The Next Best Book Club discussion

I started Christopher Moore's Fluke last night and should have it finished before midnight on Thursday to make my 120 books goal for 2009. For 2010 I'm going to change from a books-read to a pages-read goal. I want to knock off around 20 books from the 1001 Books list - plus miscellaneous others - next year and the ones I'm considering are mostly long ones...starting with Ulysses in January. I'm going to shoot for averaging 100 pages a day so my goal for the year is 36,500 pages.

Sounds like a good challenge. I don't think I'm going to do a challenge this year. I think I'm going to just keep track of what I read.

Dan - Out of curiosity, which 20 books from 1001 Books list do you want to knock off?

El,

My reading plans tend to change on a regular basis because any given book that I'm reading may lead - or push - me to something totally different than what I planned on reading next. As of now, the books from the 1001 Books list that I want to read in 2010 are:

1. Ulysses - James Joyce
2. Dangerous Liaisons - Choderlos de Laclos
3. The Monk - Matthew Gregory Lewis
4. Vineland - Thomas Pynchon
5. Mason & Dixon - Thomas Pynchon
6. The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
7. Middlemarch - George Eliot
8. The Cider House Rules - John Irving
9. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
10. The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum Or How Violence Develops and Where It Can Lead - Heinrich Böll
11. Nightwood - Djuna Barnes
12. The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
13. Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe
14. The Waves - Virginia Woolf
15. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
16. The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann
17. On the Road - Jack Kerouac
18. Erewhon - Samuel Butler
19. The Tartar Steppe - Dino Buzzati
20. The Holy Terrors - Jean Cocteau

I'll start with Ulysses in January but after that I have no particular order for reading these and the list may fluctuate over the course of the year.

I have Mason and Dixon... I picked it up in the thrift store for $5 or something... It looks brand new and it's HUGE. It weighs a ton!

Sounds like a good goal, Dan! I'm sure you can do it.

1. The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson (516 pages)
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 516
Average pages per book - 516
Average pages per day - 86

2. Secretary's Punishment - J.W. McKenna (156 pages)
3. Crooked Little Vein - Warren Ellis (277 pages)
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 949
Average pages per book - 316
Average pages per day - 105

4. Let the Right One In: A Novel - John Ajvide Lindqvist (407 pages)

Cummulative pages - 1,356
Average pages per book - 339
Average pages per day - 90

5. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach (292 pages)

Cummulative pages - 1,648
Average pages per book - 330
Average pages per day - 61

6. Ulysses - James Joyce (783 pages)
First for the year from the 1001 Books list
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 2,431
Average pages per book - 405
Average pages per day - 81

7. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings - Charlotte Perkins Gilman (206 pages)
Second for the year from the 1001 Books list
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 2,637
Average pages per book - 377
Average pages per day - 82

8. Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe (269 pages)
Third for the year from the 1001 Books list

Cummulative pages - 2,906
Average pages per book - 363
Average pages per day - 79

9. The Haunted Hotel - Wilkie Collins (141 pages)

Cummulative pages - 3,047
Average pages per book - 339
Average pages per day - 74

What did you think of The Haunted Hotel?

Liz,

I liked The Haunted Hotel but not as well as The Woman in White. It's short (only about 140 pages) so Collins didn't have the room to develop characters and relationships and plot twists that he did so well in The Woman in White. I really like the way he writes. This one reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes stories both in style and content. I'll be reading The Moonstone sometime in the next few months and maybe some Sherlock Holmes re-reads.

Good to know. I'll be curious to hear what you think of The Moonstone as well!

10. You Suck: A Love Story - Christopher Moore (328 pages)

Cummulative pages - 3,375
Average pages per book - 338
Average pages per day - 72

11. Rowdy in Paris - Tim Sandlin (244 pages)

Cummulative pages - 3,619
Average pages per book - 329
Average pages per day - 70

12. A Modest Proposal - Jonathan Swift (9 pages)
Fourth of the year from the 1001 Books list
13. The Sinful Librarian - Anonymous (77 pages)
14. Way of a Man With a Maid - Anonymous (160 pages)
15. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen (326 pages)
Fifth of the year from the 1001 Books list

Cummulative pages - 4,191
Average pages per book - 279
Average pages per day - 67

16. The Butterfly Effect - D. Roberts (182 pages)
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 4,373
Average pages per book - 273
Average pages per day - 61

17. Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty - Tim Sandlin (302 pages)

Cummulative pages - 4,675
Average pages per book - 275
Average pages per day - 62

18. The 120 Days of Sodom - Marquis de Sade (504 pages)
Sixth of the year from the 1001 Books list

Cummulative pages - 5,179
Average pages per book - 288
Average pages per day - 55

19. Identity - Anthony Toro (246 pages)
A First Reads book
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 5,425
Average pages per book - 286
Average pages per day - 54

20. Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I - Arthur Conan Doyle (945 pages)

Cummulative pages - 6,370
Average pages per book - 319
Average pages per day - 50

21. House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski (709 pages)
http://thechaoticbuffalo.blogspot.com...

Cummulative pages - 7,079
Average pages per book - 337
Average pages per day - 54

Big jumps with these last two! Go Dan!

22. The Girl Barn & Other Erotic Places - Kerrie O'Keefe (75 pages)
23. The Marrowbone Marble Company: A Novel - M. Glenn Taylor (358 pages)
A First Reads book
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 7,512
Average pages per book - 327
Average pages per day - 55

24. The Mermaid's Pendant - LeAnn Neal Reilly (572 pages)
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 8,084
Average pages per book - 337
Average pages per day - 49

Wow!!! 8084 pages already!!! Keep it up!!! You're doing a great job!!!!

25. Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume II - Arthur Conan Doyle (675 pages)

Cummulative pages - 8,759
Average pages per book - 350
Average pages per day - 52

26. VENUS IN INDIA, THE COMPLETE SAGA: BOTH VOLUMES IN ONE - Charles Devereaux (270 pages)

Cummulative pages - 9,029
Average pages per book - 347
Average pages per day - 52

27. On Bullshit - Harry G. Frankfurt (67 pages)
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 9,096
Average pages per book - 337
Average pages per day - 50

28. Daddy's Girl - Victoria Manley (97 pages)
29. History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides (415 pages)

Cummulative pages - 9,608
Average pages per book - 331
Average pages per day - 51

Karen wrote: "I see alot of threads like this. The object seems to be to count how many books and pages that you read and record. Do you start your own thread?
New here, bet you can't tell.lol"

Hi, Karen.

Sorry I didn't answer your question sooner, but lately I've only been here when I update my pages.

This is where we keep track of our progress toward our self-established reading goals whether they be number of books, pages, genres, new authors or whatever else we want to pursue. We'd love to have you join us. Just click on the "Our Personal Reading Goals" link at the top of this page. You'll be taken to a page that lists all the topics in this thread. At the top of that list on the right side is a link for "new topic." That will take you to a page where you can name and create your own topic for keeping track of your goals.

Welcome to the group. We look forward to seeing what you're reading as well watching and encouraging you toward your reading goals.

30. The Sweetest Fruit - Robert Desmond (174 pages)
31. Midnight Delights - Carmine (135 pages)
32. Telepaths Don't Need Safewords - Cecilia Tan (38 pages)
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 9,955
Average pages per book - 311
Average pages per day - 49

33. Edge Plays - Cecilia Tan (86 pages)

Cummulative pages - 10,041
Average pages per book - 304
Average pagers per day - 47

Wow!!! over 10,000 pages already!!! You're almost there!!!

34. The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise - Julia Stuart (304 pages)
A First Reads Book
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 10,345
Average pages per book - 304
Average pager per day - 47

35. The Monk - Matthew Gregory Lewis (331 pages)
Seventh of the year from the 1001 Books list
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 10,676
Average pages per book - 304
Average pages per day - 46

36. The Making of the Atomic Bomb - Richard Rhodes (790 pages)

Cummulative pages - 11,466
Average pages per book - 319
Average pages per day - 54

37. The Report - Jessica Francis Kane (240 pages)
A First Reads Book
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Cummulative pages - 11,706
Average pages per book - 316
Average pages per day - 47

38.Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam - Stephen W. Sears (345 pages)

Cummulative pages - 12,051
Average pages per book - 317
Average pages per day - 48

39. Emma - Jane Austen (427 pages)
Eighth of the year from the 1001 Books list

Cummulative pages - 12,478
Average pages per book - 320
Average pages per day - 46

40. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson (521 pages)
41. Game Six: Cincinnati, Boston, and the 1975 World Series: The Triumph of America's Pastime - Mark Frost (391 pages)

Cummulative pages - 13,390
Average pages per book - 327
Average pages per day - 49


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