2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

I was scrambling to finish my 2018 goal of 24 books this last week of the year. In fact, I actually finished the last two books today (January 1) but counted them towards 2018 anyway. And yet, I've decided to raise the stakes again this coming year.

Thirty books in twenty-nineteen.

Last year I did 24. In 2017 I managed 20, just — again, finished the last novel in the morning of the new year. In 2016... well, in 2016 I exceeded my goal of 12 by six books, reading 18. 2015 was the first year I did the challenge and I fell short three, reading nine out of 12. In 2014 I read one book — that was the year my friend turned me onto Goodreads I believe. And in 2013 I read none. By my calculations it at least seems like I'm going in the right direction — which is up...

So, after that short review of the past six years, bring on 2019.

I'm hoping to actually work reading more into my daily routine — hah, as if I actually have a routine, who am I kidding — like by reading before bed, rather than playing games on my iPhone. In fact, I think I'll go ahead and delete that one game I always waste my time on.

Less screen in twenty-nineteen.

Sorry, that popped into my head and I just had to, since it rhymed and all.

So last year I wrote semi review type things about each book after I completed it and posted it in this (that...) thread. I haven't quite made up my mind as to whether I'll do the same this year, or how I would do it differently. I got kind of bored of the reviews towards the end, felt I was always saying the same thing, etc. etc. So we'll see...

Anyway. Enough of my rambling. Here's to a(nother) great year of reading!

THE LIST.

This is the definitive list of the books I have completed so far this year. With a bookcover patchwork type thing at the bottom.

1. 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster — 1,070 pages — 01–16.01 — *****
2. Artemis by Andy Weir — 307 pages — 16–23.01 — ***
3. My Mother the Psychopath by Olivia Rayne — 325 pages — 29.01–04.02 — ****
4. Beartown by Fredrik Backman — 489 pages — 24.01–05.02 — *****
5. American War by Omar El Akkad — 413 pages — 05–11.02 — ****
6. The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara — 476 pages — 11–18.02 — ****
7. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery — 325 pages — 19–24.02 — ***
8. The Killing Joke by Christa Faust — 312 pages — 25–28.02 — **
9. 11/22/63 by Stephen King — 846 pages — 08–21.03 — *****
10. F by Daniel Kehlmann — 258 pages — 22.03–03.04 — ***
11. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari — 466 pages — 01.03–19.04 — ***
12. Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin — 231 pages — 19–25.04 — ****
13. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi — 258 pages — 26–27.04 — *****
14. Us Against You by Fredrik Backman — 435 pages — 27.04–08.05 — ****
15. A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman — 198 pages — 09–16.05 — ***
16. White by Kenya Hara — 80 pages — 16.05 — ****
17. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell — 509 pages — 17.05–04.06 — ****
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

Here's a random ramble.

Spent a considerable amount of time lying on the floor in front of my bookshelves earlier tonight. I have a good number unread books — albeit not nearly as many as plenty of other people who frequent this group — but I was having a hard time picking which book I wanted to read.

You know that feeling when you're just waiting for a book to speak to you. You want to read it, but now is not necessarily the right time. Yeah, I'm always waiting for my books to say "Me. Mee, pick me next."

Anyway. I was laying there, waiting for the books to talk to me. I considered giving all of the unread books a number and having a friend pick a random digit for me. I sent a different friend — one who frequents Goodreads — a text message complaining about not being able to pick. I did a little bit of whining. I lay on the floor some more, alternating my gaze from the bookshelves to the ceiling.

And then I fucking finally picked a book.

And not just any old book.

I'm starting my new year off with all 1,070 pages of 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster.

I mean, start with a bang. Right. I've never read a book that's over a thousand pages long. My longest is 867 pages. And the textblocks are dense. We're not messing around here. So I read for probably something like forty minutes and only made a 3.5% dent. But it was an enjoyable forty minutes, so I'm not complaining. Too much. I'll just have to keep at it I suppose, it's a decent way to make good on that promise to work reading into a daily routine I think.

Anyway. That was that ramble.
On the house.

I have now read 343 pages of 4 3 2 1. 343/1070.

According to last year's Year in Books, the average length of a book for me in 2019 was 327 pages. So I've read just over one book, by that standard, and yet I am just a third through this one. I just find that... interesting.

I am thoroughly enjoying all the divergent paths of Archibald Isaac Ferguson's life thus far, having just accompanied all four of him through the tumultuous years of adolesence. I am looking forward to seeing what his future years hold for him, and Auster's long-winded and verbose style of writing has yet to irritate me.

Also. I deleted the Facebook app off of my phone, as well as all of the games I had downloaded, and I feel like I am already seeing a marked improvement of how I interact with my phone. Downtime at work has now mostly been spent browsing Goodreads, since I cannot read books at work. Or at least not one that requires as much concentration as 4 3 2 1.

I have also read every day. The last few chapters have been ~50 pages each, so I get one chapter in after coming home from work. The length of the chapters means that it's a harder book to just pick up and read a little bit multiple times a day, since I'm usually not the type of person to stop reading except at designated breaks in the story.

Status update: I am now just over halfway through 4 3 2 1. 561/1070.

509 pages to go.

I got a good chunk in (~120 pages) on Monday when I had to take my car to the shop and sat in the waiting room for about two hours. Read two chapters and started a third, which I finished once I got home.

Reading everyday, still. How many days does it take to form a habit again, forty? Anyway, it helps that 4 3 2 1 is an excellent book and that I'm never dreading spending upwards of an hour with any of the iterations of Archie Ferguson.

Best of luck with your reading challenge! I'm glad you're enjoying 4 3 2 1 so far

Rachael wrote: "Best of luck with your reading challenge! I'm glad you're enjoying 4 3 2 1 so far"

Thank you Rachael!

Status update: 4 3 2 1 finished. One book down, 29 to go.

Last year I did semi–sort-of–reviews of all the books I read during the course of the year, but that practice wasn't really enjoyable to me—so I've decided to not do that this year. I'll just let the ratings speak for themselves.

Anyway. 4 3 2 1 done, complete, first book I've read that is longer than a thousand pages. When I got back into reading a few years ago a mammoth like this would've seemed impossible. And now I completed it in just over two weeks, reading steadily every single day.

Reading every single day—or close enough anyway—is my main goal for 2019 I think. Turning reading into a habit, maybe before bed, but it doesn't really matter. Consuming stories or media in a different way than watching hours on hours of TV shows.

Anyway. I'm eager to start my next book—Artemis—but have urgent things to do tonight before I embark on that journey.

Status update: I started reading Artemis right after I posted that last update.

The next day a friend of mine from high school came to visit and I've not read anything since before I picked her up at the airport on Thursday. Am picking up the book again right now, have to make up for those four days I didn't get any reading done.

your reading goals over the years were similar to mine. wishing you the best of luck in your journey of self affirmation with less screen time and achieving your 2019 reading goals!:)

Megan wrote: "your reading goals over the years were similar to mine. wishing you the best of luck in your journey of self affirmation with less screen time and achieving your 2019 reading goals!:)"

Thank you Megan! Good luck on your own 30 book goal. I see you're already off to an explosive start.

Status update: Artemis ✔︎

Eeh. Let's just say it was comme ci comme ça. Nothing extraordinary, but not bad for what it was, either.

Anyway! What next! I was very afraid I'd lose my momentum because of my friend's interruption. Said friend will actually be mailing me a book tomorrow, when it comes out in the UK, but I probably won't get it until sometime next week, so I have to find something to occupy myself until then.

Twenty-eight books to go.

January 2019

The first month of the year came to a close a few days ago. I finished two books and got halfway through a further two.

I read 26 out of 31 days, which is pretty consistent for me. Four days I missed out because I had a friend visiting from abroad and I made no time for reading, even a little bit—which I regret slightly—and then I didn't have time to read on the last day of the month because of a project deadline. Oh well.

I'm not good at participating in the monthly, quarterly or yearly challenges in this group, but did sign up for the Marathon Challenge in January, where I committed to 1,750 pages—50 pages a day, plus a further 250. I ended up reading 1,834 pages in January.

I feel like that challenge definitely helped me, gave me something else to strive toward than just my book goal, and I'm considering signing up for the Yearly Let's Turn Pages challenge as well.

Anyway, some stats for January:
Books started: 4
Books completed: 2
Pages read: 1,834
Days read: 26/31
Pages averaged per day, including off days: ~59
Pages averaged per day, excluding off days: ~71

Status update: My Mother the Psychopath ✔︎

Fourth book started, third book down. This was one my friend sent me after having visited. I've actually crossed paths with the author in my life, which is why I read the book. What's that phrase, be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Or whatever.

The goodreads tracker thing now tells me I'm one book ahead of schedule, which had me a little confused as to how they're counting these, but then I realized I'll be back on track tomorrow I think, if I counted it out correctly. One book every twelve days.

And off to finish Beartown next then.

Yearly challenge: I joined in on the Let's turn pages yearly challenge with a goal of 12,000.

One thousand a month. February is only 14% done and I've already met my quota for the first two months of the year with 2,021 pages.

Just sticking this link to my original comment here so I won't ever lose it.

Book finished: Beartown ✔︎

Still experimenting with the heading here, heh.

Anyway, who knew I'd enjoy a book about hockey. Except it totally wasn't about hockey. Also, what do they call a book that starts with an event and then backtracks and tells the story leading up to that event. So you always know what's coming.

I bought the sequel already, but I've not decided whether I want to read it right away or whether I should wait and read something else first... decisions, decisions.

Book finished: American War ✔︎

A sixth through my yearly reading goal, and thus far I've managed to read 36 days of the 42 that have passed of the year.

Eager to pick my next book. But maybe some lunch first.

Status update: So I pledged 12,000 pages through the year. Exactly halfway through February and I've met the monthly goal of 1,000 pages.

I'm also halfway through The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara. Strange book. A slow start but it's picked up the pace in the last fifty, sixty pages or so. When I finish this book I'll actually be 20% done with my book goal for the year.

I can't believe the pace I'm going at. I wonder (and hope!) if I will manage to keep it up through the year.

Also just realized that when I've finished The People in the Trees I will have read over 3,000 pages already this year. For comparison, I read just under 8,000 in all of 2018.

Book finished: The People in the Trees ✔︎

This book, at times, made me feel extremely uncomfortable. Reminding myself that it is just a novel was useless, because humans are a vicious plague.

That is all.

Book finished: The Elegance of the Hedgehog ✔︎

This book drove me nuts at times. Definitely something I would've picked out for myself—it was a gift from my girlfriend a few Christmases ago—and it took forever to start as well. There were a few moment towards the end that bumped it up to 3 stars, as I was thinking of giving it 2. It's probably like a 2.5.

Next book up is The Killing Joke, not the infamous graphic novel, but a regular novel version of the story. Time will tell whether I resist temptation and wait to start reading it until tomorrow, or whether I'll give in and read a bit tonight. I've got some other stuff to do, and it's already almost midnight.

Book finished: The Killing Joke ✔︎

Bit of a disappointment this one. Read more like mediocre fanfiction than anything else. Oh well.

Next up: Sapiens (Which I've had on loan from a friend since late 2016...)

February 2019

February was good. Managed to churn through a fair few books. Am currently at 8 books out of a pledged thirty. According to Goodreads that is 4 books ahead of schedule. Pretty happy with that.

So almost a third through my reading challenge, and also almost a third through my pledged number of pages for the year. So far so good.

Some stats for February:
Books carried over: 2
Books started: 4
Books completed: 6
Pages read: 1,883
Days read: 26/28
Pages averaged per day, including off days: ~67
Pages averaged per day, excluding off days: ~72

And the entire year:
Books started: 8
Books completed: 8
Pages read: 3,717
Days read: 52/59
Pages averaged per day, including off days: 63 (exactly)
Pages averaged per day, excluding off days: ~72

Book finished: 22/11/63 ✔︎

Took a break from Sapiens—which is going slower than I expected—to read my first ever Stephen King novel.

It was very good. Now, back to how humans are a plague...

March 2019

March was a lot slower than the first two months of the year, but still managed to hit my monthly goal of 1,000 pages.

I was just having a hard time getting into a couple of the books that I started, but made up for it with the Stephen King doorstopper...

Some stats for March:
Books carried over: 0
Books started: 3
Books completed: 1
Pages read: 1,188
Days read: 27/31
Pages averaged per day, including off days: ~38
Pages averaged per day, excluding off days: 44

And the entire year:
Books started: 11
Books completed: 9
Pages read: 4,905
Days read: 79/90
Pages averaged per day, including off days: 54.5
Pages averaged per day, excluding off days: ~62

Book finished: F ✔︎

My parents bought me this while abroad because it has a Rubik's cube on the cover.

Wasn't actually about Rubik's cubes, even though one makes an apperance.

Actually, unsure what it was about, period.

Book finished: Sapiens ✔︎

Wow. Finally.

So I borrowed this from a friend in late 2016, read the first part one Sunday in September 2017 and then never got back to it.

Took me almost two months to get through it now. But it is finally finished and now I can return the book to it's rightful owner. It's been on my shelf so long that I am a little bit ashamed, hah.

Did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Now, for something completely different... but what.

Book finished: Finding George Orwell in Burma ✔︎

Another gift from my parents. This time my mum chose the book because 1984 is my favorite novel and this had Orwell in the title.

This one hit the mark more than their last gift...

I've got like three more short books to read that they've given me recently. At least one is about soccer, so I don't know what that's about, hahaha.

Book finished: When Breath Becomes Air ✔︎

Spontaneously started reading this—it was on my dad's Kindle that he lent me because he wanted me to read the Dark Tower series or something—last night when I wanted to get in my even just a little bit day's reading in. Ended up reading about 40% of the book before I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

And then finished it at work today, where I had to try really hard to not start crying on the shop floor—it was almost closing time and no one had been in for like 20 minutes, so it wasn't weird that I was reading, OK—and yeah. Surprise, but glad I read it.

April 2019

Ok. So. April wasn't the greatest. I was struggling to get through Sapiens in the first half of the month, so I skipped a lot of days and on the days I did read I didn't get very far. It was more out of obligation than enjoyment.

Almost made my monthly goal of 1,000 pages—but I started a new job on Monday, so I didn't give myself time to read these past few days, which would've probably gotten me over the finish line. Oh well, 910 is still pretty decent, and I'd earned some goodwill for January and February, hah.

Some stats for April:
Books carried over: 2
Books started: 3
Books completed: 4
Pages read: 910
Days read: 22/30
Pages averaged per day, including off days: ~30
Pages averaged per day, excluding off days: ~41

And the entire year:
Books started: 14
Books completed: 13
Pages read: 5,815
Days read: 101/120
Pages averaged per day, including off days: ~48.5
Pages averaged per day, excluding off days: ~57.5

Book finished: Us Against You ✔︎

Second installment of the Bear Town series. Series? Maybe just a sequel. Idk if there'll be more...

Anyway. Does anyone read these little updates of mine...?

Book finished: A Horse Walks Into a Bar ✔︎

Strange book. Also my fifteenth of the year, so halfway to my goal.

Book finished: White ✔︎

And then I read these 80 pages in one sitting.

May 2019

Considering I've been working all but four days this month, I'm pretty proud of having read almost 1,000 pages. I did consider reading just ten more last night, but man, that middle chapter in Cloud Atlas has been tough, so I decided that missing my monthly mark by just ten pages was fine.

I've now quit my old job and have started full time at my new one, so we'll see what that brings. On one hand I used to read during my breaks and even on the shop floor when there were no customers, so that'll change, but on the other hand get home earlier in the day allowing for maybe some reading out in the sun.

Some stats for May:
Books carried over: 1
Books started: 3
Books completed: 3
Pages read: 990
Days read: 28/31
Pages averaged per day, including off days: ~32
Pages averaged per day, excluding off days: ~35

And the entire year:
Books started: 17
Books completed: 16
Pages read: 6,805
Days read: 129/151
Pages averaged per day, including off days: ~45
Pages averaged per day, excluding off days: ~53

Book finished: Cloud Atlas ✔︎

🤔