Welcome

Welcome to our newest member Beatles1964. Looking forward to seeing your list (if you have one).

I've started on my first book 'The Secret Garden' (not in list order), so I'm hoping to get through that soon and onto the next. So many books so little time!!

How are you getting on Anoplophora?

Good to see you're still here! I hope you like The Secret Garden. I read it when I was really young and then again when I was a teen. It's a good book.

I'm doing as well as can by expected, no due date. I read one of the H.P. Lovecraft short stories I wanted to read, I found a nice online edition of The Canterbury Tales in the original English with the obsolete words explained, I have a copy of Beowulf sitting on my coffee table, and I read the introduction to The Golden Notebook. This is the 4th personal challenge I've started (more books I own, more translated books by women, more 1001 books), so it's going to be slow going.

Goodness! You have set yourself a task and a half!

Hi Sandydog1. Welcome! It'd be great to hear something about you. Do you have a favourite classic (or 2) that you'd like to share or a list of those you haven't read yet that you would like to? I'm about half way through my list at the moment. So far there has only been a couple of classics that I've actually enjoyed, so I'm looking forward to reading some more on my list. Next up - Robinson Crusoe!

Hmm... you mean like Guilgamesh and all of Homer and Confucious and Aeschylus and Sophocles and Euripides and my all-time favorite Herodotus, and Sun-tzu and most of Aristophanes (but I cry when he hates on Socrates) and The Bhagavad Gita and nature-boy Lucretius, and copy-cat Virgil and most of Marcus Aurelius and Saint Augustine when they aren't boring and self-righteous, and scatological Rabelais, and...

Aw hell, I like most of 'em.

I've just started studying Ancient History at uni and I'm doing a unit on Ancient Greece, so I've read a few pages of Herodotus. Haven't had a chance to read it front to back yet....not sure if I'm keen on doing it, although I have heard it's a good read and well worth the effort.

I'm not a member per se, but a lurker for sure. This is a great idea for a group, and I've tried multiple times to compose a list, but then ... I keep failing at it. Not in a "I'm a failure" kind of way, but more like a "I think this is kind of going to be pointless in my case" kind of way. There's a few reasons.

1. I already like the classics way too much. I don't need any motivation to read them, so maintaining a list and happily knocking off the titles ... that's kind of like showing off or something, right? This group seems more cut out for people who are struggling and want motivation.

2. I start making my list and it gets long, and then it gets longer, and then it gets ridiculously long, and then, yeah, it's not a list anymore, it's more like a worldwide bibliography and the madness must end, it must end now!

3. When I finish a classic I'm already posting about in another challenge group, and then often in my 501 group, and then I'm updating folks in the Classics group, and then ... by the time I'd get back here, I'm repeating myself ad nauseum so bad, I'm even making myself sick. Like I'm some kind of rooster strutting around a barnyard letting everyone know what time it is. It's time to tell you I finished XYZ! Hey, I'm done XYZ! Did you know I got to the end of XYZ!? XYZ is done! Hey, listen, XYZ!

I'll drop in as a cheerleader now and then though, because the classics are fast becoming my favourite kind of book to read (if they've not already ... hmm) and I'd like to spread the joy as much as possible.

No, join us! Girlsmiley is going to finish soon and then I'll be all alone. Not that I actually finish anything on my list, but still.

I see you have reasons though. :(

(On #1) I don't think finishing books on Librarything counts as showing off. Too routine. I like reading classics too, but my list basically consists of "must reads" that I've failed to complete for one reason or another. Perhaps I couldn't finish because I didn't find the reading enjoyable, or maybe I loved the book but let it fall to the wayside for some reason. That's why I need motivation.

(On #2) I kept it to 25 because Girlsmiley had 25. 25 is a good number.

(On #3) Having to update in multiple groups really is strange. I belong to 5 different challenges here, and were I to actually finish The Tale of Genji, I would have to update in 4 of them. But I tend to view my own posts more as personal note-taking rather than announcements or things that should be entertaining for someone else to read. I'm always a bit surprised when someone comments and I realize I'm not just talking to myself.

I think I may have a way to do it - an organic approach that meshes well with my other challenge, and that doesn't require me to compose one enormous list that will take me forever to get through. Did I mention Im' a sloooooow reader? Maybe that should have been reason #4 not to do this, lol, but so far I like my latest approach.

I think my list was more about goal setting for me....I figured if I wrote a list and I made it public then it would be something that I would stick to (and it has worked too). But I do agree with Anoplophora - it is more about personal note-taking rather than commenting for other people to see and go "yay, you're so clever, you finished a book". It's like ticking off a to-do list.

I started off with a huge list too Cecrow, but I cut it down to 25 as that seemed manageable. Mind you, it's been nearly a year and I'm still going, so it may have been a little ambitious.

On another note: "No, join us! Girlsmiley is going to finish soon and then I'll be all alone" - don't worry Anoplophora...I can always add to my list ;-)

I obsess over lists. I have to be very careful how I use them, else I get focussed to the extent of almost not enjoying what I'm reading anymore. I'd never be able to enter the 75 Book Challenge, but the TBR Challenge is fairly tame: 24 books a year I can manage without too much panic.

Here, with the options wide open, I went with ten-title lists that I can complete instead of one monster list that I'd never get to the end of for years to come. And then I've plugged in some far away dates next to a few titles to lower my expectations of myself so that I breathe easier. Pretty sad when I have to play mind tricks on myself, but there it is.

Glad to hear you're going to stick around and keep your group ticking!