Yearly Targets (2017) - Totals and Specifics

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SilentRoamer

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« on: January 06, 2017, 02:36:59 pm »
Happy New Year!

So we have another year to push our boundaries, read old favorites and embrace potential new ones.

I will post the new targets on the second page of this thread and will post last years results below (will be updating more later)

     ----- Results for 2016 Reading Challenge! -----

---- SilentRoamer ----

Totals: 14/20
Frank Herbert: God Emperor of Dune - Completed 19/01/2016
Peter F. Hamilton: Abyss Beyond Dreams - Completed 10/02/2016
Roger Zelazny: Guns of Avalon - Completed 20/02/2016
Roger Zelazny: Sign of the Unicorn - Completed 03/03/2016
Roger Zelazny: The Hand of Oberon - Completed 21/03/2016
Roger Zelazny: The Courts of Chaos - Completed 28/03/2016
Dave DeBurgh: Betrayals Shadow - Completed 08/04/2016
Brandon Sanderson: The Alloy of Law - Completed 14/04/2016
Robin Hobb: Farseer #2: Royal Assassin - Completed 05/05/2016
Robin Hobb: Farseer #3: Assassins Quest - Completed 06/06/2016
Robert Heinlein: Starship Troopers - Completed 10/06/2016
R. Scott Bakker: The Great Ordeal - Completed 05/07/2016
Richard Mathieson: The Shrinking Man - Completed 09/11/2016
Richard Mathieson: I Am Legend - Completed 28/12/2016

---- Madness ----

Totals: 8/25
Jonathan L. Howard: Johannes Cabal: The Necromancer - Completed 11/01/2016
C.J. Cherryh: Gates of Ivrel - Completed 11/01/2016
Daniel Abraham: The Dragon's Path - Completed 23/01/2016
Dan Hurley: Smarter: The New Science of Building Brain Power - Completed 27/01/2016
Mark Lawrence: Prince of Fools - Completed 30/01/2016
Benedict Carey: How We Learn - Completed 03/02/2016
Glen Cook: The Black Company - Completed 10/03/2016
Charles Duhigg: Smarter, Better, Faster - Completed


---- Wilshire ----

Totals: 17/10
R. Scott Bakker: The Great Ordeal - Completed - Reread
Asimov's original foundation trilogy  - Completed
Steven Erikson: The Dust of Dreams - Completed
Steven Erikson: The Crippled God - Completed
Patrick Rothfuss: The Wise Man's Fear - Completed
Startide Rising remains on my bookshelf, unread, so I'd like to get to that.
R. Scott Bakker: The Warrior-Prophet - Completed 04/03/2016
R. Scott Bakker: The Thousandfold Thought - Completed
R. Scott Bakker: The Judging Eye
Terry Brooks: The Sword of Shannara - Completed
Scott Lynch: The Lies of Locke Lamora - Completed
Courtney Schafer: Whitefire Crossing - Completed
Isaac Asimov: Caves of Steel - Completed 13/10/2016
Robert Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land - Completed 20/10/2016
Brent Weeks: The Way of Shadows - Completed 22/10/2016
Brian McClellan: Promise of Blood - Completed 08/12/2016


---- Alia ----

Totals: 12/10-15
Yuval Harari Sapiens: a Brief History of Humanity (non-fiction, antropological, started it in January, so far fascinating) - Completed 06/02/2016
Brunner Stand on Zanzibar (there are some classics I sadly missed) - Completed 21/03/2016
Glukhovsky Futu.re and maybe Metro 2035 (His Metro series was translated into English, I'm not sure about this one)
Danielewski House of Leaves (in Polish translation, sometimes I'm lazy, it's due to appear in April)
And some works in Polish, not translated, among them certainly a new novel by my high-school friend, due to appear in March.
Olga i Osty by Agnieszka Hałas - Completed
Czytanie z wnętrzności by Wit Szostak - Completed
Łzy Diabła by Magdalena Kozak (military s-f) - by the way, her first novel, Nighter is available now in English: https://www.amazon.com/Nighter-Vesper-Book-Magdalena-Kozak-ebook/dp/B01H9QOVAC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1475947933&sr=1-1&keywords=nighter - it's about vampires in special forces, fun read. - Completed
Wilki by Adam Wajrak - Completed
Pawel Majka: Pokój światów - Completed
Amy Stewart: Wicked Plants - Completed
Peter Wohlleben: Hidden life of trees - Completed
Brunner: Sheep Look up - Completed


---- mostly.harmless ----

Totals: 5/35
Specifics:
Kieran Shea: Koko the Mighty
Robin Hobb: Fool's Quest
Robert Charles Wilson: Spin
Jenny Lawson: Furiously Happy
Adam Christopher: Made to Kill



---- MSJ ----

Totals: 15/20-25
Specifics:
R. Scott Bakker: The Warrior-Prophet
N.K. Jemisin: The Fifth Season
R. Scott Bakker: The Thousandfold Thought
Daniel Polansky: Low Town - Completed 05/03/2016
R. Scott Bakker: The Judging Eye - Completed
R. Scott Bakker: The White-Luck Warrior - Completed
R. Scott Bakker: The Great Ordeal - Completed
Mark Lawrence: The Prince of Fools - Completed
Mark Lawrence: The Liar's Key - Completed
Ian Esslemont: Dancer's Lament - Completed
Mark Lawrence: The Wheel of Osheim - Completed
Luke Scull: The Grim Company - Completed
Luke Scull: The Sword of the North - Completed
R. Scott Bakker: The Great Ordeal Reread - Completed
Max Gladstone: Three Parts Dead - Completed
N.K. Jemisin: The Obelisk Gate - Completed
Anthony Ryan: Blood Song - Completed


---- Bolivar ----

Totals: 4/13
R. Scott Bakker: Prince of Nothing Completed
R. Scott Bakker: The Judging Eye Completed
R. Scott Bakker: The White-Luck Warrior
R. Scott Bakker: The Great Ordeal
Daniel Abraham: The Spider's War
Maurice Druon: The Lion & The Lily
Maurice Druon: The King Without a Kingdom
Steven Erikson: The Bonehunters
Steven Erikson: Reaper's Gale
Ian C. Esselmont: Night of Knives
Andrzej Sapkowski: The Sword of Destiny


---- rhizome ----

Totals: 4/?
Specifics:
Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun - Completed


---- Redeagl ----

Totals: 3/?
Specifics:
Anthony Ryan: Raven's Shadow Trilogy - Completed


---- H ----

Totals: 8/?
Specifics:
Chuck Palahniuk: Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey - Completed
R. Scott Bakker: The Great Ordeal - Completed
James S. A. Corey: Abaddon's Gate (Expanse Book 3)  - Completed
James S. A. Corey: Cibola Burn (Expanse Book 4) - Completed 31.10.2016
N.K. Jemisin: The Obelisk Gate - Completed
Josiah Bancroft: Senlin Ascends - Completed
Josiah Bancroft: Arm of the Sphinx - Completed
Jonathan Haidt: The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion - Completed
« Last Edit: January 11, 2017, 04:24:37 pm by SilentRoamer »

SilentRoamer

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« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2017, 02:39:49 pm »
Ok so post your own targeted reads and total goals and I will update them here later tonight:

---- SilentRoamer ----
Totals: 1/25
Target Specifics:
Finish Dune Series: Heretics of Dune & Dune: Chapterhouse
Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian
Dan Simmons: Endymion Duology
Hugh Howey: Wool
Finish James S. A. Corey: The Expanse
Finish Adrian Tchaikovsky: Shadows of the Apt
Vernor Vinge: Zones of Thought
- Completed
Gene Wolfe: Book of the New Sun


---- Wilshire ----
Totals: 1/12 or 25
Target Specifics:
John Marco: Tyrants and Kings #2: The Jackal of Nar
Paolo Bacigalupi: The Windup Girl
Philip K Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Stephen R. Donaldson: The Real Story (Gap into conflict)
Joe Haldeman: The Forever War
Julian May: The Many-Colored Land
Larry Niven: Ringworld
Matthew Stover: Die (Acts of Caine 1)
Connie Willis: Blackout/All Clear



---- Diurnal ----
Totals: 0/10
Target Specifics:
Abbadon's Gate - James Corey
Cibola Burn - James Cory
Nemesis Games - James Corey
Lights Out - Ted Koppel
The Great Ordeal (reread) - I forget
The Unholy Consult (if they release it) - I forget
Red Prophet - Orson S. Card
Seventh Son - Orson S Card
Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds
Blindsight - Peter Watts



---- Alia ----
Totals: 1/10 or 15
Target Specifics:
More Brunner
Danielewski's:House of Leaves

Radek Rak: Puste niebo - Complete


---- MSJ ----
Totals: 2/10 or 15
Target Specifics:
James S. A. Corey: Abbadon's Gate
James S. A. Corey: Cibola Burn
James S. A. Corey: Nemesis Games
Ted Koppel: Lights Out
R. Scott Bakker: The Great Ordeal
R. Scott Bakker: The Unholy Consult
Orson S. Card: Red Prophet
Orson S. Card: Seventh Son
Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space
Alastair Reynolds: Chasm City
Peter Watts: Blindsight

Frank Herbert: Dune - Completed
Frank Herbert: Dune Messiah - Completed
« Last Edit: January 16, 2017, 04:31:21 pm by SilentRoamer »

Wilshire

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« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2017, 02:58:44 pm »
I'll go with 12. Stretch goal is 20.

I'm going to get a list together this year. I should be able to at least pick my top 10 books that I want out of my list of 70 or so. Where did that spreadsheet go ... (yeah, I'm using a spreadsheet to track my book reading. What of it?!)

John Marco                         The Jackal of Nar (The Tyrants and Kings 2)
Paolo Bacigalupi                  The Windup Girl
Philip K Dick                        Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Stephen R. Donaldson        The Real Story (Gap into conflict)
Joe Haldeman                     The Forever War
Julian May                          The Many-Colored Land
Larry Niven                         Ringworld
Matthew Stover                  Die (Acts of Caine 1)
Connie Willis                       Blackout/All Clear


Apparently Blackout and All Clear is 1 book split into 2 books. I might justify to myself that its a single book, break my rule and read them both, and then count them as 2 for the purposes of this list as they are published as separate books.
« Last Edit: January 06, 2017, 03:09:26 pm by Wilshire »
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Wilshire

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« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2017, 03:22:04 pm »
SR it seems you might have been swayed by my arguments for Dune and Hyperion :)
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Garet Jax

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« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2017, 04:46:08 pm »
I will shoot for 10.


Abbadon's Gate - James Corey
Cibola Burn - James Cory
Nemesis Games - James Corey
Lights Out - Ted Koppel
The Great Ordeal (reread) - I forget
The Unholy Consult (if they release it) - I forget
Red Prophet - Orson S. Card
Seventh Son - Orson S Card
Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds
Blindsight - Peter Watts

« Last Edit: January 06, 2017, 06:01:27 pm by Diurnal »

Alia

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« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2017, 05:58:48 pm »
I'll try for at least 10 books, hopefully 15 - although I'm so busy at work at least until the end of April that it might be hard. I want to read more Brunner, certainly Shockwave Rider and maybe something else, and Danielewski's House of Leaves. Apart from that, we'll see what comes along.
And for 2016, I managed to read 12, which is fine.
« Last Edit: January 06, 2017, 06:00:20 pm by Alia »
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

MSJ

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« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2017, 12:01:23 am »
Sorry SR, didn't see your thread. Apologies.

Shooting for 15-20. I plan on expanding my choices of books. Realy like to read some more sci-fi and mane some nonfiction.

I've finished Dune and Dune Messiah, puts me at 2. I was gonna start Hyperion Cantos, but was very intrigued by C..S. Friedman's Coldfire trilogy. So, I've started Black Sun Rising, and must admit it's very good. A lot of intrigue, good characters and I like the setting. Reallly into it.
“No. I am your end. Before your eyes I will put your seed to the knife. I will quarter your carcass and feed it to the dogs. Your bones I will grind to dust and cast to the winds. I will strike down those who speak your name or the name of your fathers, until ‘Yursalka’ becomes as meaningless as infant babble. I will blot you out, hunt down your every trace! The track of your life has come to me,

Alia

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« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2017, 08:17:52 am »
Finished my first book this year Puste niebo by Radek Rak, probably the first Polish magic realism novel that I've encountered. It's set in my hometown about a 100 years ago and it's a story of a young, not very bright boy, who accidentally breaks the moon and must find someone to make a new one or humanity will die out (as the moon governs women's cycles). So a bit of a fable, a bit of fantasy, a bit of Bruno Schulz - overall, a very strange read.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

MSJ

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« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2017, 02:16:59 am »
Finished C.S. Friedman's Blck Sun Rising - (3)

Good book, like the magic system, a few twists here and there. But, this might not be for all. It is indeed High, high fantasy.
“No. I am your end. Before your eyes I will put your seed to the knife. I will quarter your carcass and feed it to the dogs. Your bones I will grind to dust and cast to the winds. I will strike down those who speak your name or the name of your fathers, until ‘Yursalka’ becomes as meaningless as infant babble. I will blot you out, hunt down your every trace! The track of your life has come to me,

Redeagl

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« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2017, 12:24:43 pm »
 Oh wait a minute I am on the list!  lol, now the reason I haven't made a formal one for this year ( or the last one for that matter)  is that budget and time affect me and my TBR doesn't decide for me what I would read next but for this honor I will try to make a formal one for myself:
The Wheel Of Oshiem by Mark Lawrence ( I really want to finish that trilogy)
Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson ( I actually have that book with me but exams delayed it) 
The Sword of Destiny by Andrezj Sapkowski ( Not 100% sure of the author's name spelling. I read The Last Wish by him and it was amazing)
House of Chains by Steven Erikson
The Prince Of Nothing re-read with MSJ
The Aspect-Emperor re-read with MSJ
The Unholy Consult
Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson
Revenger by Alastair Reynolds
Now let's keep it at this, I think I will read more books than this hopefully so I will be updating the list.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2017, 09:36:38 pm by Redeagl »
“The thoughts of all men arise from the darkness. If you are the movement of your soul, and the cause of that movement precedes you, then how could you ever call your thoughts your own? How could you be anything other than a slave to the darkness that comes before?”

- Chronicler of the Chroniclers

Wilshire

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« Reply #10 on: January 15, 2017, 06:04:48 pm »
Finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Got it for christmas, book was fine. Multiverse stuff - not much I can say without spoiling it, but eh, its it starts with someone kidnapping himself from another multiverse. Interesting story, some exposition on relationships and marriage, poignant and such. Worth the read if you like the mystery genre.

1/12
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SilentRoamer

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« Reply #11 on: January 16, 2017, 04:29:47 pm »
Finished Vernor Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep 1/25

This was a fantastic book, Vinge is effortless to read and the whole book seemed fresh and original, there are dozens of ideas here that Vinge could explore, but he manages to tread them all carefully and deftly, he then fails to answer burning questions about the series whilst simultaneously explaining the reasoning.

Really, really good book. Review for this one incoming.

Going to start another book tonight hopefully.

**Totals Updated**
« Last Edit: January 16, 2017, 04:31:52 pm by SilentRoamer »

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« Reply #12 on: January 16, 2017, 08:20:16 pm »
I'm taking aim at 12 this year, with the hopes to beat that by a fair bit.

Specifics (not much yet):
The Unholy Consult - R. Scott Bakker (July?)
The Broken Sky - N. K. Jemisin (August?)
Homo Deus - Yuval Noah Harari
Nemesis Games - James S. A. Corey
Babylon's Ashes - James S. A. Corey

Just finished Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, so I'm on 1/12 so far.
I am a warrior of ages, Anasurimbor. . . ages. I have dipped my nimil in a thousand hearts. I have ridden both against and for the No-God in the great wars that authored this wilderness. I have scaled the ramparts of great Golgotterath, watched the hearts of High Kings break for fury. -Cet'ingira

Wilshire

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« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2017, 08:59:54 pm »
Several JSAC readers here. Good space opera?
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Redeagl

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« Reply #14 on: January 16, 2017, 09:39:20 pm »
Several JSAC readers here. Good space opera?
I have read the first four and I did enjoy them. They are not as complex and deep as much as most of the sci-fi you are used to read though.
“The thoughts of all men arise from the darkness. If you are the movement of your soul, and the cause of that movement precedes you, then how could you ever call your thoughts your own? How could you be anything other than a slave to the darkness that comes before?”

- Chronicler of the Chroniclers