Goodreads is a book site for reviewing books you've read, reading reviews from other readers and joining in with virtual book clubs etc.
Every year since 2012 I've set myself a goal of reading so many books a year and reached that goal easily.
2015 was harder, I had less time to read and struggled to reach my goal. I have to admit I started doing some crazy things. I started to avoid the thicker books on my shelf. I'd search charity shop book shelves for thin books I could read to make reading a book faster to up my books read. I wasn't enjoying reading as much and it was feeling like a chore.
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| Some of the books I avoided. |
I realised in early November that I was way off schedule in book reading and that I should logically give up my goal. But I couldn't. The lure of the 'Completed' banner across my reading challenge was too strong. I gave up my previous rule of not including comic books, recipe books and short stories and started including anything I read. I stopped reading online articles because they didn't go towards my reading challenge.
I felt like a lunatic.
I finished the year off with 52 books read, I'd reached my goal but by what means? I hardly enjoyed reading. I felt I'd cheated my way to the 100% completed banner and my 'success' felt hollow.
This year I've set myself a goal of reading the 7 big books I've avoided for the last 3-4 years. I've wanted to read those books for ages but felt I couldn't because they take too long. I've already read three of them and I'm back to enjoying reading again.
Let this be a cautionary tale for readers everywhere! :D
I signed up to Good Reads thinking that the challenges would work for me but I just found it too stressful to keep up with it all so I gave up in the end! Good luck with your new challenge, sounds like a much more relaxed way to tackle it!
ReplyDeleteYeah, reading is meant to be relaxing not stressful! Thanks Jennifer :)
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