Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

December is already 1/3 past. Did you meet your 2012 1001 goal if you made one? Is it too early to think about 2013?

I'd like to see 125 before the end of 2013. That would be reading 25 titles during the year. I was able to read 28 in 2012, so this is doable. If I find myself achieving that goal early - I'll give it a boost.

I would be thrilled with 15 from the list. I read quickly, but my reading time is limited from Sept. to June since I teach. And I know I won't read exclusively from this list. I have to read some contemporary fiction in between some of the tougher books - like Anna Karenina. Life is way too short to read all the books I want to read!

I'm looking forward to hitting #200 in 2013... (I'm reading #179 right now and I read 40 books from the list this year, so that should be doable.)

I expect to have less time for reading this coming year (as we're in the process of adopting) so I think I'll set my goal (somewhat ambitiously, still) at hitting #215 and see how that goes.

I'd like to get the 104 on my 1001 bookshelf read that I put on there as TBR's, LOL

Lisa wrote: "I'd like to get the 104 on my 1001 bookshelf read that I put on there as TBR's, LOL"

LOL - you have that problem, too?

As of right now, I've read 105 books from the lists. I'd like to tick off another 20 in 2013.

I do not really have a goal. There's quite a few TBR, so I guess I should be able to read 20, 30? I'm not pinning myself down to anything, I just see where my reading time and 1001- books on the shelf take me.

I am going for 30 next year. This will be hard cause I read books that r not on the list too!

I've done pretty well this year and last, reading 76 titles from the list in total. I am this close to 200 - so next year I hope to hit 250, and that will leave me satisfied.

I finished 40 from the list this year and I'd like to get up over 200 for 2013, which is 33 away. I may get one or two closer before Jan. 1, unless the world ends next week.

I am setting my goal for 2013 at 100 books total. I probably won't set a list goal, because I don't know how many books that I read with all my clubs will be on the list, plus I have a lot of books that I have gotten that I really want to read and none of those are on the list.

I think I will try for at least 40 next year.

I started the 1001 book list this year, but have also read a few off the list. I challeneged myself to read 52 books in 2012, so far have read 49 ( 38 off the list) so I am not sure yet if I am going to stick at 52 again.

I am currently at 38 for the year and am now aiming to hit 40 by year's end (my original goal was 36, so pretty close to that). I did read some big and/or difficult stuff this year as well, so I'm happy with that.

I think I'll aim for 40 next year too, which would bring me up to 130 total (my other goal is to stop buying freakin' books and just focus on what I already have!) :)

I missed my goal for this year by miles as I just stopped reading anywhere near as much, I seem to be a bit more on track in the last month or so.
I've read 298 books from the combined lists (hopefully I should hit 300 as this year ends). Then I'm aiming at 50 1001 books next year - I have 124 1001 books on mount tbr!

I set a goal to read 100 books this year--but only a few are from the Boxall list. I will set my goal again at 100 but this time I will set a sub goal to read at least ten from the list, maybe twelve to make it one a month.

I went back sine I tag my books and it looks like I only read four from the list this year.

I was really hoping to hit a grand total of 100 books from the list this year but I am thinking that may not happen, as I am only at 90 and have two non-list books I need to finish this month in addition to the 2 list books I have started and the 2 I need to start. So my goal for 2013 is between 56 and 50 list books depending on my final numbers for this year.

I am aiming for 50 more next year. I'm at 199 of the four combined lists. I want to be at 250-275 by year's end and below 1001 of the combined lists left to read by some time in 2014.

Mini goal: Knock off the additions on the 2012 list. I lucked out and had already finished a few: Freedom, Goon Squad, etc. I really like the 2012 changes so far, especially Jennifer Egan's book and The Sense of an Ending, which blew me away.

I'm trying to read 1 per month. I'm really slow reader and there's plenty of other books as well which I want to read.

My goal for 2012 was to reach 200 from the combined list which I exceeded by 34 for a total of 234 (when I finish the one currently reading). For 2013 I hope to reach 300 but since I plan on reading Dance to the Music, finishing Remembrance of Things Past and re-reading Don Quixote and The Brothers Karamazov (two books I loved) I might not make it. There are just too many books on the list that I want to read.

Like others, I want to try to balance list and non-list books--I'm a grad student, so I often have a wide variety of reading obligations. I've been setting a goal of 50 books total per year, which has been working out well, so I think I'll keep it at the same level for 2013. I'm only on my 80th list book, so I'd probably be happy to hit the 100 mark in one year's time.

I did not have a 2012 goal since I just learned about the list this year. I'm at 100 now. I think a good goal for 2013 will be a total of 140.

I started out with a 2012 goal of 25 and later revised it to 40, bringing me to 365 books read. I'm now at 367 so I made it!

I plan to read one more list book before the end of the year so I'll set my 2013 target at 32, to bring my total to 400. But doing the 2013 group read of Proust might slow me down because it only counts as one book on the list.

Thank you for mentioning the Proust group, Rosemary. Those of you who plan on reading Proust eventually might seriously consider joining that group and add Proust to your 2013 goal.

2013: The Year of Reading Proust

I'm going to revise my goal for 2013 as I realize that with all the books that I want to read, including some monsters, that I'll never have the time to re-read books. So, for 2013 my goal is simply to reach 300.

I'm going to try 52 books from the list for 2013. I've picked a hundred titles from the big list and i will try to find the 52 that interest me as i go along (life is so unpredictable).

I'd really like to hit 100 total from the combined lists, including knocking off Proust which will be a considerable investment (I'm at 75 or so from all lists now).

I'd quite like to get to 100 next year but that would mean reading 45 list books, which is a few more books than I even read this year all together!

I just officially hit 100 books of the list (total, not all year). I started keeping track of the list in June and I was at 67 so that means I read 33 books in about 6 months. So my goal for next year is at least 50, getting myself up to the 150 mark and it needs to include a few of the monsters.

How do you get more than 24 books read in a year? 2 books a month has been a struggle for me.

Sonya wrote: "How do you get more than 24 books read in a year? 2 books a month has been a struggle for me."

Some people are very fast readers, others have a lot of time. It's different for everyone.

Sonya wrote: "How do you get more than 24 books read in a year? 2 books a month has been a struggle for me."

I have to agree with Elizabeth (Alaska). I have always been a very fast reader averaging four to seven books a week. RIght now I am lucky enough to have lots of spare time because I am an English teacher overseas and I live 5 minutes from work and only teach 20 hours a week. I am sure I will have less time to read when I start my Chinese classes...

@Lauren- do you remember what you read?

@Elizabeth- we are headed to Alaska in May. Can't wait!

Sonya wrote: "@Elizabeth- we are headed to Alaska in May. Can't wait!"

It is beautiful in May - coming on a cruise?

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Thank you for mentioning the Proust group, Rosemary. Those of you who plan on reading Proust eventually might seriously consider joining that group and add Proust to your 2013 goal.

2013: The Yea..."

I just joined this group since I'm planning to finish the whole series in 2013. I've read already the first 2 books. Thanks Elizabeth.

I have an ambitious plan for 2013 but I don't know if I'll manage it: to read 200 books, mainly from the public domain.

Yes, Alaskan Cruise. I use to live in Anchorage. I'm looking forward to visiting there again:)

My goal for 2013 is 24 books. If I go over great!!

Sonya wrote: "@Lauren- do you remember what you read?"

I remember most of what I read. I occasionally force myself to finish a book I do not enjoy and do not have the best memory with those types of books but more often than not the ones I hate stick out in my memory all that much more so than the ones I consider mediocre.

I have only read 8 this year, so I just want to bring that to 12. One a month seems like a reasonable goal as long as I spread them out.

I read about 100 books a year, since I am a very fast reader, but I need to be changing genres and types all the time.

I'm committing myself to just one book, albeit a really long one (or a long series of books): À la recherche du temps perdu. I'm happy to see that other members have also joined the Proustitute group :)

Masanobu wrote: "I'm committing myself to just one book, albeit a really long one (or a long series of books): À la recherche du temps perdu. I'm happy to see that other members have also joined the Proustitute gro..."

That too is my goal to get through! It will be okay!!!

Although I consider myself a quick reader I find I haven't had that much free time in the past few months. I agree with Caitie... I need to switch genres and types all the time. That being said I'm setting a goal of 8.

I am going to try for 10.

My goal is the same I set myself last year (before I joined this group): 24. I thought that would be easy, with just two a month. However, I found myself in October having only read 17, and decided to only read 1001 books from then on. Since then, I've only read one non-1001 book, but I still won't read my target because this time of the year is so busy and I got stuck on a Dutch classic, 'Max Havelaar' which despite being relatively short is rather like Dutch Dickens for wordiness and theme and I needed some light relief. Now reading Moll Flanders, written a hundred years earlier, but much easier and so much more fun! I'll probably end this year on 18 or 19 out of 24.

My minimum will be 12. My maximum goal would be 46.

I'm trying for one per quarter or season. I'm a slow reader and I have an extensive list of my own to read. As a youth services librarian, I try to stay up on new fiction, teen and juvie books.