Haven't started my Reading list yet :-((

[Rona]

I have been ill, and then a lot of things happened in the last few weeks..so I haven't had a chance to even start on the reading challenge. I wonder whether it's too late now, to do so? I tried to start reading Dan Brown this week, for the first week challenge but, I cannot get into it for some reason..Feeling a bit, disillusioned right now :/

[Maple]

It's never too late to start. Pick up a book and join in the conversations :)

[Bana AZ]

Yeah, it's okay. You can even skip Dan Brown if he's not holding your interest.

[Marina]

If you don't read all 52 books, so what? You can still join the conversations about the books you read from now on, and maybe you will catch up on some of the earlier topics later in the year.
I would give it a try and just see how it goes :-)

I haven't read a book published this year, so I'm also behind schedule. And in april I'm going on holiday where we will be driving around Scotland, North Ireland and Ireland, so I know I won't have time to read as much those two weeks. Maybe I'll find time later, maybe I won't and either is just fine!

[Silvia]

I am not reading in order, so I know there are some books in the list that take to read no more than one or two days, like the play, the graphic novel, the one day book. I enjoying this challenge so much and althought I am pretty sure I won't finish it, it doesn't matter. I don't want to miss so much fun :)

[Francesca]

I'm very behind as I was already reading another book before I started this challenge and my week 1 book has taken me a bit longer to read than I thought it would, plus I'm a bit of a slow reader anyway. I'm going to be reading my books out of order anyway as there are some books that I'm more excited about/interested in reading than others so I know I'll want to read those first and save the others for later.

Honestly, although I've started doing this challenge, I'm not keeping myself to a strict time limit as I know I can't keep to it. A book a week just doesn't really work for me, depending on the book I can probably do it but I don't want to put too much pressure on myself in case I don't. There are always other factors that mean I might not be able to read as much as I'd like to in one week and in another week I may have loads of time to read. Plus I've only set my official reading challenge for this year at 15 books as I haven't read a lot the past few years and this was mostly just about getting myself back into reading so I basically used the list from this challenge to help myself find more books and categorise them.

Don't worry about it and don't put too much pressure on yourself, reading isn't a competition and neither is this challenge so don't worry about how other people are doing or if they've read more than you, just read at your own pace and when you can and enjoy it!

[Zaz, Mood Minion]

Never too late to open a book. Complete as many "weeks" as you want/can and be proud to discover new books, authors and spend time doing something you like ;)

[Brittany (booksandbottles)]

It's never too late to start! I'm super far behind, I'm just now finishing my second book. Maybe you could look through the 52 weeks and find a topic that you want to start with instead of week 1. Sometimes starting off with a book more than 500 pages seems terrifying. Personally I started off with the mystery/thriller and read Misery by Stephen King. Don't give up though! even if you only read 3 books off the list they are more than likely going to be 3 new authors or at least 3 books you've never read before.

[Rona]

Thanks everyone, you are all so right...it's never too late, and besides I need to not beat myself up about it, if I don't complete the whole 52, but at least I'll have fun trying... right? :-) I think I will do what some of you are doing, and not read the books in order.

I have put Dan Brown aside for now, and went ahead and started reading "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn, for week 3 and I am getting through it, faster than I thought actually!. I am really enjoying the story so far, and it's many twists and turns.

Thank you everyone for your kind replies and words of encouragement :-)

[Laura, Mod]

I think the spirit of the challenge is to read more than you usually would and to read a larger variety of books. With that mind, I don't think actually doing every single book is necessary. The competitive side of me wants to finish them all but I know that may not be realistic.

I would just go through and make the list of books and then remove the 9 that you're looking forward to the least. Then if you get to them, you get to them. If not, you've enjoyed the challenge :)

[Rona]

Yes, that is one of the main reasons why I started this challenge-I wanted to read a larger variety of books..Then as the weeks went by I worried because I was falling more and more behind. I am rather a worrier lol.

That's actually a good idea Laura, about making the lists..I think that I will actually do that. Thanks for the suggestion :-)

[Lacey]

Go at your own pace and just have fun. I'm only on my 4th book, Voyager (500+ page book) and that's just because the digital loan for my 3rd book, Lonesome Dove (Pulitzer-prize book) ran out and I'm waiting for it to be available again.

I'm a super slow reader and usually only have a window of about 2 hours in the evening to read...that's if I don't fall asleep while I'm doing it :)

[Brittany (booksandbottles)]

Rona, the list idea that Laura has suggested is actually what I'm doing myself. so far I've only got about 13 books listed out of the 52 weeks, but they are books that i've been meaning to read for a while and just haven't got around to doing it, well, and of course re-reading fifty shades of grey! just go at your own pace and have fun! (i'm a slow reader and some times get discouraged, but i just keep reminding myself that any thing i get read this year is more than i read last year!)

[Cait]

I agree with what everyone else has said. The point of the challenge is to find and enjoy new books. If something's not fun, move on to something else and if you want to, come back to it later.

You might find it easier to pick up something for one of the later weeks where the discussions are more active, so you don't feel like you're 'behind' because you'll have people to talk to. Lots of people are reading out of order, some are making one book count for more than one week, tackle the challenge the way that works for you and enjoy it. :-)

[Kirsty]

of course it's not too late. I have been doing this challenge since January 1st and the list I saw has 60 catagories. I'm not reading a book a week either. I have set myself the rule of one book covering a maximum of 2 catagories. That should help you :-)

[Michelle]

Ro wrote: "I have been ill, and then a lot of things happened in the last few weeks..so I haven't had a chance to even start on the reading challenge. I wonder whether it's too late now, to do so? I tried to ..."

I'm reading Brown now too and I can't get into it. I'm reading Inferno and though it jumped right to the middle of the plot, I can't make myself give a damn about what's going on.
And it's never too late. The point of this challenge is to have fun and maybe pick up some books you wouldn't normally read, broaden your horizons. You probably won't enjoy everything you'll read and you don't have to finish it. Really, don't take it too seriously. Just have fun with it :).