|
Post by Carl LaFong on Mar 28, 2023 22:17:25 GMT
reading challenges. I’ve set a goal of reading 50 books this year, and logging my progress is strangely satisfying. Some might not approve of turning reading into a game, but if it works for you, why not? This year, for the first time in my life, I signed up for a Goodreads challenge. I decided on the number of books I want to read over the next 12 months (a very modest 50, compared with someone else’s bewildering 300, which I saw float past on my newsfeed) and very quietly I am working towards meeting my target. I have never attempted anything like this before. Reading has always been a very personal thing, a topic to speak about only if someone asks, and I held the firm belief that challenges and targets belonged to my Peloton and not to my bookshelves. Now, however, I have a little percentage tracker on my home page, Goodreads friends applaud my progress each time I finish a book, and it feels … strangely comforting. The games, challenges and competitions start with gusto in January. No sooner have we dusted ourselves down from everyone’s “best books of the year”, we’re thrown straight into a literary Alton Towers with an endless choice of book rides on which to hop. The Goodreads challenge is the most straightforward, and based purely on numbers, but elsewhere online you can commit to a month of reading stories set in certain time periods or in particular countries, books within specific genres, a year-long A-Z challenge with a selective version of the alphabet (they tend not to bother with X), or even novels only with yellow covers. My particular favourite is a form of book bingo, in which there are no monthly constraints, but you just need to complete all the reading tasks (for example, a book set in France, a book about vampires) in time to shout “Bingo!” very loudly into the internet before New Year’s Day. … www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/28/points-mean-pages-why-ive-embraced-the-world-of-online-reading-challenges
|
|
|
Post by Catman on Mar 28, 2023 22:31:24 GMT
Brings to mind the summer reading challenge held each year by the public library in Catman's hometown back when he was but a kitten.
|
|
|
Post by Carl LaFong on Mar 29, 2023 0:37:48 GMT
Brings to mind the summer reading challenge held each year by the public library in Catman's hometown back when he was but a kitten. How many books did that involve? I think my Mum must read at least 200 a year. I’m lucky if I manage one.
|
|
|
Post by Catman on Mar 29, 2023 0:41:25 GMT
Brings to mind the summer reading challenge held each year by the public library in Catman's hometown back when he was but a kitten. How many books did that involve? I think my Mum must read at least 200 a year. I’m lucky if I manage one. Catman does not recall.
|
|
|
Post by Zos on Mar 30, 2023 11:24:41 GMT
I probably read around that. Have 3 on the go at all times. A novel, a music biog and another non fiction usually.
|
|
|
Post by Carl LaFong on Mar 30, 2023 17:55:34 GMT
I probably read around that. Have 3 on the go at all times. A novel, a music biog and another non fiction usually. Do you mean 50 or 200?
|
|
|
Post by Penn Guinn on Mar 30, 2023 19:39:03 GMT
Brings to mind the summer reading challenge held each year by the public library in Catman's hometown back when he was but a kitten. They still do that here with little prizes as goals are reached ... each reader gets to set their own goal so the ### of books varies with the readers (or the read to for the really young ones) ! Weekly story times follow a theme that varies each summer. They add to the appeal with decorating the libraries thematically.
|
|
|
Post by SuperDevilDoctor on Mar 30, 2023 21:04:56 GMT
I've been taking the Goodreads challenge for about three years now... I tend to set my goal at 18 to 24 books per year, and alternate between fiction and non-fiction with each book read.
Some are short (130-200 pages), while others are loooong (600+).
|
|
|
Post by Zos on Mar 31, 2023 9:45:57 GMT
I probably read around that. Have 3 on the go at all times. A novel, a music biog and another non fiction usually. Do you mean 50 or 200? 50, read for about 2 hours an evening.
|
|
|
Post by Carl LaFong on Mar 31, 2023 10:05:28 GMT
50, read for about 2 hours an evening. Still impressive.
|
|
|
Post by Zos on Mar 31, 2023 16:51:19 GMT
50, read for about 2 hours an evening. Still impressive. I just don't watch hardly any TV, would rather read and listen to music.
|
|
|
Post by Carl LaFong on Mar 31, 2023 17:20:58 GMT
I just don't watch hardly any TV, would rather read and listen to music. I need to do the same. Watch too much TV.
|
|
mmexis
Sophomore
@mmexis
Posts: 860
Likes: 732
|
Post by mmexis on Apr 10, 2023 13:01:00 GMT
My public library ( Toronto) has a reading challenge every year. So does our largest book store chain (Indigo/chapters). There is a highly informal one in my English department. After many years of reading YA as a judge for a youth reading program, I'm trying to focus on adult books but also reading ya because of my classes.
|
|
|
Post by pennypacker on Apr 11, 2023 0:52:38 GMT
I try a Goodreads challenge every year but it’s been a couple since I successfully completed one. I’m not on track this year either. 😭
I did once win a t-shirt from the library one year as a kid though.
|
|