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2017 Reading Goals
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Those are great goals, Erin !I don't have a specific 2017 goal yet, other than to read & reduce the number of physical books I already have. I'll acquire some new ones for sure, but I'm going to try to keep it to a minimum. Maybe something like 1 book in, 3 books out!
And it's always fun to pass on books on that I've already read to friends or family or the Salvation Army, or sometimes list them on a swap site.
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If you Book Snails were limited to only TWO books next year (perish the thought!), what would they be?
Is anyone considering starting a Little Free Library?
Happy Chinese Year of the FIRE Rooster to you. The last Fire Rooster year was 1957 :)
http://www.chinahighlights.com/travel...
I usually set a goal to read 50 books a year. For the past two years I have surpassed that goal. This year I am going to raise my goal to 60 books. Another goal is to read the books I have and try (yes, try) to limit the number of books I buy, like StarMan. I currently have almost 300 books at home and have a list of books to get that are parts of series that I already have. My final goal is to take the books I have read, take them to work (I work at a school), and share them with other teachers in the building. I thought about making bookmarks for each one so that the person who has read it could mark their name and date read if they wanted and return the book to the shelf for others to enjoy.
Mod
I don't have a specific 2017 goal yet, other than to read & reduce the number of physical books I already have. I'll acquire some new ones for sure, but I'm going to ..."
My parents were born in 1957!
And I also need to continue reducing my book collection. In fact, I need to get rid of 2 more by the end of the year to meet the goal I set for myself for 2016!
It's hard to imagine reading only 2 books in 2017, but I guess I'd go with Pioneer Girl and The Name of the Wind. Both are pretty big and will take awhile to finish. Pioneer Girl may "only" be 400 pages, but it's like a textbook :-P
The bookmarks are a great idea, Teresa... sort of like a traveling library card ;)Did you know you can still buy book pockets and cards? Try eBay or Amazon, for example:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F42P6KC?...
Here are some related fun things for book lovers:
Personal Library Kit:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/160...
Book Lovers' Page-A-Day Calendar 2017:
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Lovers-Pa...
Antiquarian Bookplates
goo.gl/rWNr0V
Erin wrote: "My parents were born in 1957!...It's before my time, but 1957 is one of my favorite years, because:
(perhaps THE most iconic American car ever made?)
Love that car!I don't really have any goals besides the usual GR challenge. My goal will be whatever my total ends up being this year. Annoyingly, my page count is way down, but my number of books read is up (lots of short books/plays this year). I'll continue making my way through Shakespeare's work, and I have a few other authors I want to make sure I include. That's the extent of my goals.
Only two books?? I'd probably go nuts, but I'd have to go with some "complete works." Because. Only two? What would I do the rest of the year? I think I'd go with Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde. Or maybe Poe. No, that's not cheating. :P It's two. With an alternate. :)
Thank you for the links to some wonderful tools! Wow, I think it would be great to use in our classroom library also. I did not realize we could still buy book pockets and cards. Woo hoo! Just like the olden days. :-) Funny how I remember checking out books using these cards. StarMan wrote: "The bookmarks are a great idea, Teresa... sort of like a traveling library card ;)
Did you know you can still buy book pockets and cards? Try eBay or Amazon, for example:
https://www.amazon.com/d..."
I always wanted to have a 1957 Chevy when I grew up. Love the class of the car. Hmm, what memories!StarMan wrote: "Erin wrote: "My parents were born in 1957!...
It's before my time, but 1957 is one of my favorite years, because:
(perhaps THE most iconic American car ever made?)"
I don't have any goals yet, but I would like to get out of my comfort zone and try new genre. I would like to try to use the "also enjoyed" link for the upcoming year.
Mod
Is that the "Recommendations" feature on the home page? I noticed it awhile ago and it made me think that my rating system needs to be revised. It'll say, Because you enjoyed such and such book which I only rated 3 stars... when 3 stars doesn't mean I enjoyed a book. It means it was ok, but not particularly good. If I enjoyed it, it would have gotten 4 or 5 :-P
I've found that this group has been good at getting me to read things I normally wouldn't read. The book of the month for December, The Girl with All the Gifts, and the current quarterly read, The Woman in Cabin 10, are 2 examples. Hopefully we can help you meet that goal of getting out of your comfort zone!
Erin wrote: "JuliaOrlando wrote: "I don't have any goals yet, but I would like to get out of my comfort zone and try new genre. I would like to try to use the "also enjoyed" link for the upcoming year."Is tha..."
If you go to a book link, say for example The Search ..... look to the right of the summary, you'll see "readers also enjoyed".... select that link and that will bring you to books with similar story / plot line
I've seen the "recommendations" but haven't used or looked at it yet... I'll have to check that out in 2017 also
Mod
It's dawned on me that there are at least four books due to come out in 2017 that I want to read. I guess reading them before the end of the year is part of my goal. If nothing else, it's nice to have read something that qualifies for the GR Choice Awards. But some of them I'll probably read as soon as I can.I check the recommendations sometimes, but not usually the "people also read." I do glance at it though.
Pssst... BOTM for January 2017 poll is up (and working, finally!). Vote for a book you'd like the Book Snails to read & discuss.Vote at:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...
Mod
For 2017, I'm planning to buy the hardcover of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay since I liked that one and I will be buying the hardcover of Dragon Teeth when it comes out (technically, hubby will be buying that one as my birthday present :-)
But, my physical book collection is getting harder to reduce (I will NEVER get rid of Harry Potter or Little House on the Prairie or my Michael Crichton collection or Jean Auel's Earth's Children series). So I think my goal for 2017 will be to donate 6 books over the course of the year.
As for a reading goal, I'm bumping it up to 35 for 2017. On average, I read about 34 books a year, so I'll try to squeeze in one more :)I, however, definitely have to get rid of some books as well. I've got four bookshelves in my room, and I'm starting to run out of space. One of the shelves has started to droop so low, that I now have to put in a support to hold it up, but the support is on another stack of books, because I have nowhere else to put them :/
I somehow have to either hit the lottery, or marry a millionaire, so I can buy my own place, and convert a room into my personal library!
Kelsey, I am there with ya. I have a tall bookshelf full of books and book series stacked on the floor in the bedroom. I have books stacked up in my office on the floor. I need a room like the Beast gave Belle in "Beauty and the Beast". I do need to read and get rid of some of the 305 books I currently have in the house. Nice goal!
Kelsey wrote: "As for a reading goal, I'm bumping it up to 35 for 2017. On average, I read about 34 books a year, so I'll try to squeeze in one more :)
I, however, definitely have to get rid of some books as wel..."
Wow...and I thought my book collection was huge...looks like everyone else is in the same boat. I also have hundreds of books in the house, with many I haven't read yet mostly because work and personal life have kept me super busy.I balk at the idea of "getting rid of" any of my books though, even ones I've read numerous times. I don't know, perhaps I have a weird obsession with my book collection (or books in general), but I just can't bear the thought of parting with any of them (took me years to finally be willing to "lend" some of my books to friends and/or family members to read for fear that they may not return the books to me when they're done).
So I guess for me, my reading goal would be to get through at least 50 books this year (which is less than a quarter of my book collection -- so far...). It's quite an ambitious goal for me given how little time I have nowadays to devote to reading, but I've actually been thinking about this for a few months already and really want to move forward with it. Whether I'll succeed or not I don't know, but I'm definitely motivated to give it a try...
Fifty is a great goal! That has been my goal for the past two years and have surpassed that goal. This year I bumped to 60 and will see what happens. At my age I have to consider downsizing as the last two kids will probably be leaving in the next year (19 and 21) and need to get a smaller house. Would have to move ourselves and the less to move, the better. :-) I just make sure I read a bit every night, when my hubby drives I take a book, if I am eating alone I read, and just when I have a few minutes I take the time to read (doctor's office, dentist, pedicure or any other appointments).Bkwmlee wrote: "Wow...and I thought my book collection was huge...looks like everyone else is in the same boat. I also have hundreds of books in the house, with many I haven't read yet mostly because work and pers..."
I missed both my goals last year. One was to read 90 books and I only managed 71. The other was to take more books to the charity shop than I bought. Although most of the ones I bought were ebooks, it doesn't help in regaining space in the house.The second goal remains the same for 2017, but I've lowered the first to 40. Most of the books I plan to read this year are very long, with many of them over 500 pages, so I thought a lower targe was more realistic.
Mod
But I have fully embraced library books and eBooks now. I'm finding more and more that clutter gives me anxiety so over the past 4 years I've been reducing my collection. Goodwill got several full boxes early on, and I've been slowly donating more since then. I have no idea how many I have left at this point, but my ultimate goal is to get all of my books to fit on the large bookcase in our office (3 units - 2 narrow ones with 4 shelves and 1 wide one with 3 shelves). I'm getting pretty darn close!
And I also reduced my reading goal, April. Even though Goodreads says I read 81 books this year, quite a few were very short works that I wouldn't really count as books. And I've got quite a few big ones on my agenda for 2017 as well!
Erin wrote: "Owning too many books sure seems to be a common issue for Goodreads users! But honestly, is that surprising? At one point in time, I had over 800 books and I was such a nerd that I even had a sprea..."Omg, I can totally relate to the spreadsheet thing! At one point in time, I had actually catalogued all my books via Excel spreadsheet -- not only that, I was super picky about arranging all my books on my shelves in the exact order as the spreadsheet! Of course, I ended up dropping the cataloging because I got way too busy and just couldn't keep up (plus it was stressing me out big time). Nowadays, I continue to add books to my collection, but no longer catalog them...and the books are all over the place now versus neatly arranged in a particular order as in the past.
Luckily, I've also embraced eBooks the past 2 years or so, which has helped tremendously in reducing my physical book collection in that I'm adding fewer books each year now....though my eBook library is quickly starting to build up with a whole list of unread books as well -- but at least space-wise, it has been a huge help!
I don't use a spreadsheet, but I have resorted to an Android app that lets me keep up with which books I own or have previously read. https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
It's handy to be able to check my phone in a bookstore or thrift shop, to avoid acquiring duplicate copies of a book.
Adding books is easy: barcode scan or manual ISBN entry. In the case of really old or unusual books, you can manually enter title and author.
And... it can be synchronized with Goodreads (or you can just import your books from GR), and a list of books exported or imported. The Book Catalogue app also lets you enter personal notes on a book, or keep track of which books you've read.
Disclaimer: I haven't linked mine to GR yet. I manually scanned in the physical books in my home, since that's all I wanted to keep track of.
P.S. My goal for 2017 is to get rid of 3 physical books for every 1 book that enters my home.
Mod
StarMan, I will have to look at this app but I created a folder in Goodreads "Books at Home" so I can bounce off the books I want to read compared to the books I have at home - just sort by author - so I do not pick duplicates. StarMan wrote: "I don't use a spreadsheet, but I have resorted to an Android app that lets me keep up with which books I own or have previously read.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de......"
StarMan, thank you for linking to that app! Ever since my brother told me about a similar one he uses for dvd's, I've meant to look for one for books but hadn't gotten around to it. This will be extremely helpful. (And I just scanned a few books in to try it out. It's awesome!)I've done the spreadsheet thing, too, mostly to prevent buying duplicates, but also to keep track for signings. I gave up and stopped with those years ago though.
Elise, I hope you are liking the "Book Catalogue" Android app. It's the best one I've found so far. I wound up using a different barcode scanner app than the recommended one, which made scanning even quicker and more reliable. You can change it under Book Catalogue 'Administration & Preferences' --> Other Prefs --> Scanning
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I am already behind on my 2017 goal of "3 books OUT of the house for every 1 brought in."
So far it's like 9 books in, 7 books out. Oooops, I need to get rid of 20 more books already!
I'm going to do a purge soon. I have lots of books on my Paperbackswap.com bookshelf that haven't been requested in over 2 years, so they are going to the Salvation Army or friends. And I've dropped down to the "A La Carte" (semi-free) membership at PBS, so I won't be doing as much swapping there anyway.
Mod
Erin wrote: "I'm actually doing pretty well with my book purge goal. I was aiming for 6 but I've already gotten rid of 5 this year. And I'm strongly considering donating my Shopaholic books because I don't see ..."Glad you are meeting your goal, Erin. It does feel good to get rid of clutter, or stuff you don't really need to keep.
By the way, I enjoyed Smallville back when I watched it. Chloe was my favorite character... too bad Clark was all into wishy-washy Lana instead of dependable Chloe ;p
Mod
I totally agree! I liked Chloe sooo much better than Lana! I really enjoyed the first several seasons but when Clark chose Lana's life over his father's, I was done. I was so mad I had to give up on the show... Hence, I figured I might as well get rid of the DVDs I had since I doubt I'll watch them again.
Slowly paring down my physical books...15 books in, and 37 books OUT of the house, as of 2.23.17.
Not quite my desired ratio of 3 books gone for each book taken in this year, but getting there.
And several hundred more to go.
Mod
14 books in, and 34 books OUT of the house, as of today.
Not quite my desired ratio of 3 books gone for each book taken in this year, but getting there.
..."
Nice! You're moving in the right direction!
I'm at 2 books in (both free, one a signed edition!) and 14 books out. I'm feeling pretty happy about it :-)
My book goal for 2017 is to read 95 books. Of course, 100 would be ideal, but I have fallen short of that the last couple years in a row, so this time I made it more realistic. :)
My original book goal for this year was 35 books, but at the beginning of the year, it looked like there was NO way I'd be able to accomplish it, so I switched it to 25.Since I've decided to do a reread of the YA series, Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, and have been able to fly through them, I'm now up to 31 books read!
I've changed my goal, again, to 35 books, but it looks like I'll surpass that, which feels great! My main goal was to read at least 35, because my average is 34 books a year, so I just wanted to pass it. To see that I could potentially even read 40 books this year feels great!
I set my goal to 12 books for 2017, mainly because I was getting back into reading after reading probably 3-5 books in 2016. So I'm happy to announce that I have read 19 books so far this year and am still reading. Whatever I read this year I'll set for my goal in 2018.
I just finished my reading challenge this weekend! I'm so proud of myself, because I'll actually surpass my reading goal by a few books, and earlier in the year, I didn't even think I'd make it to 20 books! I don't think I've ever read this much in a year, but I'm really happy with my progress!
Bkwmlee wrote: "Yay! Congrats, Kelsey!! :-)"Thank you!!
Way to go, BookKelsey wrote: "I just finished my reading challenge this weekend! ..."
StarMan wrote: "Way to go, Bookworm Snail! Glad you hit your goal :)Kelsey wrote: "I just finished my reading challenge this weekend! ...""
Thanks StarMan!
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Book Snails Book Group
Books mentioned in this topic
Sisterhood Everlasting (other topics)Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay (other topics)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two (other topics)
Dragon Teeth (other topics)
The Search (other topics)
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I love Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series and received Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography shortly after it was published (hubby had strict instructions to buy it for me ;-) But I haven't gotten around to reading it. For 2017, I plan to reread the Little House books and then tackle Pioneer Girl.
I also plan to reread Wool Omnibus and Shift and then read Dust and Sand.
And... I'm going to finish The Name of the Wind!