The Next Best Book Club discussion

Hey Gang,

Since 2011 is just around the corner I thought I would post to see what everyone's 2011 reading goals are.

I just recently finished my BA in English and while I read a lot of books for my classes I never had anytime to do my own free reading and if I did in most cases I had just finished hours of reading for school and needed a to give my brain a break from reading for a bit. Now that I have graduated I want to set some reading goals for myself. While in school I was reading about 30 books a year, most of them for my classes, which isn't much of a feat but unfortunately all I had time for between essays, assignments and homework. This year I would like to read at least 50 books . I think I can manage that since my time between working is now my own and really indulge in my favourite hobby! I hope my bank account agrees...

What are your reading goals? How do they compare to 2010's goals? Post your updates!

I'm going for 130 books this time! I'm also trying to only read books that I own! I have tons of really great books and I need to stay away from the library and read from my own shelves!!

Susan wrote: "I'm going for 130 books this time! I'm also trying to only read books that I own! I have tons of really great books and I need to stay away from the library and read from my own shelves!!"

That's one of my goals too Susan! I'm actually pretty good at reading all the books I buy but I have a few on my shelf I have yet to tackle. 130 books? Wow! It's been so long since I've had free time to read that I don't even know what I'm capable of when it comes to reading. If I could read that much this next year that would be great!

I'm on my 118 book today! I'm a SAHM now after working for 30 years! God bless my husband!!! LOL

Ha ha! That's fantastic! Good for you.

Thanks so much! It was an adjustment going from two paychecks to one but I wouldnt trade it for anything!!! Look how much reading I get to do! :)

I am definitely jealous of that!

I've established a steady reading pace of around 100-120 books per year over the last three years or so and I plan to keep that up. I had feared this year I'd do really bad because I had exams eat up almost a month and a half of my summer, then I had to move and start school, but it wasn't that bad and I still managed a good score of 115 books read. Maybe it's because I'm going to a British uni and we don't get that many assignments or because all my courses are literature-related, but my university courses don't interfere that much with my reading volume. I get an extra month of summer holiday to make up for exams periods, anyway.
On the other hand, there are several books I mean to read next year and for the most part I plan to plunge into French and German literature as I feel I read too few books that aren't by English authors.

I've read about 60 books the past two years; I'm comfortable with that, although I'd also be happy reading less.

This coming year, as I continue my grand tour through Western History alternating between classics from and non-fiction about each period, I vaguely plan to nail the 1700s and 1800s. I'm not sure if that plan is too ambitious or not ambitious enough; I covered 500 years in 2010, but people wrote an awful lot of books in the 18th and 19th centuries.

My annual Big Ass Russian Tome will be either Karamazov or Ware & Peace; I'm still debating.

Alex wrote: "My annual Big Ass Russian Tome will be either Karamazov or Ware & Peace Piece; I'm still debating...."

I fixed that for you, Alex.



I plan on reading more books from my at-home bookshelf with the emphasis being on those books that have been there the longest. I do want to read them but most are huge and quite the time commitment.

Heh. It's about Tupperware, right?

I'm using December to knock out a few books I've had on my shelves and unread for a while.

Alex wrote: "I've read about 60 books the past two years; I'm comfortable with that, although I'd also be happy reading less.

This coming year, as I continue my grand tour through Western History alternating b..."

That's a modest amount. I admire that. I get such satisfaction out of finishing a book that I try and read as many as I can but I find it quite often creates a stress of some sort with the competitve edge that I give myself.

I'm also aiming this year to try and read the last remaining books on my shelf that I haven't read yet, which astonishingly, I've been able to get down to 6.

Alex wrote: "I'm using December to knock out a few books I've had on my shelves and unread for a while."

Yeah, good idea. I keep getting sidetracked by all the great suggestions here and miss out on the books on my shelves.
I'm sure I've got a copy of Paradise Lost, too. Thanks to your Review, I'm itching to dig it out.

Danielle wrote: "I'm also aiming this year to try and read the last remaining books on my shelf that I haven't read yet, which astonishingly, I've been able to get down to 6..."

Danielle, that's a modest number of unread books! What are you going to read after these?

I have been aiming for 50 books per year the past few years, but I've been exceeding it by a dozen or so each year. For 2011, I am going to aim for 70-75, but I am not going to be too concerned about the number. I am more interested in getting to various books I have yet to read than keeping count this year.

I have a handful of books lined up for group reads in January and February in various groups, so those go at the top of the list. Beyond that, I want to read at least a half dozen classics I haven't read, at least a couple of non-fiction, and at least a dozen off my home shelves. I will probably buy 6-10 and read another 20+ from the library. I have a tentative list I would like to read this coming year, with another 10-12 "slots" free for new releases, challenge tasks I can't fit any of my list into, other group reads etc. Here's my tentative list:

My 2011 TBR shelf

Candiss, I enjoyed Eugene Onegin and The Sparrow. Your 2011 list looks good.

Eugene Onegin! Holy crap, that book is good at being amazing. Seriously Candiss...it's breathtaking. I recommend the Mitchell translation.

Danielle, my goal for 2010 was to read fewer books than in 2009. I feel like you could spend a whole year on, say, Aristotle, and that'd be a good year. But I failed in 2010 and maybe that's how I need to run for a while - I'm so psyched to read books, it gets obsessive - so okay, I'll let it go.

I am like most of you and looking to read somewhere in the 50-75 range, more toward 75. I have been averaging about 60 a year for a while, but this year is different because I just graduated from college so I can read whatever I want. Hopefully I will be able to knock out a good portion of my owned but unread pile. (It is relatively large.)

Alex--I understand you when you say you are so psyched to read books. I walked in to B&N the other day just for fun and found a book which I had heard about and got so excited I bought it and then grabbed a mocha from the Starbucks and started reading it in the store, I finished 50 pages before I realized I was late meeting my friends.

Petra wrote: Danielle, that's..."

I've worked hard to get down to that amount! I'm going to spoil myself when I reach that goal and splurge on a bunch of new books. I've been moving a lot over the last few years so I have been trying to keep my spending on books to a minimum as they're a pain to move. I never worry about what to read next as I constantly have a reading list and I know I will never run out of books to read. My 'to-read' list is up to date and that's the order of books I plan on reading next if you care to check it out.

That's a broad list, Danielle. Some great stuff in there. And also, The Uglies. :P

Jen, so glad you're not going the traditional "I just graduated college and therefore I can stop reading altogether for the next decade" route. And yeah, wandering into a bookstore and getting carried away is one of the great joys.

I have a goal to through my existing to be read pile this year and not buy too many books before I get it done. My list is 70 books long. I estimate that I will have read over 50 books for this year. I want to achieve at least 60 next year

My goal for next year is to read between 75 and 100 books. I hit close to 120 this year, but that was because I was laid up for a while. I don't intend to have that kind of down time next year.

Catie, that's a very reasonable goal! I think for most of us, getting organized in general is always a good New Year's Resolution :)

Thank you. I'm looking forward to reading so many of them.

I read 85 in 2009. My goal for 2010 was 90, and I am currently on book 101, so I think I am going to aim for 100 in 2011. I also want to concentrate on the TBR pile, particularly series by favorite authors I've fallen behind on. That doesn't mean I won't buy any new books (I know myself all too well), just that I need to read some of those I already have.

Danielle, I just checked out your To Read shelf. There are some wonderful books in there! I definitely appreciate a mix of genres and classics. Enjoy!

"Compare" is my favorite thing ever.

This years goal was to read 50 books, decided next years goal will to be bump it up to 75 books since I will have so much more time to read. I also want to knock off almost 25,000 pages off my lifetime goal of a million pages I started this year.

I will also be working on the 50 states challenge: trying to read a mystery set in all 50 states. Where I hope to get at least 5-10 states knocked off next year as well.

Catie wrote: "Not the mention, the "compare books" button - endlessly entertaining!"

"Compare" is the best.

Candiss wrote: "Danielle, I just checked out your To Read shelf. There are some wonderful books in there! I definitely appreciate a mix of genres and classics. Enjoy!"

I love my classics :)

Catie wrote: "I also just discovered that organizing my goodreads shelves is nearly as much fun as organizing my real books at home. Not the mention, the "compare books" button - endlessly entertaining!"

Ha ha! A whole new world has opened up for you on goodreads! Organizing is so satisfying. Congrats on reading around 211 books this year! That's quite the accomplishment.

I can't read that many books in a year (wish I could). My two goals are to try and read at least 10 off my TBR and then also to start reading the Harry Potter series. I read the first one several years ago and didn't continue with it. From all of the great reviews on here, it makes me want to read them. I also may start getting more books from the library, rather than buying, to save some money.

I have noticed that the last couple of years I have read over a 100 books. I think that if I read more - fine - I don't think I will read any less. I have discovered the thrill of borrowing books from the library. It is my goal to continue to use the library for many of the books I am going to read!! I am trying to only buy books for the face to face book clubs!!

I've only been on GR for about 6 months or so so my stats show that I've only read 35 books. I can't believe that I only read that many. I was so sure that I had read more. Of course it donesn't show what Iv'e read at the beginning of the year. So I figure I've really read about 50. I'm going to go for 75 this year. Surely I can reach that since I'm retired!

I too spend alot of time at the library. No more book buying for me, unless it's an absolute must re-read and keep of course. And I'm even going to try to read the books at the library before I buy them so I won't be wasting my money!

I actually want to read less books this coming year, but read more off my TBR list, and less of the "fluff" books I read when my brain is tired. Think I'll go for 100 books from my TBR list.

I'm going to try and read only the books I own!! I have tons and they are great books!! I can do this!!! :)

I did knock a ton of books I own off before I was waylaid by War & Peace...here's my question: when you talk about books you own but haven't read, do you count books your spouse owns? My wife is hella into Austen and Edith Wharton, and she owns a ton of their work that I haven't read yet.

I intend to read those, but they don't make me feel guilty.

I already read insanely fast, but my goal for the next year is to finish up Diane's Around the World Challenge - i'm at 21 of 80 books complete so far; as well as the US states (as 23/50)...plus continue working my way through the B&N 101 classics list and read at least 10 off of there, in the midst of my normal reading (mostly romancey type stuff)

My goal for 2011 is to read less books. I read about 600 this year, haven't done the stats yet, but many (ok, most) are fluff books. (I'm addicted to cozy mysteries.)

1) Read at least 10-15 books a month from the 1001 books you must read before you die list.
2) Read at least 5 "real" literature books a month. This will hopefully get me more caught up with all of the current stuff I haven't read.
3) Read at least 1 non-fiction book a month.

So, that's 256 books right there.

Last year my goal was 48 books. I was one short. This year though, I'm confident I can read more since school's almost out (I'm doing practical training until the end of May) so I upped my goal. I'm hoping to read 60 books.

My "guiding force" this year will be the 25 Books To Read Before Age 25 list. I'll be 25 in October so I have some catching up to do since I've only read 3 so far.

My only other goal so far (I will probably find numerous more, considering my sudden whims) is to finish reading Sam Shepard's bibliography. Well, the ones I can get my hands on. Turns out I can't find The Unseen Hand: and Other Plays even through inter-library loan.

Oh yes, how could I forget? Of course I should finish re-reading the Harry Potter series. I'm in the middle of reading #5.

Susanna wrote: "My "guiding force" this year will be the 25 Books To Read Before Age 25 list. I'll be 25 in October so I have some catching up to do since I've only read 3 so far...."

Ooh I'm working on this list too! Hoping to finish up this year, though luckily I've got a little bit longer until my 25th if I fail... Good luck on making it before your 25th!!

Tanya wrote: "Ooh I'm working on this list too! Hoping to finish up this year, though luckily I've got a little bit longer until my 25th if I fail... Good luck on making it before your 25th!!"

Thanks, Tanya! I'll do my best! :)

I was aiming for 50 books last year and failed as I only made 38. The Count of Monte Cristo and The Children's Book really put a spanner in th eworks. This year I am trying for 50 again. Hopefully I make it, but as long as I read a reall interesing mix of books along the way, I won't be too concerned. I am also doing the Around the World in 80 books challenge in tandem so hopefully that will help.

My final goal for 2011 is to read every single TNBBC group read for all 12 months even if hey are not reall genres that I would typically ever read.

Alex wrote: "I did knock a ton of books I own off before I was waylaid by War & Peace...here's my question: when you talk about books you own but haven't read, do you count books your spouse owns? My wife is h..."

All the books in the house are mine, I managed to find a spouse that doesn't really read. Don't ask me how that worked out. I love him anyway for his various other qualities. Pssst it just means I have the brains in the relationship ;)

Shay wrote: "My goal for 2011 is to read less books. I read about 600 this year, haven't done the stats yet, but many (ok, most) are fluff books. (I'm addicted to cozy mysteries.)

1) Read at least 10-15 books..."

Shay, that's a great list! I may do something like that myself.

Monef wrote: "I was aiming for 50 books last year and failed as I only made 38. The Count of Monte Cristo and The Children's Book really put a spanner in th eworks. This year I am trying for 50 again. Hopefully ..."

I've made a goal to read at least 2 of them.

Thought you just meant books at first, like, "My goal is to read at least two books." I was kindof impressed; way to set manageable goals! Ha.

Alex wrote: "Thought you just meant books at first, like, "My goal is to read at least two books." I was kindof impressed; way to set manageable goals! Ha."

Hahaha!! :)