I have been a Goodreads member since 2013, and every year since 2014 I have participated in the annual Goodreads Reading Challenge, wherein users set themselves a goal for how many books they will read over the course of the year. For various reasons (the principal one being I chose not to include re-read books) I have yet to successfully complete a reading challenge, and progress on my current one isn’t going so well. I am way behind schedule.
The poor progress I’ve made so far seems even more pronounced to me because over the past couple of weeks I have congratulated a handful of Goodreads users (whom I’m either friends with or following) for completing their challenges several months ahead of schedule, while many others are well on course to achieving the same within the next few weeks. Though some of these readers set themselves relatively modest targets, others have set themselves three figure goals that dwarf my own (so I don’t really have an excuse).
At present, I’m embarrassed to admit that I have only finished six books as part of my attempt to read twenty-five titles in 2017. Admittedly, I didn’t begin my reading challenge until May but it’s been a pitiful effort on my part so far, especially when you consider that all but two of the books were read this month. However, seeing the progress made by others has boosted my motivation to complete my challenge this time around; and I certainly need the added encouragement because the four books I read this month have put a dent in my enthusiasm. While I dislike to call the work of other authors as terrible, I have no trouble saying that the titles in question were such a chore to read they each received 1 star ratings from me. And truth be told, I feel as though I was being generous in awarding them that much.
Having deliberately set myself such a low goal, I am reasonably confident that I will complete my reading challenge before the end of the year. But that being said, I really want to test myself further by seeing just how soon before the last day of 2017 I can achieve it. As the year is about to enter its fourth and final quarter, my first task is to get my challenge back on schedule. According to Goodreads I am twelve books behind schedule so I am setting myself a mini challenge of finishing twelve books during the month of October. I’ve compiled the list of books I plan to read, and though it’s unlikely I’ll successfully finish all twelve by the end of October, I will be disappointed if I don’t do at least half. It will probably require lots of late nights but I am up for the challenge.
If you are a Goodreads user, how is your reading challenge going? Have you completed it already, or getting close to doing so? Or are you, like me, way behind schedule? If so, do you plan to take steps to get it done? Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks for reading,
Ian
At Home With lonelyboy1977 
Finished my challenge! Which you already know.. I’ve only done the challenge twice though so still being fairly reasonable with my goals 🙂
I’m torn between encouraging you to beat your challenge and just telling you to get on with writing instead 😉
But I definitely think you should read books that excite you. If it’s a chore you won’t enjoy it and then what’s the point?
At the risk of overflowing my TBR even more, what are the 12 books on your list? :O
Okay, the 12 books are listed below. I think they are all under 400 pages which is why I chose them. 😉
01. Master Of Crows – Grace Draven (Currently Reading)
02. Just Breathe – Sarah Doughty
03. Minutes Before Sunset – Shannon A. Thompson
04. Bloodfire – Helen Harper
05. The Gunslinger – Stephen King
06. The Forever War – Joe Haldeman
07. Darkstorm – M.L. Spencer
08. Scourge Of The Betrayer – Jeff Salyards
09. The Immortals, Part One: Shadows & Starstone – Cheryl S. Mackey
10. Sabriel – Garth Nix
11. Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer
12. A Wrinkle In Time – Madaleine L’Engle
I haven’t even heard of most of them 😛 I hope you’ve picked them because you’re actually interested in them, not just for page count :O I definitely want to know what you think of Minutes Before Sunset
LOL! Yes, I’m genuinely interested in the books I’ve chosen. It’s just a bonus that they’re shorter than most of the books I usually read.
With any luck I’ll get to Shannon’s book this weekend.
It’s next on my list, rereading because she just gave me book two in exchange for a review 😀
I am currently 4 books behind schedule, but catching up quickly! I’ve started having to be firm with myself to go to bed at a reasonable hour to give myself am hour or two to read before sleep.
Well you’re doing much better than I am, Angie. If I’m still way behind schedule by the end of November I’m going to have to resort to re-reading a few of my favourite short stories to make sure I reach my goal. 😉
When I was on GR and then on Booklikes, I did the yearly challenge. This year though, while I’ve put forth something on Librarything, I’m just not feeling any great need to challenge myself.
That being said, I’m a reader. If you are going to identify as a writer, you might want to think about the goal as something ancillary…
I can certainly see the logic in treating reading as something ancillary to writing. But since early childhood the two have always gone hand in hand for me, so I’m not sure I could ever truly favour one over the other.