Read 100 books... plus more

This is cool! I think i could do this. I read like a maniac! So far this year I've read...
A Great and Terrible Beauty
Rebel Angels
The Sweet Far Thing
Avalon High

And am currently reading...
The Truth About Forever
Hacking Harvard
Uglies

And I will be starting these books for various reasons...
Someone Like You (school)
Dreamland (because I want to)
A Thousand Splendid Suns (once I find it [i lost it!] for bookclub)

I too am behind but that is just what I've read without trying for 100 books! Oh and I calculated that to read 100 books you need to read 8.3 books in one month.
I think it will help if you have a list of books that you want to read. I have a whole ton I got for CHristmas I have yet to read. These are:
13 Little Blue Envelopes
Lucky T
Luxe
mismatched
4 Nannies Diaries Books
Not as Crazy As I Seem
Jynx

That's one of my goals too :] If you want to keep in touch, we could keep each other motivated and whatnot. Feel free to IM me if you have AIM (same screen name as my username) or private message me :]

2007 Out There : Finished!
2008 Unknown Title :

Just think about this: your teacher would want you to keep going. Even if he can't be in your life physically, remember the spirit of his encouragement and how positive that is.

I still sometimes think about my 9th grade english teacher who encouraged me to write creatively and helped me come out of a depression. And it's been several decades since then . . . but still her encouragement is with me.

You can do this!

You can do it!! And this is a great goal. Do you have a book page number "acceptable range"?

I don't technically have a "read 100 books in 2008" goal, but I *do* have a goal of working on filling out my "101 Things to Do Before You Die" book, and one of those things is to read the 100 top classics. They have their own list, but you can scratch out and change titles at will. Of course, I'm sticking to most of their list... there are just a couple books that I have absolutely no interest in ever reading which I'll change.

However, this year... I've read:

Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley

Dead Witch Walking
Every Which Way but Dead
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead
A Fistful of Charms
For a Few Demons More
(all by Kim Harrison)

For a Few Demons More
(I read it twice. First time: my boyfriend was reading it, so when he set it down I started in... finished it before he did. When I mentioned "You know, you really should get the previous books in this series!" He replied "You didn't read them yet? I thought I gave them to you". So he found them, and I started at the beginning... reading all the way through. Finished all 5 of them before he finished reading "For A Few Demons More" the first time)

The Lazy Person's Handbook: Short cuts to getting everything you want with the least possible effort
by Marc Favreau

The Way to Wealth by Benjamin Franklin (this one had very few pages)
Rich Dad's Guide to Becoming Rich by Robert Kiyosaki

And I've just started : Investing Without a Silver Spoon by Jeff Fischer.

My boyfriend is now calling me a Book Termite.

As for your teacher: he helped you and supported you. While he is no longer at the school, he is surely still supporting you in spirit. Keep going, stretching and growing through writing and reading (andd anything else you want to do). Maybe someday... a month from now, 5 years from now... you will run into him again, and can tell him how much of a difference he made in your life... and all the ways you've grown since then.

Peace and Blessings...

Good luck all! I'm trying to read 52 books that I've never read before this year.

I've read:

Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Ironside
Tithe
The Wizard's Delimma
A Wizard Alone
Wizard's Holiday
30 Days of Night
Pretties
Specials
Rebel Fay

So far. O.o Plus a bunch of re reads, and I'm almost done with a 13th. (Wizards at War) and I've started Pride and Prejudice, though my dad took the ereader with him when he went somewhere for work. -.-'

And I've got like 4 new books on request from the library. And a huge stack to still read.

I read too much, can you tell?

I think reading 100 books is a great goal. don't give up, if you read some shorter books you can catch up, but you have to be determined and keep going; your teacher would want you to.

Maybe a bit of light reading might speed things up and get you in the mood to read more; I recommend 'Because of Winn-Dixie' and 'The Tale of Despereaux' by Kate diCamillo; these are funny and not long.

Another idea for motivation is to race with someone; read the same books with a goal like min 100pages a day, so you will finish a 300page book in 3 days. Dont give up, you can do it!

I generally read a lot, but buy a lot more books thsan i read so my goal this year is to read 50 more books than I buy, and it's killing me.
so far this year i have read,
Helix by Eric Brown
Doctor Who Storybook 2008
The Origin of Species 6TH edition (genuine 19th century copy) by Charles Darwin
Air Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones
Loop by koji Suzuki
Double Cross by James Patterson
Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker
Who Writes This Crap by Stickle & Wright
Poirot The complete Short Stories (860 pages whoo hoo) by Agatha Christie

Diverse or what.

Maybe we should hold a competition to see who reaches 100 first?

So add some novellas to your list. The first book in "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy", "Wide Sargasso Sea" (Jean something), and then there's "House To Let", which was a collaboration between Charles Dickens and a few others.

They're valid to be counted, but short!

BFS goals - http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/1075131

Kevinj I really like your idea of having a sort of race of sorts....

yeah so lets set up some rules as to length of book to be counted etc.
do novellas and graphic novels count.
can anyone argue about counting a book as part of the list (part of the fun would be someone justifying The cat in the hat for example)

And i really should point out i read over 200 books last year alone.

A contest sounds like fun. I'd say keep the rules simple: 100 pages minimum and it has to have chapters. That would eliminate picture books but allow kids books like Charlotte's Web. Collections of short stories or poems would be acceptable if you read them all.

Remember, the time you spend challenging or justifying a book is time you could be reading. :-)

I'll have to figure out what I've read so far this year.

Hello! I read over 100 books last year (102, I think it was). I started a few years ago with a 50-book goal. The first year, I finished 50 books by the end of November. The second year, I finished 50 books by the start of October. The third year, I finished by mid-August. Last year, I knew I would be able to reach 100 when I hit 50 books and it wasn't even the end of June.

It took several years to work my way up to reading that much, but now that I do, I would never go back. I listen to unabridged audiobooks when I'm in the car or out for a walk or when I'm knitting or doing other crafts that occupy my eyes and hands. I read books when I'm in line, or waiting for service at a restaurant, or before bed. I have a few places and times when I deliberately don't read, because I want my husband to still know who I am (one of those non-reading times is breakfast-- he doesn't go online and I don't open a book at the table).

Don't feel as though you have to read "the classics" or any book that you're not enjoying, either. It took me a while to get to the point where I could put aside a book I didn't like, but there are a lot of books in the world, and your time is valuable.

--
Stephanie Bryant
http://www.mortaine.com/blog

As best I can recall, here's my list for the year so far. In no particular order:

The Sunrise Lands -- S.M Stirling
Endless Blue -- Wen Spencer
Moon Called -- Patricia Briggs
Iron Kissed -- Patricia Briggs
The Android's Dream -- John Scalzi
Why Call Them Back from Heaven -- Clifford D. Simak
Forest Mage -- Robin Hobbs

Ypou can add two more books to my list with
The stone Gods by Jeanette winterson
The vinland saga, (104 pages long with introduction)

so my total so far is:
Helix by Eric Brown
The Origin of Species 6TH edition (genuine 19th century copy) by Charles Darwin
Air Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones
Loop by koji Suzuki
Double Cross by James Patterson
Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker
Who Writes This Crap by Stickle & Wright
Poirot The complete Short Stories (860 pages whoo hoo) by Agatha Christie
stone gods by Jeannette Winterson
Political writings Vol 1 by KArl MArx

giving me a total so far of 10
only 90 to go

I'd love to be able to read 100 books in a year. I won't because I haven't a clue where my nearest public library is (and after living here for 2 1/2 years - its shameful.) I admire anyone who is even trying! Because that's impressive.

So far this year I've only read:
'Beneath the Bleeding' Val McDermid
'Oranges are not the Only Fruit' Jeanette Winterson.

Queued up for me to read soon are:
'Suffer the Children' John Saul
'Lisey's Story' Stephen King
'The Night Watch' Sarah Waters

.Suzanne.
NaNoWriMo2007: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.
Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.

I am such an avid reader that 100 books wouldn't be the challenge I need.
So I'll tweak it for me.

100 new reads this year. Plus rereading my faves.

So far I've read:
The Poisonwood Bible-- Barbara Kingsolver
Starting:
A Game of Thrones--George RR Martin
The Screwtape Letters--CS Lewis

But I've reread this year:
The Kingdom and the Crown trilogy-- Gerald Lund (at avg. 600 pg. apiece)
The Eight--Katherine Neville

So I guess the challenge for me will be to break into new reading territory.
Good luck to all and happy reading!

rereads count, i have been meaning to read book 3 of the game of thrones but think i will leave it till i am about 20 books ahead of people before reading such an enormous book.
Have read since last post
Bumper Book of fads and crazes
and am currently reading
LO by Charles Hoy Fort

OK, I kinda freaked myself out after I *really* thought about what is involved in 100 books (because the thicker the book, the better IMO).*lol*
Reading a 680 page book will obviously take longer than a 2-300 page one.
Since I love big thick books I wonder if maybe a certain number of pages would count as a book? And does listening to a book on CD count?
Who out there prefers CD to the written word? Or vice versa? I haven't listened to very many books on CD. Usually I love to have the hard copy in my hand. I can see the advantages to being mobile, though.

any thoughts?

--So maybe you don't really want to read 100 short and possibly inferior books. Maybe you want to read 52 big, rich books. 100 is a nice, round number, but it is an arbitrary goal.

I have three more to add to my list:

Blood Bonded -- Patricia Briggs
Iron Kissed --Patricia Briggs (again!)
The Chalice -- Phil Rickman (a big, chunky, hunka-hunka delicious book).

That makes 10 for me.

I used to read like a maniac, but at the start of November it almost dwindled to none.
That said, I've only read:
Exile's valor
The Devil's Code
Easy Prey
Mortal Prey
Arrows of the Queen
Arrows Flight
Arrows Fall
Something I can't remember but was good

It's vanishingly small for me :( I'll need to work on that. I find I'm hesitant to start new authors and it's easier for me to set down books after I've started them. I need to finish them in a few days or it's a no go. Case in point: Secret Prey. Good, but I set it down when other things came up and that was the end.

I'll join the 100 book count with all y'all :) It should keep me interested (and keep me working through the 9+ pile of books I have at my feet from the library...)

I wish I'd thought of this idea before 2008 started. I haven't read (or written, but that's another story) much at all in the past two or three months. I've been reading Colonization: Second Contact by Harry Turtledove for something like a month and I'm only halfway through, even though I'm enjoying the book. Usually I read tons of books in the winter but this past year it's been the opposite: I read tons of books last summer and fall, and stopped as it got colder out. It's probably because I did a lot of my reading outdoors, sitting and relaxing with a good novel.

But I checked out some psychology-related books from the library yesterday so maybe it's just a matter of needing to switch it up a little, read something besides sci-fi/fantasy for a while. Maybe I just need some literary variety.

NaNoWriMo 2007: Marble
won! 52,527 words

I feel horrible now... this was my Idea, and I've only finished The Water Mirror and Fort Pillow since my last post, So I'm at five, when I should be at three times that much. I'm currently reading The Stone Light, and The Other Boylen Girl. But I stopped reading The Stone Light for a while and now I'm finding it hard to get back into it. Tonight I'll do some reading, and hopefully this weekend I can finish a kind of short book. I'm really hoping to get back into this, and I hope that spring and summer will help out a lot. This summer I have a plane ride to and from Canada, so that should give me some quality reading time, not to mention the fact that I have almost no life in the summer, so I should have plenty of free time. I know, I'm making excuses out the wazoo, but what can I say? Anyway, you guys have inspired me, it's off to read a bit more.

Okay, I'm going to try for 100 books.

If audiobooks count, I can add Gasping for Airtime by Jay Mohr, which will bring my grand total up to 2 as soon as I've finished Second Contact. Then it's only 98 to go... so I'll be shooting for roughly 10 books per month. I may have trouble in November though, as I'm planning to do NaNoWriMo even if I don't write another word between now and November 1.

I've found that the more I read, the better I can organize my thoughts. So this will be good for me in a lot of ways. And fun.

JC

NaNoWriMo 2007: Marble
won! 52,527 words

I have that same goal! I've come pretty close before, though it's never been a conscious goal. I figure it'll be pretty easy. My rules are that if I haven't read it before, OR if I haven't read it in the past three years or so, than I can count it. Recent re-reads don't count. I have a book in which I write down the name and author of every book I read; I started around three years ago. So basically my goal is to add a hundred new titles to the book.

So far, I have:

Spirited by Nancy Holder (very good, part of the fantastic Once Upon a Time series)
Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey (part of the same series and even BETTER)
Devilish by Maureen Johnson (okay, but 13 Little Blue Envelopes was better, and I'd recommend it to anyone)
Scribble by Richard W. Jennings
Eddie Fantastic by Chris Heimerdinger
The Secret Country by Pamela Dean (boooooring--I couldn't even finish it)
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass (A Mango-Shaped Space was much better)
The Window by Jeanette Ingold
2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke
2061: Odyssey Three by Arthur C. Clarke (both SO GOOD)
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (I read these when I was much younger, but I was feeling nostalgic)
" " on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
By the Shores of Silver Lake
The Long Winter
Little Town on the Prairie
These Happy Golden Years
A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb (rather odd and not particularly brilliant, but very solidly YA)
Fudge-A-Mania by Judy Blume (I'm ever-so-slightly embarrased about this one)

Wow. So, yeah, I read a lot of juvenile fiction...I guess it's a testament to my basic refusal to grow up.

I'm a teeny bit ahead on reading--woohoo!--but I think I'll go to the library tomorrow anyway. Good luck to everyone else trying this out!!

Stalebreath

"It's like being dead, but with homework." -- Arthur

Wow! This sounds really cool! I think I'd like to try this next year if possible, or try and read twenty books in a month kind of thing.

NaNoWriMo 07: A Circlet of Stones (won!)
NaNoWriMo 08: Donnovan's Redemption (???)

100 books in a year... This could be fun.

Well, not counting books I've already read before, I've got 19. 81 to go.

Current WIP: Dimly Lit
Oh, the sarcasm. Just what I needed.

Thankfully, I've had enough odd hobbies over the years that my dad isn't disturbed when he looks over and sees me sketching knife grips and browsing pages on knife-throwing.

Awesome, this is my goal too. I also would love to be able to say, hey, I read 100 book this year.
What do you guys count as books? As in, I list cookbooks and textbooks as well as, say, novels. Drawing the line at Kafka's Metamorphosis since that's just a long short story.

18 so far. They are:
1. Bird by Bird (It's about life and writing)
2. The Ultimate Cake Decorator (Cookbook!)
3. Death be Not Proud
4. The Secret Knowledge of Water (About water in the desert, very awesome)
5. Godless (In which some kids decide to worship a water tower)
6. Chasing Redbird
7. Dances with Wolves
8. The Heartless Stone (about diamonds)
9. Beauty (An awful book)
10. Counting Sheep (About sleep)
11. The Brief and Terrifiying Rein of Phil
12. The Brazillian Healer with the Kitchen Knife (About faith healers)
13. Sophie's World (A novel about philosophy)
14. The Human Experiment
15. The 26 Letters
16. Hypothermia, Frostbite, and other cold injuries
17. The Prophet of Yonwood (Also really bad)
18. The Washington Story

There you go: Textbooks, cookbooks, fiction, nonfiction, put a book in front of me and I'll read it in two days.

------
Screnzy 07 + No Name + EPIC FAIL
Nanowrimo 07 + The Stormy Season + Success!
Screnzy 08 + Toxicology + Success!

I've got three more:

Dragon Bones -- Patricia Briggs
Dragon Blood -- Patricia Briggs
December -- Phil Rickman

I finish February at Lucky 13.