Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels discussion

Rather than add on to the 2020 thread, I thought I'd start a new one here for members to post their goals and measure themselves. I'll post my own in a week as I am close to a couple of 2020 goals; if I don't get there, I'll carry them over.

A good thread to get me thinking what my goals are

Thanks Allan. I've been pondering this for a few weeks now. I'm on the cusp of being a new parent and I'm expecting my reading time to be seriously curtailed as a result. So I have been thinking I should be conservative with my goals, but it's hard to pull back since there's so much I wanted to read this year that I didn't get to. If I stick to reading from these three GR groups I'm in (H&N, Hot of the Presses, SF in Translation) there won't be much room left.

I'm in the same three groups, but I admit I am not that dedicated to the other two. I try to fit those groups' monthly reads in as secondary reads, using them to fulfill the goals I set for myself in WWE.

Congratulations, Kalin - I do think it would be wise to be conservative in your goals. Sleep may be more valuable than reading time in the coming months! You can always revise them as the year progresses.

Yes, Kalin, congrats on your newcomer. Take lots of pictures. And keep taking them. (Take it from somebody who is sorry now.) And if you have more than one, take just as many of the younger children

(Of course, now that pictures are being taken on phones instead of with cameras, it's much easier to not slack off . . . )

Let's see... I can think of three goals right now:
1) Read at least 12 books from my TBR pile as it stands on Dec 31st: no more adding endlessly new books to the pile without ever reading from it!
2) Read every month at least one Monthly Read from a Goodreads group: this one, Hot of the Presses or SF in Translation.
3) Read less American books and more from other places around the world. Due to the Vorkosigan Challenge and The Expanse buddy read I ended up reading almost exclusively US writers this year. In 2021 no more than one third of my books can be written by an American.

I desperately try to follow Antti's first goal next year. My TBR has been blown up into such an amount that I can't even remember why I put some of the books on it. Plus I bought a lot of ebooks that I never read, those will be my first go to next year.
Thus I will probably be a bit slack on monthly reads, if they don't align with my TBR or owned books.

Additionally I want to read at least one classic and one non-fiction book/month to keep up with two of the groups I joined this year. For classics I try to go for the H/N list, so I can kill two birds with one stone.

AND I won't try to read anything just because it will be released in 2021. I never dnf'd so many books as I did this year out of boredom, most of them having been new Fantasy releases. I will go for more books that feel right to me.

My main goals for 2021 will be to at least try all the BoTM selected here and in SFF New Releases, and also in McHalo. So that's 5 books a month (usually) right there.

I also am reading various series in the McHalo group (Thursday Next and Faith Hunter) and in the llona Andrews' Lovers group that I want to keep up with. If you ever want to try Urban Fantasy (if you haven't) Andrews (a husband wife writing team) is a good choice. Ditto the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter. There is actually stuff that happens that isn't romance, although there's a little of that sometimes in IA. But no more than was in, say, Vorkosigan, and maybe less. I don't know about Faith Hunter yet.

And then, I have all kinds of books on my TBR list. There's a challenge in McHalo to clear books out of your TBR list. I have lots of series I am interested in that I have not even started. So we shall see how I do with that. I would like to finish off at least one long series, plus I would like to finish the Expanse. I feel bad that I was active in getting that BR going and then dropped out

And if GR ever puts up the 2021 challenge I will put a big number down. Probably 150 again.

One of my new year's resolutions is that am going to stop finishing books if I don't like them. Reading is supposed to be fun.

My main goals for 2021 will be to read:
1. at least 12 contemporary fiction works in Ukrainian
2. at least 3 in Polish
3. at least 12 non-fic
4. all monthly reads in our groups
5. all 2021 issues of Analog and Asimov's, for I've subscribed
6. all 2021 Hugo nominees (to know for what to vote)

1.My goal is mainly to read the books I already have, at least 20 physical books, 5 Audiobooks, 40 Ebooks and 12 Netgalley arcs.
2.I also plan to complete my yearly reading challenges. One has to do with completing/catching up with series and I planned around 9 series. Don't know if I'll manage them all but I'll at see if I manage at least to read one starting book or sequel of each of the series.
3.I also plan on reading more Novellas and short stories.
4. I would like to do more group reads and buddy reads, I don't always manage though because I often have too many challenges going on at the same time.
5. I want to read more books with LGBT and BIPOC representation.
6. Complete all my chosen Worlds Without End challenges too.

My goals are to read all the Hugo nominations for novel and novella (and maybe novelette and short story) plus some series I haven't gotten to yet. I'll be happy if I read a couple.


The City of Brass
Jade City
A Wizard of Earthsea
The Grace of Kings
*Ancillary Justice
*The Way of Kings
Three Parts Dead
*The Poppy War
The Steerswoman
*The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

There are a lot, haha. Stars next to the priorities.

Based on how I did in 2020, here are my goals for 2021:

Increase books read from 137 to 150, counting novellas.

Complete 10% of the H/N list (about 60 books).

Finish the 20 H/N winners I haven't read.

Reach a pages per day rate of 110; this translates into 40,000 pages read in the year.

Finish some of the series I've started: The Book of the New Sun, New Crobuzon, Blue Mars, Death's End, Blackout (Grant), CS Lewis Space trilogy, The Uplift War, The Burning World & The Crystal World by JG Ballard, Harry Potter (4), Murderbot, Asimov's Empire trilogy, Hainish (LeGuin).

Read the two 2020 group reads I skipped, The Glass Bead Game & Up the Walls of the World. Maybe get to the five I missed in 2018.

Complete all my chosen Worlds Without End challenges. Probably the same ones I chose this year, gave me a good variety.

Read at least 6 short story collections & 12 history books.

Clear at least 60 books from my paper collection!

OMG! You guys are so focused and ambitious. I have pretty much lost the will to read anything outside spiritual growth, nutrition and family/community news/discussion during the pandemic.
I'm allotting an hour a day for reading books in 2021, whether I go back to work and have that previous bus commute time at my disposal or not. That reading will not be exclusively sci-fi or even fiction at all. I will consider it a success if I complete 1-2 books each month... far from my past habit.
My list to begin 2021:
Finish Children of Ruin. I'm about halfway through and it seems to have reawakened my desire to read.
Caste: The Origins of Our DiscontentsBegan this book this week. It is the first book in my hour a day plan and recommended preparation for a study group beginning Jan. 15.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor

I'm trying not to look too far ahead, but to be open to inspiration and recommendations as they arise.

I'm working on reading stuff I own... about 4 years ago I got 2 boxes of 50s and 60s novels (about 300 books) from a going out of business store on ebay I've been slowly working through... between the remains of those and stuff I've bought at library book sales and things. I've made good progress on the comic pile, but between here, my local book club, and getting distracted by good sounding reviews I haven't does as well on the books.

As far as the good reads goal.. I usually go up by 5 when I suceed (so that'd be 100 next year), but I may do 104 (2 a week) since it seems more exciting. Also hoping to get to 30k pages read (had about 28k this year).

I see those boxes on eBay and would love to get one, but I’ve already got at least 150 paper books on my shelves to get rid of. A lot of those are H/N listed books I got at the annual Half Price Books clearance sale. Of course, that didn’t happen in October as usual, so I’ve got an extra 10 months to try and clear some shelf space.

Kristenelle wrote: "My goals are to read all the Hugo nominations for novel and novella (and maybe novelette and short story) plus some series I haven't gotten to yet. I'll be happy if I read a couple.


[book:The Ci..."

Jade City and Three Parts Dead are in my TBR too.

Allan wrote: "Based on how I did in 2020, here are my goals for 2021:

Increase books read from 137 to 150, counting novellas.

Complete 10% of the H/N list (about 60 books).

Finish the 20 H/N winners I haven'..."

I have Worlds Without End Challenges too! This year I'm doing:

2021 Big Fun In A Little Package Novella Challenge
2021 LGBTQ Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
2021 I Just HAVE To Read More Of That Author
Read the Sequel 2021
Books Read This Year: 2021
and Speculative Fiction by Authors of Colour

Allan wrote: "I see those boxes on eBay and would love to get one, but I’ve already got at least 150 paper books on my shelves to get rid of. A lot of those are H/N listed books I got at the annual Half Price Bo..."

I've got my initial English SFF collection on eBay (incl. almost all Heinlein), but for the last decade I prefer ebooks. This actually creates a problem with reading local (Ukrainian) SFF - most publishers are afraid of piracy and only like 10% of new SFF is in ebook format

Happy New Year everyone!
My goal for this year is to branch out more and read outside of our list,

Leticia wrote: "2021 Big Fun In A Little Package Novella Challenge
2021 LGBTQ Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
2021 I Just HAVE To Read More Of That Author
Read the Sequel 2021
Books Read This Year: 2021
and Speculative Fiction by Authors of Colour"

These are the ones I completed in 2020 and would like to do again (not all of them are set up yet):
Books Read This Year (all books - no theme)
12 Awards in 12 Months (award-winning books)
The Second Best (award nominees that won nothing)
Space Opera
The Weirdness (weird fiction)
Lois McMaster Bujold Grandmaster
Apocalypse 2020 (Dying Earth genre)
Women of Genre Fiction (24 different female authors)
2020 ROTFL!!
The Killer B's
Collections
Grandmasters (1 book from 24 different GM's)
COVID-19 Pandemic (plague or virus related)
Big Fun in a Little Package (novellas)
Double Winners (the 26 winners of both Hugo & Nebula)

I find completing these great fun and I absolutely love to look at all the book covers in a form of collage on the screen!

@Leticia: you might be interested in the Nalo Hopkinson Grand Master challenge I created earlier today. I did William Gibson & Lois McMaster Bujold the last two years as they became Grand Masters. Hopkinson has only half a dozen novels but also has a lot of short fiction. My handle on WWE is “finminer”.

No posts since January, and approaching mid-year, thought I would revisit this thread and update my goals.

Increase books read from 137 to 150, counting novellas.
**Almost on target, I'm at 66 now and should be around 71 at month-end.**

Complete 10% of the H/N list (about 60 books).
**Should hit this one, I anticipate 31 by end of June.**

Finish the 20 H/N winners I haven't read.
**I won't even be close. Many side trips, only have 2 so far.**

Reach a pages per day rate of 110; this translates into 40,000 pages read in the year.
**Should reach this one, about 21K at end of June.**

Finish some of the series I've started: The Book of the New Sun, New Crobuzon, Blue Mars, Death's End, Blackout (Grant), CS Lewis Space trilogy, The Uplift War, The Burning World & The Crystal World by JG Ballard, Harry Potter (4), Murderbot, Asimov's Empire trilogy, Hainish (LeGuin).
**Finished New Crobuzon, Blackout, Murderbot, so some progress.**

Read the two 2020 group reads I skipped, The Glass Bead Game & Up the Walls of the World. Maybe get to the five I missed in 2018.
**Nothing on the first two, but I did read one of the 2018's.**

Complete all my chosen Worlds Without End challenges. Probably the same ones I chose this year, gave me a good variety.
**On target!**

Read at least 6 short story collections & 12 history books.
**Not doing well with short stories & have a few history reads.**

Clear at least 60 books from my paper collection!
**I will complete this one if it kills me! (unless Wifey kills me first)**

Amazing Allan, congrats on the great progress!

I don't think I created any goals for myself for 2021 (or any other year). I started reading voraciously and using Goodreads once the pandemic hit and just dove in head first. I generally wished to get through my TBR but I add books to it so frequently that I think it has actually grown over the year!

To partially rectify this, I'm going to start tracking (to create a baseline for):

# of books read with less than 200 reviews
# of books read translated into English
# of books read with non-white male authors
# of novellas read
# of short stories read
# of unfinished series (3 books or less)
# of completed series (3 books or less)
# of unfinished series (4 books or more)
# of completed series (4 books or more)

Interested to hear about others' reading goals and challenges!

Thanks, Rebecca! I suffer from TBR syndrome too, which is why I'm failing to knock out the remaining H/N winners!

I found that setting goals was helpful in keeping my meandering attention more focused (helped, not cured). I have to have H/N goals, though, or I'll never finish the list! I like some of your goal ideas, might be something I can set myself going forward.

Thanks for reminding of this thread, Allan. My progress:
1. at least 12 contemporary fiction works in Ukrainian
three, but I hope up it to 5 by month's end

2. at least 3 in Polish
1 and waiting for their 2020 Zajdel award nominees to choose

3. at least 12 non-fic
18, well ahead

4. all monthly reads in our groups
true so far

5. all 2021 issues of Analog and Asimov's, for I've subscribed
jan/feb issues are read, so 2 of 12

6. all 2021 Hugo nominees (to know for what to vote)
all novels but The Relentless Moon, most shorter works

I thought about these reading goals just couple of weeks ago. My Reading Challenge for Goodreads is 90 books, but it looks like I probably won't make it: I've only read 35 books so far, so the final tally will most likely be somewhere around 80.

But besides that, I had three goals:

1) Read at least 12 books from my TBR pile as it stands on Dec 31st
- I've read 11 so far, so almost completed. Upon reflection I set the bar too low: should've aimed for 20.

2) Read every month at least one Monthly Read from a Goodreads group: this one, Hot from the Printers or SF in Translation.
- April was touch and go, but I managed to stay on track. So far I've read 10 MR's from these three groups, and plan to read 2 more by the end of the month, so the average should be around two per month.

3) Read less American books and more from other places around the world (no more than 1/3 written by an American)
- Great success so far: I've read 35 books and only 5 of them were by US writers.

Antti wrote: "3) Read less American books and more from other places around the world (no more than 1/3 written by an American)
- Great success so far: I've read 35 books and only 5 of them were by US writers."

That's a goal I should set myself as well - once I've finished the award lists.

I am reading what I want more, which is good. I often find that in this group, I end up not liking some of the books, and then there are those that I have read already. As a moderator, I still feel a bit guilty about not reading all of the books here, but I just have promised myself to not continue reading books I don't like. So, sometimes, I don't read with you now. Sorry about this month-- (already read one, didn't like one).

But it is giving me time to read books that just pop up. For example Jane Doe byVictoria Helen Stone. Could not stop reading it. It's not F or SF. It's just so well written. Because the character . . . but no spoilers here. Suffice it to say that you shouldn't like her, but you HAVE to.

I said I would read 150 books this year for the good reads challenge and I am already way more than halfway, 33 books ahead of schedule. And for the "clean your TBR shelf" in the McHalo group, I have read 50 out of my goal of 100, but some of the books are on both lists, obviously.

Still hoping to finish "The Expanse"

Actually, I am thinking about adding another column to my Hugo spreadsheet. "Tried and abandoned" or something. That way I won't forget that I already tried to read it.

I can count them as read for my own purposed, but I won't for here.

Kateblue - I also share your experience with group reads. But the ones I would have skipped over and ended up liking, well, that is special. Its ok to take a break from group reads and indulge in all those books you are interested in but don't meet group criteria.

I don't set goals, but since this is my first year as a Hugo voter, my goal is to read enough of the nominees to cast a vote in Novel, novelette, novella, and short story categories. I wont read all of them, because some are continuations of series I didn't like that much in previous years, or authors I wasn't impressed by. But there are plenty of authors I never read, so I hope to get through all of them before voting is done in November.

Oh, and since I am setting a goal, just this one time (lol), I want to read at least 5 non-sci-fi books on my TBR list as well.

Got one goal alone, get my 2021 challenge done and read as many books not related to Hugo and Nebula awards as possible

Although I try to focus on H/N, at least half my reads wind up elsewhere. I’ve always like history & an occasional non-fic, and you all get kudos for getting me to read more modern books (last 20 years, let’s say), and especially last 5 years. Much more fantasy too. A cure for tsundoku, perhaps?

I’ve been neglectful and haven’t posted here periodically. How’s everyone doing with their goals?

Kalin wrote: "I've been pondering this for a few weeks now. I'm on the cusp of being a new parent and I'm expecting my reading time to be seriously curtailed as a result. So I have been thinking I should be conservative with my goals, but it's hard to pull back since there's so much I wanted to read this year that I didn't get to. If I stick to reading from these three GR groups I'm in (H&N, Hot of the Presses, SF in Translation) there won't be much room left. "

I hit my initial reading goal (52 books for the year) but I'm now on paternity leave and it's paradoxically left me with less reading time than when I was working earlier in the year. So my reading has slowed waaaaay down -- it took me 41 days to read Kafka on the Shore. At this point I probably won't join anymore H&N or Hot off the Presses monthly reads for the remainder of the year, and I'll be focusing on SF in Translation since I'm a mod there. Also still trying to finish some last minute Hugo Award reading (Piranesi, the Astounding Award list, the novelette list) in the next few weeks. And I really want to finish reading Blue Mars before the year is out, I started it almost two years ago and put it on hold to keep up with monthly reads.

Yes, it is a tough period with a little one to take care of, little time for much else. Hang in there, it will get better!

Kalin, enjoy it! And take lots of pictures. And keep taking them when he/she gets older. I didn't and I regret it.

Increase books read from 137 to 150, counting novellas.
**Projecting at 132 if I'm lucky, falling a little short, fewer novellas and now not much time to squeeze them in**

Complete 10% of the H/N list (about 60 books).
**Really blitzing this one and should make it. My projection puts me at 302, 50% of the list.**

Finish the 20 H/N winners I haven't read.
**I won't even be close. Many side trips, should get 5 or 6.**

Reach a pages per day rate of 110; this translates into 40,000 pages read in the year.
**It will be close. Projecting just under 110 pages per day and barely over 40K pages.**

Finish some of the series I've started: The Book of the New Sun, New Crobuzon, Blue Mars, Death's End, Blackout (Grant), CS Lewis Space trilogy, The Uplift War, The Burning World & The Crystal World by JG Ballard, Harry Potter (4), Murderbot, Asimov's Empire trilogy, Hainish (LeGuin).
**Finished New Crobuzon, Blackout, Murderbot. Started & finished Queen of Angels, The Sparrow duology, the two Asaro Skolian Empire listed books, LeGuin's Western Shore trilogy. Re-read the Foundation trilogy.**

Read the two 2020 group reads I skipped, The Glass Bead Game & Up the Walls of the World. Maybe get to the five I missed in 2018.
**Read one of the 2018's, hope to finish The Glass Bead Game.**

Complete all my chosen Worlds Without End challenges. Probably the same ones I chose this year, gave me a good variety.
**Slipping a little bit here but I think I'll get them**

Read at least 6 short story collections & 12 history books.
**Not going to make either of these.**

Clear at least 60 books from my paper collection!
**I haven't counted, but I'd say yes, because I have open shelf space.**

Oleksandr wrote: "My main goals for 2021 will be to read:"

1. at least 12 contemporary fiction works in Ukrainian
Notably behind, read 5, now doing 6th even if it is not really contemporary, but 1925. I doubt I'll do 12 this year

2. at least 3 in Polish
4 already, plus one collection of short stories, plus 1 read 40%

3. at least 12 non-fic
Over 24

4. all monthly reads in our groups
So far on track

5. all 2021 issues of Analog and Asimov's, for I've subscribed
Still behind the schedule, but plan to catch up

6. all 2021 Hugo nominees (to know for what to vote)
All in fiction works, but not in series, non-fic or dramatic

I will just read random SF&F and mysteries, with a other books that friends recommend.

Z, for a non-fic, you could read "The Great Escape" I just read it again recently and it has aged well.

In another group, they have a TBR challenge to get rid of books that you've been meaning to read. This year I said I would read 100 of these and have read 90. I also join the GR contest. I always say 150 books because, even though I always read more, enough of them are short that I think 150 is just about right.

I’ve got The Great Escape on my list - I assume you mean the WWII novel. It’s fairly short, a quick audio read. I watched the movie with Steve McQueen a thousand times as a kid.

Kateblue wrote: "Z, for a non-fic, you could read "The Great Escape" I just read it again recently and it has aged well."

Gonna check, thanks!

Allan wrote: "I’ve been neglectful and haven’t posted here periodically. How’s everyone doing with their goals?"

Mixed success. I definitely won't make my Reading Goal of 90 books: I think 80 is still do-able.

As for my other goals:
1) Read at least 12 books from my TBR pile as it stands on Dec 31st
Technical success: I've already read 14 books. OTOH, my TBR pile on GR was 165 books on Dec 31st 2020, and now it's 169, so I didn't accomplish my real goal of reducing the size of my TBR pile. Next year I should make this goal into something like "Read at least 2 books from the TBR for every book I add to it".

2) Read every month at least one Monthly Read from a Goodreads group: this one, Hot of the Presses or SF in Translation.
So far so good.

3) No more than one third of my books written by an American.
This I will accomplish easily: currently fewer than a quarter of this year's books have been written by an US author.

Great to see how you're all reaching and smashing your goals. Keep going! 8 weeks left :)

Antti wrote: "Next year I should make this goal into something like "Read at least 2 books from the TBR for every book I add to it"."

That's a good one! I think next year I'll make a TBR-related goal. Then if I fall behind on reading, it will force me to clean up my TBR list ;)

After the failure of 2020, my only goal this year was to read 12 books. I've hit that. But it took all year! Now I have no specific goals, I'm just reading whatever I happen to grab from my shelf. It's kinda nice.

Allan wrote: "I’ve got The Great Escape on my list - I assume you mean the WWII novel. It’s fairly short, a quick audio read. I watched the movie with Steve McQueen a thousand times as a kid."

Yes, that is the one. It is not out in Kindle in the US anyway, but I bet it would narrate well.

Final reckoning on my goals for 2021:

Increase books read from 137 to 150, counting novellas & a few short stories. **I read lot of novellas in December, so I actually wound up at 141. Fell a little short of the aggressive goal but I'm happy with doing a few more than last year.**

Complete 10% of the H/N list (about 60 books).
**I tried to blitz it at the end, but miscalculated my time. I wound up reading 63 listed books but landed at 300, 1 book short of the 301 needed for exactly 50% of the list.**

Finish the 20 H/N winners I haven't read.
**I made some progress, reading 6, but am not close to finishing. Too many side trips, still 14 left. Maybe next year!**

Reach a pages per day rate of 110; this translates into 40,000 pages read in the year.
**Fell a little short here as well. Wound up at 39,780 pages, about a book short of 40K, or 108-109 pages per day**

Finish some of the series I've started: The Book of the New Sun, New Crobuzon, Blue Mars, Death's End, Blackout (Grant), CS Lewis Space trilogy, The Uplift War, The Burning World & The Crystal World by JG Ballard, Harry Potter (4), Murderbot, Asimov's Empire trilogy, Hainish (LeGuin).
**Finished New Crobuzon, Blackout, Murderbot, Queen of Angels, The Sparrow duology, the two Asaro Skolian Empire listed books, LeGuin's Western Shore trilogy, the Moist Lipwig duology (Pratchett). Re-read the Foundation trilogy.**

Read the two 2020 group reads I skipped, The Glass Bead Game & Up the Walls of the World. Maybe get to the five I missed in 2018. **Read one of the 2018's, not close on The Glass Bead Game.**

Complete all my chosen Worlds Without End challenges. Probably the same ones I chose this year, gave me a good variety.
**Completed them all but the Blooming Books challenge. This is an interesting, different list from The Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide - 100 Must-Read SF Novels.**

Read at least 6 short story collections & 12 history books.
**Nope, not even close.**

Clear at least 60 books from my paper collection!
**I haven't counted, but I'd say yes, because I have open shelf space. I did buy a few good finds a couple days ago though!**

While I made it quite well with overall number of read books (196!!!), I haven't reached part of my goal. Here is the breakdown
1. at least 12 contemporary fiction works in Ukrainian
The worst underreach - only 6 or 8 if I count non-fic and a classic novel from 1929. Partially due to lack of good selection of ebooks and audio, but also just wanting top read more to discuss with others who also read it

2. at least 3 in Polish
Overachieved, 5, and further 6 short stories, nominated for this year Polish SFF award, which I don't count

3. at least 12 non-fic
over 20

4. all monthly reads in our groups
achieved

5. all 2021 issues of Analog and Asimov's, for I've subscribed
out of 12 issues I've finished 4 Analog and 4 Asimov's (also final issues of both from 2020, not counted), and the rest checked some stories

6. all 2021 Hugo nominees (to know for what to vote)
achieved

I didn't really set any goals for 2021 besides the GR challenge (which I easily met because of COVID 🤓). However, midway-ish through the year I started being more deserting about which books I continue with - this was 100% because of the feedback many of you have given throughout our posts to dnf is a book that don't suit me. I flet that if I didn't finish a book I'd be a quitter! (booooo!!! shame!!!) Right, totally useless inclination when you are reading for pleasure but I think its pretty common. I think this has helped me avoid slumps and be a more efficient reader. So thank you all for that support. I hope to continue this in 2022.

Since my goal is to read the whole list, I still have a no-DNF policy, at least in the long run. I’ve forged on with most of them, but there have been a few I just couldn’t get interested in at the time. A Midsummer Tempest and Up the Walls of the World have been like that. I’m calling them DNF-FN (for now). I’ll get to them eventually. But I’m certainly glad if we’ve helped you focus & progress.

I have often read 30 or 40% and, if I'm hating a book, reading the beginnings of chapters and/or skipping to the end. I am quite practiced at moving the electronic slide bar to exactly 85% of a book in progress. Also, I'm quite good at reading the beginnings of paragraphs to decide if they are moving the story along and then skipping the paragraph if it is not.

With the 85% thing, in most cases, I have felt that I actually completed the book. When I finished, I usually felt that I knew all I needed to know and also got all the satisfaction I could have out of the end of the book--as much as I could have if I had read the whole thing.

I do count books that I have treated this way as "read" because I know mostly what happened and I have given the book a good shot. It is also a process I use with monthly reads we have selected if I hate them==because I feel somewhat obligated to read them. Other books I'm hating, I usually just quit.

Maybe hating is too strong a word, but you get the idea.

My goal in 2022 is
1) Stop reading books I hate
2) Read more books I cannot put down, but they are hard to find
3) Read at least 150 books for the Goodreads Challenge (I am always way over, but many are stories and novellas, so 150 feels like a proper goal.)
4) Finish the TBR challenge over at the McHalos group, which gets many books and even series off of my TBR which might otherwise sit there forever.
5) Read or at least try the monthly reads in all groups (there are 5 reads in the 3 groups I am most active in)
6) Have fun in reading!!!!!