2025 Reading Challenge discussion

Hi. I've never really set a challenge before. 2017 I'm trying for 15, and if I make that before September I'll up it to 20. Depending on how much overtime I get this year xD

I'm currently counting Basic Writings of Nietzsche as a 2017 simply because I finished it in 2017 and GR automatically threw it into my 2017 achievement, though I started it in late 2016. It was more of a re-read; I've thumbed through it for years but flat out read it cover to cover for the first time late 2016-early 2017.

It's not like I don't like reading, I'm just not good at finding time to read and using it when I have it. I have a massive backlog. I do have a general outline of what to read this year, if I can survive this current push (last week I was simultaneously reading 4 books). Lately I've found myself reading a lot of books that are simply compilations of essays on any one topic; due largely to my large backlog of unread topics. This seems to be an effective method of "speed digesting" a topic. Example: I thumbed through Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians (a friend wanted me to read several chapters/segments), of my own violation I dug through my pile of owned unread books and read Kundalini Rising: Exploring the Energy of Awakening (covers diverse aspects of ancient - and modern - spiritual practices, essentially all relating to Ego Death and medical healing), and am currently reading Stop, Thief!: The Commons, Enclosures, and Resistance (about enclosures, the death of the commons, rise of capitol, mid-1700s-to-today, etc) by Linebaugh. Between these 3 books, I removed ~20 books from my "to-read" list simply due to the comprehensive look into the topics (several by Chomsky alone; I still want to read them but the priority has drastically dropped due to so many cross-references within the essay-structure narrative). Yeah. I watch youtube at x2.0 speed. Edgy AF.

Personally I feel I need to mix it up a little, some fiction would be good, all I've read this year is philosophy, essays, and scripture. Feel like I've about fried my brain. But yes, feels like no matter what I do I never put a dent in my to-read list ultimately. Though sometimes, one good book can turn you off from half a dozen others on your "to-read" list (temporarily at least), for being comprehensive enough on a particular topic.

Anyway here's my rough sketch for 2017 reading plan, majorly subject to change ofc. Any suggestions (particularly non-conspiracy books, fiction, drama, conventional history, etc) or questions are welcome, though I can't promise my comprehension is of the highest quality. I will generally try to leave a review on any completed books; I am a total noob to reading regularly.

The List:

Jan: 2 (done)
Basic Writings of Nietzsche - seems pointless to write a review for ;)
Pistis Sophia: A Gnostic Gospel - am considering writing a review comparing it to other "Goddess goes to hell" books/stories.
Feb: 1 (done)
Kundalini Rising: Exploring the Energy of Awakening (currently leisurely re-reading ~p240) - I Reviewed here on GR.
Stopped reading Muscle and a Shovel (p164)
Mar: 1 (done)
The Occult Anatomy of Man - I Reviewed here on GR.
Started Stop, Thief!: The Commons, Enclosures, and Resistance
Paused reading Rulers of Evil: Useful Knowledge about Governing Bodies
April: 2 (projected)
Expected to finish Stop, Thief!: The Commons, Enclosures, and Resistance
Expected to start/finish Foundling
May: 2 (projected)
Finish Rulers of Evil: Useful Knowledge about Governing Bodies
Start/Finish Lamplighter (assuming I like Foundling enough to continue)
June: 2 (projected)
Start/Finish Factotum (assuming I like Monster Blood Tattoo)
Start/Finish Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist - been meaning to read this for a while.

I'll have to see how it goes with those books. I have several others already picked out for 2017, in rough order of priority (though I'm not 100% sure about all of these, even if I find a copy):

0) Thus Spoke Zarathustra Gonna FINALLY try it. I wanted to read all of Nietzsche first before attempting this. Now I don't have an excuse. Wanted to read the original in German/Deutsch or at least Kaufman's, but since I have a physical copy of Clancy Martin's guess that's what it's gonna be.
1) Is the Bible from Heaven? Is the Earth a Globe? - Not just to Appease Flat Earth friends, but because it mentions how to calculate "all eclipses from creation to judgement day". Might come in handy.
2) The Cathars: The Most Successful Heresy of the Middle Ages Self Explanatory. Saussy is a little to conspiratorial possibly, but RoE is a decent read from what I saw so far. Found this book on GR as recommendation because I was reading RoE, want to check it out whether I finish RoE or not.
3) Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry I'm not big into freemasonry or conspiracies, honest. But I do like to get a basis; been putting off reading this for almost a decade. Will this be the year I attempt it?
4) Abaddon: The Spirit of Destruction and Other Poems I actually already got fairly far into this around February 2017, but put it down. I wasn't actually going for a 2017 list then, but I would like to try to finish it, it was very... interesting at least, from what I read.
5) Earth's Earliest Ages Been recommended by a source I really respect for about a year. Will at least check out.
6) Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge & Its Transmission Through Myth
7) Where Did the Towers Go?: Evidence of Directed Free-Energy Technology on 9/11 Like I said I'm not big on conspiracies, but when it's in your face... have heard mixed opinions of Dr. Wood, might as well have my own.
8) Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy - friend owns a copy. Will borrow if I run out of material to read.
9) The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All Another book by Linebaugh. I REALLY like Stop, Thief!: The Commons, Enclosures, and Resistance, and a friend (same as above) owns a copy of this book so I might read it.
10) Blacked Out Through Whitewash: Exposing the Quantum Deception/Rediscovering and Recovering Suppressed Melanated Again, I'm honestly not a "conspiracy" person. I'm a TRUE history person. Want to check this topic out.
11) Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept I litterally googled "before religion" one day because I was curious about what the world was like before religion. Found this book. Might give it a try; I literally don't know anything about this one yet (the only one on this list that wasn't recommended to me by someone else).
12) 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus I heard this book talks about what America was like PRIOR to "Columbus". Also heard this book presents a theory that the Brazilian rain forest is a massive ecological disaster of the ancient world; the soil was engineered to grow anything and... the rest is "history". Sounded interesting, definitely going to try to read this one.
13) A People's History of the United States Just to have something by Howard Zinn.
14) EITHER For Reasons of State OR Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media because Noam Chomsky.
15) EITHER Moby-Dick; or, The Whale OR Stoner
16) The Bhagavad Gita - listened to an audio book of this in 2016. Want to actually read it. Not the whole Mahabharata, just BG. Maybe some supplementary Sutras or Puranas as well. Have my eye on Kalki Purana as it's astrological arrangements (supposedly) occur in 2017.
17) MAYBE The Obedience of a Christian Man
18) An Ishmael of Syria
19) The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

Miscellaneous:

20) Black's Law Dictionary because I've heard funny things about it, and a family member is going into law this year after they secure their BA. Probably won't read cover-to-cover but will be checking it out (already secured a copy).
21) The Kabbalah Unveiled (only because I got tired of listening to "Christians" talk bad about Caballah/Kabballah/Kob*Ha*La/Cawb*Haul*Laugh/whatever, I'm not actually particularly interested in the topic just feel obliged to understand what the fuss is all about).
22) Would like to get a copy and try to start The Genesis 6 Conspiracy: How Secret Societies and the Descendants of Giants Plan to Enslave Humankind but at 816 pages... Not a priority whatsoever! But if my list comes along good, will definitely be picking it up. Because Giants.

Anyway I don't plan to actually read all of these. Just a nice place for my to collect my thoughts. My first post in a "group" in GR. Might read some Kafka, Dostoyevsky, and Shelly (thanks to Linebaugh). I jumped on the 2017 New Years resolution to read War and Peace but only made it to page 200-something. Gave up. Might try again 2018. But that was before I consciously decided to start a 2017 goal (mid-March). I'm nearly 3 whole months late coming into the challenge but if the books I read prior to taking the challenge count I might be good on my 15. Also if GR stops putting books I'm currently reading into my "complete" pile... I swear I'm not a conspiracy tard. But have you seen the chemtrails lately? ;)

Welcome to the group and the reading challenge, and happy reading. =)

Thanks! I'm new to goodreads. I went a little overboard with my first post. I'm currently adjusting to a 54 hour workweek, and working out time to read. Also, am in "looking for answers" mode in reading, so probably a lot of weird pamphlets/books on psychology, spirituality, physiology, etc. Just a micro-update, and to add another challenge to update throughout. I started TSZ, but I'm not too crazy about the version I have. Will probably wait til I secure a copy of Kaufman's, after all.

I'm not a big manga reader, but I might pick up Berserk, since it seems to be making a small comeback (first issue in 10 years or so recently came out, (maybe) ironically after "Ah! My Godess" ended). And I really want to brush up on my woods knowledge; botany/herbalism/homeopathy, buschraft, etc. Anyway, will update page count in this post as I continue reading.

Page count challenge 2017:
(no goal just a tally - some have read more than once/partial, designated by x1 or x2) [R] designates that I reviewed the book here.

Basic Writings of Nietzsche - 862 pages
Jurassic Park - 480 pages (forgot I read this above)
Pistis Sophia: A Gnostic Gospel - 400 pages
Kundalini Rising: Exploring the Energy of Awakening - 480 (x1), 240 (x1) [R]
The Occult Anatomy of Man - 40 pages (x2) [R]
De La Magie - 128 pages [R]

3 April 2017: Picked up an essay, Abraham and Brahma: Part I – Divine Covenants of Common Origin - 22 pages. Not what I was looking for, opposite conclusions as my intuition going in.

Currently Reading:
Stop, Thief!: The Commons, Enclosures, and Resistance - p260

Have picked up, may read:
A Compendium of the Travels of Frederick Lewis Norden Through Egypt and Nubia - 33 pages
What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples: A Study Concerning the Mystery Schools - 11 pages
The Last Wish - 0 pages (Fed book)

Haven't completed/Won't complete/Got Feet Wet:
The Lost World - 111 pages (nowhere near as good as first)
Is the Bible from Heaven? Is the Earth a Globe? 67 pages
Rulers of Evil: Useful Knowledge about Governing Bodies 116
War and Peace: 222 pages
Muscle and a Shovel: 164 pages
Holy Bible: King James Version: Job, Amos, Ezekiel, 1/2 Peter, 1/2/3 John, Jude. Other miscelaneous portions. ~240 pages

Total Pages: 3916

Update: 10 April 2017: The Book of the Cave of Treasures: A History of the Patriarchs and the Kings, their Successors from the Creation to the Crucifixion of Christ 169 pages (x2)

Total Pages: 4254