Holly: I never used to set reading goals/challenges for myself, because I would always end up with reading anxiety when I did. “I’m supposed to read 100 books this year and it’s December and I’ve only read 75!?!?!” Then I’d get so freaked out I’d give myself readers-block (it’s a real thing!) and not be able to read at all.
The last few years I’ve done a number challenge (211, 200, 200, etc), and did pretty well with it. I didn’t freak myself out because I just considered it a way to track my reads, which I’ve been doing for years now. This year, however, I’m going to set a few reading goals. I want to broaden my reading horizons, and get out of my comfort zone more.
In an effort to do that, I plan to continue to read new-to-me authors. I read 48 new authors in 2013 and 46 in 2014. That averages out to about 4 per month. Not terrible, but when you consider I average approximately 20 books per month, I feel like I could be doing better. I’m also going to try to branch out and read things beside contemporary romance. I read 136 contemps in 2014, and less than half that many paranormals. The numbers of historical, rom-suspense and other sub-genres was negligible. I also joined a reading challenge to help me cull down my TBR pile and motivate me to read outside my comfort zone. I found this challenge on Pinterest. Rowena has agreed to do it with me. (I ‘m also considering this challenge, also found on Pinterest. I haven’t decided if I’ll do one or both.)
To summarize, or the TL;DR version:
1. Read more sub-genres
2. Read more new authors
3. Finish the 2015 Reading Challenge
Rowena: 2015 was going to be the year that I take a break from reading challenges. It was going to be the year that I read whatever I want, whenever I want and not be bogged down with review books and whatever else but I can’t help myself. I like reading challenges. They’re good for variety because like Holly, I read a lot of contemporary books so the goals I’m setting are to get me out of my comfort zone and try new to me things. I won’t know if I like something until I try it, right?
I have a tendency to stick to what I know and what has worked with me. So if a new to me author is popular, I won’t try them out until someone I know personally recommends them. And even then, it might take me years. Haha.
I belong to a book club that meets once a month to discuss books and last year, there were a few times that I didn’t read the book and couldn’t participate in the discussion. That ends this year. I will read and discuss every single book that we choose to read as a club.
So aside from the 2015 reading challenge with Holly, my reading goals are:
- Read more new to me authors
- Read more sub-genres
- Read all of my book club picks
- Read more for me and not anyone else
Did you join any challenges in 2015? What are your reading goals?
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