It's a little past the halfway mark, but I'll take stock anyway.
My challenge to read 25 books set in 25 countries is going gangbusters. I'm slightly ahead of the pace; moreover, it's been highly stimulating and satisfying. Just as one example,
A Chronicle in Stone by Albanian author Ismail Kadare is one of the best books I've read all year and I never would have discovered it if I hadn't been actively seeking out new countries. I'm so happy with this challenge that I'm already planning a variant for next year, which will only count literature originating in the country itself and not count travel and other non-fiction by non-nationals. As an aside, as a result of this challenge I'm also reading more fiction than I've read in years and I'm greatly enjoying it.
My other challenge, to read 25 books from my paper TBR pile, languished for a while and as a result, I was way behind come June. I was close to throwing in the figurative towel, but I've girded my mental loins and made a concerted effort and now I think I'll do it, or at least not fail by not trying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by orlok
Altering a challenge because I'm not going to do it seems a bit pointless to me. It's not a challenge if I can change the rules at any time (is how it feels to me). If I don't get round to them, then I'll just fail the challenge.
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My thoughts exactly. I was tempted to abandon the pbook challenge, but a challenge is supposed to chafe at least a little. A challenge consisting of books I'd have read anyway is not a challenge, IMO. It's why I downgraded the 100 books challenge to a benchmark this year. I know sometimes a challenge may be unreachable because of unforeseen external exigencies or unwarranted because of a seismic change in interests, but as long as it wasn't entirely unrealistic in the first place, most often falling way off is because of laziness or simply because "I don't wanna." After all, there's a reason why the books have lain around all this time; they never appealed sufficiently. OTOH, there's also a reason why I bought them, so I have to keep that in mind.
I'm quite happy if I decide I'll never read a book and offload it where it'll do some good. I can't count it, but reducing the clutter is liberating.