Book freaks discussion

Why do you join challenges? Is it for the thrill or because you simply enjoy competing? Do you do it because it lowers you TRB list?

Do you join many challenges at once or just one? Do you become stressed if you don't complete a challenge?

Personally, I stopped doing challenges and book clubs because I found my enjoyment dipping with each successive read. I prefer to pick my poison randomly. I'm more than willing to find out why everyone digs them so much.

I have recently found that I hate challenge. Like Nathan they suck the entertainment out of reading. Because you're so busy trying to complete the challenge you don't really get as much enjoyment out of the books you're reading, the books don't become stories that you'll cherish forever, they become binding and pages and ink.

Currently my sister and I have a challenge going. Its called "The 100 Book Contest". Its fun cause we get to see who wins and its also hard cause between work and other stuff you need to decide what you want to do read or other?

Plus I read faster and when I have nothing I want to read I pick up books that turn out to be really good. And I find new authors to read. :)

I also will read books that I hadn't planned on because they fit within the guidelines. I like that it expands my reading list.

I've just started doing some challenges recently & have learned very quickly that it's easy to get stressed when I start running out of time. So I've now decided to ignore the time frame the group sets & just enjoy the books & finish the challenge in my own time.

See I think that's my problems. Challenges make me stressed out cause then I get worried I'm not going to reach the deadline or something like that

A former friend always wanted me to do a challenge with him. Frankly, I found the idea of it less than appealing. I'm hyper-competitive so it would be a lose/lose situation for me. Either I win at the expense of quantity reading over quality reading, or I lose and the losing sours the books I should be enjoying. Meh.

Ginny wrote: "A former friend always wanted me to do a challenge with him. Frankly, I found the idea of it less than appealing. I'm hyper-competitive so it would be a lose/lose situation for me. Either I win at..."

Ya when you rush through a book and devour it whole you just don't enjoy it as much as when you take time to chew and swallow

Gorfo wrote: "Ginny wrote: "A former friend always wanted me to do a challenge with him. Frankly, I found the idea of it less than appealing. I'm hyper-competitive so it would be a lose/lose situation for me. E..."

I agree...must savor it!!

90% of my reading is for enjoyment and I prefer not to rush through them. I also feel that there are too many books out there to read something that is not an enjoyable read. However, I do enjoy looking at the many books that others read and putting the ones that sound good on my own TBR list. That being said, sometimes I will join challenges and sometimes it just doesn't work for me. :\

I've tried challenges in the past, and failed miserably. I think, like many of you, I don't like to be pigeonholed into reading a certain book at a certain time.

This year, I am doing the Goodreads Challenge, which I like a bit better. You set your own goal, read whatever you want, and just have to log the book as read when you're done. So, my TBR stack, which seems to grow by three or four books for every one I read, has a chance at slimming down a bit. But if I'm in the mood to read an old favorite, I can do so, and not feel at all guilty that I'm not reading one of the "required" books. And if I don't happen to hit my goal this year (I've chosen one hundred), it's okay. I'll still have enjoyed some good books.

I thought that I easily read more than 100 books a year, but once I started making my book shelves I found that I came up short last year. So I thought this would be a good way to keep track.

I have a small book challenge with my sister each year to read two or three of the new Booker Prize long list, the winner of the challenge gets bought the winning book (if you haven't read it already) by the loser. I love this little challenge because I can tell my husband that I really HAVE to read so I can win! Plus it makes me pick up things I might not ordinarily.

I also am doing the goodreads challenge and have set 70. Read around 75 in 2009, but only around 65 in 2010, don't want the trend to keep going down!

I wanted to see how many pages I could read about 4 years ago and thought I would see if I could intice my nieces and nephews would were then 7 to 12 years old into a reading incentive. So I came up with a reading challenge that we set the number of pages and they get prizes at the end of the year whether they reach their total or not quite frankly(because I wouldn't not give something for the effort).
I also read a certain number of pages and I also particpate in the 50 books challenge.So it is all quite fun and we now have 5 young readers in the family the oldest a 16 year old boy who loves fantasy books.We always give them the option of not going in the next year and we have yet to have one quit.

What a fun way to get kids reading!! Great idea, Kaos!!

I love reading & I like a challenge!!

I was participating in a couple of challenges this week, and have to say I really enjoyed. What I got out of it, other than making sure I had time to read each day, was it got me to pull some nontypical reading out of my reading pile which I thoroughly enjoyed. It truly helped me get out of a genre rut.

i like reading challenging books because it makes me feel smart.

I enjoy the challenge because it almost justifies all the money I spend of my books. But in all seriousness, I like the challenge and the feeling of accomplishment when I finish a new book.

I like the challenges becauseI never finish books, something new comes around and I end up reading six books at the same time, but with the challenges I want to finish. Also they keep me reading, and not in front of the TV, so I can had a book to list. However, I never rush through, I would be happier failing reading a handful of books closely then winning and rushing through books.

Gorfo wrote: "See I think that's my problems. Challenges make me stressed out cause then I get worried I'm not going to reach the deadline or something like that"

Very true. In fact that's the case with me too.

I am doing it to see if I can complete it. This will be my first book challenge this year. I am going to try to do it to where if I don't finish then I won't get stressed about it. To me reading is suppose to be fun. When it is no longer fun I won't do it.

I'm doing the goodreads challenge. I like it because I can keep track of how many books I read in a year. I'm doing my first challenge of the alphabet one. You set how long you have to finish it and it makes me read books that have been on my book shelf for quit some time. So I guess it really depends all on the challenge.

I'M DOING THE GOODREADS CHALLENGE. I LIKE SO FAR AND ENJOYING ALL THE BOOKS I'M READING SO FAR.

I like the various challenges because they've forced me out of my rut and into reading a larger variety of books. I don't stress about not completing challenges although I do try to finish on time or early.

I'm getting to hate reading challenges. I'm so challenged I feel like I'm slipping into illiteracy.

No challenges next year.

Well, maybe one or two. :/

I joined one challenge I didn't really get started on, because I felt like reading something else at the time.

I have a monthly book for my reading group, that meets every 6th week, and I have books I've promised to review for a Danish website, so I don't really need to HAVE to read anything else.

But I like the Goodreads challenge, because it's great to keep track of what you do read, and when I've been og Goodreads for a couple of years it'll be great to go back and see all the covers of books read previous years :-)

I enjoy them mainly because they force me to think out of my confort zone. For instance, I think it's College Students around here that has a points challenge. You get, say, five points for reading a book that takes place in India, or ten points for finishing a Classic for the first time...

I don't do them. I always fail.

This is my first year on GR. It seemed like fun. It hasn't been. Except for my "Read 200 books" challenge which I know I'll pass. Everything else I failed/will probably fail.

And the 200 books one was only fun at first making the little graphic counter work. Now I feel a silly pressure for numbers.

Next year, no challenges.

I don't think.

Ellie wrote: "This is my first year on GR. It seemed like fun. It hasn't been. Except for my "Read 200 books" challenge which I know I'll pass. Everything else I failed/will probably fail.

And the 200 books one..."

Yes! I support you!

Thank you Gorfo. It's really been my least favorite part of the GR experience.

Ellie wrote: "Thank you Gorfo. It's really been my least favorite part of the GR experience."

Reading Challenges just aren't for the likes of you and me. I don't know how people do them or enjoy them but everybody is different I suppose. I bet some people wonder how it's possible to read without them!

I end up trying to add challenge books to everything else I'm reading & pretty soon I can smell my synapses sizzling.

I've never actually finished a reading challenge. I make all my lists and have high hopes of doing them, but I just don't read as much as I should. I think the aspect that appeals to me most is trying to accomplish it and being able to read books I normally wouldn't read so I can meet the guidelines.

I enjoy reading challenges. I like it because it pushes me to read more. I have so many books, but I have trouble sometimes reading them in a decent amount of time. In fact, I started a group in reference to this goal! For any of you who would like to join a goal related group, please join mine! It's called 2012 Books. The point of the group is for all of us to read/list 2012 books by the end of the year! If you join, please invite others. Thank you!

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/6...

because of reading challenge my reading seems like an additional work to me. but that was last year.

now in 12, i've changed the way i used to look at reading challenge. now i see them as mile stone, rather than final target. and increase the books as i go forward.

This year i had started With target of 12 books. Now i have 111 as target of which 105 completed. Now it's more fun!

I love the book challenge. I've always read a lot (by random happenstance I am a fast reader) and my family has always teased me about not having enough books left to read or asking how many books I've read. When I saw the challenge, I thought, "Cool. It will count my books for me." Not everything counts - rereads, for instance. And I don't bother with most ebooks for some reason.

I also love it because it helps me model book logs for my kids, both of whom hate to track their books. Because I do it, too, the whining has disappeared and it's now become just something people do.

I am a huge fan of reading challenges, mainly the long-term ones at the beginning, but if you end up falling behind it just becomes a nuisance and if you don't finish it you become really disappointed. I mainly love it because it allows me to read different books that I normally would never had touched and if for instance I end up loving them then it is amazing and if I don't then I was right and it was only ONE book no big deal.

I pick and choose my challenges, I do the how many books a year but those are the books I get to pick mainly. I've started to do the monthly book reads and a few of the smaller challenges just because I wanted to branch out with my reading a bit and thought that would help me pick books outside my normal books.

for me, a reading challenge is nothing but a way to track what i read..

because i don't think it as a number to achieve rather i think of it as a milestone to complete.. :p

I've never done any kind of challenge, and I'm looking forward to do one, but I'm not sure if I would like obligatory readings, or if it wouldn't take the fun out of reading.

Soul wrote: "for me, a reading challenge is nothing but a way to track what i read..

because i don't think it as a number to achieve rather i think of it as a milestone to complete.. :p"

Exactly my reasoning.

Andy wrote: "Exactly my reasoning..."

well as they say, "Great minds think alike!" :p :)

Not really concerned with the numbers. What I'm really after is to see what were the books I've read for a specific month or year. Then I try to psychoanalyze (I dunno if that's the right term) myself because I usually pick books based on my frame of mind or mood. Like, if there's too much fantasy for that month, I remember that I was going through some rough times & was in need of a constant escape. If there's a balance of different genre, then its a month of good mood. Too many sad books mean I had too much sweets or just quirky, and I need something to mellow me down.

haha.. nice way of thinking there Marian.. humm.. I wonder if i should psychoanalyze my self.., :)

Oh, its fun. You should try it. Pick any of your favorite book from your shelf & try to remember what's happening to you when you were reading it or think of a connection between you & that book. If I were a good writer, I would have blogged about my experiences. :)

There's only one catch.. I usually read for others.. seldom i get chance to read for myself(these would be manga and long awaited to read books)

Most of my reads are either Review copies or curiosity copies or monthly read copies or "is in dust for far to long" copies.. :)

but i totally get what you are saying.. the kinda book we read usually refers to the mindset we are in.. and if that's not the case we end up either skipping the book or giving it 1* review..

At any given time I have so many TBR books that participating in the challenges (someone else created) helps narrow down my focus. I also found that some of the challenges helped me discover some great reads that I probably wouldn't have picked up otherwise (for instance participating in Goodreads Choice Awards challenge in one of my groups forced me to step out of my comfort zone and instead of just reading the books in the genres I normally read, I got to read books in other categories as well in order to finish my challenge)...

I set personal challenges because the only person I like competing "against" is myself. Each year I try to increase the number of books I read. I find it helps me try harder to find (more) time for reading :)