The Sword and Laser discussion
Interesting article on reading a book every day..
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I feel good about my 61 books I read last year, but I know that I could probably read more if I didn't spend as much time watching TV or surfing the web.However, I think one thing I can take away is to read more "smaller" stuff. I'm not a big comic/graphic novel reader, but I have a couple of those on my wishlist, so maybe 2013 I could try to tackle more graphic novels and not only bring the book count up, but also get into the genre.
Mod
Audio books really help a lot too.
But personally, I have two major "problems" that will prevent me from ever reading a lot.
1) My commute is short. In general this is a good thing, but as far as trying to listen to audio books, it makes it pretty worthless.
At the end of last year though I started using it as a way to re-read stuff I wanted to, but don't want to cut into my normal reading time.
I don't mind getting less than an hour of listen time in on something I've read before and making slow, but steady progress.
2) I read what I'm in the mood for. At least between club picks. Since I tend to favor fantasy, and fantasy books tend to be pretty long by nature, I'm just not going to manage too many shorter books.
I think worrying about book count, or even page count isn't worth it. It's good to set goals, but the real point is to motivate yourself to read more.
I was really amazed to find how much more I was reading just by joining here and planning a bit. No Hockey this year didn't hurt either.
Discussion helps a lot too. I've found when I'm talking with other people about a book that motivated me to want to keep reading so I didn't fall behind.
@Anne: that's funny as, this year, I want to read *less* graphic novels. I still love them, I still have two gigantic piles to-read, but I can finish one in an hour, compared to a few days for a normal sized paperback. I'm "cutting back", as it were, to save money - the time to value of a novel is just doubly- or thricely- more so than TPBs.
I'm not really sure why people want to read massive amounts of books. I mean, sometimes there are a lot of books I HAVE to read (as a student, the list never seems to go down) and sometimes I'll commit to things such as this book group, and of course, since I love to read reading is always a fun thing to do, and my list of things I want to get around to eventually is so long I may need to become immortal just to get half way through it, but the idea of thinking to myself 'right, must aim to read 70 books this year', let alone one book a day, makes me think I'd rather chuck in reading altogether, because if the point is to 'get through' x many books, then where is the enjoyment? Personally, I like to take my time over books. Sometimes they make this difficult, and hook me so much I read throughout the night and into the next day because I cannot stop, but others request a slower pace from me, and I would hate to rush such treasures, as I'm sure I would lose the pleasure of them. Also, I cannot be the only person who enjoys being lost in a different world throughout the period of reading, and sometimes a little reading at night gives me the pleasure of the story throughout the day. I couldn't imagine sacrificing that for the sake of reaching a number.
Ruth wrote: "I'm not really sure why people want to read massive amounts of books. I mean, sometimes there are a lot of books I HAVE to read (as a student, the list never seems to go down) and sometimes I'll co..."I am in complete agreement!
Yeah, I'm not big on reading goals. The only reading "challenge" I do is one a book blogger I know does called The TBR Double Dare. The idea is to read only books on your TBR pile/list from Jan 1 to April 1. You can still buy books during that time, you just can't read anything new that you don't already own (though I make an exception for book club picks obviously). It does feel good to finally get to those things that you've been meaning to and it seems appropriate that it ends on April Fools Day for some reason.
Rob wrote: "Yeah. I'd love if I could just manage averaging a book a week. One a day is not going to happen for me.Audio books really help a lot too.
But personally, I have two major "problems" that will p..."
Same for me for both of those reasons. Along with what Ruth said, I like to savor the books I read. I can't imagine trying to read a book like Tigana in one day and not being able to really enjoy it.
Another problem is reading a book per day cuts a lot of good books you might want to read off of your list because of length. You may be reading a lot but, at least for me, quality is better than quantity.
Yup, I'm with Ruth. I don't see the point of a reading goal (in terms of a set number of books). Reading is supposed to be a pleasure (at least for me) and if you need to set a goal in order to motivate yourself maybe you need another hobby. I do have goals in that there are books I want to read but the time frame is really irrelevant.
I don't think I could do audio books-my mind wanders to much. Even when listening to the podcast, if I'm doing anything else-I have to keep rewinding because I realized I missed something. I also wouldn't want to set a reading goal because then I'd feel like I'd be rushing to finish things. My to-read list might be longer than I'll ever accomplish in this life time, but I rather take the time to enjoy the ones I do get to.
Mod
I don't agree. I'm not saying for it's for everyone, but for me personally setting goals gets more excited about reading. That makes me enjoy it more, not less.
Phil wrote: "and if you need to set a goal in order to motivate yourself maybe you need another hobby"I also disagree. I set goals for all my hobbies; it by no means makes me enjoy them less. Instead, it sort of reminds me that it's okay to take time each day to do something just for fun. If I didn't say "I'm going to read x books this year" or something to the like, I'd constantly be putting my hobbies on the back burner for work, laundry, cleaning, walking the dog, etc.
Basically, to me, setting reading goals reminds me that my "me" time should be just as important as the time spent on every day life stuff.
I get a real sense of accomplishment by not only meeting my reading goals but also in the very fact that I finished and enjoyed that many books. I agree with Katrina that in setting a goal, I thereby make it a priority; so instead of watching the next episode of some crap reality show, I turn off the TV and really make a point to get much further into a book I'm reading. Basically I get the double pleasure of meeting a goal I set for myself (a reading goal is a New Year's resolution that is always a bit easier to meet than the get fit one) and the pleasure of being able to discuss, enjoy, and consume good books.
That said, I don't think I would enjoy books nearly as much if I made the kind of goal as the article. I enjoy a few other hobbies and I don't think giving them all up to be so consumed with a single goal would be very enjoyable.
Everything in moderation.
Some people don't think comic books or graphic novel counts as a whole book.
Michelle wrote: "Everything in moderation."That I will definitely agree with. I can see what people mean when they talk of setting goals in order to make sure time is set aside; even I've done this to a point when I found I was reading little more than non-fiction when studying for university, and wanted to make sure I gave a little time for reading for pleasure too. But I think any goals should be small and easy to achieve, because once you start reading shorter books or similar, not out of preference but in order to reach your goal, there is something wrong, and it isn't for enjoyment of the books you want to read any more.
I'm a little torn on the idea of setting such a goal. Reading is one of my many hobbies and I do each one for fun. On one hand I think it's great to be able to read that many books in a year. But when does it become more about reaching a goal than it is about fun. To me that sounds more like a job.
I started using the challenge widget on my GR homepage last year, not to try and meet a certain number of books read, but to track how many I DO read. People have always told me that I read a lot of books, and I was curious to see how many I did read in a year. The widget # is off, thugh, because it can't track re-reads within the same year; it only counts the most recent read towards its total. Still, it gives me a ballpark. Glad he had fun, but that is not the reading-life for me. I read for the pure pleasure of the reading. If that means it I finish a book at 3am the same day I start because I Just.Can't.Put.It.Down, or if I spend a week savoring it, who cares?
Enough books were "had to reads" on a deadline for class or for work - my "choose to reads" will be relished in their own sweet time.
He didn't actually read a whole book every day, because some days he was just too busy.
Some books were short, and he made good use of audio books, but for any one you looking to stretch yourself this year and really make a dent in your to-read pile, you might find this helpful/interesting.