Books Without Borders discussion

Hey all! I'm just wondering if anyone has any goals for the coming new year as far as reading goes. Or any goals for that matter.

I tried to read 50 books this year but have fallen embarrassingly short. But with a new baby and my husband's deployment, I guess it was to be expected.

This coming year, instead of making a number goal, I'm going to challenge myself to read 1 non-fiction book each month. I did it a couple years ago and really loved it. I would like to do it again.

So what about you all? Do you have any reading goals for the upcoming year?

Hi Maranda
No need to feel embarrassed about falling short on your reading goal this year. I often share the expression: If you want to make God laugh....make plans.LOL! I pray for your husband's safety while deployed and that the time passes quickly for you and your newborn. As for making a 2010 reading goal, it hasn't been set yet. I read one non-fiction book this year: and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Maybe we can add a separate non-fiction reading thread in BWOB group. I know I'm more motivated when others are reading the same book.

well for 2011 I set my goal for 50 books but ended up reading 80. But I am setting my goal at 50 again and see where it goes.

I can tell you one thing I couldn't have done it with a new baby...

Andrea "Drea" wrote: "well for 2011 I set my goal for 50 books but ended up reading 80. But I am setting my goal at 50 again and see where it goes.

I can tell you one thing I couldn't have done it with a new baby..."

Oh gosh. I failed miserably at the 50 books last year! I think I'll be happy if I read 24 books this year! Maybe I'll set it for 25. ;-)

Maranda wrote: "Andrea "Drea" wrote: "well for 2011 I set my goal for 50 books but ended up reading 80. But I am setting my goal at 50 again and see where it goes.

I can tell you one thing I couldn't have done ..."

You can do it Maranda! Just keep reading.

I read 33 books this past year. That was with a move to a new state, my husband deploying, and having a new baby. We will see what this year brings!

Thanks for the encouragement!!

I think I'm gonna strive for 50 books this year.

I'm starting off with 25 and raise it as I move along.

Cate wrote: "I'm starting off with 25 and raise it as I move along."

That it's definitely my plan!

I did that last year. I started with 25, which I thought, at the beginning of the year, was a lot. But I reached that at around March so I added increments of 5. I ended up with 81 for 2011. :)

Perfect way of pacing oneself, especially if you're busy and do not have that much free time.

Cate wrote: "I did that last year. I started with 25, which I thought, at the beginning of the year, was a lot. But I reached that at around March so I added increments of 5. I ended up with 81 for 2011. :)..."

Wow! That's.an incredible number to end with! congrats! I like that idea because seeing the goal & not getting there gives me a feeling of failure. This would set myself up for success more. Thanks for the great idea!

I am currently 3 books ahead of my personal reading goal of 50 books for 2012. I think I'm going to take a page from Cate's reading plan and add 5 books to my reading goal as I approach my goal of 50 books for the year.

Lady Day wrote: "I am currently 3 books ahead of my personal reading goal of 50 books for 2012. I think I'm going to take a page from Cate's reading plan and add 5 books to my reading goal as I approach my goal of..."

Woohoo!! Congratulations!!

Maranda wrote: "Lady Day wrote: "I am currently 3 books ahead of my personal reading goal of 50 books for 2012. I think I'm going to take a page from Cate's reading plan and add 5 books to my reading goal as I ap..."


Thanks so much. Hopefully I can continue this momentum.

My goal is 80 for the year. I have 3 down and lots to go. I have a list I made of books I want to read and also some that are recommended here.

My goal is to read 50 this year. to me it seems small but thats the challenge i want to start off with for now then work my way up. should be an interesting journey so far :)

Debbie wrote: "My goal is 80 for the year. I have 3 down and lots to go. I have a list I made of books I want to read and also some that are recommended here."

Wow Debbie! That's an awesome goal! I look forward to your updates!!

Michelle wrote: "My goal is to read 50 this year. to me it seems small but thats the challenge i want to start off with for now then work my way up. should be an interesting journey so far :)"

Go Michelle!!! About 1 book a week! You can do it! I can't wait to read about your progress.

I'm giving myself a Goodreads goal of 50 books this year but a personal goal of 25,000 pages. I failed miserably at my book goal last year but read almost 22,000 pages when I added it up. I'm notorious for reading really long books!!!

Amanda wrote: "I'm giving myself a Goodreads goal of 50 books this year but a personal goal of 25,000 pages. I failed miserably at my book goal last year but read almost 22,000 pages when I added it up. I'm not..."

Great idea!! I have found that I only read short books on the years that I give myself a book goal. I wish Goodreads had a "pages" option for the reading goal instead of just number of books completed. I think I'm going to go figure out how many pages I read last year.

Okay guys! I don't know if you have seen this feature yet, but I went to go add up the pages for the books I read last year. I went into the My Books link at the top of the screen and I saw a little button called "stats" next to the search box on the right. I clicked on that and it gave me an option for books and pages! I don't have to get out my calculator!!

Last year I read 11,553 pages. So my goal this year is to read 15,000 pages. The closer I get to this goal, the bigger I'll make it! I'm so excited that I found this feature!

Maranda wrote: "Okay guys! I don't know if you have seen this feature yet, but I went to go add up the pages for the books I read last year. I went into the My Books link at the top of the screen and I saw a littl..."

I have seen it, but I wonder how it deals with audiobooks or e-reader books that were never published in print. I may try to keep track closely on my own this year and compare the numbers.

My goal for this year is one more book than I read last year. So I am shooting for 238. Yes, I know that I am crazy.

Go Gwen!!!! How are you doing toward your goal so far???

Maranda wrote: "Go Gwen!!!! How are you doing toward your goal so far???"

Woot! I am already at 38, so a bit ahead. Would be further ahead, but ever since I got the Fire, I have gotten addicted to reading the Amazon forums. That place is worse than Pinterest as far as time sucks go:)

Oh wow!!! I've read 3 books this year so far. Yes...THREE. LOL!!

Maranda wrote: "Oh wow!!! I've read 3 books this year so far. Yes...THREE. LOL!!"

Yes, but you have cute wee ones to entertain you and keep you busy. I just have a 90 lb. beast of a dog that sleeps when he isn't chasing squirrels.

Last year my goal was 30 and I passed it (but I need to be realistic with 2 young special needs kids at home!). So this year set my goal for 40.

Like Amanda wrote, I read some really long books so maybe should be taking that into account. I can easily knock out several short ones, but end up reading all books over 500 pages. I will have to think about setting a page goal...

Jean wrote: "Last year my goal was 30 and I passed it (but I need to be realistic with 2 young special needs kids at home!). So this year set my goal for 40.

Like Amanda wrote, I read some really long books..."

I like the page goal because I have found that I won't read long books because I'm trying to get that number in. I want to read for pleasure and to read what intrigues me...not what I can read the fastest. LOL!

Maranda wrote:I want to read for pleasure and to read what intrigues me...not what I can read the fastest. "

I think that we can all agree on that.I enjoy a short story/novella every few regular size books just to take a break. It's also a great way to find new indie authors.

How's everyone doing with their goals?
This is my first year doing it, I set it for 100 (looks a little optimistic now, even with my love for graphic novels) I've read 28 out of the 40 I'm supposed to have done, got me some catching up to do... haha xx

I had to move mine up! My original goal was 25 and now it's 40 for the year because I was about 5-6 books ahead of schedule. I would like mine to be an actual "challenge" so I bumped up my goal number. :-)

Michelle wrote: "My goal is to read 50 this year. to me it seems small but thats the challenge i want to start off with for now then work my way up. should be an interesting journey so far :)"

Hi Michelle! Are you still on track to your goal of 50 books this year? Good luck!

Maranda wrote: "I had to move mine up! My original goal was 25 and now it's 40 for the year because I was about 5-6 books ahead of schedule. I would like mine to be an actual "challenge" so I bumped up my goal num..."

That's kewll! I checked my challenge widget and only a few of my books were added, even though they're on my "read" shelf. I've gotta figure out why my books are NOT applying to my goal..ARGH!!!! According to the widget, I'm 9 books behind...accordinging to my records, i'm 2 books ahead of goal.

Lady Day wrote: "Maranda wrote: "I had to move mine up! My original goal was 25 and now it's 40 for the year because I was about 5-6 books ahead of schedule. I would like mine to be an actual "challenge" so I bumpe..."

The only thing I can think of is that books only count towards your goal if you add to them the date you finished reading them. Hope it helps xx

Thanks Beth.

I was going to mention the date thing too. Did that help??

Maranda wrote: "I was going to mention the date thing too. Did that help??"

LOL....it helped,but I'm not much closer to my goal...just 9 books behind! ARGH,what happened to my momentum?????

Lady Day wrote: "Maranda wrote: "I was going to mention the date thing too. Did that help??"

LOL....it helped,but I'm not much closer to my goal...just 9 books behind! ARGH,what happened to my momentum?????"

Life happens. Grrrr! I've been looking into Audio books. What do you think? Do you think audio books should count toward the goal? I've been trying to decide if I think they should count or not.

Audio books totally count! Those things take me forever to get through because I only really listen while cooking or weeding. Two things I try to avoid:)

I am up to 158 so far. My page count is not so great though thanks to the few audio books and a ton of ebooks that don't have page numbers. grr.

Maranda wrote: "Lady Day wrote: "Maranda wrote: "I was going to mention the date thing too. Did that help??"

LOL....it helped,but I'm not much closer to my goal...just 9 books behind! ARGH,what happened to my mom..."

Hey Maranda
I think audiobooks should definitely count, although I totally forget to add them to what I'm reading/listening...lol!

Gwen - Chew & Digest Books - wrote: "Audio books totally count! Those things take me forever to get through because I only really listen while cooking or weeding. Two things I try to avoid:)

I am up to 158 so far. My page count is no..."

Gwen - Chew & Digest Books
I agree...

Woohoo! I'm definitely getting more interested in the idea of audio books.

Gwen ~ Your ebooks don't have page numbers? Have you looked at the different formats for certain books? I know a lot of people find the page numbers for those. The Nook has pages...I don't know about the Kindle though.

Gwen - Chew & Digest Books - wrote: "Audio books totally count! Those things take me forever to get through because I only really listen while cooking or weeding. Two things I try to avoid:)

I am up to 158 so far. My page count is no..."

@Gwen & Lady Day - when I update my status on my ebooks (Kindle version) I am able to look at the percentages complete and then add a status update on goodreads in percentages instead of the page numbers. In your update status screen click 'page' and it switches to '%' and vice versa. Not sure if this is what you're talking about when yousay your page count is not good, but maybe it will help.

Thanks abundantly Lori! Much appreciated :)

Lori wrote: "when I update my status on my ebooks (Kindle version) I am able to look at the percentages complete and then add a status update on goodreads in percentages instead of the page numbers. In your update status screen click 'page' and it switches to '%' and vice versa. "

Yes, I keep my own page count, but have noticed that if I add that I listened to the audio book (instead of just randomly choosing any old edition) here, it won't add to my page count for the year counting thingy.

Does that even make sense?

I wouldn't really expect it to, but I like using the count here to ballpark.

Yippyyyyyyyy! I've completed 40% of my reading goal. I'm only 7 books behind...LOL! Reduced it to single digits finally. I will meet or exceed my goal...

Lady Day wrote: "Yippyyyyyyyy! I've completed 40% of my reading goal. I'm only 7 books behind...LOL! Reduced it to single digits finally. I will meet or exceed my goal..."

Great job! I know you have been working hard to catch up!

Maranda wrote: "Lady Day wrote: "Yippyyyyyyyy! I've completed 40% of my reading goal. I'm only 7 books behind...LOL! Reduced it to single digits finally. I will meet or exceed my goal..."

Great job! I know you ha..."

Thanks Maranda!!!

My goal for the year is 48. I'm just about right on, according to the goodreads counter. Have never looked at the "pages read" option. Will do that now. Should be interesting.