New Year's Reading Resolutions

[Whitney]

David wrote: "Marc, if your Tasmanian Devil level is at 5 books, I can't imagine what kind of madness happens when you get to 200! ..."

David, the graphic represents how many books are currently being read. I hope no one is actually reading 200 at once!

[Marc]

Lia, I should have clarified--that measurement is for number of books being read at the same time. I don't think it's ever been higher than 9 and I try to never be reading more than 2 novels at the same time. 200?!! I almost started having seizures when I saw that number. :p

Don't think I've ever read more than say just around 100 books in any given year and that felt like too much to me.

[Lia]

Marc wrote: "Lia, I should have clarified--that measurement is for number of books being read at the same time. I don't think it's ever been higher than 9 and I try to never be reading more than 2 novels at the..."

Haha, I do try to move the “inactive” books off my “reading” list, but I still have around 30 books marked as “reading”.

However, many of them are secondary texts that support a primary text I’m reading. So right now, I’m reading Homer’s Iliad, Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, Heidegger’s Being and Time, with a cluster of essays and commentaries for each of these books. But realistically, I’m still “only” working on three ... traditions? Ideas?

[Antonomasia]

The GR system with its discrete states doesn't especially suit academic books and anthologies that people dip in and out of or read parts of. It was designed around the idea of reading novels and popular non-fiction cover to cover. It's a shortcoming of the system, not a failure of people who are using books in ways that were long established (both generally and in their own lives) before the site. I think it also implicitly discourages that sort of reading (likewise of journals etc if someone isn't on a course where they are mandatory) - I became much more aware of that when I was hardly on the site for a year. Taking less notice of the GR system is better than reading a bunch of novellas cover to cover when what would suit you is to read odd chapters from various academic texts, from which you'd learn more of interest.

[Carol]

Lia wrote: "Carol wrote: "Nope. Stop the madness. Read what you want. Finish what you want. A challenge isn’t homework. No puppies die if December 31 winds to its close and some reader has finished 4 out of 20..."

no! no puppies dying!!

So long as you're happy with your choice, Lia, it's all good.

[Carol]

Marc wrote: "GR says there are 4,067,297 participants in the 2018 reading challenge and 18,418 challenges completed. That means only 0.5% of anyone is completing these things.

David, I might have shared this w..."

Yeah, I think I'm at 29 right now. What that really means is that, ruthless as I am, there are 20 of those that I've not decided are abandoned, but I haven't picked them up since August or so, so it's unlikely. But the 9 or so that I'm actively mid-, I'm really mid-. That kind of train wreck is typically created by timing clashes, like needing to start a group read a couple of days before I'd prefer and at a time when left entirely to my own devices I'd finish another two books before starting a new one. This week there are 3 books for IRL book clubs that I need to read at least a significant portion of by Wednesday and Sunday, respectively.

But if I don't, I don't. I can live with that.

The only thing I might do differently next year is nominate and vote less often on this platform to keep my participation more entirely voluntary. Less obligation, less guilt, more spontaneity. I get a lot out of good group read discussions, but what I've given up is the freedom to breathe some months and read what I want, when I want, and I would like to get that back.

[David]

The reading challenge dilemma: If you reach the challenge total easily, then it wasn't really much of a challenge, but if you struggle to reach the challenge total, then you are forcing yourself to read just to hit a mark. It is much better to think of it as a "reading prediction" or even a "reading plan". Those terms don't imply some sort of competition like "challenge" does.

[Carol]

carissa wrote: "I will continue to read only what I want.
Abandoning without remorse is what I have learned from GoodReads.
I was on Shelfari hiding out until forced to move to GoodReads a few years ago. I never..."

Yes. This. I've learned and become quite good at abandoning without remorse. You have been one of my best friends for demonstrating its sensible nature.

[Antonomasia]

David wrote: "The reading challenge dilemma: If you reach the challenge total easily, then it wasn't really much of a challenge, but if you struggle to reach the challenge total, then you are forcing yourself to..."

Yeah. I've been using it for years as a useful display format (without the 'challenge' element as I set it to 10 or 1) but other people still comment on it jokily as if it were a 'challenge'. The word is pretty ingrained. Even news sites have stories about 'the Goodreads challenge' at the start of the year.

[Lyn]

My challenge would be NOT spending most of every day reading, sometimes reading a book cover to cover in a day/night! (Only because I should also do some real life)

[Patrick]

Only one, and it is the same every year: To be worthy of the books I read. Ask not what the books can do for you, ask what you can do for the books. I like and am entertained by so many of the books that I read, but the notion of reading (or watching movies, or listening to music, or looking at paintings) IN ORDER TO like or be entertained is absurd to me. I read to be challenged and to grow. I read to be deepened. Even the lightest but good book does that. Anything else would be a waste of time.

[Lia]

Antonomasia wrote: "The GR system with its discrete states doesn't especially suit academic books and anthologies that people dip in and out of or read parts of. It was designed around the idea of reading novels and p..."

I know, beggars can’t be choosers. But it would make me VERY happy if GR finds a way to keep track of journals some day, especially using DOI or journal names/issues format.

There are a few journals that I basically read cover to cover (... my favorite prof is a founder and editor there), they are both in print and in digital “subscription” formats, but I don’t get to include any of them. It’s just like what you’re saying, GR isn’t designed for that, I understand that, but I keep wishing...

[Hugh]

Lyn wrote: "My challenge would be NOT spending most of every day reading, sometimes reading a book cover to cover in a day/night! (Only because I should also do some real life)"

Lyn, I have been feeling that way recently too - I would like to get my books/life balance better adjusted next year, not least to allow me to listen to more music and be more active.

[Nadine in California]

Hugh wrote: "Lyn wrote: "My challenge would be NOT spending most of every day reading, sometimes reading a book cover to cover in a day/night! (Only because I should also do some real life)"

Lyn, I have been f..."

Friends I haven't seen in about 35 years came to visit this weekend, and as wonderful as that was, I couldn't stop regretting my loss of reading time. I dropped a subtle hint about kicking back and reading, but no one noticed ;)