2025 Reading Challenge discussion

By far the most popular questions the Mods and this group get are:

What do you consider a book? and it's close friend What do you count as a book for your personal challenge?

This thread is our answers and yours!

Kara, our longest serving Mod and TBR Twins Guru, says:

"I've always defined a book as anything listed on Goodreads. Novellas, audiobooks, graphic novels all count as far as I'm concerned. It's a personal challenge, so I think it's up to the individual to define what counts as a book to them."

I, your Buddy Reads Tracker, say:

"I consider a book for your personal challenge anything you have read that you feel that should count.

That includes audiobooks, graphic novels, or a book in a larger anthology. If I feel like I've read a book; I count it as a book."

Winter, your Group Read Queen, says:

"I consider a book anything that Goodreads considers a book. Earlier I tried systems like anything over 150 pages etc, but in the end, I figured if I read a Stephen King short story bought on Kindle and count it, it will even out with the 900 pages long epic fantasy.

For my personal challenge, I count any book on Goodreads except audiobooks. Not because I don't count them as books, it was just a personal preference."

Ilona, our Welcome Committee Chair, says:

"In general, I think everyone should decide for themselves what they consider a book.
Personally, I count everything that is on Goodreads towards my personal challenge, except single short stories. I do count collections of short stories, graphic novels, novella's, and audiobooks."

Kristin, one of Challenge Masters, says:

"I count everything I read: comics, short stories, audiobooks, and the like...and I read a lot of them. I can see why people may feel strange at first counting them, but I suggest if it feels that way, slow down and really take the time with the story. Think about it more deeply. In that smaller space, why did the author choose to focus on these things, choose that art, etc? The size or format of the book has little to do with its content - books of all sizes can be packed with good material or a lot of fluff!

That said, if you feel only novel-length books should count, you can count them for your Reading Challenge and perhaps only count the pages or time spent reading the shorter works in your Personal Challenge space. That way, your Reading Challenge count doesn't include shorter works, but you are still giving yourself credit for the time you spent reading the book. It is also a good way to catalog all that you are reading including your thoughts about the book.

Related, the Personal Challenge space is also a good place to include books that you don't plan to read in full, such as a chapter or two from a resource-type book (e.g., a book related to your job where you only need to read one section of the book; a cookbook) or an anthology (e.g., maybe you only want to read the stories included by your favorite author) or books you don't finish (i.e., maybe you read 100 pages of a book and want to count those pages and the time it took you to read, even though you don't like the book enough to complete it).

At the end of the day, it is up to you to decide what to count!"

Rachael, our other Challenge Master, says:

"It is a personal choice and everyone defines it differently.
For me, if I can find it on Goodreads then I will count it as a book. However, if it has just a few pages I might include it in my personal challenge but not in any group challenges.
I think it also depends on how long you invest in reading it - for example, something may have taken less than a minute for me to read it and in that case, it doesn't feel like a book."

Blagica, everyone's favorite Cheerleader, says:

"In general, I think everyone should decide for themselves what they consider a book. What I generally do is if I can find it on Amazon and want to read it when I look for it here. I consider all formats OK because I have one of each format on the go most the time."

Now we want to know what you think. Please comment below on what you believe should count as a book!

Thank you so much for the feedback. I have often wondering about this when I see people reading well over 100 and up into the 200's and I struggled with getting the 10 done at the end of last year and the thought of getting to 45 this year.

I count anything listed on Goodreads, including single short stories, audiobooks, even radio plays. Anything except graphic novels with multiple volumes. If I read more than one in the series, I just count the first one so my count doesn't get bogged down with Embarrassing Manga Name Volume #1, Embarrassing Manga Name Volume #2, Embarrassing Manga Name Volume #3, Embarrassing Manga Name Volume #4, Embarrassing Manga Name Volume #5, etc. It gets to be too much.

What about webtoons? They're digital comics for those who have no idea what I'm talking about. I was wondering if they count as sometimes there is 200+episodes and continue to be released every week.

In my opinion, you shouldn't care about what other people count as a book, because all these reading challenges are very personal and you are the only person who knows if you even read the books. The whole thing is up to your conscience, and you are the only person who knows.
If you are OK with counting a monthly comic book with 20 pages as a book, then it is a book.
It you are OK with lying about having read all those Russian tomes, go ahead and claim them.
There is no reading police who comes to you and strips you from your reading rights or GoodReads' membership because you aren't worthy. In the end the only person you are lying to is yourself.

Now, if there are some rewards and prizes involved, then I think there should be some sort of additional limits, and there usually are. No-one can verify if you really read the books you said you did, but as far as I know, people who read are nice, honest people. There are usually some qualifications about what counts as a book.

In Language Learners' Super Challenge (read 100 books and watch 100 films) a "book" is 50 pages; A manga (comics) counts as 5 manga pages = 1 book page, poetry/librettos count as 1/3 of a page, for a children's book with large letters, pictures and few words on every page you count 5 pages as one page."

Megan wrote: "What about webtoons? They're digital comics for those who have no idea what I'm talking about. I was wondering if they count as sometimes there is 200+episodes and continue to be released every week."

In my mind webcomics like Girl Genius definitely count as books, just as much as any ebook. I set the qualification to if it's a story or just unrelated strips or pictures. How would it look if it was a paper book?
I count pulp magazines as books as well, by the same standard. A serial is a book when you have read all the episodes, even when it was published 3 pages once a month.

What a great topic. For the personal challenge, I count everything. The whole reason I am on Goodreads is to track and to think about what I read, and I read A LOT of short stories. And often, short stories stay with me the longest and brightest out of anything I read. So they're important to me.

I don't count them for group challenges unless it is specific to short stories, but I've never really thought about why that is. I actually think that I am going to count the short stories I've read for the January marathon challenge, because now that I think about it, the point is to get me reading for the year. Thanks for prompting this moment of introspection!

Web comics are often collected in volumes, and I track them on Good Reads that way. I've read several volumes of Sluggy Freelance, but I read them on the site, not in the books. There's no difference, and I would definitely count them in a challenge if I decided to catch up on them now.

I actually wrote this already on another thread when someone asked about challenges, but I should have put it here, I think. Just what I do.

I made myself an exclusive shelf for DNF-abandoned (did not finish). Because it is exclusive, as long as I haven't added a READ date, it isn't included on the GR shelves, and it doesn't get counted in the GR yearly challenge. But because I have a started reading date, I can see when I actually tried it, not just when I shelved it. (I might want to try it again.)

I also made an exclusive shelf called "essay-article-story", so I can keep track of short things I've read but don't want counted as books. I have to remember to add only a start date and not a READ date so I can check when I actually read something but it won't get counted in the challenge.

I do count children's picture books for me, since they are books and I spend some time reviewing them, so I don't consider that cheating, although they're not eligible for most group challenges.

Don't know if this is any help to anyone, but you're welcome to take a look at my books to see what I mean.

I myself personally count everything that appears on Goodreads as a book. Yes, I am counting the occasional children's book I read out of curiosity, novellas / short stories that have not been published as part of an anthology, shorter poetry collections, audiobooks, textbooks, plays as well. To each their own. I do the challenges for myself, not necessarily for others / for groups so I feel as if it is fine to make up my own "rules".

Dorottya wrote: "I myself personally count everything that appears on Goodreads as a book. Yes, I am counting the occasional children's book I read out of curiosity, novellas / short stories that have not been publ..."

I think that's exactly what Goodreads intended. It's your profile, your rules!

I've been going back and forth on if I wanted to count graphic novels and manga on my yearly reading challenge. I don't know. I can't seem to make up my mind on which way to go.

Ami wrote: "I've been going back and forth on if I wanted to count graphic novels and manga on my yearly reading challenge. I don't know. I can't seem to make up my mind on which way to go."

I decided that if it's more than a very short story and is actually published as a "book", meaning I can buy it or borrow it from a library, I will count it. Even children's picture books, because if I am reviewing them and possibly influencing someone to buy or borrow it, it's a book. I count manga and graphic novels, but I probably wouldn't count a short Marvel comic.

Thank you all for your input! Keep it coming!

PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Ami wrote: "I've been going back and forth on if I wanted to count graphic novels and manga on my yearly reading challenge. I don't know. I can't seem to make up my mind on which way to go."

I dec..."

That's a very good point! Thanks for the help :)

PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Dorottya wrote: "I myself personally count everything that appears on Goodreads as a book. Yes, I am counting the occasional children's book I read out of curiosity, novellas / short stories that h..."

I would recommend doing what you want. Personally, I count all manga and graphic novels I read in my reading challenge

Does any one know how to add the # of pages a given book has?

If the page count is missing from the book's edition, a librarian has to add that to the book details. If you tell me the ISBN or ASIN, I will add it for you for the one that you're looking at. I think there is a thread in the librarian group to request that as well, for a more general answer.

I think "what counts as a book" is a question that everyone has to decide for themselves.

For me, I only count traditional books that were published as stand-alones regardless of length (although I would make an exception, say, for those Neil Gaiman short stories that are published with a large amount of illustrations in book form, and I would probably NOT call those a "book") for the purposes of my reading challenge. I also don't count graphic novels, regardless of length.

But I know people who do count comic books and short stories in their annual challenge total, and that's fine of course. It's just not what I do.

I really think this depends on your goal. I would normally set a goal for 52 books a year and not count picture books. But this year I knew I wanted to read more new (to us) picture and children's books. So I included that in my goal this year (152).

For my own personal reading challenge, if it is linked here on Goodreads, then like others I count it. I took the time to read it and to even leave, even if short, some sort of review. Though I did have this question pop up for me personally last month when one of the books I read was only 8 pages. I left it to count in my personal challenge but unless it very directly counted towards a prompt on a challenge in one of my groups I have left it out. I have a couple of groups that do a page counting and I included it there because they were read. But because of it being to short it typically can't be including in other challenges and that is fine with me.

The question though I think to ask yourself is, "was it a story that pulled you in, and did it feel complete?" Now this short story was in my opinion a great start, like a prologue to a greater story. I have asked the author if he might one day turn it into a full novel or even more short story sequels. He said that he already had a story that was like a sequel to it, I bought it but haven't read it yet. This story pulled me in but I feel like it could be so much more. In this way it counted as a read, it is pages read, and for one prompt under the page count called for.

On the other hand when my sons were young I had the toughest time getting two of them to read. The third I couldn't seem to keep enough books around for him, then my daughter was kinda a mix. Lucky for her by that point I had come to a realization, I guess you could say I had grown. Up until then I didn't consider comics, graphic novels or mangas full reading material, they were stories with pictures and I was trying to increase their reading level. They my daughter start school and I started volunteering in her school's library. I finally realized it didn't matter if it was a comic, manga, or graphic novel all that mattered was that they were indeed reading . That if they could find love in reading through these medias it could grow into bigger medias. The one that I was so worried about if now a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson and has collected copies in hardback of the Wheel series, which is his favorite. He has an audio book membership and is always listening to new books, usually Sci-Fi, and then telling me about them so I can look at reading it. He still reads manga, usually online, but he also reads "real" books. My daughter is always reading fan-fiction and has even gotten me into reading some, can't count any if it here sadly though.

Sorry for going on I think I might have gotten carried away. I know that usually there are page restriction but for yourself anything that makes you happy and that you enjoy should count. If it can take you away to another place and get you out of your own head and from the chaos of the world enjoy and read to your hearts content, for isn't that what reading should be.

As stated above, if it's listed on Goodreads, I consider it a book. However, I have trouble with it when it comes to my yearly reading goal. I read my own books, and then I read children's books to my kids. I don't normally count my kid's books because I feel as though I should only count adult books.

PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Dorottya wrote: "I myself personally count everything that appears on Goodreads as a book. Yes, I am counting the occasional children's book I read out of curiosity, novellas / short stories that h..."

exactly!

I am counting the short stories about Sherlock Holmes so I can finish the book. I also count audio books as I listen in the car. Each to their own and how you feel comfortable doing it. I also use one book for more than one prompt. Some do and some do not. Enjoy your reading and do not worry about it. Remember those days in school when you HAD to read a certain book?

Seluxes wrote: "I count everything that I read because I want a record of when I read it and my thoughts on it. My only rule is if I record on GR that I read it, then I must review it in a minimum of three sentenc..."

Yep. Read and enjoy. The original question was about challenges, so for a personal challenge, count whatever you want! For a group challenge, check the group's rules. Some have minimum lengths for a book to count as a book, which rules out some great novellas.

Some readathons don't care what you read, just count those pages. If it's published in print or online, it counts.

I agree about the wonderful choice of stories and poems available online now, too!

Would a amateur or fanfiction book be considered a book? Like something from wattpad or FanFiction.net

I generally try to keep my books at 150 pages or above since most of my reading challenges have a page count requirement in excess of 125 pages.

However, this year, I've been working to clear out those "kindle freebies" that I picked up over the years or am reading quite a few of the "filler" books in series and those are often around 100 pages or so. Although they don't count for many group challenges, I do count those towards my goodreads reading challenge as I took the time to read them and - in the case of the "filler" books, they usually add to the series that I am reading.

I'm not counting the books I read to my little one for my reading challenge but I have created a whole separate (private, just for me) group to track them on the bookshelf haha

I personally count only books that I can get in an actual book format, even though sometimes I listen to them as audiobooks instead. For reference the shortest books I've listed as "read" are:

The Stranger by Albert Camus (123 pages)
Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre (108 pages)
and The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling (108 pages)

I do have some concerns regarding chess books that I like to read a lot, which often times have more pictures of chess positions (and annotations of played chess games), instead of actual prose. However they are usually like 200-300 pages per book, so I figured there is enough writing there to count them for the reading challenge as well. Besides I usually spend way more time on a chess book than an actual novel, studying all the positions with care.

I wouldn't personally include either fan fiction or short comics/manga. Of course if it's in a book format and it's 100+ pages, I'd include those as well. Like The Watchmen comic book for example, which has like 400+ pages - I'd very well consider that as a book if I ever read it.

It's not really an issue to me, since I don't really read comics or short stories. If I read short stories I would probably pick up a whole book of them and after reading all of them, I'd count it as a single book (not rating every short story independently). But in the end it's each to their own. For me it's about keeping track of more "serious reading", so usually the books I read average between 250 to 500 pages of prose, occasionally less or more.

I'm planning to go for 50 books next year, so I might have to include a few shorter ones (around 100 pages or so) in the mix, so I can indulge myself in those 1000 page tomes every once in a while too.

I ave a couple of questions, Until now I have only counted new books off Kindle how would you record an audible book or a reread?

As long as you enjoyed reading it, I think it should count.

However, I don't count some things that GoodReads counts as books. I'm a Doctor Who fan and they list some of the audio dramas that are released by a company called Big Finish. While I enjoy them, I don't count them toward my total books for year. It's probably just me though.

Will wrote: "I ave a couple of questions, Until now I have only counted new books off Kindle how would you record an audible book or a reread?"

GoodReads now allows you to add re-reads and have them count toward your total read (I know I've used it because I do like to revisit old friends from time to time). I also count audiobooks toward my total. A lot of times, the audio edition is included under the "Other Editions" option. Hope this helps!

Question: I’ve made it a 2019/2020 personal challenge to read one chapter of the Bible everyday. Not sure if I should track as 1 read or individual “books.”

I’m a primary school teacher so I typically find myself reading at least four books a day. These are usually children’s picture fiction books like, Pig the Pug etc.

I feel like these books shouldn’t count towards my GR’s reading challenge, yet they are books and I do read them and discuss them with the children.

I know the challenge is supposed to be personal to me, but I feel like adding these is cheating in a way.

What do others think?

If I do decide to include them, should I edit my challenge to a higher number? (Currently set at 55).

Aimée wrote: "I’m a primary school teacher so I typically find myself reading at least four books a day. These are usually children’s picture fiction books like, Pig the Pug etc.

I feel like these books should..."

I think it's up to you. I count the ones that I review, because I spend a lot of time including illustrations, so that people can see what they're getting.

For short stories and articles, even if I've reviewed them, I don't count them as books if they're listed on Goodreads, and I don't mark them as READ. I do give them a starting date so I know when I read them, but I never mark them as finished. I have a separate "exclusive" shelf for short stuff I've read so I can find them. That way I know what I've read, but they don't add to the challenge.

I think this topic is so personal. I do count short books, audio books ect. The only thing I don't count are the short books I read for my daughter. I do feel that a short 30 pag read is sometimes more valueble to me that a 600+ read. Also some very short books can take more time (in thinking) as a longer fiction romance novel.
I also like to read poetry, that would make it even harder bc a short poem takes a whole page hence a large book.
I like how GR shows how many pages you have read. It also makes it easy to level out larger books with smaler once.
I have a 52 book goal for 2020. I know for a fact that if I only counted larger books. It would start to stress me if I start to get behind. I would also never read a 600 page novel, bc I would think that I would miss my goal.
I use GR to keep track of what I read, so I don't care if it was an audio book or a large book.

Ketutar wrote: "In my opinion, you shouldn't care about what other people count as a book, because all these reading challenges are very personal and you are the only person who knows if you even read the books. T..." I think as you do - but my horrid, black, competitive heart tells me "no, no no picture books don't count! Magazine articles don't count...and then I realize who really cares except me?

So I can't read 750 heavy tomes in a year -as long as I love what I read then I am happy now. I tried reading 400 or more books last year and was miserable because reading felt more like work instead of my passion.

Good luck to those with goals over 500 books and count whatever your conscience tells you to count.

I may have a rethink and count everything that's listed on Goodreads except for my did-not-finish shelf. It's true that there's a page count, so if you read 10 gigantic books, I will have to read a whole lot of stories to keep up!

Leo Tolstoy's heavyweight War and Peace is nearly 1400 pages. That's a few hundred stories right there. :)

In these kinds of discussions, I always think about the typeface.

What's the font? What's the font size? How many words are in the tale? Some books could have 350 pages at a size 12-13pt font with wide margins/line spacing, while others could have 125 pages at a size 8-10pt font with tiny margins/line spacing.

Read what makes you happy, read what you feel will help you achieve your goals! Reading is supposed to be primarily for fun! :D You determine how you'll achieve it! :D

Like many people I think it's up to you what you count. Last year I only included physical and e-books in my total but I also read a LOT of fan fiction and some of these are LONG. This year I'm going to include those stories in my Turn the Page challenge. The average novel has between 250-300 words per page, according to google, so I'm going right in the middle with a figure of 275 word per page and dividing it by the total word count of the story. e.g. a 125,000 word story would be 455 (rounded up) pages

I think it's up to the person and what they want to do for the challenge.

For example let's say Miss A spends most of her time reading graphic novels or magazines but she found a novel that she likes and decides she wants to read more novels in the challenge so her challenge would be to read lets say 5 novels in 2020 any graphic novels she reads will go toward her books I read in 2020 count but in her challenge page only novels count

Or Miss B reads a lot but this year she wants to focus on other hobbies but still read and support her local library so she decides to read 10 or 20 books in 2020 and decides to count everything

Or Miss C loves to read but spends too much time reading on her tablet for for the 2020 reading challenge she is only counting books she read in physical form not e books or audio books

or Miss D has dyslexia or doesn't have time to read physical books and finds it hard to read physical books but loves stories so she decides to count audio books

It's all up to you because the 2020 reading challenge is a personal challenge there are no rules except read or listen to the # of books you choose or at least try to

For me I'm counting everything, e books, audio books and graphic novels

What I feel comfortable calling 'books'.

Graphic novels but not comic books. I would definite count something like Maus, a volume of Neil Gaimen's Sandman or Arkham Asylum as a book. A fifteen to twenty page comic I'd consider equivalent to a short story.

Webcomics, even if they don't have continuous narratives, I haven't been counting as books but I am reconsidering based on some other people's comments. I think Check Please! definitely would count as a coming of age/romance story.

A play. Even though they are shorter than most novels I'd consider reading a play equivalent to reading a book.

I came here trying to figure out what to do with Ambrose Bierce's The Damned Thing. It's listed like a book but it's quite a short story. I've decided to only count it if I read the anthology it's collected in.

Audiobooks? For me, nope. It's not reading. My sister who is legally blind? Different situation.