I usually set a bar of at least 12 books a year, as I like books thick enough that you can seriously hurt someone with if you need/want to. Then I recently discovered The 52 Book Club’s 2024 Challenge here, and it really caught my eye. I’ve had a lot of fun trying to match my books to the prompts and browsing for new ones. I think the idea is a great one, as it should motivate me to read more different books without forcing me completely out of my comfort zone.
However, as funny as it may seem, the more I think about this challenge, the more stressed out I get trying to figure out how to make sure I manage to read so many books. I don’t want to force myself to read or try to find ways to cheat, like deliberately choosing small books and so on. I realise that this is a challenge to myself and it’s no big deal if I don’t achieve this goal. I also know that I’m still that person who cried for hours while reading Ulysses, trying to finish the damn book because it was on the required reading list and I refused to read the summary like any sane person would. I fear I will inevitably break under the pressure, which is the last thing I want after it took me years to get back to reading for pleasure.
So my question is: what are the alternatives? I would really appreciate suggestions of more approachable challenges. Or maybe someone knows a really huge cool challenge that is so massive that it could be a task of a lifetime. During my research I also came across various book bingos and got a bit lost in them, so perhaps you can recommend ones you liked, or anything else you may have tried and would recommend to others.
by khryslo
1 Comment
Read whatever you like. These goal numbers are completely arbitrary, and there are no extrinsic rewards or prizes. Would you rather read 52 short books that you don’t care about just to say you read 52 books? Or would you rather read 20 books you were actually interested in?
I recommend the latter – read books that are actually interesting to you and stop worrying about how many you read. I found in my own reading, I started reading a lot more consistently when I was deliberate about finding books that were actually interesting to me, and stopped concerning myself with being on pace with any sort of reading volume goal.