Conachair's 3 in 1 Challenge for 2012

This year (2011) my off the shelves challenge was designed to get some old books read, so I limited myself to pre 2010 books. I barely made it and acquired a whole bunch of new books which still want to be read. So this year my main goal is to reduce the number of books on my TRB list and I hope to have fewer books to read at the end of the year. My current list stands at 158.

I have designed a three part challenge for 2012.

1.) TBR BOMBS:
I want to reduce my TBR list and hope to read at least 50 books that are on the TBR list right now (or on the TBR shelve if I forgot to put them on the list). Everything on the list/shelve as of January 1st 2012 goes.




2.) old BOMBSs:

I still want to clear my old books, but I am reducing the number to a more manageable 10 for this year.




3.) non fiction books:

The goal is to read at lead 5 of the non fiction books lying around.

Do you count the non-fiction and old ones within the 50 or not?

Yes, definitely if they are on the list. It's basically 50 books of which 10 should be pre 2010 and 5 non-fiction. I am not sure what I will do if I get to the 50 before finishing the others, I am hoping it won't come to that.

Progress report:

January:
1.) Wizard's First Rule; Terry Goodkind finished 12.1.12 764 pages
2.) Stone of Tears; Terry Goodkind finished 22.1.12 979 pages
3.) Blood of the Fold ; Terry Goodkind finished 25.1.12 623 pages
4.) Temple of the Winds; Terry Goodkind finished 29.1.12 528 pages

February:
5.) Soul of the Fire ; Terry Goodkind finished 4.2.12 508 pages
6.) Faith of the Fallen ; Terry Goodkind finished 7.2.12 785 pages
7.) The Pillars of Creation ; Terry Goodkind finished 11.2.12 725 pages
8.) Naked Empire ; Terry Goodkind finished 19.2.12 667 pages
9.) Chainfire ; Terry Goodkind finished 29.2.12 748 pages

March:
10.) Phantom ; Terry Goodkind finished 7.3.12 587 pages
11.) Die Ordensburg des Wüstenplaneten; Frank Herbert finished 13.3.12 656 pages (old)
12.) La Desperada ; Patricia Burroughs finished 13.3.12 421 pages (ebook)
13.) Confessor ; Terry Goodkind finished 13.3.12 772 pages (Kindle Edition)
14.) The Omen Machine ; Terry Goodkind 17.3.12 527 pages (Kindle Edition)
15.) Law of Nines ; Terry Goodkind 20.3.12 514 pages (Kindle Edition)
16.) Debt of Bones ; Terry Goodkind 22.3.12 160 pages

April:
17.) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass; Lewis Carroll finished 27.3.12 282 pages (old)

May:
18.) Chronicles of the Vikings; R.I. Page finished 12.5.12 240 pages (non-fic)
19.) Wolf Hall; Hilary Mantel finished 26.5.12 640 pages

June:
20.) Bare Bones ; Kathy Reichs finished 14.6.12 320 pages
21.) Monday Mourning ; Kathy Reichs finished 17.6.12 416 pages
22.) Cross Bones ; Kathy Reichs finished 20.6.12 496 pages
23.) Break No Bones ; Kathy Reichs finished 25.6.12 480 pages
24.) Bones to Ashes Kathy Reichs finished 29.6.12 435 pages

July
25.) Devil Bones ; Kathy Reichs finished 2.7.12 387 pages
26.) 206 Bones ; Kathy Reichs finished 12.7.12
27.) Mortal Remains ; Kathy Reichs finished 19.7.12

August:
28. On the Ruin of Britain; Gildas finished 14.8.12 139 pages (non- fic)

September:
29. The Winter King; Bernard Cornwell finished 11.9.12
30. Enemy of God ; Bernard Cornwell finished 25.9.12 473 pages

October:
31. Robin Hood; Rosemary Sutcliff finished 8.10.12 239 pages (old)
32. Excalibur ; Bernard Cornwell finished 29.10.12 477 pages

November:
33. Frankenstein ; Mary Shelley finished 12.11.12 (old)
34. Sharpe's Tiger ; Bernard Cornwell finished 14.11.12
35. Sharpe's Triumph ; Bernard Cornwell finished 23.11.12
36. Sharpe's Fortress ; Bernard Cornwell finished 25.11.12
37. Sharpe's Trafalgar ; Bernard Cornwell finished 29.11.12

plus Magna Bloody Carta does not qualify for BOMBS, but goes into the non-fiction category

December:
38.) Sharpe's Prey; Bernard Cornwell finished 1.12.12
39.) Sharpe's Rifles ; Bernard Cornwell finished 4.12.12
40.) Sharpe's Havoc ; Bernard Cornwell finished 6.12.12
41.) Sharpe's Eagle ; Bernard Cornwell finished 10.12.12
42.) Sharpe's Gold ; Bernard Cornwell finished 13.12.12
43. ) Sharpe's Escape ; Bernard Cornwell finished 20.12.12
44.) Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde & The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables ; R.L. Stevenson finished 21.12.12 (old)
45.) Sharpe's Fury ; Bernard Cornwell
46. )Sharpe's Battle ; Bernard Cornwell finished 27.12.12
47.) Sharpe's Company ; Bernard Cornwell finished 29.12.12

First BOMB diffused. Taking into account the size of this book I didn't expect it to be the first one I finish. This puts my TBR list at 157 (once I move the next book to the currently reading list), which is -1 :-).

Books are evil :-) I was really exhausted yesterday from all the exam prep I have been doing lately and felt really tired all day. I stopped working at some point, because I just didn't have the concentration at sat down to read. When I went to bed I had 100+ pages of my book left and took it to bed with me. I got caught up in it and when I finally finished it I realized it was about 20 min past midnight. Brilliant move to get caught up reading if you really need some decent sleep :-)

Yes, books really are sneaky. They do that to me too - generally when I can't afford the loss of sleep. ;)

So, managed to read 4 books this month and added only 2, which means I reduced my TBR pile by 2. Considering the fact that all books were in the 500-900 pages range this seems like quite an achievement.

I think it's a huge achievement too, Conachair.

Any time you can take more books away than you add is a huge achievement. ;)

A cold isn't good for anything, except that being in bed sick gives you a chance to plough through a 700 page book within about 3 days.

I managed to dispose of 5 books this month, and added two. That brings my TBR pile down to 154 (something is wrong with the math, but my to read list says 154).

I know I will probably slow down this month, since the book I just started is the last in the Sword of Truth series that I actually have, and I intend to get the last ones and finish the series before moving on to other BOMBS.

I also need to start working on the old and non-fiction books.

Catching up with your progress a bit late, I have to ask how you liked Wizard's First Rule? I have this sitting on my shelf as well and ma be moving it higher, if it sounds good enough ;)

I had to think a bit about how to answer that question, since I find it difficult to judge the book by itself. I pretty much look at it both in the context of the whole series and compared to the TV series.

I got the books when I fell in love with the TV series about a year ago. These books were part of the reason why I changed the rules of this challenge this year, because I kept putting them off because I felt I should not invest so much time in book of this length that were not part of my challenge.

First of all I have to say, judging by the comments I have read this series seems to be a case of love it or hate it, I have seen plenty of reviews either way. So all I can give is my personal opinion and experience with this series.

At first I was quite confused with Wizard's First Rule because I had the TV series in mind, and while both share some basic plot developments and characters, they also differ quite substantially in other parts. Overall I felt that the book took longer to get to the point sometimes, but that might have been because I already knew where the plot was headed. I also think that I would have been frustrated by some things being only hinted at for so long had I not know what the hints were about from the TV series. I was wondering if someone reading the book without that knowledge would get confused.

There are some things that annoy me about the writing in the whole series. Goodkind has a way of dumping information on you at times. Most often it is something that was mentioned previously. I found the way this information gets dumped on you boring sometimes. If it was stuff from previous books I could understand the need for it, but sometimes it is stuff from the same book, which made me think "yes, I read the book, thank you!" in places.

Overall I enjoy the story which makes me forgiving towards the flaws I see in the writing. I love the fact that the later books explore some of the things I would have loved to have seen in the TV series.

And I know that when I am finished with the series I will go back and watch the TV series again with new eyes.

I finally managed to finish up my first pre 2010 book. I had bought the whole Dune series years ago, but never managed to finish it. So last year I decided to give it another try.

I raced through the first two books, but afterwards things started to slow down. Each book seemed more and more difficult to get through. I think it took me about 3 months to get through this last one. I kept reading other stuff because I just could not focus on this.

I have finally come to the confusion that I just don't get this series and that I am okay with that. You can't love everything, right?

EDIT:

I seem to be finishing books today :-) Got another one done, and I checked, it's a December ER book which means it qualifies as a BOMB.

Just saw your message on my thread. CONGRATULATIONS!

:-) Thank you, feels good, doesn't it?

Yes it feels great. But I'm also feeling more than a little bereft.

Congratulations, Conachair! (Also saw your message on riverwillow's thread.) :)

Slow moth for BOMBS. I had to catch up on a couple of ER books instead. But I did manage to get one done, which also was a pre 2010 book, so big step there.

For some reason I only read 2 books this month. Luckily they were both BOMBS, and one even was the first non-fiction book I finished this year. The bad new is that due to a major find on Bookmooch of books I have been looking for for a while, as well as a couple of birthday presents I added 9 books to the pile this month, thereby eliminating all the progress I had made so far.

I guess I need to pick up speed. It's already October and I haven't even reached half way. This is going to be interesting.

Robin Hood was a strange experience. I used to be one of my favourite books when I was a kid. Reading it now, however was painful in some places. The language felt stilted and weird. I am not quite sure if this is a problem of the book itself or of the German translation, since this book is from the time before I started reading in English.

Oh, I remember those books you loved as a child and decide to reread as an adult. It can do things to your head. I reread The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and I felt like I was reading an entirely different book. As a child I enjoyed all of the adventure, but as an adult I began to see the satire and political enigmas. Surprising.

So, three parts to the challenge and I failed in all three of them. Well, at least I am consistent, and I have plenty to consider in formulating the new challenge.

BUT, I managed to reduce my to read pile from 158 to 142 so I succeeded where the spirit of the challenge is concerned, I guess that's something.