Monday, November 7, 2011

Paula wonders how your 2011 reading goals are going

Alright everyone, as I write this it's the last day of October and I have something to admit. I've been avoiding my Goodreads lately. "Why?" you may ask. Because I knew I would sign in and see this:










AUGH! What how did this happen? I was 2 books ahead only a month ago... right? or maybe that was in July...All I know is that the farther I get behind the less motivation I have to catch up. Also all the books on my to-read shelf are either really long or serious literature or both (like Doctor Zhivago or The Historian) not too many quick reads that I can knock out and catch back up with. Also since I found a job (yay?) I have less time to read which makes this goal seem more daunting for the next 2 months.

For the most part I've completed my 2011 reading goals (there were about 10)
but these last 3 (Read 75 books, Read "Count of Monte Cristo", and Read a Charles Dickens book) are really intimidating. I hope I'll be able to knock them out. But all of a sudden 2012 looks really close....

So I thought I would just check in on you all and see how you all are fairing on your 2011 reading goals. I hope everyone is a lot closer to achieving them than I am. Let us know in the comments.

Sorry this post is so short, but I actually have free time today so my reading chair awaits me!

43 comments:

  1. Not doing so great either. I am currently 8 books behind. Whatever, LOL...the way I see it I still read more in a year than some people read in their lifetime.

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  2. OMG, I'm doing very very bad xD I decided to read 125 books and have read only 77. That means I'm 29 books behind! T_T

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  3. I not doing so well but then I gave myself a high goal but its the amount of good books read over this year :) I think I am 22 books behind :)

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  4. I am caught up according to my goodreads reading goal for 2011. It helps that I only made it a goal to read 12 books throughout the year, and one was a novella. ;)

    I kept my goal very easily manageable because I was writing a book and editing two, so I knew my reading time would be reserved for evening downtime only. Well, that and I've moved twice in 2011 and homeschooled two kids in the first part of the year. ;) Maybe I'll make my goal number a little higher for 2012. :)

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  5. I set a goal of 52 books in a year. I'm 12 books behind. Mega Fail.

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  6. I am actually ahead right now. I am really impressed with myself. Hoping the hustle and bustle of the holidays doesn't slow me down. We will have to wait and see. Good luck and I know you can do it!

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  7. I purposely didn't set a books per year reading goal for myself this year. I knew I wanted to (re)read all of George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series and since all five are definite chunksters, I knew that would skew my numbers. There's something a little sad about reading 4000+ pages of fiction and only seeing your books read total go up by five...

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  8. I am 9 books behind my goal. Although today it might be up to 10 books behind! Eek and I know with finals coming up I am going to have even less time to read. I am really hoping that I will catch up and still complete my goal but most of the reading will have to be done in the second half of december once I am done with this semester.

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  9. I am exactly 26 books behind. The goal was originally to read 200 in a year, then it became completely impossible to do that. I moved back to 100 and I'm still lagging way behind. ;P

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  10. I am well ahead of schedule actually. I am fortunate enough to have plenty of spare time to read, at work and at home. I set my goal at 100 books and am already at 114 according to goodreads (though I know there are a few I forgot to add on there). I am actually thinking about raising my goal to 125 but not sure how nanowrimo will interfere.

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  11. Life does that to you. I know since I started working last August, my reading total has gone down by 10 books. I used to read 30 books per year and now I am down to 20. Also, going to college is a factor. Life interfers with our passion for reading and it sucks..lol.

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  12. I'm ahead by 1... but technically my goal was 50 books and is now 85 so really, I was ahead by a boatload.

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  13. As for my Goodreads goal, I am at 136% - I didn't think I would be any where close to reading 100 books, so set a low goal of 42. I also had a Historical challenge of 8 books, completed that one, but for my 2011 Challenge, I am 6 books behind! And it is all of the 'tough' ones that are left...like re-read an old favorite, Mind the Gap (complete a series) and books recommended from other bloggers. You would think that I had this last one sewn up, but my TBR pile became a MONSTER this year... I hope I make it, while trying to do NaNo and holidays coming up!

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  14. Good job to everyone who is ahead and Good luck to everyone in my situation!

    Within the past week I was able to catch up a little bit so now I'm only 2 books behind. Hopefully I'll be able to close the gap even more :)

    Next year I'm thinking of lowering my book goal and uping my page count so I can read longer books and not worry about how many I've read.

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  15. I'm 4 books behind also, but I'm almost done with my current read. I want to read more classics, so I may lower my goal by 5 or 10 next year to allow for those. (This year's goal was 75) The thing is, I've re-read several books and couldn't add those to Goodreads without changing the original read date. So really, I'm right on track.

    I also avoided Goodreads for, like, a month so I wouldn't get yelled at by my Reading Challenge tracker.

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  16. Last year I resolved to read ten or so books that have been sitting on my shelf for the longest, and I'm proud to say that all but two of them have indeed been read. I'd like to take out the final two (Asimov's Guide to the Bible, Volume II: The New Testament; A People' History of the World) before year's end. I haven't read as much science this year as I wanted to -- for the third year in a row -- and that's a bit disappointing. On the whole, though, this has been a satisfying year of reading so far.

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  17. I completed mine in September I think. I'm now 14 books over. It kept prompting me to change my goal but I think that's silly once you've set it!

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  18. Surprisingly, mine says I'm on track. I actually just found goodreads about a month ago so I added the few that I knew I'd read already this year and made my goal about 20 books higher to finish the year with. My goal is only at 45 because I started so late. I think next year I'm going to go for 100 books :)

    Jessi @ Auntie Spinelli's Thought Corner
    (geobobspinelli.blogspot.com)

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  19. I'm not doing too bad, only one book behind. I set myself a goal of 60 and have read 50 so I think it's achievable, probably. I read 50 last year so I'll be pleased with anything about that.

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  20. I set the same goal as you, Paula, and I'm 4 books behind as well! So I'm working on two right now, and will hopefully get to a graphic novel to help with that. (That's how I make up my behind time...>_>) I hope you reach your goal for this year! :)

    Good luck!
    ~DJL

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  21. I just did a post on the same topic! Great minds...
    I am right on track with my goal as far as quantity goes, but I really wanted more variety, which I did not achieve.
    http://wp.me/pzUn5-Fm

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  22. I did this challenge my reading goal was 100 books. So far I am 87% with 2 books ahead and I was like you a couple of weeks ago I was like 5 books ahead I think I seemed to have slowed down

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  23. I'm about 16 books behind. In fact, I don't think I've ever been ahead of my goal since I set it. I'm thinking of doing some personal read-a-thons this month--just taking a few days out here or there to cram as many books in as possible. I have a little over thirty books left and two months in which to read them so, we'll see.

    Good luck!

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  24. i am doing pretty good so far but i don't have a ton of really long or serious books on my list this year. i might try to cut down next year and read some longer books. but 58 book is still awesome. sometimes circumstances change and you need to re-evaluate your goals and that's ok. :)

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  25. I have 59/75. I hope I will make it :P I've started doing this Challenge in July so should be good. :)

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  26. I finished my original goal of 100 books early on, updated my goal to 150, and reached that on Oct. 31. Now I'm just going to enjoy whatever books I want to read without worrying as much about the numbers:)

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  27. You have read 88 books towards your goal of 125 books.

    At your current pace, your 18 boks (15%) behind.

    YOU, you had to make me look!!!! EIGHTEEN!!! 18 books behind my goal!!! LOL. Well, I may need to adjust my goal to 100 for this year me thinks ;) LOL Good luck on meeting yours!

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  28. This is why I aim low! I know that defeats the purpose, but I've been taking part in reading challenges for so many years and I've discovered that it rarely turns out how you would expect.

    If I start the year with plenty of reading time I seem to think I'll have plenty of reading time all year. Does. Not. Happen!

    It also helps avoid guilt and disappointment in oneself.

    This is my GoodReads one;

    Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 40 books for the 2011 Reading Challenge!

    But if it makes you feel any better I also host five challenges, which I've taken part in, and I've only finished one of them... I know I won't finish the rest either, but I'm not going to feel bad about it. I'm going to focus on next year instead!


    Congratulations on the new job :)

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  29. I am tragically behind my optimistic target

    You have read 212 books toward your goal of 364 books. At your current pace, you're 97 books (27%) behind.

    Don't think I will make it!

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  30. I've actually had to raise my goal three times so far this year. I just met my new goal (80 books) last week, so it looks like I'm going to have to raise it again. :)

    I think the big reason for this is that I'm taking three literature classes this year, and I'm counting all of the books I'm reading for those classes. I actually only read about one book a week for pleasure, but including my books for classes, I sometimes read three or four books a week.

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  31. I'm pretty lucky; it looks like I'm two books away from my reading goal. Guess that means I'll have to raise it soon :)

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  32. I'm not doing well at all. *hides face in shame*

    Working ft + going to school ft + doing two musicals = very little reading time.

    ... I think I'm 12 books behind my goal.

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  33. I'm two books ahead at the moment but I'm not sure that's enough with the holidays coming up.

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  34. I actually completed mine this past week. My goal was only 52, but with a 1 year old, I wasn't sure I'd finish it at all.

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  35. I hope you manage to catch back up to your goal. :) If not, that's okay too! At least you still got in some reading either way, right? :)
    I've completely surpassed mine- doubled in fact. Originally at the beginning of the year, I had it set at 50 and completed it by the end of May. So I reset it to 80 then completed it again by August. Lol. I didn't reset it. Instead I've just been reading to see how many I'll get through by the end of the year now. I'm up to 108 books already. Haha! :) Things are starting to get a little hectic and slowing down now that the holidays are approaching but it's been a great reading year for me.

    Hope you have a wonderful week. Love your blog.

    <3
    Pixie
    http://the-bookaholic.blogspot.com

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  36. *smiles nervously* It's funny you posted this because just today I finished my challenge of 101 books. But congrats on the new job, and good luck on your challenge!

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  37. Some of my goals are good, like the one to read more than 80 books this year but some of my goals I suck at. I wanted to read some YA books. I haven't read a single one, and I don't think I will either. Whoops!

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  38. I finished my readin target really early on, so I upped it and now I'm behind again

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  39. Good news is my challenges are finished. So-so news is that my numbers are a bit low. Oh well... By the way, I highly recommend The Count of Monte Cristo. It's amazing and a fast read!

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  40. I'm on track for my 100 book reading challenge, but so far behind on my Off the Shelf challenge that I probably won't be able to finish it.

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  41. 166/150. I blame many things - having to read several at the last minute for a podcast, and not doing NaNoWriMo this year have given me more time to read.

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  42. Im 36 books behind :/ I keep catching up and then it slips away again. I tried for 100 books but I started toward the middle to end of the summer and didn't read much the first half of the year, so I started with 20 something books behind. Still grabbed some challenges, even if the likelihood of finishing them is almost non-existent.

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  43. Same here. I was aiming toward 100 books, but since I commited myself to reading more classics this year my reading speed is not quite what it used to be.
    My favorite Dickens is David Copperfield, if you want suggestions. Though you can always go his shorter works, like A Christmas Carol. Either way, good luck with it!

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