It’s that time of year when our thoughts turn to our “to-read” piles. How do we decide what we are going to read in the coming days, weeks and months? In our field, we often come across many different kinds of reading challenges. When we are reflective in our practice, we will notice to holes in our own reading lives, and many of us will feel like we need to do a better job to round out our genres/authors/styles.
This year I have decided NOT to give myself a reading goal. This has less to do with the fact that I am entering into a committee year as much as it has to do with cutting myself some slack.
There are so many books to read. I happen to be a member of goodreads and sitting in my “to read”queue are 379 titles. This is an unreachable number, and there will only be more added during 2016. I am renaming the “to read” list to the “I’m interested in reading” in my mind. It takes the pressure off!
So, for those of you who are into reading challenges I say GO FOR IT! But for those of you who aren’t feeling it, that’s okay too. I am a browser by nature and am now looking at my future reading as more of a quest of discovery than a check list.
Happy Reading!
Abby Johnson
That is a great idea – I, too, can handle an “I’m Interested in Reading…” pile much better than a demanding TO BE READ pile. 😉
Stacy
It does seem to ease the pressure, Abby! Maybe someday I’ll get back to the challenges!
Krys
I’m participating in a Reading challenge. Sure they ask you an approximate number of books you’d like to accomplish reading within the year, but who’s truly counting. I usually set my number at 50, if I make it (awesome), if not (oh well).
Happy new year!
– Krys
Stacy
Good luck with the challenge, Krys! Let us know which books become favorites!