APRIL Exploding BOMBS Progress

We are doing absolutely fantastically! We are ahead of schedule by about 80 books!
WAY TO GO EVERYONE! Check the numbers that I have entered for your total through the end of March and let me know if there are any errors that need to be changed.
Also please don't adjust the group tickers for a few days while I balance everything for March. Placing your personal tickers over on this thread really helps me speed through the totals at the end of each month, so if you have a ticker please, put a copy of it here.

ramblinivy has already reached her goal. CONGRATULATIONS! What a great example for the rest of us! Just remember each book moves all of us forward so get the tickers moving!
The tickers (password BOMBS) are set so everyone can add their goals and books completed.

Here are the standings at the end of March:
Together we've read 941 just over 2% above the average of books for 12 months to reach our goal!!! We can really do this if we stick to this pace the rest of the year! One Quarter - 3 to go! At the end of the second Quarter, if anyone has not moved the ticker at all, they will be moved to a snail ticker, so get going, read those BOMBS!

alphaorder 7 / 30 23%
alxa 0/ 64 0%
amz310783 55 / 60 92%
AngelWitch 8 / 35 23%
AnnieMod 1 / 50 2%
arrwa 2 / 5 40%
auntmarge 22 / 50 44%
BBleil 3 / 25 12%
benitastrnad 8 / 24 33%
BILLIEJEAN 7 25 28%
booksloth 16 / 50 32%
bragan 32 / 100 32%
brewergirl 14 / 30 47%
bucketyell 28 / 50 56%
cait86 8 / 40 20%
carmenere 4 / 32 13%
cataluna 0 / 50 0%
Conachair 11 / 50 22%
clue 6 / 25 24%
connie53 7 / 18 39%
cyderry 24 / 80 30%
deep220 19 / 70 27%
deltaqueen 30 / 110 27%
detailmuse 10 / 40 25%
doglover58 9 / 26 35%
duaney_h 7 / 20 35%
dudes22 18 / 70 26%
Ephemeralda 20 / 40 50%
FAMeulstee 9 / 40 23%
fjumonvi 2 / 25 8%
fundvogel 3 / 10 30%
helenbaker 13 / 50 26%
helenoel 6 / 25 24%
hemlokgang 13 / 30 43%
h-mb 1 / 30 3%
jonesli 35 / 120 29%
kac522 7 / 25 28%
karenmarie / 25 0%
karen_o 7 / 24 29%
kdogey 11 / 75 15%
kerryth 1 / 40 3%
LA12Hernandez, 8 / 50 16%
laura_88 2 / 20 10%
laurabrook 9 / 100 9%
lauranav 9 / 30 30%
lindapanzo 26 / 125 21%
lizamichelle 5 / 25 20%
majkia 11 / 30 37%
mandymere 109 / 250 44%
melonbrawl 12 / 50 24%
meredy 14 / 49 29%
mrsrochester 22 / 75 29%
paeonia 6 / 24 25%
pigletto 8 / 40 20%
rabbitprincess 15 / 45 33%
ramblingivy 16 / 10 160% REACHED THE FINISH LINE!
readingwithtea 1 / 25 4%
riverwillow 13 / 100 13%
robertgreaves 6 / 35 17%
rocketjk 4 / 21 19%
sandykaypax 3 / 26 12%
sarahbradshaw 8 / 30 27%
seasons of love 10 / 60 17%
shearon 4 / 20 20%
sjmccreary 1 / 10 10%
squeakychu 5 / 20 25%
staffordcastle 16 / 35 46%
streamsong 17 / 30 57%
sturlington 2 / 20 10%
tallulahrose 3 / 20 15%
thorold 22 / 60 37%
tloeffler 27 / 50 54%
torontoc 18 / 30 60%
tuckea 1 / 12 8%
tututhefirst 8 / 20 40%
tymfos 17 / 53 32%
xenaballerina 0 / 50 0%

I'm pretty much on target so far, and hoping to make a big push in April!

Thanks for everything cyderry and w00t to ramblingivy!

I'm on track and hoping to develop a little cushion this month.

Yes, thanks for all of your organizing work, cyderry!

Ticker:

Lisa's 2012 Bombs Away Effort






I think I'm doing pretty good with my progress so far, I'm hoping for a big push in April so that I can donate the books to the library for their May sale! Then the challenge will be to stay away from the sale.......

That's me here. On track so far.

I am steadily eating away at the TBR shelves.

I guess I posted mine to the wrong month. I put them in March. I got three off my shelves this month. I did not update the ticker.

Could be a bad month for me - I have 2 ER books to finish so there might be more adding than subtracting. We'll see!

Quite a slow reading month for me in March...only 6 BOMBS off the shelf for me. I'd hope to finish another one today but I got wrapped up in my Downton Abbey-a-thon and didn't read at all today.

Hoping to get back on track in April.

Here's mine:




Note that I snuck another book in today, so my total as of the end of March is 32/100. Unless I manage to finish another one today, but, while not impossible, that's probably not very likely.

How do I copy my ticker to also show up here? Or do I just make another one which I update separately for this thread?

Here's mine:




I really need to step up the pace, I've got a couple of book group books to read but otherwise I just need to read books off the shelf this month. On the basis that it always rains on a bank holiday, hopefully I'll get a few books off the shelf read over Easter.

Okay, let's see if I can get my ticker to work here as well ...

yay, ephemeralda, you did it!

my ticker:



my bombs thread

only 9 out of 40, but I hope April will be a better BOMBS month ;-)

Finished another one today :)

Have just finished another one today, my fourteenth.

I'm a good sapper, so have followed orders and not updated the tickers. Also just wanted to say to cyderry thank you for everything you're doing, updating figures etc.

I'm confirming my totals from March (3) and adding my ticker.

If everyone is okay with their totals, the tickers are open!

April's goal is 1146!

On track for April despite the library binge! Here's my ticker for this month's thread...




Final report for April:
April: 17/50
I've updated both the group tickers.

Here is my ticker and a link to my personal thread ...

So far I have read 9 books and I am reading number 10 and 11.

so 9/18 and I've managed to get a ticker **Shock**

22/60 read as at the end of March, one more down in April already!

I feel like I'm slowing down more and more each month but I haven't fallen behind yet :)

Third one read. I have updated the tickers.

April Reads:
1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
2. Love and Hate in Jamestown by David Price

This wasn't my strongest month... FINALS! I don't think text books count as BOMBS hehe

Finished in April:
Sherman's March by Burke Davis.

My ticker through March...

I added one more book to make my total 19 but won't move the main ticker for a few days.

First April BOMBS done :-)
Not touched the tickers, will do later this month.

Fourth one read. I have updated the tickers.

updated the ticker with my two April books

I've just completed another two books, so I'm now running at 16 books read. Have updated all tickers.

That bunny is really hopping along!

I've been on a bit of a Dorothy L. Sayers kick this week, reading Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries in ebook format. I have now reached my ebook target of 5 for this year. Please update the ticker with 4 BOMBS detonated. From now on only physical books will count to my total.

I love Bank Holiday weekends, as I've finished another book - have updated the tickers and added Robertgreaves 4 books.

Edited to add that I've finished another two books, so my total is now at 19, have updated all the tickers.

Finished my second April BOMBS, updated the tickers

My ticker...

Wow, Cheli...you are terrific. You calculated all the percentages!! You have true faith in us. :)

Madeline, I must confess, I have a spreadsheet that I put everyone's YTD total in and it does the calculations for the percentages. Then I just copy and paste. That's why having everyone's ticker here helps so much, because then I don't have to go hunting for the totals for each person.

I want everyone to feel their success each month...it keeps the motivational bunny hopping forward!

I just added book number 21.

I've just cleared number 20, have updated the tickers.

one more down, 28 to go :-)
updated the tickers.

Finally finished 1st book of this month. Will update at end of month.

To stay on target we need to be close to 1100 by the end of the month, read those BOMBS!

And another one bites the dust :)

Closing in on 1,000...

argh... I'm working on ONE. everything else is this year or Library or ER.

Just finished my #17. I have updated the ticker.

Who's going to detonate bomb #1000?!

added one more

I just added the 1000th book!

Wow, congratulations Cyrel!
And now on to 2000 ;-)

Great Job, everyone! Let's keep it up!

I finished another one today. Almost halway done!

3 so far this month. Hope to get at least one more done by the end of the month. I updated the tickers.

5 books off the shelf for me so far this month, that makes me at my goal of 60! I will keep going and expect to finish a couple more this month so haven't updated the ticker yet.

And another two are done - have updated the tickers.!

Halfway done!!

I've neutralized five BOMBS so far this month and have updated my personal ticker. I'll be on vacation for the next little while but will endeavour to keep at least the personal ticker updated for our records here :)

Edit to delete duplicate post in msg 68. Using a different computer and hit the wrong key :-/

one more down, 13 done 27 to go :-)
updated the tickers.

I added one more book to both tickers.

yay, I can finally add one! am updating both tickers.

I've finished 8 so far this month with 4 more on tap. Not sure I can them all done, but I'm going to give it a try!

I just realized that it's the end of the month and I only have 3 done this month! AARGH! How did that happen? Need to put on a big push for at least one more.

I'm at 21 now, 21 out of 49. That's 3/7, or 0.428571429%.

The only ticker I'm updating is my own tracker on my reporting thread.

Another one down...hope to finish at least one more before the end of April, though I now have to read a few library books first :)

one more down, 14 done 26 to go :-)

This one and the previous entered our home in 1996....
updated the tickers.

I'm back on track this month with three BOMBS, for a YTD of 7.

I've done three, but only because I"m liberal in what I count toward this challenge. I'm working on one that's been on the shelf a long while. I hope to finish it by Monday night.

I'm done for this month and I've updated the tickers. Only 4 this month; need to pick up the pace.

I have just made a grand total of one bomb this month as I have been focusing on reading books prior to an upcoming Readers and Writers festival in Auckland in May. These have been either library or recent purchases. I will update tickers and reapply myself for May.

My updated ticker shows in 26. I'm on track with 8 read against my EOY goal of 25. I'm only updating my own ticker. May is going to be rough, I have a huge stack of new books to read. I may have to take a reading vacation from work!

Not too bad. I'll add my totals to the top ticker in just a minute. Certainly an improvement from the 9 I had the last time I updated!

ETA: They're added in to the grand total! Holy cow, everyone is kicking butt this year - way to go!

I've only managed to read one other and discarded one I would never have read, but I also added two to the shelf, so my totals are just the same as for April *sigh* Need to makesomeprogress here finally, but the library books are to appealing currently!

I read 2 BOMBS this month, so I am up to a total of 10.

I've read two this month, which puts my total for the year at 10/30.

I've read 7 books off my shelves during April and don't plan on detonating any more bombs. My YTD total is 37. I am off to add my 7 books to the ticker!

I managed to finish one last one and am off to update the ticker for that.

End of April report:

Bombs detonated: 2
eBombs detonated: 4
Duds: 3
eDuds: 1
Added to the pile: 5

The eBombs have already been added to the ticker so I just need the 2 Bombs to be added to the ticker.

My YTD Bombs for the end of April is 12.

I'm closing in on half-way which is pretty cool, even though I seem to be slowing down a bit. Congrats to everyone who has finished. I updated the tickers with my stats.

April Statistics
Books Read - 18
Discarded - 6
Towards Goal - 124/250
Percentage - 49%

Will likely not be finishing any more books this month, so my total in message 67 and my ticker in message 4 are correct.

8 BOMBs detonated, which brings my total up from 16 to 24 - nearly at the halfway mark! Both tickers have been adjusted.

I had to catch up on some ER books this month, so I only had one BOMB to add to the ticker this month. This brings my total BOMBS up to 12.

My ticker is up-to-date - too many work deadlines have interfered with my reading time over the last couple of weeks!

Totals for April:

Total TBR at start: 1158

Old TBR at start: 1099
Old books read: 10
Old TBR at end: 1089

New TBR at start: 59
New books added: 0
New Books read: 5
New books at end: 54

Total TBR at end: 1143 - down again from last month, and I am down for the year too, I have officially read more books than I have aquired!

Tickers updated

I'm not going to finish anything by midnight tonight so for April:

A total of 16 BOMBS detonated. I donated quite a few to the library sale, and passed quite a few along to Mom.

I will adjust the group ticker now.

I have a clarification question - if I deaccession books w/o reading them, do they count towards this challenge? If so, I'm going to have to update my ticker (but not today, I'll do it in May).

I finished 4 books from off my shelf this month. I did not update the ticker. I will leave that for you. It was a good month, but I hope to do better in May.

>96 LauraBrook: it's up to you.

I have two parts to my challenge -- a goal to read 40 books from my (pre-2012) TBRs plus reducing my total TBRs to 250 or fewer. So your scenario would count toward my second part but not my first.

eta: just 3 from the TBRs for me this month, tickers previously updated.

Well, I'm not going to finish any more today, so I've updated the group ticker with the 8 qualifying books I've read this month. (My own ticker, somewhere in the thread above, is up-to-date. 40 down, 60 to go!)

I am very pleased with myself this month: five books! Tickers updated.

#96 LauraBrook I have a clarification question - if I deaccession books w/o reading them, do they count towards this challenge? If so, I'm going to have to update my ticker (but not today, I'll do it in May).

It's all up to you. If you decide that your books you've put down from the shelf without reading them, count for you as deleted from TBR, than that's it. I've done so this year: I've discarded one book I am certain I will not read and counted it towards this challenge. It's your challenge, your rules!

I actually read one more for april, so have updated the tickers and my post accordingly

Sorry gang, somehow I had a star and an ignore on this thread, plus I was so busy reading that I forgot all about making a new thread - I did get 12 BOMBS done! I'll get to the new thread asap!

"Too busy reading" sounds like a pretty good excuse to me. :)

Thanks for all of the input, everyone. I think I will count books I deaccession, if for no other reason than I need somewhere to log what I'm getting rid of! Next time I update, don't be impressed by my large jump in numbers. :)

THE MAY THREAD IS UP....http://www.librarything.com/topic/136590#

To make it clickable: http://www.librarything.com/topic/136590#

Only three this month, and they barely counted. Bare minimum I set for monthly goal.

Late to the party as I was away in Boston but I read 7 this month for a grand total of 35. I didn't update the ticker.

I read 4 books for April and I updated the ticker. Sorry so late with my report.

"Sorry so late with my report."

Yeah, me too. I read two in April to get myself up to six. I'll go update the ticker now.

Actually, one of the books I counted for April, I read in May. But I promise not to count it for May.

How am I supposed to do this challenge when I just won £100 worth of book tokens! I've never won anything before in my whole life so this is very exciting for me but it's hardly going to help with the BOMB challenge now, is it?

WHOA! That's like $160 US. That's awesome! But yeah - tough on the TBR. Unless you just buy one book and use it all up ;)

Oh boy, now there's a thought! The most expensive one on my wishlist at the moment is £34 but I'm sure I could come up with some ideas. And it definitely sounds even better in US dollars, though I believe books are probably a little more expensive over here than over there so it probably evens out. The way I'm feeling at the moment I could just sit and drool over the token until my 365 TBRs are all read. (Or I might spend it all tomorrow.)

Congrats on the win, booksloth! Enjoy planning your haul! :)

#116 Thank you! You know you're with a real reader when they understand that the planning is part of the fun!

ETA - I have a good friend who was given tokens on leaving a job several years ago. She still has them! (No such problem here, I swear.)

I thought book tokens expired after 6 months.

Not these (actually I don't think they've done that for a long time in the UK - no idea about anywhere else). It's not going to be a problem for me either way - off to the shops any minute clutching my wishlist and a pile of ideas for friends and family. This is going to be soooo much fun!

You enjoy buying those books! I have just been to Auckland Readers and Writers festival and came away with 14 new books. I loved every minute of it!

I've spent (most of) mine now and it was wonderful! The guilty thought of adding to Mount TBR was much alleviated by buying book-pressies for the whole family which is very nearly as much fun as book-buying for myself.

@121: Especially if you can borrow the book-pressies when the recipients are finished with them! ;) What all did you get?

#122 Just how devious do you think I am? ;-) (I was hoping no-one would notive my ulterior motives there.) Sunday's haul included An African Love Story - the story of the Wildlife Reserve in Amberseli that my other half visits as often as he can, so that one was for him; Lonely Planet's Southeast Asia on a Shoestring for my son; The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh for my daughter; Silk for my best friend (because she hasn't read it and I think it's time she did). Then for me it's The Terror, The Portable Dorothy Parker, The Double Life of Cora Parry, The Sealed Letter and Tiny Sunbirds Far Away (which, incidentally, must have the loveliest cover I've ever seen). I still have some change on the card and Waterstones (big UK chain) is doing a scheme at the moment where you get stamps on a card for every £10 spent and when the card is full you get a £10 token. So I came home with 10 books that I didn't feel I'd had to pay for, plus an extra £10 voucher!

Wow, that sounds like a great haul! I'm sure the recipients will be thrilled! And yay extra voucher!
(also, I totally buy books for people that I wouldn't mind borrowing later, or keeping if they already have a copy or don't want it :P It's actually a pretty big factor in my present-buying decisions.)

Congrats on winning the book tokens. (I guess that's like what we'd call a bookstore gift card in the US?) Glad you enjoyed spending it, and got the extra voucher!

Book tokens aren't exactly the same as a bookstore gift card because you can use them in any bookshop, you're not tied to a particular shop or chain. Very useful as a present for relatives who live in a different town.

>126 Robertgreaves:: Really? I'd always assumed they were the same as gift cards, too. Wow. Why don't we have those in the US?!

126 That's a neat concept.

127 I suspect that competing US stores aren't willing to engage in the level of cooperation needed to make such a system work.