Last year I did a reading challenge – never again!
Last year, I did a reading challenge where I attempted to read a book a week. I read a lot, and it wasn’t too difficult, but I will never do it again. Here’s why…
The reading challenge meant 52 books, and I love to read.
I read what I consider an average amount. According to Goodreads and my Kindle, I average about 20 books yearly. But then I also read some paperbacks, which I neglected to add to anything, so it is probably around 26 books a year. Which is a decent amount.
Anyway… I read a lot and thought I could push myself to do more. 2023 was an idealistic and hopeful time, so I did a Goodreads challenge to read more – and failed. I read a mere 47 books. You can check out the challenge page here and see what I read. It is marked as a success, but I was aiming for 52 books. I just don’t like to lose, so I changed the target – I was like James T Kirk facing the Kobayashi Maru and cheated.
I mostly read science fiction and fantasy, with the odd thriller, historical fiction, or nonfiction book chucked in. You can read my normal fiction/nonfiction book reviews here. Or you can check out my sci-fi and fantasy books reviews here.
So, just to reiterate – I love reading. So what’s the issue?
The target altered what I read
I read whatever I feel like at the moment I finish a book. I should probably work out a list as I have roughly a billion books, give or take lots. I am also in the middle of several series—I’m midway through The Wheel of Time, on book six of The Dresden Files, on book six of a reread of Terry Pratchett, on book three of Pierce Brown’s stuff (what I’m reading now), Ken Follett’s Kingsbridge series, and tons more.
The problem is that the reading challenge affected what I chose next. When I started, I was finishing a Wheel of Time book. I love that series, but my god, they are thick, meaty tomes. Happily, I was about 100 pages from the end of book five at the start of the year, so it didn’t slow me down. Being long and involved applies to many series I’m in the middle of, such as the Pierce Brown novels. I love reading epic books.
And that was the problem. Midway through the year, I fancied returning to the Wheel of Time or perhaps a Sanderson. But they were too long, and I was slightly behind in my challenge. So I read shorter books just to pull ahead. Then something would happen, like a load of work, and I would fall back again and, therefore, couldn’t read the longer books I wanted.
I was committed then, so I didn’t want to stop. But it slowly dawned on me that it was dumb. I wanted to read some longer novels and couldn’t, or I’d fail. In the final quarter of the year, I gave up. Despite its pleasing thickness, I started Red Rising by Pierce Brown and I’m bloodydamn happy I did.
I have read three books this year, and they’ve all been doorstoppers. It has been great.
So, the reading challenge was fun, and I read more short novels than I have in a while, but I’ll never do one again. It somehow impacted my sheer love of reading, especially of longer novels in huge series. I put them off and felt vaguely wistful.
Coincidentally, my average is almost half the challenge I set last year, so I can now read longer books. Which I’m now going to do. Good times.
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