2013 reading goals?

[Tocho]

I don't have goals of reading x number of books, but for the next year I want to read some philosophy (Nietzsche, Plato, etc), some classics (Dostoyevsky, Verne, maybe some Shakespeare... etc) and sci-fi/political/dystopian/satirical books (Asimov, Huxley, Bradwell, Zamyatin, Swift and re-read Orwell, etc). If I figure out most of the plot of my book though, I'll be more busy writing rather than reading a book.

[nightlight]

this year i read 36.

planning on 40 next year... not sure if that will happen

[Omega]

Sweet goal. What sort of books you like?

I am a huge sci-fi/fantasy reader. I also enjoy a good biography and especially journals from historic figures

[Kangai]

Ouch, 52 in one year is a ghuge goal. You can do it!

As for me, with school and work I am going to cut down on my personal reading, but I have one big goal for the year and that is to re read the entire Wheel of Time series now that it is finished (book 13 came out a few months ago). I have been reading these books since 2000 and finally the journey is over. I stopped at book 9 because I wanted to read the whole series after it was done. So yeah. Lots to read.

Also want to read K-Starr's book when it comes out in March.

 

Brilliant! I also want to read the entire WOT series!I'm on #4 or 5, I think... The Dragon Reborn.

[Kangai]

My goal is 30 non-fiction books- mostly personal development and business-related books. I'm starting with Chris Guillebeaus "$100 Startup".

 

Fiction- as many as I can put my hands on. So far, I'm into my third fiction book this year- Jeffrey Archer's "The Sins Of The Father". I already read the first in the Clifton series- "Only Time Will Tell", and "The Hobbit" (never got around to reading it till now).

 

I'd love to finish the Wheel Of Time series, the Stieg Larsson series, the George R. Martin series, all the Wilbur Smith books, all Chimamanda Adichie's novels and other African books/writers, as well as others that I deem interesting.

[Kangai]

I read 15 this year so I'm shooting for 30 for 2013

Me too!

[Porkchop]

I probably read about 70 or so in 2012. I went on a Charles Cross binge at the end of last month (Room Full of Mirrors, Heavier Than Heaven, and Kicking And Dreaming) so I'll be okay as far as music biographies go for now. I just got done reading Escape From Camp 14 and now I'm burning through Life After Death (the Damien Echols story). Lined up after this is an 1100 page monster called The Great War For Civilization (Middle east history). I discovered voluntary reading reletively late in life so I'm probably making up for lost time. I'll burn through alot, then stop for a while. No idea how many I'll read this year. I'll shoot for 52.

[BeckyBuckeye]

One of my roommates did something similar, except she did a book a day. Some days she opted for very short picture books to give her brain a break and there were one or two books that she had to stop because she didn't have the time to get through all of it AND do a review, but most of the books were of standard length. (She also read other things while doing this -- the review books all had to be things she hadn't read before and sometimes she wanted old familiar comfort reading.) She's hoping to publish a book about the experience and is at the stage where she has to cut the reviews down to fit in a standard size book. (She has at least three times the material needed and that's just reviews and not any extra commentary.)

 

That is awesome!  When I'm home from work, I think I'll go read some of that.

[BeautifulBeast]

I want to finish the Game of Thrones series (I'm on book 3 now) as well as the Pretty Little Liars series. There's also a few lifestyle books I want to read through like 4 hour Chef, 4 hour work week, It starts with food etc.

[sericite]

Oh, MAN! Clearly I'm the crazy person who sets 100 "book" goals. To be fair, I do the Goodreads yearly challenge & it counts not just books, but also graphic novels, novellas, and audio books. I justify it by noting that for every 100 page comic volume I read, I'm probably also reading a 400 page book (I hope).

Good luck with all your (hugely more reasonable) goals this year!

[cracked_belle]

there was a bunch of shit ones I started but didn't complete.

ditto.

I have a bad habit of reading too many books at once, and then dropping one or two of them along the way. 

[FlipFlopGirl]

I loved to read when I was a kid and over the years I've become distracted with other things and stopped reading unless it was some random website, blog, or whatever subject is my current fascination  at the time. This year I'm aiming for 15 books. I have a few on my kindle app on my phone that I'm starting with and I'll work my way back to the books I have stacked around the house.

[CalvinHobbes]

I want to finish the Game of Thrones series (I'm on book 3 now) as well as the Pretty Little Liars series. There's also a few lifestyle books I want to read through like 4 hour Chef, 4 hour work week, It starts with food etc.

I'm just finishing book 3 now and have the rest lined up...I hope to finish them by the end of January (when I have to return them to the library....)

 

Oh, MAN! Clearly I'm the crazy person who sets 100 "book" goals. To be fair, I do the Goodreads yearly challenge & it counts not just books, but also graphic novels, novellas, and audio books. I justify it by noting that for every 100 page comic volume I read, I'm probably also reading a 400 page book (I hope). Good luck with all your (hugely more reasonable) goals this year!

I was thinking it would be 100 books this year too, but then I realized that the specific books I want to read are quite lengthy or take longer than most others (finish Game of Thrones series, Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment for examples, but I plan on going through some Dickens too). I dont think your goals are crazy at all!

[sericite]

I was thinking it would be 100 books this year too, but then I realized that the specific books I want to read are quite lengthy or take longer than most others (finish Game of Thrones series, Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment for examples, but I plan on going through some Dickens too). I dont think your goals are crazy at all!

 

Ambitious reading list! I like it.  I subscribe to what I call the "new book shelf" theory of reading....I got to the library and see what looks interesting on the new book shelf then check it out.  This theory also includes the Kindle Deal Corollary....which means I see what I can get for $3 or less every time Amazon updates their Kindle book deals. The downside is that I probably have enough Kindle books sitting in a backlog that I could hit well over 50% of my 100 reads goal without ever looking for another book.  I mean, I'm not gonna, but I could. Heh.

[CalvinHobbes]

Ambitious reading list! I like it.  I subscribe to what I call the "new book shelf" theory of reading....I got to the library and see what looks interesting on the new book shelf then check it out.  This theory also includes the Kindle Deal Corollary....which means I see what I can get for $3 or less every time Amazon updates their Kindle book deals. The downside is that I probably have enough Kindle books sitting in a backlog that I could hit well over 50% of my 100 reads goal without ever looking for another book.  I mean, I'm not gonna, but I could. Heh.

Haha thanks! I might not get to them all but I will certainly try. Have you looked at Pixel of Ink? It has a lot of free Kindle books/cheap deals.

[sericite]

 Have you looked at Pixel of Ink? It has a lot of free Kindle books/cheap deals.

 

Oooohhhh.....Thank you.  Bookmarking now. I'm not sure it's such a good thing I know about that. LOL. 

[cracked_belle]

soooo, I got Book 1 of 24 down for this year (it was Mark Dunn - "Ella Minnow Pea").  meanwhile, I'm already in the middle of three other books (David Wong - "John Dies at the End", Jerold J. Kreisman - "I Hate You, Don't Leave Me", and Terri Cheney - "Manic").  hoping to knock all three of them out in the next two weeks.

[KimPossible]

Ok... So, for 2013 (and half of 2014)... My reading list is... well, its in a google spread sheet in my signature. 

 

1 down...

 

about 155 to go...

[Oogiem]

I did decide togo ahead and set a numeric goal as well as a goal of clearing books off my kindle that have languished unread there. Although I blew past my 64 book goal last year I'm leaving it the same for this year. The reason is that I realized that I let fall by the wayside several other important goals to meet that one and so I want to get back in balance. So 64 books and no new ones purchased until I've finished what i already have on my kindle. (Except critical reference books, I just bought a sheep anatomy book and I'm looking for an untrasound book as well but they don't count in the no new books rules )

[Pyth]

I'm hoping to clear books 6-12 off The Wheel of Time and start reading the Belgariad series.

[Avistew]

Anyone counting in pages rather than books? It seems like a 2,000 page book and a 100 page book shouldn't count as the same, and setting yourself a number of books as a goal would encourage reading shorter books... which in itself isn't necessarily bad, but there are lots of awesome books that are long, too.

[sericite]

Anyone counting in pages rather than books? It seems like a 2,000 page book and a 100 page book shouldn't count as the same, and setting yourself a number of books as a goal would encourage reading shorter books... which in itself isn't necessarily bad, but there are lots of awesome books that are long, too.

 

You know, I've been thinking about that a lot. I know someone in our Book Lovers challenge group is doing pages as well. 

 

The problem I run into is that I read a lot of ebooks and not all of them give me page counts (though Kindle is catching up & I think by next year it'll be a non-issue).  But, I agree....some years I read 1000 page books like The Stand and then a volume of comics like the Sandman volumes....I just end up hoping it cancels out.  I'm considering pages starting next year. 

[CalvinHobbes]

Anyone counting in pages rather than books? It seems like a 2,000 page book and a 100 page book shouldn't count as the same, and setting yourself a number of books as a goal would encourage reading shorter books... which in itself isn't necessarily bad, but there are lots of awesome books that are long, too.

 

Ha, yes! My first two books are about 1000 pages each, so I have only finished one book in 2013, making me technically behind in my goals. 2014 will be the year

[Avistew]

Right now, I left my nook behind in the US when I went back to France, and it's a bit snowed in to get to the library, and I don,t count internet articles, etc, so my reading is pretty much nothing.

 

But once I get my nook back, my goal is to catch up on some of the classics. I think, since I haven't read in a while, my first goal will be a time goal (read at least an hour a day) and I'll adapt it later on to a weekly or monthly goal... But I'm going to go with hours of reading at first, because I know myself, if I set a page goal I'll read so fast I won't enjoy it, and if I set a book goal I'll avoid the longer books. I'm too competitive, and reading should be a pleasure, so I'll count time spent reading, this way I'll know it will be quality reading.

 

I find it interesting to see how different people work, though

[Dimpley]

Oh my goodness. I found so many great things in this thread. First off, thank you for telling us about pixel of ink. I too, have had to put myself on a book buying diet in the past. But anyone who has ever been to Powell's books in Portland would understand. Currently I have myself on a book buying diet, simply so that I will finish the book that I have been reading for about a year. I keep putting it down and going back to it. I personally would like to set something like Avistew was saying and shoot for time read. I always think about reading before I go to bed, but never really do. My big problem is that when I read, I feel like I am neglecting my bofriend, and he is always asking me what is going on in the book, so I am constantly giving him the play by play. But I think I am going to shoot for reading before I go to bed every night so that I can get through this book and move on to bigger and better things. Thanks for all of the sharing.