Reading Goals and Challenges for 2016?

I generally don't like setting reading goals. I always have some in mind, but they always seem to get away from me -- especially when social media and the rest of the Internet are around. (And their great ancestor: the TV set.)

One of the problems is that Goals are generally boring and somewhat non-specific. Read 10, 20, 30 books. Okay, what kind of books? How big? In 5th Grade, I got tired of not having a star next to my mind, so once I finished the 100-page biography I took out of the library, I started reading the chapter books in the back of the classroom, and other things that were probably below my reading level (unlike the biography). I even read a couple of the books more than once because I knew I could reread them in one day. I got a lot of stars, enough to rival the leaders of the class. But I didn't push myself, read anything challenging. (On the other hand, I won't deny that I read stuff that was fun, which is important, too.)

Getting to the point, if I decided I'm reading, say, 24 books this year, there will be a good chance that many of them will be under 200 pages. There's a good quantity of books from only 20-30 years ago that have a decent quality to them that fit into that range. I could through in some free ebooks with low word counts, both of the classic and the only-read-it-because-it-was-free variety.

That's not what I want. And I probably wouldn't try it. Instead, I'd just skip the goal altogether.

But I found a few challenges on line, varying in length. Obviously, the longer one has the same problems as the 24-book goals: there are too many, unless shoot for two checks with one book. A possibility, of course.

So Challenge 1 goes something like this:

  • a book published this year
  • a book you can finish in a day
  • a book you've been meaning to read
  • a book recommended by your local librarian or bookseller
  • a book you should have read in school
  • a book chosen for you by your spouse, partner, sibling, child, or BFF
  • a book published before you were born
  • a book that was banned at some point
  • a book you previously abandoned
  • a book you own but have never read
  • a book that intimidates you
  • a book that you've already read at least once

(I tracked it back to here.)

This one is definitely in the realm of possibility. Twelve books, if I don't double up. For instance, I have many books that I own and have never read AND have been meaning to read. The odd one is rereading a book -- I might be this if another Song of Ice and Fire book (a.k.a. Game of Thrones) comes out, but with so many books to read, re-reading seems silly, unless it's something that I read in high school or college and I want to read again when I might enjoy it more.

Also, anything that I can read in a day, I don't really considering reading a book, but I've posted them in my blog, so I guess I should include them.

The second challenge:

  • a book set in your home state/region
  • a book with your favorite color cover
  • a book recommended by a librarian
  • a book of poetry
  • a book with a main character who has an occupation similar to your own
  • a book that will become a movie this year (watch the movie after and compare)
  • a book published the year you were born
  • a book featuring a protagonist with a lifestyle different from yours (religion, sexuality, education, occupation, politics)
  • a National Book Award winner from years past
  • a book over 500 pages
  • a book under 200 pages
  • a graphic novel
  • books set on each continent
  • a book recommended by someone 30 years older or younger than you
  • a banned book
  • a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't
  • a book by a female author with a female protagonist
  • a book translated from a different language
  • a nonfiction book about science
  • a collection of essays
  • a book by a person of color
  • a famous author's lesser known work
  • a collection of short stories
  • a science fiction book
  • a self-improvement book

(This is the BetterWorldBooks 2016 Challenge).

As you can see, there's some overlap between the two challenges. Some of these are trivial. Color of the cover? Depends on the printing. And if it's an ebook, I may never see the cover. There are a lot of old books under 200 pages, so that's good. I can't say that I've read a lot of movie books recently and I don't even know at the moment what is being made into movies. Female author & protagonists? Kinsey Milhone or that vampire series -- done. Science fiction? Duh.

A little sneaky with "books set on each continent" -- that's seven books! Yes, Antarctica counts. There are books set there. Unless I choose Westeros and Essos.

But it's possible.

I found two more. One is an image that's hard to read, so I'm not retyping it. Some overlap, but it includes read a biography, not a memoir or autobiography, read the first in a series by a person of color (I don't always know that the author of the series is black or Asian or whatever), books in the Middle East, Southeast Asia or historical. A non-superhero comic from the last three years? What's the point of that? It goes on ... I won't.

The last one is for the overachievers, or the Pick-a-Few-Skip-a-Few Crowd. Forty books in all. Not going to happen, unless half of them are pamphlets or matchbook covers.

  • a book based on a fairy tale
  • a National Book Award winner
  • a YA bestseller
  • a book you haven't read since high school
  • a book set in your home state
  • a book translated into English
  • a romance set in the future
  • a book set in Europe
  • a book that's under 150 pages
  • a New York Times bestseller
  • a book that's becoming a movie this year
  • a self-improvement book
  • a book you can finish in a day
  • a book written by a celebrity
  • a political memoir
  • a book at least 100 years older than you
  • a book that's more than 600 pages
  • a book from Oprah's Book Club
  • a science-fiction novel
  • a book recommended by a family member
  • a graphic novel
  • a book that is published in 2016
  • a book with a protagonist who has your occupation
  • a book that takes place during Summer
  • a book and its prequel
  • a murder mystery
  • a book written by a comedian
  • a dystopian novel
  • a book with a blue cover
  • a book of poetry
  • the first book you see in a bookstore
  • a classic from the 20th century
  • an autobiography
  • a book about a road trip
  • a book about a culture you're unfamiliar with
  • a satirical book
  • a book that takes place on an island
  • a book that's guaranteed to bring you joy
This was the ebookfriendly.com reading challenge.

And there you have it, lots of choices and checklists. Some worth the challenge, some silly and frivolous. And a few that seem impossible: "guaranteed to bring you joy"? For that matter, the "first book I see in a bookstore"? Odds are I'm not buying the first thing I see.

On the other hand, the book I'm currently reading was on the Remainder rack in the vestibule as I entered the store -- but I can't swear it was the first one I saw.

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