Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

I am currently thinking about next year's challenges. This year it does not look very good. I believe I took on too many (cover, diversity, overflowing, incomplete) and a bingo in another group.

I still miss two or three books each for the cover, diversity and bingo ones, my overflowing one still leave a lot in my TBR and I still have five incomplete series.

Currently thinking I only need to have the overflowing and incomplete ones next year because those are the only ones that are really helpful to cut down my TBR. Since it will lower the points for the team reading competition so I am thinking of dropping out from that one as well. I am not a big contributor anyway.

How about you guys? Are you satisfied with your challenges so far? Any plans for next year?

I'm glad that the challenges do not have an end date, because I've taken part on too many. I took part recently in the nov - dec challenge, but I have to abandon them and also 'The Empress vs The Captain'.
My goal next year is to take part in less challenges and finish the ones who needs to be completed and that are still open.

I did two challenges only: Incomplete and Overflowing. I am managing my series relatively well and the challenge helps a lot.

The overflowing bookshelf is a dead project. I keep getting new books and reading them without any order. I am not continuing this challenge next year, there is no point pretending I am able to control myself.

Haha, yeah, that's a good one. I am thinking I should increase the log to 4-1, as in reading four books for one purchased/obtained for free.

The series one is also a big challenge since I just realized I have committed reading a bunch of first in series in the first quarter already. Might rethink again if I should drop some from the five left or stop with the challenge at all since it is not attainable with 2-1 formula. But... let's see later, who knows I won't like some of those new series and can abandon one or two.

Silvana wrote: "I am currently thinking about next year's challenges. This year it does not look very good. I believe I took on too many (cover, diversity, overflowing, incomplete) and a bingo in another group.

I..."

You don't need to provide crazy points to the competition to be a full participant... it's supposed to be more about the teamwork, anyway, and most teams have gained more from the team threads than the competition itself... and the 2 challenges you're keeping seem like the most helpful to the competition, anyway... they cover books you own already, and any book in a series except the first (excluding re-reads)... I mostly only used the other challenges to catch books in new series I started...

Silvana wrote: "Haha, yeah, that's a good one. I am thinking I should increase the log to 4-1, as in reading four books for one purchased/obtained for free.

The series one is also a big challenge since I just rea..."

I just use the Incomplete Series to track how many series I have open, and remind myself to check for new releases...

Many of the changes in 2019 are meant to allow more freedom to point-hunters...

With the Challenge bonus down to 10%, you only earn 1 point for every 1000 pages read, so you don't need to sign up for every competition for points, as much... last year, at 25%, it was 1 point for every 400 pages, so most books earned an extra point...

Similar with Buddy Reads... 33% instead of 50% means 1 point per 300 pages instead of 200, so slightly less impact... we're still waiting for word on the Book of the Month being 50% or 33%, to try and incentivize everybody participating in this one specific Buddy Read each month, more...

All in all, the competition should be more about how much you read, instead of reading from this small list of 30-50 books each month, like I said, and teams are balanced to be relatively even, regardless of how much each specific person reads...

If you do decide to opt-out tho, you should do it soon... the Mods are Drafting teams this weekend... Scott said this Saturday or Sunday here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I have decided to not sign up for any challenge other than Incomplete as I was sticking to a schedule as long as I was part of the team challenge. with its completion I have lost my appetite for hunting books to complete Bingo and Cover. :/

I started too many challenges this year as well. Next year, it'll only be my Incomplete Series (which is mostly a tracker since I don't do 2-1 ratio) and finishing my Cover challenge (which I augmented to 100+ categories). Also trying to contribute more to the Ladies' Armoury that I have in common with Laura.
I have two more challenges with another group, so that will be more than enough for the entire year, I think.

Like Iain said, the new competition rules made it so you don't need to sign up to every challenge and BR under the sun to be a 'top player'.

Not that you need to make a crazy amount of points to participate; the whole thing is more about teamwork, camaraderie and support IMO :)

I hope there will be anyone left to join the competition ;)
Just joking. I'm cutting back on BR's, so to make it easier for the competition. BR's had had a negative influence on my reading. I was just hurrying to participate, but eventually I had stress and didn't finished a lot of BR's.

Manju wrote: "I have decided to not sign up for any challenge other than Incomplete as I was sticking to a schedule as long as I was part of the team challenge. with its completion I have lost my appetite for hu..."

That's kind of my opinion... I'll keep my current challenges running until I finish them, then I might sign up for some challenges in other groups, to spice up my reading...

Saar The Book owl wrote: "I hope there will be anyone left to join the competition ;)
Just joking. I'm cutting back on BR's, so to make it easier for the competition. BR's had had a negative influence on my reading. I was ..."

I had a couple "scares" throughout the year, when work got in the way of listening to audiobooks... work-listening is what really carries me... some days, especially recently, I don't get much reading done at home... but listening to 300 pages/day at work helps alot (up to about 75,000 pages/year)

Timelord Iain (Eeyawn) wrote: "Many of the changes in 2019 are meant to allow more freedom to point-hunters...

With the Challenge bonus down to 10%, you only earn 1 point for every 1000 pages read, so you don't need to sign up ..."

Thanks! The next year's arrangement does look better. I'll keep in mind on the deadline.

Manju wrote: "I have decided to not sign up for any challenge other than Incomplete as I was sticking to a schedule as long as I was part of the team challenge. with its completion I have lost my appetite for hu..."

Incomplete is useful. Like Iain said, I also use it to track the series I have. I use shelving too but having one post to summarize it is an easier reference point.

I have found it really difficult to pick books for the cover one. Definitely my least favorite challenge. The bingo one I had for scifi books were okay except for some categories that's just not attainable/suitable with my reading mood and/or TBR.

I have other challenges like female authors,short stories, and stand-alones but they are all target-based. I think they're quite useful so I'm keeping those next year.

Virginie wrote: "Not that you need to make a crazy amount of points to participate; the whole thing is more about teamwork, camaraderie and support IMO :)"

That's true. I feel like I'm not a good team member though haha; I barely even posted in the team thread. Just focusing on my sheet, which is useful actually, as I also use the page stats for another group's recap.

Timelord Iain (Eeyawn) wrote: "Saar The Book owl wrote: "I hope there will be anyone left to join the competition ;)
Just joking. I'm cutting back on BR's, so to make it easier for the competition. BR's had had a negative influ..."

That makes a lot of difference. I have just the opposite. I can read at work, but only when I have the evening shifts or in the weekends. Then I read more than at home. At home I can read an average of 60 pages, according to the time I have.

@Silvana: the book - covers I find them hard to complete too.

I haven’t paid any attention to my cover, bingo and a-z challenges for a while now. Need to get back into them. I’m cutting way back on my challenges and buddy reads next year too. Now that Incomplete series challenge is getting to a manageable size I want to be able to read more freely. With all the challenges and buddy reads I joined this year it felt like my reading became too rigid.

Once I finish the 3 challenges above I’m just going to stick with the Incomplete series, team competition and overflow. Those aren’t as restrictive as they are more about tracking than anything else.

Silvana - you would be missed on the team challenge! Points are less important to us Mods than the people behind them. As long as you think you’d have even a little fun participating, consider staying. ^_^

Alright, I am convinced. I'm staying. Thanks to Iain and Niki 😊

That's great news, Silvana!

Silvana wrote: "Alright, I am convinced. I'm staying. Thanks to Iain and Niki 😊"

Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I we can't live without you
It takes me us all the way
I We want you to staaaaaay, staaaaay
I We want you to stay, oooohoooo...

I like some Rihanna! 😘
Wishing everyone here the best of luck with their challenges next year.

I also can't wait to see which House, I mean team, I'll be in.

Glad you will still be taking part in the team challenge Silvana.

I think in terms of my own challenges in this group the main one I will be concentrating on is the Incomplete Series one since I have 12 incomplete series that I need to get control over before I start any more.

Hailee wrote: "Glad you will still be taking part in the team challenge Silvana.

I think in terms of my own challenges in this group the main one I will be concentrating on is the Incomplete Series one since I h..."

I wish MY Incomplete series list was a 2 digit number...

I guess it technically is, with only 85-90 Incomplete series (behind on updating)... but I have another 60-65 series I'm up-to-date on UNTIL the next release comes along...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

I like challenges. I see them as something fun to complete if I can and don't put any pressure on myself if I can't. I'm going to be reading books regardless, may as well see how creatively I can fit them against whatever challenge I've joined ;)

This year I did Incomplete Series and Book Cover, which I plan to do again next year. I basically will never "finish" the Incomplete challenge as I start new series all the time :D I did manage to complete Book Cover this year. I really had to hunt for a truly Pink cover! That's the only book this year I probably would not have read normally purely to complete a challenge.

Narilka wrote: "I like challenges. I see them as something fun to complete if I can and don't put any pressure on myself if I can't. I'm going to be reading books regardless, may as well see how creatively I can f..."

I finally finished my Book Bingo from last year, recently... was missing an author under 25 and a book from before 1970... then I read The Poppy War (RF Kuang is 22), and the Narnia books (from the 1950s) and suddenly I was done...

Narilka wrote: "I like challenges. I see them as something fun to complete if I can and don't put any pressure on myself if I can't. I'm going to be reading books regardless, may as well see how creatively I can f..."

I'm a hopeless completist :(

Timelord Iain (Eeyawn) wrote: "Narilka wrote: "I like challenges. I see them as something fun to complete if I can and don't put any pressure on myself if I can't. I'm going to be reading books regardless, may as well see how cr..."

That's awesome :D

I've been debating the A-Z challenge. It would likely take longer than a year for me, but maybe not. It's a perfect example of how to creatively make a book fit the category. In the list it has "C - China" but it's not any more specific than that. I would say The Poppy War would totally count since the story is based on Chinese culture and the author is from China. Ta da!

Edit: And that was supposed to be for the "nonfantasy" A-Z list LOL I would still totally count it :D

Yay Silvana!! ^_^

Also, I’ll be continuing with the Overflowing Bookshelf Challenge (and hitting it hard in 2019 because I’m not satisfied with my progress this year).

The incomplete series challenge (which has already helped me thin my outstanding series from 129 open ones to less than 10 - going for zero within the Empress vs the Captain challenge!).

And then I’ll be participating in the new challenge launching next week... ;)

Niki Hawkes wrote: "
And then I’ll be participating in the new challenge launching next week... ;) "

So many things to get excited about todaaay 😂

Niki Hawkes wrote: "And then I’ll be participating in the new challenge launching next week... ;)"

Oooooh? :D

My favourit challenge this year was the Overflowing Bookshelf - Set Goals Edition, I'm not even very good with reaching my goal, but it helps me to focus and motivate myself :)

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Also, I’ll be continuing with the Overflowing Bookshelf Challenge (and hitting it hard in 2019 because I’m not satisfied with my progress this year).

The incomplete series challenge (which has al..."

I vote we just rename Empress vs Captain to Empress & Captain vs The Machine :D

Umpf! I don't care if you finish your goals you set for 2018 before me. I'll still beat you to 0 open series.

Silvana wrote: "I am currently thinking about next year's challenges. This year it does not look very good. I believe I took on too many (cover, diversity, overflowing, incomplete) and a bingo in another group.

I..."
Hmm not too bad actually.

Got a round of Bingo challenge completed, and another round with 2 books remaining that I don't expect I can complete before end of year. Also another bingo challenge in another group almost completed (also 2 remaining books).

Cover challenge I think I'm missing 2-3 covers. But, I did add from the original template.

I "completed" my Incomplete challenge of reducing my incomplete series down to a manageable number of around 5-6 open series.

Started the Overflowing challenge a bit late, but right now it's not looking good haha. I've broken my own book buying ban multiple times (damn you kindle book deals!). And I don't think I can complete another 7 books before end of year to accomplish my goal.

For next year, I think I'm going to focus on doing the bingo, incomplete, and overflowing challenges. Try to keep that Owned-TBR number to below 50 books, that's my #1 goal for next year. And maybe A-Z depending on the topics (can't do the non-fantasy A-Z because I don't read more than 10-15 non-fantasy books per year). Maybe I'll do a combined A-Z challenge...

^^ The overflowing challenge is indeed the toughest!

@Silvana: yes, that's through. I add more books than I can read :)

Silvana wrote: "^^ The overflowing challenge is indeed the toughest!"

I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that it is impossible!

It was soooo satisfying though everytime I logged something. Had some backlogging too following that devil of a book fair, but I managed to get it balanced near the end of the year.

I'm the worst about keeping up-to-date on my reading/rating... i just read too much... Goodreads thinks I read 195 books this year... the old spreadsheet thinks I read 334... I just updated the sheet and it's really 341... damn... this is going to take awhile when I finally catch up...

Update GR about the books cause I don't know what to rec when you already read it, you goof.

Nah, update the spreadsheet first. Points, points, poiiiiiints! :p

Update goodreads first. You have enough points ;-)

It's December... the points don't matter... I just get sidetracked... I was going to do it the last 2 weeks and just fiddled with the 2019 sheet instead... it's so backlogged that I feel the need to do it on my days off...

I was referring to 2019. I thought that was obvious 😂😂

Timelord Iain (Eeyawn) wrote: "I'm the worst about keeping up-to-date on my reading/rating... i just read too much... Goodreads thinks I read 195 books this year... the old spreadsheet thinks I read 334... I just updated the she..."

341 - that's a lot! Why didn't you update on Goodreads?

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I was referring to 2019. I thought that was obvious 😂😂"

Yup, same here. Otherwise, I wouldn't have said to earn points for an enemy team :p

Karishma wrote: "Timelord Iain (Eeyawn) wrote: "I'm the worst about keeping up-to-date on my reading/rating... i just read too much... Goodreads thinks I read 195 books this year... the old spreadsheet thinks I rea..."

I've just gotten bad about it for some reason... the further behind I get, the easier it is to put it off... it's a terrible habit... I've been doing it more and more all year... I was never this bad in the past, that I can recall...

Dude, just take the bullet and time to update GR. You don't have to put a review in. =P