I read this post earlier in the week and it really got me thinking about reading pressure and reading challenges. I've posted about reading challenges before, but it's on my mind again lately. Overall, I like many things about reading challenges. I love the selection process, I love organizing some shelves on Goodreads and seeking out books on my TBR that I can fit into categories. I (almost) always start out a reading challenge with wonderful intentions. I love that I end up really broadening my horizons a bit when I select books for certain categories and it helps me delve into books I've always wanted to read but haven't prioritized. It helps me organize what I'm going to read next, and it makes me feel like I always have a book to turn to if I'm not enjoying my current read. In particular, I love Erin's book challenges because they last for 4 months and that gives me a lot of flexibility to read "challenge books" and other books at the same time.
What I don't love is dictating my reading life by timelines; it's stressful and that's not the point of reading, in my opinion. For instance, I spent a chunk of time during Erin's current challenge trying to enjoy a couple of books that I just did NOT like in any way. Eventually I gave up and just switched my choice for those categories, so it's not as if it was a big deal in any way, but I still think I could have just not even bothered picking those books in the first place. I still have one book (Beach Music) to finish but I am loving it and I am certain I will finish it by next Tuesday. (If I don't - I am also okay with that - I will still finish it next week and I am so, so happy to have finally read it). Thanks again to Steph for that recommendation years ago.
I also love yearly book challenges, but I kind of forget about them as the year goes on. I know it is possible to broaden your horizons without joining a reading challenge, but I can honestly say I would not have picked up certain books (The Count of Monte Cristo) this year without selecting it for a challenge (and I would have gotten 51 hours of my life back, haha, kidding). As an Obliger, I think I really need the accountability of a reading challenge to encourage me to read books from my backlist. Each year, I really love striving to meet my goodreads reading challenge goal and I love seeing my friends meet that goal too - no matter what the number is!
As we near the end of 2017, I am trying to really wrap up some of my "reading goals" for the year. Kristen's post earlier this week made me think about the books that I have on my virtual and real shelves that I was excited to buy or borrow and haven not gotten to yet. I don't have as many on my actual bookshelf because I'm not a HUGE book buyer, but there are probably still at least 15-20 books on my shelf that I haven't even read yet. Like Kristen said, buying a book can almost doom that book for me because there is no time crunch to read it. Library books are due back, so I have to read them when they are in my possession (or send them back unread, which I have only started doing recently). My goal in November is to really get through my own books before ending off 2017. That includes these books:
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge
A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab
Origin by Dan Brown (I couldn't resist this - I love the Robert Langdon books)
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
and these on my Kindle/Audible/*Netgalley:
Reading People by Anne Bogel (halfway through this)
Artemis by Andy Weir*
Winter Solstice by Elin Hildebrand* (this series is a fun one for Christmas and not TOO Hallmarky)
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacquelyn Woodson
The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay*
I also have a few library books that will be coming in and I am tentatively hoping to get through Golden Son and Morning Star because Pierce Brown has a new book coming out in January 2018 and I already have a hold on it (this is ridiculous in some ways, haha). I have a few really fun plans for book posts on this blog before 2018: a wrap up of my favourite books for the year, another analytics post, some library hacks, books that are better on audio, and two more Amazing Authors posts.
If you've made it this far, here are few fun book talk links from around the web:
Would you rather bookish edition <--some of these were hard!!!
I just downloaded this library extension for Chrome...it tells you if the books you are viewing on that page are at the library. It's awesome - I have my library added to my links for buying books on Goodreads, but sometimes I have to play around with the edition in order to actually find information and this extension makes it WAY easier!!!
This post about life skills of voracious readers is great.
Sometimes reading fatigue is a real thing. This post was super interesting.
This would be kind of a fun Halloween craft. Maybe next year ;)
Am I the only one out there who thinks about and plans my reading this much? I blame goodreads, blogging, Netgalley, The Book Club, and WSIRN. :)
READ DARK MATTER. you don't be disappointed!
ReplyDeleteI could echo basically this entire post... I've always wanted to do a real life book club, but have never had the opportunity, so I'm always so thankful for all of my bookish friends I've met through blogging! I feel similar about challenges too- I always love researching books, and have read some really great books as a result, but I've never even finished a challenge and it's still fun. After taking a little break from reading, I want to take some time to prioritize what I'd like to read before the year ends too- I'm anxiously waiting on The Four Tendencies from the library right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you on the reading challenges! I feel like it's a great way to get me to read some books that I normally wouldn't read, and I can also organize my books as well. Sometimes if I'm not participating in a reading challenge I fall into the category of what should I read next and I just don't know, so book clubs and reading challenges definitely help out with that.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was only involved with online book clubs for a while, but I kept on talking with coworkers about potentially starting a book club and we just decided to do it. It's definitely a low key and no pressure club where it's not a huge deal if you haven't read the book and you just want to go to socialize, but it's been so much fun to read different types of books and hear everybody's reactions. So you never know, friends or coworkers in real life might surprise you!
I love this. I read a lot this year, and probably will continue to, though October has not been a reading month for me. I'm in a bit of a rut, but enjoying outside-of-a-book life and other activities. :) I'm lucky to have a few IRL friends who like to talk books, but it usually doesn't happen often/super in-depth. I agree that book challenges are both good and bad. Do you use Evernote? I have it on my phone and on my desktop that I use during the day. I find it really helpful for tracking things like goals, reading lists, etc. I put the popsugar year-long book challenge in there and can go back to it from time to time and fill it in as the year goes on. :) I love this post though, I think it is good to chat books online too! XO - Alexandra
ReplyDeleteSimply Alexandra: My Favorite Things
That would you rather was HARD!
ReplyDeleteI don't talk books with many people in person - a few people in my office, and my friends always call on me for their next reads - but I am typically in the position of recommending or not, not talking about books we have both read.
I hate challenges as I have stated many times, and I think it's because literally no part of my personality is obliging. LOLOL
I am with you in this. I tried to get a friend to start a book club with me a few years back, but she sort of just said that sounds fun and never really wanted to talk about it so I took the hint. I don't have a ton of friends where I live since I moved here as an adult, and the friends I do have aren't avid readers. And I tried my first book challenge two years ago and felt so much pressure to read some books that sounded good to me in the beginning, but I wasn't in the mood for later on. I am such a mood reader, so I hate having a list of things I have to read on a certain time line, you know? It is why so many books sit on my Netgalley shelf for several months before I get to them, and others I read the instant they are available for download. What struggles of a book worm, am I right?
ReplyDeletei am with you, don't have anyone in my real life that i talk to about books. my friend has that book club and they invited me, which is awesome, but they aren't really my friends, and none of them love to read like i do. so i definitely talk more to my online friends - you especially haha.
ReplyDeletei always start out reading challenges with good intentions and rarely finish them. it's not the quantity of books but rather the specific books. i won't force myself to read lol. i had 1 book left in erin's challenge - after i switched almost all of my choices to fit with books i'd read, cheating? - and i didn't finish it. oh well. yes, the fact that there is no time crunch on books sitting on my shelf is the worst. i wish there was lol. i really hope you like a conjouring of light :) ok i am definitely installing that extension because yeah the goodreads one hardly ever works for me! unless i play around with the edition, but i normally just search for myself.
sometimes i think about reading, planning or organising things more than i actually read. it's a problem.