Cozy Mysteries discussion

Steve: Trying to get through 1001 list is rather daunting. I haven't even heard of some of the books on that list. I used a few novellas to catch up with my goal when I fell a bit behind a couple months ago. I'll count novellas, but not short stories.

Linda: Good job! ☺

Teresa: I also had a mini-goal of reading 10-12 classics this year, but have actually exceeded that. I'm at 16 so far and may add a couple more before end of the year.

Melodie: Excellent work!

I'm on track (185 at this moment).

I'm 9 books behind and I have no real excuse except I'm still putting things away and then trying to remember where I put things away! LOL I'm sitting here looking at boxes filled with books and no bookcases yet.

339/345 and 35 books ahead. Gosh, I need to get a life!

Wow I am so impressed! Currently on 59/65.

I'm at 92% - read 138 of 150 books, so I can afford to lose reading time during the holidays.

I am at 238/250 should just make my goal.

Steve wrote: "I am a little behind I may scrape the 1001 books list for smaller novellas to catch up."

Where is this list?

You can find a list of the 1001 books here. There is a Goodreads group here.

I was just glancing at my home page and saw that I completed my challenge over the weekend!! 110/110!! Didn't even realize I was that close. I guess the month of December will be a bonus!

I've got to 148 out of 150. Hopefully should finish this week.

I need to get a move on as I need to read another 6 books in order to achieve my challenge.
My number is very small (15 books) because I only joined GR at the end of October, but next year I'll be able to up the number!

Congrats on finishing, Linda. Way to go!

Go Trish!

Sabrina: Six in one month is totally achievable. I know you can do it!

I am now 97/100, so almost at my goal. Unfortunately, I only finished one book last week due to being gone over the long holiday weekend.

Heather L wrote: "Congrats on finishing, Linda. Way to go!

Go Trish!

Sabrina: Six in one month is totally achievable. I know you can do it!

I am now 97/100, so almost at my goal. Unfortunately, I only finished ..."

Thanks for the confidence Heather! :-)

I'm at 108/110. Should finish up this week!

I technically finished mine this past weekend, but GR still thinks I need one more book to go (it's the whole re-reads thing - GR doesn't count them). I'll finish up a book this afternoon and that will mark GR challenge finished.

I'm at 95% - just 8 more to go...

You all do so well, I only did 55 this year but I have read 97 so far this year. It has been a busy few years for me so I am surprised I made it to the 55.

❂ Jennifer (reviews on BookLikes) wrote: "I technically finished mine this past weekend, but GR still thinks I need one more book to go (it's the whole re-reads thing - GR doesn't count them)."

I've reread a few books over the years -- including one or two this year -- and had no problem with GR counting the reread. Try entering a different edition than you used before and see if that works.

Good job Melodie, BJ and Dianne. I'm champing at the bit to reach my goal, with it only being three books away. ☺

Heather L wrote: "I've reread a few books over the years -- including one or two this year -- and had no problem with GR counting the reread. Try entering a different edition than you used before and see if that works..."

Yeah, adding a different edition works, but I don't like doing that - my shelves reflect what I actually own and I don't want to bloat my book list with dummy editions. LeafMarks and BookLikes both track re-reads so I have an accurate track of how much reading I do - just not on GR.

Made it! Challenge complete

Trish wrote: "Made it! Challenge complete"

Congratulations Trish! Well done!

Congratulations, Trish!

I'm closing in -- only 1-1/2 books to go! ☺

Wow. What fantastic readers! Are any of you authors as well? I'm working on my next Mattie Mitchell Humor Mystery cozy and can't imagine how I'd find time for that much reading. I'd say you've all done a great job!

Congrats, Trish!

Finished my goal of 345 this year. I'm actually at 356.

Congrats to all who finished.

Mary (Biblophile) wrote: "Finished my goal of 345 this year. I'm actually at 356.

Congrats to all who finished."

I'm in awe... my hat off to you Mary!

Congratulations to all who finished.

Mary, I'm impressed! Way to go.

I am in awe, Mary - congrats!

Mary (Biblophile) wrote: "Finished my goal of 345 this year. I'm actually at 356.

Congrats to all who finished."

Congrats Mary! That is impressive :)

I am done too but my goal was much smaller, 208.

Hit my goal of 110 this morning!

Congratulations Melodie and everyone else who met their goals!!

Yay Melodie! I'm on my last book now (though it obviously won't be the last book for the year, since we have a couple weeks to go yet). ☺

Heather L wrote: "Yay Melodie! I'm on my last book now (though it obviously won't be the last book for the year, since we have a couple weeks to go yet). ☺"

Good for you Heather, you're nearly there!

Do any of you worry about page count or is it strictly the number of books you read? I have a friend that doesn't concern herself with how many books she reads but how many pages she reads. She told me she realized she was skipping reading some good (long) books because she was afraid it would slow her book count down.

Teresa wrote: "Do any of you worry about page count or is it strictly the number of books you read? I have a friend that doesn't concern herself with how many books she reads but how many pages she reads. She t..."

For me, it's really the number of books I read which counts. Indeed, when you read a long book, it will slow down the book count, but eventually you will read some shorter books so in the end, it levels out I think. I certainly wouldn't hold off reading long books.

What Sabrina said. I've read a couple longer books this year, as well as some shorter or "average length" but more difficult books to get through. I usually follow them up with a few novellas or shorter books. Some books are worth the extra time and work.

Congrats, Mary! Impressive!

Teresa wrote: "Do any of you worry about page count or is it strictly the number of books you read? I have a friend that doesn't concern herself with how many books she reads but how many pages she reads. She t..."

Not really, but I do keep track of the pages I read on the spreadsheets I keep for my yearly reads.

Congrats to everyone who met their challenges!

As to Teresa's question, I don't stress page count at all - as others have said, it all comes out in the wash: some long tomes make up for the novellas. :)

But your question made me curious, and another site I'm on, BookLikes, does track the number of pages along with the number of books you've read for your challenge, so I looked it up. So far this year, I've read 59902 pages. (This assumes the page count on each book record is accurate so who knows if that number is actually correct.)

Jennifer, you raise a valid point about page counts being accurate. A recent novella I read was listed as having 89 pages, but the actuall story was only 49, with the rest being reviews and/or previews of other books by the author, none of which I read.

It is also sometimes difficult or impossible to find the version of the book you are reading listed here (especially for older novels), and different publications of the same novel can differ in page count by a few pages up to 200 pages, depending on how big the print is, or whether it is a mass market, tradesize paperback, hardcover or ebook.

Personally, I don't worry about page count either but was curious if anyone else did. I'd never really thought about it until my friend and I were discussing it. Like Jennifer I did take a look at what GoodReads shows my page count to be. It was about 24,000 but I've not always been able to find the correct edition listed on GoodReads.

Teresa wrote: "Do any of you worry about page count or is it strictly the number of books you read? I have a friend that doesn't concern herself with how many books she reads but how many pages she reads. She t..."

A few years ago I set myself a page count challenge. I read a lot of plays (which are typically well under 100 pages) so my book count is skewed high. Of course, I also read a fair amount of classics which tend to be chunksters!

I don't really think it matters as long as what you do is motivating for you. To my mind, that is the main reason for any of these challenges.

Where do you find the GoodReads page count?

If you go to my books, to the right of the search box is stats. Once you go there it will pull up everything you've entered on goodreads and tell you how many books you've read or you can see how many pages you've read. I think it's all subjective, so far this year I've read 26 more books than in 2013 but my page count is still lower (I read a lot of long books last year). My usual goal is just to read as much as I can, as long as I'm getting things off my to-read shelf it's all good.

Thank you, Linda.

30,699 pages 195 books. I read a LOT in 2013 but wasn't on goodreads yet.

Wow, I did not know the stuff you could find under "stats." The longest book read this year was East of Eden, at 602 pages. Pages read is 27,166 (this does not include the 218 pages from my current book) -- but as I said previously, I don't think this is accurate, as some ebooks are half story and half reviews/previews, which I don't read. The majority of books read were mysteries, followed closely by romance.

Heather L wrote: "Pages read is 27,166 (this does not include the 218 pages from my current book) -- but as I said previously, I don't think this is accurate, as some ebooks are half story and half reviews/previews, which I don't read..."

When I did my page count challenge, I kept track of the actual pages of the books I read independently of GR for just that reason!

Well, I've officially finished the challenge, but something is screwy. It shows 100 books on my shelf, but the meter only says 99. What gives GR? I want my badge!