AUGUST - Exploding BOMBS Progress Report

July - pass the halfway mark - and we are still slightly ahead of our target with 59% for the end of July. With the arrival of summer we should all, lay back with a book from our shelves and get the fireworks popping! The tickers (password BOMBS) are set so everyone can add their to the totals.

Here are the standings at the end of JULY:
Together we've read 2,214 - 20 books above the average of books for 12 months to reach our goal!!! We're doing great!
amz310783 reach her goal in April and ramblinivy had already reached her goal and is going to continue to help us toward the group goal. Mandymere reached her original goal of 250 and has re-upped for another 250! June Bucketyell crossed the finish line, July saw Connie, torontoc and Benita reach their goals and this month there are a few very close who could reach theirs so let's keep going - the goal for August is 2,507.
FYI - At the end of June, for those that had not yet exploded a BOMB in 2012 I moved them to the snail ticker. Be sure to let me know if your total is incorrect.

alphaorder 8 / 30 27%
amz310783 90 / 60 150%
AngelWitch 12 / 35 34%
AnnieMod 1 / 50 2%
arrwa 2 / 5 40%
auntmarge 42 / 50 84%
BBleil 3 / 25 12%
benitastrnad 27 / 24 113%
BILLIEJEAN 24 / 25 96%
booksloth 41 / 50 82%
bowerbirds 3 / 36 8%
bragan 62 / 100 62%
brewergirl 22 / 30 73%
bucketyell 62 / 50 124%
cait86 20 / 40 50%
caramellunacy 10 / 25 40%
carmenere 16 / 32 50%
Conachair 19 / 50 38%
clue 14 / 25 56%
connie53 18 / 18 100%
cyderry 53 / 80 66%
deadwhiteguys 1/31 3%
deep220 40 / 70 57%
deltaqueen 64 / 110 58%
detailmuse 21 / 40 53%
doglover58 21 / 26 81%
duaney_h 7 / 20 35%
dudes22 45 / 70 64%
Ephemeralda 35 / 40 88%
FAMeulstee 16 / 15 107%
fjumonvi 2 / 25 8%
fundvogel9 / 10 90%
helenbaker 30 / 50 60%
helenoel 8 / 25 32%
hemlokgang 24 / 30 80%
h-mb 1 / 30 3%
jonesli 92 / 120 77%
kac522 9 / 25 36%
karen_o 10 / 24 42%
kdogey 11 / 75 15%
kerryth 1 / 40 3%
LA12Hernandez, 8 / 50 16%
laura_88 10 / 20 50%
laurabrook 59 / 100 59%
lauranav 15 / 30 50%
lindapanzo 54 / 100 54%
lizamichelle 13 / 25 52%
lucindalibri 11 / 25 44%
maggie1944 0 / 10 0%
majkia 13 / 30 43%
mandymere 420 / 500 84%
melonbrawl 30 / 50 60%
meredy 21 / 49 43%
mrsrochester 23 / 75 31%
paeonia 18 / 24 75%
pigletto 21 / 40 53%
Quaisior 25 / 50 50%
rabbitprincess 36 / 45 80%
ramblingivy 28 / 10 280%
readingwithtea 1 / 25 4%
riverwillow 30 / 100 30%
robertgreaves 21 / 35 60%
rocketjk 10 / 21 48%
rosefireandmoonshine 53 / 70 76%
sandykaypax 3 / 26 12%
sarahbradshaw 15 / 30 50%
seasons of love 27 / 60 45%
shabacus 2 / 40 5%
shearon 12 / 20 60%
sjmccreary 1 / 10 10%
squeakychu 9 / 20 45%
staffordcastle 19 / 35 54%
streamsong 29 / 30 97%
sturlington 3 / 20 15%
tallulahrose 18 / 20 90%
thorold 35 / 60 58%
tloeffler 44 / 50 88%
torontoc 30 / 30 100%
tropics 7 / 25 28%
tuckea 1 / 12 8%
tututhefirst 10 / 20 50%
tymfos 34 / 53 64%

cyderry - my total should be 41/50 (it's only one book's difference but I need all the help I can get!).

Thanks again for all your amazing hard work, cyderry!




Thanks to the inspiration I'm very close to my goal in number of TBR books and should finish it this month.

But my goal for keeping track of 'BOMB points' based on how long they've resided on MT TBR is still only slightly above half way, so I'll keep reading onward--and hope to make that goal, too.




1. BOMBS entered into LT in 2006 --6 points
2. BOMBS entered into LT in 2007--5 points
3. BOMBS entered into LT in 2008--4 points
4. BOMBS entered into LT in 2009--3 points
5. BOMBS entered into LT in 2010--2 points
6. BOMBS entered into LT in 2011 --1 point
7. BOMBS not previously entered into LT but which have been around the house pre-2011 (most of these are pre-2006)--1 point

I'm reading two bombs now, so hope to add soon. One I'm slightly cheating on. I've had The Eight since before I joined LT so was in the first batch I entered when I joined. When I went to the shelves to look for it, though, I couldn't find it. So I got a copy out of the library and am reading it. I'm still counting it though. I expect I'll find The Eight eventually....

So far, I've read 11 books in August. (as of August 31, 2012) I want to read 90 books in 2012:



Here are my monthly totals again:

January 2012
Total books read: 10
Total rereads: 2
Total acquisitions: 5
Books taken off my TBR pile and sent to new homes: 6

February 2012
Total books read: 9
Total rereads: 1
Total acquisitions: 1
Books taken off my TBR pile and sent to new homes: 8

March 2012
Total books read: 7
Total rereads: 3
Total acquisitions: 4
Books taken off my TBR pile and sent to new homes: 6

April 2012
Total books read: 9
Total rereads: 3
Total acquisitions: 5
Books taken off my TBR pile and sent to new homes: 8

May 2012
Total books read: 9
Total rereads: 0 (yes!)
Total acquisitions: 0 (yes!)
Books taken off my TBR pile and sent to new homes: 6

June 2012
Total books read: 9
Total rereads: 1
Total acquisitions: 14 (3 ebooks)
Books taken off my TBR pile and sent to new homes: 13

July 2012
Total books read: 9
Total rereads: 1
Total acquisitions: 51
Books taken off my TBR pile and sent to new homes: 6

August 2012
Total books read: 11 (as of August 31, 2012)
Total rereads: 1 (as of August 22, 2012)
Total acquisitions: 4 (as of August 17, 2012)
Books taken off my TBR pile and sent to new homes: 6 (as of August 21, 2012)

Average time between acquisition and reading: approximately three years (gasp!)
Average number of rereads of acquisitions: 1
TBR books still waiting for new homes: 150

Here I am for August. ...waves...




I was hoping to make a big dent this summer, but it's just been sooooo busy.

Aiming for 10 this month, which is probably a tad optimistic. A stretch goal, at least.

Yeah! We're doing great!




I hope I'll meet my goal in September. August might be just out of reach.

I forgot to post mine again.

Thank you, Chèli!




(Just added two that I finished in the very last minutes of July!)

Personal thread is here.

Okay, for the sake of our threadmaster's sanity, I'll declare my monthly totals now:

August: 36/50

Hello, August! Maybe this month my TBR total will finally start going down again... but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm here for August.

I am planning on reading NOTHING but books from my shelves in August.




Congratulations to all who have completed their challenge!

August has only just begun and I've finished another one!
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich




I've got a few more Louise Erdrich books to read for a symposium later this month, and unfortunately I don't yet own them all, so will likely be mostly BOMBS-less for much of August. But will try to fit a few more in.

August goal: get the ticker to 26

one more read from the pile!

My total should be 9, not 8.

Like SqueakyChu my total at the end of July was 9, not 8.

Here I am for August:

Lisa's 2012 Bombs Away Effort

Thank you, jonesli!

*lags way behind*

ok, I'm still here, thinking about the Books on my Shelves! I will work at reading something soon! I will. I promise.

Hello everyone. I'm new, and would like to get 31 of my TBR owned books off my shelves. I finished my first one today.

1/31 (not sure how to do the ticker...)

Hello and Welcome. A ticker is a bit of a tricky thing. So take your time to figure it out or don't use one. You'r free to do what ever feels good.

Welcome, Amanda!

I've added you to the list and adjusted our totals so that you are now in for the long haul.

Good luck! happy reading.

I finished my BOMBS challenge last month but i'v read another 2 books that would have fit the challenge.

number 19: Jack Lance - Hellevanger (a Dutch writer and so its a Dutch book)
number 20: Janet Evanovich - De zevende hemel

Do they count for the group total?

First book for the month. Tickers updated.

I've lost my ticker, and I don't know where she is. Poor thing, but I am here to announce: I did it! I finally read one of the Books Off My Shelves!!!

Finished Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir yesterday!!!! 1 of 10 completed!

Go fot it Maggie!

Go Karen Go! No snail for you!

And if I didn't say it, congrats to Connie, torontoc and Benita for completing the challenge!

Yes, Connie I think your total goes on to help the group total.

> 29

Hooray for Karen!

Go, team, go!!

Yes, Connie, anything extra helps the group toward the final total!

Thanks for the encouragement.

Is any one here interested in a group read of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (http://www.librarything.com/work/30628)

It is on my Kindle, but I think if I read it I will count it as a BOMB. Let me know if reading together appeals. Sign in here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/140664

Maggie, read Team of Rivals last year... you are in for a treat...great book.

I'm late adding my July numbers. I have updated the group tickers.

No progress in July, largely thanks to holidays and the pernicious instant gratification of e-books: still on 35/60 at the beginning of August.

The first one for August read.

The first book off of my TBR pile that I mailed off in August has reached his destination! The Last Battle is taking in the sun in California. Yippee! :)

Three more added here brings my total for the year to 62. Tickers will be updated as soon as this is posted.




Congrats on all of the great work everyone is doing!!!!!

Two more books off of my TBR pile have reached their destinations: The Devil's Hunt has arrived in Pennsylvania and True Crime has gone to Nevada. Yay! :)

July was a lost cause, due to my 3-week trip to England. Now back on track, and here's the ticker:

Books read from my book shelf:



Finished my first book off the shelf for this month. Tickers updated.

And another one from my shelf, #2 for the month! I'm updating the ticker.

Thats 2 off the shelf for me this month also. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. This book has waited far too long for my attention. I look forward to reading more of these classics. Tickers updated.

Just finished The Eight which I've had on my shelves since before I joined LibraryThing. Great book, by the way.

I've updated the tickers.

I really need to get to that - maybe next year.

Second book for this month done. Tickers updated.

Second book of the month done for me as well. The Mysterious Lady Law which was, alas, rather a poor example of steampunk. What a mishmash.

ETA: counters updated

Have updated the ticker with my last two books.

1. Highland Warrior by Connie Mason
2. Collaspe by Jared Diamond
3. The Devil Wears Plaid by Teresa Medeiros
4. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig
5. The Third Secret by Steve Berry
6. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
7. Marked by P.C Cast

The Shadow Guest arrived to do some mountain climbing in Georgia just yesterday! :)

With the Olympics going on I didn't get any reading done during the last weeks, and with Tønder Festival coming up next week I think my progress for August will be dismal.

I was looking at my reading list and realized that I had read 2 bombs that I didn't take credit for. I'm even closer to my goal than I thought!

One more down, and both tickers are updated! This brings my total to 63 so far...

Third one for this month done. It's been a good month for BOMBS. Tickers updated.

Another one for the month

So, another book off of my TBR pile has reached her destination in New Jersey. Still Waters by Tami Hoag has gone off to anothor good home. That's wonderful! :)

I'm at 25 now, just a hair over 50%. I should be further along, but there's still time to make up the difference.

At last my third book for this challenge this month. A very slow read. Tickers updated.
I have another 'burden' to share. For my recent birthday my husband and daughter kindly gave me an eReader which comes with the requisite 100 free classics. So I am trying very hard to stay focused on the books on my shelf but don't like to appear ungrateful for the new toy. I will have to try to slot one in each month perhaps...

Finally finished one in August which brings me to my goal number of 30! Yay, hoooray!




But my goal for keeping track of 'BOMB points' that I referred to in message number 3 based on how long they've resided on MT TBR is still at only 88 out of 150 points ... I'd like to finish that one, too, so onward I go with tunneling through MT TBR.

Bookstore visits during my vacation have sent me well above my book purchase limit/quota for the year. I'm seriously thinking of raising my BOMBS goal to try to keep the TBR pile from getting out of hand.

If I do, should I update the group ticker to reflect the increase in goal?

Finished my 7th "book off the shelf" late last night. A good reading month.

I'm enlisting a little late in the year, but better late than never I guess. My TBR list is out of control so in an effort to put those unread books at rest and to thin my shelves of books that will never be read again I am joining the cause. I have decided to include any physical book on my shelves that hasn't been read except ebooks which take up no space. I've included my reading for the year so far, but since I have no idea which month I read these books in I'm lumping them all into August and will move on from there. My goal will remain modest this year since I'm in a bit of a reading slump, so 25 bombs is my goal. A toast to everyone's success!

So, Live to Tell arrived in good condition in Michigan on Tuesday. I just finished reading my eighth book yesterday, although I will admit it was a reread for me. So far, it's a great reading month for me as well. :)

Oops! I forgot to say that I've read a total of 20 books from my TBR so far.

Velma, great start!

If you are changing your goal please be sure to let me know before you make a change to the tickers, but you can make change.

Finished my first book for the month and updated the ticker. My total is now 16/30.

Cheli, I'm going to change my goal to 60. It will be a stretch, but I need the higher goal to motivate me and control the TBR mountain.

This will be an increase of 7 over my original goal of 53. (And it still will be less than the books I've already acquired thus far this year . . .)

So now I've let you know, and I'll make the goal change on both my own and the group tickers.

ETA to add Done! I'd better get busy reading off the shelf! I'm putting us farther behind in our goal now. Sorry!

Finished another one, The Late, Lamented Molly Marx.

One more for me.

OK, one more for me too -- my third for the month. Tickers are all updated!

Hello cyderry, I would like to increase my total goal of books read in 2012 to 90 if possible? I'm steaming along so far! :)

And another one for me -- my fourth one in August.

Updating tickers!

okay, Mary, I'll up you to 90 for the September thread.

Everybody be sure to put your monthly totals/year-to-date totals here in the next few days, so that I can get the September thread up and running at the end of the week.

Oh, dear, I think I've failed at this challenge. I believe I finished one book off my shelves this month and I bought a whole bunch of new books which I am busily reading.

@78: There's still four months left in 2012! Plenty of time :)

77: I'm hoping to finish another off-the-shelf read today or tomorrow so will post my monthly totals then.

My stats for August:
2 books = 18 BOMBS for YTd

Another BOMB for me, makes 5 for the month so far, a total of 39 so far for the year. Tickers updated.

I hope to still do another.

I was distracted by shiny new books this month and didn't reads any BOMBs. Here's hoping September is better for my TBR!

I just finished my eleventh book as of August 31, 2012. (I finished the book that I thought I wouldn't just today) At this moment, I've read 73 books out of my recently increased total of 90 books read in 2012.

I've sent six books off to other good homes this month, bringing my total of books donated in 2012 to 59 out of a total of 70.

August 2012
Total books read: 11 (as of August 31, 2012)
Total rereads: 1 (as of August 22, 2012)
Total acquisitions: 4 (as of August 17, 2012)
Books taken off my TBR pile and sent to new homes: 6 (as of August 21, 2012)

Hi Cheli: I think I made a boo boo last month, I was late in posting my totals and I don't think I ever updated the group ticker, which should have been 14, which would bring me to 106 at August 1st.

Should I do it now, or will that confuse things more?

I didn't read any BOMBS since my last post in my own topic. Only the new books i bought during the summer. But i already finished my challenge so i'm happy to read al the shiny new ones i can.

I'm now reading another BOMBs: De eskimokus by Kate Mosse but i will not finish that one in august.

I, foolishly, started on a brandnew book that is very, very interesting: Het ijzig Hart by Almudena Grandes so that book keeps getting in the way.

I read 6 BOMBS in August, bringing my total to 43.

That's 4 for me this month, taking my total to 34/50, although I'm trying for 1 more. I have updated both tickers.

I just finished yet another, makes 6 for the month and 40 total toward my upgraded goal of 60 (so I'm on-target!) Updating tickers.

Finished my second for the month which brings me to 17/30. Have updated the ticker.

84>> Lisa, don't worry...as long as your personal ticker is correct I'll get it in the group ticker. That's why at the end of the month, I tally everything and make an adjustment, just for instances when someone forgets or doesn't update the group ticker. I forget quite frequently to it for my own reading. LOL

I am in the middle of one so I will count it and then stop for the month. I had a great month with 83 now read in total (21 off the shelves for the month). I haven't touched the ticker.

I didn't make any progress again this month, so my total is still at 18.

In my personal new vs old challenge I made some progress however because I sorted out a few books that I'll never read. That brings me to 5 more old books than new books bought for the year. Yeah!

Two for me this month, bringing me to 14/20. I have not touched the tickers.

Updated my thread for July and August; a total of 5 for those two months and I updated both tickers here.

The bad news is that I continue to buy more books than I read. :(

I've updated the tickers for the paltry 3 that I read this month. Too many new ones.

ETA: that brings me to 48 for the year.

Surprisingly, finished another, #7 for month and #41 total. And I'm working on another very short one I fully plan to complete by Friday! Updating ticker for the one I just finished.

karen, don't give up...I myself have acquired over 100 books so far this year.

I'm at 42/60 (and don't anticipate finishing any more before September), so I'm slightly ahead of target again despite my summer lapse into e-reading. I haven't touched the global tickers.

I don't think I will finish anything else this month. I should be at 118/120.

12 BOMBS for this month
14 BOMBS for last month (I didn't post in time)

I'm not going to touch the group ticker.

I'm finished for the month. Please put me down for 64/100. Just about on pace to reach my goal.

I read 2 again this month. That puts me at 16 read out of the 25 goal.

I read 1 BOMB this month, making my new total 10 read toward my goal of 25. I have updated the tickers.

Neglected to post another BOMB completed earlier this month:
Dark Fields of the Republic by Adrienne Rich.
So that's 2 this month for 13/25 so far for the year.




Of course I also bought 3 more books, so the overall TBR list just keeps getting longer . . . :) Oh well.
I also read several other books by Louise Erdrich that I've been meaning to read for a long time . . . but they were from the library, so don't count as BOMBS.

I am not going to get another finished by tonight so my tally remains at 34/50. Off to my favourite annual book fair in the morning. So dangerous!
I have yet to add the 100 free ebooks to my TBR. I assume I need to add by title and just choose any cover I fancy and label it an ebook. How have others done this? With my actual books I usually type in bar codes.

I don't much worry about editions when I add ebooks. I tried at first, but it is just too time consuming. I suppose purists attempt to do so but I'm sadly not OCD enough to worry about that.

Ditto what Jean (majkia) said above. I just grab any record -- but I use the "collections feature" of LT to indicate that they're e-books. I have a collection marked "e-books" and put the appropriate material in there. (Mind you, this is for my personal collection -- if I were cataloging at work, it would be a very different story, but our library doesn't catalog e-books as they come through a district-wide source.)

End of August report:

Bombs detonated: 5
Duds: 5
Added to the pile: 1

Not added to the ticker.

I finished five books from off my shelves this month. It was a good month for reading and listening. I actually read more than five but two of the books were from the library and so I can't count them as being off my shelf. I did not update the ticker.

Sure hope there are still a few unreported or we are falling behind our goal..

Anybody out there?

Nothing to add!

>109 cyderry: cyderry That's what happens when the over achievers move the finishline on themselves--they stop carrying the rest of us.

Cheli, I've got a book here that I'm sure I'll finish tonight. That will bring my total this month to 8, and my grand total to 42. I won't touch the group ticker, though. I will update my own as soon as it's done.

Today started off fine. Then, about 10:00 AM someone handed me a JumpDrive and said here's 4000 books for you! Ahhhhhhh!

wow!

Holy cow!

New thread is up!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/141631#

Nothing new for me in august- Have a list ready for September.

one more on the last day of august

Well, I don't have a ticker to record my achievements for August but here the are:

2 BOMBS exploded in August
21 TOTAL BOMBS for the 2012

I'm not very far away from my goal. I will think about increasing it next year if things go well.

Another 7 this month, bringing my totals to 48/50. So near and yet so far! Both tickers adjusted.

ETA - The tickers don't appear to tally at the moment. The first is on 2498, while the second is only on 2497. Not exactly a major problem but I haven't changed anything as I don't know which is correct.

4000 books! Oh My Gosh! They are obviously ebooks?

I have read 3 books for August, bringing me to a total of 27 books and passing my goal of 25.

I have updated the ticker.

I managed to read four BOMBS in August. Having two weeks vacation helped.

I have updated the tickers.

121 - yes, all ebooks and I haven't looked the list over yet. Plan to do that tomorrow.

Sorry its late, I haven't had access to my laptop for over a week now.
Totals for August:

Total TBR at start: 1137

Old TBR at start: 1064
Old books read: 7
Old TBR at end: 1057

New TBR at start: 73
New books added: 4
New Books read: 11
New books at end: 66

Total TBR at end: 1123

That gives me 7 bombs for August and 97 in total