I've had the same Goodreads challenge goal for a couple of years now. I reached 24 books in 2016, fell short at 17 in 2017, and then exceeded my goal with 27 books read last year. I did wonder if I should set a slightly more ambitious goal this time around, but decided to leave it the same for another year & see how I did this time. If I manage to exceed 24 books this year, particularly if it's by a significant margin, I'll probably increase my goal for 2020.
What's made the difference for me, so far? (The list of "things that help me read more books" that I posted a year or so ago still applies.) I think all the book clubs/challenges I've been joining have certainly helped. The Goodreads challenge has helped keep me on track and mindful of my goal, for sure. Joining the local library book club earlier this year means I'm reading at least one book a month I wouldn't have read before. (I'll be attending my second meeting tonight!) My D.E. Stevenson group goes through about several of the author's novels a year, with a chapter by chapter discussion. There are a couple of other book clubs/discussions I may be taking part in soon, too.
The trick will be to maintain the incentive and participate in the clubs/challenges, without making it become a chore/too stressful. Reading is supposed to be fun, after all...!
What are you reading lately? Are you taking part in any challenges or book clubs?
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
You can do it! You will hit this challenge. Only increase it if it doesn't make it unfun anymore, I had a summer book challenge and Bryce raised it so much that I felt undue stress trying to hit it and I found I was choosing books not for interest but for length and forgoing ones that I worried would put me "behind." Which takes the joy out. You have good strategies for keeping up on your reading!
ReplyDeleteI just finished "Maeve in America: Essays by a Girl From Somewhere Else" by Maeve Higgins, and it was fabulous. Funny, insightful, well-crafted pieces. I also read a book I'd never read but has been haunting me from the shelf (and it's Bryce's copy from the mid-80s) -- "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." I was NOT as crazy about that one. It had good parts, but it was really all over the place. That one felt like work. I am reading a lot more books than normal during the school year because I am housebound, limited in mobility, and the most comfortable thing I can do is read! :)
You're doing amazing. Maybe you have to reassess your challenge target for this year, and increase it so you don't have a temptation to cruise for the rest of the year! (And I'm going to reread your post from last year about things that helped you read more.)
ReplyDeleteI've just started The Seed, thanks to your review. And I read Sally Rooney's Normal People in just a couple of days, which was out of character (based on recent performance)! But I've been reading language books and guide books recently, and I'm assuming they don't count. Or do they?
I would think they do... especially if you read them in their entirety (or most of it...!), not just skimming.
DeleteI've read some good reviews of Normal People & added it to my "want to read" list.
You inspire me. I go at a slower pace, but I'm meeting my goals for the year so far.
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm reading The Girls Who Went Away. Good read for people interested in the history of adoption, as well as feminism & misogyny in the last hundred years..
Ooh, that one has been in my TBR pile forever! Thanks for the reminder about it!
DeleteWow, that's awesome progress!
ReplyDeleteNot doing any challenges or book clubs (though your posts are inspiring me to look into my local library to see if they have a book club at a time I can do). I think it would probably be good for me to do something like that, though - some books I wound up loving aren't ones I would have picked up if not for a friend/challenge.
Currently just getting ready to start "Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal in 19th Century New York" (nonfiction). I'm generally interested in medical history, so hopefully this one will prove revealing. I'll also second Lori Lavender Luz's "The Girls Who Went Away", which I just finished.
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