Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge

[alaterdate]

Officially calling my Goodreads 2019 reading challenge at 65 books!
15 books less than last year (80). It's daunting when I hang around reading circles in which people are reading 100+ books a year and I think I should be reading that much too, but I have other hobbies I like to pursue and spend a lot of time on *cough* videogames *cough* So, 65 is an excellent number!

I read a lot more comics than I counted toward my goal (only counted them if they were omnibus collections and in the case of 飴色パラドックス because I read them in Japanese and that's taxing for me. Also because I really love that series.) Even though I counted Trifles which is only about 20 pages long! It's not like comics aren't "real reading" though, I just don't count them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ To me they kind of feel like "number boosts." You think I couldn't read all 18 volumes of Otomen in one day? (I totally could.) But I'm not really in it for the number.

It's fun to keep track of how many books I read a year and challenge myself to hit a certain goal so I can stay consistent. But ultimately it's about finding more V.E. Schwab's and Iggulden's and books like Timeline to enjoy and have a great time with.
See, I was thinking of making my goal for next year 80 to ~*challenge*~ myself, but why should I risk making something I love torture? If I don't read 80 books naturally (and I don't. I was reading like crazy early in 2018 because I really wanted to complete the 52 challenge I was participating in. Then I did. Then I kept going) then why try to overextend myself? The number just seems like pomp to me now. Would it be cool if I read 100 books in a year? Hell yeah. Do I need to read 100 books a year? No! Not even 80! Last year I read a bunch of books I didn't even enjoy and didn't want to DNF them because if I didn't finish them I wasted my time towards my goal. This year I made my goal 30 (then hit that and upped it to 52 again) and it was really chill. If I started a book I didn't like I didn't slog through it, I returned it to the library. That's how I want to go forward. With reading not becoming a chore I feel like I have to do.

So, I'm setting my goal for 2020 at 40 books. I think that's perfectly achievable for me at a normal pace. If I hit it mid-year then I will up it to 52 and that's the highest I'll put it (again) 😤 Maybe I'll read 52, 65, 80, 100! It doesn't matter if I go over, but I think it's good to have an achievable and comfortable goal instead of one that makes me feel like I'll stress myself out. 40 books is still a lot of books.

Comments

[delphi]

65 is an amazing count, if you ask me. No shade on people who prioritize reading more than that when reading is their primary choice of entertainment, but I think the point of a reading goal should be to encourage us to free up some reading time and try new things, not to stick with bad fits just for the sake of hitting a round number. Your approach sounds very wise.

[alaterdate]

Thank you! It took me a while to realize that, that's a lot of books! Half of that, a third of that would be great. I agree, goals should be about bettering yourself, not just counting numbers. I found a reading pace that agrees with me and making it a challenge puts a fun spin on it and helps collect some more data on my habits :^)