Books on the Nightstand discussion

Yes, I'm probably too early for this topic, but I've been thinking ...

I think for 2016 I may set a goal to read exclusively* 4 star or higher books from my Goodreads TBR list, with the exception of series books where I'm not caught up to that book yet.

*ok, exclusively except for new shiny things that jump out at me during the year!

I like your plan! Always good to whittle down that TBR. I did Book Riot's Read Harder challenge this year and I'll do it again next year if they put one up. I also want to do BOTNS's summer Bingo this time around...last summer I took two online classes so I couldn't. With every challenge, I try to see if anything from my TBR fits before I go hunting.

I have several plans! I generally read about 130ish books per year, so I want to use those for Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, at least two Bingos on the BOTNS's summer Bingo, and then also work on my other lists. I'm trying to read books from different countries, so I want to get my percentage up to at least 20% of countries by the end of 2016 (I'm currently at 10.24%). Additionally, I want to read 10 more books off the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list, 5 Pulitzer winners, at least 2 Man Booker prize winners, 2 Nobel Prize Laureates, and 5 Newbery Medal Winners. I like lists and spreadsheets, so I keep track of all of this in a spreadsheet!

Well I always set a number goal (85 this year & I'm not sure I'm going to make it). Last year I did a challenge for myself like Michael's, where I picked 14 books I wanted to have read already (for 2014) and I did a couple bingo cards. This year I didn't do any & liked the freedom that afforded me. I tried 2 readathons which were really fun (one is going on now!) But next year I think I may try Book Riot's Read Harder and/or BOTNS bingo!

I've been thinking about my 2016 plans as well. If there is another Read Harder challenge, I might do it. I wanted to do Bingo this summer, but my reading schedule was so packed that I couldn't fit it in. Actually, that was the story of 2015 for me, so I guess my 2016 goal would be to "free up" my reading as much as possible.

I want to do the only read books I already own, but it will be tough with three book clubs (one in person, and two postal book clubs.) So I may do that with the exception of book club books. I am also going to read one non-fiction a month - I'm normally stuck in the fiction world and need to expand.

I like the idea of book challenges to introduce me to books I wouldn't normally pick up. I'm familiar with Book Riots Read Harder challenge. Any ideas on where I can follow other challenges? Is it best just to do a goggle search or are there specific websites/blogs with ideas?

Katherine wrote: "I want to do the only read books I already own, but it will be tough with three book clubs (one in person, and two postal book clubs.) So I may do that with the exception of book club books. I am a..."

TWO postal book clubs and an in person one. You are a stronger person than I, Katherine.

Maggie the GR reading challenge group has many many challenges. I'm doing the 50 book mini challenge but there are smaller and bigger options. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Thank you Mindy. Did not realize GR has a group!! Oh what a fun Sunday afternoon it will be browsing the groups!

Linda wrote: "Katherine wrote: "I want to do the only read books I already own, but it will be tough with three book clubs (one in person, and two postal book clubs.) So I may do that with the exception of book ..."

Stronger? Or crazier? ;)
I need to learn to say no...

My ideal reading challenge for 2016 would be to select one title a month from a list of BOTNS listeners' favorite books!

Karen wrote: "My ideal reading challenge for 2016 would be to select one title a month from a list of BOTNS listeners' favorite books!"

I like it :)

Me too. Maybe we could do a read-along.

Katherine wrote: "Karen wrote: "My ideal reading challenge for 2016 would be to select one title a month from a list of BOTNS listeners' favorite books!"

I like it :)"

There's a list? Where is it?

No list exists right now but we could create one if there's enough interest.

I like this idea too.

I like it to

I think it's a great idea but is this a list of your favorite book of all time or favorite book of 2015 ?

I was thinking "all-time" favorite book (or two.)

I'd be interested in contributing to and reading from "the list".
Aside from that I'd like to "up" my non-fiction reads and still do reading for various book awards, TOB, etc.

I'm not doing that again. I just try to read or listen as much as I can.

Maybe on New Year's Eve everyone comments with their favorite book they read in 2015? And a brief sentence why, what kind of readers might like it, what books it reminded them of, something like that!

I vote for the list being our all-time favorites. And I don't mind compiling a list and making a shareable spreadsheet if people are interested.

Mindy

Ooh, that's interesting.

Sue wrote: "Me too. Maybe we could do a read-along.

Katherine wrote: "Karen wrote: "My ideal reading challenge for 2016 would be to select one title a month from a list of BOTNS listeners' favorite books!"

..."

Sue wrote: "Me too. Maybe we could do a read-along.


Katherine wrote: "Karen wrote: "My ideal reading challenge for 2016 would be to select one title a month from a list of BOTNS listeners' favorite books!"

..."

Mindy wrote: "I vote for the list being our all-time favorites. And I don't mind compiling a list and making a shareable spreadsheet if people are interested.

Mindy"

Why couldn't we just use the Listopia feature here on Goodreads?

I'm all for this!!

We could use listopia, but anybody on GR could add to it, not just members of this group.

I like this idea! I definitely want to do summer bingo and may even do a winter one on my own to whittle down that TBR list. I think the cards are still available, no?

I'd be up for a reading challenge based on our favorites though--I always like getting new recommendations from other book lovers. I'm stretching out of my usual genres this year and so far liking it!

I'm new to this list even though I've been listening to the podcasts. I'm with Katherine on this one. I have SOOOO many books that I have not read because others got in the way. I need to whittle through them or donate them to the libary. I assume everyone in this group has already read the ones I have but that's my goal. For example "Cold Mountain" and "Ahab's Wife" come to mind. I have books like this that I keep walking by on my shelf. I need to read them or let them go.

I'm hoping many of the books on the "favorites" spreadsheet are on my shelf. It will motivate me to get to them.

Mindy wrote: "I vote for the list being our all-time favorites. And I don't mind compiling a list and making a shareable spreadsheet if people are interested.

Mindy"

Mindy, you're elected....lol.

Well my favorite book is on my shelf and it's the only book I would read again.

Well my favorite book is on my shelf and it's the only book I would read again.

I want to read:

Alan Moore's new super-long novel

George R.R. Martin's The Winds of Winter (hoping)

Read writers I already know I like*, or want to try:

Cormac McCarthy*
Philip Roth*
Karl Ove Knaussgaard*
Jane Austen*
Thomas Hardy
Philip K. Dick*
Richard Russo*
Martin Amis*
Saul Bellow*
Ian McEwan*
Charles Dickens*
Margaret Atwood*
Fyodor Dostoevsky*
Robert Stone
Wally Lamb*
Haruki Murakami*
Chinua Achebe
William Faulkner*
Ernest Hemingway*
Leo Tolstoy*
Vladimir Nabokov*
P.G. Wodehouse*
Mark Twain*
John Steinbeck*
Bill Bryson*
John Updike
Jose Saramago
Gabriel Garcia Marquez*
William Gaddis
Thomas Mann*
John Dos Passos

Has anybody mentioned that you may not be reading enough women authors? :-)

Okay.

George Eliot
Virginia Woolf
Lady Murasaki

But my goal is more to explore the classics of the past. Not to read newer books.

I can help.....

http://www.bustle.com/articles/63615-...

Thanks. Of those I've only read The Good Earth.

Don't feel bad, Eric, that's the only one I've read too and I haven't heard of the majority of those authors. I think only 3-4 of them. Clearly I'm not doing my part for the sisterhood.

Eric, I'd recommend Edith Wharton. I like her a lot more than Jane Austen :)

I read The Custom of the Country a couple years ago and found it boring.

I find Jane Austen witty and entertaining.

Well I only read one from each. I liked House of Mirth a lot more than Pride and Prejudice, so I intend to be reading more Wharton than Austen.

You might enjoy Isobel English then :-)

I agree with you Eric. There are so many books that I haven't read that I want to go back and read. Often in book discussions, people reference an older book and it reminds me that I always wanted to read that particular book but never got around to it. I'd like to focus and get to them now or that day will never come.

Louise, for me or Eric? :) I never heard of Isobel English prior to this.

Both of you actually :-)

I think we're all so anxious for the hot new thing that we overlook the old things that we might like better.

I make reading goals every year but I don't have mine fully fleshed out. Since I'm on a multi-year project to read a book from every country and my world lit group is focusing on Africa in 2016 (they cycle through the continents) one thing I know for sure I want to do is try to read books from the 17 African nations I have yet to cover.

Is anyone in this group an avid reader of world literature? I have some books selected to read but would welcome feedback. If you don't see a country on my list it means I've already read something from it. Most of the time I try to read something by a native author but that isn't always possible, plus sometimes I like a change. Genre fiction, poetry, it's all up for grabs.

Jenny's Africa 2016

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I make reading goals every year but I don't have mine fully fleshed out. Since I'm on a multi-year project to read a book from every country and my world lit group is focusing on Africa in 2016 (th..."

Excellent idea and excellent list! I therefore assume you've read several books from Nigeria/Biafra? I am lucky to work with many international people. We read books and invite them to attend our book club to provide us with their opinions and descriptions of their country/history/life.