For 2016, I decided to have three reading goals:
- Finish reading all Brandon Sanderson published works. Easier said than done. Brandon is so prolific, he has a total of 35 published works (based on my calculation) in all sort of formats: books, novella, and short stories. There is also a problem about The Wheel of Time, originally written by Robert Jordan and continued by Brandon after Jordan passed away. It’s a series of fourteen books, and Brandon wrote the last three… which means I have to read the whole 14 books. I trust they’re good, though, so definitely not complaining about having to read them. 😀
- Tackle the Book Riot Read Harder challenge. Basically, I want to read books I don’t normally read. Book Riot provides a list of 24 tasks that need to be completed, and I have to say that this is definitely going to be difficult to complete. But hey, let’s give it a try.
- Do a door-stopper reading challenge. I am thrifty, in a weird way. Believe it or not, I partly make my decision to buy a book based on the price:number of pages ratio. Like, I wouldn’t buy a novella that’ll cost me $9.99, but it’s actually much more complicated than that. The solution, therefore, is to read thicker books, or the so-called door-stopper books. For 2016, I plan to read as many 1000+ pages books as possible.
Goal #1: Read All Sanderson’s
I have a similar list in my planner, but decided to put this table here because I just like to keep tracks of things, I guess?
Books
| Title | Read | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| The Way of Kings | YES | Read in 2015 |
| Words of Radiance | YES | Read in 2015 |
| The Final Empire | YES | Read in 2015 |
| The Well of Ascension | YES | Read in 2015 |
| The Hero of Ages | YES | Feb 6, 2016 |
| The Alloy of Law | ||
| Shadows of Self | ||
| Bands of Mourning | ||
| Elantris | YES | Read in 2015 |
| Warbreaker | YES | Read in 2015 |
| Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians | ||
| The Scrivener’s Bones | ||
| The Knights of Crystallia | ||
| The Shattered Lens | ||
| Steelheart | YES | Read in 2015 |
| Firefight | YES | Feb 8, 2016 |
| Calamity | ||
| The Rithmatist | YES | Read in 2015 |
| The Gathering Storm | ||
| Towers of Midnight | ||
| A Memory of Light |
Novella/Short Stories
| Title | Read | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| The Eleventh Metal | ||
| Allomancer Jak and The Pits of Eltania | ||
| The Hope of Elantris | ||
| Shadows for Silence in The Forests of Hell | ||
| Sixth of the dusk | ||
| Mitosis | ||
| Legion | YES | Mar 6, 2016 |
| Legion: Skin Deep | ||
| River of Souls | ||
| The Emperor’s Soul | YES | Read in 2015 |
| Defending Elysium | ||
| Firstborn | ||
| Infinity Blade: Awakening | ||
| Infinity Blade: Redemption | ||
| Perfect State | YES | May 13, 2016 |
| Mistborn: Secret History |
As you can see, I’ve got a long long way to go.
Goal #2: Book Riot Read Harder Challenge
You can read about the challenge here.
| Task | Book and link to GR | Completed? |
|---|---|---|
| Read a horror book | ||
| Read a nonfiction book about science. | ||
| Read a collection of essays. | ||
| Read a book out loud to someone else. | Cookie Rhyme, Cookie Time (Abigail Tabby) | Yes (Feb 19, 2016) |
| Read a middle grade novel. | The Hidden Oracle (Rick Riordan) | Yes (May 5, 2016) |
| Read a biography (not memoir or autobiography). | ||
| Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel. | ||
| Read a book originally published in the decade you were born. | ||
| Listen to an audiobook that has won an Audie Award. |
||
| Read a book over 500 pages long. | War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy) | Yes (January 25, 2016) |
| Read a book under 100 pages. | The Grownup (Gillian Flynn) | Yes (January 2, 2016) |
| Read a book by or about a person that identifies as transgender. | ||
| Read a book that is set in the Middle East. |
||
| Read a book that is by an author from Southeast Asia. | ||
| Read a book of historical fiction set before 1900. | ||
| Read the first book in a series by a person of color. | The Wrath and the Dawn (Renee Ahdieh) | Yes (April 25, 2016) |
| Read a non-superhero comic that debuted in the last three years. | ||
| Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie. Debate which is better. |
||
| Read a nonfiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes. |
||
| Read a book about religion (fiction or nonfiction). | ||
| Read a book about politics, in your country or another (fiction or nonfiction). | ||
| Read a food memoir. | ||
| Read a play. | The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde) | |
| Read a book with a main character that has a mental illness. | Charm & Strange (Stephanie Kuehn) | Yes (Feb 11, 2016) |
Empty column means I haven’t decided which book to read.
Goal #3: Door-stopper Reading Challenge
Hello and welcome to my door-stopper reading challenge.
Do you want to tackle that George RR Martin books, but struggling to get through the first chapter? Did you vow to finally read LOTR this year? Are those thick fantasy books staring at you, judging you, while collecting dust on their shelves?
Well, it’s time to pick up those books and do some heavy lifting (or just read them on ebooks, yeah?) Join the Door-stopper reading challenge and conquer War and Peace (or not).
The goal is to read as many 1000+ pages books as possible throughout 2016. You can set your own goal, one, two, three, fifty, or just go crazy and don’t set a limit at all. It’s up to you!
Here are some lists to help you out:
A Goodreads List of Books Over 1000 Pages
Library Thing’s Big Fat Book Challenge 2014
Wikipedia – List of longest novels
And my obligatory table to keep track of things.
| Title | Number of pages | Read on |
|---|---|---|
| War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy) | 1392 | Jan 25, 2016 |
| Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke) | 1006 | Mar 10, 2016 |
| Book #3 | ||
| Book #4 | ||
| Book #5 | ||
| Book #6 | ||
| Book #7 | ||
| Book #8 | ||
| Book #9 |
I’m doing a similar challenge to the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. It’s from Popsugar. Gaah it’s hard to select which books fit in each category!
1000+ pages?? Ahh I easily get intimidated with such thickness! But good luck with your challenges here, Windie! These are tough but I’m sure you can conquer these! 😀
Oh yes, I read that too but Popsugar one has so many tasks I gave up before even starting it. hahaha.
You know, in a way reading 1000+ pages book helps save my money because it took me long enough just to read one. I’ve recently finished War and Peace and it took me a good 3 weeks.
Thanks Trisha! 😀