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[vagel7]

Alright then. So if the world does not end on the 21st would somebody be interested in this little challenge?

Basically you have to read at least 52 books this year, that is an average of 1 book a week. I'm going to be starting this challenge and participating as well. If you are interested please tell me so I can add your name and goal. This thread is also a place to discuss books that you have read, give suggestions and discuss the challenge in general. The challenge will start on the 1st of January of 2013 and end on the 31st of December 2013.

Rules:1) Short stories do not count as books, however a collection does.
        2) Graphic novels and children's books don't count.
        3) If it is an omnibus it will count for each book that is in there.
        4) Rereads are allowed as long as they were last read before the 1st of January 2013
        5) If you have reached your goal you must notify me via PM

Resources: Project Gutenberg (An excellent website for free ebooks. Thanks to Flying Dice for the link)
                Baen (Thanks to Strife 26)

Remember, this is for fun, so no cheating!

Let the games begin!

Participants(alphabetically):

10ebbor10 - 52
Ab00 - 52
AnalysisFailed - 52
Ancre - 52
Anzki4 - 52
Barbarossa TSG - 52
Bdthemag - 52
Caz - 100
Ctulhu - 52
Dhokarena56 - 46 (Feb 15th till Dec 31st)
Doomblade187 - 52
Dutchling - 52
Flying Dice - 52
Frumple - 52
Fqllve - 52
GreatJustice - 52
I2amroy - 52
Il palazzo  -52
Japa - 52
Jimmy  - 52
Lectorog - 52
Mictlantecuhtli - 26
Misko27 - 52
Muz - 26
Kansa - 52
Naxza - 52
Palsch - 52
Pisskop - 26
PTTG?? - 52
Sappho - 52
Scelly9 - 100 
SHeb - 104
SImmura McCrea - 52
SomeStupidGuy - 52
Strife26 - 26
TherosPherae - 52
Trif - 52
UrbanGiraffe - 52
Urist_McDrowner - 52
Vagel7 - 52
Varnish - 52
Vector - 52
Yoink - 52

[varnish]

Sure, count me i! I read a lot of books no matter what, but it might be interesting to actually see how many.

I might try to do it without counting re-reading too. I re-read a lot of books just for the sake of relaxation.

(edit: wait, was I supposed to send you a pm about this?)

[vagel7]

Nah, only when you have reached your goal for the year.

[10ebbor10]

Probably going to join to. Should be able to manage 52 books.

Just looking for some interesting Ereader books for the moment. I've read most of the interesting part of the local library, so yeah. 

[Frumple]

Does... does fanfiction/non-commercial stuff count? Maybe over 100k words? Iirc, that tends to translate into your average novel length. Quick googling showed Pride and Prejudice coming in at around 120k, some of the Harry Potter stuff coming in around 200k. 70k's around 150 pages, 150k 300. Good range, I'd say anything over 60k words, perhaps?

What about sufficiently lengthy graphic novel series? There's definitely some out there that have more text than your average paperback, all told.

With those added in, I'd happily join in. No set goal, but it'd be interesting to keep a tally. If I was actually trying, could probably break the 52 within a month or two Over a year's a non-issue, even with my general consumption rate having slowed down a bit lately.

E: Without it, though, nah. Couldn't really afford it, and there's not that many books in the local library I could stomach reading

[Bdthemag]

Sure, I'm in. I usually read near this amount of books a year, although I haven't been as good lately on reading books.

[Flying Dice]

Yeah, I'd like to second the query about lengthy fanfics, because I tend to read nearly as many of those as I do physical books, especially when I'm away at uni and can't bring half my library with me.

In any case, in.

Spoiler: YE LIST (click to show/hide)

Surfacing
Margaret Atwood
1/1/13

Redshirts
John Scalzi
2/1/13

April Morning
Howard Fast
10/1/13

A Spell for Chameleon
Piers Anthony
15/1/13

Stephen Hero
James Joyce
20/1/13

Stahlkönigin and the preceding few short stories.
~76,500 words (plus whatever the shorts were)
27/1/13

For the Emperor
Sandy Mitchell
30/1/13

Caves of Ice
Sandy Mitchell
31/1/13

A Memory of Light
Robert Jordan
6/2/13

A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
8/2/13

Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
11/2/13

As You Like It
William Shakespeare
15/2/13

Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare
17/2/13

The Traitor's Hand
Sandy Mitchell
23/2/13

The Duchess of Malfi
John Webster
27/2/13

Hamlet
Guess who
7/3/13

Henry V
The resident of New Place
14/3/13

The Sword of Shannara
Terry Brooks
22/3/13

Puella Stellae Madoka Magica
Snowflames
171,578 words
30/3/13

Macbeth
Shakespeare
4/4/13

Othello
Shakespeare
9/4/13

The Nerd
Larry Shue
14/4/13

King Lear
Shakespeare
19/4/13

The Winter's Tale
Shakespeare
24/4/13

The Elfstones of Shannara
Terry Brooks
28/4/13

The Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare
4/5/13

Dauntless
Allora Gale
~650,000 words
9/5/13

An Entry With a Bang
Various authors
985 pages
17/5/13

The Excalibur Alternative
David Weber
20/5/13

A Call to Arms
Alan Dean Foster
25/5/13

He Who Fights Monsters
hawker-748
93,163 words
29/7/13


Ringworld
Larry Niven
10/10/13

Ravenor
Dan Abnett
11/11/13

Ravenor Returned
Dan Abnett
21/11/13

Ravenor Rogue
Dan Abnett
26/11/13

Arrows of the Queen
Mercedes Lackey
11/12/13

Magic's Pawn
Mercedes Lackey
15/12/13

First and Only
Dan Abnett
18/12/13

In The Balance
Harry Turtledove
25/12/13

[Bdthemag]

Only a select few people will read a fanfic, so it wouldn't really provide a whole lot of discussion in the thread for you and maybe one other person to talk about your favorite My Little Pony fanfiction.

[Flying Dice]

Only a select few people will read a fanfic, so it wouldn't really provide a whole lot of discussion in the thread for you and maybe one other person to talk about your favorite My Little Pony fanfiction.

Only a select few people will read a novel, so it wouldn't really provide a whole lot of discussion in the thread for you and maybe one other person to talk about your favorite Piers Anthony novel.

Generalizations sure are fun, aren't they?

[fqllve]

This sounds like fun so sign me up. Seems like a good challenge too. Technically possible while still basically requiring you to read all the time. Unless you read like, the collected works of HG Wells in January.

As for the fanfiction, I'd say even down to 40k words would be fair, because that's the lower limit on what most people would consider a book. I don't plan on reading any myself, but in the interest of fairness it seems ok.

Graphic novels is more of a stretch though, as that's a completely different medium.

Spoiler: Books (click to show/hide)

Week of Jan. 1st: Mediaeval Feudalism Carl Stephenson [7.5/10]
Week of Jan. 6th: Economic and Social History of Medieval Europe Henri Pirenne [8.5/10]
Week of Jan. 13th: A Feast for Crows George R R Martin [6.5/10]
Week of Jan. 20th: Titus Groan Mervyn Peake [9/10]
Week of Jan. 27th: The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole [7/10]

[vagel7]

Greatorder, are you in?

Lengthy fan fiction is okay, but graphical novels are still not allowed. I like graphical novels too, but they wouldn't fit.

[Flying Dice]

Honestly, another reason I supported the inclusion of lengthy fanfictions is because I've only got a backlog of ~25 books to read, don't want to reread a bunch of stuff so soon after last reading it, and don't have enough spare cash kicking around to go and get a few dozen more. Incidentally, here's a handy link:

Project Gutenburg

There are a number of other free ebook libraries, but I've been satisfied with this.

[varnish]

The challenge is stated as books, and not novels, so I would think that leaves a lot of things open. I do have some questions of my own though. Would collections of letter or periodicals count? What about published diaries and journals?

[vagel7]

Published diaries and journals would. Give me an example of what you mean by collections of letters. Periodicals won't count.

[GreatJustice]

Alright then.