Reading Plans for 2019

[Randy M.]

I didn't really start the year with a reading plan, except to try whittling down Mount TBR while adding as little to it as possible. Then something in late February nudged me to look over my reading lists and I realized that over the past 10 years or so I'd read relatively few books by women at about a 70/30 percentage split.

I thought a conscious effort to flip the percentages for a while might lead me along interesting, less traveled paths. So far, I'm pretty pleased with the results: Nalo Hopkinson's Brown Girl in the Ring; Elizabeth Hand's Available Dark; Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, an anthology of "domestic" crime stories from the 1940s into the early 1970s, all written by women; and a few stories from Caitlin Kiernan's The Dinosaur Tourist and Jo Walton's Starlings. Right now I'm about 3/4s finished with Dorothy B. Hughes' In a Lonely Place.

I'll probably return for a time to the Kiernan or The Map of Dreams, a collection by Mary Rickert I started last year, but I think next up might be Theodora Goss' The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter or Lauren Beukes' The Shining Girls. They've been on the shelf for quite a while and I'm feeling the inclination to get to at least one of them.

Before the end of the year I hope to get to P. D. James, Louise Penny, Donna Leon, all mystery writers, and Le Guin, Kiernan, Hand and C. L. Moore on the sf/f/h side.


Randy M.

 

[soulsinging]

1 of the following 3 huge classics:
Brothers Karamazov (again)
War and Peace
Les Miserables

The Tad Williams Memory Sorrow and Thorn trilogy, starting with Dragonbone Chair. Maybe another go at LOTR or Silmarillion.

Finish the Bobiverse trilogy by Dennis Taylor. Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. Then a book by either Poul Anderson, Iain Banks (Player of Games) or Peter Hamilton (Pandora's Star).

Two more goals:
Read a book a day to my son
Re-read Catch-22. It's always been my favorite and I haven't checked it out in 10 years.

Hmmm, making some progress. I tried Revelation Space and Pandora's Star and decided I was right the first time when I abandoned them, so I guess I'll consider those accomplished. I must be more of a fantasy than SF guy, because after I sputtered out on those I moved on to Poul Anderson's Broken Sword and am currently well into the Dragonbone Chair and enjoying it immensely. I might keep the trend going and do my Tolkien reread after as a sort of contrast.

After that, I still want to reread Catch-22, tackle one of the classics mentioned, and break up those heavies with the Bobiverse books. I forgot I also have Hugh Howey's Wool series unfinished, so if I've got time I'll probably add that.

hat means Banks's Player of Games, Gemmell's Troy and Corey's Expanse series might have to wait until next year, along with the other classics.

 

[Heather Myst]

September can't get her soon enough so I can get my hands on Joe Abercrombie's A Little Hatred.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Well, I was hoping to continue reading lots of novels. However, I'm finding that reading demands for my courses is steadily increasing, even more so as I'm reading deeper into subjects I might study after. So my ancient history reading will be good, but I'm limited with how much fiction I can enjoy for the moment.

 

[Rodders]

We're a few months into 2019, now. How is everyone getting on with their reading goal?

 

[Extollager]

My reading has been hilariously different from what it was "supposed" to be, but it's been very good inits own right.

 

[Galactic Bus Driver]

Can't say that I set a reading goal for 2019, but then I've never set one for any previous year either. That being said, I've only read 60 or so titles so far this year. At this rate, I'll probably still break 100 for the year, but it'll still be a terribly slow year for me.

 

[Randy M.]

Apparently I can't read fast enough to keep up with my plans. I did finish In a Lonely Place though, and the Goss and I'm about 1/3 through the Beukes.

 

[Bick]

I'm somewhat on track, but not entirely. My goals as stated earlier in this thread (italic) compared with what I've achieved so far (bold):

1) Read 50 books (novels, or short story collections or anthologies); On track, I've read 35 or so; this should be okay
2) At least two Dickens; I read Old Curiosity Shop, and planning on another Dickens soon (TOTC?)
3) Read further in Hugh Walpole’s Herries Chronicle; Not yet. Would love to though - it may fit into 2019, we'll see...
4) Complete several series I’m part way through before starting other series (incl Book of the New Sun); Finished BOTNS and Vatta's War series
5) Read more history; I've read a little bit of Roman history, but not a lot
6) Read Laurus; Tried it, but didn't like it, so I consider this box ticked
7) Read some Nathaniel Hawthorne. Not yet, and given other plans not really likely to now

Quite content with that...

What I've read a lot of is Heinlein, and that was never in the plan.

 

[Bick]

I'll probably still break 100 for the year, but it'll still be a terribly slow year for me.

That's slow?! Good grief.

 

[Danny McG]

What I've read a lot of is Heinlein, and that was never in the plan

Heinlein should always be in a reading plan

 

[Extollager]

I have goals like
- Reading fantasy magazines that I have
- Collecting philosophy books and journals

Thanks

Tell us more!

 

[Galactic Bus Driver]

That's slow?! Good grief.

You know that guy/gal who has his/her headphones on all the time, everywhere they go, listening to music constantly and continuously? At work, commuting, exercising, doing yard work, etc... Well, that's me, but with audio books. When I'm not listening to an audio book, I'm probably reading something. The only time I'm not reading or listening to an audio book is when what I'm doing requires too much attention to make sense of the book. But, I find audio book readers read much too slow, so I set the playback to somewhere between 1.5:1 and 2:1 with 1.7:1 being the sweet spot. I've been known to finish a book on the morning commute, start a new one and finish it on the evening commute, starting a third before bed time. Then I lay in bed reading yet another, all too often staying awake far longer than intended. I typically get through between 200 and 300 titles in a year. My current record is 402.

 

[Extollager]

My reading has been hilariously different from what it was "supposed" to be, but it's been very good inits own right.

Yes, that remained the case in 2019.

I don’t intend to post reading plans for 2020!

 

[Randy M.]

I don't know, They're always a laugh at the end of the year. This is one of the few times where I actually read some of what I planned. Usually I make a list and read anything but.

Randy M.

 

[Rodders]

I did quite well. I finished the Adversary Cycle by F. Paul Wilson, but I looked at the authors website which then led me on to his Repairman Jack series. (14 books all Linked to his ”Secret History of the World“ which the Adversary cycle was only a part. Although it’s not high literature, it was really enjoyable.

I did hope to catch up on The Expanse but I only read four more. I’m currently reading Persipolis Rising, which is book 7 in the series.

I still want to pick up Neal Asher’s Transformation series in Hardback.