Reading Challenges and Audiobooks

In 2013, I participated in my first Goodreads Reading Challenge. I set a goal of 30 books and I read 36. That was my first time to actually track the books I read in a single year. Off and on through the years, I’d tried keeping a notebook by my bed and writing down the books I read and maybe rating them. The habit never took. I kept forgetting the notebook was there.

But Goodreads has made it so easy for me to track, rate, and review, using both my phone and my computer. It has become a habit.

I haven’t set super high or unrealistic goals. Thirty-six to forty-eight books in a year (three to four books a month) feels reasonable to me for someone with a busy writing schedule and other focuses as well. The most number of books I’ve read in a previous year (since I began tracking) was 77 books. That was in 2020 when the world shut down for a time.

In 2022, my tenth Goodreads Reading Challenge, I once again set a goal of 36 books. But audiobooks and audiobook services (particularly Hoopla and Scribd) in addition to Audible changed things up in a big way for me. I’m able to listen to books in the car, while I dress in the morning, when I break to stretch or get another cup of coffee, etc. I listen in tiny snatches and in bigger blocks of time.

Last Saturday (9/24/22), I finished reading my 100th book of the year. Ninety (90%) of those books were audiobooks. The majority have been good to excellent reads. Seven of them earned a five-star rating from me. Two got only two stars. The rest got three to four stars.

It has been much easier for me to rate the books I read since I developed my own system. It firmed up in my mind what I mean by the number of stars I give. And I do use .25, .50, and .75 as well because, for instance, sometimes a book is more than a 3 but less than a 4. Here’s my rating system:

Robin’s Ratings
5 = Out of this world. Amazing. Unforgettable. A personal favorite.
4 = Excellent read. Couldn’t put it down. Will recommend to others.
3 = Liked it. Glad I read it. Engaging/entertaining/interesting.
2 = The book was okay, but I’ve enjoyed other books so much more.
1 = For whatever reason, I didn’t like it and can’t recommend it.

There are some readers out there who read a book a day, so my 100 reads may not seem like a lot to them. But I’m enjoying hitting the 100-book milestone this year.

It’s hard for me to believe that there was a time, in the not-so-distant past, when I didn’t think I would ever listen to audiobooks unless I was on a long trip. Boy, have reading habits changed for me. Audiobooks have allowed me to listen (read) far more books and authors than I thought possible.

How’s your reading year going?

~robin