Saturday, January 10, 2015

Proud Book Worm

I love to read. It's really a love of stories because I also love movies & television. But the fact I read so much seems to make me stand out from your average reader. I think it's also the fact that I am also a fast reader. I have a hard time putting books down because I know I can finish it if I read just a bit more.

Last year, I set the goal of reading 37 books. I ended up reading 52. Granted, it was actually 50 traditional books. I read some graphic novels and listened to a couple of audiobooks. So maybe some hardcore readers might not count my 52 as real books. I don't count re-reads. If Goodreads doesn't count them, then neither do I. 

I would argue that setting a high goal of reading new books takes away from the joy of re-reading some classic favorites. There's something very comforting and fun in a favorite book.

This year, I was debating how many books I wanted to read. I set a goal of 50 but I wasn't really feeling inspired by a reading challenge goal. Then I was poking around Pintrest when I found this gem:




I liked this idea. Not only are there 50 books on this list, but it was also about finding these books to cross off my list. Some of these would be easy to find. Others would not. A book that takes place in my hometown? My hometown is small....but guess what? Someone DID write a book about it. It's a non-fiction book about the town during the Prohibition Era. Who knew!?!

I became excited looking over the list. There's only one book I was supposed to read in high school but never finished (okay, there were two but I read The Great Gatsby last year) and that is The Scarlet Letter, so that's one to cross off my list. 

The book with bad reviews is throwing me off a bit. Even a Justin Beiber biography had 4 stars on Goodreads. I'm thinking of reading Fifty Shades of Grey because those bad reviews made me laugh really hard. But the thing with books is that one person loves it and the next might hate it. 

But the challenge is making me think more about what I am going to read. I've already crossed two of the categories off my list, but they could have gone in another category just as easily. 

It's fun to be excited about my reading this year. Even if I don't cross off every book in the challenge (who am I kidding, I totally will!) I will still have fun with it!

Wishing you a Happy 2015 and good luck with your challenges, reading or otherwise!!!



2 comments:

Peggy said...

I like this challenge. I'm not a fast reader so won't take on 50+ books. I'm grateful to read one a month.(I fall asleep a few pages in typically) But I like the inspiration to diversify and get out of my reading comfort zone.

Michael Virgin said...

My book recommendation is "Sunwaifs" by Sydney J. Van Scyoc.
I'm not much of a reader at all and this book had me hooked.

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