2-3-4 Challenge discussion

It's time to start thinking about the new year! Hopefully, you have already given this some thought and may be ready to start stating your goals for our challenge in the coming year.

Since we all have different numbers of series with variable numbers of books within each series, it's impossible to set plain "number of series" goals for comparison. And, we all have different approaches to tackling our TBR shelves and series. But! We have a common objective in making a dent in those shelves.

So, tell us what you're hoping to achieve with this challenge in 2018? I'll set them up in the Reading Tracker as they're added here.

Can't believe we are here. This year really flew.

I always struggle with completing a series as I never check with the author so I'll leave that at 10. As for completing a series I'll challenge myself to 20 .

Michelle wrote: "Can't believe we are here. This year really flew.

I always struggle with completing a series as I never check with the author so I'll leave that at 10. As for completing a series I'll challenge m..."

Do you mean getting up to date in 20 series?

Yes Jonetta. Sorry. I'll try and get up to date with 20 series. I always start new ones so that's easier to achieve. Besides I can increase if need be.

2018 Challenge Goals

1. Catch up 3 series
2. Stay Caught up with all 11 current series
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
3. Start no more than 5 new series.***FAILED
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
4. Complete 92 books total
89/92
5.Read the next 2 books in 2 series not listed in #1 or #2 ***DONE
6. Read the next book in 3 series not listed in #1 or #2***DONE
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
ETA: #unreadshelfproject2018 Read 18 books from my shelves (owned prior to 2018) and donate them to the library sale. 5/18

My 2018 Goals

1) Read 50 books
2) Read 5 books that have been made into movies
3) Complete 3 trilogies
4) Complete or get up to date in 2 series

My goals:

- Complete at least 5 series - Tracker
- Read at least 15 books already in my possession by the end of 2017 (books already requested to be borrowed from friends/family allowed - no library) - Tracker
- Read at least 13 books not in the fantasy genre - Tracker
- Do not start more than 10 new series before goal #1 is met - Tracker
- Read 3 books with 600+ pages - Tracker
- Read at least 4 books not originally published in English - Tracker

My 2018 goals:

1. Advance by at least one books in ten series
2. Read 70 books for the year
3. Get up to date on at least 3 series
4. Read at least 15 books that I've owned for more than one year

You all made me sit down and actually look through my books and see what's what. I have such a lot of series to start( +-20) and could only find 3 that I'd could finish. The problem I found was that most series don't have an end number of books in the series. As for Up to date I've only have 10 but then that will grow as the new ones I start will probably spill over.

As for challenges ? I think I'll stay with 200 to read in 2018. I'll be joining a group challenge of 12 books read of books on my TBR shelf added before 2017. Love that challenge because if anything is dnf you have to replace it with another book.

Thank you all for making plan better for next year

Yeah, this made me take a look at my To-Read lists also. So far this year I'm slightly ahead of my challenge goal for last year of 75 (which I met), but I'm still 2 books behind pace for this year's goal of 84. But looking at my lists, I have almost 100 books that I haven't read, or have been planning to re-read (about 15 of those). That doesn't even include my stack of hardback books that were collecting dust for years. I've been trying to get through 4-5 of those a year. Plus I'm sure there will be some new books that I just can't wait to get to.

This makes me really want to get through as many of the books already on my lists without adding too many new ones. It definitely makes it an easier decision not to start some new series I've been thinking about. I'll add Cormoran Strike since it came highly recommended and is only 3 books, but a couple others with 10-12+ I'm definitely going to hold off on.

Goals
1. Read 120 books
2. Get up to date on 10 series
3. Finish 5 series that are 7 books or less
4. Read 10 owned books off my kindle ( owned for more than a year)
5. Read 5 nonfiction books

My goals for 2018 are the same as last year (since it worked out so well):

1. Finish 12 series
2. Continue 6 stagnated series
3. Complete 10 LOST books (Longest on Shelf TBR)

I think I'm also going to stick close to this year's goals since I've done pretty well.

1. Finish 30 series
2. Bring 10 series UTD
3. Read 275 books total
4. Finish 5 series with 1 book left
5. Finish 10 books on my TBR the longest (from 2013-14)

My goals:
- read 84 books
- complete the ATY challenge??
- read 50 books I bought before 2018
- read at least 50% of the books I buy in 2018
- finish 9 series
- get up to date in 1 series

I still have to decide if I'm going to do the second goal.

Melissa wrote: "My 2018 Goals

1) Read 50 books
2) Read 5 books that have been made into movies
3) Complete 3 trilogies
4) Complete or get up to date in 2 series"

I have decide to change goal #4 - Complete or get up to date in 5 series.

My goals aren't changing too much.

1. Complete 10 series
2. Get up to date in 20 series
3. Complete 5 series with just one book remaining

My goals are also pretty much the same, except I'm finally getting past the point where books I've purchased are the main priority.

1. Owned: 20 Books
2. Complete: 14 Series (4 with one book remaining)
3. Up to Date: 4 Series
4. Make Progress: 20 Series
5. LOST Books: 5 Books Longest on TBR
6. Mothball Series: Resume 6 Stagnated Series

Eadie's Goals for 2018.

1. Read 200 books.
2. Listen to 50 audio books.
3. Complete 15 series.
4. Up to Date in 15 series

Lauren wrote: " 3. Complete 10 LOST books (Longest on Shelf TBR)"

I love this goal, Lauren. I might have to steal the idea.

Allison wrote: "Lauren wrote: " 3. Complete 10 LOST books (Longest on Shelf TBR)"

I love this goal, Lauren. I might have to steal the idea."

Me too!

1. Read 80 books
2. Get 10 series up to date
3. Start no more than 7 new series
4. Finish 5 series

Allison wrote: "Lauren wrote: " 3. Complete 10 LOST books (Longest on Shelf TBR)"

I love this goal, Lauren. I might have to steal the idea."

Lol! I borrowed it from the Pick-A-Shelf group where we have this challenge. It really helps with the older books on the TBR :)

Good luck with it, Allison!

I’ve set up the reading trackers. Please check them out and ensure your goals have a place to be captured and tracked.

I didn’t set up a tracker for the total number of books read as that will be captured in the GR Reading Challenge and I figured you wouldn’t want to track that here.

If your goals included one for a challenge in another group, I assumed they would be captured in that group. Let me know if my assumption is incorrect.

Here are the trackers that will be pinned to the top, representing those that are common for several members and/or are reported monthly during our roundup. Let me know if I’ve omitted any.

1. Series Completed
2. Series Up to Date
3. One Remaining Book
4. Advance in a Series
5. Limit New Series Started

That looks great, thanks Jonetta.

Thanks Jonetta :)

You’re welcome!

My goal for 2018 is simple.... for every ebook I read I need to read one of my 1000s of paper books. I've been going hot and heavy with the ebooks in the last few years and haven't touched any physical books I already own. I'm going to fix that in 2018.

Christina T wrote: "My goal for 2018 is simple.... for every ebook I read I need to read one of my 1000s of paper books. I've been going hot and heavy with the ebooks in the last few years and haven't touched any phys..."
Same here! I still need to quantify a goal, but I have to get through some of my paper books this year. I only have 22 that I haven't read, but they're mostly long, dense, heavy reading - history, biography, etc. I only got through two of them in 2017, and one was much shorter and lighter reading than the others. Some have been sitting on my shelf unread for almost 20 years. Other than 1 or 2 gifts, I don't think I've acquired any new non-digital books in at least a decade. I just want to make some progress.

My goals for 2018 are very much the same as last year...but they helped me make a bit of a dent in my huge pile of books.

1. Finish 15 series.
2. Become Up-to-Date in 5 series.
3. Read at least 15 short stories/Novellas.
4. Read at least 15 standalone books.

2018 Goals

1. Complete 20 series
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
2. Get current in 20 series
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

3. No limit to new series started but 1/2 of them need to be collecting dust on my shelves/kindle/nook
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

4. Make progress on 5 neglected series

5. Read 5 new to me authors

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
6. Pick 5 authors to read backlist and get current
Lauren Layne
Julie James
Katy Evans
Tessa Bailey
Helena hunting

I have simple goals for this year, but last year I did so good in only the last 3 months of the year, I think I can easily stretch that out over 12 months, haha.

1. Complete 10 series.
2. Become up-to-date- in 10 series
3. Advance in 5 series
4. Limit new series to 10, unless I meet my other goals, then limit can increase.
5. Mothball series to dust off, 5.
6. LOST {longest books on shelves} 5.

I would have increased my overall goal, but I'm instead keeping it at 84 since I want to read at least 6 of my hardback books this year (compared to 2 for last year, one of which was pretty short), most of which will be much slower reads than my typical books due to length and/or content.

1. Complete 2 series.
2. Get up-to-date on 8 series (3 of which are only 1 remaining).
3. Read 6 of my hardback books (equivalent of LOST for me).
4. No new series with more than 3 existing books (at least until I've completed the other goals).

Read 100,000 Pages (just over 93,000 Pages in 2017)
Read 165 Books
Read 25 Chunksters (books over 650 Pages)
Read 70 audiobooks
Complete an A to Z Challenge based on first word of title using audiobooks
Complete 15 series
20 series read up to date
Read 52 books off my TBR (books already owned)

Andrew wrote: "Read 100,000 Pages (just over 93,000 Pages in 2017)
Read 165 Books
Read 25 Chunksters (books over 650 Pages)
Read 70 audiobooks
Complete an A to Z Challenge based on first word of title using audio..."

Andrew, does the year in review cover your tracking of pages read? Otherwise, I think there are existing trackers to handle all of your other goals that are not part of another group.

Christina T wrote: "My goal for 2018 is simple.... for every ebook I read I need to read one of my 1000s of paper books. I've been going hot and heavy with the ebooks in the last few years and haven't touched any phys..."

Well so much for this goal. So far I've read only a few books but they have all been ebooks. Not denting my DTBs at all yet LOL.

As 2018 is approaching its end, here is an update on my goals for the year:

1. Finish 12 series - I finished 10 and am currently read the final books in two more.
2. Continue 6 stagnated series - I continued 6 series and hope to finish them in 2019.
3. Complete 10 LOST books (Longest on Shelf TBR) - I've read 9 and will read the final book in December.


Finish 12 series:

✔ 1. Forgotten Princesses by Sophie Jordan
2. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
✔ 3. Chosen Ones by Christina Dodd
✔ 4. Grant County by Karin Slaughter
✔ 5. Mine by Cynthia Eden
✔ 6. Mackade Brothers by Nora Roberts
✔ 7. Sookie Stackhouse by Charlaine Harris
✔ 8. Chinooks Hockey Team by Rachel Gibson
✔ 9. The Truth About the Duke by Caroline Linden
10. The Hollows by Kim Harrison
✔ 11. The Graveyard Queen by Amanda Stevens
✔ 12. Travis Family by Lisa Kleypas

Continue 6 Stagnated Series
✔ 1. Elemental Assassin by Jennifer Estep
✔ 2. D. D. Warren by Lisa Gardner
✔ 3. House of Rohan by Anne Stuart
✔ 4. Breeds by Lora Leigh
✔ 5. Gilded Age Mystery by P. B. Ryan
✔ 6. McClouds & Friends by Shannon McKenna

2018 LOST - Longest on Shelf TBR

1. An Affair with Mr. Kennedy by Jilliam Stone - Added: August 9, 2012
✔ 2. Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery - Added: December 17, 2012 / Read: November 17, 2018
✔ 3. One Night in London by Caroline Linden - Added: December 1, 2012 / Read: September 26, 2018
✔ 4. Reckless by Anne Stuart - Added: September 23, 2012 / Read: September 7, 2018
✔ 5. A Lady's Pleasure by Renee Bernard - Added: December 22, 2012 / Read: March 13, 2018
✔ 6. The Visitor by Amanda Stevens - Added: March 20, 2013 / Read: April 4, 2018
✔ 7. Fractured by Karin Slaughter - Added: April 17, 2013 / Read: April 20, 2018
✔ 8. On Thin Ice by Cherry Adair - Added: June 28, 2013 / Read: November 16, 2018
✔ 9. Fear Nothing by Lisa Gardner - Added: June 30, 2013 / Read: September 22, 2018
✔ 10. Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas - Added: December 4, 2013 / Read: June 14, 2018

All books added in 2012/2013

@ Lauren--You've done amazing on your goals!

Christina T wrote: "My goal for 2018 is simple.... for every ebook I read I need to read one of my 1000s of paper books. I've been going hot and heavy with the ebooks in the last few years and haven't touched any phys..."

Well, I definitely did not even come close to this goal. I only read 1 paper books. I had 3 or 4 more I started in paper form but switched to ebook because it was easier to read in bed where it's a little darker. I've really grown to love my kindle. Never thought I'd say that.

Christina T wrote: "@ Lauren--You've done amazing on your goals!"

Thanks Christina!
This group is so helpful in sticking to my goals.

Christina T wrote: "I've really grown to love my kindle. Never thought I'd say that."

Ditto! I was a die hard paper book advocate until I got my Kindle. I changed my reading life completely!