Books on the Nightstand discussion

My 2014 goal is similar to many of the other members...read from my stacks. I find that I purchase a lot of books based on recommendations and reviews (and of course listening to BOTNS) but with working and being in two bookgroups I find I don't often get to the books I pick up. My goal this year is to pick up and read some of those when the mood strikes. I can relate to Michael's comments on the last episode of BOTNS that when I give myself a 'resolution' or make a list (like I did in 2013) I rarely felt like reading those books and it became more of a chore. This year, my only 'chore' reading will be my monthly book group picks and my resolution is to read more of the fun books that I've picked up over the years.

Reading some of the recent posts and thinking about what I currently own, I'm thinking I might make 2014 the Year of the Big Book(s)...

The Goldfinch
The Luminaries
A Fine Balance

etc.

Maybe I'll shoot for 4 door-stoppers, which would give me a leisurely 3 months for each. Plus, lots of audiobooks (long commute) and some shorter books from my TBR in between.

And that's the long and short of it. ;)

I also want to get to some books that have been collecting dust at my house and on my tablet... I'm thinking 14 books I already own in 14, and I'm only allowed to buy one after I have read 3 in my possession. I'm keeping my number goal the same however. Fifty books was totally doable and I should have as much or more free time in the coming year that I did in 2013. Happy New Year reading everyone!

As others have posted on here, one of my goals is to read more of the books I have lying around, rather than buy or borrow in 2014. To that end, I made a quick stop to the library used bookshop and bought a few more. =)

Chanda2426 wrote: "As others have posted on here, one of my goals is to read more of the books I have lying around, rather than buy or borrow in 2014. To that end, I made a quick stop to the library used bookshop and..."

:)

I had an outstanding reading year in 2013: 169 titles, 38,482 pages read and 370 hours of audio! This was a personal best and I'm looking forward to 2014!

That said, it may surprise you that my goal for 2014 is to read less! I want to see more plays, more movies and do more hiking & kayaking! This is not to say that I am foregoing reading, only that I want to see a little bit more of the world beyond the page! :-)

Anyway, I set up 14 mini-goals which include reading new releases, catching up on a couple of series, hitting the TBR stacks, continuing to listen to audio books and, clearing my eReader... When all is said and done, I'm hoping to hit the 100 book mark :-)

I definitely need to catch up on all of the paper and ebooks I already own. Oy. I don't even want to count them all. The problem is that I always want to keep up with new books, and the $1.99 daily Kindle deals suck me in.

On the up side, I just finished book #109 for the year and honestly did not read anything that I didn't want to read. It was a great book year for me.

Sounds like we all have too many Books on the Nightstand, even if it's a virtual one! I blame Ann and Michael!

Tanya/dog eared copy wrote: "I had an outstanding reading year in 2013: 169 titles, 38,482 pages read and 370 hours of audio! "

Tanya you are my hero!

That's more titles in a month then I read in a year!wow !

Erin wrote: "Tanya you are my hero!"

[blushing] Thank you! :-)

Gerald wrote: "That's more titles in a month then I read in a year!wow !"

LOL, Imagine how much I could have read if I weren't addicted to the internet!

Victoria wrote: "Sounds like we all have too many Books on the Nightstand, even if it's a virtual one! I blame Ann and Michael!"

Ditto!

Lol Tanya! Same here!

So my husband and I just chatted a bit about our 2014 reading resolutions....mine being to read for my two book groups each month plus a few titles that I just 'want' to read. Last year he and I read a couple of books together - setting up a reading schedule and devoting our Sunday night dinners to a book conversation. It was kind of hard after awhile because we have such different tastes in books that it began to feel a bit like required reading.

This year we've decided that our way to 'read' together is to have a list of theme's to read throughout the year but picking our own titles. Here are a couple of our themes:
- Nonfiction title
- New Release/Best Seller
- Short Story
- Book over 500 pages
- Book with a 'color' in the title
- Book with a number in the title
- Graphic novel
- Book about food
- Book in a series

These are just a few of the ones we've thought up...the plan is to 'check off' as many as we can throughout the year keeping track of the titles we read for each one. I think it will be fun to see what books we pick for each of the themes.

For 2014
, th

Ok so I have fat fingers on the iPad. So what I was trying to say was for 2014 my hubby and I decided to listen to 6 books from authors we haven't tried before. I want to finish the novel I've been reading forever along with the final Sookie Stackhouse novel and catch up on the rest of the series I've started. The hubby on the other hand wants to catch up on all his graphic novels and the rest of his backlog of novels once we find the box they were packed in during our recent move. It isn't a lot but it'll be around 30 books when all is said and done between the both of us.

Tanya/dog eared copy wrote: "I had an outstanding reading year in 2013: 169 titles, 38,482 pages read and 370 hours of audio! This was a personal best and I'm looking forward to 2014!

That said, it may surprise you that my go..."

Tanya, I'm in the same camp. I decided to read fewer books in 2014--and perhaps longer books that I was skipping in order to reach my 150 per year goal.
After going that at this rate for three years, I noticed I was turning down social events in favor of reading. Realized I should even watch a little TV with my husband instead of sitting in another room with a book. (At least TV will be good for my knitting!)
So while reading is still my favorite past time, and I will still probably hit 100 books in 2014, I'm going to be relaxed about it.

Hi Ann,

When I heard of your 2014 challenge, I wanted to recommend to you a dystopia, translation: The Unit. I think the author is from Sweden--I loved this book!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

I'm so impressed by the numbers many of you are able to get thru in a year!! I was happy to read 30 books *blushes* and am hoping I can do 50 in 2014. We don't have cable, but I do still like to knit and watch the occasional show on Netflix, etc. I'm hoping to replace some of my internet surfing (social media can be such a time suck) time with reading.

My 2014 goal is Armchair Travel

I have the calendar 1000 Places to See Before You Die and I have listed books set in each place and posted it at work. I am focusing my reading on exotic places, and I will track them on a Mapquest Travel Journal blog on my Ipad instead of my simple reading journal.

I have already started "The Evolution of Jane" set in the Galapagos and "Beautiful Ruins" set in Italy and Hollywood. Both are wonderful so far. I am looking forward to seeing how many pins my map will have at the end of the reading year.

Karen near Seattle

Karen, I love your idea!

Karen that's genius!

Karen amazing

Karen wrote: "My 2014 goal is Armchair Travel

I have the calendar 1000 Places to See Before You Die and I have listed books set in each place and posted it at work. I am focusing my reading on exotic places, an..."

Fantabulous, Karen.

Carly wrote: "Hi Ann,

When I heard of your 2014 challenge, I wanted to recommend to you a dystopia, translation: The Unit. I think the author is from Sweden--I loved this book!
https://www.goodreads.com/book..."

Carly, I read The Unit a few years ago and *adored* it. Perfect recommendation (if I hadn't already read it)!

I read/listened to about 100 books during 2013, slightly higher than my goal, and can probably meet that again next year. I also managed to read books by authors from all letters of the alphabet but Y and X and did fairly well on reading at least one selection from about five years' worth of lists of critics' best books of the year and some other award lists. I didn't read as much nonfiction as I had hoped (6 books from a goal of 12), and didn't read as many books from my own shelves, rather than from the library, as I planned. My 2014 goals will be similar: overall goal of 100 titles with a number of secondary goals and particular emphasis on finally getting to a handful of "must reads" and reading more books I already own.

I did not reach my reading goal of 50 books for 2013. I started strong and kind of fell off after Halloween. So my goal for 2014 is to try and read 50 books (again). I belong to multiple book clubs, so 2014 will be a busy reading year.

50 is a lot of books--my goal also, almost 1 per week as someone pointed out to me. That was my goal and I made it, but there were a few audiobooks on the mix, and I did not finish the Robert Caro book on LBJ. I think aspiring to goals are good and almost getting there is great, but most important is keep reading!

I could not read nearly as many books if I still worked full-time, had young children and watched much t.v. I watched very little television in 2013, the least I've ever watched. I also didn't knit much. If I hadn't played around on the internet as much, I would have even more than 110 books. Lol I think the number of books we read in a year really is dependent on life and activities.

My goal for the year was 80 books with LOTS of stipulations - most of those stipulations I did not make (so many from my bedroom, borrowed books, etc.)

At almost 7:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve I've finished 78 books and have less than 90 pages to go in another. I'm hoping I might find something really slim before midnight.

I'm going to shoot for 100 for next year.

My goal for this year was 60 and I exceeded it by 3. I read some from my TBR, but my goal for next year is to read more books I already own and some longer books. Some of my 63 were slim. I am sticking with the same number 60 and 18 of them will be book club selections. I will also read Booktopia authors, especially Vermont. Happy New Year to all!!

Good luck everyone in the last hours of 2013! Happy New Year!

My goal this year is to read at least one short story collection. I never seem to get one done and since Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Literature prize, I have been yearning to read one of hers.

i didn't achieve my 2013 goal of 75 books so I am not sure if I'm going to attempt to reach that number again. Like Ann and Michael, I spend a lot of time around books - I own a bookshop selling new and used books. I am spoiled for choice, which isn't always a good thing. On top of that, I listen to a handful of good book podcasts, including BOTNS, and am always discovering new authors and books that I just HAVE to read. It's a sickness really. I will be spending today, the first day of 2014, trying to figure out a strategy. Suggestions are welcome. My TBR pile is ridiculous.

My reading goals:
1. Reading from my TBR pile, both physical and digital.
2. Reading at least 10 books by authors I have never read before.
3. Reading more big books (over 800 pages) and not worrying about my overall book total for the year.
4. Completing a MAJOR book cull.

my goal for 2013 was to read 50 books, I made it to 48, but I actually read over 4,000 more pages from 2012, so I was pleased!! of the 48, 28 of them were books I already owned!!

Same goal this year, 50 books, 22 of which must be previously owned & I will do some of the challenges from my 2 book groups!!

Karen wrote: "My 2014 goal is Armchair Travel

I have the calendar 1000 Places to See Before You Die and I have listed books set in each place and posted it at work. I am focusing my reading on exotic places, an..."

I love this idea! Would also love to get a peek at your list. I own Book Lust To Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers and am always of the lookout for stories set in exotic locales.

revising my challenge. I did do my 2013 challenge of 12 books reading 13. This year I am trying 24 books. I have a decent sized library so I am going to read more off those shelves and I hope to keep a list of all the short stories I read this year.

Karen wrote: "My 2014 goal is Armchair Travel

I have the calendar 1000 Places to See Before You Die and I have listed books set in each place and posted it at work. I am focusing my reading on exotic places, an..."

Great idea!

I love that idea! I hope you post a link to your map at the end of the year!

Karen wrote: "My 2014 goal is Armchair Travel

I have the calendar 1000 Places to See Before You Die and I have listed books set in each place and posted it at work. I am focusing my reading on exotic places, an..."

I'm gonna read a mess of books.

This would happen whether I made a resolution to do so or not. I might as well say, "I'm going to breathe."

Suzanne wrote: "Vanessa wrote: "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all my beautiful book people! :)

I usually have some reoccurring book goals every year and at least one or two unique goals.

My reoccurring read..."

Suzanne wrote: "Vanessa wrote: "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all my beautiful book people! :)

I usually have some reoccurring book goals every year and at least one or two unique goals.

My reoccurring read..."

Suzanne wrote: "Vanessa wrote: "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all my beautiful book people! :)

I usually have some reoccurring book goals every year and at least one or two unique goals.
Suzanne
My reoccurring read..."
Suzanne, A Fine Balance is also one of my all time favorites.

I met my 2013 goal of 50 books but read several short ones in December just to finish. In 2014, I'd like to read 52 books but count them in terms of pages so, for instance, The Goldfinch might count as two books. I have a lot of
"Big fat books" on my TBR list.
Anyone know how to do this on Goodreads?
Happy New Year to all my BOTNS Pals.

"Vague plan" to quit buying so many books failing thus far...Jan 2nd and three new books! Those kindle daily/monthly deals get me.

I read 52 books in 2013 so I challenged myself to 75 this time. Other than that I am doing a series challenge to read as many books in the numerous series that I have started and not finished. In the next few days I am checking the actual numbers but I think I have about 10 different series underway.

Lil wrote: ""Vague plan" to quit buying so many books failing thus far...Jan 2nd and three new books! Those kindle daily/monthly deals get me."
Lil, you and me both!

I definitely am challanging myself to read some books I have put off, like Zadie Smith, some Edward Rutherford, A.S. Byatt and Donna Tartt's earlier books, They have always sort of intimidated me.

I actually lowered my reading goal this year...I fell short of my goal last year, but I did read some great books. When I read through all the reading challenges I am amazed (and often jealous) of how many books folks can read each year. I always said once I graduated from college and started working full time that it really cramped my reading style!

This year I am going to focus on reading things that really interest me, as well as trying to read some things I have had on the shelf for a while. And then of course I have my monthly book club selection. I have a few more weeks of teaching left this term, so once I am finished I will hopefully be able to read a little more for pleasure.

I don't focus on a particular number of books. Rather I try to stretch myself in genre, size of book, etc. This year I'm tackling A Suitable Boy , about 1500 pgs. So far it's really caught my attention so I don't anticipate it becoming a chore.