50 Books in 50 Weeks!

Post by **deer of the dawn** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:45 pm

Somewhere online I read about this challenge. I was determined to read an average of a book a week this year and so far I'm doing pretty well. I would love it if others joined the personal challenge.

Post your beginning date. Because life happens, let's have a 2-week grace period, so you have a year to do your 50 books. Keep your list updated by editing your post (not by adding another post and another). Comments on others' lists are also welcome.

Who's in?

My start date: January 1, 2012

1.Crystal Singer (McCaffrey)
2. Killashandra (McCaffrey)
3. Crystal Line (McCaffrey)
4. The Confession (Grisham)
5. The King of Torts (Grisham)
6. With an Everlasting Love (Arthur)
7. Blindness (Saramago)
8. Dragons in the Water (L'Engle)
9. 44 Scotland Street (McCall Smith)
10. House of Sand and Fog (Dubus)
11. The End of Reason (Zacharias)
12. Runes of the Earth (Stephen R. Donaldson)
13. The Mysteries of Glass (Gee)
15. Dark Water (Hall)
17. Deadline (Alcorn)
18. Black Ice (Hall)
19. The Children of Men (James)
20. Against All Things Ending (Stephen R. Donaldson)
21. The Broker (Grisham)
22. In the Presence of My Enemies (Burnham)
23. Yesterday's Gone, Season One (Platt & White) (serialized.... I'm liking it)
24. The Last Justice (Franze)
25. Sailing to Sarantium (Kay)
26. Lord of Emperors (Kay)
27. Lord Foul's Bane (Donaldson)
28. The Illearth War (ibid)
29. The Power That Preserves (these Donaldson books got me way behind

)

29. Child of the Mist (Morgan)
30. Wings of Morning (Morgan)
31. A Fire Within (Morgan)
32. Gifts in Sand and Water (Bellet)
33. We Don't Plummet Out of the Sky Anymore (Blake) (a novella, in fairness)
34. The Golden Compass (Pullman)
35. The Subtle Knife (Pullman)
36. The Amber Spyglass (Pullman)
37. Found: God's Will (MacArthur)
38. Let's Study Mark (Ferguson)
39. How Huge the Night (Munn)
40. The Books of Rachel (Gross)
41. Beyond the Event Horizon (McElhaney)
42. Rob Roy (Sir Walter Scott)
43. Scared (Tom Davis)
44. Relentless (Robin Parrish)
45. Everflame (Peters)
46. The Negotiator (Henderson)
47. Crazy Love (Chan)
48. The Shunned House (Lovecraft)
49. While You Were Dead (Snyder)
50. Mere Christianity (Lewis)

Finish date: Dec 31, 2012!

Post by **I'm Murrin** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 7:15 pm

I guess you could say I'm in, sorta.

Post by **sgt.null** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 7:46 pm

ok, i will pull a book off the shelf after i get off line.

Post by **Avatar** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:09 am

I do more than a book a week anyway.

No idea what I've read so far this year.

--A

Post by **Orlion** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:56 pm

Let's see... I started this year with a fifty-two book goal for this year, and am currently at around 33. They are:

1) The Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas
2) Coyote Blue- Christopher Moore
3) Prometheus Bound- Aeschylus
4) A Clash of Kings- George R R Martin
5) The Iliad- Hommer
6) Stonewielder- Ian C Esslemont
7) Orb Sceptre Throne- Ian C Esslemont

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings- Maya Angelou
9) The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde
10) Endymion- Dan Simmons
11) The Black Company- Glen Cook
12) The Catcher in the Rye- J D Salinger
13) Shadows Linger- Glen Cook
14) Inherit the Wind
15) The Ninth Galaxy Reader- Ed. Frederic Pohl
16) Me Talk Pretty One Day- David Sedaris
17) Blood Follows- Steven Erikson
18) The Cthulhu Mythos- August Derleth
19) Gulliver's Travels- Jonathon Swift
20) The Lee of Laughter's End- Steven Erikson
21) A Princess of Mars- Edgar Rice Burroughs
22) The Healthy Dead- Steven Erikson
23) The Pickwick Papers- Charles Dickens
24) Gates of Fire- Steven Pressfield
25) Grendel- John Gardner
26) Go Tell it on the Mountain- James Baldwin
27) The Almost Moon- Alice Sebold
28) The White Rose- Glen Cook
29) Mistborn- Brandon Sanderson
30) The Road- Cormac McCarthy
31) No More Parades- Ford Madox Ford
32) The Sun Also Rises- Ernest Hemingway
33) The Green Pearl- Jack Vance
34) The Rise of Endymion- Dan Simmons
35) A Man Could Stand Up...- Ford Madox Ford
36) The Last Post- Ford Madox Ford
37) The Translator- John Crowley
38) The Well of Ascension- Brandon Sanderson
39) The King of Elfland's Daughter- Lord Dunsany
40) Crack'd Pot Trail- Steven Erikson
41) The War of the End of the World- Mario Vargas Llosa
42) Collected Fictions- Jorge Luis Borges
43) Novelties & Souvenirs: Collected Short Fiction- John Crowley
44) Forge of Darkness: Steven Erikson
45) No Country for Old Men- Cormac McCarthy
46) The Many-Colored Land- Julian Mayy
47) Riders of the Purple Sage- Zane Grey
48) The Golden Torc- Julian May
49) Their Eyes Were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston
50) The Orestes Plays- Aeschylus (translated by Paul Roche)
51) The Nonborn King- Julian May
52) The Blal and Other Science Fiction Monsters- A. E. VanVogt
53) Paradise Lost- John Milton
54) The Adversary- Julian May
55) Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Lands- John Crowley

Post by **Avatar** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:07 am

The Lee of Laughter's End- Steven Erikson
The Healthy Dead- Steven Erikson
Blood Follows- Steven Erikson

Surely ^ those ^ should be one book?

--A

Post by **StevieG** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:21 pm

Well, I envy you fast readers. I'd be lucky to ready 10 books in 50 weeks.

Post by **Avatar** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 5:06 am

Yeah, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

--A

Post by **deer of the dawn** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:13 am

Lorin, thanks for participating, and you too Murrin, care to post a list here?

Stevie, the key is to go into a different room from the one where the TV is on.

I get sucked into that, but I'm so dang bored with everything that's on (we have only a limited selection of TV in English).

Av, I just started keeping a list this year. I think I'll keep doing it. Have you ever started a book and 1/3 of the way through you realize you read this 15 years ago??

Post by **I'm Murrin** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:59 am

I had that when I read The Once and Future King. I'd read a lot of it as a child and forgotten!

Post by **Linna Heartbooger** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 3:37 pm

StevieG wrote:Well, I envy you fast readers. I'd be lucky to ready 10 books in 50 weeks.

Ha ha... our local library does an adult summer reading program... I have DEFINITELY considered listing Children's books for ME.

My husband is a crazy-fast reader compared to me... (bro-in-law, too)
I have definitely dealt with that envy rising up in me!

Post by **Orlion** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:23 pm

DotD is correct, reading seems to be done best without distractions. I find I read much faster with minimal distractions (like a hungry cat) than when I'm in a stadium of people. I've also been told I look murderously angry when I read. Still doesn't stop some people from distracting me

Post by **sgt.null** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:06 pm

i start with that, one of three books i am bringing to class this week.

Post by **Linna Heartbooger** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:07 am

Avatar wrote:Yeah, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

--A

Oh, yeah. Actually, I can buy that.

Post by **StevieG** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 1:06 pm

Linna Heartlistener wrote:
Avatar wrote:Yeah, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

--A
Oh, yeah. Actually, I can buy that.

Yeah, I can definitely understand it. Av has mentioned before - you wait 3 years or more for a book to come out and read it in 2 days! It becomes a bit on an anti-climax, potentially.

But I have to plan my rereads of Covenant before the final installment, just so I make it to the release date - I have nine books to read by October 2013. If I achieve that in a timely fashion then I'll be happy!

Post by **Avatar** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:19 am

StevieG wrote:
Linna Heartlistener wrote:
Avatar wrote:Yeah, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

--A
Oh, yeah. Actually, I can buy that.
Yeah, I can definitely understand it. Av has mentioned before - you wait 3 years or more for a book to come out and read it in 2 days! It becomes a bit on an anti-climax, potentially.

Yep. Sometimes I sympathise with the GF. She won't start a series unless it's already complete.

--A

Post by **deer of the dawn** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:02 am

Avatar wrote:
StevieG wrote:
Linna Heartlistener wrote: Oh, yeah. Actually, I can buy that.
Yeah, I can definitely understand it. Av has mentioned before - you wait 3 years or more for a book to come out and read it in 2 days! It becomes a bit on an anti-climax, potentially.
Yep. Sometimes I sympathise with the GF. She won't start a series unless it's already complete.

--A

I feel the same way. Later this year I plan to begin my re-read of the entire Chrons so I'm ready for TLD when it comes out (and I'll be in America at that time!!!)

I started reading Sailing to Sarantium based on someone's recommendation here and I found that I had to force myself to slow down and savor, it's too good to devour.

(I've got rather used to watching TV the same way. Wait till the series comes out on disk, then I can watch at my own pace without commercials.)

Post by **I'm Murrin** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:25 am

If I get a TV show on DVD I find I can't stop myself watching them back to back. Tend to average a season (american-style) a week when I get going. This year: 6 seasons Criminal Minds, 7 seasons Buffy, 3 seasons Veronica Mars. (And Game of Thrones, but that was one episode a week.)

Post by **Linna Heartbooger** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:13 pm

StevieG wrote:But I have to plan my rereads of Covenant before the final installment, just so I make it to the release date - I have nine books to read by October 2013. If I achieve that in a timely fashion then I'll be happy!

Okay, I'm glad I'm not the only one around here thinking that way...
I've missed out in Final Chrons discussion so far cause I haven't read any of 'em yet.
But hopefully I will finish my re-read of the first three right on time!

I've just got 8 (really 7.5) but TIW is PAIN, so it's on hold.

Post by **Avatar** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 4:17 am

Murrin wrote:This year: 6 seasons Criminal Minds, 7 seasons Buffy, 3 seasons Veronica Mars. (And Game of Thrones, but that was one episode a week.)

No wonder your "to be read" pile is so big.

I watch little to no TV myself.

--A

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

50 Books in 50 Weeks!

50 Books in 50 Weeks!