I suppose it's finally time to decide on my 2017 challenge.
I met my challenge goals in '14 and '15 but failed miserably in '16. This was partly because my life became more hectic and didn't let up... and still hasn't! I'm not sure when it will settle down more but regardless I'm slowly getting better at working more reading time into my schedule now, and I'm getting better at listening to audiobooks while doing other things which really helps to expand my 'reading' time when free time is in shorter supply.
In 2014 I met my MR challenge of 6,000 pages (I read 9,345) and my GR challenge of 40 books (I read 51 books). In 2015 I met my MR/GR challenge of 50 books (I read 50 exactly). In 2016 I most definitely did not meet my MR/GR challenge of 60 books (I read only 13!).
So I'm going to go with 40 books for 2017. My plan had been to continuously push my challenge up 10 books a year to complement the year number (40 for '14, 50 for '15, 60 for '16, 70 for '17 and so on... that was actually accidental in 2014 and 2015 but I did notice it for 2016). But after my spectacular failure in 2016 and my continuing limited free time, I don't think it wise to go for 70 this year, heh! I'm resetting back to 40 and I'll see how that goes. I've already read I think five this year, but some of those were half read before the new year and anyway I can't guarantee I'll be able to keep that pace throughout the year. With more stress in other areas of my life, I don't want this challenge to 'push' me as I liked in other years but rather just to give me an enjoyable and hopefully easy number to reach for this year (40 pushed me more in 2014 because I wasn't listening to audiobooks as well then; with audiobooks included I hope to have an easier time reaching 40 this year).
In addition, I've had 'subchallenges' in past years and I don't want to give that up. Last year I came up with what I thought was a wonderful subchallenge and then proceeded to utterly fail at it (I didn't even read one book on it!). The plan had been, instead of giving a list of specific books to read throughout the year, to split it up by season. So, I'd have books to read in 'winter' (January-March), then I'd make a new list for spring and so on through the year. I really liked the idea because I could constantly add to my challenge throughout the year and not be beholden to one set list through the year. I made my winter's list and then never read any of those and never made any lists for the other seasons.
So, I'm going to keep the seasonal subchallenge going and hopefully succeed this year! 'Winter' is already one month gone and again I want this year to be easier, so I'm only listing one book to read this season - Dune by Frank Herbert. The challenge is to finish it by the end of March, at which time I'll update my subchallenge for spring with a new list. I chose Dune for a few reasons. I wanted something I hadn't ever listed before (such as the ones I listed last year) and I wanted something I hadn't ever started before (I have some books that I still need to get back to and finish). Since I had decided to only choose one book for winter, I wanted something a little longer. And I wanted something for this season that is less serious or literary and more of a 'fun' and hopefully engrossing read. We'll see how it goes! I sampled the audiobook and it sounds very well done (I especially like the music used) but I'm wary of committing to so many audio hours for one book - it's 21 hours. I've listened to books over 40 hours before but now that I'm listening while doing other things it seems more daunting to choose a longer audiobook.
Anyway, enough prattling; I hope for my own success and wish all the rest of you good reading years!