A Reader Is Me!

Name: bobafeis
Goal: 50 books between July 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010
Definition of "book": no restrictions on length or reading levels, graphic novels and manga do not count unless there's a significant level of text as well, re-reads count for half a book

A little about my goal and my reading habits: I started this last year and I believe I met my goal, but with all that reading I forgot about little things like keeping count and posting to this community. I will read just about anything, but I concentrate most of my reading time on sf/f, ya, mg and literary novels.

I also read a lot of Advance Reader Copies, and will try to remember to mention when I'm talking about one. Anything I read in ARC form may or may not have any resemblance to the finished product.

And now, here are the four books I've read since the beginning of the month:

Title: Spindle's End
Author: Robin McKinley
Number of Pages: 384
Genre: Fantasy
Book Number/Goal:1/50
Review: here

Title: Un Lun Dun
Author: China Mieville
Number of Pages: 496
Genre: Middle Grade/Young Adult, Urban Fantasy
Book Number/Goal: 2/50
Review: here

Title: Savages (ARC)
Author: Don Winslow
Number of Pages: 390
Genre: Thriller, crime fiction
Book Number/Goal: 3/50
Review:here

Title: A Search for the King
Author: Gore Vidal
Number of Pages: 172
Genre: Historical Fiction
Book Number/Goal: 4/50
Review: here

Title: So Yesterday
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Number of Pages: 256
Genre: YA
Book Number/Goal: 2/50
Quick Review: It's like PopCo or one of Max Barry's novels*, only for teens. And really watered-down and dated. Yeah, a book about deconstructing pop culture and consumerism seems like a great idea, but it's been done before and it rarely ages well.

*Alienated protagonist, who is surprisingly knowledgeable about minute historical details, and the rather esoteric reaches of sociology, epidemiology or some other not-often-studied ology, meets a charismatic and chaotic love interest who shows our hero just how flawed the system, really is. The two then spend the rest of the book showing how the author's ideas for a perfect society would make things better, if we'd just try them out, dammit. Usually better than they sound, only not in this case.

Name: bobafeis
Goal: a) Read 50 books between now and the end of the year (Dec 31st, 2009), b) Read 10 ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) before the end of the year
Definition of "book": Middle Grade/Young Reader reading level and up; graphic novels under 200 pages count for half of a book, if only because I read so many that not counting them at all will make me cry (200+ pages count as a whole, of course). Re-reads count only if they're a start-to-finish deal. Textbooks and lengthy journal articles don't count unless I suddenly lose my mind and start reading them for fun.

A little about my goal and reading habits: I'm a bookseller and a grad student, so I read quite a bit, but lately I've just been confining myself to re-reads, which doesn't help me stay current in what's out there. Most of my reading is fantasy and sci-fi, but I've been feeling like I've drained that well lately, so I'm moving on to literary fiction and YA.

Also, I have a huge pile of unread ARCs that has overwhelmed my desk and the floor around it. Most of them don't look interesting, but I don't want to admit that I'll never read them.