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TalkChallenge Yourself in 2011

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1koalamom
Nov 7, 2010, 8:54 am

I started this because I find that I get frustrated near the end of the challenges about not being able to finish - which I end up doing long before the end anyway. This year I just want to count and see where I go and not worry about getting 10 or 11 or whatever in any number of categories and I can not worry if I don't make 100 or 150 or whatever!

2beatles1964
Nov 8, 2010, 9:07 am

What do you think your categories will be and how many books will be in each category? How many books do you average reading per year? How many books do you think you'll read in 2011?

Beatles1964

3koalamom
Nov 9, 2010, 12:32 pm

no categories - just books and you'll have to wait until December 2011 to find out how many I read - I have read 140 up to this date in 2010 and will continue on past 150 which was my goal and I see no reason why I can't get there by the end of 2011.

4beatles1964
Nov 10, 2010, 9:53 am

Wow koalamom that is amazing and very impressive and here I'm still trying finish my 47th book of the year since my goal is to read a book a week. 2011 I definitely hope to vastly improve on the number of books read in 2010.

Beatles1964

5koalamom
Nov 11, 2010, 8:12 am

Well, I am retired - though sometimes I wonder where I get the time anyway and sometimes I think I read too much or too fast, but I do enjoy at the moment even if I can't remember what I read sometimes afterward!! 47 is a very good number by the way - I saw somewhere on TV that the average person only reads 6 books a year.

6beatles1964
Edited: Nov 17, 2010, 12:00 pm

Well I must've been average or below average for a lot of years because I averaged between 5-10 or books in a year and in better years I'd average between 11-25 books.

Beatles1964

7koalamom
Nov 16, 2010, 2:04 pm

depends on how much time you have - though I often wonder where I find it sometimes

8koalamom
Edited: Feb 27, 2011, 8:35 pm

January 2011

1) Stupid History Gregory - 1/5/2011
2) Key Lime Pie Murder - 1/6/2010
3) Typhon Pact Zero Sum Game - 1/8/2011
4) Unsolved Mysteries of American History - 1/10/2011
5) Soul Music - 1/13/2011
6) The Early Asimov or Eleven Years of Trying - 1/15/2011
7) That's not in My American History Book - 1/21/2011
8) Heartlight - 1/22/2011
9) The House Next Door- 1/23/2011
10) The Greatest Stories Never Told - 1/24/2011
11) Chocolate Cupid Killings - 1/25/2011
12) Star Trek Enterprise Rosetta - 1/26/2011
13) The Fourth Apprentice - 1/27/2011
14) Journey Through the Center of the Galaxy Martin - 1/28/2011

9koalamom
Edited: May 25, 2011, 4:44 pm

February 2011

15) A Cat on Stage Left - 2/1/2011
16) Angel Bradford - 2/3/2011
17) Carrot Cake Murder - 2/5/2011
18) The Fountainhead - 2/6/2011
19) Homer's Odyssey Cooper - 2/8/2011
20) First Family: Abigail and John Adams - 2/10/2011
21) Star Wars Vortex - 2/12/2011
22) The Associate - 2/15/2011
23) Crossfire Francis - 2/17/2011
24) Fading Echoes - 2/20/2011
25) The Beat Cop's Guide to Chicago Eats - 2/22/2011
26) Summer of Shadows: A Murder. A Pennant Race - 2/25/2011
27) Men at Arms Pratchett - 2/27/2011

10koalamom
Edited: Mar 31, 2011, 9:01 am

March 2011

28) Kidnapping of Time and Memory - 3/2/2011
29) 1421 - 3/6/2011
30) Lost City Cussler - 3/7/2011
31) The Shadow of Your Smile - 3/9/2011
32) Rough Beasts of Empire - 3/12/2011
33) One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming- 3/18/2011
34) Hannah's List - 3/19/2011
35) Knot Gneiss - 3/22/2011
36) The Chocolate Pirate Plot - 3/23/2011
37) Decider - 3/25/2011
38) Crescent Dawn - 3.27/2011
39) The First Encounter of the Multiwizard Kind - 3/29/2011
40) The Warriors of Taan - 3/30/2011

11koalamom
Edited: May 25, 2011, 4:44 pm

April 2011

41) Non Campus Mentis - 4/2/2011
42) The Day The Universe Changed - 4/5/2011
43) The Naming of America - 4/6/2011
44) Angela's Ashes - 4/7/2011
45) Lost States - 4/8/2011
46) A Cat of One's Own - 4/9/2011
47) Feet of Clay - 4/14/2011
48) Dead by Midnight - 4/16/2011
49) Bending the Boyne - 4/17/2011
50) Mobbed Clark - 4/21/2011
51) Land of the Painted Caves - 4/21/2011
52) Paths of Disharmony - 4/24/2011
53) Silks - 4/26/2011
54) Hiss of Death - 4/27/2011
55) Strategic Moves - 4/29/2011

12koalamom
Edited: May 26, 2011, 7:58 pm

May 2011
56) Cream Puff Murder - 5/1/2011
57) The Chalice and the Blade - 5/5/2011
58) Thirteen Moons - 5/7/2011
59) Myriad Universes Shattered Light - 5/9/2011
60) 8 Sandpiper Way - 5/14/2011
61) Like Water for Chocolate - 5/17/2011
62) A Time for Patriots - 5/20/2011
63) Bel-Air Dead - 5/21/2011
64) The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott - 5/23/2011
65) Maskerade - 5/25/2011
66) Ascension of the Guardians - 5/26/2011

13koalamom
Edited: Nov 29, 2011, 8:56 pm

June 2011
67) The Time Ships - 6/2/2011
68) Christmas in Wales Maas - 6/3/2011
69) Memoirs of a Geisha - 6/7/2011
70) Plum Pudding Murder - 6/9/2011
71) Hogfather - 6/11/2011
72) The Collectibles - 6/16/2011
73) What Stinks? Valentine - 6/17/2011
74) Lost at Seabreeze - 6/17/2011
75) Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Treasury - 6/19/2011
76) Loves Music, Loves to Dance - 6/20/2011
77) A Cat on Jingle Bell Rock - 6/21/2011
78) The Fat Man Harmon - 6/24/2011
79) Billy Creekmore - 6/24/2011
80) The Constant Princess - 6/27/2011
81) Ascension of the Time Sprites-6/27/2011

14koalamom
Edited: Jul 29, 2011, 4:13 pm

July 2011
82) A Cat With the Blues - 7/1/2011
83) Apple Turnover Murder - 7/3/2011
84) What's Past - 7/4/2011
85) The 10 Dumbest Mistakes Smart People Make - 7/5/2011
86) The Clowns of God - 7/7/2011
87) Silent Enemy - 7/9/2011
88) Fault Lines Siddons - 7/11/20111
89) The Last Continent - 7/14/2011
90) Dragon's Time - 7/16/2011
91) Last Great Battle - 7/18/2011
92) The Friday Night Knitting Club - 7/21/2011
93) World's Fair Doctorow - 7/22/2011
94) Just Take My Heart - 7/24/2011
95) Gingerbread Cookie Murder - 7/26/2011
96) The Great Bridge - 7/28/2011
97) Ender's Game - 7/28/2011
98) Catacombs McCaffrey - 7/29/2011

15koalamom
Edited: Aug 26, 2011, 5:27 pm

August 2011
99) Robots Dann - 8/1/2011
100) Song & Dance The Musicals of Broadway - 8/5/2011
101) The Cynical Gaze: The Use of Humor in Machado De Assis and Mark Twain-8/5/2011
102) Eye of the World - 8/7/2011
103) Killing Lincoln - 8/8/2011
104) A McKettrick Christmas - 8/9/2011
105) The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn - 8/9/2011
106) Smokin' seventeen - 8/10/2011
107) First Meetings - 8/11/2011
108) A Cat on a Beach Blanket - 8/11/2011
109) Devil's Food Cake Murder - 8/12/2011
110) Jingo - 8/15/2011
111) Shepherds Abiding - 8/15/2011
112) Strange Relations - 8/19/2011
113) Parallel Worlds Kaku - 8/19/2011
114) White Oleander - 8/20/2011
115) Ford County Stories - 8/24/2011
116) Jews of Scranton - 8/26/2011
117) Ender's Shadow - 8/26/2011

16koalamom
Edited: Sep 29, 2011, 5:48 pm

September 2011
118) Genesis of the Pharaohs - 9/1
119) I Am Maru - 9/1
120) The Great Hunt - 9/3
121) Mary Ann in Autumn - 9/4
122) Hindsight's Destiny - 9/5
123) She Haggard - 9/7
124) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 9/9
125) The Fifth Elephant - 9/11
126) The Guardian Cheuvront - 9/13
127) Shadow of the Hegemon - 9/15
128) Cat in a Vegas Gold Vendetta - 9/17
129) King Solomon's Mines - 9/19
130) A Cat With No Clue - 9/20
131) Gamble Francis - 9/21
132) The Truth Pratchett - 9/24
133) Flash and Bones - 9/25
134) Breaking the Maya Code - 9/29
135) Son of Stone - 9/29

18koalamom
Edited: Nov 29, 2011, 8:55 pm

November 2011
152) In The Garden of Beasts - 11/6
153) Tidings of Great Joy - 11/6
154) The Power of Babel - 11/9
155) Out of Oz - 11/12
156) The Art of Friendship Hampton - 11/12
157) Atonement - 11/14
158) Inheritance - 11/22
159) Theft at George Eastman House: A New York State Adventure - 11/28
160) Guards! Guards! - 11/29

19koalamom
Edited: Dec 30, 2011, 11:03 pm

20beatles1964
Nov 17, 2010, 12:02 pm

koalamom I don't get it all you did was put January 2011 thri December 2011.

Beatles1964

21koalamom
Nov 19, 2010, 9:00 am

just setting up to record the books I read in each of these months - this way I can keep them altogether with messages around them

22beatles1964
Edited: Nov 19, 2010, 9:39 am

OK. Thanks for explaining now it make more sense to me.

Beatles1964

23speciallisa
Dec 9, 2010, 3:44 pm

Hi to u both hope u don't mind me joining u? Xx

24koalamom
Dec 10, 2010, 2:56 pm

no problem - love to hear from other people

25Neverwithoutabook
Jan 1, 2011, 7:43 pm

This sounds like the kind of challenge I can handle this year. No pressure and just recording books I read! Love the idea! I don't think I'll try for any categories, but will simply record what I read this year. Works for me! I didn't finish the last challenge I started because I became to busy with working and didn't have a lot of time for reading anymore. Things have settled down now tho. :)
Good luck all and Happy New Year!

26Neverwithoutabook
Jan 1, 2011, 7:49 pm

Question? I can't see how to post my thread to track my books read.

27koalamom
Jan 3, 2011, 8:19 pm

at the top of my thread - or any thread - on the left are the words "post a new topic" - just click on that and add your own title

28Neverwithoutabook
Jan 4, 2011, 9:05 pm

Thanks. I've seen it right at the top, but found it to the left this time.

29koalamom
Jan 5, 2011, 10:45 am

first book of the year 1/5 - on my son's birthday

30koalamom
Jan 24, 2011, 8:50 am

January 24 and I have read 10 books already, four of them non-fiction. Looking at the dates I am not sure why I felt I wouldn't read this many before the end of the month - and I have time for more. I am definitely still keeping up with 2010 in average number of books read in one month.

So I will just continue to read what I want and how many as I can with no pressure on categories of specific number goals. I like this and I may actually attain those same goals anyway. Maybe near the end of the year I'll try and categorize the books and see how many different categories I can make with what I have read. I know that 11 in 11 categories is attainable - or at least 121 is - but I'll wait until at least September - unless I get curious or need a little thing to do to amuse myself.

31koalamom
Jan 26, 2011, 9:19 am

In January I finished 6 books in 6 days - a couple of which I was actually reading at the same time as a couple of the others - some did actually take only a few hours to read

32koalamom
Jan 27, 2011, 8:30 pm

make that seven in seven days - but I have a book that I think will take a few days to read and will probably end up being the first for February

33koalamom
Jan 28, 2011, 6:01 pm

OK #14 in January is not an actual published book, but one written by my son and it is 95 pages long and I add it here anyway.

34koalamom
Feb 7, 2011, 8:21 am

Just a note to self and anybody who might read this - I did not really read The Fountainhead in one day. It probably took a couple of weeks and reading several other books between chapters/sections. I found the book tedious and needed to put it down and read something else. Number 6 in January was another that I read periodically, but this one was short stories and easier to read and put down.

35koalamom
Edited: Feb 27, 2011, 8:37 pm

# 19 in Feb. I did read in less than a day!

36koalamom
Feb 27, 2011, 8:37 pm

read 13 in February - now on to March

37beatles1964
Feb 28, 2011, 1:23 pm

Wow, koalamom I'm envious that you read 13 books in February the most books I've ever read in a month is 7 in January & February 2010.

Beatles1964

38koalamom
Mar 3, 2011, 9:06 am

I read fast - maybe too fast - -sometimes I can't remember what I read! sometimes I am actually doing two at once and I have one now that's a carryover from February

39koalamom
Mar 20, 2011, 8:57 am

in March - took me a week to read #33 and a few hours to read #34 - both were good, but I guess I was more into reading 34 - something to do with a trip to Washington to help my son move and then taking in a bit of sightseeing for two days and all the driving there and back

40koalamom
Mar 31, 2011, 9:02 am

13 in March - for a time I didn't think I would get to ten - but I always surprise myself

41koalamom
Apr 21, 2011, 10:39 am

Note - in early April I started Land of the Painted Caves and during the same time I read at least four other books

42koalamom
May 1, 2011, 1:06 pm

15 in April - ahead of the game

43koalamom
May 31, 2011, 1:05 pm

only 11 in May, but I am well on track to make 75 by the end of June

44koalamom
Jun 19, 2011, 6:23 pm

On June 19, 2011 I finished my 75th book of the year and am on track to make it 150 - again.

45koalamom
Jul 2, 2011, 8:39 am

15 books read in June - and a couple that were in progress and will show up early in July

46koalamom
Jul 18, 2011, 8:37 pm

just passed 90 books July 16

47koalamom
Jul 29, 2011, 4:14 pm

98 by 7/29 - maybe I'll finish 99 by 7/30

48koalamom
Aug 1, 2011, 8:27 am

didn't finish #99 - too busy having a good time at the wedding, but I did read 17 books in July so I'm good with that

49koalamom
Aug 8, 2011, 8:43 pm

Oh on 8/5 I finished my 100th book for the year 2011.

50koalamom
Aug 11, 2011, 9:41 pm

in august - 7 books in 5 days - time for a slightly bigger book again, but the next one I'll be looking at is also an easy read - just have to get it from the library in the morning

51koalamom
Aug 13, 2011, 8:26 am

a book a day since august 7 and then some

52koalamom
Aug 31, 2011, 9:04 am

19 books in August - a record in one month? I think so

I have two books on my table that I am in the middle of but will not finish before the end of the day so one of them will be the first for September as I will most likely finish it tomorrow

I have read 117 books to this date which means I need 33 to make 150 by the end of the year - piece of cake! - especially since I do have two that I am working on and there are two coming soon from the library

53koalamom
Oct 1, 2011, 8:30 am

18 books in September - and I started my first ebook on my laptop
just 15 more books to 150 and three months to do it - odds are I'll do it in October - if I read like I have in the past few months - maybe I'll make 175 this year - no promises - I don't want to pressure/challenge myself like that then I don't enjoy the reading

54koalamom
Oct 28, 2011, 11:24 am

Trying to make 150 by the end of October - only 2 to read - can I do it?

55koalamom
Oct 29, 2011, 5:58 pm

Yes, 10/29/2011 - finished my 150th book for the year - two months to go - how many more can I read??

56koalamom
Oct 31, 2011, 10:34 pm

16 books in October - 151 so far for the year

57koalamom
Dec 1, 2011, 11:41 am

only 8 books in November - but one was long and took a week and my life got very busy, but I am up to 160 for the year

58koalamom
Dec 13, 2011, 7:02 pm

took forever, but the Civil War is over - finished the Bragg book - took over two weeks

59koalamom
Edited: Dec 18, 2011, 4:53 pm

a first for me - in a while anyway - I just cannot get into The End of Sparta but as I received it as an Early Reviewer book, I will do a review

this book came to me two weeks after the 60 days that LT gives you to declare it non-delivered and as far as I am concerned, it was not worth the wait - sorry about that, too

the title will appear in my library, but only so that I could review it - it doesn't appear in my list of books read in 2011 above

60koalamom
Edited: Dec 28, 2011, 4:39 pm

169 is most likely the total number of books that I will have finished in 2011 - would have been 170 had I been able to read the one ER that I got that I couldn't get into - possibly I will finish the other book I was reading when I finished 169, but I have a ways to go in it (The Mongol Objective)

61koalamom
Dec 29, 2011, 10:58 pm

Well, I did, indeed, manage to finish book #170 before the end of the year. It turned out to be a page turner or finger mover as this was an ebook - my first on the Nook. Have a couple of books coming fromt he library but don't know if I will finish either before midnight Dec 31 - who knows with me!

62koalamom
Dec 30, 2011, 11:05 pm

can't believe I actually got another book in - my second on the Nook - a freebie from Barnes and Noble - that makes 171 and 11 for December - I really doubt I will start and finish another book tomorrow