Last year at around this time I got ready to set the number for the yearly Goodreads reading challenge and I changed my mind about how I would approach reading in 2015. I decided I would not be setting a number goal for 2015.
I’ve been on Goodreads since 2008 and I’ve been doing the Goodreads reading challenges for however long they’ve been doing it. It was SO weird for me to not set one but I felt I just wanted to try something new. I kept toying with doing OTHER (non-numbers based) challenges but ended up being completely challenge-less for the year.
This was a little bit of my rationale from that post:
“Even though my Goodreads reading challenge is not the end-all-be-all of my life by any means, it still is this presence breathing down my neck. It’s everywhere. I mean, most years I’m 30 books behind and not caring so it’s not like it really IMPACTS me or that I take it SO seriously. But it’s always there (especially when I think about picking up a chunky book or a book I know will be a slower read aka non-fiction or super literary adult fiction). Even though any pressure with it is mostly self-imposed even for someone who approaches it very low key, there is still a degree of pressure just by even logging into Goodreads and KNOWING that damn widget is going to let me know where I stand. (Mostly, it’s always YOU ARE BEHIND!)”
So I stand here..a year-ish later with some thoughts and observations:
1. I’m not going to lie it was so nice to not login and see the Goodreads widget telling me how behind I was: I know that’s silly because it really doesn’t matter but MAN I hated being reminded of my perpetual knack for being behind on the challenge.
2. On the other hand, I missed having something to aim for: As much as I enjoyed zero pressure…it was always kind of fun to see if I could hit a goal of some sort even if sometimes it made me feel like I was powering through books just to get them read. What I take from that is that I like to challenge myself but I don’t enjoy when it compels me to power through books for the sake of the reading challenge.
3. I said I wasn’t going to look at how many books I had read until the end of the year but I did check periodically: It was interesting because it was more out of curiosity but I didn’t feel disappointment or anything when I saw the number. Even with TRACKING how much I read every couple months I didn’t feel the same pressure as when I was actively TRYING to reach a certain number. Knowing the number didn’t wig me out or put any pressure.
4. I’m on track to read about the same or a couple more than last year: I thought maybe my number of books read would go down if I wasn’t trying to aim for a number but interestingly enough I’m on track for about the same (and if I do end up reading a couple more) maybe even more books than I read last year or any year that I did the challenge. This was SUPER surprising to me.
5. I felt like I did pick up longer books or ~slower~ reads than other years: As I said in last years post I felt like sometimes the challenge made me focus too much on the NUMBER of books rather than how many pages I actually read (something I talked about in my end of year reading blues post). Every year around the September or October mark I would try and pick up shorter reads to really boost my Goodreads challenge…this year I didn’t find myself picking my reads based on size or how quickly I could blaze through it.
6. I found myself really pacing myself reading-wise: In previous years I would go in these spurts of reading to catch up to my target for the Goodreads challenge but then get majorly burned out. This year I felt like my reading was paced and I let myself read when I wanted to and when I didn’t which led to less burnout feeling. The times I didn’t read for a week or so I had ZERO guilt and knew it wasn’t because I was burnt out but just because that’s where my life and reading whims were taking me and it was great.
My Overall Feel About My Reading Year
I felt really chill and no pressure about my reading year which was exactly what I wanted. I hate how blogging has sometimes made me feel pressured to read even more compulsively than I normally do. Taking some of the self-imposed pressure off just by getting rid of a silly widget meant for fun was liberating and apparently did the trick — to remind me that my reading life is not a competition or a race. It was a good reminder because after 5+ years of blogging about books it is easy to get wrapped up in reading for other reasons when the real reason is I just freaking love to read. I *DID* miss some of the fun parts of challenging myself though! But overall, I really enjoyed my little experiment!!
So What Are My Challenge Plans For Next Year?
I kept wondering if I would go back to the challenge just for fun but I honestly don’t know. I also immediately, in the same thought, was like HECK NO, this year was great. Then I thought about how I really do miss having a CHALLENGE. I haven’t made any official plans but I think maybe my experiment for next year will be to try non-numbers based challenges and see how that goes — and again ignoring the shiny Goodreads widget. I don’t know if I will participate in community wide challenges (some of them look super enticing) or if I’ll just make up my own personal challenges but I think that’s the route I might head. It makes sense for my desire to still have a fun type of challenge for the year but not get so caught up in the numbers. I’m already thinking of fun ways to expand my reading life with non-numbers challenges — genres and subjects and finishing up series…all sorts of categories I could make for myself.
Tell me…did you participate in any challenges for 2015? How did they go? What are your reading challenge plans for 2016(please tell me in case I decide to go a challenge route)? And just in general…how was your year of reading in 2015??
Elizabeth says
This is my second year doing the Goodreads Challenge, and it’s helped me to be more accountable and read more books. I have, or had, a bad habit of re-reading books I already love rather than discovering new ones. The bad thing though, like you mention, is that I shy away from bigger books because I know they’ll slow me down. Still, the challenge is good for me, and I love that sense of accomplishment when I get one more closer to my goal! 🙂
April says
Good job on taking a more relaxed approach to this year. I know the feeling, at times I’ve have dreaded seeing Goodreads tell me I was behind. I have series of books at home that I have read the first one or two and enjoyed them so much that I knew I would want to read them but haven’t. I may have next year be the year of reading as many of those as I can. I’ve also had the idea at times to just start at the beginning of my bookshelves and read as many of the ones that I haven’t yet. I have my books divided out by classics, series and then standalones. Each of those are ordered by author. That challenge could be fun to mix things up. Happy reading! 🙂
Shannelle says
I did participate in it, and I got it in the middle year of the year because I had a six-month vacation. But I don’t think I can do it next year, because uni really cut down my reading time. It’s either I find a way to make myself read more next year, which the GR challenge could help with, or I just take it easy and read what I want.
I think I might just set it to an easy number, like 10. I still want to say I’ve won it consecutively for some time. But as a personal challenge, I hope to be able to include some lettering each time I talk about a book.
Sasha says
When the Goodreads challenge was introduced, I immediately loved it! I thought it was an amazing way to give an extra dimension to your reading. But like I mentioned in this post (https://theneverendingbookpile.wordpress.com/2015/10/24/goodreads-youre-doing-it-wrong/), I’m afraid that Goodreads has gotten stuck in the past. A Dutch reading site has just released their reading challenge of 2016 and it’s filled with “read one classic”, “read a book over … pages”, “read a non-fiction”… This is the kind of challenge that adds more depth to reading, just reaching a certain number is to two-dimensional. Especially when you can change that number until the very last day of the challenge.
If I read 9 more books this year, I will have read double the amount of books I set out to read. I have some graphic novels on my TBR that I really want to read, but I’m waiting until 2016 before reading them as I know that some people will criticize me reaching double my goal with reading “only” a graphic novel. It saddens me a bit that I feel the urge to do this, reading challenges should be fun but something has rotten in the Goodreads challenge.
Jessica says
This year my goal was to finish the series I had begun, and not start new ones. How did I do? Lol well I had a baby. That really took a lot of reading time and turned it into napping time. But I did finish 6 series I had previously started. Considering I ended up re-reading a few books in those series I think that was pretty good. I also didnt start many news ones. This is my first year blogging so I am very inclined to participate in reading challenges. I have discovered I dont enjoy readathons, my life is too unpredictable to plan for a ton of reading in a very short time. But I do like some of the year long challenges, and for some reason I feel like pressure to complete them 100%, I just like having something to aim for.
Geraldine says
Yeah, the pressure to keep reading books turned me off blogging for a bit. Good post, it elucidates what I feel about the challenge. I definitely felt a sense of achievement, but there was some anxiety throughout the year to meet my goal
Mel says
I’ve tried to do the challenge this year but because December is such a busy month and I moved house in August (which was totally unplanned!) I fell quite behind so doubt I will not make the goal this year. Interestingly enough I was thinking about setting my challenge for next year the other day and wandering if I should bring the number down drastically but like you I think I’d miss the challenge a bit too much and having something to aim for even if it is for my own benefit.
Mel ♥ everyword.meljwills.com
Katina says
If your looking for different types of ‘challenges’ the popsugar one is one of my favorites. It gives you different categories to read books from so for me it got me out of my comfort zone which I loved. I did the goodreads this year as well and I cut my number back in like September because I realized how unrealistic it was. After finishing Winter I did start picking up quick reads so I can still meat my goal, but at this point I’m okay with that, I think in 2016 I am going to track page numbers instead so I’m not afraid of the giant books on my shelf.
Christina (A Reader of Fictions) says
You inspired me this year to delete my GR challenge. It’s been a growth year for me, and I realized how much of actual life I was sacrificing to reach a certain standard of posting on my blog. Turns out that wasn’t really healthy for me. I’d love to read 300 books every year, but I’ll be at about 265 this year, I think. This year, I’ve focused on making my reading more fun and forcing myself less. Most weekends, I actually don’t do much reading anymore. I spend that time with my boyfriend and take the weekdays for myself and my reading. I’m still getting plenty read, unless I’m reading meh stuff and feeling slumpy.
This year, I’ll probably eschew the challenge, but, like you, I do sort of miss seeing how I’m doing. Maybe I could set it to like 200 where I’d definitely hit it, but I don’t know. I actually think I read less long books this year, but, if so, it was purely coincidental. :-p
Meg says
Though I did “commit” to reading 50 books on Goodreads this year, I knew that was pretty ridiculous for me to attempt with the new baby and all. And sure enough, I think I’ve read 35 books this year — most on audio! A far cry from the 85 I’ve been averaging lately! But no matter.
It’s awesome that you had a nice, no-pressure year . . . though I understand the enjoyment of challenging yourself in one way or another. I think I’m going to do a “read your own books” challenge in 2016 and put a moratorium on buying anything new. Between the library, review copies and the hundreds of books I already own, there is no reason for me to buy anything right now! But we’ll see how that goes . . .
Alise @ Read.Write.Repeat. says
I totally resonate with moving away from a numbers-based challenge. I, too, find that it has opened me up to reading more for quality and substance rather than racing through shorter things to meet a goal. I did the TBR List Challenge this year and, while I’ve enjoyed it, I haven’t liked the stress of getting a certain number of books done by a certain time.
I’m in the process of deciding on 2016 goals, too. I’d love to team up and create a more content driven challenge for us and others to do. Thoughts?
Heather says
This was my second year doing the Goodreads challenge and I will probably do it again this year, though I’m not sure what my goal will be. I have too small children, so it was really helpful to have some goals to help encourage me and in turn reminded me how much I had missed reading all the time. I don’t read nearly as much as I used to and I’m getting my joy back.
Hannah @ Broc's Bookcase says
This was my second year taking part in the challenge and I actually ended up editing my number because I was so behind and like you hated that little widget that reminded me just how much! I have felt a lot better since making my target a little less (I think I was too optimistic!) and have enjoyed reading more without the stress of trying to read as much as possible!
I definitely think I will be taking part again next year, but maybe I’ll rethink my target!
Brittany says
I really love the Goodreads book challenge! I find that it helps keep me out of reading slumps since I have a goal to reach.
However, I TOTALLY understand where you are coming from. I’m approaching it very conservatively and trying to give myself super realistic goals. For 2015 I gave my self the base goal of 3 books per month/36 books for the whole year. In future years I plan on adding 1 book to the previous years count. I might change my approach in the future, but this is my current game plan.
looloolooweez says
I’m hopelessly behind on my Goodreads challenge this year. Part of me feels pressured and anxious about that little tracking widget, but I’m trying to concentrate on how much reading I did this year that didn’t even get tracked — I don’t track re-reads on Goodreads, and I’ve also been reading a lot of news & scholarly stuff that isn’t published in book format. Based on time spent reading alone, I’ve probably read more this year than last year but you wouldn’t know it to look at Goodreads.
I think I’ll do the challenge again next year just because (a) I like having a goal to shoot for and (b) I like the little tracking widget, but I’m going to set the goal lower with the understanding that it’s for new-to-me books only. So I can leave lots of wiggle room for non-Goodreads-tracked reading.
Candice says
I’m never doing another Goodreads challenge. At least not one with 52 books. I’m reading children’s books to catch up now, for the love of god. Because I CAN’T LOSE.
Emily Seals says
I knew this year would be busy and stressful, and I knew how awful I felt for not reaching my goal in previous years, so I set my goal low. Really low. 15 books. Still enough to keep me reading throughout the year, but not enough to put pressure on me. It was awesome.
Critica says
I really don’t use the Goodreads challenge as a challenge per se – the number I pick is a minimum that I know I have a 95% chance of reaching and a decent chance of surpassing. That way there isn’t much pressure. I’m not always good at putting books down that I’m not fond of or need a break from, but when I see how hanging on can affect my tiny minimalist goal, it encourages me to take breaks from books that just aren’t pleasing me at the moment or giving up altogether. I think it’s good to take breaks and wait until I feel like I’m in the mood to read a particular book again. So that system seems to work for me.
Tanya Patrice says
I have the number there but I honestly don’t care about it. I’m a slow reader and always aim for 50 books. If I don’t hit that challenge, but had fun running / exercising more – then that just means that’s where my head was at. And I’m totally ok with that.
Kathryn says
I like the Goodreads challenge just for something fun and I like the widget that reminds be of how many books I’ve read so far throughout the year. I do agree though that it makes it hard to take into account longer / slower reads. Since elementary school I’ve kept a journal to keep track of my reading during summer breaks from classes and I alway keep track of the number of pages as well. Now when I look back I like to compare how many pages I read more than the number of books – it would be neat if Goodreads had a way to incorporate the length of books!
Maryam Dinzly says
I participated this year, and I felt… disappointed. I guess, my problem was the opposite of yours. I wanted to have that challenge. To know that YAY I actually read this amount of books this year. But for some reason, I want it to be a CHALLENGE. And last year when I put 100 books, I finished it in JUNE. Then this year I put 200 and even though I finished it in November, it still didn’t feel like much of an accomplishment, you know? Because I did not read for 2-3 months, and I knew if I had, I would finished it in October or something. Like, I want to feel that challenge HAHAH. I want to desperately TRY to reach for that amount of books. Maybe it’s just me? Le sigh.
Jenna @ JMill Wanders says
I aimed for 80 books this year (on GoodReads), which is the highest I’ve ever aimed. I’m currently at 96 books, so now I’m thinking I’ll get to 100 books by the end of the year. I do understand the pressure of the number, but I also don’t let it get me down. It’s a nice reference point, but I don’t feel like a failure if I don’t make the goal. Life happens, and sometimes we can’t read as many books as we thought. There are also those chunk books that should really count as three books, so take pride in those. 🙂
JessKidding says
I’m starting a new graduate program in January, and have been going back and forth between setting a smaller goal, or no goal at all, so that I’m not pressured to read. You post mirrored a lot of my own thoughts, and I think I’ll still set a small goal with Goodreads, just because I’m not ready to give it up yet. But I’m glad to know that doing away with the goal can be successfully done.
Mel@thedailyprophecy says
I love joining different challenges, that’s why I’m also hosting one myself, but I like to keep it stress-free by setting goals I KNOW I can make. I also keep going on with the Goodreads challenge. I like to push myself to read more, but at the same time, I’m someone who really doesn’t care if I don’t make it. The whole ‘x books behind’ doesn’t make me feel pressured to read more. It’s great that you tried this and that it worked for you!
JoLee says
I NEVER do the Goodreads challenge for basically all of these reasons. I feel like a reading challenge would be best for someone that didn’t read that much and really wanted to actively try and read more over the course of the year. I read 100+ books a year. I am always reading. I definitely don’t need added pressure to get in more books. And, it seems to me that once you reach a certain number of books, it doesn’t really matter if you are a few more or a few less than your average. Someday I think it could be fun to do a reading challenge that wasn’t number based. I’ve seen some that have lists of different types of books to read over the course of the year. At the right point in my life I could see that being really productive.
Meredith @ Pandora's Books says
I’ve done the Goodreads challenge for 2 year now. Last year, my goal was 100 books and I had to lower it to 75 and even then, I JUST made it to 75 books. This year, I started out with 75 and I’m at 69/75 read, 1 book behind. I’m reading very slow right now because of family things and I can DEFINITELY feel the pressure to read faster and meet that goal. But then I remind myself I have like 20 days left to read 6 books and 3 of them HAVE to be read by next week for blog tours, so that means I’ll only need to finish 3 books in roughly 10 days. Not too bad. But then GAH! So… yeah, haha! I’m debating if I’ll participate next year. Despite the pressure, I think I will! It’s fun to keep track and it makes it easier to go back and grab the book page when I go to write reviews. It’s a bit frustrating and so much pressure, but it’s fun to challenge myself! Next year, if I DO participate, I hope to make it to 100 books! But we’ll see!
Sam says
I totally get it. The book challenge is fun but the first year I did it I went crazy trying to play the never ending catch up game. In the past few years I set my numbers really low and always make my goal 3 times over. What I really like about the challenge is that it is a really easy way to track what books I read each year and I like going back to see what I was interested in at the time. I hear you on picking up books that I normally wouldn’t. Once I set my numbers low I was more inclined to pick back pick Game of Thrones.
DanaSquare says
I set my goal a little higher, or at least try to attempt closer to certain goal, each year. I like the challenge mainly for being able to easily keep track of what I have read in the year. I’m not all that organized with having goodreads lists so the challenge is a nice way to keep organized, plus I just like knowing how many I do read in the year!
Claire says
I ‘challenged’ myself to 100 books this year and I have passed it. But I don’t really see the challenge in reaching the target I would like to read less and interact with people more! I love the challenge as a way of seeing what I read this year. I feel absolutely no pressure from it.