The Reading Challenge Group discussion

11 days to go until the new year!! Who's excited?? :D

Me, I'm frantically trying to read the FOURTEEN BOOKS I still have to complete to meet my 2013 reading goal (EEK!), while also trying to deal with the busyness of the Christmas season. SO MUCH TO DO!

Oh I'm very excited :)
I have one book left to complete my 2013 reading challenge - lucky me ^_^
Good luck, Faye! 14 books!! It's a marathon :(

Only 1 book left? I'm jealous, haha! Last year I read about 120 books, but this year I haven't even reached 100 yet.

You haven't reached 100 ... YET!!!! And you're jealous?!! Come on girl!!! I haven't reached 50 books yet!! I'm the one who should be jealous :)
Gooooooood luck :) I'm really sad right now!!

LOL Okay, maybe "yet" was the wrong word... :P

I just tend to push myself each year to read more than the year before, but I guess I've reached my limit!

I'm excited too! ^_^ almost done with my 2013 reads too.

I'm starting to plan out what I want to read next year! I can't believe we're almost there!

I've (somehow) finished my 2013 Challenge, and now I'm just enjoying my Christmas reads. Set myself a high goal: 10 books over the next 2 weeks, but it should be fun! I generally don't do a lot at Christmas, so I can't wait to seriously get back into reading. It's been a bit hit and miss the last few weeks!

1 down, 9 books to go!

10 days to go!!!

That's awesome, Holly!

Finished the Goldfinch, which was my big December read and now I have one more to go to finish my goal for 2013 (my goal was 3 books. Don't judge - I joined in the middle of December so I thought it was realistic that I wouldn't read much more ;)). Really excited to start with a clean slate from the beginning of 2014 though!

Geoff, each persons goal is relative. So don't worry about it :) Do how many you want to do.

Happily reading now that I've hit my 50 book target for this year. Might see if I can push to 60 for 2014!

Oops, I'm late... 9 days left to go!!

Geoffll63 wrote: "I have to finish one more novel to make 24 for 2013 and I am on track and past my target of 20 for the year. I intend to make 20 a base-line target from now on. As a busy teacher with a young famil..."

We don't meant to put anybody else to shame, Geoff! As long as everyone feels inspired to fit as much reading into our schedules as we can, this group is doing its job. :)

I just finished my 2013 reads but am starting another book that I won't finish until after the new year.

Can I have the new year start tomorrow? Off to South Africa tomorrow and awaiting a 26h journey...would be a good kick-start! :)

Ohh, safe journey, Erik! But sorry, we still have...

8 days left to go!!

Only 6 more days to go!!!

I've ordered my first January reads from my library's website, so now I'm all anxious to get them and see them sitting on my shelf in a big juicy stack. :D

Do you know what your first read of the year will be?

For me it's still the dead game by susanne leist as I may not get done with it until then. I'd like to read nightmare abbey too.

my first read of the year is going to be The Gilly Salt Sisters and only because I already picked it up from the library. It is sitting on my night stand just waiting. What I am really excited about is on January 7th Unhinged is being released. I feel like I have been waiting forever.

Only 5 days left to go!!!

I'm so excited. It's just frustrating that I'm reading a lot now, and it's not counting towards 2014!

Luckily, I don't go back to school until the 6th Jan, so I have a good 5 days of pure reading to kick-start 2014. That's if I can get all my work done in the next few days!

I am trying not to start anything new and it is making me crazy. I hope I can finish the one I am reading now only 200 pages to go!

Roseanne, I wish I had your willpower. I just can't stop reading!

Only a few more days to go. I normally read more than one book at a time so it has been difficult and I have a library book sitting in my room for over a week now.

4 days to go!!!

I've decided that my first read of 2014 will be The Island of Dr. Moreau. I haven't read much H.G. Wells, but I've enjoyed what little I've read, and this one sounds good. :)

Meanwhile, I still have 10 more books to finish before the end of the year to make my 2013 goal! AUGH!!! CAN'T DO IT!!! MUST!! READ!! FASTER!!

I'm almost done with the dead game by Susanne Leist but it may be my first book of 2014. We'll see.

I was hoping to start my next book in 2014 but I finished the book I was reading this morning. The obsessive compulsive in me wants to be inbetween books when we go from 2013 to 2014. Do I try to fit another book in this year or wait to start the next one? Three days left...don't know what to do

Only 3 days to go!!!

Roseanne, is there something short that you could read?

I am thinking about reading UR by Stephen King. It is only 60 pages.

Of all the books I've read, my new book, "The Silent Wife," has more mixed reviews of any I've read before. Think it's best I stay away from that page/info for now....LOL!!
Anyway, here's my question...Considering I have to work tomorrow & pretty sure I will not read this book by January 1st, will it still count towards my 2014 goal? Just wondering :)
Thanks!!

That's a good question - I think as long as you finish a book in 2014 it'll count towards your goal. :)

I just finished my book today and now am debating about what to read next. Start something for 2014 or find a small book for 2013? I have a 3 hour plane ride tomorrow so I'll need something to keep entertained.

Hey chase check out little women. It's a pretty good read. :-)

"Waterbury" would be a good plane ride read.
Short & a good attention grabber:)

Chase wrote: "I just finished my book today and now am debating about what to read next. Start something for 2014 or find a small book for 2013? I have a 3 hour plane ride tomorrow so I'll need something to ke..."

I have the same problem :D
I finished a book yesterday and I don't know if starting Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity that I'll finish in January, or if I shall read a short one. I could read this: Sparrow.

I'd go for a short one. That way you can enjoy yourself without the pressure of finishing it before 2014

Holly wrote: "I'd go for a short one. That way you can enjoy yourself without the pressure of finishing it before 2014"

I hope to have time to start the short one today and to finish it before New Year's Eve (I must also cook something for the celebrations).

Only 2 more days!!!!

And I still have 7 books to read...

I'm starting my 2014 reading challenge tomorrow night but am not sure if I want first to read bedlam stories: project alice, nightmare abbey or the pearl. I'll figure it out. My mom and i's church are doing a reading challenge to read the bible in a year starting on the 1st so we have to read genesis chap 1-3 when we start then its 4-6 the next day, 7-9 the next day and 10-12 on the 4th so every week we get new dates and chapters for reading. Should be interesting. :-)

Holly wrote: "I'd go for a short one. That way you can enjoy yourself without the pressure of finishing it before 2014"

I ended up getting The Immortal Circus: Act One which was only 230 pages. Finished 180 pages on the plane already, so it won't be much of a hassle to finish tomorrow especially that I took tomorrow off of work to relax.

Only 1 day to go! I'll definitely be spending my last day of 2013 reading. I want to start on a good note for 2014, and I haven't read at all for the last few days (unless fanfiction counts...)

so excited! can't wait for tomorrow. Finished up last night and am currently reading nothing. It is a good thing I am working today and have plans for tonight or I would go crazy today. I am also ending on an even number of books for 2013. Good luck to everyone on their challenges in the new year.

Geoffll63 wrote: "I aimed for a modest twenty books. I managed twenty four. The stats on Goodreads are quite helpful: the total of pages read was 9159 which works out as an average of about 25 pages or one hour of r..."

I love the stats but I read on a kindle mostly and my page counts and goodreads page counts does not match

Last day of 2013!!! Wow, that went by fast! How has everyone done with their 2013 goals?

Good for you, Geoff, for exceeding yours!

I still have 5 more books to finish today to meet my goal of 104, which is technically not impossible, but will depend entirely upon the presence or lack of interruptions, haha.

Holly wrote: "Only 1 day to go! I'll definitely be spending my last day of 2013 reading. I want to start on a good note for 2014, and I haven't read at all for the last few days (unless fanfiction counts...)"

LOL Good question... DOES fanfiction count? Maybe we should open that up for debate. ;)

Faye wrote: "Holly wrote: "Only 1 day to go! I'll definitely be spending my last day of 2013 reading. I want to start on a good note for 2014, and I haven't read at all for the last few days (unless fanfiction ..."

I would think at least some of it has to count. I read Shadow of Oz last year. Goodreads counted it as a book. I would call it fanfiction. What do you think?

I know, it's annoying when some authors get paid and published for their fanfiction, yet others get looked down on or overlooked entirely for theirs. Kind of a double standard.

Just a few more hours now; Is anyone else waiting for the new Goodreads Challenge to be available so they can add their goals? Is this added at US time?

catherine wrote: "Just a few more hours now; Is anyone else waiting for the new Goodreads Challenge to be available so they can add their goals? Is this added at US time?"

I'm still hoping I can complete my 2013 goal before the 2014 one starts, haha!

I'm not sure when the new one goes up - I would have thought it would go by your own time zone, if you have it selected, but if not then probably by US time.

I have been waiting for them to change it for weeks now!