November Group Read: 4th and Final Check-In

[glinda]

Hello!

November has made an exit from our life, so its time to look back and report back on what we read this month. Did you get through everything you wanted this month? Or did you read something entirely different? Discover anything new or odd about your reading habits?

Last year this challenge inspired me to set myself a New Year's resolution of reading one book I owned and hadn't read a month (I've managed 7 so far...), anyone else feeling similarly inspired?

Also did you find this challenge useful? And would you take part if it was run again next November? If it did run again would you suggest any changes? Should it be a generalised readathon or do you find the focus on books owned and lurking unread useful?

Comments

[peaceful_sands]

This challenge has been awesome (even though the timing for me wasn't great - between trying to do Nano and trying to make Christmas gifts). I failed Nano *shrugs* but I read more than I set myself the challenge of doing for this.

I finished reading three books "Dear Fatty" by Dawn French, "Halt's Peril" by John Flanagan and "Mao's Last Dancer" by Li Cunxin and got part way through two more "The Circle of Fire" by Michelle Zink (which was on my list and I've now read Chapter 9 of 41) and "The Prophecy" by Chris Kuzneski (which wasn't on the list that I set for this but I've just finished Chapter 29 of 70).I also set myself the challenge of listening to two audiobooks and I made it through four - all three on my list + a radio dramatisation of a couple of Inspector McLevy books.

As a result I am setting myself a challenge for the next 13 months (I'm starting straight away rather than waiting for the new year and I'm giving myself until the end of 2014), I've made a list of about 70 books that need to be read (which I'm going to post on my journal later today all being well), all of them are already on my shelves, some of them have been there for more years than I want to even try to count, some of them are loans. They are nowhere near all the books that I have in the house that need to be read, there are shelves I haven't glanced at and boxes in various locations that I haven't considered at this point. My goal is to read at least 25 from the list by the end of next year and to listen to at least 9 audiobooks (these don't have to be owned by me at this time - but I do have a couple waiting to be listened to and some more on order from Amazon. The local library has begun to stock some interesting titles, so I'm also going to make use of their facilities more often as well. My thought on this is it makes journey times more productive - sitting in traffic listening to these instead of the radio).

Thank you so much for running this challenge and if anyone knows of a similar one that would keep me going through the next 13 months to achieve my new goal, can you point me in the right direction please? I know I need to try and keep myself on track with this and I know my biggest failing is getting distracted by other 'things'. I spend too much time online, I knit, crochet, sew, make jewellery and write, all of which are not conducive to reading at the same time! I considered the possibility of getting some sort of e-reader on the principle that perhaps I could read and knit,crochet etc where I haven't mastered balancing a book and doing those, but the fact remains that I have a home filled with books that need reading - only when the books have been read and sorted (either kept because they're great or given to new homes) can I consider getting an e-reader. This may take several years at this rate, but at least this way I'm making progress towards reclaiming my space! (And enjoying the books I've got at the same time).

Thanks again. It's been a great month and here's hoping I meet the challenge before me. *grin*