Books 2022 Reading Challenge

Started by professor plum January 3rd, 2022 10:08 AM
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professor plum

Age 31
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louisiana
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17.8 Years
2022 Reading Challenge

Hello, welcome to the 2022 PokéCommunity Reading challenge! The idea is - we pledge to read a certain number of books in 2022, and try to keep each other accountable!

FYI:
  • FIVE issues of a comic book series counts as a book.
  • ONE volume of manga counts as a book.

You can track what you read by posting here as you read it, log it on a spreadsheet, or on GoodReads. I personally plan to read a minimum of twenty-five books in 2022.

Participants
  • professor plum, 20/25 Books - GoodReads Profile
  • Aslan, 1/20 Books
  • Mercury, 2/5 Books - GoodReads Profile
  • Janp, 16/14 Books
  • Austin, 0/15 Books - GoodReads Profile
  • Stardrop, 578/500 Books
  • Starlight, 0/12 Books
  • Went, 70/80 Books
  • Autumn94, 13/40 Books
  • tenfrogs, 3/24 Books - GoodReads Profile
  • Roni, 1/5 Books
  • Finneari, 1/25 Books
  • Amore, 5/11 Books
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professor plum

Age 31
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louisiana
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17.8 Years
I'm currently reading the following:
Stephen King - The Shining (1977) (Audiobook)
- Actively listening to this, at least an hour or so a day. 36% or so done, according to the app. The narrator, Campbell Scott, is pretty great. I'd seen reviews of his narration mention that he was a bit monotonous, but I don't get that at all.
James Lapine - Putting It Together (2021) (Physical Copy)
- Received this as a Christmas present from my significant other, and started reading it the same day, but haven't picked it up since then. Will get around to finishing it, hopefully.
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Aslan

she/her
Seen 1 Day Ago
Posted February 11th, 2023
3,107 posts
10.1 Years
I'll sign up! Going to keep my goal a bit lower and hopefully finish it this year. I'll say.. 20 books to start with? :D

I'll update with the list of what I've read in this post:

Progress: 2/20

Books read:

Spoiler:

January 2022
  • 1. Walter Tevis - The Queen's Gambit (read: 04/01/22)
  • 2. Maggie O'Farrell - Hamnet (read: 17/01/22)
paired with Austin

Starlight

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17.5 Years
Former Moderator Post
Just a heads up everyone before you set your goals. We have decided to tweak the requirements for comics slightly this year.

For 2022, five issues of a comic will count as one book. Manga will continue to be one volume.
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Mercurybro

Age 31
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Seen February 11th, 2023
Posted January 19th, 2023
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11.5 Years
Mercury's gonna read 5 books. GoodReads profile here!

Probably gonna start off with John Grisham.

[2/5] as of 23 January

Janp

Age 26
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Czech Republic
Seen 14 Hours Ago
Posted 2 Days Ago
5,291 posts
9.9 Years
I'm back for more. But this year, my goal is to read only 14 books, because that's exactly the number of unread non-scientific books I currently have in my possession.
God of Conquest

Austin

Age 26
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Arizona
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Posted July 12th, 2022
2,722 posts
14 Years
I'll sign up as well, with the tentative goal of 15 books. I'll only be counting novels, not comics I've read, otherwise I would knock out this goal in a day or two.

GoodReads Profile
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Duck

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he, they
Seen 4 Weeks Ago
Posted February 22nd, 2023
5,752 posts
2.3 Years
Last year I read around 40~ish, but since this is gonna be a busy year for me (sadly things are gearing away from remote) let's start with 25 books for the year again and see how far that will take us.

Starlight

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I'm gonna really struggle, but I'm still putting myself down for 12.

One a month... let's see how it goes!
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Ivysaur

Grass dinosaur extraordinaire

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16.1 Years
Going to set a more modest goal: 80 books. I barely beat the 100 from last year and I'll probably be busier this one... Can you imaghine, I still haven't finished any books this year!

...I need clarifying on the comic book rule. So I'm subscribed to a weekly comic magazine [on top of The Economist, The Guardian Weekly, Private Eye, Mongolia, Retro Gamer and Ballena Blanca] - 82 pages including several running series. Does that count as a book per five weeks?
And let's say I buy a 50-page comic. Not a weekly but a single-story book. Does that count as a book, or would I have to read five?

Starlight

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17.5 Years
Going to set a more modest goal: 80 books. I barely beat the 100 from last year and I'll probably be busier this one... Can you imaghine, I still haven't finished any books this year!

...I need clarifying on the comic book rule. So I'm subscribed to a weekly comic magazine [on top of The Economist, The Guardian Weekly, Private Eye, Mongolia, Retro Gamer and Ballena Blanca] - 82 pages including several running series. Does that count as a book per five weeks?
And let's say I buy a 50-page comic. Not a weekly but a single-story book. Does that count as a book, or would I have to read five?
Both of those count as one comic, so yes one book for every five 😊
Mega Latios
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Ivysaur

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Then I shall start:

10.4: The 52 weekly issues of El Jueves for the year. I've been religiously reading that magazine every week of my life since I was 9 and, well, I don't plan on stopping any time soon. So I'm going to save the effort of logging a new .2 every week.
For reference, it's a mature comic compilation. Not in the sense of (only) 'sex' but, you know, topics about adult life- work, relationships, politics and the like. And yes, I started reading that when I was 9.

Duck

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he, they
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Posted February 22nd, 2023
5,752 posts
2.3 Years
1. The Peculiar - Stefan Bachmann

It's a steampunk fantasy about half fae living in Steampunk London after the Fair Folk invaded. It's well written for the most part, although it doesn't have great female characters (I don't think any one of them passes the potted plant test) which was a bummer since the description gave more sibling duo vibes.

Oh well, I guess it's still worth a read, it's just as good as it could be.

I'll probably read its sequel next, I guess.

1 / 25

Duck

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Posted February 22nd, 2023
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2.3 Years
2. The Whatnot - Stefan Bachmann

This was a fever dream, and not in a good way. While I did enjoy the villains, the heroes felt lackluster, Hettie still doesn't pass the potted plant test despite being one of the POV characters this time around, the conclusion felt rather lackluster and the book just felt weird to sift through.

2 / 25

On the subject of how things count here, I have a question. So, I have the Integral Works of Lovecraft on my list but despite that being one book (one file) it's a collection of all of his stories. Counting it as 1 book feels like underselling it, but counting it as 65 (the number of stories) feels like severely overselling it, considering the majority of it are short stories.

There are roughly 456704 words, which using NaNoWriMo rules would count it as 9 books. Although looking into the contents, it appears that there are 5 novellas (which could presumably be a book), 1 novel, 1 novel fragment and the rest is more or less short stories (with a couple letter excerpts in), so something around 7 or 8 would also seem plausible, I guess.

Edit:

3. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig

It was a cute story, I guess. A bit of a light read, the end was a bit predictable but over all it was a nice read. Would recommend.

3 / 25

Ivysaur

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11.4: Enciclopedia del disparate 3 - JM Rodríguez Plasencia. Third and final installment in the series of absurd test answers. Going to miss the laughs.

12.4: Parecía un buen fichaje - Miguel Gutiérrez. A list of the most absurd and insane hires in major Spanish football teams. Lots of "wtf" moments. Very enjoyable.

I have another pair going on, each with some 2.5 hours' worth of content left, according to my Kindle's estimates.

Starlight

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17.5 Years
On the subject of how things count here, I have a question. So, I have the Integral Works of Lovecraft on my list but despite that being one book (one file) it's a collection of all of his stories. Counting it as 1 book feels like underselling it, but counting it as 65 (the number of stories) feels like severely overselling it, considering the majority of it are short stories.

There are roughly 456704 words, which using NaNoWriMo rules would count it as 9 books. Although looking into the contents, it appears that there are 5 novellas (which could presumably be a book), 1 novel, 1 novel fragment and the rest is more or less short stories (with a couple letter excerpts in), so something around 7 or 8 would also seem plausible, I guess.
I would say something like that is always going to an arbitrary decision, so go with what you feel. You came to very similar numbers two different ways: 8 & 9. They're pretty close, so go with what you feel is fairest :)
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DrWho42

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2 Years
i started negative space (2020) by b. r. yeager!

Ivysaur

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I have another pair going on, each with some 2.5 hours' worth of content left, according to my Kindle's estimates.
Whoops I finished one of them on a single sitting.

13.4: The Devil and the Dark Water - Stuart Tutton. I love this guy, I love his mysteries, I love how bizarrely twisted everything is in his words. A fantastic dark crime novel set in a boat.

Starlight

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i started negative space (2020) by b. r. yeager!
Welcome!!! Do you have a yearly goal amount in mind?
Mega Latios
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Hatch: 32,700
Level 100: 32,910
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Janp

Age 26
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9.9 Years
Time to properly focus on this challenge and write down my thoughts about each book. Spoilers ahead.

The Stand by Stephen King
Spoiler:
I started this book last year, but I had to put it aside because of reasons I described above/in the previous thread. What a behometh of a book. And one of the best King novel I've read so far. I love how eerie the beginning is. How the superflu slowly built up in the shadows. And then it hit and civilization collapsed. The second part of the book, in which everyone slowly got to Boulder was the weakest part in the book in my opinion. It had one excellent chapter full of classic King. It introduced several new characters and brutally murdered them by the end. I get that this part was mostly about developing the main cast and worldbuilding, but it felt like a chore to read after a while. But it was worth it, because the rest of the book was brilliant. The politics of Boulder Zone, the meetings and Harold's betrayal were all written so well. The climax was a little bit weaker, but I kinda expect that with King. I don't like the whole "hand of God" thing at the end, but I quite liked the rest of supernatural occurrences.

The characters were astounding and really one of King's biggest strength. My personal favourites are Tom Cullen, Stu and Glen. I'm especially glad Tom got so much attention in the last 100 pages. On the other hand, I didn't really like Randall Flagg or Mother Abagail. Randall was a weak villain. He was scary, but his plans went south before the main characters even got a chance to meddle with them. I completely agree with Glen's reaction, when he first met him face to face. Mother Abagail was selfish for most of the book and hid her decisions behind the "God". I'm not saying they weren't well written, I just didn't like what they were doing.


[1/14]

Next, I'll probably start reading The Witcher series. I still have a Jo Nesbø novel I started the last year, but I haven't got far in it, so I think I can read it later.
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Mercurybro

Age 31
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The Future
Seen February 11th, 2023
Posted January 19th, 2023
623 posts
11.5 Years
Finished a few books. 2/5 now, will take a break for the rest of this month as I need to focus on reading articles for coursework.

1. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
This was a quick, easy listen. I suppose since I have the book physically also, I can place this book on the shelf of stories that are great for a quick read on the beach or in a deck chair on a cruise. The story didn't seem very captivating to me, though.

2. Sooley - John Grisham
I thoroughly enjoyed the journey throughout Grisham's Sooley.
I prematurely expected this book to have a strong legal tone, given Grisham's works so far. I also stereotyped the perception of sports movies and assumed that this book would be a typical rags-to-riches story.

My expectations were boldly checked on both fronts.

Grisham may have been inspired to write Sooley because of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on basketball in the U.S., but this is a thoughtful story to contemplate for anyone that is rising and aspiring to fulfill their greatest dreams.

[2/5]