Here it is, I have a month and a few days left of the 2016 Book Riot Reading Challenge (not sponsored) and I still have nine books on the list to read. Of course, they are not “fast read” books nor am I a fast reader. So I am throwing in the towel. Yep that is it. I am a failure!
But you know what? I am okay with failing at this challenge. This year I have read more than I have read in any year of my life. The challenge has made me try new genres and I learned to appreciate fiction more….which is saying a lot considering I was a pretty “anti-fiction” reader. There were a lot of times during this year that I forced myself to read a book simply to complete the challenge (I LOVED marking off the book as completed) but I also found myself reading more books for fun. Books that were not on the challenge. Though I only read 15 of the 24 books on the list I actually read nearly 30 books. Again I have never read 30 books in one year.
(not all of the books I read this year, of course, but a lot of books I have on ereader or gave away to other people.)
I am not a reader by nature. Prior to this year, I read simply to gain information rather than for the simplistic enjoyment. This year however, I learned that I like reading, both fiction and fiction. I also discovered that I enjoy reading real books rather ereaders. I get bored not seeing physical evidence that I am progressing in the story. I did read some books on my Kindle but for those I ended up reading slower than I would have if they were physical books.
Would I do this challenge again? Yes but also no. I am glad I tried this challenge out. It got me reading things I wouldn’t have normally chosen to read. So I would do it again just for the challenge aspect. With that said I would also say no because by July I wanted to read the books I wanted to read. I didn’t want to be told what to read any more. I found that making myself read a book just to check it off a list wasn’t good enough. I wanted to read a book because I WANTED TO. So for this coming 2017 year, I am going to make my own reading challenge. I haven’t fully thought through what that all entails but I have a number of books …. and keep buying them… that I want to read but just haven’t gotten around to it. I want to try and get those books down to a smaller number. With all that said, I encourage you all to find a reading challenge to try for 2017. I feel like it educated me in a number of areas, including my own reading preferences and abilities.
Though I failed this challenge, I feel like I bettered myself and therefore I won a little too (if that isn’t a cheesy ended I don’t know what is!?).
~ Keep Reading!
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