2018 reading goals and challenges

MillicentMargaretAmanda

How?! Not "how did you find the time?" but how did you find the books? I set 100 and I could keep up with the pace but not the finding of things to read.

I don't mind a trashy crime book or two and took up fantasy towards the end of the year but I was still at a loss.

What I quite liked this year was that GoodReads told me how many pages I had read as well so I am aiming for c. 10,000 pages because there are quite a few longer books I want to read. I did find myself reading shorter books towards the end of the year.

Exactly bootygirl!

I finished the Queens Man. I'm recovering at home from post-op complications so between very short bursts of work I've been reading rather than surfing or watching tv.

I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoy losing myself in a book. I never thought I'd say that.

I'm going to finish all the partly read books beside my bed ( my concentrations been shot for a variety of reasons) then work through my unread pile.

scribbly I m a bit like that with book tube!

alice I am struggling too & not sure if it's too much time surfing iPad that makes reading 'proper' books...

I'm also trying to increase the amount of reading I do. Messing about on my iPad has drastically reduced how much I read and I'm going to change that.

Instead of giving myself a target number of books, for now I'm planning to put down the iPad and read when I would otherwise be mindlessly clicking back and forth between mumsnet, Facebook and Reddit. What happened? Is it true about the dopamine hit from getting a like? I don't actually post much either.

So today, during work breaks I'm going to read my book. "The Queen's Man" by Rory Clements and I'm not enjoying it much. I love Shardlake and a friend recommended this series but there's no comparison, IMHO.

I find it hard to find unputdownable books these days but whether that's because my concentration has been damaged by social media or that more dross is published, I don't know.

Doh, completely forgot to mention my primary reading goal which won’t be anywhere near finished by the end of the year, it’s more of a decade reading goal, which is to read Steve Donoghue's Western Canon Starter Kit this is explains why I have got Aristotle for Christmas.

I think I might start somewhere easy though, probably with The Victorians. Dh is doing it with me and is cracking on with The Greeks after he has finished his current book about zombie tank warriors or something.

I’ve set my goal at 50 again for this year.

My goals are:
To read all the books currently sitting on my TBR window sill by the end of the year (12).
To read all the books I received for Christmas (10), excepting The Basic Works of Aristotle (which at almost 1500 pages makes me wonder what the complete works of Aristotle looks like), and The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson which is also a mighty tome and something I just want to dip in and out of when I wish and not aim to finish.
To read more poetry.
To read more plays.
To read more non-fiction.
Not doing numbers for those categories, just more.
To not be swept up by BookTube new publications hype and buy new releases unless they are by an author who I know I already like. Instead I shall order from the library and practice patience and self control.

bootygirl no the Modern Mrs Darcy challenge is on her site for free. Modern Mrs Darcy does have a paid-for online book club (I'm not part of that)

I ll have another look vander

Thank you for providing the Book Riot link, still.

I think the Modern Miss Darcy challenge is free, bootygirl. I'm using the list as a guide but didn't sign up for anything.

stillovingmysleep do you have to pay to join 'modern Miss darcy?'???

I read 150 in 2017, but my goal was 100. Aiming for 100 again this year, and, as with last year I'm forcing myself to pick up some of the sort of things you find on '100 books to read before you die' lists. Might also check out the two challenges linked to on this thread.

And here's a photo of my books on my bed shelf - except I've just remembered that 4x5=20, not 25, so I'll have to add 5 more. I'm still pleased with myself though as I'm a queen of procrastination

Not going to aim for 50 because I’ll end up avoiding longer books.

Quite like the idea of Dickens, they’re sitting on my kindle untouched because I’ve been reading other stuff.

I think I might just set a goal of reading something everyday which is something I’ve stopped doing.

Wow! So impressed with all these goals.

I can never seem to manage to read more than 1 book a month and I only work 2 days a week!

Inspired by the posters on this thread, I'm going to include a couple of Dickens novels. I've got one of those 'bookshelf beds' and I'm going to move some books from my actual bookshelves onto my bedhead. Hopefully, the books being in plain sight will help me not to forget about this resolution. Actually, I could even fit 25 books on there and work my way through them.

I won't be reading only Dickens, I'll read other things too, just for a bit of variety of style.

I'm not aiming for a specific number because I always read a lot of books but I'm hoping to be a more consistent reader this year. I had a lot of prolonged reading slumps and I'm hoping to avoid those in 2018.

I am aiming to read at least twenty classics,and I'm hoping to read all of the approximately 55 books that I have about Germany(Mainly on East Germany).

The Dickens challenge sounds daunting and amazing in equal measure Ada. I remember reading a blog once by someone who'd done the same with Trollope. I genuinely don't think that I'd have the stamina.

I've already mentioned my major reading ambition for this year on the 50 book challenge thread. I want to finish The Ambassadors. I've started it twice, got so far and given up in more or less the same place. I am determined to finish it this year.

Ada it was random. I had a couple so read them, then tried to get the rest by date of writing, but it's a shame to finish on the unfinished one.

ValderlyleGeek I didn't know the book riot challenge (linking it so that others can find it), thanks for suggesting and like you I'll combine it with the Modern Mrs Darcy challenge.

Oh and happy new year!

Rosemary Did you do it in any particular order or just randomly?

I'm going to finally read all the books my MIL has lent me, they look really good but I have been prioritising my library books to avoid the late fees!

I'm aiming for an unambitious 25. I have practically stopped reading for pleasure entirely in the past 2 years
Me too, but I've just read 'Big Little Lies' and I'm keen again.