Checking in on Challenges

We're halfway through the year already, which seems like as good a time as any to check in on the challenges I'm actively (or, um, not so actively, as the case may be) participating in this year.

Clean Your Reader

This was my second year hosting this challenge, with the goal of reading the e-books collecting dust in my reader... and I failed miserably at it. But it taught me a lot about my reading preferences, and I've stopped buying cheap-o e-books "just to have them on hand!" because of it. Because I still use my reader for digital galleys and library books, I opted to switch over to the dark side and buy a Kindle Paperwhite, because the process of getting materials onto this device is so much easier than getting them onto my old e-ink Nook. (Side note: I won't be hosting this challenge again next year, so if someone else would like to take it over, I'm happy to pass it along!)

Read My Own Damn Books

I love Andi's no-frills, no-rules challenge. Given the *absurd* number of books on my shelves that are as-yet unread, it seemed the perfect kick in the pants to finally focus on reading books I already own. What a novel concept. I was doing really well with this in the first three months of the year (and this process, like the failed Clean Your Reader challenge) taught me a lot about my own reading habits. But since then, I've been reading mostly galleys and library books and very few of my own books. In large part, I think this is because I've been traveling, so have opted for e-books instead of print books... but it's something I'm working on for the rest of the summer and fall.

Book Riot's 2016 Read Harder Challenge

Last year, I did really well at this challenge just by reading as I usually do and paying a small bit of attention to the categories--which speaks to the breadth of my typical reading. This year, that hasn't been the case as much. Though I've read (or at least started) books for 10 of the 24 categories, I've stalled significantly in those efforts in recent months. Time to start paying attention.

The Classics Club

This is a five-year challenge, and I'm 3.75 years into it with very little to show for it. I've read 19 classics since September of 2012, which leaves me 31 books shy of my goal of 50 by next September. Oooph. (That being said, anyone have favorite classics they want to recommend to me? I keep getting distracted by shiny new books, but I do love me a well-loved tome.)

Read 100 Books

Every year, I aim to read about 100 books--and in most years, I find myself a few books ahead of that goal within the first few months of the year. This year is an exception: I'm 4% behind my reading goal. I'm not super worried about it (because really, who cares if I don't make it to 100? Exactly no one.) but I do think it's interesting to see how things like running and traveling, both of which have spiked in the past year for me (in a good way!) take away from things like reading. It's all good, I'm just working on finding the right balance for me.

---