Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2015
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What if you don't finish?
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I have 9 tasks left to complete, and 5 of those are in progress. I'm reading a bit of those books each day or every week.But I do worry about not being able to finish. And I think if I don't finish, I'll just try and finish at some later date. Or I'll use one book for more than one task. A group I'm in is allowing one book to count for as many as three tasks. And since one of my books would fit almost every task I think that's totally acceptable.
I truly believe it's a personal challenge so you get to make the rules for your own challenge. I definitely say try to complete it by reading 52 books, but if you can't make it, I think it's fair to count one book for multiple tasks.
I am probably not going to finish, but so what? With the new year, I start over with a new challenge. This is a personal challenge not a race.
I won't finish all 52 books. I'm ok with that. This challenge was always from branching out from my comfort zone. I accomplished that! I hope there is a new challenge in the new year. I will leave this one behind and start fresh. But until then I keep plugging away slowly but surely :)
Nicole wrote: "I won't finish all 52 books. I'm ok with that. This challenge was always from branching out from my comfort zone. I accomplished that! I hope there is a new challenge in the new year. I will leave ..."I absolutely agree! Already as I have stated throughout this whole challenge, I have read books I would have never have just picked up on my own without the push of this challenge. I have thoroughly enjoyed this group and challenge throughout, as well as the wonderful books I have read.
I'm pretty far behind so I will most likely not finish and I'm ok with that. I have passed my personal goal which was to read 24 books this year so I am happy. When the new year comes around I will start on the 2016 book challenge and try to do better than what I did this year.
If I don't finish who cares. The idea of this challenge was to read outside of what I normally read. If I don't finish I'm ok with it. I'll just continue on with this challenge until I am done with it. I will finish this challenge, maybe not this year, but maybe next year.
I started this challenge knowing I would never read anything close to 52 books in a year. In January I set myself a personal goal of completing 20 of the prompts and I've since increased that to 26 (half of the total books i'd need to complete it totally). I'm on course to meet that target and i've read some wonderful books that I would never have read otherwise so i'm happy.
If I don't finish, I should get pretty close. Last year I read 50 books, most after September, but many of them were fiction, specifically paranormal, dystopian, or queer lit. I felt like I wasn't growing as a reader, so I took on the challenge to diversify my reading. This not only includes genre through 2015 Reading Challenge, but also by consciously selecting books written by authors of color. I might be behind, but I'm still really proud of myself for taking my reading to the next level.
I've always enjoyed reading, but am more of a casual reader, maybe 4 or 5 books a year. When I saw the reading challenge at the beginning of the year I thought it would give me an incentive to read more. And it has. I gave myself a target of 20 books and currently I am on book 32 and already have my next 2 lined up (a book published this year and a book originally written in another language)The challenge has inspired me to move out of my comfort zone and read books I previously would never have picked up. I'm not going to manage all 50, but I'm pretty amazed at what I've achieved so far.I've enjoyed planning and organising too, using my local library, figuring out which book would fit in which prompt. I've discovered new favourite books - The Help and The Book Thief. I'm already looking forward to next year!
I'm a few books behind (maybe 4?). I plan on finishing 2 books this week. I think I will finish. If not, then I did get a huge benefit from it. It encouraged me to read again and it helped me branch out into many different genres. I have plenty of books on my to-read list now for after the challenge.
15 to go - I should be able to make it until the end of the year, although I'm having trouble finding a book that scares me and one that makes me cry. I guess I'm just not very emotional.
I'm not worried about not finishing. Right now I'm working on the categories I'm least excited about (book should have read in school / book with bad reviews / book started but not finished / play). I only have 11 categories left so once I knock those 4 off I'll be able to get to the other 7 categories that I am looking forward to read. I figure that's good motivation to read these categories. Otherwise, I would be tempted not to even read them at all! I wish everyone good luck - I think everyone has their own personal goals set and I hope you all accomplish them with these last couple months that are left :)
To ensure that I finish the challenge, I started substituting juvenile and/or young adult books (200 - 300 pages) for several of the 500+ page tomes that I had selected when I planned my list at the beginning of the year. Some of the changes I've made include reading "Old Yeller" instead of "Les Miserables" for a book that made me cry, "Pretty Little Liars" instead of "A Clash of Kings" (Game of Thrones book #2) for a book that became a TV show, and "Where the Red Fern Grows" for a book with a color in the title.I've read 41 of 52 books for this challenge so I should be able to finish. At least half of the 11 remaining books will be of the 100 - 200 page variety. Since I've read 80 of 50 books toward my overall 2015 challenge, most of which were "grown up" books, I figure "cheating" to finish this challenge won't be too big of a deal.
I've read a lot of book I would have never thought to read, honestly, and it showed how much I love memoirs and comics. I still have 19 to go till the end, which is pretty good considering I'm a grad student about to graduate this academic year. I think if I don't finish some categories, I'll integrate them in my challenge next year (assuming the list changes, because if not I am making up my own list).
Luckily, I'm fairly certain I'm going to finish. I've finished 42 of the challenges, and, even though I've been double counting when I can, have 8 books left to finish I'm currently about halfway through or more 3 books and should have them completed by the end of the month. Since I will probably finish before the year is up, I plan on reading more books and using them to make it so that I have less books that are double counted.I'm very glad I took this challenge. I usually read around 12-15 books a year, but I've set my goal at 25 (and I'm already at 22!!!!!!) for this year to get through the challenge. This challenge pushed me to find time for reading and even read a couple books that I probably wouldn't have picked up otherwise. If I somehow don't finish the challenge, I don't think I plan on continuing it into the next year, but I'm also hoping that PopSugar will post a new challenge for 2016.
It may seem silly but I am very motivated to finish. I was always a voracious reader, I read constantly and was part of 2 book clubs where I'd read one per month per club and plenty that weren't for them at all, so probably read around 3 books per month on average. When I got pregnant for some reason I got a lot of people telling me I would stop "oh I used to read too, then I had kids haha" "you won't have time and you'll be too tired" "you'll have more important things!" And it pissed me off. I always felt that regardless of your circumstances you decide how to spend your extra time, maybe you go on fb, watch tv, binge on Netflix, read, exercise, nap whatever but I hated the idea that I "had" to stop doing my favourite activity because I'm "a mom." Well i was very sick through my pregnancy and I barely read at all because of it, so my kid was born in August '14 and by Christmas I realized I needed to push myself into doing something I love again, cue finding this challenge someone posted on Facebook. So for me it is a personal challenge as well as a bit of a middle finger to the ppl who said I wouldn't read. It's not easy, but I'm glad I'm doing it.
I used to read aloud to my babies when I was nursing them. They couldn't understand what I was reading, of course, but it was good for them to hear it, and I got reading time in. I also used to be able to get so much into a book that the activity and noise around me didn't disturb me. So, while my husband watched TV and the kids were playing in the same room, I often would read.
As your child gets older, you could read aloud or listen to recordings of the children's classics that you missed out on or liked as a child and would like to read again.
(Oops pushed post too soon) not actually having a problem finding time. I read mostly when he's napping or after he goes to bed, but I'm a pretty quick reader. My hubby works away from home so usually it's just me and my toddler but I am the same if I'm reading I'm not easily distracted. I did read when he was littler but he won't sit still anymore so his short books are about all we read together now :) the only real difference besides frequency is that I am not reading the long, drawn out types that I loved earlier in my twenties including things like Jane Austin. I just find its hard to really get into them when I may only get 10-20 minutes at a stretch, so I'm reader a bit lighter material. But this challenge has really helped me get back into my stride and opened up a lot of books I wouldn't have looked at.
Since I only have the Christmas book to go, I'll finish the challenge, barring any unforeseen circumstances. I'll probably start the last book after Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.A.However, if I don't finish it, so what? This was a voluntary challenge. Nobody is making any of us participate. You are free to set your own goal for the number of books, and if you don't achieve it, it doesn't really matter. Nobody's going to kick you off Goodreads or bar you from ever reading again. :-)
I read far more than 52 books per year, so the number of books wasn't a challenge for me. However, this challenge got me to read more of a variety of books, and that was why I participated, so that goal has been met.
Tara wrote: "(Oops pushed post too soon)..."Tara, you can edit your own posts. At the bottom of your posts on the right-hand side, you should see reply/edit/delete/flag. Select edit, make your changes, and then click on Edit Post.
Perhaps while you're at this stage in life, you shouldn't try to read too many long, complicated stories like classics. You'll probably have more time later in life to do that. And if you read to your kids often, you may be able to enjoy advanced books quite early with your kids. I read the unabridged Robinson Crusoe to my boys when they were 8 & 5yo. They would sit and listen for two or more hours at a time (but none of my kids were overly active). They loved it. I worked up to that book. I read Swiss Family Robinson and the Chronicles of Narnia to them when they were 7 & 4. Once my oldest would sit still for more than a picture book, I would read books to him that were for children older than he was. My older two boys both became voracious readers. When the third child was a few years old, I started falling asleep each time I read aloud (but not when I read silently to myself), and that problem went on for years (until I found out it was a vision problem and got that corrected), so my third and fourth kids didn't hear me read nearly as much and therefore don't like to read as much as my older boys do.
AlegnaB wrote: "Since I only have the Christmas book to go, I'll finish the challenge, barring any unforeseen circumstances. I'll probably start the last book after Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.A.However, if I do..." I personally enjoy the idea of the Reading Police kicking down people's doors and dragging them off to libraries until they finish their reading goals :D
Lol that would be funny... In theory. In practice it might qualify for either a book that scares me or makes me cry :)
I will finish the challenge but I won't do another one....or maybe I'll finish the challenge BECAUSE I won't do another one. It was fun but there are so many books that I want to read that I look at my categories left and sigh. I have a ginormous TBR stack that I want to just whisper..."2016. And then I can read you...."It hasn't been easy and I've wanted to quit the challenge several times but I have 6 books left. I can do this.
I agree, I might do a challenge with 12 prompts but a book a week is a challenge for me, I just don't have the time to read more than that so any books I can't fit into a prompt are being left until after unless I can rearrange.
Lara wrote: "I will finish the challenge but I won't do another one....or maybe I'll finish the challenge BECAUSE I won't do another one. It was fun but there are so many books that I want to read that I look a..."I agree. I just started a shelf 2016-TBR because of all the books I pushed to the back burner because of this challenge. Hang in there - you can do it!
I enjoyed doing the challenge this year, but I'm not going to participate if another one is put up next year, even if there are different categories. There are thousands of books on my TBR shelves, and I keep adding more, since I'm often getting free Kindle books and finding books at my library's ebooks and eaudio sites to add to my shelves. Next year I'd especially like to read quite a few of the books that I purchased or received as gifts. My total number of TBR books will probably never get lower, but I should be able to lower the total number of TBR physical books that I own and Kindle books that I bought.
There's no way I'm going to finish (I've ticked off half so far) but that's ok, I didn't really expect to complete it even when I started, just thought I'd give it a shot. I just thought it seemed like a fun challenge to do, nothing deeper than that really. I won't carry on with it next year or start a new challenge, there's 40 odd books I want to read so I'll crack on with them.
AlegnaB wrote: "I enjoyed doing the challenge this year, but I'm not going to participate if another one is put up next year, even if there are different categories. There are thousands of books on my TBR shelves,..."I agree. I had a lot of fun finding books to fill the prompts, but next year I want to start on my TBR shelf. Perhaps I'll do one again the year after that…
I'm not going to finish because I was trying to do challenges with books already on my TBR and I've now run out. To me, getting my TBR down is more important than finishing the challenge. But I've done 42/52, which is a big chunk and I'm going to get at least one more done before the end of the year. So I'm not stressing about it.
I might not be able to finish , got 39/50 done ,which means I only got 11 to go.
I will not finish all 52 books but it has been lots of fun to get ideas from all the people chiming in here this year. I'd have to find my paper to know exactly where I am at the moment but it is around 30 with 3 in progress and the last book on my trilogy ready for pick up at library today.
Mod
I am SO jealous Nadine! I'm definitely not going to finish. But I'll try and see how far I get!
I definitely will finish but I am jealous too lol I didn't have time to read anything else!
I definitely will finish but I am jealous too lol I didn't have time to read anything else!
Mod
I won't finish it. But it is not frustrating. I started in august, and only included books that I have read before if I was one hundred per cent sure that I read early in 2015. As Nadine I also discovered the wonders of audiobooks, that allows us to continue reading even when we are doing other things that don't demand actual attention like buying groceries or washing the dishes.
Some categories took me out of my confort zone like a book with nonhuman characters (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, 1987 - brazilian portuguese translation). And others were really fun to try to complete, like read a book that was published in the year you were born (Flying too high "Miss Fisher series" by Kerry Greenwood, 1990). And the author with your initials - which I could not find (MHA are mine initials).
But other categories I found quite unnecessary, like "a book wrote by a woman" and "a friend's recomendation", I think mostly people would read books that fit in here anyway.
I really need to buckle down! I finished 48 of the 50 prompts, am halfway through a 49th prompt and have to start the 50th. It is really cutting it close to the wire for me. I will be pretty disappointed if I make it so close and don't actually finish by the New Year.
Definitely not going to finish, and I'm completely fine with that - I'll have 5 or 6 tasks left over, and for the most part, they were books I honestly wasn't that thrilled about reading. But I agree with everyone who has said that this expanded what they were reading, which was my real goal, anyway!
And as a corollary, however close you are to finishing all 52--what did you want to get out of this challenge, and do you think you're getting it?