MobileRead Book Challenges discussion

I've decided that my only reading challenge for 2017 will be to keep track of what I've read.

So far I've done the 100 books challenge for several years, I tried to read at least 40000 pages for the last three year and this year I did my categories challenge. Although I enjoy them I feel I need a bit of a break of those. Especially with the categories challenge I loved it at the start, but by August it started to feel like required reading and I did enough of that in secondary school and at uni. That's why I've decided to give myself a year off and read whatever I feel like and how much I feel like.

Maybe, later in the year I'll decide to do a mini-challenge, who knows.

Statistics

Book read: 107
Pages read: 41644
Average length: 389
Books abandoned: 1
New authors: 26
Rereads: 7

Active Series
* Guido Brunetti (15/26)
* Lincoln Rhyme (11/15)
* Nic Costa (4/10)
* Chief Inspector Armand Gamache (2/14)
* Abhorsen/The Old Kingdom (1/7)
* The Void Trilogy (1/3)

Series finished, up to date or abandoned
* Department Q
* Merrily Watkins
* Agent Pendergast
* Gideon Crew
* Sigma Force
* Cormoran Strike
* The Body Farm
* Jo Mason
* Bill Hodges Trilogy
* Department 18
* Commonwealth Saga
* Sebastian St. Cyr
* The Three
* The River (on hold)
* Others
* Vera Stanhope
* Jeremy Logan
* Summer of Night
* Department Q
* PC Peter Grant/Rivers of London

Mini-challenge 1: Making space for new series challenge.

Finish before the end of March

* The Breaking Point by Jefferson Bass
* The Seventh Plague by James Rollins
* free choice read
* Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
* Without Mercy by Jefferson Bass
* free choice read
* End of Watch by Stephen King

Bonus points if I also start or finish Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton. But I know I need to be in the mood for a book in the sci-fi genre and/or a book of this length.

reserved

I think many of us need a year to just reset and get back to basics! :)
Wishing you the best in 2017!

Oh, and FIRST!! :)

SECOND :P

I agree, challenges should only be done for fun. Once it makes reading a chore there is no point I think. Have fun and enjoy reading! :D

Added my active series list. I also added two series that had new books released recently, but I haven't read those yet. It looks like most series I only have one or two books left before I'm up to date with them.

The only problem is that I haven't got any new series lined up. I've read quite a few first-in-series in 2016, but none that I wanted to add to the active series list.

I still have a bunch of first-in-series on my Kindle, it'll be fun to get started on those and hopefully something will be interesting enough to continue with.

But my first unofficial goal will be to finish The Body Farm, Cormoran Strike, Pendergast, Sigma Force, Gideon Crew and Department Q. They're all different, so the chance of burning out on them is low. For every two series I finish I'll allow myself to start a first-in-series book.

I had forgotten I didn't have any good bath reads anymore. It normally isn't a problem, since we don't have a bath. But the apartment I've booked has got a bath, so I need something to read whilst I soak.

Normally, I prefer to read horror short stories or anthologies. But I can't get those before Friday next week. So far I've got Wytches, Volume 1. Now I'm looking for another quick and easy read. I now am reminded why I love ebooks so much. Not only are they delivered instantaneously, they are also cheaper than book in English in the Netherlands.

Gaah. I missed it all.


Also, I get a ton of anthologies free from Amazon. A TON. They proliferate like maggots.

For bath reading I'm not using my Kindle but rather paper books. I ended up only getting the Wytches graphic novel. I just couldn't find anything else. I'll get some paper magazines just in case (because those I also usually get in e-form, because they are, again, cheaper).

I'm so looking forward to my week of introverting. I've got everything bought to make gingerbread cookies and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that internet is quick enough that I can plug in my Chromecast and binge on some Netflix series.

I finished my first book of the year! Plus, I've finished one of my series.

The Hanging Girl by Jussi Adler-Olsen.
The latest book in the Department Q series. Where Carl, Assad and Rose investigate a 20 year old accident, which might have been a murder. A police officer, who has been obsessed with the case, kills himself after Carl turned down his request to look at the case. This action makes Department Q take a closer look at the case and decide to see if they can figure out whether it was an accident, and try to find the person who caused it, or whether it was murder, and find the killer.

Congrats on your first book of 2017! :D

Yes, congratulations, Bianca! :)

The Body at Auercliff by Amy Cross.
A nice, quick read. Rebecca goes to Auercliff, a mansion, to check up on her ageing aunt who she hasn't seen in 20 years. When she arrives she discovers that her aunt's mind is going and when exploring the closed up section of Auercliff she discovers the body of a young woman. Good story over all, some typos and one glaring mistake, which should have been found with the editing.

The Lost Island by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.

It is now also time to start looking at what I want to read during my vacation next week.

Eximere by Michael Richan
and
Crash and Burn by James Rollins

Black Cathedral by L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims
My first reread of the year. When I got my first ereader, a Sony, you could also pick out 5 books from the Sony ebook store. This was one of them and one of the first I read. It's a horror, a bit silly at times and it feels not finished. Like the story was cut in two (I hope) and this is the first half. I finally managed to get the second book (it was unavailable on Amazon for a long time) and since it has been over 5 years since I've read the first book it seemed like a good idea to reread it first. Hopefully the second book will give me a finished feel after finishing it.

All of a Winter's Night by Phil Rickman.
A very good addition to the Merrily Watkins series, although I wonder how much back stabbing from the CoE Merrily can still take.

Dark Isle by David Longhorn
The first half was okay and quick to read, after that I kinda lost interest. Won't be continuing with this series.

Wytches, Vol. 1 by Scott Snyder
and
The Bride of Ashbyrn House by Amy Cross

Not a bad week, despite being ill the first couple of days of my vacation. I've finished 5 books and almost 1500 pages.

You're doing great :D

With two kids vacations are not a time to read anymore. Some days I wish I could have a reading vacation. :)

Reading vacations are the best; my way of staying sane, especially after the busy and social November/December months.

I'm currently reading the first Peter Grant book and I'm loving it. Which means that after this book I need to get on with finishing my almost-finished active series.

Last week I've read a number of shorter books, which isn't good for my page count average, but it was good for my number of books read. I'm planning on reading the second Commonwealth Saga book soon, which is 1200+ pages. That'll take care of my page average, but will it'll take longer to read, so it's not good for my books read. Which means it'll probably even out last week.

I've just went on a bit of a spending spree, getting the latest books in series I haven't finished yet. So I'm all up to date again, which is a nice feeling.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch.
Finally a new series to continue with!
I really liked it, it reminded me a bit about American Gods by Neil Gaiman (I might have to reread that one now).

Interesting. I might have to look that one up. Although, series.

The sixth book was released today, so it isn't a series with a huge number of books. Also the first book doesn't have an open ending, you can easily read it as a stand alone book.

WOw!

I just about managed to squeeze in one book this month.

The Obsidian Chamber by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.
Better than previous books in the series.

Now I'm treating myself to a stand alone book. After that I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for yet.

Conclave by Robert Harris.
Very good. I liked how the hints for the twist at the end were slowly build up, and that the twist ended up having a twist.

I'm currently planning another reading retreat for May. I'm using the excuse that I was sick when I went on vacation last month and I want a do-over.

I'm planning on going to a park I haven't been before. It's more simple park, but has more space around the bungalows, so more privacy.

I already saw that in April a new book of one of my favourite series will be released, so I'll save that for my retreat.

Sorry to hear you were sick on your vacation. That sucks.

May. I'm looking forward to May. Looking forward to no more -40C windchills.

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "Sorry to hear you were sick on your vacation. That sucks.

May. I'm looking forward to May. Looking forward to no more -40C windchills."

-40C, I can't even imagine that, tonight temperatures will drop to -7C and they call that very cold.

It wasn't too bad. The worst of my flu was on Saturday and Sunday. By the time I arrived on Monday I was already feeling slightly better. I didn't sleep well the first couple of nights because when I breathed I made a rattling sound. The people in the store probably thought I was weird because for several days I didn't say a word to them, just waved happily and nodded or shook my when they asked me something.

More annoyingly I had lost most sense of smell and taste. On Monday I could only taste chocolate and salt, but that slowly got better during the week. My sense of smell didn't start returning until Friday. I always bring a wax burner and a bunch of Yankee Candle wax tarts. I had more than 20 wax tarts in a zip baggie and when I opened it to smell, which should smell pretty potent, the only thing I was able to smell was the plastic of the baggie, which was just weird. Only on Friday was I able to vaguely smell something fruity.

I was glad I was on vacation that week, having to work in a store when you've lost you're voice is both frustrating and exhausting. Plus, it gave me an excuse to go again.

Finders Keepers by Stephen King.
The middle part was a bit slow, but the start was interesting and the ending good.

Beyond the Ice Limit by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.
Probably my favourite book in this series. Not your standard adventure thriller; going off to find something in an exotic location and then travelling half the globe to find it. And a good conclusion to The Ice Limit, which wasn't part of any series but wasn't really finished.

As a bonus: another series finished! As a treat I'm now going to read a quicky ghost story and then onwards with my series. I'm just five books away from finishing four series, hopefully I can finish those by the end of March and make some space for new stuff.

Bianca wrote: "HomeInMyShoes wrote: "Sorry to hear you were sick on your vacation. That sucks.

May. I'm looking forward to May. Looking forward to no more -40C windchills."

-40C, I can't even imagine that, toni..."

That sounds miserable.

I've devised a mini-challenge to finish four series before the end of March (see post #4). I've got 20 first-in-series book on my Kindle and I want to get some new series on my list, but I have to make space first.

I'm going to try to finish my current book today and then get on with the mini-challenge. Since all books are either crime or thriller or both I tried to mix them up by style and setting, hopefully I won't burn out. I also allow for a free choice read every two books (if I want to).

The Folcroft Ghosts by Darcy Coates.
Nice, little ghost story. It could have been fleshed out a bit more. At the end of the book I was left wondering what was behind all those locked doors.

The Breaking Point by Jefferson Bass.
Good 9th addition to the Body Farm series. With these last two books the authors seem to be on track again. Before the books got less believable with each release, and book 7 was a bit silly and the worst of them. Both 8 and 9 are flash back stories, set well before the series starting point. Hopefully the authors can keep it up.

Finishing this book means I can cross off the first book on my mini challenge. Plus, this series has one more left before I'm all up to date with it.

Bianca wrote: "The Breaking Point by Jefferson Bass.
Good 9th addition to the Body Farm series. With these last two books the authors seem to be on track again. Before the books got less believabl..."

Congrats! 6 more to go!

The Seventh Plague by James Rollins.
Most of these types of series get repetitive after a while (like Cotton Malone) but this series keeps holding my interest. Probably because it isn't centered around one person but a group and in each book another character or characters from this group is the main character.

I'm now up to date with this series and it's the second book crossed off my mini challenge. I'm now reading my free choice book, which is a first in series that has been on my TBR list for years.

Doing some maintenance on my Calibre library. I've deleted a bunch of freebies I will probably never read and I've also deleted a whole bunch of public domain books. For years I've wanted to read more books by Dickens and Shakespeare, but realistically I know I'm hardly ever in the mood to tackle them. If I'm in the mood for one I can always redownload them. Also, I downloaded them from Project Gutenberg when I first started reading ebooks and I know the formatting is basic, at best. I also know that I've become more picky about formatting and there are better sources to get those books for free which will also look nice.

Hangman Blind by Cassandra Clark.
Despite being well written and having likeable characters I will not be continuing with this series. First of all the book is set in the late 1300s, just after the Peasant's Revolt. Clark assumes her readers know all about this and Wat Tyler and doesn't explain anything. Luckily I recently watched A History of Britain again, but I still had to look it up for the finer details. Second, Clark often uses French, old fashioned and archaic terms to describe things, most of which weren't in my Kindle dictionary, forcing me to Google it on my tablet. After a while this got annoying and I stopped doing it. For me it did nothing to enhance the story. It might be historically correct for a character to say "I watched them all debouche from their wagons", instead of using "getting out of", but it got a bit annoying and felt pretentious after a while. Finally, there were just too many bigger and smaller mysteries going on, at least a dozen, most interlinked, others red herrings or little mysteries on their own. It was hard to keep track of them all.

Onwards with my next book, which I know will be a lot better.

Last night I started reading Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) in which the lyrics from the Blue Oyster Cult feature heavily. I just came across an article of a local news app about what to do this weekend and it turns out that the Blue Oyster Cult is performing in my city tonight, just a five minute walk from my house.

Serendipity. Unless one dislikes Blue Oyster Cult.

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling).
My favourite book in this series so far.

With couple of days I didn't think I would finish this book before Thursday, but I managed to finish it just before midnight. Which means that this month I managed to read above average for February. It is also another series finished, just two more to go for my mini challenge. I might just skip the free choice read, or maybe not. After I finish this challenge I'm going to focus a bit on the non-series books I have on my Kindle, that list is growing and I've only read 4 stand alone book (out of 20) so far this year. I also have a long list of first in series, so that another thing to focus on. But I need to be selective about possible series, I don't want to end up with a list of ongoing series that are very similar to each other.

I wish that GR would make it possible to set your time zone. When I mark a book as reading or read I need to make sure that when I do that between midnight and about 9am I manually change the date to one day later.

Bianca wrote: "I wish that GR would make it possible to set your time zone. When I mark a book as reading or read I need to make sure that when I do that between midnight and about 9am I manually change the date ..."


Someone mentioned that to GR staff a week or so ago. APparently you used to be able to post-date a review but that has been removed, too.

When I want to mark a book that I started or finished after midnight (which happens regularly) I usually wait until after 9am to change the status on GR. It's a bit annoying since I can't think of any other website where date can be important that doesn't have a time zone setting.

There's a lot here at GR that makes no sense.