Welcome to our 2019 challenge group!

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to both returning and new members of our challenge group!

As stated in the group description, you are encouraged to track any and all of your BookCrossing-related challenges here by starting a new thread with your userid in the title.

If you are new to the group, please browse through earlier threads if you'd like some ideas on how to structure your challenge. This is the link to the 2018 group:
http://www.librarything.com/groups/bookcrossing2018redu

Please introduce yourself here and tell us about your goals for the year!

I'm mathgirl40 here at LT and at BookCrossing, and I'm also kwmg40 at Litsy. I've been a member of BC since 2010 and I've been maintaining this group for the past few years, after taking over from our group's founder BoekenTrol71.

I live in Southern Ontario, Canada and I read a lot of science fiction, mystery, fantasy and Canadian literature but I like other genres too. I'm also trying to read more from the 1001 Books Before You Die list.

When I first joined BC and discovered bookrings and bookboxes, MTBR grew out of control. Joining this group in 2014 was my attempt to conquer the mountain and I've been very happy with my progress. My stack of ABC books has greatly diminished, but I find that keeping track of them here makes me more disciplined about acquiring new ones. I also have many unregistered books on my shelves that I'd like to finish so that I can register and release them, so that will be the focus of this year's challenge.

Hi I am soffitta1 everywhere. I have been a member of Bookcrossing for about 10 years, but really got stuck back in these last 2 years. Before I was just really reading and releasing.

I live in the UK, but love to travel. I can see myself heading off travelling again in the future. Teaching Spanish and English as a Foreign Language opens many doors. I am also part of the 1001 group here. I read a lot of fiction - trying to focus on books by women. I like mysteries, but if the setting is interesting (historically or location). My TBR pile got really huge when I lived abroad because I would return to the UK and get more books, but wouldn't be able to take them all back with me. I moved back a few years ago and have been trying to read the books I have had for a long time. I have now reconnected with my local group, so more books are coming in!
Like mathgirl40, I still have a number of unregistered books on my shelves, so would like to get more registered, read and released.

Hi!! I'm PokPok here, and same back when I was on BC. (I still register/release books via BC but don't do the chat/forum functionality any more).

I am a lifelong die hard southern Californian and I love to read. Mostly nonfiction, although 2018 was almost entirely fiction, in an attempt to escape this nonfictional world. Ahhh.

I'm still deciding what my book goal will be. I'm in a transitional time of less online time, more offline (including reading) time. So I'll decide in December if it will just be total # books, or anything else thrown in there.

Having said that, this year I did specifically pull 4 books I wanted to read this year that had languished way too long. I read three of them, but not the 4th. My mom gave it to me and she passed away in 1996 so... time to read it. (Herblock autobio). I actually may still start it in 2018....

Stay tuned for more!

>3 soffitta1: >4 PokPok: Welcome back! I'm looking forward to following your challenges in 2019.

Lamilla is here. Goal is not set yet

>6 Amaryllys: Glad to see you back here!

Just catching this thread now. I am jessibud2 (jessibud on bookcrossing). I have been delinquent in keeping up here in the past year or so but since my actual BC TBR isn't too out of control, I have decided that 2019 is the year I will clear the backlog.

Hi there! Good to see this thread for 2019 again :-)
I'm BoekenTrol71 here, Boekentrol on BC. I live in the north of the Netherlands with my husband. Apart from reading I love to travel, put jig saw puzzles together and make cross stitch projects.
I've been reading and releasing books through BC for more than 10 years already (time flies!). The amount of books in my house hase grown enormously after joining, thanks to many generous bookcrossers.
But... I'm slowly but steadily reducing the amount. This year (2018) I've made good progress, so I hope to continue the good work in 2019. I won't be able to clear the backlog, but if I can do as well as this year, I'll be happy.

I have some things in mind to shape my personal thread here, but will create it when I have time off work during the holiday season starting next Friday, the 21st.
As there are other things that I have a huge backlog with, I'll be deviding my time between reading, family visits and things I want to finish finally.
So... I'll be back!

>8 jessibud2: >9 BoekenTrol71: Very happy to see you both back for 2019!

Hey, I'm Slicey. I'm new to LibraryThing, even though I've been looking for a website like this for years! Everyone always pointed me towards GoodReads, which does not do what I was looking for - LT is it!

I recently returned to BookCrossing after being absent for many years. I have so many books to get out of my house, that it is good I am back, however, I keep joining challenges and finding/buying new books to fulfill those! Oops. A bit counterproductive, I must say.

I love the visual aspect of LibraryThing and, frankly, there is a lot I like better about it than about BookCrossing, but I hope to use the two together to make myself (and my books) more organized.

In 2019, I definitely want to:

• Reduce Mt. TBR
  
• Purge previously registered books - especially those registered by other members.
  
• Read more books by black authors (and release for my February BC Release Challenge).
  
• Read more books that empower women (and release for my March BC Release Challenge).
  
• Read more books by LGBT authors or with queer characters/themes (and release for my June BC Release Challenge).
  
• Read more diverse books in general - even if not released for a particular challenge.
  
• Release books in 52 different cities - and try to theme those books to the releases.
  

You can follow along with my goals here
.

>11 originalslicey:

I love your progressive goals! Welcome! I was PokPok over on BC as well, though I haven't done the forums in many years.

>11 originalslicey: Welcome to LT and our group! You have a terrific set of goals.

Hi I'm gypsysmom here and on BC (and gypsysmomalso on Ravelry if there are any other knitters out there). I joined BC in 2005 and have been more or less active all that time. In 2006 I started hosting the Canada Days release challenge and it is still going on. So it may be obvious that Canadian literature is one of my faves. I also like science fiction and mysteries and just good fiction in general. I keep trying to read books from the 1001 list but given my age and that I've only knocked 271 off the list I try to only read books that I'm pretty sure I will like.

I'm retired now but I don't seem to have any more time to read than I did before. I do multitask by listening to audiobooks while doing other things like knitting, cooking and sewing. I also keep acquiring paper books so I don't know if I will ever completely eliminate Mount TBR. Last year I read 50 books from the pile but I added 37 so the pile only went down by 13.

I just began to read Charlotte Gray's The Massey Murder yesterday on the train as I travelled back to Toronto from a visit to my mum in Montreal. It's Canadian and it's been on my shelf for awhile. Unfortunately, it isn't one that's been registered or on my BC Mt. TBR. I will try to pick one of those soon! I think I have around 25 registered BC books on Mt. TBR so, in theory anyhow, I should be able to clear that shelf this year. But a ton of library books that I had had on hold for months all decided to arrive at once. I just picked up Washington Black this afternoon, among others.

>14 gypsysmom: Happy to see you back here for 2019!

>15 jessibud2: I'm currently listening to Washington Black on audiobook and really enjoying it so far.

>16 mathgirl40: - Hi Paulina. I have a feeling that due to the demand, I may not be able to renew it so if not, I may look for an audiobook copy to complete it. Good idea

>11 originalslicey: Hi Slicey! Welcome to LT. I'm so glad you chose LT over GR. I've been a member here on LT since 2006 and never looked back. It's my home on the web. I also had the chance to meet founder Tim Spalding in the past and attend meetups with other LTers (waves to jessibud2). It's so much fun! I hope you end up loving LT as much as I do.

I love the visual aspect of LibraryThing and, frankly, there is a lot I like better about it than about BookCrossing, but I hope to use the two together to make myself (and my books) more organized.

I've been a member of BC since 2003. When I first found LT, I was trying to get my BC friends to join the forums here on LT because they were so much more interesting. I had very limited success with that (waves to jessibud2 again). You'll find that LT and BC go very well together. I am still an avid BookCrosser as well as an avid LTer. they are very much complementary.

I love your goals! I have none! :D

I'm a 70-something wife, mom of three, and grandmother of two. I'm not only an avid BookCrosser and LTer, but I also have my own Little Free Library right in front of my own house (my husband built it) and made it into an OBCZ (official Bookcrossing Zone). I am an active member of my local Bookcrossing group called BCinDC (in DMV - District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, USA) and attend monthly meetups which also include doing free book giveaway booths at two local book festivals in the spring.

Here on LT, I have my own thread on the 75 Books Group as well as host the TIOLI challenges in that group.

I read an eclectic mix of books, but my favorite now are books of contemporary Japanese fiction. I love the flow of those novels in English translation. I also have started to become more interested in manga and graphic novels.

Don't ask me how many books I have in my home. LT, BC and LFL have all contributed to a massive influx of books. I seem to acquire them at a faster rate than I can give them away.

I wish everyone a happy 2019 and a great reading year!

Question for those among you that listen to audiobooks:
Just the other day I started to listen to audiobooks. I am confused about one thing: how many pages do you count for these books & where do you find that info? My book is over 19 hours of listening. The hsrdcover book has many pages (around 450 or so), but... When I add it to my read-shelf, how many pages do I count?
What is your solution for this?

I listen to a lot of audiobooks but unfortunately, I can't help you. I have never counted pages so I really don't know what you would do other than to go to a library or bookstore to have a look at the actual physical book and see how many pages there are.

>20 BoekenTrol71: I'd just take the page count from the hardcover version of your book here on LibraryThing.

>21 jessibud2: >22 SqueakyChu: Thank you both! I've seen the hardcover version of the book here on LT, so I'll add that to my counted pages.

It has been such a given for many years now to count pages, that I didn't give it a second thought and started to count again for this year.
But, do I want to keep doing that? I'll contemplate on that one some more. Thanks, jessibud2, for nudging me! :-)

>23 BoekenTrol71: I still count pages because I've been doing so for a few years. I've limited my reading challenges just to the TIOLI challenges which I run so counting books and pages is now quite enough for me! :D

Here's a fun picture. This is yesterday's meetup of BCinDC (BookCrossers of DC/Maryland/Virginia). I'm not on the picture as I'm taking it.


Left to right: Ixion's husband, Ixion, ResQGeek, melydia, SqnutZips, KateKintail. 6of8

You may know some of these folks! :D

Well, I've never met them but I certainly recognize some of the names! We should be having our next meetup soon, probably in Feb.

We just had a meetup in Winnipeg yesterday too. I meant to take a picture but I forgot. I called it the Dead of Winter meetup and it was a very appropriate title because it was about -30 in the morning. No wind though and bright sunshine and I have a big Canada Goose parka so I was quite warm waiting for the bus both ways. We Winnipeggers are a hardy bunch but we certainly were certainly wearing more layers than your group.

>26 jessibud2: Post a picture! I miss you guys!

Bookgirrl knows melydia. They met at convention. By the way, Jose made a Little Free Library for melydia after she moved to Rockville, Maryland! :D
https://www.librarything.com/venue/111909/Little-Free-Library-at-5311-Manorfield...

Our meetup was at Noodles & Company in Rockville, Maryland, USA. That's were my daughter worked when she was in high school!

>27 gypsysmom: I'd love to see a picture of your meetup next time. Please post one!

I will! :-) Promise!

>28 SqueakyChu: Thx! :D

>25 SqueakyChu: Yes I most certainly do :-) *waves at the familiar faces*

>31 BoekenTrol71: Which of these folks have you met in person? Let me guess. ResQGeek, melydia, 6of8, and KateKintail?

>28 SqueakyChu: I'll try to remember next time. Maybe the cold numbed my brain a bit.

>19 SqueakyChu: Glad to see you here, and thanks for sharing the photo from your meeting!

>20 BoekenTrol71: When I need a page count, I usually check various editions on Amazon and take an average from the page counts listed there. I've also discovered, over the years, that 2 minutes of audiobook time roughly corresponds to 1 page of reading for me. Of course, that varies greatly with book editions, but it's not wildly off the mark.

>27 gypsysmom: It's been pretty cold here too in Southern Ontario, though we're still far from hitting -30. Stay warm!

I've met Ixion, Ixion's husband and 6of8 :-)

>35 BoekenTrol71: Hurray! Was that at the last convention?

>36 SqueakyChu: Yes it was in Bordeaux.

>17 jessibud2: It's so fun to know that you know people I know! I love that our book groups make our world such a small place.