# Just finished my 50th book of the year! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156 "2012-12-26T04:38:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/1 "2012-12-26T04:38:36Z")
With just one week left I achieved my goal of reading 50 books in one year or less. According to Goodreads I read 14,122 pages this year. I read ~35 pages/hr, so that means I’ve read for 403.5 hours. That is 16 24hr days, or 50 9-5 workdays. That’s disgusting. How is everyone else doing with their book list? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/2 "2012-12-26T04:43:40Z")
Sorry, just popping in to comment on the amusing username-threadtitle/combo. ---
**Author:** ![irritant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@irritant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irritant)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/3 "2012-12-26T07:11:54Z")
I was supposed to read 100 books this year, but I’ve got five left and only a week, so I’m going to have to haul ass (figuratively speaking) to make it. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/4 "2012-12-26T10:27:34Z")
I’m happy for you, and impressed by your effort. Seeing the math worked out as you’ve done also tells me that it isn’t an appropriate goal for me for 2013. So, thank you for that. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/5 "2012-12-26T13:56:37Z")
I had the same goal and I think I’ll end about 4 books short but that’s ok. It did push me to read more this year but this year I think I’ll take it slower next year and not feel like I have to rush through each book. I think I’ll set it for 40 books this year. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/6 "2012-12-26T14:04:54Z")
Interesting, I hadn’t realized Goodreads had stats like that. I just started tracking my books a couple months ago, it’s kinda cool. Question: there’s a few books I started, but put aside for whatever reason, and marked them as “to-read” instead of “currently-reading” or “read”. It appears that those books are still in my stats, though. Is there a way to tell it that no, I didn’t read X # of books this year, I read X-2, because I marked 2 of 'em as “to-read”? ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/7 "2012-12-26T14:29:56Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Interesting, I hadn’t realized Goodreads had stats like that. I just started tracking my books a couple months ago, it’s kinda cool. > > Question: there’s a few books I started, but put aside for whatever reason, and marked them as “to-read” instead of “currently-reading” or “read”. It appears that those books are still in my stats, though. Is there a way to tell it that no, I didn’t read X # of books this year, I read X-2, because I marked 2 of 'em as “to-read”? If you use one of the challenge options, it will only count books when you mark them “read”. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/8 "2012-12-26T15:50:01Z")
I’d say I’ve gone through…100? 200 books? this year. My favorites have been Knuffle Bunny and Moo, Baa, La La La, though I think there’s a place on there for Goodnight Moon and Press Here. Question: would you consider Sneetches and Zax to be two separate books or a collection of short stories? This will help with my count. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/9 "2012-12-26T17:28:53Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > I’m happy for you, and impressed by your effort. Seeing the math worked out as you’ve done also tells me that it isn’t an appropriate goal for me for 2013. So, thank you for that. Yeah, it was a LOT of reading. I’m a history major, and more than half of the books counted were from either my assigned reading pile, or books I needed to read for my various research projects. > [@Enderw24](#): > > I’d say I’ve gone through…100? 200 books? this year. > > My favorites have been Knuffle Bunny and Moo, Baa, La La La, though I think there’s a place on there for Goodnight Moon and Press Here. Have you read Have You Seen My Hat? I love it because I can do all kinds of voices and such. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/10 "2012-12-26T17:46:44Z")
I think I’ve read maybe 3 or 4 books this year. That’s a personal best for me since college days. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/11 "2012-12-26T17:49:46Z")
Congratulations on reaching your goal! I don’t do a challenge, but I do keep track. I don’t do it for the numbers, but to remind myself that I’ve read something, what it was about, whether I liked it. Since I’m lazy, I just print the book’s Amazon page. I did devise a challenge once, but I didn’t follow through. The challenge was to read a book published in every year since 1900. I had so much fun researching the books, I neglected to actually read any of them. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/12 "2012-12-26T17:58:28Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I think I’ve read maybe 3 or 4 books this year. That’s a personal best for me since college days. Quality is more important than quantity. ---
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/13 "2012-12-26T18:14:34Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Quality is more important than quantity. Then I read the hell out of Under the Dome this year. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/14 "2012-12-26T18:37:09Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Question: there’s a few books I started, but put aside for whatever reason, and marked them as “to-read” instead of “currently-reading” or “read”. It appears that those books are still in my stats, though. Is there a way to tell it that no, I didn’t read X # of books this year, I read X-2, because I marked 2 of 'em as “to-read”? Edit your review of those books and blank out the date, and they will be removed from your 2012 stats. It might take Goodreads a few minutes to update your stats numbers after you make the change. I don’t do a challenge since I already spend too much time reading, but I do keep track and I love Goodreads. I’m always trying to read more classics and more nonfiction, though. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/15 "2012-12-26T18:46:49Z")
About 10. I am humbled that Issac Asimov wrote more books every year of his life than I read. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/16 "2012-12-26T18:59:58Z")
I also aimed for 50 books this year and came pretty close if you disqualify the ones I got through as audiobooks on my commute. I think I got to 45 actual reading-words-on-paper books. I feel bad, though, because I don’t remember half of what I read. I felt like I was paying attention at the time, but maybe not. I’m Antijen on Goodreads, by the way, if anyone wants to connect on there. ---
**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/17 "2012-12-26T19:27:59Z")
I challenged myself to read 75 books this year, thinking “not sure if I’ll manage it, but hey, I’m a student, I can always cram during the holidays”. I hit my goal in early October. I’m currently on my 105th book. My stats say that’s 31,150 pages. (I’m not sure if I should be ducking and running or doing a happy dance here…) ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/18 "2012-12-27T02:05:38Z")
Although I know myself well enough to know I won’t read 50 books in 2013, I do want to read more. And now, thanks to this thread I’m inspired to keep better track at Goodreads, and see you the year winds up for me. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/19 "2012-12-27T03:20:22Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I don’t do a challenge, but I do keep track. I don’t do it for the numbers, but to remind myself that I’ve read something, what it was about, whether I liked it. That’s pretty much why I started tracking, too. And also because there’s been enough times lately that a book comes out with a different cover or something and I don’t realize I read it a few years ago until I’m a chapter or two in. ---
**Author:** ![InsomniaMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ad7895/32.png) [@InsomniaMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InsomniaMama)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156/20 "2012-12-27T03:32:57Z")
I feel dumb, but I don’t see challenges or stats anywhere in Goodreads. Help me out? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-finished-my-50th-book-of-the-year/645156.md?page=2)