Aussie Readers discussion

Thanks Ace :)

Discuss your plans for your reading journey for 2018 here!

A few months ago I decided I was going to have a bit of a focus on neglected series in 2018. I'm going to start making a list over the next couple of weeks.

Sounds like a good idea Andrea! It's hard when there are so many series out there, and so many good ones!!

I think I'm going to continue with this year's challenge - to read my owned paperback books from prior to beginning 2017 :)

The same as last year Brenda - read more books I already own and buy fewer replacements!

For this year's personal challenge I'm thinking of listing some of the books on my kindle that I really want to read but haven't managed to get to in the last year or two (so very like your challenge but with ebooks!). They're a bit hidden on the kindle but if I have a list somewhere I can try to work them into challenges.

My plan is simply to make the time to read more. Currently reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It's very long... and detailed...

Then I'll read what's stored on my Kindle.

Also listening to books while travelling. Revelation is the current one by C.J. Sansom. I've already read the book and I preferred reading it to listening, even though it is read by the excellent Anton Lesser. But listening is quicker - so I suppose that's one way of making time.

Carolyn wrote: "The same as last year Brenda - read more books I already own and buy fewer replacements!

For this year's personal challenge I'm thinking of listing some of the books on my kindle that I really wa..."

I understand and would like to do the same - BUT I can see the paper books, cluttering the shelves, whereas I can't see the kindle books ;)

Anna Faversham wrote: "My plan is simply to make the time to read more. Currently reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It's very long... and detailed...

Then I'll read what's stored on my Kindle.

Also listening to..."

It's funny you say "listening is quicker" - for me it is the complete opposite Anna! I can read much, much faster than the narrator talks ;)

I can read faster, but reading allows me to imagine the scene, get to know the characters, dwell on the writer's use of words if they're good writers, extract lasting truths and tease out messages that are almost hidden. However, I'm hopeless at working out who the killer is, so I don't even bother to try. I love books that leave me knowing something more. I can't go straight from one book to another if the last one is still resonating with me. Got to be a good book though.

Fair enough :) As long as you enjoy the experience, that's the main thing isn't it!

My reading goal for 2018 is to read mainly from my TBR pile and send out more books to the street library, op shop and friends than I bring in.
I'm also hoping to turn my front room into a reading/stitching room with lots of bookshelves and a comfy chair.

As with most of you here my TBR is bursting and I'm often trying to read everything at once. This year I challenged myself to read 120 books. Yay. I made it. But, I didn't really read the classics, the doorstoppers etc that were on my list. I'm going to try again to set some more strict control over my wandering eyes that can't resist a new addition in a library collection. I have pretty much given up on NetGalley too as this was causing me stress in guilt feelings about reviewing books I may have only been a bit 'curious' about to begin with.

Next year I would be happy with reading some doorstoppers which I've neglected and some classics (last century) and new classics (written after 1900). I will probably read more new releases and feel guilty about the ones I already own, but I can move those to a "saving for a rainy day" shelf for the moment.

Thanks Brenda for setting up the discussion.
It will be interesting to come back to it throughout next year to see how I'm travelling.

Brenda wrote: "Carolyn wrote: "The same as last year Brenda - read more books I already own and buy fewer replacements!

For this year's personal challenge I'm thinking of listing some of the books on my kindle ..."

I have the unread stacks of paperbacks too Brenda but am better at slotting them into challenges because I see them lurking around the bedroom!
I have also been better this year at trying to only use books I already have for challenges but they tend to be the more recently acquired ones and I have so many good books languishing on my kindle that I really want to read. It will be interesting to see whether I've made any inroads this time next year!

My reading plan for 2018 is to finish off series that I have read the first book of over the last couple of years. So far, my list is something like 33 books long, and that's only counting the ones I haven't read! I might need to re-read the first book if it's been a while since starting the series!

I think next year I'm going to continue with trying to clear my TBR of books that have been on there the longest, though perhaps on a smaller scale. I liked that I cleared so many this year, but I missed reading new releases. I am also determined to not over commit to challenges. I will try to only choose the easy tasks so I have time each month to be spontaneous in my reading choices. I feel like I am just racing through books to tick them off my challenges and not enjoying them as much as I should be. This will be a challenge in itself for me, I wasn't going to participate in any challenges for Dec and Summer and I've signed up for all 3! Going to have to work on my willpower.

Diana wrote: "I'm also hoping to turn my front room into a reading/stitching room with lots of bookshelves and a comfy chair..."

Oh, that sounds lovely Diana.

I have groups of authors whose books I have already read. As these are longtime favourites, I plan to re-read them all in 2018. My book-memory is shot so they will all seem like new reads to me, lol.

At some stage, I will wander into my 'new' local library, join and start reading new books again.

I've already planned an annual challenge for myself in the new year. Like many others on this thread, I am strongly motivated to reduce my owned TBR books, things that I've promised myself I'll read ASAP but never get around to...Sound familiar? :-)

I've put aside twenty books, many of which are really chunky, which I plan to knock off in the course of 2018.

I will continue reading the Miles Franklin award winners, try more Australian authors e.g Jan Harper, some best sellers that have been recommended by friends and a range of children's books ( school teacher here)

My plan is to reduce my TBR pile - I have a few series I want to catch up on - and have more books come off my TBR list than get added to it!

LOL! LOL! yeah like THAT"S going to happen!!!

I do an awful lot of challenges - this year so far I have done 78 with a few still to finish off. Only 16 of them are Aussie Reader ones.

And 4 of them were huge team reading marathons were you were expected to read at least 1 book a week - more preferable - in order to be able to say you were the best team. Implied that those who couldn't read a squillion books a week were somehow inferior. The pressure was huge - and took all the joy of reading out of me.

So I am going to cut back and do mainly longer challenges (year, season rather than monthly - except the Aussie reader monthly ones) - and do individual challenges as a priority.

The Aussie Reader ones are what is known as individual ones - they are of course absolutely my priority challenges. Not just because I'm a mod and think it is pretty poor if I was a mod and didn't join in! But also because I really enjoy our challenges :)

No, there will be more huge team challenges - and maybe one team challenge occasionally with a group of ladies that I am close to and we all support each other and pick up the slack when required.

Long story short? Taking the pressure off myself :)

I thought I had a big load Sally. 78 challenges? How do you have time to keep track?

Ace wrote: "I thought I had a big load Sally. 78 challenges? How do you have time to keep track?"

Spread sheet - front page is currently reading, then a separate TAB for each group - and finally a list of assigned books in Alphabetical order.

So this year, once I had my 2017 Aussie readers challenges sorted - always ones I want to read - I put them in an alphabetical list and then when new challenges came up - I looked there first. As books were read they came off the list.

Once it is set up is quite easy to track. The only time I come unstuck is when the challenge task is for something I done have - and that is where (a) the library, and (b) free ebook downloads come in handy.

Diana wrote: "My reading goal for 2018 is to read mainly from my TBR pile and send out more books to the street library, op shop and friends than I bring in.
I'm also hoping to turn my front room into a reading..."

That sounds really nice Diana! One day, when my grown up sons have moved out, I'm hoping to do the same with one of their bedrooms (in the meantime, I'm enjoying still having them at home, so no rush).

Sally906 wrote: "My plan is to reduce my TBR pile - I have a few series I want to catch up on - and have more books come off my TBR list than get added to it!

LOL! LOL! yeah like THAT"S going to happen!!!

I do a..."

Sounds like a good plan Sally. The team challenges sound like fun but too much pressure if you're doing too many. 78 challenges is a humungous number! Only a super organised person like you could keep track of them!

I need to do more forward planning for my reading in 2018. Sally's speadsheet sounds a good idea. I get distracted with new books that come out during the year.

World Literature and classics (especially 20th century) are something I would like to read more of in 2018, perhaps 25 books in each of these categories. Also continue reading Australian authors and be more selective with the crime/mystery books.

I enjoy the Aussie Readers challenges, however, in 2018 will concentrate on the annual and quarterly ones, which allow for more planning. As a suggestion, I would like to see the Reading around Australia challenge continued next year, of course, in addition to another annual challenge.

Hmmm, I don’t think I have any plan. I’ll stick with 120 books per year but don’t like putting pressure on myself for other challenges.
I will still look at Netgalley every day and I’m very good at limiting myself but I do like seeing what’s coming out soon.

I have so many good books on my Kindle that I have purchased or even picked up free that I think they are the ones I should read and of course there are always the library books for new releases.

I love the challenges that encourage me to read books I might never discover or never get around to, especially Aussie authors. I'm trying to keep a reasonable mix of old and new, tried and true. Impossible!

I did make a separate sticky shelf for some books I particularly want to remember to read 'one day'.

Avoiding NetGalley shrinks the list, but then I miss too many good books!

Wow you've all got fantastic plans for next year's reading. I know the hard part is sticking to them!! But with Sally listing how many challenges she's been doing this year, I thought I'd count mine! Oh my goodness - really?! 110 once December is done with 7 different groups! Mmmm!

Great discussion!

This year I set a goal of 100 books as that sounded like a tough target. Low and behold I reached that target yesterday, and I have a month to spare!

I also tried to read more "classics" this year, instead of my usual fare, and I am a proud to say I powered through: To Kill A Mockingbird, A Farewell to Arms, The Brothers Karamazov, This Side of Paradise, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Crime and Punishment.

Also this year I made several vows not to buy more books before I read my existing pile... And we all know how well that works out...

Next year?

* Clear the TBR books that are *really* gathering cobwebs (2+ years on the shelf)

* More Australian Authors. I have tried some new (to me) AAs during the monthly challenges, and have been very impressed.

* Not to get distracted by new books!!!!

* To get my Kindle down to 40 books or less. (Currently sitting at 58, but was at 80). I usually read 2, but add 1...

* Read "The Winds of Winter" by George RR Martin. Ha ha ha ha ha. If it ever gets published...

* The Maze Runner series by James Dashner. I have all 5 on the Kindle waiting their turn...

* Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books. I set a goal last year (or was it the year before) to read the back catalogue. Progress report: 5/19. I'm sure I can make that 6/19 !!! ;-)

Happy reading 8-)

Congrats on your 100 Brad!

Also guys, once I set up the Personal Challenge folder for 2018, don't forget to go and create your own! That way you can keep track through the year :)

Read!

This is a great thread, Brenda. I'm still undecided as to what to do for next years reading and challenges as my reading slowed down a lot this year.
I think I'd like to set aside a certain amount time each day to just read and have some "ME" time which hasn't happened much at all this year. Maybe setting a goal of half an hour to an hour each day or a number of pages each day might help.

I will be borrowing less from the council library and reading more from the home library i.e. my bookshelf!

I will carry on the way I did this year. I do challenges across about five groups but usually they use many of the same books. I will probably aim at about 300 books for the year.
I do intend to read more Aussie authors especially with our new monthly books.

I've met a modest challenge of 35 books already this year, I'm getting through about one book per week so I may increase my 2018 challenge to 50. I still haven't tried an e-reader nor an audiobook so I will definitely use one of these formats in 2018.

Well, I have been batting around an idea....

In 2016 I aimed to consciously increase the number of marine themed books I read, this worked really well with the number increasing to almost 70. This year I wanted to boost the number of books in my 'Art' folder - I think my goal was 40 and I won't make that, but I got distracted by reading challenges ;)

I have been thinking of making 2018 a 100 weight challenge. I want to:
-DEcrease my 'Acquired-as-yet unread' shelf to under 100 (like that is likely, but I can try) and

-INcrease as many of my other shelves to over 100 as possible.

Some of my selves are over 100, like 'Fantasy' and 'Non-fiction' but a lot are not, and that is partly because I am often too lazy to sort the books I have read properly.

I noticed this year that I kept finding more and more books for as years challenge, so I expect that to keep rolling, and I can get 'marine' over the 100, then maybe the 'art' one will keep increasing as well...

Anyhow, that is the shape of the 2018 goal I am working on.

And, of course, to read over 100, but with me that is almost a given.

Anna Faversham wrote: "I can read faster, but reading allows me to imagine the scene, get to know the characters, dwell on the writer's use of words if they're good writers, extract lasting truths and tease out messages ..."

Agreed, Anna. Rarely can i begin another book straight away after I finish a very good one. It takes a day or 2, to let the story & its fundamental truths settle. My head is still too involved with the story to move on to something else. And I often pause while reading, to ponder new ideas, and profound statements that i had not previously considered.

I'm counting on this group's challenges to help me work through my epic to-read shelf! I think I'll need to work through the ones that have been on my shelf for years!

I'm working on combining reading, listening to audiobooks and writing, and trying to strike a decent balance. (Oh, and work - I should really remember that.)

But as far as reading goes, I will try to decrease my TBR, as well as doing some monthly reads for a few groups I'm in. Looking forward to seeing what Aussie Readers have planned for the monthly reads!

Aaagghhhh!!!
I have done it again; not even the end of December and I have committed to, count them, four FOUR reading challenges for next year. Three annual and the Janurary challenge.

Plus, the lifeline book fair is happening in January, the day before my birthday...

That's it, cancel 2018 completely, all I am doing is reading it seems.... :)

Deborah wrote: "Aaagghhhh!!!
I have done it again; not even the end of December and I have committed to, count them, four FOUR reading challenges for next year. Three annual and the Janurary challenge.

Plus, the ..."

A year of nothing but reading. That would be nice.
I've joined a yearly challenge on FB 52 Books in 52 Weeks. It's coordinated by a book blogger. I've already been able to include books from that challenge in the January challenge here. I'm going to try and marry up choices with all our monthly challenges.

Deborah wrote: "Aaagghhhh!!!
I have done it again; not even the end of December and I have committed to, count them, four FOUR reading challenges for next year. Three annual and the Janurary challenge.

Plus, the ..."

What a wonderful past time Deborah!!! I'm not complaining :)

In 2017 I discovered so many good authors, including Australian, so for 2018 I am going to try and 'read around the world' with a book set in a different country beginning with each letter of the alphabet except "X". (I'm sure this must be an old challenge for the regulars).

Hard to believe I've read more books in the past 2 years than the rest of my life, simply by ditching TV. Cheers everyone.

I have ditched TV too. I regard it as a time waster now:)

And there you have it! No TV for me either - I believe the same Phrynne.

I ditched TV in 2005. Best decision of my life.

I like Sally's spreadsheet idea of keeping track of challenges. My method has been to take screenshots of my posts where I list the books I'm going to read.
I think I have spread myself a bit thin across too many groups, 3 on Goodreads and way too many on Facebook, so I need to be a bit more selective about which challenges I commit to. This group is my home base though, and I try to minimise the number of different books added to challenges. I initiated a couple of group reads on FB this year, which I enjoyed, and would like to do that again next year.

My biggest challenge for 2018 is to find time to read between my job, my children, and my writing! :)
I started Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, and next I'll read A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf and Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.
Once these three finished, I'll come back to Théophile Gautier, George Sand and other 19th century French authors...

My reading plans for 2018

1. I'm only doing monthly &/or seasonal challenges for this group so I don't over commit!

2. Catch up on my ever growing owned series books!