so. Valerie, I sympathize with your not achieving the paring down goal. I don't know what has happened to me, but perhaps my on hand unread books are breeding!

The only goal I have accomplished this year is the one about reading a female author in each year of the 20th Century, having read 16 on a goal of 15. I made more progress than I'd hoped. I read 4 Balzac short stories, which contributed to that goal, but I have failed miserably on Trollope and also the 19th Century.

Is it too early to think about 2020?

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I love seeing the reports of goals accomplished, or nearly so. Valerie, I sympathize with your not achieving the paring down goal. I don't know what has happened to me, but perhaps my on hand unrea..."

Ha, ha..... that's what I think - they're breeding! Unfortunately, like rabbits.

I don't think it's too early. I've already made up my A-Z list. This time I thought I'd pick through books that have been on my GR TBR list for a very long time.

Goals:
1. Finish RwS-15 challenge plans:
♦ Dominoes W15 - 3 books
♦ Five Years S16 - 1 books
♦ Awards Sp17 - 3 books (second plan)
♦ Counting S17 - 3 books
♦ Globally F17 - 2 books
♦ Living Authors W 17 - 3 books + 3 books (I had two plans.)
♦ Decades Sp18 - 2 books
♦ Listopia S18 - 2 books
♦ AbBY F18 - 4 books
Total was 43 books (some are repeated). New Total = 26
2. Use as many of these old game books as possible in 10 and 20 point slots or new Rws-15 games throughout the year.
3. Post as I read.
4. Read or DNF books I have started but not finished:
♦ Christmas Books
♦ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
♦ In Praise of the Crone
♦ A Game of Thrones
♦ The Rabbi
♦ When Mourning Comes

Overall, I have done fairly well working on these goals. I have read nearly 50% of the books for Goal #1 by doing Goal #2 for challenges. And I have read 50% of the books of Goal #4.

Rosemary wrote: "I will continue with my "1001 books" goal.
Right now I'm on 565, so can I make it to 600 in 2019???"

Currently read 601!

Rosemary wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I will continue with my "1001 books" goal.
Right now I'm on 565, so can I make it to 600 in 2019???"

Currently read 601!"


Fabulous!

Rosemary wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I will continue with my "1001 books" goal.
Right now I'm on 565, so can I make it to 600 in 2019???"

Currently read 601!"

Wow! Well done!

Rosemary wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I will continue with my "1001 books" goal.
Right now I'm on 565, so can I make it to 600 in 2019???"

Currently read 601!"

Wow Rosemary...I'm impressed. I've been working on this list and I am in the low 300's

Ed wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I will continue with my "1001 books" goal.
Right now I'm on 565, so can I make it to 600 in 2019???"

Currently read 601!"

Wow Rosemary...I'm impressed. I've been working on this list and I am in the low 300's"

Ah but I did cross off everything I'd read before joining Goodreads, which was about 200, including a lot that I read as a literature student many years ago ...

Rosemary wrote: "Ed wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I will continue with my "1001 books" goal.
Right now I'm on 565, so can I make it to 600 in 2019???"

Currently read 601!"

Wow Rosemary...I'm impresse..."

I did that too.... but it didn't help my numbers that much.

Yesterday I went to a lunch spot that had old books on a shelf. One of them was by Thomas Costain...who had been (and still is) one of my favorite authors as a teen. I realized that I had never checked off on GR as"READ" all of his books that I remember having read back then ...but I put a bunch of others on my TBR list.

I finished one book for my wheel of bookshelves.