how far behind are you?

This thread is for whatever groaning and moaning you need to do to get motivated.

It is also the place to announce:

THE NEW YORKER WEEKEND CHALLENGE. (date)

I vow to read x NYers over the weekend..... or else....... I dunno, or else, my pile just gets bigger!

Not too far actually.

I'm behind only about three issues! This is pretty astounding.

oo I'm impressed. What's your strategy? They are terrifying aren't they? The way they keep on coming, like tennis balls out of one of those machines. (Not that I ever play tennis!)

What do you think of the fiction these days? And the mag as a whole? I've been reading it since...... I was twelve or so which is forever at this point. I do think the latest fiction ed. is the best in awhile.

I am hopelessly, impossibly, irretrievably behind - but every hopeful and eager for the next issue.
It's hard to find New Yorker addicts since I've moved to Canada. Great to find this group.

I'm going to count 4 NYers as a 'book' -- I'm in a book challenge group. I do not read every article, ever, either. I think I spend on average about an hour/per. I suppose we can also discuss what is IN whatever issue you might be struggling through!!!!

Any thoughts on the latest fiction issue? It is
unbelievable how far behind I am. I have been a subscriber for years and I am years behind. I just
don't have enough time to do the varied reading I want to do. And I just got a huge discount on renewal so I renewed for another four more years.

I'm reviving the group and thread --- I'm four months behind, for one thing, and I've had a recent brainstorm of a New Yorker read-a-thon strategy -- during a recent 'thon on the 75 I knocked off 3 NYers (which is why I'm not five months behind for another few days.....) and I've got this clever notion that if I have one 24 hour NYer intensive once a month, I can move into just being permanently a month or six weeks behind which is fine with me as the NYer 'take' on current events is what is least interesting to me. I know I'm not alone, in fact, I don't know anybody who does keep up on their NYers!!!!!!!

Lucy, I'm definitely in on the once a month NYr Readathon idea.

When I was searching for the article on proscrastination, one of my google hits was a quote that said something like "Life is too short to read The New Yorker." I don't agree though. :)

#4 I am hopelessly, impossibly, irretrievably behind - but ever hopeful and eager for the next issue.

Unfortunately, I am in this camp too. I can't remember the last time I was up-to-date with my New Yorkers but I'm always happy to get the next one in the mail.

We can just choose 24 hour period and an amount...... 4 would be my absolute topped out max. And we can just report in to each other if no one else cares. They'll find us, anyway.

I don't agree either that the NYer is too much. There' s nothing else out there like it. No one is supposed to read every word; you need to use discretion and discernment as in, "I don't care about opera" or whatever. Of course, it is obligatory to read the cartoons. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

They keep sending me these amazing deals to renew (I'm up to about
2013 now)and I can never get on top of it because I read absolutely everything in the magazine, including the letters. But I'm sort of sorry
I renewed because I'm really hoping they come out with a cheaper electronic
version. Then my bedroom wouldn't be piled high with years of back issues
that I just can't throw away.

That's tough. Reading every word. Does it feel worth it to you? I felt like I had to find a balance between enlightenment and oppression......

I realize I'm obsessive, but I do like the magazine that much.
Does anyone know if the magazine is now stable or are they still bleeding tons of money?

I don't know how far behind I got because I purged last month, so I have only the issues that have arrived since.

3 (sibyx): Yes! Just like those tennis balls. I used to subscribe to Science News, I think that's what it was, a skinny thing with brief articles, but they just kept coming and I gave up.

11 (alans): Absolutely everything? I aspire to read one serious article per issue, and maybe skim a few others.

I had to purge a few months worth when we moved, which felt great until it felt like every other day someone would say, 'Did you read the article in the Nyer about ....." And of course, I hadn't.

I don't really read cover to cover, but I get to all the important stuff. Although on an issue-by-issue basis, I'm much more haphazard than everyone here--pick up an issue at the airport or if I really like the looks of the contents, and otherwise just wait for back issues to float into my life through one of many serendipitous channels. Alans, I am impressed by your systematicity!

OK, so I'm in serious need of this group. I've received 5 issues and I'm 4 issues behind already--haha. I really enjoyed reading the first one (haven't subscribed to this since about 1980), but now...boo...I'm so behind I just have to laugh at myself. Oh, and the picture of "Queen Jane" Fonda in the latest one (May 9--just came this afternoon) makes me want to spit up (can I say that here?).

One problem I'm having is that the mag doesn't arrive at my house on a consistent day. Normally it's Tuesday--why did it come today? Dunno. Ach, the mail.

Maybe 4 or 5 years. I get them 2nd, hand, passed down from a friend. I also pass my copies along when I'm thru - so someone is really behind. What I read them for is the fiction & poetry & articles about people & stuff, If I want news I watch TV (Tho it is interesting to get the NY's take on things)

>17 labwriter: I was wondering when your subscription would 'start' -- Welcome to the club -- I really think they get better if you keep em awhile....

I'm very pleased -- knocked off five NYers, and am now into the middle of February.

THE NEW YORKER WEEKEND CHALLENGE:
May 14-15

I vow to read two New Yorkers this weekend.

I'll commit to one since I'm going to be out alot this weekend.

I didn't get mine this week--again (that's 2 in 6 weeks). Is this a U.S. postal delivery problem or is it a New Yorker problem? Dunno. Can't read it if it doesn't come in the mail.

Sometimes you get double issues, several times a year in fact, you might want to check your last one and see if it is for two weeks? They do these 'theme' issues now, like one dedicated to food or money or whatever they think up.

Becky, I usually get mine on the Friday before the date on the magazine but sometimes it's Thursday, Saturday or even Monday. I got one for May 16th yesterday with a picture of Osama Bin Laden on the front so currently there don't seem to be any double issues.

>24 sibylline:, 25. OK, that helps, thanks. I also need to catch my mail carrier one of these days and see what she says. It's strange that the magazine doesn't ever come on the same day of the week.

Yep - not a double issue. Mine came on Friday. I'm noticing that there is a mailing date on the label -- mine was mailed May 5. It feels very weird to be reading a current issue! You know -- I don't think it makes sense to make a weekly thread, but a monthly one yes, so I will make any remarks about this issue over on that May thread. (At present I don't have any!).

I think I'm going to achieve me goal, but I won't report on that til tomorrow.......

Slightly pathetic performance on my part, but I 'finished' the May 16 issue at the car repair place, peeled off the label and left it there, so two days late, I met my challenge I can't say I read all of it attentively. I'll report on the May thread.

Haha, these NYers are piling up beside my computer at a prodigious rate. I can't read one a week. My pace is more like one a month. At that rate, I will always be behind--and more and more increasingly behind, at that.

Yes but my method works -- you don't have to read as much when you delay -- anything topical is over -- and the article outdated and irrelevant. It helps me concentrate only the 'good stuff' cartoons, poems, and the nf long pieces. Sadly the fiction is rarely all that good. I'll glance at the story, but often I don't read it.

I am so thrilled to find this group. It makes me feel less weird. Right now I'm somewhere in the middle of 2006, but the next three months of catch-up are in my storage locker and I have to go across town to pick them up. It's a sickness.

And yes, I also feel that many of the articles are sufficiently out of date that I can skip them. Then again, some of them are fascinating to read in hindsight. I was reading the financial column through 2006, and the writing was definitely on the wall then. But no one would stop dancing so that they could hear the warning.

And I came across a terrific profile of Colin Powell, before he was Secretary of State, that was great to read in the light of what came after.

I confess to almost never reading the fiction. And I miss the really, really long, multipart articles they used to have. There was one on the erupting volcano on an island in Iceland that was 'steered' by the populace so that it didn't ruin the harbor. Great stuff.

For me, alas, it's not just the New Yorker. The 75 books group has got me setting aside reading time morning and evening, but that's for books, and even so I won't reach 75. I'm not sure I'm virtuous enough to add more good habits in one year.

Hmmm anyone got any ideas about some kind of New Yorker reading party we could have? What about, say, a New Yorker August with a goal of...... seriously....... knocking off 3-5 a week? That wouldn't work with those who read every word, but I certainly don't. I skim plenty of it, in fact, probably read around 1/2 of what is offered. My pile TG does not go back to 2006 (I AM impressed!) but it does go back to the beginning of this year almost.... Any thoughts?

34: I'd be up for a NYer August. I'm impressed with 2006 also, especially that the magazines are still optimistically on hand; I eventually toss mine into recycling. And yet I keep renewing the subscription.

that might work for me. I used to go to the beach on summer weekends, and I'd take four or five issues with me to accelerate the catch-up.

>My book reading has sort of ruined the schedule for me too, Qebo. It's not just the 75ers, it's the two book clubs I'm in face-to-face. But this month is contracted for some short books, so August might be good. (I do have to make that trip to the storage place to finish up 2006.)

I'd be up for a NYer August. I just went through my stack of NYers going back about a year and decided to donate a bunch of them to the library. But I still have at least 25 left and it'd be nice to start the new year (which I always think of starting in Sept when school starts) up-to-date; even if it's just for a small moment in time.

OOOH! I am a sad case. Usually have 3 or 4 on the coffee table that I read at random. BUT there are 2 baskets with back issues!! AND stashed in a corner are some old "Special Issues." I am trying to throw away these and other things....

This could be great! August is creeping up on us however!

My August is looking rather horrible right now, from the standpoint of my time being taken up with things that are beyond my control. For one thing, I promised my best friend in Denver that I would go there to help her take care of the three grandkids her daughter is leaving with her for a week. I'm doing it because she's my best friend, going back forever, and she quite seriously can't take care of those three kids by herself due to her health issues, as much as she would like to. Now that DH is working from home, I have a little bit more leeway to "leave home" since he can take care of my aging dogs. Why did I think in my youth that life would somehow get less complicated when I was "older"--heh.

Anywho, that's a long way of saying that I probably won't join a NYer read in August, although I think it's a brilliant idea.

I did finally get to my storage locker to liberate 2006. Unfortunately, I discovered I have 6 months left - Help!

July 2006 is going pretty quickly. There were several articles on science (one on pre-eclampsia that was quite fascinating), a funny article on house gifts, one on astronomy that focused on those other things that orbit our sun, one on Bertram Fields, an attorney of note in L.A. who was tangled up in the Pellicano illegal wiretap scandal of a few years before. I'll be done with July by tomorrow. My aim is to finish 2006 by, say, Columbus Day. That will bring me under 5 years behind for the first time in decades.

Definitely a private pleasure.

I'm so sorry Becky that you won't be there..... I'm going to go for it anyhow..... I'll make a thread for it right now.

I used to set my limit at being no more than a year behind. Now it's no more than 2 years behind. But I just love the New Yorker. I don't actually read all of any week and rarely have time for the fiction but I'm crazy about at least several articles every few weeks. Turns out that my boyfriend, who got me reading it, and I almost never like the same articles.

What I do, though, is cut out my favorite articles to re-read later--but now that everything is also available online, I haven't figured out a way to note which are my favorites--and anyway, I prefer paper.

And now there's all the previous years' wealth of writers and articles...

>3 sibylline: I love the tennis ball analogy!

I can think of a worse way to suffer than this New Yorker dilemma, though, imagine not having it available in our lives! I worship my piles of New Yorker clippings!

I'm so far behind I just discovered this thread today!

I haven't posted here for a while. Suffice it to say that having proudly gotten through 2007 before the end of 2012, I'm now barely into 2008. Sigh. But all of that year is next to my bed, so there's hope. And it was such a political year, I'll probably skip a lot of the articles and finish relatively quickly.

I hope.

Switched to digital...A different experience! (Fall behind anyhow, alas, but read great extra stuff.)

For those who may not already know, there is a lively and often lucrative trade in NYer covers, at-least from by-gone decades. So, depending how far back you're digging, you may find some material rewards, as well as karmic ones. -- G

>46 Esta1923: Have you found a good way to bookmark or somehow ID articles that you'd want to read again? The original CD sets had bookmarking--but I'm curious if there is anything currently.

Hmmm somewhere I have a box of NYer covers..... I theenk. Heaven knows what I did with them. Sadly, I may have chucked them during a move.

Glad you like the analogy in #3!

The problem with the digital issues of the NYer is that you can only keep so many issues open at the same time. I have no idea why they do this. For a while I had half a year but they told me I had used up all of my space and I had to delete lots of issues. If only we could have the *complete* collection on our devices. I know you can access the archives but it isn't the same thing and it isn't as easy to read as the current digitized editions.

I love the posting by the person who said they are several years behind, but they are still reading the issues consecutively. I think that is a brilliant idea. I just fall so far behind though. I read everything in an issue except for the poetry,I even read all of the listings,but when I complete an issue I'm so tired (but happy) that I don't have the energy to start the whole thing all over again.
And then I fall behind.

Ah, I suspect you were referring to me in the previous post. Alas, after finishing 2007 by the end of last year, real life has so intruded into my reading time that I am once more further in arrears. And I'm nowhere near as thorough a reader as you are, for current or older issues. That doesn't mean I'm changing my ways, however. The visual style as well as the excellent writing are too seductive.

But do you pile them up in monthly order? Where do you keep all of your piles? I have them
all over the place but there is no way I could have them in sequence unless I emptied all of my shelves and put them on with the spine out.Just think, one day you will ge to read 2008 in order too. It's the one thing about heaven that terrifies me, the thought that there is no delivery of the New Yorker up there!

Ffortsa, one other question, at what year did your start your reading project? I find it fascinating, you are only about six years behind now. you must be very organized.

Well, I do have them in order, in boxes. I've been doing this for a really long time - six years is about my standard gap. When I spent a lot of time at the beach in the summers, I used to catch up. But that hasn't happened for a while. I'll probably catch up when I retire!

Right now I'm up to march 2008. The year was filled with politics - too recent to be interesting, so I should get through the year before 2014 rolls around. At least I hope to.

I love it! 'too recent to be interesting' - I feel exactly the same way. Most political writing reveals years after the fact.

I read a comment in the online "New Yorker" today (don't know if it was this week's issue) about how they like it that there is too much to read. They like the fact that people can't finish individual issues when pubished with the hope that one of the enjoyments of the magazine will be the serendipitous discovery of articles at a later date.

If I can find this quote again, I'll get it down exactly and in context, but I can't remember how I find things in the online edition, and sometimes I can't find things at all or especially find them again when I've just read them.

#57.....you are not alone!!
I do not want to quit, but fear some days frustration outweighs pleasure. We began our "grown-up life" in 1945 by subscribing. Last year switched to on-line, but, alas......

I love that idea Diane - and it has happened - a kind of serendipity sometimes of picking up an older issue and finding a great and relevant piece.