MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - The 2013 Annual Reading Challenge

sun surfer · 12-29-2013, 11:07 AM

I made my goal!

This is the first year that I have completely finished my reading challenge. Other years I had completed part of my goal, such as last year when I reached the page count goal but didn't finish the entire list of books that I'd pre-selected for my challenge.

This year I broke my challenges up into half-year sections. First was January to June, with a challenge of 4,000 pages, and I finished June with 4,298 pages. July to December was similar except that it was 4,000 pages including reading Ulysses by James Joyce. I reached 4,000 pages in November so when I finally got through Ulysses earlier this month my challenge was complete. However I noticed I was getting close to 6,000 pages for this half year, so I made myself a mini-challenge for December of getting to 10,000 pages for the year instead of the 8,000 my original challenges would've made. I made that about a week ago - I'm at 5,714 for this half year so far (and may add one more book to the count before all is said and done) and added to the 4,298 of the first half year I'm at 10,012 for the year.

I really enjoyed my challenges this year. I love the half-year aspect because before, if I'd gotten behind in the challenge, it felt like I spent the whole second half of the year behind and trying to catch up. Even though I didn't get behind this year, if I had then the slate would've been wiped clean in July and I would've had a fresh start. So I'll be doing half-year challenges again for 2014. I also love doing it by page count - reading 500, 600, 700, 1100, 1200 page books and so on, it doesn't seem quite fair to count them each as simply "one book" when a 100 or 200 page book would count the same. I don't like thinking that if I were doing it by book count that I might factor length into which book I choose to read, so page count keeps me free to choose whichever book I want with no adverse effect on my challenge.

As a final bit of info, with perhaps one more book to add before the new year, I"m at 10,012 pages read, 27 books read and an average of around 370 pages per book.

12-29-2013, 11:07 AM	#605
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44667380 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	I made my goal! This is the first year that I have completely finished my reading challenge. Other years I had completed part of my goal, such as last year when I reached the page count goal but didn't finish the entire list of books that I'd pre-selected for my challenge. This year I broke my challenges up into half-year sections. First was January to June, with a challenge of 4,000 pages, and I finished June with 4,298 pages. July to December was similar except that it was 4,000 pages including reading Ulysses by James Joyce. I reached 4,000 pages in November so when I finally got through Ulysses earlier this month my challenge was complete. However I noticed I was getting close to 6,000 pages for this half year, so I made myself a mini-challenge for December of getting to 10,000 pages for the year instead of the 8,000 my original challenges would've made. I made that about a week ago - I'm at 5,714 for this half year so far (and may add one more book to the count before all is said and done) and added to the 4,298 of the first half year I'm at 10,012 for the year. I really enjoyed my challenges this year. I love the half-year aspect because before, if I'd gotten behind in the challenge, it felt like I spent the whole second half of the year behind and trying to catch up. Even though I didn't get behind this year, if I had then the slate would've been wiped clean in July and I would've had a fresh start. So I'll be doing half-year challenges again for 2014. I also love doing it by page count - reading 500, 600, 700, 1100, 1200 page books and so on, it doesn't seem quite fair to count them each as simply "one book" when a 100 or 200 page book would count the same. I don't like thinking that if I were doing it by book count that I might factor length into which book I choose to read, so page count keeps me free to choose whichever book I want with no adverse effect on my challenge. As a final bit of info, with perhaps one more book to add before the new year, I"m at 10,012 pages read, 27 books read and an average of around 370 pages per book.