Swapping out titles to complete challenge?

[Jen]

I am on pace to finish my challenges but only if I swap out titles I read over this past year to replace titles I originally planned to read for the challenges.
So there were books I intended to read for a prompt but didn't read. At the same time, there are books I did read that fit a prompt.

I wonder if it is considered cheating to change a title. On the one hand it feels like failure. I challenged myself to read a certain list of books and in some cases, didn't read them. I did read books to satisfy the prompts, though.

This is my first year doing reading challenges and I am not sure how I feel about them. On the one hand, it was fun to search out books and make plans. I like to read a variety of authors and genres so that was fun. But on the other hand, there were books I didn't enjoy and those honestly felt like a waste of time (like, a book about technology - that sucked tbh.) The hardest part for me was staying on task. Like, I needed to be reading a book I had chosen for a challenge but what actually happened was that I read a different book that I really wanted to read.

[Beth]

I did not the plan the books for the challenge. I either looked for a book that fit, or said 'yay! this book works." I don't know that i will finish this challenge. I read a lot ( over 100 books this year) . Mostly I use the challenge to broaden what I read.

[Eujean2]

I've done a bunch of swapping on my titles. I agree that it is fun to make a list, but I am not spending extra time on books I don't enjoy. That is kind of how I live life, prepare and plan, then be ready to change course when things don't go as expected.

[Bonnie G.]

I never plan ahead.

[Arlene]

I didn’t even realize we weren’t supposed to plan ahead. I use it to expand my reading horizons as well.

[Jen]

Thanks for all of the responses. I can see now that I was being stupid and over-thinking it.

[Rainey]

Arlene wrote: "I didn’t even realize we weren’t supposed to plan ahead. I use it to expand my reading horizons as well."

I always plan my titles for the challenge. I usually end up tweaking them during the year but generally stay on track with the titles I originally pick.

[Elyse]

There's no rules about having to create your list at the beginning of the year and changing your mind. Some of my tasks I still haven't assigned a book to. It's not cheating at all.

[Teresa]

I plan my titles and end up changing so many of them, usually based on what I can find in my online libraries. Searching for and finding books that meet the challenges is a huge part of the fun for me.

[Patty]

Jen wrote: "Thanks for all of the responses. I can see now that I was being stupid and over-thinking it."

Please don't say you are stupid. It was your first challenge and we all learn as we go.

Reading should be enjoyable.

[Jo]

Not stupid! I massively overplan when the task list comes out - I have a spreadsheet! Part of the fun, for me, is reading something and then realising I've ticked off a task. Sometimes it's difficult to know if a book will fit until you've read it anyway.