The Challenge of a Reading Challenge

If we're Facebook friends you know that I am in the midst of a 2016 Reading Challenge.  I've always been an avid reader.  I remember leaning over the side of the bed with a flashlight, reading a book strategically placed under the bed, in a room I shared with my sister, when I was in elementary school.  As a middle schooler I remember hiding my book inside the textbook I was supposed to be reading during class.  In high school I backed off of pleasure reading significantly because the reading demands for my AP English class consumed all of my time.  As a college student and adult I rediscovered pleasure reading and turned my love for it into a career.  As a reader however, I have tended to have a narrow lane.  I find an author or series I like and read everything that author or series has to offer, over and over again in many cases.

In 2014 I decided to challenge myself to get out of the habit of reading the same things over and over.  I decided I would read one fiction book, followed by a nonfiction book, alternating throughout the year and attempting to read 50 by the end of the calendar year.  I gave up on the alternating at some point during the year and ended up reading 36.

In 2015, I found two reading challenge lists on Pinterest that I thought I would try.  The first, the Popsugar 2015 Ultimate Reading Challenge, was the one I stuck with the most.  The second, also by Popsugar is 50 Books, 50 States:  A Literary Map of America.  I discovered if I read the 50 states list, I would also satisfy the requirements of the Ultimate Reading Challenge list.  Piece of cake right?  The titles are all there for me.  Except the reader inside me kept me going to back to titles that were comfortable and justifying their fit into the reading challenge.  In February of 2015 I got derailed in my quest for 50 books.  After my brother died I stopped reading.  For months I would not pick up a book. Part of my grief journey included not allowing myself to feel pleasure.  I felt guilty for being happy or satisfied, so I avoided things that I enjoyed, which included reading.  After regular counseling, time and self-reflection, I began doing things I enjoyed again and in the latter part of the year, I pushed and speed read, managing to read 37.

In 2016, I found a new Reading Challenge List, still from Popsugar, the 2016 Ultimate Reading Challenge.  After reading five books in the last week, I'm currently sitting at 19 books completed.  Here are some challenges I have in getting this list done... 1) If I don't start with the reading challenge criteria, the book I select often doesn't fit the list.  (Only about 12 of the 19 are on the challenge list.)  2)  When I am working, I read less.  3)  It takes me a lot longer to finish a nonfiction book than it does a fiction one.

I'll keep plowing, but given how far behind I am, it is very likely that for the third year in a row, I won't hit 50 books.  A failed goal.  Again.  Maybe I should aim for 38?