I've been thinking a lot about reading challenges and what I have challenged myself with in the past couple of years. The Goodreads reading challenge is one that I've always used and set myself with an overall goal of books read throughout the year. In the past, I've had a year where I completely exceed my reading challenge and another year where I completely fell short. 2014 I just barely made 100 books (total books read: 101). Because I challenged myself to read 100 books in 2014, my choice of which book to read next was often determined by that challenge and how fast I could read it. That means I put that really chunky book I've had my eye on aside; I didn't start reading Outlander when I became absolutely obsessed with the show. I haven't read Amy Poehler's Yes Please yet because it will probably take me more than a few days to get through and in 2014 I didn't want to spend that much time on one book.
Not this year Goodreads challenge. I'm going to go where the wind takes me this year and read what I feel like reading. I don't want to see that number constantly breathing down my neck every time I log in. I don't want to know if I'm behind on my reading. And you know what? There should be no behind or ahead in reading. Reading is reading and this year I want to go on some epic reading adventures. I'm going to read that chunky book even if it takes me a month.
With that being said, a found a really great challenge in 2014 that I'm going to participate in again. It's called the Full House Reading Challenge and it's hosted by The Book Date. It's a really great challenge because you can end up reading a variety of books. Books I would have never read, I read because of this challenge.
It's kind of like a bingo card and she switches it up every year. It really mixes up my reading and it's a nice relief when I get bogged down with all the YA that I read. Even though this is the only reading challenge I will be participating in this year, I still love to participate in read-a-thons. In fact, 'Bout of Books 12 starts on Monday and goes through Jan. 11.
2015 is going to be a good year for me! I'm going to read what I only really want to read and I'm not going to fall into the pit of overhyped books. I'm excited to see how 2015 unfolds and what the year will bring.
Are you participating in any reading challenges this year? Let me know in the comments!
That looks like an interesting challenge and it should be fun to see what gets picked. Yeah I understand about trying to read what is going to be easiest or fastest. I try not to pay attention to the numbers too much. And yay for Outlander. We are finally going to read this one.
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