2012 reading goals

[Valko]

I plan on a Malazan re-read at some point as I stopped at the begining of Reaper's Gale, a couple of years ago. Also looking forward to Feist's A Crown Imperilled at the end of the month. I'm currently cheating with Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire, as I'm listening to the books on Audible while commuting to work

 

[Michael J Sullivan]

I want to do a Malazan reread and finally get to Dust of Dreams and Crippled God, both of which I've been saving.
This year I hope to get to the Riyria series by Michael Sullivan, Wars of Light and Shadow by Jany Wurts, and listen to the ASoIaF audio books.

elvet...Thanks for putting the Riyria Revelations on your goal list for this year. The last book of the series Heir of Novron/Percepliquis just came out last week in paperback and the ebook is due at the end of the month.

Intial readers who had already gone through book 5 received Percepliquis starting last week and so far the reviews seem to indicate that the series ends positively.

I hope you do enjoy the books when you get to them.

 

[dlsevern]

First I want to finally finish Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Then get caught up with WoT, I'm on Knife of Dreams now.

Get my Stephen King reading caught up, I still have about six of his books that I haven't read.

Get some more fantasy under my belt.

Read the last three books of Skipp & Spector that I have

Read the rest of the Peter Straub books that I have.

From there, who knows.

 

[dask]

No year long reading plan here. Just want to read good books by good authors and get that feeling I'm spending my time wisely.

 

[Jeni]

I still haven't read anything by Wolfe, Weeks, Brett, Abercrombie, Tchaikovsky, Le Guin, McMaster Bujold, Sanderson, Erikson, Jordan, Leiber, McCaffrey, Brooks ..... and more that I can't think of right now, so I hope to read books by some of these authors this year.

I am also going to try and read more sci-fi too, hopefully at least one book a month.

Also, I got three kindle anthologies over christmas - short stories by E A Poe, a selection of novels by Andre Norton, and the complete works of H P Lovecraft, which I intend to dip into randomly during the year.

Any suggestions as to which of the 60+ Lovecraft stories I should start with would be appreciated!

 

[Extollager]

I think "The Colour Out of Space" is Lovecraft's finest story.

 

[j d worthington]

I think Dale hit it on the head as far as his best story qua story; but the problem with that is that it may give you the wrong expectations to enjoy his other works. However, if you wish to start with the best, then yes, "The Colour Out of Space", At the Mountains of Madness, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Call of Cthulhu", The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, "The Music of Erich Zann", "The Cats of Ulthar", or "The Rats in the Walls" are all high on the list, and each is different from the others, thus giving you a broader taste of his work.

I would also personally suggest The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, as that has always been a personal favorite because of its dreamlike qualities and some passages of exquisite beauty, but many people find it not at all to their taste, and some find it outright boring. (Others, of course, find it to be among his best tales, so go figure....) And I've also always been particularly fond of "The Shunned House" because of the way he weaves an air of verisimilitude and slowly growing menace by blending genuine history and folklore with that which he created himself, and one often can't tell which is which... and finding out may surprise you....

 

[Fried Egg]

Any suggestions as to which of the 60+ Lovecraft stories I should start with would be appreciated!

I think a good place to start would be either "Shadows over Innsmouth" or "Rats in the Walls".

 

[Grunkins]

I guess my reading goal is to get my TBR stacks down from 60ish books to a reasonable number, and then beef it back up again.

 

[Connavar]

I will probably just settle for reading a lot.

That use to my plan when i read only the genres and non-genre authors i like. In last 2-3 years i have decided to discover more of the world when it comes literary map. Read non-western authors from Africa,Asia etc

Thats why i need reading goals, i need to remember to go to the African institute for books to read. Im a man stuck between worlds. Grown up in western country but historically,culturally i'm closer to east African, Arab cultures. Language,history etc

I would love to read great western SFF authors all year long but emotionally, historically i need to read books that takes me closer to the country,culture i was born in. Read Achebe because Nigerian post colonial history is similar to where i am from. My taste in lit tend be too varied because of that.

 

[Jeni]

I think "The Colour Out of Space" is Lovecraft's finest story.

I think Dale hit it on the head as far as his best story qua story; but the problem with that is that it may give you the wrong expectations to enjoy his other works. However, if you wish to start with the best, then yes, "The Colour Out of Space", At the Mountains of Madness, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Call of Cthulhu", The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, "The Music of Erich Zann", "The Cats of Ulthar", or "The Rats in the Walls" are all high on the list, and each is different from the others, thus giving you a broader taste of his work.

I would also personally suggest The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, as that has always been a personal favorite because of its dreamlike qualities and some passages of exquisite beauty, but many people find it not at all to their taste, and some find it outright boring. (Others, of course, find it to be among his best tales, so go figure....) And I've also always been particularly fond of "The Shunned House" because of the way he weaves an air of verisimilitude and slowly growing menace by blending genuine history and folklore with that which he created himself, and one often can't tell which is which... and finding out may surprise you....

I think a good place to start would be either "Shadows over Innsmouth" or "Rats in the Walls".

Thanks everyone!

 

[thatollie]

Maybe I should be more specific.

Goal #1: Read a lot of recent SFF novels.
Goal #2: Read a lot of recent SFF short stories.
Goal #3: Read a lot of classic SFF short stories.
Goal #4: Celebrate Dickens' 200th birthday by reading a large portion of his work.

 

[Galacticdefender]

Uggh, I've read about 3 books by Dickens, and have found him to be the single most boring author I have ever read anything by. Unless it is for school I will never again read something by Dickens. (And yes, they have all been for school so far. I pretty much never read realistic fiction because I find nearly all of it boring and dry.)

I need to read a bunch of recent scifi too; I'm mainly looking for some good Space Operas. Started off well with Leviathan Wakes and Revelation Space.

 

[Connavar]

In Jan-March i will read alot of children, YA novels,stories. Trying to become a librarian one of the reasons is to work with helping children to read.

I myself missed the chance to read as a kid. So im looking forward to reading Astrid Lindgren, Grimm Brothers, YA fantasy, children classics from Robinson Crouse to C.S Lewis, Alice in Wonderland etc

 

[Snowdog]

Finish Memories of Ice. I've started it about four times, got as far as half way, then put it down. I find it well-written but emotionally gruelling.

About Dickens, Great Expectations is the only book of his I've enjoyed, the others are too much like hard work. I had Bleak House at 'A' level, I think whoever set the course must have had a good laugh, 1100 pages of impenetrable misery.

 

[thatollie]

Finish Memories of Ice. I've started it about four times, got as far as half way, then put it down. I find it well-written but emotionally gruelling.

About Dickens, Great Expectations is the only book of his I've enjoyed, the others are too much like hard work. I had Bleak House at 'A' level, I think whoever set the course must have had a good laugh, 1100 pages of impenetrable misery.

I really like Bleak House, although I did read it of my own volition.

There, that's the only longish word you'll get out of me tonight so enjoy it.

 

[Extollager]

I really like Bleak House

Me too.

 

[THX-1138]

The Hobbit before the movie comes out.

 

[D_Davis]

Developed a new goal for 2012. Along with some SFFC and Goodreads folks, I'm going to be reading one piece of Pre-Tolkien fantasy a month. Last month I read Fifty-One Tales, by Lord Dunsany; this month I'm reading The Wood Beyond the World, by William Morris; and next month I'll be reading The Worm Ouroboros.

Should be a good project.

 

[Extollager]

Developed a new goal for 2012. Along with some SFFC and Goodreads folks, I'm going to be reading one piece of Pre-Tolkien fantasy a month. Last month I read Fifty-One Tales, by Lord Dunsany; this month I'm reading The Wood Beyond the World, by William Morris; and next month I'll be reading The Worm Ouroboros.

Should be a good project.

You wouldn't be interested in moseying over to the William Morris Thread and posting some thoughts on The Wood Beyond the World, would you? Maybe that would be a good one for others to discuss, too. (There's been a little talk about reading The Well at the World's End, but the one you are reading as about 1/3 the length and might be a good one to start with -- ?)

As for The Worm... it must be about 40 years since I read that one, and maybe I ought to tackle it again!