At the beginning of this year, I stated that I would not be participating in the Goodreads Reading Challenge by making a goal of a certain number of books I had to read. I did this for many reasons, but the biggest one was so that I could read for enjoyment instead of reading for numbers. Last year I was too focused before on getting a large number of books read instead of savoring the ones I was reading.
Now that we are at the end of the year, this is how my reading habits look:
There it is. In 2014 I read over 800 books. This past year I read about 600. Granted, many of these books are picture books that I am using for storytime, so it doesn't exactly take that long to read them. It's true that I read more than 200 more books in 2014 than in 2015, but I still read a lot in 2015. And the best part is that I can actually talk to you about what I read, because I was reading for a purpose, whether for pleasure or programming or to review a new book, but I didn't read a single book just to boost my Goodreads numbers.
I am glad that I chose not to participate in the reading challenge, and I was still able to read a lot and enjoy the books. For some people, setting a goal on Goodreads or elsewhere is a way to ensure they will read a lot. In my case I don't think that's necessary. As a librarian, I definitely do not spend my whole day "sitting around reading books," as some might think, but I do have to read/peruse/review quite a few books as a part of my job.
What are your reading goals for 2016?
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