Discussion // I Don’t Come Close to Reading That Many

Towards the end of 2017, I was commenting on some bookish sites and noticed that other book bloggers / reviewers were talking about not finishing their overall reading challenges for the year. I didn’t think anything of it, I was close to my challenge goal, but no cigar! Then I noticed the amount of books listed in their challenge… 200 books for some, 300 books for others.

WHAT??

I think I literally said, “Holy Hell,” when I saw those high numbers – well, high for me.

How does one retain all those yummy stories up in their brain?

Now these goals were a mix of traditional reading and audio, but still, hundred of books! I say kudos to any bookish that can read or listen to that many books. But, it also got me thinking – how many books is TOO many books?

Of course this questions is a very personal question and every reader understands what they can and cannot accomplish. For me, when I was thinking about how many is too many, I was also thinking about how I could retain all of those stories. Being honest with myself, I could never retain the story or characters from all those books, except for maybe the most exceptional, or maybe the worst.

I think that in order to accept a large reading challenge like that, I would need to approach the list like a business, allowing for a certain percentage to be duds, and then move on a scale from there. Right now, I am just nowhere near the level of reader I think I should be to attempt that large of a reading list. I think my brain might blow up if I did!

 

via GIPHY

For those bookish out there that have attempted and or have finished a challenge with a large challenge amount (100+ books), how do you focus in order to process the books and complete your challenge? Do you just go in for the read; break into buckets, or maybe focus on like/similar books within your challenge?

For now, my reading challenge goal is to accomplish 26 books, and if I can throw some more pages at the challenge list, I will. I definitely want to accomplish the goal successfully before adding an additional amount. Accomplishing the 2018 goal may bring a ton more books for 2019 reading.


Kudos to all readers and great success in your reading challenges!