Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about topics that are unique to us. Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions.
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Question: Reading challenges: Do you host or join in any? What is your success rate on completing them? Do they keep your reading goals on track, put too many restrictions/pressure on you? What do you think makes for a successful reading challenge?
I’ve joined a few challenges over the years but I fail miserably so I don’t bother anymore. I tried limiting them to just one or two, or thinking that I’m reading all YA so I join a YA challenge and all of a sudden I hate YA lol
After realizing when I feel forced to read a particular genre I rebel, I tried the Goodreads challenge because it’s just a total # of books and I read 100’s of books so no problemo right? Well that year I didn’t even make it 100 (my goal) when I normally read over 200 books per year.
I don’t even really like accepting books for review anymore. I’ve realized that I’m a mood reader and what I enjoy reading one week can change dramatically the next or even how much I read so I realized I'm just not cut out for a challenge.
I’m not sure what makes a successful challenge but I know I like when there is a link to the main challenge post (if you’re linking up reviews) that’s easy to spot on the challenge hosts blog. A few discussion posts are good too. Sometimes with challenges you feel like you’re reading in a bubble even though there are 100’s of people signed up. I feel like I’m just trying to hit a number of books read rather than enjoying the books from that particular challenge.
If you join a dystopian reading challenge for example, I think it would be fun to have a few dystopian genre discussions. Maybe everyone is already doing that but because I’m reading challenged – challenged I don’t know this!
How about you? Do goals and time frames help you read more or make you shut down (*points at self*)
I'm pretty hesitant about joining challenges for all the reasons you stated above. And my Goodreads challenge is just to keep track of the number of books I read - I can easily change the number through the year.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I approach Goodreads now. I just up the # if I'm reading more.
DeleteI totally agree with you on feeling to hit a number of books read rather than enjoying the books it self. I myself don't have enough time in my day to read as much as I want but I do set a challenge for my self on how much I want to read per year. And I find that Goodreads has a great way for me to do it. I always start out small then change the amount as I pass the goal. I think that would be called cheating but , oh well. :) I don't particularly join a lot of reading challenges myself unless I know I can do it. But as for now, I don't know if I'm going to pass or fail but it's still early enough in the year to make up for it during the summer, hopefully.
ReplyDeleteI totally cheated on my Goodreads challenge this year! I pick 50 books and then just inch it up by 10 whenever I meet the goal lol
DeleteI've never been tempted to join challenges, because it would take all the fun out of my readings...
ReplyDeleteAs for my own BBC posts, I'll be back on June 3rd...because, honestly, I wouldn't have anything significant to add to the discussion in these two rounds :). But I'll be reading what the others have to say of course!
P.S.: LOL @ your rebel attitude. I can totally relate to it ;).
DeleteThe second I'm *supposed* to do something I dig in and say noooooo I don't wanna lol
DeleteThanks for commenting even if you didn't join in this week :-)
I only do Goodreads but did YA debut ...not doing now but I still keep track of debut books and 2nd in series for my records.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done one in a while because book burnout , mood reader, DNF, and I want to enjoy books :)
They definitely add a lot of pressure...I tend to promise myself to join a select few...then I keep adding and adding...and then even though I may be reading pretty well in their genres...I tend to only update myself 2-3 times a year and thus miss out on lots of link ups and challenges etc which make it less fun....
ReplyDeleteI am horrible about participating so I don't really do it anymore. ON the one community one that I am doing, I have yet to link a book up. I am just one of those that keep track on my blog but never quite do the whole follow through.
ReplyDeleteI don't do a lot of challenges, I forget about them. I do like memes though.
ReplyDeleteI do the goodreads year challenge, where you set your own goals and it updates for you.
I don't do challenges anymore. I did the goodreads one because I wanted to know how many I read in a year. I did fine for my "goal". However, with all the review books... I don't have time for challenges. I think if I didn't do reviews for books then I would do a lot of challenges with my own bought books. Just too swamped otherwise. :)
ReplyDeleteI suck at challenges. I do finish them, it's just that I forget about them after a week and do not update
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. Every year I join challenges, every year I ignore them and go the other way! I will never learn. Never. Though the Goodreads one is nice and helpful.
ReplyDeleteI joined some this year for the first time (other than GoodReads) and it is harder to track them than what I thought. It definitely has been a learning experience for me. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Reading!
I do not join any blog challenges--I'm sure I qualify to complete many of them, but I just don't have the time to track all that stuff. I do like the GoodReads challenge, though, since that's individual and it helps to keep track of what I'm reading!
ReplyDeleteWendy @ The Midnight Garden