Geauga County Public Library discussion

I've been reading like crazy and just realized that the first date of book being read, was #3 on Oct 6. I thought I had until the 15th or so. So, no completed challenge for me. My husband thought in the beginning that I would finish in 6 mo. but then he found out how depressed I was reading these specific books. He offered to buy me a fleece if I would quit! Now that I'm not going to make it, that is my biggest regret, that I wasted so much time reading bad books. There were 14 books of the 80 that I read that I truly enjoyed and might otherwise not have read. That means I read more than 50 books I wouldn't have otherwise read and some of those I wouldn't wish on anyone. I watched the Great American Read the other night and realized that only 15 books were on both lists. At a meeting in January one of the librarians told me that the beginning books were ones that were popular with book clubs. Yuck! There's a reason that in spite of being an avid reader I never have and never will be in a book club. I don't do dissections. Ah, well, I'm moving forward, picked up three new books to read this week that I truly want to read! New Christopher Moore, new Stephanie Plum and new Elizabeth George, like diving into a banana split!
BTW, best book I read that I hadn't read before was "The Unexpected Pilgrimage of Harold J. Fry".

For me it has absolutely been worth it. I've finished 82 books so far and have until this Jan 12th to finish. There have for sure been a half dozen or so titles that I hated and gave 1 star reviews, but that doesn't mean that they were a complete waste of time. I at least now know first hand that I don't like a particular author or genre.

If you look at the opening description for this group, quoted below, you'll see that this challenge isn't about reading the best books ever written. It's about opening yourself to a cross section of the entire literary spectrum, fiction and nonfiction, the popular and the obscure, the award winning and the generic light genre read. It's about sitting down and meeting 100 random strangers and listening to their stories. Some are sad, some are funny, some are hard to understand, some are really interesting and informative. At the end of the day the challenge is about seeking out new and different stories to give a try and maybe finding some new ones you really enjoy but also having to face the ones that you find horrific and growing from the experiences.

I know that at the end of the challenge the majority of authors that I will of read will not be added to my regular 'to read' list but there are for sure a dozen or so who will be and they are authors that I would never have selected for myself in genres that I don't read often. It's been a fun journey of discovery for me though I would not recommend it for everyone. If one's goal in reading is escapism or just reading for pleasure then I would not recommend this challenge.

"If you've been looking for a reason to read outside your comfort zone and expand your literary horizons, you need to take the GCPL 100-Book Challenge. Participants have two years to read 100 books from a list of about 200 titles that have been selected to induce discovery in all genres and styles."

I had a terrific time doing it. I finished over the summer with just a month to spare. Sure, there were some duds on the list -- personally I could have done without the teen werewolf romance and self-help genres -- but as Jeremy eloquently noted above, even those were often thought-provoking in their own way.

The need to keep moving down the list often gave a sense of direction and purpose to my reading; there were some busy times in those two years that, without the overarching goal, I know I wouldn't have carved out as much reading time. It feels a little odd to self-impose discipline on something like recreational reading, but it really worked for me and stretched me as a reader.

(BTW, my profile pic on here is me sporting the fleece jacket. It's cozy, with some nice extras like zip-up pockets and internal pockets with a headphone port hole. You get to obnoxiously humble-brag about your reading accomplishment AND be a walking billboard for the library and its great programming, what could be better.)