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2020 Focus Goals

1. Read 50 books by previously read authors.
2. Read 20 books published over 50 years ago(pre-1970)
3. Read 20 books by authors of color
4. Read 10 anthologies/short story collections

Previously Read Authors 49/50
1. Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson
2. Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
3. Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson
4. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
5. Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
6. The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan
7. Beautiful by Juliet Marillier
8. The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
9. The Wandering Fire by Guy Gavriel Kay
10. Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant
11. Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
12. The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany
13. The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan
14. Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan
15. The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart
16. The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb
17. Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
18. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
19. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
20. The End of the Sentence by Maria Dahvana Headley
21. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
22. Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier
23. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
24. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
25. All Systems Red by Martha Wells
26. Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb
27. The Deep by Rivers Solomon
28. Spindle's End by Robin McKinley
29. Wrath of Empire by Brian McClellan
30. The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle
31. The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart
32. The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart
33. Blood of Empire by Brian McClellan
34. Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky
35. City of Dragons by Robin Hobb
36. Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb
37. Age of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
38. The City & the City by China Miéville
39. Age of War by Michael J. Sullivan
40. Age of Legend by Michael J. Sullivan
41. Age of Death by Michael J. Sullivan
42. Age of Empyre by Michael J. Sullivan
43. Empire Ascendant by Kameron Hurley
44. The Broken Heavens by Kameron Hurley
45. Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay
46. Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb
47. Cold Iron by Miles Cameron
48. Dark Forge by Miles Cameron
49. Bright Steel by Miles Cameron

Pre-1970 10/20
1. Catseye by Andre Norton
2. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
3. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
4. The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm
5. Ubik by Philip K. Dick
6. The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany
7. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
8. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
9. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
10. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
11.

Authors of Color 10/20
1. Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson
2. Rosewater by Tade Thompson
3. Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson
4. Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett
5. The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
6. Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
7. The Deep by Rivers Solomon
7. The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle
8. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
9. The City Born Great by N.K. Jemisin
10. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

Anthology/Collection 7/10
1. Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson
2. Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson
3. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
4. Fabled Journey
5. Fabled Journey II
6. Fabled Journey III
7. Fabled Journey IV

2

So, how do you do 239 audiobooks in one year. I was proud of doing 70.

Because I’m kind of insane lol. I did about 30 graphic novels and maybe 20 novellas so figure around 190 audiobooks. Outside of that I usually listen at 2x so that cuts down the books to half of their length. I found that’s the best speed to hold my attention. I can listen to audio while I work most of the time and pretty much stopped watching tv at night so get a lot in then. I also listen while traveling or doing any sort of chore.

It just shows how inefficient I am that I read that much and still need to squeeze in a few more by years end to finish the sub-genre challenge.

There must have been something in the air this year for reading a lot. I'm a big audiobook fan too & tend to listen while I do chores or work in my shop, so I get through a fair few at 1.5x. My typical reading was about 125-150 books a year until I got into audiobooks & then it went up to about 250 per year with about 2/3 of them audiobooks. I'm at 299 right now, so I'll go over the 300 mark for the first time ever shortly.

I think some of that is being attracted to shorter books. I tend to avoid books that are over 12 hours, although I like long lecture series. There are also at least a dozen, maybe 2 dozen short stories that show up as entire books here on GR. Still, I think I did read more & sometimes wonder if I'm reading too much. I wonder if I need to slow down a little & think about them more.

Wow congrats on 300 Jim. I try to mix some short(8-12 hour range) ones in between longer books just to break thinks up. I’ve done a fair amount of books in the 20-35 hour range. The longest one I did was To Green Angel Tower which was an absurd 63 hours long really great book though.

Whoa!! 300 books. That's mind boggling. Great job Jim.

Wow! Congrats, both of you! I'm at 115 'normal length' books and 20 novellas this year with audiobooks (at 1.8x usually), and I spend most of my time reading! I don't know how you guys are managing that many books :)

Thanks, but the number of books isn't really important. I read what I want as I can & don't bother counting until the end of the year. Then I look at trends. It's what I get & retain from them that is my measurement.

I used to be able to remember a lot of details from every book I read. These days, many run together. If it wasn't for my reviews here, I wouldn't remember half of them. One issue is similarities. I've probably read over 1000 mystery-thrillers (pick a genre) in my life, so unless they're really good & unique, they tend to run together in a few months to years.

Breaking them up like that seems like a good idea, Bill. I do that with short stories & novels. I've read some really long ones over the years, but I find my patience running thin with them now - less every year. (I'm turning into an old grouch!) I've found very few stories that really support anything over 12 hours. Generally the rest is padding of some sort that I don't appreciate.

Nonfiction that's too long tends to dwell on details that don't mean much to me. For instance, I like broad strokes that pull trends together in histories, not a lot of little details. Specific dates mean nothing to me except in the broader historical context. What else was happening or driving these actions? What did it drive later & in other areas? It's a personal problem that made most high school history classes pure torture.

(Joy Hakim's American history is written for 10 year olds. There are 10 books in the series. I gave The First Americans: Prehistory-1600 a 5 star review here:
/review/show...)

Lectures can be longer, especially The Great Courses which chop the subjects into pieces of 30-45min each. That really works well for me. A lot of science books do that.

Sometimes, not always, really boring books are hard for me to remember.

I have pretty good retention with plot but sometimes forget the side character’s names.

I forget names. On tv as well. I listen at 1.2. I’ve been listening to the Rivers of London series and I love the voice but I find I’m listening to him rather than words and have no idea what is happening. I read the fifth one and it was my favourite so it makes me think I’m doing it wrong :)

My current audio is 30 hours but length isn’t an issue. This is an audible but I usually try the library. They don’t have a lot of fantasy.

Two months in and I’m pretty far behind on all my goals. I’ve had to focus on some different goals so after the end of this month I should be able to shift my focus to this challenge.

I’m massively behind too. I’m trying to find a job. Although I have now signed up for supply so hopefully some money will come my way.

Good luck with your job search I know that can get early time consuming and stressful.

I’ve had most of my free time this year taken up with projects for family. My parents had a bad leak in their shower so I ended up gutting their bathroom and doing everything new. It gave me some time to listen to audiobooks but also prevented me when I had to use certain power tools. Just when I got done with that one of my sisters bought a house so I’ve spent the last two weeks doing some painting and repairs for her.

It’s left me with very little free time and I’m usually too tired once I’m done to pay attention while reading/listening.

Just updated and feeling good where I’m at with female authored, standalones and comics. I’m still behind on SF and anthologies.

I have a friend in another group who is tracking gender and country of authors that she reads this year.

had an interview on Tuesday, they said my teaching and interaction with children was excellent but they could tell I hadn't had an interview in sometime.

Is that a good reason to not hire someone?

You have so many excellent books in your list!

Thanks. Been having good luck with my picks so far this year.

So halfway through the year and the good news is I already passed my comics goal of 200 with 243 issues so far. The bad news is I’m behind on everything else. I really need to start reading some standalone SF written by women.

Bill, Jim, Virginie. - Wow! Congrats, both of you! I'm at 115 'normal length' books and 20 novellas this year with audiobooks

Was looking thru some discussions and encouraging to see other "listeners" but holy cow those goals are making me rethink mine.

Have listened to hundreds but that is over several years of Audible membership and I also listen at 1.5x speed. Suspect my current list with several 30+ hour books will bring down my count too.

Was just looking at my audio, read, and graphic novel list and will have to live with jealousy. Too many long audio, 600+ page reads, and 400+ page comic omnibuses.

I’m at 70 audiobooks for the year. It’s down from where I was last year. I just started listening to audiobooks about 2 years ago so before than I was reading about 100 books a year.

Its funny that no matter how much you think you read that you can always find a bunch of people on here that read tons more.

70 audiobooks! That's incredible. I can't seem to find any time. But 12 to 14 hour work days make it rough.

I can sometimes listen to audiobooks while I work. Always makes it a faster workday.

I average about 40-50 hours a month listening but when I was at the school, I walked my commute 35-45 minutes each way. So my total was much higher last year.

Talking of big readers. There’s a guy in one of my groups where we total books, pages & hours at the end of the month.

In August I never work as its school holidays. A couple of years ago I read almost a book a day for 5 weeks. He had twice as much read as me. And he’s a full time dad.

When you total pages read in an audiobook, do you count them the GR way or by the minute? I've always thought the latter made more sense than by the CD or tape.

I go to the version I would’ve read. So if I have a paperback or the kindle edition I would buy.

I don’t get how they count them as 3 pages so often. I always want to change it.

So I met my goal for SF and Standalone. Anthologies were a bust especially since the 4 I listed are all single author collections. I may just be able to squeeze in the female authored books goal. I need 9 more in the next two weeks. I’m planning on doing The Dark is arising quintet because I have them all out from the library and luckily they are all very short. I have another two standalones out from the library which are again pretty short. So with all of those I’ll just need two additional.

One just read Dark is Rising as an Instagram read along.

I didn't realize Instagram read alongs were a thing. How did you like it?

I didn’t know either. Initially it was okay but it degenerated into politics and raising kids. I ended up drifting away.

That’s too bad.

So hit all my goals except for anthologies. Still thinking on 2020 since I don’t want to just repeat my 2019 goals.

Oh wow, more than 40 standalones in 2019! And here I was, so proud of my measly 16... ;)

That was by far the most I’ve ever done in a year.

2019

Female Authored 100/100
(view spoiler)[1. Among Others by Jo Walton
2. The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
3. The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
4. Stormwarden by Janny Wurts
5. The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
6. Deerskin by Robin McKinley
7. Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells
8. The Giver by Lois Lowry
9. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
10. Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb
11. The Devourers by Indra Das
12. In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
13. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley
14. Golden Fool by Robin Hobb
15. The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris
16. Touch by Claire North
17. Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb
18. The Dreamstone by C.J. Cherryh
19. The Tree of Swords and Jewels by C.J. Cherryh
20. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
21. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
22. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
23. Starlings by Jo Walton
24. The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron
25. Blackout by Connie Willis
26. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
27. All Clear by Connie Willis
28. Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier
29. The Spirit Rebellion by Rachel Aaron
30. Messenger by Lois Lowry
31. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
32. Son by Lois Lowry
33. The Spirit Eater by Rachel Aaron
34. Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
35. The Spirit War by Rachel Aaron
36. Spirit's End by Rachel Aaron
37. Ink and Shadows by Rhys Ford
38. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
39. Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
40. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
41. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
42. In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
43. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
44. Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman
45. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce
46. Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
47. Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce
48. The Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey
49. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
50. The White Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey
51. The Silver Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey
52. Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler
53. Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor
54. In the Vanishers�� Palace by Aliette de Bodard
55. Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
56. Imago by Octavia E. Butler
57. An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
58. Circe by Madeline Miller
59. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
60. What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah
61. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
62. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
63. The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
64. Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
65. Chalice by Robin McKinley
66. Bellwether by Connie Willis
67. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
68. Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
69. The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin
70. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
71. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold
72. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
73. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
74. Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold
75. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold
76. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
77. The Power by Naomi Alderman
78. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
79. The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
80. Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
81. CryoBurn by Lois McMaster Bujold
82. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
83. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen byLois McMaster Bujold
84. The Serpent by Claire North
85. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
86. The Thief by Claire North
87. The Master by Claire North
88. The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold
89. Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck
90. Keeper of the Keys by Janny Wurts
91. Shadowfane by Janny Wurts
92. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
93. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
94. Greenwitch by Susan Cooper
95. The Testament of Loki by Joanne M. Harris
96. The Grey King by Susan Cooper
97. Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper
98. Carnival Row: Tangle in the Dark by Stephanie K. Smith
99. City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin
100. Black Gods Kiss by C.L. Moore
(hide spoiler)]

Science Fiction 52/50
(view spoiler)[1. Artemis by Andy Weir
2. The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
3. The Giver by Lois Lowry
4. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
5. This Immortal by Roger Zelazny
6. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
7. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
8. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
9. Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
10. Blackout by Connie Willis
11. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
12. All Clear by Connie Willis
13. Messenger by Lois Lowry
14. Son by Lois Lowry
15. Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan
16. We Are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor
17. Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan
18. For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor
19. All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor
20. Lock In by John Scalzi
21. Head On by John Scalzi
22. Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen
23. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
24. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
25. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
26. Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
27. Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
28. Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler
29. Imago by Octavia E. Butler
30. An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
31. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
32. To Live Forever by Jack Vance
33. Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
34. Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
35. Bellwether by Connie Willis
36. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
37. Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
38. Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
39. Search and Destroy by Jay Bonansinga
40. Return to Woodbury by Jay Bonansinga
41. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold
42. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
43. Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold
44. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold
45. The Power by Naomi Alderman
46. Zodiac by Neal Stephenson
47. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
48. CryoBurn by Lois McMaster Bujold
49. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
50. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
51. The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold
52. City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin
(hide spoiler)]

Ran out of room on my first comment.

Standalones 44/40
(view spoiler)[1. The Changeling by Victor LaValle
2. Artemis by Andy Weir
3. Among Others by Jo Walton
4. The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
5. Deerskin by Robin McKinley
6. Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells
7. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
8. This Immortal by Roger Zelazny
9. The Devourers by Indra Das
10. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley
11. Touch by Claire North
12. Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
13. The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
14. Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier
15. Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber
16. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
17. Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
18. Ink and Shadows by Rhys Ford
19. In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle
20. A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
21. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
22. Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen
23. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
24. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
25. In the Vanishers�� Palace by Aliette de Bodard
26. An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
27. Circe by Madeline Miller
28. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
29. What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah
30. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
31. To Live Forever by Jack Vance
32. The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
33. The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
34. Chalice by Robin McKinley
35. Bellwether by Connie Willis
36. The Wolf in the Attic by Paul Kearney
37. Watership Down by Richard Adams
38. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
39. The Power by Naomi Alderman
40. Zodiac by Neal Stephenson
41. The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
42. Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
43. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
44. City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin
(hide spoiler)]

Anthologies 4/12
1. Starlings by Jo Walton
2. What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah
3. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
4. Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck

Comics 243/200


I was all over the place so I figured I would just something down and then edit it. I’m thinking of adding a pre-2000s goal. I read 141/239 books post 2000 this year and would like to kind of focus a little more on older stuff. Since I do entirely audiobooks though I need to check on how much is actually available of what I would like to read.

Think I have my goals for the year. Might add another if I think of it. The only repeat is the anthology/collections one since I didn’t finish it last year.

I like your goals for this year :)
I've added a novellas one to my own challenge. One spot left!

I am so impressed Bill. You've done a great job and they're all audio? Even more impressive.

Thanks Tom. Yes all audio. You going to do another free spirit round?

Bill wrote: "Thanks Tom. Yes all audio. You going to do another free spirit round?"

Yes Sir. I'm doing the same challenges for 2020 as last year. Free Spirit and the Never Ending Series Challenge.

Well done!!

My library has a lot of older audio books - they don’t tend to get many new ones! But... they don’t generally get book one in a series. No idea why.

Tnkw01 wrote: "Bill wrote: "Thanks Tom. Yes all audio. You going to do another free spirit round?"

Yes Sir. I'm doing the same challenges for 2020 as last year. Free Spirit and the Never Ending Series Challenge."

Nice! I like your Free Spirit challenge :D

Helen wrote: "Well done!!

My library has a lot of older audio books - they don’t tend to get many new ones! But... they don’t generally get book one in a series. No idea why."

My library is pretty good at getting new and old stuff. They also don’t seem to always get book 1s. They recently got books 2-5 of a series.

Bill wrote: "...They also don’t seem to always get book 1s. They recently got books 2-5 of a series."

I hate that. It happens a lot with audiobooks, but simply because they don't exist.

Maybe you need to request that they buy the first book

Virginie wrote: "Tnkw01 wrote: "Bill wrote: "Thanks Tom. Yes all audio. You going to do another free spirit round?"

Yes Sir. I'm doing the same challenges for 2020 as last year. Free Spirit and the Never Ending Se..."

Thanks! ; )

1. Read 50 books by previously read authors. Read 8
2. Read 20 books published over 50 years ago(pre-1970) Read 4
3. Read 20 books by authors of color Read 4
4. Read 10 anthologies/short story collections Read 3

Had a good month for this challenge. I got lucky that a few of the books I read worked for multiple categories. So I’m off to a good start.

Well done.