It’s that time of year again….time when I realize that I’ve probably bitten off more than I can chew when I comes to the reading challenges I’ve signed up to participate in for the year…but guess what? I’m probably going to do the same thing again for the upcoming year. Why, you ask? Well, let’s see…
Why I like reading challenges:
I can be a competitive person and find reading challenges are great for challenging myself to read certain types of books or genres. While I don’t always succeed at the goals I set at the beginning of the year, it’s fun (while at times stressful) to see just how far I get.
I might be amongst the minority of book bloggers out there that participate in these challenges, but I enjoy them and that’s all that matters. This isn’t about doing something because everyone else is doing it, it’s because I like joining these and maybe, just maybe, one year I’ll come up with one to host myself.
How I choose what reading challenges to do:
I like to try new challenges while doing some of the same ones year after year. I am a big fan of supporting my library, so I usually do that challenge, as well as one that pertains to reading e-books. As I’m a big fan of reading series, I’ve had fun participating in both the 1st in a Series and Finish the Series reading challenges. For the latter, I usually pick 3 series that I’ve started but am desperately behind in.
While I didn’t fair all that well with the new challenges I picked this year – except for the First Reads challenge, which I grossly underestimated as I never really tracked how many new-to-me authors I read in a given year – I still plan to find similar challenges for the upcoming year – more so I can finally read the books I have picked out for those challenges! And yes, they are already sitting on my shelf, so they will count for another challenge – mentioned below – I’m about cross-overs whenever possible with reading challenges!!!
I’m still deciding on exactly what challenges I will be participating in for 2014, but one thing I know for certain is that I will be focusing mainly on reading my own books. I have so many books sitting on my shelves that have not been read – so where I failed this year with the Off the Shelf Challenge – whatever comparable challenge (I’m thinking Mount TBR Reading Challenge) I choose to do in 2014, it will be a priority.
So, what about you? Do you participate in reading challenges? Why or why not? Let’s discuss…
I like the way you organise your reading challenges and I have learned a lot from you on that, so I will be better able to track myself in 2014.
I am a competitive person as well. Even if it is something at work and my class compete – I am in there and love winning! As you know you can't win everything but I love my competitive streak! And if I complete a challenge in my mind I win!
I am going to do the library challenge this year, go in low, but still one I think is a good idea. The ebook challenge is another one – my kindle is groaning with unreads. I will read about the off my shelf challenge too. My shelves groan as well.
I like challenges too where I am invited to choose something a little out of my usual genre reading. The Eclectic reading challenge will push me to that.
I am in the middle of a series but will not have a hope of finishing it in a year – I need to look for one that just encourages me to read a chunk of the series!
Have a great 2014 of reading challenges!
Thank you – glad I could help you! I love using the bars – and can't even remember who I got them from, but love the visual they provide!
I'm not sure what series I'm going to pick for the Finish the series one this year – need to do some thinking on that! But I do love that challenge – and the feeling of being caught up in the series.
Good luck to you in your challenges in 2014 and thanks for discussing!
I like to challenge myself as opposed to joining a group challenge (usually). I tend to see gaps in my reading and try to fill them in!
I join the challenges for myself, too – even though others are joining in, I still think it can be an individual challenge. That's what I like about the challenges – you get to pick what level you want to participate at. I rarely have contact with anyone else doing the challenges and I know that the challenge hosts usually have posts where you can link up reviews and I always forget about doing that. As for gaps in reading, that's where I try to do a new challenge each year – but as you can see from the side – I'm not always successful – like the Classics challenge. But, I'll keep trying (and at least I read 1 this year!)
I kind of failed at all of my reading challenges this year which is a first for me. I usually try really hard and complete most of them but this year I let it go by the wayside. Maybe next year I'll just try a couple. I haven't decided yet. I do like reading new things and challenging myself to read outside the box and participating in reading challenges is one way to do that. Good luck with your challenges for 2014 and with completing your current challenges!
I think I did better last year, too, and was really stressing out about this years' challenges back in Oct, and then realized I was being a bit silly. I do them for myself – to try to branch out of my usual reading habits and so if I don't get to them all, it's not the end of the world. Like I said in the beginning of my post, I will probably end up signing up for a ton again in 2014 with the hopes that I do well, but hey – life gets in the way and new books come out that I 'must' read. Good luck to you with what you choose to do in 2014!!!
I used to participate in challenges – the first few years of blogging – but let them go last year. I'm tempted to join the finish the series challenge. I have several I'd like to finish reading but never get around to them. Maybe a challenge would motivate me? Thanks for getting me thinking about it 🙂 Good luck with reaching your challenge goals!
I love the Finish the Series challenge – this is the 2nd year I've done it and I will definitely be doing it again next year. For the past 2 years, I've chosen 3 series to complete. It does motivate you to get up-to-date on those series you started but haven't read in a while. I'm still trying to decide what I'm doing to choose to finish next year. This year, I choose one to do all in audio and it was great – the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Hope you decide to join in the challenge!
I love the challenges too, I hope you take a look at the 2014 WHERE Are You reading challenge. Always a good one and it fits in with all the other challenges 🙂
I'll definitely take a closer look at that one – I've seen people talking about it but never really looked into it. And I love challenges that allow for cross-overs!!! Thanks!
I love reading challenges – my only problem is I get hell bent on completing them and end up rushing or resenting the last ones on my pile. Other problem is I pick titles that I *don't* want to read but feel I ought to, thinking that at some point in the coming year I will want to. Rarely happens!
I don't think you're in the minority at all 🙂 I love reading challenges and I think most of the bloggers I'm following are at least doing one or tow. I love using them as a way to expand my reading repertoire and like you, I can enjoy them even when I don't finish them.