To kick off one of my reading goals right away (which is to set and complete my first year-long reading challenge) I set myself the target of finishing 40 books by the end of 2015. I’ve seen that most people tend to go for 50, since it’s a nice rounded figure and equates to more or less a book a week. Given however that until now I’ve never monitored the rate at which I actually read, I decided to be a little more modest to test the waters as it were.
If you have a reading challenge, I’d love to know what your goals are, and by all means add me on Goodreads so we can cheer each other on as we make progress through the year.
You know, before you mentioned that 50 books a year was a book a week, I had *thought* my goal was reasonable. Now I’m gonna sit here sweating and panicking for another few minutes while I brainstorm all the shortest books on my shelf to devour real quick.
I’m especially doomed since the first book I started this year is 1Q84. O.O
I’m sure plenty of us will be reaching for graphic novels and kids lit once we start to fall behind on our targets 😉
Still, any reading is better than no reading, so at the risk of sounding unbearably cheesy, you can’t really lose as long as you try. *cringe* 😉
Hahaha oh, I’m already there. I read a manga yesterday just to get a book in (I read a lot of manga anyway, but still…). And I started an ebook I thought was gonna be a novella but turns out is really long.. but really good, so I’m flying through it.
I actually really want to read more graphic novels so here’s hoping it comes in handy with reaching that target.
I’ve set reading goals in Goodreads now for the last two years and each year I’ve beat that goal, but I started lower at 25 then this year 35. I’m not sure what my reading goal does for me tho, I don’t pressure myself to read more as a result. What I did decide was this past year to ensure to give reviews on what I read. I’m not sure I am going to make a reading goal this year…
I totally agree that I don’t want any goals to pressure me into reading, it should always be about pleasure and interest. It’s more out of my own curiosity to really see for the first time how much I actually read in a period of time.
Great point. I certainly learned I have seasonal reading periods where I storm through several books in a month whereas other months are a little more dry. 🙂
It will be interesting to see what habits like that emerge throughout the year 🙂
Good luck with the goal, Callum. As far as reading goes, I’m always afraid to set myself a target because of the pressure 🙂 If beta reading counts, which I seem to be doing more of at the moment, then I may create a goal yet! Did you see the one on Lynette Noni’s site – ambitious, but fun 🙂
I’m right there with you on that one – I’m determined to have it motivate rather than pressure me. Since I’ve never done a formal challenge like this I thought it was worth a try to see how things work but reading must always be centred around the love of it before anything else.
I don’t think I have seen it yet actually, I’ll need to check it out 🙂
http://lynettenoni.com/2015/01/02/2015-reading-challenge/
I think that should work!
I’m sure you’ll have fun with your reading challenge – you strike me as someone who achieves your goals 🙂
Wow, that really is ambitious! There are some very cool challenges on there.
Thanks, Mel 🙂
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