I completed my Goodreads reading challenge today! Luckily the year is not over yet and I plan to read more during my holidays. Because of my reader's block earlier this year, my Goodreads reading challenge was set at a measly 50 books, compared to the 130 I read last year. I haven't decided yet whether or not I will participate in the challenge again next year. There are two articles from BookRiot: one for participating and one against participating in the challenge. Both have very valid points. I, too, feel pressure when I'm behind or when I fail to reach my goal (only 130 of 150 last year). My original goal for this year was again 150 but the longer my reader's block lingered the less achievable that goal seemed to be. So I lowered it to a more manageable 50 and even then I've only just managed to complete it. Also, I made a point of reading less Amazon ebooks. Since most of the ones I read last year were more like short stories than actual novels, it didn't seem right to count them towards my reading challenge even if I was actually reading. I guess it's all about our own self-imposed rules or lack thereof. As Jessica Pryde wrote in her article about NOT participating: "The challenge was exacerbated by the guilt that I had so many books in the house, both paper and electronic, and felt that I needed to push through them". I have this problem, too. I recently culled my library of titles I knew I would never read. And yet I still have hundreds of books I do want to read. I have even more ebooks stored away to work my way through. I have plenty of reading material and not enough time. Between my reader's block and becoming a pet owner for the first time, I feel like my reading time is even rarer than it was before. I lament how little reading I have done this year. Even though I have read some great books.
Read on,
Paula
