karen.d Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Hi everyone! It's another new year and as always, I plan to read more than last year. Whether that will happen is another thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 (edited) January (Started in 2014) 'It' - Stephen King- *** 'A Village Affair'-Joanna Trollope (Unfinished) February 'The Silent Tide' -Rachel Hore *** March April 'Sea Glass' -Anita Shreve *** 'Ross Poldark'- Winston Graham May June 'The Notebook' -Nicholas Sparks *** July 'Precious Things'- Colette McBeth **** 'Black Dog Summer'-Miranda Sherry *** August 'The Radleys'-Matt Haig *** 'The Hours'- Michael Cunningham *** 'The Boy in The Striped Pajamas'- John Boyne 'The Reading Group'- Elizabeth Noble (Unfinished) 'Atonement'-Ian McEwan (Unfinished) September 'The Hobbit'- J.R.R Tolkein *** 'Needful Things'- Stephen King (Currently Reading) October November December Edited September 13, 2015 by karen.d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 I don't normally do this, but I have set myself a book challenge on Goodreads to read 25 books this year. I'm not sure if it's possible, but I'm going to give it a go. Has anyone else set themselves book challenges this year? Any tips on how I can reach my goal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian. Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 I have set a goal on Goodreads for the last few years. One thing I do when my reading mojo is fading is to read novellas or shorter books. It seems to stop me getting bogged down when I'm struggling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 I don't do well with challenges as such......so I just go with the flow. I hope you have a great reading year, and accomplish what you wish to accomplish!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I hope you have a good reading year, Karen ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Hope you have a good reading year, Karen. I don't do very well with challenges. While some of them look really interesting, I find them too restrictive and too much pressure. I have so many books on my TBR as it is, so I prefer to stick with those rather than adding to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anisia Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I set a challenge on Goodreads every year, just for motivation. Even if I fail, I always feel I read more if I have a list and something like a challenge to finish. Happy reading in 2015! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Happy Reading this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 Happy Reading this year Thanks Julie! I set a challenge on Goodreads every year, just for motivation. Even if I fail, I always feel I read more if I have a list and something like a challenge to finish. Happy reading in 2015! Good luck with any reading challenges this year! Hope you have a good reading year, Karen. I don't do very well with challenges. While some of them look really interesting, I find them too restrictive and too much pressure. I have so many books on my TBR as it is, so I prefer to stick with those rather than adding to it. I've never done very well with reading challenges before, but let's see with this one. I hope you have a good reading year, Karen ! Thanks! I don't do well with challenges as such......so I just go with the flow. I hope you have a great reading year, and accomplish what you wish to accomplish!! Thanks! I have set a goal on Goodreads for the last few years. One thing I do when my reading mojo is fading is to read novellas or shorter books. It seems to stop me getting bogged down when I'm struggling. That might be a good idea for when my reading mojo is flagging! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I hope you have a great reading year in 2015 and meet your goal of 25 read books! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Well, how to approach a book challenges varies based on what the challenge is. I once challenged myself to read a book each month, with that month's name in the book title. It did not go well. Yours is just to read x amount of books, so, you need to be trying to maximize the productivity of your reading time. For that, I would say a few things - don't force your mojo - read what you want to read, and if you're finding it hard to read, as someone else already said, grab a short book, novella, a play, or a children's/YA story and read that. Keeps up the reading habit without putting too much strain on your brain Also, don't be afraid to abandon a book if it isn't working for you. Try to get into a routine - work out roughly how much you need to read to hit your goal. You need roughly 1 book every two weeks. So if you can put aside 30 mins or an hour reading time every few days, and make that a habit without ever thinking about the bigger picture of 25 books, you'll get there. The biggest tip is not to see it as a challenge because that sounds like pressure, but as a guideline to efficient reading! Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 I hope you have a great reading year in 2015 and meet your goal of 25 read books! Thank you Well, how to approach a book challenges varies based on what the challenge is. I once challenged myself to read a book each month, with that month's name in the book title. It did not go well. Yours is just to read x amount of books, so, you need to be trying to maximize the productivity of your reading time. For that, I would say a few things - don't force your mojo - read what you want to read, and if you're finding it hard to read, as someone else already said, grab a short book, novella, a play, or a children's/YA story and read that. Keeps up the reading habit without putting too much strain on your brain Also, don't be afraid to abandon a book if it isn't working for you. Try to get into a routine - work out roughly how much you need to read to hit your goal. You need roughly 1 book every two weeks. So if you can put aside 30 mins or an hour reading time every few days, and make that a habit without ever thinking about the bigger picture of 25 books, you'll get there. The biggest tip is not to see it as a challenge because that sounds like pressure, but as a guideline to efficient reading! Have fun! How did you manage to find titles with that month in them?! The stumbling point I'm finding already, is that I like to read long book (like the one I'm reading at the moment), so I might find that I'm going to struggle. Should I limit myself and ony read books with a certain amount of pages. Anyhow, I must remain positive about reaching my goal and continue reading! Thanks for the advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I.... mostly didn't, that's why the challenge failed Hmmm. I'm not sure, because wanting to read longer books is obviously not good for trying to read MORE books, but surely if you're cutting out a type of book that you like (i.e long ones), surely you're defeating the purpose of enjoying your reads? Maybe you could read a mix of both long and short ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Some good tips, Noll ! Maybe you could read a mix of both long and short ones? This is what I usually try to do, as I find between more epic reads I need something shorter in between. Though lately I've mainly read short and medium length books.. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 I.... mostly didn't, that's why the challenge failed Hmmm. I'm not sure, because wanting to read longer books is obviously not good for trying to read MORE books, but surely if you're cutting out a type of book that you like (i.e long ones), surely you're defeating the purpose of enjoying your reads? Maybe you could read a mix of both long and short ones? opps! Yeah I think I might try and vary between long and short books. I think I'm going to have to find a short novel after reading 'It'! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) Hmmm. I'm not sure, because wanting to read longer books is obviously not good for trying to read MORE books, but surely if you're cutting out a type of book that you like (i.e long ones), surely you're defeating the purpose of enjoying your reads? Maybe you could read a mix of both long and short ones? Or set the goal as a certain number of pages. Of course, page sizes vary too, but I reckon it'll all average out over the year. I like to read a mixture anyway, so tend to find myself following Noll's suggestion. This year, out of interest, I kept a record of pages read. Book lengths ranged from under 100 to over 700, with the average coming in at 307 - which sound like a fairly average sized book.... This year, I'm going to track the pages more closely, as I'm aiming to read more bigger books, so may well see the number of books going down. Having said that, I'm trying to avoid getting too bothered about it all anyway! Edited January 5, 2015 by willoyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I've totally given up caring about everything except actually reading something on a regular basis, and I've never been happier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Well I've finished my first book of 2015! Well to be exactly a lot of 2014 too, but at least I've finished 'It' by Stephen King. In all, I was a little disappointed by how it ended. Also there were a few things that bothered me throughout, but generally, I thought this was a good book. I would say that 'The Stand' is a much better book though. Now I'm about to start 'A Village Affair' by Joanna Trollope. I've never read anything by Joanna Trollope, but a friend gave it to me to read, apparently it's a bit naughty. We'll see... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 It's a shame you didn't like the ending as much . I'm glad you enjoyed most of the book though . I hope you enjoy your next read! I've only read The Book Boy by Joanna Trollope, which I liked, and I have The Other Family on my TBR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I wish I could offer advice for reading more books, but it would be hypocritical of me because I don't do nearly as much reading as I could! TV is my downfall. I should just get rid of it - then I'd have plenty more time to read! Hope you have a great reading year and that you meet your goal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 It's a shame you didn't like the ending as much . I'm glad you enjoyed most of the book though . I hope you enjoy your next read! I've only read The Book Boy by Joanna Trollope, which I liked, and I have The Other Family on my TBR. Thanks! I just found the ending to be a litle over the top also what was with the whole turtle thing? It seemed a bit Terry Pratchett to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 So I think I might be losing the book goal already as I haven't read anything since last weekend However I'm going to try and improve that over this week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I find I often think I don't want to read, but once I actually pick up a book I disappear into it for a while. Maybe just force yourself to pick one up when you have a chance, try it for five minutes and see how it goes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I hope you have a wonderful reading year Karen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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