Goodreads Is About To Shut Up For The Year

Well, only a few more days and Goodreads will shut up for the year. No, I don’t mean that Goodreads is closing. I just mean that it’ll only be a few more days before they stop bugging me to increase my reading goal for the year. Very shortly, they’ll just say that I’ve completed my 2013 goal.

I’m reading Ian McEwan’s Atonement right now. That should take me a couple of days and will be the 150th book I’ve read this year. Coincidentally, that’s my Goodreads goal for 2013…and it’s only mid-June.

Does that mean I’ll stop reading until January? No, it just means that I won’t be getting any more “Wow, you’re [#] books ([#]%) ahead! Try increasing your goal!” messages when I check Goodreads. I’ve been getting these things for months, which isn’t surprising since I’m going to meet my goal for the year in mid-June.

Still, I don’t want to increase my goal…and I really don’t want to be bugged about it. I’ve been setting my goal at 150 for the last couple of years now and have only been reading that much per year since 2010 (for example 2009 was 105, 2008 was 76, 2007 was 50, and 2006 was 30). In fact, I read 169 books in 2010, 318 in 2011, and 249 in 2012. I don’t need to challenge myself to read more; it can start interfering with my writing. I just want to make sure I’m reading a minimum of a good amount per year, and I think 150 is that.

As such, I set my goal at 150 annually now. Quite likely, I’ll read more than that, but I won’t care about the amount over. Thus, the constant Goodreads messages to increase my goal just annoy me. It’s always pleasant when I hit goal for the year and make them go away.