Last year, I challenged myself to read one hundred books, and this year I did the same. For me, the problem with the reading challenge is that whilst it's a great way to track books and challenge yourself, it puts on so much added pressure to read more books, not read good books. The sentence '10 books behind schedule' genuinely made me avoid Goodreads.
I'm still going to use GR for reviews, but ever since I started using the website I've been feeling so much pressure to read more, rather than read when I want to. I purposely go for smaller books in an attempt to get ahead on my challenge, and somehow reading felt more of a chore.
I've got rid of the challenge, and I feel lighter because of it.
Yeah, I was ten books behind, but I wouldn't call that failing. I've read twenty eight books so far this year, and that is not a failure--it's more than a lot of people read in a year.
For all I know, I may end up reading more than a hundred books. I could end up reading less. I just don't want to read for the sake of it, not when I have exams and all that jazz to think about. I would say that I was prioritising exams, but that'd be a lie. I'm a terrible student.
I'm still drowning in a sea of unread books-- the last count was ninety-nine--but the pressure has been lifted.
The reading challenge is a good idea and it works for a lot of people, but if you're like me and felt as if it was pressuring you to read books that you didn't want to, I'd suggest having a break from it.
When I log onto Goodreads and see this, I'm not filled with the same feeling of dread that I was before. Instead I feel proud of the great stories that I've found, not the number of pages that I've turned.
I don't want to measure the quality of my reading year on the amount of books I've read, but instead the worlds explored and the new favourites found.
Am I the only one who feels like this?
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